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

"He that is of God heareth God’s words." -John 8:47     “The words from Mount Sinai gender to bondage.” -Galatians 4:24    Some of God’s children are kept under bondage by them. They are taught to look on themselves only as servants, not sons of God, because they dare not say they know their sins are forgiven. This is a foolish, unscriptural distinction. St. Paul expressly declares, that every believer is a son of God: “Ye are ALL the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26.) Can a man be a servant of God without faith? No: “without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6.)     Every one who hath faith in the Son of God, is a child of God: his sins are as surely forgiven, as that Christ died for sinners: he shall never come into eternal condemnation for them, no more than if he had never committed them. This is God’s word (see John 5:24.) As many as receive Christ, that is, believe on His name, have the pri...

"Verily, verily I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground, and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." -John 12:24 [KJV] How sweet and lovely is this similitude of the Lord's, in allusion to Himself! See to it, my soul, this evening, that thou art able to receive it. Thou hast been attending thy Lord to the tomb: here behold the blessed fruits of His precious death.   When Jesus became incarnate, like a pure corn of the finest wheat, He fell to the ground; and when at His death, "He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death,"  He fell into the ground: and now what an abundant harvest of glory to God, and salvation to souls, hath that death, and grave of Jesus produced!   Had Jesus never died, how would He have seen His seed, and the pleasure of the Lord prosper in His hand? Had Jesus not descended to the grave, how would He have been the life-giving, the soul-quickening root of all...

"And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not." -Jeremiah 45:5 [KJV]   Whatever schemes and projects the Lord's people may devise that they may prosper and get on in the world, He rarely suffers their plans to thrive. He knows well to what consequences it would lead;—that this ivy creeping round the stem would, as it were, suffocate and strangle the tree. The more that worldly goods increase, the more the heart is fixed upon them; and the more the affections are set upon idols, the more is the heart drawn away from the Lord. He will not suffer His people to have their portion here below. He, therefore, says to them in His providence, as well as in His word, "Seek them not."     But you will perhaps say, "What are we then to seek?" I will tell you in one word,— Realities . What are these great things that you are seeking after? say in religion. Could you see them in their right light, you would see that they are but shadows. Y...