"Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9

"I will greatly rejoice in the LORD: my soul shall be joyful in my God: for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness." -Isaiah 61:10 [KJV] It would be surprising to see a malefactor going to execution, singing and rejoicing all the way. But, if, when he came to the fatal place, he should produce the king’s free pardon, with royal promises of being admitted to his presence and appearing at court, in the richest robe of the king’s providing, our wonder would cease. We should own that he really had abundant cause for joy.  Come, my fellow-condemned malefactors, though sin has stripped you of your innocent dress of righteous clothing; though you are under the sentence of death, yet behold, here is a pardon for you, the best robe to put upon you, and a sure promise of admission into the king’s presence. Read it and rejoice. “Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life” (Romans 5:21.)   The God of ...

"If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water."   -John 4:10 [KJV] Amidst a thousand precious things concerning Jesus, there are two views of Him which are peculiarly so, and which those words of His to the woman of Samaria bring home to the heart in the plainest and most blessed manner. The one is, who, and what, Christ is in Himself ; and the other is, the Father's authority in Him , so as to give faith in Him a divine warrant to act by, when a poor sinner comes to make use of Christ.  It is our ignorance in those two grand points concerning salvation, which is the sad cause of all our miseries and the little enjoyment even gracious souls, for the most part, have in Jesus. Now, my soul, do thou meditate upon both these things this morning, and from these sweet words of thy Saviour see if thou dost not prove what He so graciously saith to be t...

"And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation." -II Corinthians 1:7 [KJV] The Lord has appointed the path of sorrow for the redeemed to walk in. Why? One purpose is to wean them from the world; another purpose is to shew them the weakness of the creature; a third purpose is to make them feel the liberty and vitality of genuine godliness made manifest in their soul's experience.  What am I, and what are you when we have no trials? Light, frothy, worldly-minded, carnal, frivolous. We may talk of the things of God, but they are at a distance; there are no solemn feelings, no melting sensations, no real brokenness, no genuine contrition, no weeping at the divine feet, no embracing of Christ in the arms of affection. But when affliction, be it in providence or be it in grace, brings a man down; when it empties him of all his high thoughts, lays him low in his own eyes, brings trouble...