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

"Being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ."    -I Corinthians 9:21  [KJV] Sit down my soul, this evening, and ponder over this blessed distinction which the apostle makes between the lawless conduct of those, who, from a mere conviction of the truth in the head, but who never felt the influences of it in their heart, hold the truth in unrighteousness; and those who, while conscious of being under the law to Christ, are not without law to God.   To thee, my soul, who hast been brought under the condemnation of God's holy law, and hast been enabled, through sovereign grace, to take refuge in the person, blood, and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ; to thee, justification by faith, so far from relaxing thine obedience to the law of God, has proved the best of all motives to the practice of it. Thou knowest thyself to be bought with a price; and therefore, as the Lord's property, both by His purchase, and thy voluntary surrender, it is thy desire ab...

"Who loved me, and gave Himself for me." - Galatians 2:20 [KJV] Many of the saints of God may not be so highly favoured as to take up into their lips Paul's language of strong, personal assurance. They may hope, and at times may rise beyond a hope, into a sweet confidence, by the shining in of the Sun of righteousness, that the Son of God has loved them, and given Himself for them. But the strength of Paul's persuasion and the full expression of his confidence so far outstrip both their assurance and their language, that many real saints of God confess they come short both in heart and tongue. Yet their coming short of this blessed certainty as an enjoyed reality in the heart, and as a declared confidence by the mouth—for conscience and tongue must move together where God works— does not affect the fact.   Clouds and mists sometimes obscure the sun, but they do not blot him out of the sky. So the mists and fogs of unbelief may obscure the Sun of righteousness, yet th...