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

"Men shall be blessed in Him: all nations shall call Him blessed."   - Psalm 72:17 [KJV]   “Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 3:10.) This curse, God hath never revoked. Every man upon the earth is naturally under it. But the greatest curse is, men neither believe it, feel it, nor care for it. Hence they slight and disregard that dear Man, who was made “a curse for us,” that we might be blessed in Him. Says our Lord, “search the scriptures, they testify of Me , ” (John 5:39.) Here is a sweet testimony for our mind, and precious food for our faith. Jesus, Master, bless me while I meditate on it.    (1st.) See all blessedness in Christ. Well might Luther say, “I will have nothing to do with an absolute God.” That is, God without a mediator. O sinner, O saint, there is nothing but curse and wrath for us, out of Christ. There is a hell of sin in our nature. The pride of ...

"Jesus wept." - John 11:35 [KJV]   My soul! look at thy Redeemer in this account of Him. Was there ever a more interesting portrait than what the evangelist hath here drawn of the Son of God? If the imagination were to be employed forever in forming an interesting scene of the miseries of human nature, what could furnish so complete a picture as these two words give of Christ, at the sight of them? "Jesus wept." Here we have at once the evidence how much the miseries of our nature affected the heart of Jesus; and here we have the most convincing testimony, that He partook of all the sinless infirmities of our nature, and was truly, and in all points, man, as well as God.    We are told by one of the ancient writers (as well as I recollect, it was St. Chrysostom) that some weak but injudicious christians in his days, were so rash as to strike this verse out of their bibles, from an idea, that it was unsuitable and unbecoming in the Son of God to weep...

"For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him? Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call upon God?" -Job 27:8-10 [KJV]   Many of God's people are at times exercised as to their hypocrisy, and sometimes they may think themselves the most consummate hypocrites that ever stood in a profession. But if you are exercised with these painful surmises, these doubts and fears, just see (and the Lord enable you to bring it to the light of His countenance) these two features of a spiritual character. Do not talk about your hope; it may be "a spider's web." Do not boast of your gifts; they may be altogether in the flesh. Do not bring forward the good opinion of men; they may be deceived in you. But just see if, with the Lord's blessing, you can feel these two tests in your soul, as written there by His own hand.    If so, you are not ...