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

" And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive."   -Genesis 46:30 [KJV] Strange request! What, just come to the sight and embrace of thy long lost son, and yet want to leave him at the very first interview? One should have thought the language of Jacob would have been, Happy man! I not only see my beloved son, but also see him governor over all the land. Well, I hope I shall live long to enjoy his riches and grandeur. But, no. The good man had lived long enough to make an estimate of the uncertainties of life: to know the evil of days, the vicissitudes of time, and how soon the day of brilliant joy might be changed into the night of gloom and sadness.  The sight of his son was the summit of his wishes: that granted, he sought no more. He wished to be at home with his Lord. Happy Christian! thus to set loose to all creature enjoyments, even when there is the highest enjoyment of them, than to have one’s min...

"I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away."   - Isaiah 41:9 [KJV] Is this thy portion, my soul? Hath the Lord thy God indeed chosen thee? Hath He manifested His love to thee in so distinguishing a way? Take comfort, then, in all thine exercises, when seasons of darkness .and discouragement are around; think of God's choice, and venture on God's love. Art thou distressed, exercised, afflicted? Dost thou call on God, and find no answer? Doth the enemy tempt thee to doubt? Doth thine own unbelieving heart misgive thee?  Still recollect, Jesus knows all. He chose thee—and He that chose thee knows all thine exercises; nay, He Himself hath appointed them. And remember, thou wast not forced upon Him. It was His own free choice first made thee His; and His own love will be the security of thy present dependence. Jesus resteth in His love; He hateth putting away. Cast down as thou art, thou art not cast off. Though fallen, He can raise. Though dejected, He can and...

"Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours."   -I Corinthians 3:22 [KJV] "Life," says the apostle, is "yours."  But how can this be? In two ways. Life present and life future, both are the Christian's, according to the words, "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."  But life present is natural and spiritual. In three senses, therefore, is life the portion of Christ's people; life natural, life spiritual, life eternal. Life natural is theirs, for they alone can truly enjoy it. What is natural life if it hang by a thread over an awful eternity? How soon spent and gone, and how soon death and judgment close the scene.  But the Christian's very natural life is his season for faith and prayer, the seedtime of an immortal harvest. Most men are life's slave, but he is life...