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

"...Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."   -I Timothy 1:9 [KJV] Have you any testimony that God has called you by His grace, quickened your soul into divine life, brought you under the curse of a condemning law, given you repentance for your sins, raised up a sigh and a cry in your breast for a sense of His pardoning love, brought you to the footstool of mercy, given you faith to believe in His dear Son, with any sweet hope that He has begun a gracious work upon your heart? Can you look back upon any never-to-be-forgotten period when the Lord, by His special and omnipotent grace, quickened your soul into divine life? For I do believe we never can forget the first sensations of the Spirit of God in His quickening movements upon the soul; when He, to use the figure of Moses, fluttereth over it as an eagle which stirreth up her nes

"I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it and come down to you?" -Nehemiah 6:3 [KJV] My soul, a very blessed instruction is held forth to thee, in these words. Nehemiah met with sad interruptions in his service, while building the Lord's house. Various were the attempts made by the enemies of God and his cause, to call him off from his labours. But this was his answer to all. Now, my soul, thou hast many enemies also, both from within and without; the world, and the powers of darkness, and thine own corruptions, are all in league to interrupt thy pursuit of divine things.   When, therefore, the Sanballats and the Geshems of the day invite thee to the villages, in the plain of Ono, here is thine answer: "Why should the work of the Lord cease, when the King's business requires dispatch?" Wherefore should the body, with all its corrupt affections, drag down the soul? Is it reasonable, is it proper to be