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

" The holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus." -II Timothy 3:13 [KJV] We never think to any purpose about salvation, till we see our own condemnation for sin. Has there ever been a tribunal set up in your conscience? Have you been arraigned, and have you held up your hand at the bar of justice? Has the law of God brought its charge against you? Have you, from inward conviction of sin, been forced to plead guilty? Then the law pronounces its curses upon you, and there it leaves you, under its guilt and terror. For, to convince and to condemn, is all the law can do.  The Lord knows, and self-condemned sinners know too, (I speak for one,) this is a most deplorable state. Now, the once neglected book of God becomes most precious to the soul. The believing sinner now sees, as he had no knowledge of sin, but by the law, so he can obtain no knowledge of salvation, but by the gospel. Such a soul is wise; b...

"From this day will I bless thee." -Haggai 2:19 [KJV] My soul, what day is the memorable day to thee from whence commenced thy blessings? No doubt from everlasting the Lord hath blessed His people in Jesus. But the commencement of thy personal enjoyment of those blessings, was at the time the Lord graciously laid the foundation of His spiritual temple in thee; the blessed, the gracious, the auspicious, the happy day, when the Lord made thee willing in the day of His power? Oh! blessed day, never, never to be forgotten! A day of light; when the light of Jesus first broke in upon me. A day of life; when the Lord Jesus quickened my poor soul, which before was laying dead in trespasses and sins. A day of love; when His love first was made known to my soul, Who so loved me as to give His dear and ever-blessed Son for me: and His love was sweetly manifested, Who so loved me as to give Himself for me. A day of the beginning of victory, over death and hell, and the grave....

"O L ORD , be gracious unto us; we have waited for Thee: be Thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble." -Isaiah 33:2 [KJV] Israel has often to pass through times of sorrow and trouble. Deep temporal and deep spiritual trouble is the allotted portion of many, if not of most of the people of God. But having found that the Lord is a Saviour, and the only Saviour Who can support in trouble and deliver out of trouble, there is this conviction deeply implanted and firmly written upon their heart, that He is a Saviour in the time of trouble. It is the purpose of God to hunt us out of all lying refuges, that we may believe in Jesus to the saving of our soul; that we may prove that He is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him; that we may learn what salvation is, and that we may know it for ourselves as a divine and blessed reality.  Thus though He is always a Saviour, yet He is not experimentally a Saviour in times of ...