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

"And the king said unto Esther at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed." -Esther 5:6 [KJV] My soul, thou hast lately been at the banquet of wine indeed, even of the Redeemer's blood, which Jesus holds at His table; and didst thou not behold the numberless petitioners who attended there with thyself? Surely, if the Persian king made so generous an offer to Esther, to perform her petition, be it what it might, to the half of his kingdom; thy Jesus, thy heavenly King; with Whom are all the treasures, and the unsearchable riches of grace and glory, did not suffer a poor humble petitioner to go empty away. Tell me, ye that attended there, did ye not find the King most gracious? How went the matter with you? I pray you tell me. Did the poor man find Jesus indeed rich; and did the trembling sinner, under the apprehensions of wrath, find himself delivered by Him ...

"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren."   -I John 3:14 [KJV] The Lord's people in their early days have a measure of heavenly love. Though perhaps they cannot say that Jesus is theirs; though they dare not declare they shall certainly go to heaven when they die; though they sometimes cannot even assert that the work of grace is really begun upon their souls; yet there is love manifested in them to God's word, God's people, God's servants, and God's truth. There is in them, in their weakest and tenderest days, a separation from the world, a casting-in of their lot amongst the people of God, a going-out in the tenderness of their heart and affection towards them. We see this in Ruth: though she was a poor heathen idolatress, no sooner was her heart touched by the finger of God, than she clave to Naomi.   Divine love can only spring from the teachings and operations of God upon the heart. Our "carnal mind is enmi...