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

"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." -I John 1:7 [KJV] Most precious truth for guilty sinners! Lord, help us most deeply to consider what is implied in these words.  (1st.) See the exceeding sinfulness of sin. It has brought these dreadful evils upon us. First, Loss of God’s image. Secondly, Obnoxiousness to His wrath. Thirdly, Rejection from His presence. For we are by sin totally unclean. The pollution of sin has brought the curse of God’s law upon us, armed His justice, shut His kingdom against us, and opened the gates of hell to us.  The bitter cries and exquisite torments of the damned in hell, will eternally proclaim the malignancy of sin. The everlasting songs of the saints in glory, will for ever proclaim the praises of the Lamb, who washed them from their sins in His own blood.  (2d.) This proves the curse and defilement of sin. The blood of Jesus Christ, and that alone, cleanseth from all its deepest stains. O the infinit...

"Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost." -Acts 11:16 [KJV] Blessed promise! realize it, Oh Thou Holy Spirit, day by day, in and upon my soul. Bring me under the continued baptisms of Thy sovereign influence, and cause me to feel all the sweet anointings of the Spirit sent down upon the hearts and minds of Thy redeemed, as the fruits and effects of Jesus' exaltation, and the promise of God the Father.  Yes, blessed Spirit, cause me to know Thee in Thy person, work, and power; in all Thy offices, characters, and relations. I need Thee day by day, as my Comforter. I need Thee, as the Spirit of truth, to guide me into all truth. I need Thee, as the Remembrancer of the Lord Jesus, to bring to my forgetful heart all the blessed things He hath revealed to me.  I need Thee, as the witness of my Jesus, to testify of my wants, and His fulness to supply. I need Thee, as my Advocate and Helper, in all my infirmities in prayer. I need Thee, as the earnest of the promis...

"With clouds He covereth the light, and commandeth it not to shine, by the cloud that cometh betwixt." -Job 36:32 [KJV] The sun, from its first formation by its almighty Creator, shines at all times alike. There never was, is, or ever can be, any addition to, or diminution from, its light and heat. But we perceive a sensible difference. Even the intervention of a cloud coming between us and the sun, hides and obscures the glorious rays of light from us. There are fixed laws in creation. All nature acts under the direction of those laws, prescribed by our all-wise Lord.   As in nature, so in grace. As by the natural sun, so it is by the Sun of Righteousness : it shines with an equal degree of resplendent glory, of light, love, and grace at all times. But, we are not always alike sensible of it. Why not? As clouds and vapours arise from the earth, and interrupt the light of the natural sun, by coming between that and us; just so, the clouds of sin, the vapours of ...