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

Winston Churchill said, “Truth is incontrovertible.  Panic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, and malice may distort it, but there it is.”  Let me use similar words with respect to the truth of God.   The gospel is irrefutable!  Man’s pride may resent it, his ignorance may reject it, and his wisdom may despise it, but there it is. “ The word of the Lord endureth forever.  And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”   -I Peter 1:25 [KJV]

" He who endureth to the end shall be saved." -Matthew 10:22 [KJV] We have now arrived to the end of another year. Look back with humility. Look up with hope. Look forward with joy. For consider what great things God hath done for us. “Now is our salvation nearer, than when we first believed , ” (Romans 13:11.) Salvation, O the joyful sound! But, before the Sun of righteousness arose upon us, and displayed the glory of His finished salvation to our hearts, alas! what dark, proud, ignorant notions of salvation, did we entertain? Instead of seeing righteousness as a gift by Jesus Christ, and justification of life coming by free gift, and eternal life the gift of God, through Jesus Christ, (Romans 5:17-18 & 6:23.) we vainly thought that salvation was to be obtained by our fulfilling certain terms and conditions.  In our natural state of blindness, before we saw Jesus, we thought, enduring to the end, was the condition of being saved. Now we see we are “saved ...

"All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." -I Peter 1:24, 25 [KJV] All flesh, and everything that springs from the flesh, and is connected with the flesh, is as grass, which, for a time, looks green and flourishing, but touched with the mower's scythe, or scorched by the midday sun, soon withers and fades away. Such is all flesh, without exception, from the highest to the lowest. As in nature, some grass grows thicker and longer than other, and makes, for a while, a brighter show, yet the scythe makes no distinction between the light crop and the heavy, so the scythe of death mows down with equal sweep the rich and the poor, and lays in one common grave all the children of men. You have seen sometimes in the early spring the grass in flower, and you have noticed t...

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen." -II Corinthians 13:14 [KJV] Here, my soul, set up thy pillar. Baptised as thou hast been into the joint name, love, praise, and adoration, of the Holy Three in One ; and blessed as thou hast been, and art, in their joint mercies, grace, and favour; here every day, and all the day, seek thy portion and blessing, as the united source of all thy salvation. End the year, and begin the year, under those precious tokens of God in Christ; and daily keep up a lively communion and friendship with each, as the blessed cause of all thine happiness. Jehovah, in His threefold character of person, is engaged to perfect what He hath begun: and it is, and should be thy happiness to be for ever viewing the testimonies of it, in the holy scriptures of truth.  God thy Father hath so loved the church in Jesus, as to give Him to the church, and the church to Him; a...

" Old things are passed away." -II Corinthians 5:17 [KJV] Such is the blessedness of every new creature in Christ. Every believer in Him is a new creature. Mind, St. Paul does not say, Old things are passing away, but are passed away. We are not to understand him in an absolute, but in a qualified sense. For if none were new creatures, till all old things were passed away, we should not find one on this side heaven. Now the year is nearly at an end, do not you find your old corruptions cleaving to you? Yea, the old man still whole and alive in you, just as you did at the beginning of the year, or at the beginning of days, when you first believed on Jesus, and were made a new creature in Him?  Do not you also see just the same reason to comply with these exhortations, as at first? “Put off the old man which is corrupt,” (Ephesians 4:22.) “Cleanse yourself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit,” (II Corinthians 7:1.) Why, if so, how can it be said, “Old t...

"Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof." -Ecclesiastes 7:8 [KJV] Thus saith the wise man, and it is often true in natural things, but invariably so in divine. Rarely at first can we foresee what will be the issue of any matter which we take in hand. We may begin it with much hope, and find in the end those hopes sadly disappointed. We may begin it with much fear, and find from the event those fears utterly groundless. Whatever we take in hand it is very rare that our expectations are fully carried out, for we have again and again to learn that "man's heart deviseth his way, but the L ORD directeth his steps , " and that there are many devices in a man's heart, nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that and that only, shall stand. But so far as we are amongst the family of God, and as such are under especial guidance and divine teaching and leading, whether our first expectations are accomplished or not, the end stamps wisdom...

