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

" Let us go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach." —Hebrews 13:13 [KJV] The profession of Jesus is easy to nature. There is nothing irksome to the flesh in being called a Christian. But to know Jesus in heart, to confess Him with the tongue, and to follow Him in our life, will ever expose us to reproach and contempt. But if, with Philip, we have really found that blessed HIM of whom Moses and the prophets wrote, we must, we shall speak of Him to others.  We shall esteem Jesus our Beloved as our richest treasure. Our hearts and affections will be going out after Him. Moses' choice will be ours: "We shall esteem the reproaches of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." But fleshly wisdom is contrary to all this. That ever prompts, 'Save thyself—take care of thy good name—fear, lest that be cast out as evil—beware of thy character—go not too far, thou wilt sustain damage. In the camp of this world, riches, pleasures, ...

"But for Adam there was not found an help meet for him." -Genesis 2:20 [KJV] My soul, mark what is here said, for sure it is a sweet scripture. Amidst all the works of God, "there was not one that could be found an help meet for man." The inferior creatures could indeed minister to his bodily comfort, but not to his soul. Eve herself, with all her loveliness, must have failed in this particular. Both the woman and her husband alike needed this help to the soul. How refreshing is the thought, and what a lovely view doth it give us of God's grace and mercy, that in the seed of the woman an help, in the fullest sense of the word, was found both for time and eternity.  Jesus in our nature needed the church for His partner: and the church needed Jesus, and He was, and is, the very Adam of whom our first father in nature, was but the shadow, and Christ the substance. Yes, blessed Jesus! in Thee we trace this wondrous gift of God. Pause then, my soul, and...

"A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee." -Psalm 91:7 [KJV] When Noah was shut up in the ark, Noah and the favoured few, you know how they were tossed about, the rains coming down from heaven, the waters rushing and dashing below. The windows of heaven were opened and the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and while they were thus dashed upon the waters, not a drop came in unto them that were within. "It shall not come nigh thee." So you see the believer may be surrounded with troubles, and yet "it shall not come nigh him."   And there is something more in the expression used in reference to the making of the ark: "And shalt pitch it within and without with pitch" (Genesis 6:14) . Now, it is a most remarkable fact that the word pitch in Hebrew (the word is Gopher) signifies also atonement . Now see, the slime or pitch with which the ark was daubed within and w...