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

"Saul answered, I am sore distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me . " -I Samuel 28:15 [KJV]   A more awful speech is scarce to be found in the Bible. A more dreadful state a soul cannot be in, on this side of hell. To have potent enemies in battle array: to have the guilt of abominable sins staring one in the face: and to be sensible that the Lord is departed from one, how horrid to think of! O come here, and see the terrible effects of trifling with God, and disobeying His commands! For we read that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul—that God gave him another heart— that he was turned into another man—and that he prophesied (I Samuel 10:6.)     And yet, such was his dreadful conduct, as to bring upon himself such sore distress. How does he act under it? Does he humble himself, as heretofore before the Lord? No. But he adds this evil to all his abominations. He seeks to the witch of Endor: desires her to raise up S...

" And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole ." -Acts 9:34 [KJV]   My soul! look at this man, Aeneas: consider his circumstances of bodily sickness, and the long period of eight years, in which he had been bed-ridden. And when thou hast duly pondered the subject, behold the sovereignty of that all-powerful, all-prevailing name of Jesus Christ, though pronounced only by a servant, and see the blessed effects of it. And wilt thou, after such an instance, go lean under any spiritual sickness? Shall it be said that Jesus Christ cannot make thee whole? Surely, thou wouldest tremble at harbouring such a thought, even for a moment!    And if thou darest not think such hard things of Christ's ability, why shouldest thou not equally shudder at supposing thy Lord's want of inclination? Hast thou not found Him gracious in times past? And was that grace the result of thy desert? Was it not the pure effect of His own free love? And ought not past...

"Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come." - John 16:13 [KJV]   There are two grand lessons to be learnt in the school of Christ, and all divine teaching is comprehended and summed up in them. One is, to learn, by the Spirit's teaching, what we are by nature; so as to see and feel the utter ruin and thorough wreck of self, and the complete beggary, weakness, and helplessness of the creature in the things of God. This is the first grand branch of divine teaching.    And we have to learn this lesson day by day, "line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little." Through this branch of divine teaching we have almost daily to wade, and sometimes to sink into very painful depths under a sense of our depraved nature. And the other grand branch of divine teaching is, "To ...