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

"Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah; comely as Jerusalem." -Song of Solomon 6:4 [KJV] And what was Tirzah? One of the cities in the lot of Manasseh, (Joshua 12:6, 24.) And no doubt, as Judea was the glory of all lands, Tirzah, which was a part of it, was lovely. And the comeliness of that highly favoured spot, Jerusalem, is celebrated in the sacred Song; "In the mountain of His holiness," saith the Psalmist,  "beautiful for situation, and the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion , "   (Psalm 48:1, 2.) And is Christ's church, in her Lord's eye, thus beautiful? Yes! He Himself saith she is: and, by consequence, every individual member of her is so, which constitutes her one body. Pause, my soul, over this account, and let thine everlasting meditation dwell upon the pleasing subject. Thou art mourning continually over thine infirmities; thou feelest what Paul felt, and thou groanest under the same burden as he groaned under: and,...

"This is the true God, and eternal life."   -I John 5:20 [KJV] O the blessedness, which eternity itself can never exhaust, of possessing eternal life! There is something to my mind so singularly blessed in the expression "eternal life , "   that I cannot help dwelling upon it. How the thought, the feeling of it expands the breast! Compared with it, how poor, mean, and low is our temporal life and all its concerns—the short span which God has allotted to us here below! And do observe how our eye is directed by holy John to the true God as being Himself eternal life. He is not only the Giver, the Spring, the Subject, the Object of it; He Himself is it all. O if He has but quickened our souls by His Spirit and grace, we carry now, even now, eternal life in our breast! for this eternal life is the precious fruit on earth of that eternal life in heaven which was with the Father and was manifested unto us (I  John 1:2). But how shall we know that we have etern...

"Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"   -II Corinthians 13:5 [KJV] Happy for ministers, when their mission from Christ is called in question, they can appeal to their people’s hearts, to prove that Christ is spoken to them. Happy for Christians, to examine, prove, and know themselves, and to find Christ is in them. Ignorance of ourselves lies at the bottom of all error, and self deceit. Lord help us deeply to consider of this important question. (1st.) Know ye not your own selves?  Come you are very ready to judge ministers, find fault with them, and call their gifts and graces in question. Look at home. Know yourselves. Be not puffed up. Consider yourselves. Be humble. Your hearts are deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Your nature is totally corrupt and abominable. In your flesh dwelleth no good thing. Its motions are, to bring forth fruit unto death. Its lustings are, continually unto sin. ...