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

"...of one Jesus , which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive ."   -Acts 25:19 [KJV] And well might Paul affirm it; for Jesus, after His resurrection, had spoken to Paul from heaven! Well might John, the beloved apostle, give the church his repeated evidence to it; for Jesus not only made his appearance to John, in common with the other apostles, but in the island of Patmos appeared to him alone, and proclaimed himself under those glorious distinctions of character: "Fear not; I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore!" Revelation 1:17, 18. And well might Peter testify to the same, as he did in the family of Cornelius, when he had such indisputable proofs for himself and the rest of his brethren, the apostles, who were "the chosen witnesses of His resurrection: we did eat and drink with Him (saith Peter) after He arose from the dead " Acts 10:41.  But, my soul! mark, in the contempt with which this blessed truth is spoke...

"But the salvation of the righteous is of the L ORD : He is their strength in the time of trouble." - Psalm 37:39 [KJV] Times of trouble try the saint of God, and they are meant to do so; that is the very purpose why they are sent, for "the Lord trieth the righteous." Still the promise holds good: "He is  their strength  in the time of trouble." When He breaks up the fountains of the great deep of sin and iniquity, He strengthens His people that they may not be carried away by the flood. When He hides His face, He strengthens them to say, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." When temptation besets them sore, when they are put into the furnace, the Lord is with them there, as He was with the three men whom Nebuchadnezzar cast in. The Son of God is there with them, so that not a hair of their head is singed, nor does the smell of fire pass upon them (Daniel 3:27) .   In all their afflictions He is afflicted, and by sharing it with the...