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

"And thou shalt say unto them, This is the offering made by fire, which ye shall offer unto the LORD; two lambs of the first year, without spot, day by day, for a continual burnt-offering. The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer at even." -Numbers 28:3, 4  [KJV] Pause, my soul, over the scriptural account of this solemn transaction! Think how infinitely important in the sight of Jehovah, was, and is, that vast sacrifice of the Lamb of God "slain from the foundation of the world," which every day, morning and evening, the Lord commanded to be set forth in an offering made by fire. With what exactness did the church observe this daily rite of oblation! How scrupulous were all true Israelites in this service! And how fully did it proclaim to them the doctrine that "without shedding of blood there was no remission!"     Who that reads the solemn precept, and remarks the strictness of Israel in their obedience to it,

"For we are His workmanship." -Ephesians 2:10 [KJV] Consider what is here declared of those who are saved by grace through faith—that they are God's "workmanship"—the fruit and product of His creative hand. All, then, that we are and all that we have that is spiritual, and as such acceptable to God, we owe to the special operation of His power. There is not a thought of our heart, word of our lips, or work of our hands, which is truly holy and heavenly, simple and sincere, glorifying to God or profitable to man, of which He is not by His Spirit and grace the divine and immediate Author.  How beautifully is this expressed by the Church of old, and what an echo do her accents find in every gracious heart: "But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and Thou our potter; and we all are the work of Thy hand" (Isaiah 64:8) . How suitable, how expressive is the figure of the clay and the potter. Look at the moist clay under the potter's hand