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

"Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience, by the things which He suffered." -Hebrews 5:8 [KJV] My soul! behold what a precious verse of scripture is here! How blessedly doth it set forth thy Redeemer! See here what an example Jesus shews to all His people, and how sweetly accommodating is that example to every case and circumstance, into which any of them can be brought! Surely, if any might have done without going into such a school of suffering, for the purpose of learning, it must have been Jesus; but yet even Jesus would not. And wouldest thou, my soul, after such an illustrious pattern, desire to be excused? Hath not Jesus dignified it, and made it blessed? Oh! the honour of following His steps.   There is another beauty in this scripture. The apostle, in a verse or two preceding, took notice of Jesus in His human nature, that He sought not, as such, the high priest's office uncalled. "Christ (saith He) glorified not Himself, to be made an high priest, ...

"We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." - Acts 14:22 [KJV] What are the promises? Are not all the promises suited to the Lord's poor and needy family? What are the promises of pardon, except to the guilty? What are promises of salvation, except to the lost? What are promises of consolation, except to the afflicted? What are promises of grace, except to those who feel themselves altogether undone? Thus it is "through much tribulation" we enter into the sweetness of the promises. Then they come with power into the heart; they are manifested with life and feeling to the soul; and we begin, like Jeremiah of old, to "find God's word and eat it;" and feel it to be the very joy and rejoicing of our heart.  This is the effect of passing through tribulation in providence and in grace,—of cutting trials; of severe, harassing temptations; of frowns from the world; of blows from sinners and saints; of learning the workings of a hea...