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

  “ Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read” -Isaiah 34:16 [KJV] Our Holy Bible contains the mind of God, the state of men, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners without Christ, and the happiness of believers in and with Christ. Its doctrine is holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its judgments are immutable. Read it to be wise unto salvation, believe it to be safe in the righteousness of God in Christ, and practice it to be godly. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s charter. Here Paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the ways of hell disclosed. God’s glory is its goal, Christ is its grand object, our good its design, and the redemption of God’s elect is its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, a river of pleasure....

  The lifeboat of free grace has put you on board the vessel of salvation, and that will convey you safely to the port of glory! Do not look at your spiritual destitution, or feebleness, or incapacity, or imperfections, but trust in your Pilot, rely on your Captain, and expect His mercy and merit to land you safe in Heaven at last! As imperfect as you now are, and as imperfect you will be, your dying prayer will still be, "God be merciful unto me — a sinner!" Hope in God! His mercy is great unto the heavens, His grace is as free as the air, His love is as changeless as His nature, His promise is as immutable as His love. Hope in God, for you shall yet praise Him. He will save you for His own sake, and present you before assembled worlds as a monument of His mercy, and a trophy of His grace! -preacher James Smith, 1864 A.D.

"Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end." -Proverbs 19:20 [KJV] What lessons we need day by day to teach us anything aright, and how it is for the most part "line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little." O what slow learners, what dull, forgetful scholars, what ignoramuses, what stupid blockheads, what stubborn pupils! Surely no scholar at a school, old or young, could learn so little of natural things as we seem to have learnt of spiritual things after so many years' instruction, so many chapters read, so many sermons heard, so many prayers put up, so much talking about religion. How small, how weak is the amount of grace compared with all we have read and heard and talked about.   But it is a mercy that the Lord saves whom He will save, and that we are saved by free grace, and free grace alone, through the blood and righteousness of the Son of God. "He of God is made unto us wisdom and...