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

Watchful and bold is the Christian’s motto. Watchful, to avoid sin; bold, to resist the enemies of his soul. For he is engaged in a righteous cause, animated by righteous hopes, made righteous by a righteous Lord from Whom he derives all his strength and courage. “In the LORD ( Jehovah the Lord Jesus Christ ) have I righteousness and strength” (Isaiah 45:24) . This is the glorying of his soul. It is not his own inherent strength, nor his own personal righteousness, that are the cause of his fortitude; but the arm of Jehovah is his shield, and the perfect righteousness of JESUS is his breastplate of defense against every enemy.  Being cleansed from guilt by the blood of JESUS, and clothed with His righteousness, by faith the soul experiences a holy boldness at a throne of grace—appeals against the fury of the enemy and oppressor—and finds supplies of strength in every time of need. This is the life of faith. So, believers grow strong, not in conceit of what they are in themselves, but

"These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful." - Revelation 17:14  [KJV] What an awful thing must sin, in its own nature be, which hath introduced such evil into the whole creation of God, in its consequences. One might have hoped, however, that the meek and gentle Lamb of God would have been exempt from the daring rebellion, and that sin would not have bid defiance and waged war against the peaceable, and holy, and harmless Jesus! But so far is this from being the case, that, in all probability, war first broke out in heaven against the person of God's dear Son, as man's glorious Head and Mediator, even before the deadly malignity manifested itself against God and His Christ upon earth, in tempting the first man and his wife in the garden of Eden, to rebel against God.     Pause, my soul, over this scripture. Who are they here describ