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

"Then is the offence of the cross ceased."   - Galatians 5:11 [KJV]   Another version reads the words as a question, Is the offence of the cross ceased? No, nor ever will, while there is a Christian upon the earth. The cross is put for that ever-loving Jesus, who hung upon it as a curse for our souls, and an atonement for our sins. O let us be ever jealous of, zealous for, the glory of the cross, for the sake of the Lamb, who finished our salvation upon it. The cross of Christ is the Christian’s glory. The offence the world takes at him, is a proof that he has taken up the cross of Christ, and is following Him. This no man can do faithfully, but he must give offence. Settle this well in your mind. Sit down and count your cost. Are you willing to be Christ’s glory, and the world’s scorn? Do you expect all from the cross? Then give up all for the cross.    Here nature recoils. Flesh and blood rebels. Carnal reason pleads, that worldly prudence may be atte...

"The golden pot that had manna." - Hebrews 9:4 [KJV]   There is somewhat very blessed in the account given concerning the furniture of the second tabernacle. Some few evenings since, my soul, a glance was taken of the candlestick, the table and shew-bread; in the first tabernacle. Perhaps the Lord the Holy Ghost will open to thy meditation some edifying considerations in the view of the contents of the second. The golden pot, which preserved the manna pure, that in itself was soon subject to corruption, was unquestionably a beautiful emblem of the divine nature of Jesus, imparting durableness and dignity to His human nature.   We are told concerning the manna, that if the Israelites kept it, though but for a day (except when miraculously preserved pure on the sabbath-day, to remind them of that ordinance) it bred worms, and stank; Exodus 16:20. But in this golden pot, an omer full of manna put therein, was laid up before the Lord as a memorial, and preserved p...

"I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself." -Jeremiah 31:18 [KJV]   The spiritual feeling of sin is indispensable to the feeling of salvation. A sense of the malady must ever precede, and prepare the soul for, a believing reception and due apprehension of the remedy. Wherever God intends to reveal His Son with power, wherever He intends to make the gospel "a joyful sound" indeed, He makes the conscience feel and groan under the burden of sin. And sure am I that when a man is labouring under the burden of sin, he will be full of complaint.    The Bible records hundreds of the complaints of God's people under the burden of sin. "My wounds stink and are corrupt , " cries one, "because of my foolishness. I am troubled: I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long" (Psalm 38:5, 6). "My soul , " cries another, is "full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave" (Psalm 88:3) . "He...