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

"How fair and how pleasant art Thou, O love, for delights!" -Song of Solomon 7:6 [KJV]   My soul! thou hast been refreshed, many an evening, through grace, in beholding thy Lord, both in His person, and in His comprehensive fulness for His redeemed; nor wilt thou be without refreshment this evening, if thy Lord, in His sweet influences, be with thee, to make what is said in this lovely scripture, life and spirit in thine heart. They are the words of Jesus; and they express the love and complacency of delight which Jesus takes in His church. Surely nothing can be more blessed, than to see the high value the Son of God puts upon the church, which the Father gave Him, endeared as it is yet more in being the purchase of His blood! But what astonishment is it to the soul of a poor sinner, to be told, and by the lip of truth, that sinners are fair in Jesus'  eyes! "Thou art fair, O love, yea, pleasant."    Now remember, my soul, and in that remembrance let...

"O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted." -Isaiah 54:11 [KJV]   The Lord here compares His suffering Church to a ship at sea, under bare poles, labouring in a heavy storm, driven out of her course by contrary winds, as was Paul's case in the Adriatic, and doubtful whether she will ever reach the harbour; as the hymn says, "Half a wreck by tempests driv'n." What a picture of a tempest-tossed soul! Sun and stars beclouded, compass lost, chart useless, pilot absent, and breakers ahead! Many, very many of the Lord's dear family are thus "tossed with tempest;" some with a tempest of doubts and fears; others with a tempest of lust and corruptions; some with a tempest of rebellion and fretfulness; others with a storm of guilt and despondency, or with gloomy forebodings and dismal apprehensions.    Thus they are driven from their course, their sun and stars all obscured; no clear evidences, no bright manifestations; da...

"It is necessary that they [ the sheep ] should be taught to follow, and not stray away into the unfenced fields of wheat which lie so temptingly on either side.  The shepherd calls from time to time to remind them of his presence.  They know his voice and follow on; but if a stranger call, they stop, lift up their heads in alarm, and if the call is repeated, they turn and flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers.  This is not the fanciful costume of a parable; it is simple fact.  I have made the experiment often." -Thompson, from Vincent’s Words Studies in the New Testament, vol.2, p.189

—One mediator between God and man, the man CHRIST JESUS. - I Timothy 2:5 [KJV]   O my fellow sinners, I heartily congratulate your soul and my own for this blessed truth! Lord help us to live upon it in our consciences from day to day. For it is not a speculative, but an experimental truth. It enters into the very essence of our faith, is the very life of our hope—lies at the foundation of our peace—and is the very source of every blessing and comfort. If we are not continually looking to this ONE mediator JESUS, we lose the peace of faith, the comfort of hope, the fellowship of love, and get into perplexity of mind. Then, we do not draw nigh to God with confidence, stand before Him with boldness, nor cheerfully walk with Him in love and holiness.    Consider, (1st.) A mediator stands as a middle person, interposing between two parties at variance, to make peace and reconciliation. This, Christ hath perfectly done. He hath for ever made peace by the blood of...

"By faith, the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace." -Hebrews 11:31 [KJV]    It were a pity to disconnect what the Holy Ghost hath joined; and as the relation of the destruction accomplished by faith on the walls of Jericho, is followed in the scripture history, with an account of a deliverance, from the same principle, in this wonderful woman, who was an harlot, do thou, my soul, let thy last evening's meditation on the one, be followed up in this, by the exercise of thy devout thoughts on the other; for both are expressly intended to one and the same purpose, which is to encourage the Lord's people to be "followers of them, who now, through faith and patience, inherit the promises."   What extraordinary events are there in the scripture account of Rahab, the harlot; that such a woman, and an harlot, should be distinguished with such grace! That in such a city, even an accursed city...

"What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall He teach in the way that He shall choose." -Psalm 25:12 [KJV] In all the multiplicity and variety of circumstances that have distressed the children of God, has the Lord ever taken a wrong step? Though He has baffled nature, though He has disconcerted reason, though He has turned our plans upside down, though perhaps He has done the thing that we most feared, and thwarted every natural purpose and inclination of our heart— can we say that He has erred? that He has made a mistake? that He has acted unwisely? that He has not done that which is for our spiritual good? Murmuring, rebellious, unbelieving heart, hold thy peace! Shall man, foolish man, a worm of the earth, a creature of a day, lift up his puny voice and say that God can mistake? Your path is very dark, very intricate, very perplexed; you cannot see the hand of God in the trial that is now resting upon you; you cannot believe that it will work together fo...