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

"He is near that justifieth me." -Isaiah 50:8 [KJV] My soul, hast thou ever considered one of the sweet properties of justification; not only in the fulness and completeness of it, and in all the several blessings connected with it, as it ariseth out of Jehovah in his own threefold character of persons; all and each taking part in it; but also in that which this portion points out, the nearness in which Jesus, the glorious Justifier, always stands to thee, and surrounds thee? Sit down, this evening, and contemplate the subject of justification in this point of view, for it is indeed most blessed.   All the persons of the Godhead have, and are engaged in making it effectual to every poor sinner, so as to give the mind always somewhat to rest upon, in the assurance of it. God the Father is the source and fountain of it, not only in having provided it in His dear Son, but also as having by the justification of all the Redeemer's work, to all intents and purposes, justified

"For it became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." - Hebrews 2:10 [KJV] When, with believing eyes, we can view God the Son as the eternal salvation of all whom the Father gave unto Him; when we can see Him, by the eye of faith, coming down into this lower world, taking our nature into union with His own Divine Person; when, by faith, we can accompany the Man of Sorrows into the gloomy garden of Gethsemane, or behold Him groaning, bleeding, and dying on the cross, an object of ignominy and shame, and believe that in this way, and this alone, salvation could be wrought out, O, what a view it gives us of the demerit and awful nature of sin, that nothing short of the incarnation of God's only begotten Son, nothing short of such a tremendous sacrifice could put away sin, and bring the elect back unto God!   On the one hand, as we take a glance at the suf