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

" Thou God seest me." -Genesis 16:13 [KJV] “Why sayest thou, O trembling sinner! My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?” The Lord here asks thy reason, and reproaches thy speech (Isaiah 40:27.) Look at Hagar, and be ashamed of the unbelieving surmises of thy heart. She was a dear child of God: yet she is left to suffer sore distresses. Her mistress treats her cruelly. She flees to a solitary wilderness: here was no eye of pity, no hand to relieve, no friend to comfort her: and, what must add to her sorrow and heighten her distress, she was with child. She fled from her station in providence. But the God of providence follows her,—the angel of the Lord—rather, the Lord, the Angel, the Messenger of the covenant—the Lord Jesus the Saviour.  He found her, called her by name, inquires the cause of her distress, and bids her return to her mistress. Hagar knew her Saviour. She sets up a memorial of His sympathizing love for her, and ...

"For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." -II Corinthians 8:12 [KJV] Sweet thought this to comfort the soul under small attainments, "If there be first a willing mind." Surely, Lord, Thou hast given me this; for Thou hast made me willing in the day of Thy power (Psalm 110:3) . I feel as such, my soul going forth in desires after Thee, as my chief and only good; though, alas! how continually do I fall short of the enjoyment of Thee. I can truly say, "whom is there in heaven, or upon earth, that I desire in comparison of Thee?" When Thou art present, I am at once in heaven; it makes a very heaven in my soul: Thou art the God of my exceeding joy. When Thou art absent my soul pines after Thee. And truly, "I count all things but dung and dross to win thee;" for whatever gifts Thou hast graciously bestowed upon me, in the kindness of friends, in the affe...

"There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the L ORD , that shall stand." -Proverbs 19:21 [KJV] A man in his fleshly mind is generally devising some method or other whereby he may escape a practical subjection to the gospel; some way or other whereby he may escape walking in the path of self-denial and mortification of the flesh, and the crucifixion of "the old man with the affections and lusts." He is generally seeking some way or other to indulge the flesh, and yet, at the same time, to stand in gospel liberty, to have everything that can gratify his carnal mind, and, at the same time, have a well-grounded hope of eternal life. But the Lord says, No, these two things are not compatible; he that shall live with Christ must die with Christ; he that shall reign with Christ must suffer with Christ; he that shall wear the crown must carry the cross.   So, that whatever devices there be in a man's heart, or whatever ways a...