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

To exalt the Lord Jesus, to comfort His beloved people, and to benefit our fellow-men-- should be the great object of our lives. For this purpose we were . . .   chosen by the Father,   redeemed by the blood of the Son,   and are sanctified by the Holy Spirit. To accomplish this end . . .   grace is given us,   gifts are conferred upon us,   and life is continued to us. We only live consistently --as we live for the benefit of others. No Christian should make SELF his main end; therefore the apostle says, "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."   If we are influenced by the grace of God, if we study to commend ourselves to God, if we are ruled by the Word of God-- our principal object will be, to "do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." Upon this, we shall keep the eye steadily fixed, toward this, we shall bend all our energies, and upon this, w...

"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." -Romans 5:21 [KJV] This is the mercy for mourning saints who are sighing and groaning under a body of sin and death, that God has decreed that grace not only may reign, but that it must reign. Were it left to us, we could no more rescue ourselves from the dominion of sin than the children of Israel could deliver themselves from the house of Egyptian bondage. But they sighed and groaned by reason of the bondage, and their cry came up unto God. He had respect unto His covenant, and looked upon them and delivered them [ Exodus 2:23-25 ] . So God has determined on behalf of His people that sin shall not be their eternal ruin; that it shall not plunge them into crime after crime, until it casts them at last into the gulf of endless woe, but that grace "shall reign through righteousness unto eternal life."   But it must reign here as w...