"A building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." -II Corinthians 5:1 [KJV] My soul, after thy last evening's meditation on the shortness and unsatisfying nature of life, let thy present thoughts be occupied in beholding, with steady faith, the great contrast to it: and see whether thy confidence be as strong, and well founded, as the apostle's. His was not a mere hope only, but an assurance in Jesus. "We know, (saith he) that if this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."  Dost thou know this? Is Jesus thy foundation? Hath God thy Father built for thee? And doth the Holy Ghost set His almighty hand to the work, in sweetly witnessing to the writings, and sealing the deed, that it is thine? Oh! the blessedness to know this, to live already in the enjoyment of it; and while the pins of thy earthly tabernacle are daily loosening, and taking out, to be l...

" When Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." -Colossians 3:4 [KJV] I have read a book consisting of stories, and to be told to the Sultan of Arabia, to prevent a bloody design of his against his Sultaness. The relater of the tales was her own sister. She always contrived to leave off in the midst of her story, which he was so delighted with, as to promise not to destroy her sister, till it was ended. Thus by protracting the execution, she saved her sister’s life. Methinks there is no end to the history of Christ. Every fresh relation of Him delights the believing soul, and excites an inclination to hear more of Him again and again. For He averted the bloody execution of law and justice against us.—Every fresh tale of Him strengthens our faith of salvation by Him: sets our minds more and more against every evil, and stimulates us to every good. For, Christ is our life.  O soul, can you ever believe too much of Him, o...

"I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing." - John 15:5 [KJV] The great secret in religion—that secret which is only with those who fear the Lord and to whom He shews His covenant—is first to get sensible union with the Lord, and then to maintain it. But this union cannot be got except by some manifestation of His Person and work to our heart, joining us to Him as by one Spirit. This is the espousal of the soul, whereby it is espoused to one husband as a chaste virgin to Christ. From this espousal comes fellowship, or communion with Christ; and from this communion flows all fruitfulness, for it is not a barren marriage. But this union and communion cannot be maintained except by abiding in Christ; and this can only be by His abiding in us. "Abide in Me, and I in you." But how do we abide in Him? Mainly by faith, hope, and love, for these are the three...

"Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been." -Genesis 47:9 [KJV] My soul, in looking back upon thy life, mayest thou not well take up the same language as the patriarch, and confess that "few and evil have thy days been?" Surely the review appears like the heath of a desert, "that knoweth not when good cometh!" Out of Jesus, and considered without an eye to Him, there is not a single circumstance of real merit, or of real happiness to be seen. The whole of life, from the days of childhood, through all its intermediate stages, presents but one view of vanity and vexation of spirit? Precious Jesus! what would the arithmetic of life have been in the now departing year, or in the departure of myself from the world, but for Thee? Hadst Thou not graciously sought me, when I sought not Thee: hadst Thou not opened to me the good old way, trodden by the patriarchs, and guided and held up my feet in following them; had not Jesus been my ...

" Ye are dead, and your life is hid with CHRIST in GOD." - Colossians 3:3 [KJV] We are apt to mistake the words, and pervert the meaning of scripture. This charge is brought against us by Jeremiah: “Ye have perverted the words of the living God,” (chapter 23:36.) This dejects our souls, robs Christ of the glory of our hearts, and prevents our holy and comfortable walk in Him. See if this be not the case with respect to this text. Ye believers in Christ, are dead,  (1st.) “to the law by the body of Christ , ” (Romans 7:4.) Being one with Christ by faith, you are dead to all legal hopes, from your own works.  (2d.) Dead to sin, being baptized into Christ by His Spirit (Romans 6:3.)   (3d.) Dead to the world, being crucified with Christ, (Galatians 6:14.)   O says one, and another sincere soul, I am not thus dead. I have no true faith. I find sin alive in me—legal hopes and fears cleaves to me—and too much love of the world in me, to my grief and burde...

"For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake." -Philippians 1:29 [KJV] After the Lord, by His special work on the conscience, has called us to repentance and confession of sin, as well as to faith in Jesus; after He has called us to godly sorrow; to live according to the precepts of the gospel; and to walk in the ordinances of His Church; He then calls us to suffer for and with Christ. But we cannot "suffer according to the will of God," that is, in a gospel sense and from gospel motives, till the Lord enables us in some measure to look to Him. The same Spirit, who calls the believer to walk in a path of suffering, strengthens and enables him to do so. To suffer aright, we must walk in the steps of the great Captain of our salvation, who "though a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which He suffered." The Father in this sense spared not His only-begotten Son, but led Him...

