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

"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." —John 1:29 [KJV] Nothing can make poor sinners truly happy, but that which taketh away the cause of all misery, sin. This is effected. The Lamb of God hath taken away all sin, by His sacrifice for us. When, by the eye of faith, we behold this Lamb, then all sin is taken away out of our conscience. When a soul thinks, 'Sin has condemned me before God; the law accuseth me daily; it works wrath in my conscience continually; and I am oft ready to cry out, O wretched that I am, who shall deliver me? '   Thanks be to God for a precious Redeemer. The Lamb, which God provided, hath done it for ever. All our iniquities were laid upon Him.  "He bare it in His own body on the tree , " the sin, the whole of sin, every sin of all that shall believe in Him, to the end of the world. By the sacrifice of Himself He put all away, out of the sight of God, as one puts away an offensive thing. He bore...

"Now when the even was come, He sat down with the twelve."   - Matthew 26:20 [KJV]   And now the even is again come, will Jesus graciously sit down with me? Wherefore, my soul, shouldest thou doubt the kindness of thy condescending Lord? It may be allowed, that in many of the tenderest incidents which passed between Jesus and His disciples while upon earth, there were some peculiarly suited, and designed to have a personal respect to them alone.  But in many things they were the representatives of Jesus' whole family; and hence every child of God may invite Jesus to sit down with him, and enjoy communion with him; that while Jesus speaks by His word to His people, and they to Him; as His whole heart and soul is theirs, so their whole hearts and souls may go forth, in all the sweet exercises of love and faith to Him, and a holy familiarity may take place between them. Come, then, Thou gracious Lord, and sit down with me, after all the toils of the day, a...

"Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps; set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest." -Jeremiah 31:21 [KJV]   To look at the past is often a blessed encouragement for the future. If we are travellers in the way Zionward, we shall have our various waymarks. A conspicuous call, or a signal deliverance, or a gracious manifestation of Christ; a promise applied here, or a marked answer to prayer there; a special blessing under the preached word; a soft and unexpected assurance of an interest in the blood of the Lamb; a breaking in of divine light when walking in great darkness; a sweet sip of consolation in a season of sorrow and trouble; a calming down of the winds and waves without and within by, "It is I, be not afraid" —such and similar waymarks it is most blessed to be able to set up as evidences that we are in the road. And if many who really fear God cannot set up these conspicuous waymarks, yet they are not without their ...

"Thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name." — Isaiah 62:2 [KJV] This is predicted of the church of God; which, according to covenant-transactions of the glorious Trinity, stands in the nearest and dearest relation to JESUS her head. She is here spoken of as a single person, THOU: she is called "Christ's body," —Colossians 1:24 , and "the bride, the Lamb's wife," —Revelation 21:9 , of whom, saith God the Father, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love," —Jeremiah 31:3 . Yea, saith the Son of God to His Father, of all His beloved members, "Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me. . . .and Thou lovest Me before the foundation of the world , " —John 17:23, 24 .    O most comforting truths of God's word! how ancient is the love of God to His church! That God should love us miserable sinners at all is amazing; but that He should love us with the very same everlasting unchangeabl...

" And He that sat upon the throne said,  Behold, I make all things new." -Revelation 21:5 [KJV] My soul! thou hast been engaged in the morning of the new year, with contemplating the eternal and unchanging glory of thy Jesus, in His person, work, offices, character, and relations, as in covenant engagements for thy welfare: and thou hast found Him to be an everlasting and secure foundation to rest upon, and dwell in, for time and for eternity. Come now, in the evening of the day, and look up to thy Redeemer in another precious point of view, and behold Him as creating all things new, while He Himself, in the eternity of His nature, remains for ever and unchangeably the same. Behold Him on His throne; and remember that one and the same throne belongs to God and the Lamb, to intimate the unity of the Father and the Son in nature and dignity; in will, worship, and power. When thou hast duly pondered this view of Jesus, next listen to the important words He proclaim...

"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." -Psalm 90:12 [KJV]   Casting our eyes back upon the year now past and gone, are there no mercies which claim a note of thankful praise? It is sweet to see the Lord's kind hand in providence, but sweeter far to view His outstretched hand in grace. Are we then so unwatchful or so unmindful of the Lord's gracious hand in His various dealings with our soul as to view the whole past twelve months as a dead blank in which we have never seen His face, nor heard His voice, nor felt His power?  "Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness?"   (Jeremiah 2:31,) the Lord tenderly asks. Has He been such to us also for twelve long and weary months? What! No help by the way, no tokens for good, no liftings-up of the light of His countenance, no visitations of His presence and power, no breakings-in of His goodness for all that long and dreary time—for dreary it must inde...