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

While Paul was thus thankful for his office, his success in it greatly humbled him.  The fuller a vessel becomes the deeper it sinks in the water.  A plenitude of grace is a cure for pride.  Those who are empty, and those especially who have little or nothing to do, may indulge a fond conceit of their abilities, because they are untried; but those who are called to the stern work of ministering among the sons of men, will often mourn their weakness, and in the sense of that weakness and unworthiness, they will go before God and confess that they are less than the least of all saints.   I prescribe to any of you who seek humility, try hard work; if you would know your nothingness, attempt some great thing for Jesus.  If you would feel how utterly powerless you are apart from the living God, attempt especially the great work of proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ.  You will come back from the proclamation thankful that you were permitted to att...

"My soul followeth hard after Thee: Thy right hand upholdeth me." -Psalm 63:8 [KJV] David was no advocate for the merit of good works. He ascribes no glory to nature’s power and free-will. Free-grace Paul says, “I laboured more abundantly than they all.”  But he immediately corrects himself. “Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me , ”   (I Corinthians 15:10.) So if David’s soul followed hard after God, he gives grace the honour of it: “Thy right hand upholdeth me.”  This is the way both to improve and to enjoy lively frames of soul, to see and acknowledge the Lord’s hand to be the cause of them. O it is delightful when the soul follows hard after God.  For, (1st.) It implies such a discovery of the love and grace of the Lord, that the mind is fixed upon Him, the heart drawn out after Him, and the affections cleave unto Him. The language is, “What is there upon earth that I can desire beside Thee?” O, says the soul, “I am in His eyes as one th...

"And yet there is room." -Luke 14:22 [KJV] Room! Where, and for whom? Room in the gospel of salvation, and for poor perishing sinners, in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Room in the heart of God the Father, in the love, grace, mercy, and peace of God the Son, and in the teachings, influences, and fellowship of God the Holy Ghost.  Room in the plentiful provisions of grace, the calls of the gospel, the ministration of the word and ordinances in the house of prayer. "Whosoever will , "  is the gracious invitation; whosever feels his heart made willing in the day of God's power, "let him come and take of the water of life freely." Lord, is there room for me? Thousands, and tens of thousands have found room through Thy grace inclining them to come; and yet the scripture sweetly saith again this day, "And yet there is room."  Oh give me grace to see that I am one of the invited, one of the happy number that hath found r...

"My people hath been lost sheep."   - Jeremiah 50:6 [KJV] When God the Holy Ghost takes a soul in hand, just as the fingers of a man's hand wrote a sentence of condemnation upon the wall of the palace of the king of Babylon, so does the blessed Spirit write the word "lost" upon the conscience of every vessel of mercy; and when He has written this word with power on their consciences, they carry it about with them branded as it were in letters of fire, in such a manner that the impression is never to be erased, until it is blotted out by the atoning blood of the Mediator. And thus in the teachings of the Holy Ghost in the consciences of God's family, "lost, lost, lost"  is written on their heart; "lost, lost, lost"  is the cry of their lips; "lost, lost, lost"  is the deep feeling of their soul. And none was ever found who had not the feeling lost, written more or less deeply upon his heart. None was ever gathered in...