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

"Hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us."   -I John 3:24 [KJV] “That the soul be without knowledge, is not good”  (Proverbs 19:22.) What knowledge is to be compared with the excellency of the knowledge of Christ? All other will perish. But, “This is life eternal”   (John 17:3.)  “For He is the true God and eternal life” (I John 5:20.) Does He abide in us? Could we possess the whole world without this, we should only grasp a phantom. We might as well seek to fill our belly, and satisfy our hunger with the east wind, as be happy without Christ abiding in us. (1st.) What is implied in this? We know what it is to receive and entertain a friend in our dwelling. According to our love to him, and delight in him, so we treat him. Love will set the best things before him, give him the pre-eminence in all things, and accommodate him with the best room in our house. Yea, love is jealous, lest all things should not please, a...

" And he said unto them, Say now unto her, Behold; thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people." -II Kings 4:13 [KJV] What an interesting account, though short, is here given of the Shunamite. The sacred historian calls her "a great woman,"  and certainly, she here manifests that she had a great mind. What she had done for the prophet, she sought no recompence for. Neither the favours of the king, nor the captain of his host, were of any value to her and her husband. Dwelling with content in what she had, and "among her own people,"  was in her view enough of earthly enjoyment.   But is there not a spiritual improvement to be made of the passage? Do not the people of our God "dwell alone?"  And have they not been from everlasting so appointed, in the purposes of God their Father...

"I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against Him." -Micah 7:9 [KJV]  It is a view of our sins against God that enables us to bear the indignation of the Lord against us and them. As long as we are left to a spirit of pride and self-righteousness, we murmur at the Lord's dealings when His hand lies heavy upon us. But let us only truly feel what we rightly deserve: that will silence at once all murmuring. You may murmur and rebel sometimes at your hard lot in providence; but if you feel what you deserve, it will make you water with tears of repentance the hardest cross. So in grace, if you feel the weight of your sins, and mourn and sigh because you have sinned against God, you can lift up your hands sometimes with holy wonder at God's long suffering mercy that He has borne with you so long; that He has not smitten you to the earth, or sent your guilty soul to hell. You will see, too, that the heaviest strokes were but fatherly c...