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

"And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it." -Genesis 28:12 [KJV]   Visions of the night, such as the patriarchs were blessed with, serve to teach us how the Lord, in those early ages, watched over His people. And, my soul, I would have thee always take the sweet conclusion from the review of them, that if Jesus was thus mindful of His chosen then, depend upon it He is not less attentive now. There can be no difficulty, it should seem, interpreting this vision of the patriarch Jacob's ladder, after what Jesus told Nathaniel of the ascent and descent of the angels upon the Son of man, John 1:51 . Under such an authority, we need not hesitate to consider Christ as the only communication, the only medium of intercourse between heaven and earth; John 14:6 .   And if the patriarch saw, in a vision, a ladder, with its foot on the earth, and its top reaching to heave...

"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life."   -I Timothy 6:12 [KJV] It is through faith that the power whereby God keeps His people acts and is made known, and it is very instructive and encouraging to be able to trace in our own hearts the connection between the power of God and the actings of faith. We are not carried to heaven as passengers are carried by the express train to Holy land, so that if once in the carriage they may go to sleep, look out of the window, or read the newspaper without fear of losing their way, or not reaching their destination. Though kept by the power of God, we have to fight every step of the way .   It is this living, fighting, struggling, and yet eventually conquering faith, which sets the tried and exercised child of God at such a distance from the loose and careless doctrinal professor, who is hardened and emboldened to presume, and even walk in ways of sin and death by holding the doctrine of being kept by the power of God, wi...