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

"My son, be strong in the grace that is in CHRIST JESUS."   -II Timothy 2:1 [KJV]   St. Paul had known what it was to be strong in vain confidence and self-righteous hopes: to be strong in rage and persecution against Christ and His people. But his soul had severely smarted for that. Now Christ had taken possession of his heart. He was all in all to him. He thought he could never enough recommend Him and His grace to his dear friends. O let us imitate him.    (1st.) The grace that is in Christ Jesus. Because of our low, mean, scanty thoughts of His rich grace, we are low in courage against our enemies, and weak in the comforts of our souls. Know, there is much more in this, than many weak Christians suppose, who unscripturally think Christ came into the world, to procure some grace for us, that He puts it into us, as men do seeds in a hot-bed, but leaves us to be faithful to it, and so to secure our own salvation. What kind of grace is this? Not saving grace. If th...

"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation." -Philippians 2:6, 7 [KJV] My soul, after all thy meditations upon the person of thy Lord, how very far short hast thou come in thy thoughts of the unequalled humility of the Son of God! Let thy present evening's contemplation be on this subject. But where, and at what part shall I enter upon it? Who shall speak, or what heart conceive the wonders contained in it! Blessed Spirit of all truth! do Thou glorify the Lord Jesus to my evening meditation, in this interesting view of His person.    He that, before all worlds, lay in the bosom of the Father, and was attended by the services of legions of angels, condescended to be made not only flesh, but in the likeness of sinful flesh; to be born in a stable, and to sleep in a manger; to advance in human intellect, and grow in wisdom and in stature; to labour for bread, and to gain that bread by the sweat of the bro...

“That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." -Hebrews 6:18 [KJV] If ever there was in your experience a season never to be forgotten of alarm, of fear, of terror, of guilt, of apprehension; and then when you scarcely knew what to do, think or say, there was a view opened up to you of a refuge in the Person and work, blood and righteousness of the Lord the Lamb; if as driven or drawn you fled to it, were kindly received, and found safe harbourage from guilt and doubt and fear, then you surely know what it is to have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before you. It is these, and these only, who are heirs of promise; and therefore how important it is to have had some personal experience of these things. How are we to know whether we possess the life of God in our soul, the grace of God in our heart, unless there has been some such fleeing ...

     "Grace is a provision for men who are so fallen that they cannot lift the ax of justice, so corrupt that they cannot change their own natures, so averse to God that they cannot turn to Him, so blind that they cannot see Him, so deaf that they cannot hear Him, so dead that He Himself must open their graves and lift them into resurrection." -G. S. Bishop

"The heirs of promise."   -Hebrews 6:17 [KJV] Consider, (1st.) An heir of promise, is one who has no just right, or legal title, to an inheritance; but as it is ensured to him, by the promise of the owner: just so the Lord makes sinners, who have no right, or title, to this heavenly inheritance, a free promise that they shall be heirs to it.    (2d.) When was this promise made? Before the world began, God who cannot lie, promised eternal life , (see Titus 1:2.)     (3d.) To whom could the promise be made, seeing man was not then created? It was not made to man, but for man: not for any thing in man: nor does the promise receive any stability, by any thing done by men. It was made in the eternal council and covenant, by God the Father, to His co-equal Son; for and in behalf of all the heirs of God.    (4th.) Who are the heirs of promise? God knows every one of them. We know their name: it is sinner . In the fulness of time, He makes them manifest, an...

"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" -Hebrews 1:14 [KJV] My soul, art thou an heir of salvation? Think then of thy high privilege. "If," saith an apostle, "we are children, then heirs, yea, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ , " Romans 8:17. Though in this life, we be in a state of childhood, and, under age, yet by adoption and grace, we are made "heirs of God." Not like men of the world, in their earthly portions, where only one in a family can be the heir, and that the first-born; but all the church are included, for the church itself is called "the first-born which are written in heaven , " Hebrews 12:23. And in this heaven-born inheritance, thou hast, my soul, if thou be a child of God, a portion in God thy Father; for all His people are a nation of spiritual priests, who, like Aaron of old, "have the LORD for their portion , " Numbers 18:2...