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

"Whose heart the Lord opened." -Acts 16:14  [KJV] It is always blessed to trace mercies to their source! And blessed when, through grace, we are enabled to give God His glory, and not put down to man's merit what wholly originates in God's grace. The opening of the heart can only be the province of Him that made it. Renewing work, as well as creating work, is His. He that hath the key of David, is He alone "that openeth, and none shutteth; and shutteth, and none openeth." What a beautiful illustration hath the Holy Ghost given the church of this precious truth, in the instance of this woman, whose heart the Lord opened!     We are told in her history, that she was of the city of Thyatira, a place remote from Philippi, where this sovereign act of mercy was shewn towards her. How long she had remained in a state of unrenewed nature, or what predisposing providence it was that brought her to Philippi, with other circumstances which we might have thought inter...

"Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me." - Matthew 11:6 [KJV] What is the feeling of your heart toward Jesus? What is the solemn desire of your soul? that He would come and make your heart His abode? that He would visit your soul with the light of His countenance? that He would sprinkle His blood upon your conscience? that He would make Himself very near, very dear, and very precious? Do you count one word from His lips worth a thousand worlds? a smile of His countenance worth thousands of gold and silver? Then you are blessed. You are not stumbling upon the dark mountains of error. You are not stumbling at the perfections of the Son of God. You are not offended at a free gospel, an unconditional salvation.   No; the Lord in mercy has slaughtered your prejudices, subdued your enmity, and brought you to receive the gospel as a little child. "Well," but some may say, "I believe all this; but, then, I have doubts and fears whether the Lord has beg...

"Yet Thou, O L ORD , art in the midst of us, and we are called by Thy name." - Jeremiah 14:9 [KJV] If the Lord has ever been in our soul to manifest there a sense of His goodness and mercy, we can then make use of this as our plea, "Yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us." If He has ever heard your prayer He is with you; if He has ever given you a promise He is with you; if He has ever touched your heart with His finger He is with you; if He has ever favoured you with a smile He is with you. And though taking the general run of your experience He may be a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night, or though even as it may seem, as if He were astonied at what you are—a mighty man that cannot save, still every token for good encourages you to cling, to cleave, to hang round Him, to catch hold of His feet as the Shunamite caught Elisha by the feet, and would not be thrust away; for you cannot but feel that, with all that yo...

Weekend Gospel message to follow for All Hands (11-13MAR22) Heads-Up --- Please find enclosed encouragement in SO GREAT SALVATION by the perfect and finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ in saving poor, needy and wretched sinners by His sovereign free grace - God's unmerited favor - from our sins and from Hell: “ There is no other SAVIOR but Christ to look to, no other MEDIATOR between God and me n to make use of, no other PHYSICIAN of value for diseased and sin-sick souls to apply unto, no other FOUNTAIN but His blood for polluted souls to wash in and be cleansed, no other CITY OF REFUGE or stronghold for souls sensible of danger to flee unto and be safe, no other to come to as the BREAD OF LIFE where hungry souls may be fed, no other place of REST for those that are weary and heavy laden, nor is there any other where is plenty of all grace and security from every enemy, as in HIM; and therefore, to whom can they have recourse, but unto HIM? ” -preacher John Gill "S...

"If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him. But if a man sin against the LORD, who shall intreat for him ?" -I Samuel 2:25  [KJV] It is a very solemn thing to behold a trembling convicted malefactor, when standing before an earthly tribunal, although the judge is of the same nature with himself: for every thing is solemn, earnest, and impartial. But what is the awfulness of a court of human judicature, compared to that Day, in which a whole world, all found guilty before God, shall stand before the judgment-seat of Christ?     In this life, there is, for the most part, somewhat to mitigate, and to excite hope in the worst of cases: some tender-hearted friend, some kind neighbour, some feeling relation, will be found to arise, to soften, if not able to relieve, the guilty man's distress. But at that tribunal, where none can plead, and where all hearts are open, What shall be found to stop the overwhelming horrors of the condemned?   Pause, my soul, ov...

"He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness." - Psalm 107:9 [KJV] We find the living family of God sometimes set forth under the character of the hungry. Let us see what they are hungering after. Is it pleasure, honour, promotion, respectability? O no; these toys and baubles cannot satisfy the spiritual hunger of a living soul. They cannot hunger after that on which they cannot feed. They hunger then after righteousness, as the Lord said: "Blessed are ye that hunger and thirst after righteousness." They hunger after God Himself in His blessed manifestations; they hunger after the bread of life which came down from heaven, that a man should eat thereof and not die.   Christ in the letter of the word cannot satisfy their keen appetite. They must feed upon Him internally, or their famine still continues. To these hungry, famishing souls, to have Christ in the letter is like a starving beggar standing outside a shop where there is plenty...

                          Away with the ‘Hope So’                                                  D.G. Miles McKee   W. T. P. Wolston, one of the excellent Brethren (Gospel Hall) preachers of the 19th century, recounts the following story of talking to a lady after having preached the gospel. It is an excellent, helpful little piece. He writes,   “At the close of the evening gospel meeting, as I was standing near the door, I saw Mrs. H - leaving. Offering her a little tract, and at the same time expressing a wish that she might receive no harm on her way home from the rain, which was falling in torrents, she replied that she did not think she would, and further, that she was glad she had come, for she had much enjoyed the meeting.   As I had been speaking on the text “Be it known, the...