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

"Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." - Isaiah 49:15 [KJV] Lord, remember David and all his afflictions (Psalm 132:1.) How comprehensive is this short petition? What a holy boldness, what a filial confidence breathes in it! Yes, says a poor doubting dejected soul, but it came from an eminent saint, but I am a miserable sinner: I am afraid the Lord hath forgotten and forsaken me. Is your mind pained at the thoughts of this? That is a godly sorrow, which the wicked are strangers to. This is one of the afflictions of the righteous. Lord, remember me , is the prayer of faith, to a covenant God.  Here is a precious cordial, a heart reviving answer from the Lord. Look at that woman with her smiling babe at her breast. See how fond she is of it, how delighted with it. It is part of herself. She bore it with pains, and brought it into the world with labour....

"Take this and divide it among yourselves."   - Luke 22:17 [KJV] Precious Lord, such was thine unbounded love to Thy people that Thou gavest all to them! And, dearest Jesus, what didst Thou reserve for Thyself? And how wisely was Thy love manifested! To every one grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ; for the purchase of redemption, in the case of all, cost Thee the same. If, indeed, a lamb of Thine be weak, or diseased, or torn, or scattered, Thou wilt take it to Thy bosom, while Thou wilt gently lead those that are with young. But every one, and all, shall have Thy care; all, as their several wants may be.  Here then, Lord, to Thy table I would come. Thy death hath confirmed all Thy purchased blessings. And in the holy supper I would seek grace, that my right may be confirmed in them. Before God, and angels, and men, I would take the seal of Thy gift. In Thy blood Thou hast signed them: in the word of Thy gospel Thou hast recorded them: in the ord...

"I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment; that I may cause those that love Me to inherit substance." -Proverbs 8:20, 21 [KJV] Whence springs it, that God causes His people "to inherit substance," by  "leading them in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment?"  When He leads them first into the way of righteousness by opening up His holy law, it drives away all shadows. We had been heaping together, with great toil, chaff and hay and straw and stubble; we had been like the man spoken of in Scripture, who "dreamed, and behold! he ate, but he awoke and his soul was empty;" so we were dreaming our life away continually with shadows, with a name to live, with a formal religion, with a mere external show of godliness, content with a few ordinances and sermons, and thinking that these would shelter us in the day of wrath. These were only shadows; of no more avail to deliver our soul...