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

In Thy name, O Lord, assembling, We Thy people now draw near; Teach us to rejoice with reverence; Speak and may Thy servants hear. Let Thy word be food to nourish, Those whom Thou hast called Thine own; May Thy people's graces flourish, All our trust in Thee alone. Now with joy we come before Thee, Seek Thy face, Thy mercies own; Lord of life, of light, and glory, Bless this church before Thy throne. While our days on earth are lengthened, May we live them, Lord, in Thee, Cheered by hope and daily strengthened, 'Till Thy glory there we see. -Tune: Jesus Calls Us

The wonder of grace and the glory of God is that He is at the same time a “ just God and a Savior” (Isa iah 45:21) . All who look to Christ Jesus as their only righteousness do so because God has made them righteous in Him. He has given them faith to believe on Christ and thus is both “ just and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus” (Rom ans 3:26) . The thought of the Holy God making a sinner like me righteous is beyond human comprehension. Thank God it is not beyond believing when God gives us faith to do so. Believing on Christ, I declare that God has not only saved me through Christ and Him crucified but that He was right to do so! All to the praise of the glory of His grace. Men can have a “grace” that is less if they want but give me that grace that reigns in righteousness. Man fell and sin entered in on a just principle that, “ even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom ans 5:21) . This truly is good news.

"And they shall spring up as among the grass." -Isaiah 44:4 [KJV] The Lord's people are spoken of here as at once "springing up" under the influence of the water poured and of the floods given. We cannot mistake the spiritual meaning of the figure, as it is so clear and certain. In those burning regions where rain does not fall at all seasons from the skies, as in our dripping clime, the effect of copious showers falling upon the parched vegetation is almost miraculous. A few days completely reverse the scene, and on every side vegetation springs up as if it started with gigantic growth out of the bosom of the heated soil. To this the figure in the text alludes, "They shall spring up," that is, Zion's children, "as among the grass," with all that young and active growth which so clearly manifests the power and the blessing of God.   But what may we understand by the expression "grass?" May we not interpret it as emblematic