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

" I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee." —Jeremiah 31:3 [KJV] Thus the Lord speaks to His church as to a collected body; therefore ye members of Jesus, what foundation of comfort, what cause of rejoicing have you daily! But what doubts and scruples do often arise in your poor hearts concerning God's love to you! Why is this? Because we judge of and determine the bounds of the love of our God, from the sense and feeling we find in ourselves, instead of abiding by the Lord's own gracious declarations in His word to us.  How absurd would it be for us to judge of the dimensions of that glorious luminary the sun, by the little light and heat which we partake of! Shall we conclude from the severe cold we feel in winter's frost; or, in the sense of midnight darkness, that light and heat cease to exist in the sun? Alas! we may as well "measure the waters in the hollow of our hand, mete out the heav...

" Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in Whom we trust, that He will yet deliver us." —II Corinthians 1:10 [KJV] Divine confidence is founded upon God's revealed truth; it arises in the heart in proportion to the discovery which is made of free-grace promises to sinners in Christ Jesus. Faith looks at nothing in nature, nor in the creature; it stands not upon any human probability or rational possibility; but, as the queen of graces, faith looks wholly to the KING OF GLORY, consults the word of His truth, relies on His promises and oath, and trusts in the power of an omnipotent Lord.  Past experience of former deliverances sweetly encourage the soul to trust God for future. So the apostles reasoned upon temporal deliverances from the persecuting powers of earth and hell, which were engaged against them. All hope and help from the right hand and left were cut off. In themselves they had the sentence of death. They were like malefactors in...

" As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of THE WORD that ye may grow thereby." —I Peter 2:2 [KJV] "What I cannot comprehend shall never be the object of my faith," is the weak language of a proud skeptic. "Where I cannot comprehend, I silently adore; what I cannot explain, yet I humbly believe, because divine truths bear the impress, The Lord hath spoken." This is the language of an humble, gracious heart. "Marvellous are Thy works, O Lord, in wisdom hast Thou made them all." Glorious is Thy grace in Christ Jesus; in love hast Thou revealed it to the children of men.  Here is the wisdom of saints, to learn from the images of nature the mysteries of grace. From the book of the former we are taught sweet and precious instructions in the latter. How kindly has the God of nature provided for the infant cry of the new-born babe! It soon discovers its wants; and though as sensible of the provision it has brought, and its right unto...

" Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth: for Thy love is better than wine." —Solomon's Song 1:2 [KJV] Such is the familiar, loving language of chaste virgins espoused to Jesus. Love in the heart begets desires after tokens of affection from the Object beloved. "Saw ye HIM whom my soul loveth?" asks the enquiring heart. "If ye have taken away HIM , " says sorrowful Mary. "That I may know HIM , " says affectionate Paul. "Let HIM kiss me , " saith the church; as though all the world knew Whom is meant or Who is their Beloved.  Every heart that is blessed with the discovery of Jesus, will be excited with such desires after Him . Here is a very short and abrupt request; "Let Him kiss me , " that will make me quite happy. My heart is simple, I have but one Object in view. O, if Jesus will but favor me with a love-token all my fears vanish, my scruples are at an end, my doubts are all silenced; peace, happi...

" I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the L ORD in the land of the living." —Psalm 27:13 [KJV] In times of sore distress and affliction, whether in soul or body, saints are taught many sweet lessons. Chastenings from the Lord are all in love; by them our God teaches the soul to profit. "No chastening for the present is joyous, but grievous." In the dark night of suffering, Christians sigh out many a doleful strain. Sometimes according to all appearances from nature, sense, feeling, and the judgment of reason, they are ready to cry out, "All things are against me." Hence their courage sinks, their hopes and their hearts fail them, and they are ready to faint; but they have an invisible Friend always near them; He supports them by His power under all their trials and conflicts; supplies with comforting cordials; revives their spirits with the consolations of His word; and when He brings them out of their troubles, the...

" Giving thanks to the Father, Who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." —Colossians 1:12 [KJV] Too many of God's dear children seem to abound more in complaining of what they find and feel in themselves than in praising God for what He hath done for and in them. Why is this? They do not live enough in their own kingdom; they do not enough consider their own privileges; they dwell not enough upon the rich love of God their Father to them; the free-grace of Jesus their Redeemer FOR them, and the work of the comforter IN them.  But, what from a sense of their corruptions, the devices of Satan, the sight of the spirituality of the law, the legality that is in them, they cannot think themselves made meet for God's kingdom; therefore they do not praise God for it. Say, O ye sons and daughters of the Most High, is this right? What! because you find sin abound in you, will you not give praise that grace doth much more abou...

The Gospel and the Believer, Part 2   by D. G. Miles McKee   “ And He is the head of the body, the church: Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence .” -Colossians 1:18 [KJV]   I once had a friend who was a devotee of a certain Indian Guru. My friend would sit for hours looking within himself and having all manner of so-called experiences. When he neglected to meditate, his quality of life, he said, was not nearly as good.  He claimed that meditation on the ‘Divine Light’ within him brought peace and joy. His was a classic case of subjectivism.  His experience and condition were the centre of his spiritual life.   He and his fellow devotees would congregate weekly and encourage one another to keep growing in their inward experiences.  Sounds familiar doesn’t it?  It sounds like they were having a testimony meeting or some kind of a mid-week church meeting!  But it w...