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

" My soul shall make her boast in the L ORD : the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad." -Psalm 34:2 [KJV] There was a poor, vain-glorious boaster, who had arrived to the summit of his happiness, and attained the zenith of his glory. The sun of prosperity shone with great splendour upon him. He bid adieu to all care. Down he sat to solace himself. “Soul!” said he, “thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease: eat, drink, and be merry.” But, awful moment! solemn speech! God said unto him, “Thou fool! this night thy soul shall be required of thee” (Luke 12:20.)   O how many such fools are there, who think the soul can be made happy, in outward ease, eating and drinking, and carnal enjoyments. Alas! one moment dashes the honey of their comforts, into the gall of disappointment. Not so, that soul who boasts in the Lord. This was not a transient fit of David’s, caused by a warm frame of the passions. For, says he, “I will bless the L ORD at all...

"I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Thy servant; for I do not forget Thy commandments." -Psalm 119:176 [KJV] If the Lord did not seek us, we should never seek the Lord. That is most certain. If you are one that seeks the Lord in prayer, in supplication, in secret desire, with many a heart-rending groan, and often by night and by day, be well assured, that you would never have sought the Lord, had not the Lord first sought you. He is now seeking you. It may be (as you fear), some time before He finds you; but He will find you at last. How sweetly the Lord has set this forth in the parable of the lost sheep! The poor sheep has gone astray; and having once left the fold, it is pretty sure to have got into some strange place or other. It has fallen down a rock, or has rolled into a ditch, or is hidden beneath a bush, or has crept into a cave, or is lying in some deep, distant ravine, where none but an experienced eye and hand can find it out. And so with the ...

"The house of the Rechabites." -Jeremiah 35:2 [KJV] My soul, as the prophet had his commission from the Lord, to go unto the house of the Rechabites, and the Holy Ghost hath been pleased to have the event of the visit recorded; do thou go down to it also, and see what instructions thou canst gather there, under His gracious teachings, for thine evening meditation. The house of the Rechabites drank no wine. And was not this to intimate the law of the Nazarites? Surely there was a reference, in this prohibition, to the one glorious Nazarite, even Jesus! The Rechabites had no fixed dwelling-place, but lived in moveable tents; and believers in Jesus, like their Lord Himself, have "here no abiding city, but are seeking one to come." Hence, when the king of Babylon came into the land where the Rechabites had no fixed abode, they had no attachment to the place, and therefore the more readily took their departure. Such, my soul, will be the case with thee, i...

" Ye are risen with Him, through the faith of the operation of God." -Colossians 2:12 [KJV] Who are risen with Christ? All the members of His mystical body. He is their Head and Representative. They are all mystically risen with Him. But they have no knowledge or comfort of this, till another resurrection is experienced by them. This is what the apostle here alludes to. This is by faith. As soon as any poor sinner knows, understands, and believes, that Christ died for our offences, and was raised again for our justification, that soul is actually risen with Christ.  Here, behold, (1st.) the preciousness of faith.  (2d.) Whose operation it is.  (3d.) The glorious effects it hath upon the heart and life. It brings Christ into the soul. Faith causes the soul to ascend up to a risen Saviour.  Thus, this living, powerful, influencing grace, which is the work of the Holy Ghost, is distinguished from a dead faith, a lifeless assent, a barren notion, which float...

"Brethren, farewell." -II Corinthians 13:11[KJV] To fare well, spiritually understood, is to have everything that God can make us happy in. All God's people will eventually fare well. They all stand complete in Christ: nothing can touch their eternal safety; for they are all complete in Him, "without spot, or blemish, or any such thing." In this point of view, they must all in the end and for ever fare well. But when we come to the matter of experience, we often find that those very times when God's people think they are faring ill, are the seasons when they are really faring well; and again, at other times, when they think they are faring well, then they are really faring ill. For instance, when their souls are bowed down with trouble, it often seems to them that they are faring ill. God's hand appears to be gone out against them: He has hidden His face from them; they can find no access to a throne of grace; they have no sweet testimoni...

"For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry." -Habakkuk 2:3 [KJV] My soul, there is always a set time to favour Zion. It may not be so early as we could wish; it may not come at the time we look for it; yea, it may be deferred until our impatience hath given over the very expectation of it; nevertheless, "it will surely come; it will not tarry." We are like children, who wish to gather the fruit before it is ripe; but there is no haste with God. He stops until the mercy, intended to be given us, is fully prepared, and our souls as fully ready to receive it. And what endears the mercy (be it what it may) yet more, is, that from everlasting it hath been appointed. "The vision is for an appointed time." So that, however tedious it may seem in coming, it will neither go a moment beyond the appointment, nor come a moment be...

" My soul fainteth for Thy salvation: but I hope in Thy word." -Psalm 119:81 [KJV] David’s words furnish us with these observations: (1st.) That it is a sure evidence, that that sinner is savingly convinced of sin by the Spirit of God, when the salvation of Jesus is the desire of his heart.  (2d.) That the soul, though destitute of the joy of faith, in the assurance of interest in Christ’s salvation, yet may have the grace of hope in lively exercise.  (3d.) That in fainting frames of soul, the word of the Lord is the sure support of hope. Study these points: settle them in your hearts. The Lord give comfort from them! When a person faints, the blood returns to the heart: it ceaseth to flow through the veins. Hence, the spirits sink; nature fails; life and strength depart; the eyes see not; the hands cannot hold; the feet cannot walk. Have you not experienced it thus with your souls? Have you not found things at a very low ebb with you, just ready to give up all...