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

"But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." -John 1:12 [KJV] Man lost paradise by receiving a gift from Satan: there is no way to regain it, but by receiving Christ, the gift of God. Am I one of the many, who have received Christ? This question is of eternal moment. If I have not, no matter what I profess, by what name I am called, what I think of myself, or others think concerning me; for I am certainly in a state of wrath, exposed to eternal damnation.  What answer does conscience return to this important question? God may this night require my soul. I may be in eternity before the morning light. Have I received Christ or not? What is it to receive Christ? Many precious souls are sadly perplexed and greatly distressed here. But why should they? St. John plainly tells us, to receive Christ, is to believe on His name, that He is the anointed Saviour of lost sinners.   Do you receive this truth into your heart? Does your mind g...

"He wakeneth morning by morning: He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned." -Isaiah 50:4 [KJV] Who is this but Jesus in His human nature, of whom the prophet speaks? Eminently to Him doth it refer, to whom was given the tongue of the learned, that He might know how to speak a word to him that is weary. Precious Lord, it is indeed Thy province, and Thine only, to speak a word to weary souls, and to be the rest wherewith Thou causeth the weary to rest, and to be their refreshing.  Not only to give them rest, but Thyself to be their rest. Not only to give them salvation, but Thyself to be their salvation.—But, blessed Lord! may not a poor soul like myself say of Thee also, that Thou wakenest me morning by morning?— for who is it but Jesus, that, by the sweet influences of the Spirit, wakens His people morning by morning, and openeth the ear to hear, and the eye to see, and the heart to feel  the blessed tokens of His coming?    Have I not found Thee, Lord,...

"The LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all."   -Isaiah 53:6 [KJV] What heart can conceive, what tongue express what the holy soul of Christ endured when "the LORD laid on Him the iniquity of us all?"  In the garden of Gethsemane, what a load of guilt, what a weight of sin, what an intolerable burden of the wrath of God did that sacred humanity endure, until the pressure of sorrow and woe forced the drops of blood to fall as sweat from His brow.  The human nature in its weakness recoiled, as it were, from the cup of anguish put into His hand. His body could scarce bear the load that pressed Him down; His soul, under the waves and billows of God's wrath, sank in deep mire where there was no standing, and came into deep waters where the floods overflowed Him (Psalm 69:1-2) . And how could it be otherwise when that sacred humanity was enduring all the wrath of God, suffering the very pangs of hell, and wading in all the depths of guilt and terror...