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

"Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God." -Isaiah 58:2 [KJV] My soul, when thou readest a scripture like this, which, as far as the outward observance of religion goes, seems to carry a fair face, it may be well to consider the wretched delusion under which such men labour. The world, indeed, calls them very good sort of people; but the Lord speaks most awfully concerning them. Persons of this complexion do not venture to say, that they hope to be found before God without sin: for they will tell you, that they know "we have all sinned and come short of God's glory:" but their faith is, that for their sins they have endeavoured to repent, and made amends; and they hope Christ will make up the deficiency. They have not been so bad as many others; and in point of doing, they have done a grea...

"Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away."   -II Corinthians 3:16 [KJV] The blessed Spirit, as a needful preparation for His own divine instruction, convinces us of our  ignorance , of the veil of unbelief that is by nature spread over our heart, and of our utter inability to take it away. So great is this darkness, as a matter of personal inward experience, that like the darkness in Egypt, it may be "felt;" so deep this ignorance that all knowledge or capability of knowledge seems utterly gone; so strong, so desperate this unbelief that it seems as if thoroughly incurable.   And yet amidst all this deep and dense cloud of ignorance, darkness and unbelief, rays and beams of light every now and then break through, which, though they seem at the time only to shew the darkness and make it deeper, yet really are a guiding light to the throne of God and the Lamb. There Jesus sits enthroned in glory, not only as an interceding High Pries...

"Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey." -Psalm 76:4 [KJV] My soul, the more thou turnest over the word of God in inquiries after Thy beloved, the more will thou be astonished at the relation given of Him in His excellency and glory. By every thing that can represent the adorable Redeemer, in His beauty, loveliness, grace, fulness, and all-sufficiency, whether considered in His absolute, His comparative, His relative, or His official glory, or in His glory as the Head of His body, the church, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all; thou art constrained, with the church to cry out at every view, "Yea, He is altogether lovely; the chief among ten thousand." There is somewhat particularly striking to this amount in this verse for thine evening portion: "Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey." Yes! it must be so: for when the soul hath found Jesus, like the merchant-man seeking goodly pearls, having fo...

"But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city." - Hebrews 11:16 [KJV] In desiring a better country these ancient pilgrims wanted something heavenly, something that tasted of God, savoured of God, smelt of God, and was given of God; a heavenly religion, a spiritual faith, a gracious hope, and a love shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost; something which came from heaven and led to heaven; which gave heavenly feelings, heavenly sensations, heavenly delights, and heavenly joys, whereby the heart was purified from the love of sin, carnality, and worldliness by having something sweeter to taste, better to love, and more holy to enjoy.   It is these heavenly visitations, droppings in of the favour, goodness, and mercy of God, which keep the soul alive in its many deaths, sweeten it amidst its many bitters, hold it up amidst its many sinkings, and keep it from being drowned ...

  Who Raised Jesus from the Dead? by D G Miles McKee   “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up .” - John 2:19 - 22 [KJV]   According to the Lord Jesus, He had the actual power to raise Himself from the dead. So, let me ask, is this the language of a rational man?  Can any mere man raise himself from the dead? By the way, the ability to raise the dead is not in question here for we read of mere men like Paul performing such a miracle (Acts 20:8-12). But have you ever heard of a man who had the power to raise himself from the dead? For a dead man to raise himself would require that he have the very power of God.   However, so certain was Jesus that He could raise Himself from the dead that He made an appointment to see His friends after His resurrection.  He said, “But after I am risen again, I will go before you unto Galilee.” (Matthew 26:32) . Was Jesus sane when He made these remarks? Indeed He was an...

"For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world." -II Timothy 4:10 [KJV] Was this the same Demas of whom the apostle spake, Colossians 4:14? I should hope not. But if it was, it becomes no proof of a man's falling from grace. The apostle no where speaks of this man as being a partaker of grace. And a man cannot fall from grace, who never possessed grace. Professors there may be, who follow the means of grace, as Demas followed Paul; but the world, as in his instance, is still in their heart. But, my soul, what the apostle hath said of him, may well serve for an instruction to thee. If Jesus, and the love of Jesus, with all His sweetness, beauty, suitableness, and delight, be come into thine heart, then will the love of this present world be gone out. Both cannot dwell nor live together in the same heart.   A believer in Christ Jesus will carry with him his affection to Jesus even into the world, wherever the business or duties of life, in the honest maintena...

"But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?" - Job 19:28 [KJV] In almost every plant it is at the root that disease begins. If ever you see even a plant in a flower-pot unhealthy, depend upon it there is something wrong at the root. It is overwatered or underwatered, or from some other cause the root has become diseased, and what is called root-action is suspended or unhealthy. So it is in religion: if there is anything wrong with a man, it is almost sure to be something wrong at the root. "The root of the matter," Job said, "is found in me." Job could appeal unto God that the root of his religion was right.   If "the root" had been wrong, "the matter" would not have been right; but as long as the root was sound, like "the teil tree" of which the prophet speaks, though "it cast its leaves, the substance would still be in it," to put forth in due time boughs like a plant (...