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

"Being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ."   -I Corinthians 9:21 [KJV]   Sit down my soul, this evening, and ponder over this blessed distinction which the apostle makes between the lawless conduct of those, who, from a mere conviction of the truth in the head, but who never felt the influences of it in their heart, hold the truth in unrighteousness; and those who, while conscious of being under the law to Christ, are not without law to God.   To thee, my soul, who hast been brought under the condemnation of God's holy law, and hast been enabled, through sovereign grace, to take refuge in the person, blood, and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ; to thee, justification by faith, so far from relaxing thine obedience to the law of God, has proved the best of all motives to the practice of it. Thou knowest thyself to be bought with a price; and therefore, as the Lord's property, both by His purchase, and thy voluntary surrender, it is ...

"Who loved me, and gave Himself for me." -Galatians 2:20 [KJV] Many of the saints of God may not be so highly favoured as to take up into their lips Paul's language of strong, personal assurance. They may hope, and at times may rise beyond a hope, into a sweet confidence, by the shining in of the Sun of righteousness, that the Son of God has loved them, and given Himself for them. But the strength of Paul's persuasion and the full expression of his confidence so far outstrip both their assurance and their language, that many real saints of God confess they come short both in heart and tongue. Yet their coming short of this blessed certainty as an enjoyed reality in the heart, and as a declared confidence by the mouth—for conscience and tongue must move together where God works—does not affect the fact.  Clouds and mists sometimes obscure the sun, but they do not blot Him out of the sky. So the mists and fogs of unbelief may obscure the Sun of righteousne...

"He hath put a new song in my mouth."   - Psalm 40:3 [KJV] Some sing, when they have cause to be sad: others are sad, when they have reason to sing and rejoice. Some go on merrily to hell; others go on sorrowing to heaven. When the grace of Jesus is in the heart, a new song is put into the mouth. This is a song of new covenant love. This we are to sing all our days on earth, and for ever and ever in glory. In passing the streets, we meet with many occurrences, which remind us of our Beloved. It is sweet to spiritualize carnal things. I was much delighted with a carnal song, which concludes thus:  "All the time is thrown away, But what is spent in love."   I thought this was very true of the love of our Saviour. This Psalm is applied to Christ in His manhood state (see Hebrews ch. 10.) A new song was put in His mouth on our accounts. He says, “Many shall see it, and fear, and trust in the LORD.” See hence, our spiritual joy springs from seeing Christ’s ...

"Now thou art commanded, this do ye: take your waggons out of the land of Egypt, for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours." -Genesis 45:19-20 [KJV]   What effect must the first news of Joseph being alive, and his exaltation at the right hand of Pharaoh, have had upon the mind of the patriarch Jacob! And what a flood of overwhelming joy must have broke in upon the poor old man, when convinced of the certainty of the account! But what are all these feelings of nature, compared to the triumphs of grace, when the poor sinner is first made acquainted with the wonders of redemption, wrought out and accomplished by one that is his Brother, even our spiritual Joseph, the Lord Jesus Christ?   Yes! Thou risen and exalted Saviour! By faith I behold Thee on the right hand of the Majesty on high; and all power is Thine in heaven and on earth. I hear Thee giving comm...

"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." -John 6:63 [KJV]   It is through the word that the soul in the first instance is cleansed. It is by the word that the soul is begotten again unto eternal life. It is, too, by the word applied to the heart that the blessed Spirit from time to time keeps alive communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. Is it not so in vital experience? Some passage of Scripture drops into the soul, some promise comes warm into the heart, and as it comes it makes way for itself. It enters the heart, breaks down the feelings, melts the soul, and draws forth living faith to flow unto and centre alone in the "altogether lovely."     There are many times and seasons when the word of God is to us a dead letter; we see and feel no sweetness in it. But there are other times, through mercy, when the word of God is made sweet and precious to us; when we...

"When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fainteth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them."   - Isaiah 41:17 [KJV] It is common to hear people say, ‘Such-an-one is a great believer.’ What idea strikes our mind of such a person? Are we not apt to think he is very rich in himself, having a vast stock of inherent righteousness? This is wrong: he is just the reverse. He is one, who knows himself to be poor and needy. His great faith leads him out of himself, to the great God and our Saviour, to receive, out of his fulness, grace upon grace . He confesses, I am a poor and needy sinner, living upon the unsearchable riches of Christ .    The sight of our poverty, and sense of our need, the Holy Spirit keeps up in our minds all through life. This makes Christ, and His riches of grace, precious to us. Some say, Such-an-one is only a seeker of the Lord. This is just what God’s children are al...