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

" My soul fainteth for Thy salvation: but I hope in Thy word." -Psalm 119:81 [KJV] David’s words furnish us with these observations: (1st.) That it is a sure evidence, that that sinner is savingly convinced of sin by the Spirit of God, when the salvation of Jesus is the desire of his heart.  (2d.) That the soul, though destitute of the joy of faith, in the assurance of interest in Christ’s salvation, yet may have the grace of hope in lively exercise.  (3d.) That in fainting frames of soul, the word of the Lord is the sure support of hope. Study these points: settle them in your hearts. The Lord give comfort from them! When a person faints, the blood returns to the heart: it ceaseth to flow through the veins. Hence, the spirits sink; nature fails; life and strength depart; the eyes see not; the hands cannot hold; the feet cannot walk. Have you not experienced it thus with your souls? Have you not found things at a very low ebb with you, just ready to give up all...

"For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." -Isaiah 57:15 [KJV] O what a mystery that God should have two dwelling-places! The "heaven of heavens" that "cannot contain Him," and the humble, broken, and contrite heart! But in order that the Lord of heaven might have a place in which He could live and lodge, God gives to His people gifts and graces; for He cannot come and dwell in the carnal mind, in our rebellious nature, in a heart full of enmity and wickedness; He therefore makes a lodging-place for Himself, a pavilion in which the King of glory dwells, the curtains of which are like the curtains of Solomon. His abode is that holy, divine nature which is communicated at regeneration— "the new man, which after God is create...

"By faith, Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones." -Hebrews 11:22 [KJV] See, my soul, the triumphs of faith in this lively instance of the patriarch Joseph! How many have I known, who, though they have given up their souls, with full assurance of faith, into the hands of Jesus, conscious of an interest in Him, and of redemption in His blood; have, nevertheless, felt fears and alarms for the moment in which the soul separates from the body, and have wanted faith concerning their bones ! Look at the patriarch when dying, and learn from him whence to derive strength and comfort for every emergency, and for every concern. "By faith : " is the one universal charm. Jesus is in every thing, and for every thing the believer can possibly need or require, all the way home; in death, as in life; concerning the bones, or concerning the soul. In Him the soul goes forth boldly from...