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

"Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren, that are in the world." -I Peter 5:9 [KJV] I had no sooner wrote this text, but was constrained to say, Blessed be God for His holy scriptures . My poor mind has been often perplexed and distressed with sore attacks of Satan. Hence, I have been ready to call in question my state. Have been almost brought to conclude, that if I was a member of Christ, and a child of God, surely He would not suffer the enemy to His glory and my peace, thus to tempt, buffet, and distress my soul. I am persuaded, this is not my case only. All the brethren of Christ are subject to the same perplexity, from the same cause. Satan gains an advantage over us, for want of knowing and considering what the apostle here lays down. It is a fixed truth. All the brethren of the Lord Jesus are subject to the same trials and afflictions from Satan, one as well as another. Therefore we should ...

"Unto the pure, all things are pure; but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving, is nothing pure." -Titus 1:15 [KJV] An union with Christ brings with it the sweet and sanctified use and enjoyment of all things. My soul, ponder, this evening, what the apostle here saith, with an eye to this, and behold thy blessedness in Jesus. Every thing which comes into the account of what may be called real good, can be so no farther than as it is found and enjoyed in Christ. Creature comforts have nothing in them of good, but what is derived from the blessedness of the covenant in them. To the pure in Christ, all things are pure. His gracious leaven in them, leaveneth the whole lump. And wherefore is it, that to them that are in a state of unrenewed nature, being defiled and unbelieving, there is nothing pure; but because there is nothing of Christ in them? They, and all they have, are under the curse; for every thing is so out of Christ . It is Jesus which must put a bl...

"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil." -Hebrews 6:19 [KJV] Anchors, you know, are made of different sizes. You may walk in the Queen's Dockyard, and there you may see anchors for a boat, and anchors for a three-decker. Yet all anchors are made in the same way, and are designed for the same purpose; and the little anchor that holds the boat is as useful and as much an anchor as that which holds the three-decker. So spiritually. There is hope in the heart of the babe. But the hope in the heart of a babe is but as the anchor of a boat; yet it holds that babe as firmly as the anchor holds the boat to which it is moored. But as the Lord increases hope, He increases the size of the anchor; and as the vessel and its anchor always bear a proportion to each other, so when He enlarges the size of the anchor He increases the size of the ship. Nay more, as He increases the size of the ship, ...