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

"Save yourselves from this untoward generation." -Acts 2:40 [KJV] Some, from a warm zeal for free-will, and a strong opposition to salvation by grace, have been weak enough to cite this passage to prove, that we have a hand in our own salvation; because we are here called upon to save ourselves.  They might with equal propriety have inferred, that we are here exhorted to new create ourselves. But there is a sense, in which this exhortation is peculiarly applicable, to every saved sinner, every justified believer in Christ.  For the honour and glory of our Saviour, and for the peace and comfort of our souls, let us attend to it. Wisdom informs us, “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet not washed from their filthiness. O how filthy are their eyes! And their eyelids are lifted up” (Proverbs 30:12-13.)   Now these are at enmity against, “That seed that serve the Lord, and which are counted to Him for a generation” (Psalm 22:30.) It w...

"Without Me ye can do nothing."   -John 15:5 [KJV] Dearest Jesus, I know this in theory, from Thy gracious teachings, as well as I know that I am by nature a sinner; but I am for ever failing in this knowledge, when I come to put it into practice. Teach me, Lord, how to preserve the constant remembrance of it upon my mind, that I may never go forth to the holy warfare to subdue a single foe but in Thy strength, and never make mention of any thing but Thy righteousness, and Thine only.  Be convinced, my soul, every day, more and more, of this most precious truth, and behold it proved from all the circumstances around thee. See and remark the total inability either of God's judgments or God's mercies to induce the least alteration upon the heart of man, without His grace. Behold the prosperous sinner bathing in a full river of blessings, himself in health, his circumstances flourishing, his children like olive-branches round his table, wealth pouring in up...

"Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God."   -Psalm 55:19 [KJV] True religion is certainly the most weighty, and yet the most mysterious matter that we ever have had or can have to do with in this world. And I will tell you this, that it will either comfort you, or it will distress you. It will either exercise your mind, trouble your soul, cast down your spirit, and make you truly miserable, or else be the source of your choicest comfort and your greatest happiness. From religion come our deepest sorrows and highest joys, the greatest uneasiness and the sweetest peace. There is this peculiar feature about true religion, that in the greatest prosperity it may be the cause to us of the chiefest trouble, or in the greatest adversity be to us the cause of the purest joy. What are wealth or health, rank or titles, and every comfort the world can afford to a wounded spirit? What are poverty, sickness, persecution, contempt, or a prison to a soul baski...