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

"Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine, to fight with him: for thou art but a youth; and he a man of war from his youth ." -I Samuel 17:33 [KJV] We frequently use the phrase, carnal reason . What do we mean by it? Just what Saul here used to David. It is the reason of the flesh: it consults the nature and appearance of things only: it judges of and determines events according to human probability entirely: it looks to no other or higher cause, than nature and sense. Now, had David listened to, and obeyed, this sort of reasoning, he would have brought no honour to his God, nor wrought deliverance for his people.  But observe, O my soul! David opposed faith to this carnal reasoning, and by faith overcame it. There was not one word of the Lord in Saul’s mouth. But David introduced, “the LORD the deliverer.” Like St. Paul, “he conferred not with flesh and blood” (Galatians 1:16.) But being valiant in faith, he overcame the gigantic ...

"This year thou shalt die." -Jeremiah 28:16 [KJV] I have often thought this passage, pronounced on the lying prophet, a most suitable sermon for a birthday portion, to be sounded in the ears of the sinner: and if qualified with the possibility and probability which arise out of our dying circumstances, it might, when commissioned by the Lord, have a blessed effect. My soul, take it for the meditation of thy birth-day. It may be fulfilled this year; it must be fulfilled some year; it cannot be a very distant year; and there is a birth-day when it shall be passed upon thee in the year.  And why not the present? Pause, my soul, and meditate upon it, as if this were the very year. And what though carnal men celebrate the anniversary of their birth-day, as best suited to their carnal minds, let thine be wholly spiritual. If indeed a man came into the world laughing, there might be a suitable correspondence in commemorating the annual return of such a birth with laug...

"We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." -Hebrews 8:1, 2 [KJV] Our blessed Lord was to be "a High Priest after the order of Melchizedec." It will be remembered that Melchizedec met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him (Genesis 14:19) . In the same way our great High Priest blesses the seed of Abraham; for "they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham;" and as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, they walk in his steps who "believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." But Melchizedec the type could only ask God to bless Abraham. He could not himself confer the blessing; but Jesus, the antitype, our great Melchizedec, whose priesthood is "after the power of an endless life," blesses His people, not by merely ...