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

"Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch! Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest. Thus shalt thou say unto him: the LORD  saith thus: Behold, that which I have built, will I break down; and that which I have planted, I will pluck up, even this whole land. And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not."   - Jeremiah 45:2-5 [KJV] Here, my soul! take an instruction, and a blessed one it is, when applied by the Holy Ghost, suited for God's people in all ages of the church, and in all generations, At all seasons, it is unbecoming in a believer in Jesus to have a mind hankering after things of the world, which the carnal seek; but the evil is increased in times of general calamity. Baruch, though the Lord's servant, yet felt too much desire of the world's ease. My soul, learn to avoid every thing which may lead to an attachment to things below; tha...

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." -Romans 8:28 [KJV] To look at all our varied circumstances; and then to believe that if we are the lovers of God, all things we experience are working together for our spiritual good, what a view does it give us of the wisdom, grace, and power of a wonder-working God! And we are to measure this good, not by what the creature thinks, but by what God Himself has declared to be good in His word, and what we have felt to be good in our soul's experience. Have your trials humbled you, made you meek and lowly? They have done you good. Have they stirred up a spirit of prayer in your bosom, made you sigh, cry, and groan for the Lord to appear, visit, or bless your soul? They have done you good. Have they opened up those parts of God's word which are full of mercy and comfort to His afflicted people? Have they stripped off the covering...

"Men ought always to pray, and not to faint."   - Luke 18:1 [KJV]   Then, there can be no room for despair; for prayer exports wants, and imports blessings. But our dear Lord knows, there is in us, at all times, a backwardness to prayer; this He would remove. It arises from fainting; this He would prevent. Therefore He opposes prayer to fainting; for fainting prevents praying. Have you not found it so? When weary and faint in your mind, when your spirits are oppressed, your frame low and languid, you have thought, this is not a time for prayer. Yea, but it is. Pray always.    Now, sigh out the burden of your heart and the sorrows of your spirit; now, though in broken accents, breathe your complaints into your Father’s ear; now, cry to Him who loveth you, and careth for you with the love and care of the most affectionate parent. What makes us faint? Do troubles and afflictions? here is a reviving cordial: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will delive...

"And Peter said unto Him, Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?" -John 13:6 [KJV]   My soul! dost thou want some sweet, some tender, some more than ordinarily interesting view of thy Jesus, this evening, to draw out all the finer feelings in love and adoration of thy Redeemer? Look at Him then in the moment in which this scripture represents Him, in His lowliness and meekness, washing the disciples' feet. Had I the power of drawing the most endearing portrait, Jesus should be my one and only object; and for a subject of the most finished kind, the humbleness and tenderness of Jesus, the Lord of life and glory, washing poor fishermen's feet, should be the picture.    And what, my soul, tends if possible, infinitely more to endear and bring home to the heart this unparalleled condescension and grace of Jesus, is, that it was, as the evangelist relates it, at a time when Jesus knew that all things were given by His Father into His hands: that is, all things relatin...

"I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." -Galatians 1:12 [KJV]   When I speak of a revelation of Christ, I am not contending for anything visionary. Dreams, voices, appearances in the air, sights and sounds, crosses in the sky, and apparitions at the bedside, I must leave to others. I believe that for the most part they are the portion of visionaries and enthusiasts, for we have all these in the visible Church of God, as well as Pharisees and hypocrites, Arminians and Antinomians.    I will not indeed deny that the Lord may have wrought by them in some peculiar instances, as in the cases of Augustine and Colonel Gardiner. But taking the generality of God's people and the ordinary mode of divine operation, the revelation of Christ to the soul is a gracious internal discovery by the power of the Spirit, revealing Him to the eyes of faith. Nothing is seen or heard by the bodily senses; and yet His glorious P...

"His name shall be called Counsellor." -Isaiah 9:6 [KJV] Litigious spirits are fond of law. Paul absolutely forbids the brethren of Christ going to law one with another, (I Corinthians 6:7.) Among other reasons this is the greatest. They are concerned in a suit, which will last their whole lives, and which requires all their time and attention. Though their cause has been tried again and again: though they have gained cause after cause, yet their adversary continues as litigious as ever. He is continually accusing them, and preferring bills of indictment against them. He sets the world upon us. He stirs up the flesh in us. He brings heinous charges against us. He is the accuser of the brethren before God, and to our own consciences night and day, (Revelation 12:10.) Have you heard nothing from Satan your adversary and accuser this day? If you have, be not dejected. Let him accuse, say, and do his worst. It is our unspeakable comfort, we have a wonderful Counsel...