"The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer." -I Peter 4:7 [KJV] My soul, how hath the year been hastening from thee, and thou hastening in it from the world! Where are the days fled? They are gone to be numbered with the years beyond the flood; and thou art now standing as on the isthmus of time. "The end of all things is at hand." Friends are dying around thee, thou art dying thyself; yea, the world is dying: and the end of all things is at hand. In this state, my Lord, well may I look up to Thee! Circumstances so very solemn may well induce soberness, and watchfulness unto prayer. Yes! blessed Jesus! I would pray Thee to induce in me every suited state, that every faculty may be on the watch tower, waiting my Lord's coming.  Thou hast said: "Yet a little while, and He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry." Oh! then for grace to live by faith on Thee; and so to live, that when I change wor...

" Ye are all one in CHRIST JESUS." -Galatians 3:28 [KJV] Will a covetous man be contented with the notion that he is rich? If your body was in pain, would it give you ease, to think of a remedy, without experiencing its salutary effects? What avails all the refined notions of eternal union, without experiencing that the soul is vitally united to Christ, by the power of the Spirit, through faith? O my soul, I charge thee not to rest satisfied, with the notion of the doctrine of union, without the comforts of the grace of being united to Christ, and being one with Him in heart and affection. O my Jesus, to Thee I look and pray, to find and feel more and more the sweet experience of this. Give it my soul, out of Thy fulness.  Consider, (1st.) The persons here spoken of, ye. Ye Jews, who had the form of godliness, without the power: ye Gentile sinners, who once had neither the form nor the power of Christianity: ye apostate sinners, who yesterday were haters of God...

"For we walk by faith, not by sight." - II Corinthians 5:7 [KJV] The nature of faith is to trust in the dark, when all appearances are against it; to trust that a calm will come, though the storm be overhead; to trust that God will appear, though nothing but evil be felt. It is tender, child-like, and therefore is an implicit confidence, a yielding submission, a looking unto the Lord. There is something filial in this; something heavenly and spiritual; not the bold presumption of the daring, nor the despairing fears of the desponding; but something beyond both the one and the other—equally remote from the rashness of presumption, and from the horror of despair. There is a mingling of holy affection connected with this trust, springing out of a reception of past favours, insuring favours to come; and all linked with a simple hanging and depending of the soul upon the Lord, because He is what He is. There is a looking to, and relying upon the Lord, because we hav...

"For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His." -Hebrews 4:10 [KJV] My soul, see to it, that among other blessed evidences of thine union and rest in Christ, thou hast this also "We which have believed," the apostle saith, "do enter into rest." Our dependence on, and knowledge of Jesus, are such, that we really and truly enjoy the blessings of redemption. And as God the Father, when He had finished creation, rested from all His works which He had made; and as Jesus, when He had finished redemption, entered into His glory; so true believers, when they have once found Christ, and redemption in His blood, no longer weary themselves in the works of sin, or the works of self-righteousness, by way of justification before God; but cease from every thing in self, and rest with complacency and delight in the rich, free, and full salvation that is by Christ. My soul, what sayest thou to this blessed...

" To reveal His Son in me." -Galatians 1:16 [KJV] From hence begins spiritual life: a life from God, in God, with God, and to God. By the gospel the Son of God is revealed to us. By the Spirit, He is revealed in us. External revelation by the word, and internal by the Spirit, are both necessary to salvation. Though St. Paul was separated from his mother’s womb, to be called by the grace of God, yet he had not this inward revelation of Jesus Christ to his heart, till he heard the external word of Christ with his ear, saying, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” (Acts 9:4.) Hence learn to prize, both the outward testimony of the word and the inward testimony of the Spirit.  Consider, (1st.) to reveal, signifies to discover, or make clear to a person, what he did not know before. So, (Philippians 3:15) “If in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal this unto you.” So the gospel is a revelation of Jesus Christ, without which we could never have known...

"The L ORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty." -Zephaniah 3:17 [KJV] What a mighty God we have to deal with! And what would suit our case but a mighty God? Have we not mighty sins? Have we not mighty trials? Have we not mighty temptations? Have we not mighty foes and mighty fears? And who is to deliver us from all this mighty host except the mighty God? It is not a little God (if I may use the expression) that will do for God's people. They need a mighty God because they are in circumstances where none but a mighty God can interfere in their behalf. Why, if you did not know feelingly and experimentally your mighty sins, your mighty trials, your mighty temptations, and your mighty fears, you would not want a mighty God. This sense of our weakness and His power, of our misery and His mercy, of our ruin and His recovery, of the aboundings of our sin and the superaboundings of His grace—a feeling sense, I say, of these opposite yet harmonious things brings...