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

" Jesus said, Ye know not what ye ask . " —Mark 10:38 [KJV] Strange! what, James and John, two disciples of a despised and rejected Master, Who had not where to lay His head, yet dreaming of earthly pomp and worldly grandeur, and petitioning for the highest pitch of worldly glory? yes, nothing less than the right hand of preeminence, and the left hand of power, would suit them. Human nature, how earthly, carnal, and selfish! How low are we fallen! yet how lofty in pride! What are the best of men, when left to their own spirits? Truly, we know not what to pray for, as we ought. Jesus, Master, instruct us, what we are called to! Teach us what to pray for. Let Thy word, "My kingdom is not of this world , " be ever uppermost in our minds! Poor Baruch could not be honored of God, and commissioned to read the roll to the princes of Judah, but he thinks, Now I am somebody; I have got in the way of earthly honor and preferment. But his brother Jeremiah is se...

"I am the bright and morning Star." -Revelation 22:16 [KJV] How oft, in some dark wintry morning, like the present, have I beheld the morning star shining with loveliness, when all the other lights of heaven were put out! But how little did I think of Thee, Thou precious light and life of men! Thou art indeed the bright and morning Star in the firmament of Thy church, in Thy word, and in the souls of Thy redeemed. Henceforth, dearest Jesus, let the morning visit of this sweet planet to our darkened earth remind me of Thee, amidst all the gross darkness by which in nature we are surrounded. Sure pledge of day as this beneficial star is, yet not more sure than Thou in the day-dawn and day-star of prophecy, which ministered to Thy coming; and in the twilight of grace upon the soul, the forerunner of a glorious day.  Be Thou my morning song, my noontide joy, my evening meditation, and midnight light. Through all the wintry seasons of my pilgrimage, shine forth, swee...

"Preserved in Jesus Christ, and called." -Jude 1 [KJV] What a mercy it is for God’s people that before they have a vital union with Christ, before they are grafted into Him experimentally, they have an eternal, immanent union with Him before all worlds.  It is this eternal union that brings them into time existence. It is by virtue of this eternal union that they come into the world at such a time, at such a place, from such parents, under such circumstances, as God has appointed. It is by virtue of this eternal union that the circumstances of their time-state are ordained.  By virtue of this eternal union they are preserved in Christ before they are called ; they cannot die till God has brought about a vital union with Christ. Whatever sickness they may pass through, whatever injuries they may be exposed to, whatever perils assault them on sea or land, fall they will not, fall they cannot, till God’s purposes are executed in bringing them into a vital union wit...