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

" Keep thy heart with all diligence." -Proverbs 4:23 [KJV] Camden reports, that “Redwald, king of the east Saxons, the first prince of this nation who was baptized; yet, in the same church, allowed an altar for Christ, and another for the heathen idols.” How many professors imitate him! Their hearts are not whole with Christ. They are sons of folly. This a charge of wisdom to all her children. Consider, there is but one object can make your heart happy. There are a thousand that promise happiness, but only give misery. Keep thy heart in [the sense of] the love of God , (Jude 1:21.)   Give all diligence to this blessed end. Unless you do, vanity may prevail in the mind, error in the understanding, perverseness in the will, the affections may be inordinately set upon other objects, than thy Lord; and so thy conscience will contract fresh guilt. Then thou mayest be left to bemoan a hard heart, and an absent God: darkness may surround thee; fears and terrors hau...

"Whom having not seen, ye love." -I Peter 1:8 [KJV] How this speaks to our hearts; and cannot some, if not many of us say too, "Whom having not seen, we love?" Do we not love Him, dear readers? Is not His name precious to us as the ointment poured forth? But we have not seen Him. No, not by the eye of sense and nature; but we have seen Him by the eye of faith; for He has manifested Himself to us, or to some of us, and we have seen His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. It is, then, by faith that we see Jesus. We read of Moses that, "by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him Who is invisible."  So by faith we see Jesus Who is invisible; for as faith is "the substance of things hoped for," so is it "the evidence of things not seen." Thus we see that it is by Jesus coming to the soul and manifesting Himself unto it that we see Him...

"Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?" -I Corinthians 9:7 [KJV] Surely Jesus will not! Is not Jesus' church His vineyard? Did He not purchase it with His blood; and does He not water it every moment with the same? And will He not eat of the fruit of His own vine, of His own planting, and what cost Him so dear? Or doth Jesus buy a flock; daily, hourly, feed His flock; carry the lambs in His arms, and cause them to lie down in His bosom; and will He not eat of the milk of His flock? Lord Jesus, when I contemplate Thy love to our poor nature; when I behold all things, by Thine ordination, ministering to our nature; when I see such a profusion of grace, and love, and mercy bestowed for our accommodation; all things prepared for man; both worlds engaged for him; yea, man himself as if a world in himself, and another prepared for him; the sacred word designed wholly for hi...

" Underneath are the everlasting arms." -Deuteronomy 33:27 [KJV] It is related of Anteus, that every time Hercules threw him to the ground, he rose up the stronger, for he received new strength, by touching his mother, the earth. This is true of the Christian. The more he is assaulted, and thrown down by the enemy, the more he falls into the Lord’s everlasting arms, and gets fresh strength. He cannot be thrown down lower than God permits: for “underneath are the everlasting arms.” His word is full of grace—His arms almighty—His love everlasting. Here is the wisdom, here the glory of the Lord’s people, to look for themselves, to go out of themselves, for safety and salvation.  For they rest upon God’s word. They believe the Lord to be all that to them, which He has said. This is living by faith—honouring the Lord’s truth—glorifying the Saviour’s name. Why are we told? “Underneath are the everlasting arms.” Because we know and see ourselves deserving of hell, a...

"And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt." -Hosea 2:15 [KJV] Now the "valley of Achor" signifies the "valley of trouble." It was the valley in which Achan was stoned. And why stoned? Because he had taken the accursed thing; because his eye had been captivated by the Babylonish garment and golden wedge, and he had buried them in the tent. This may throw a light on what the "valley of Achor" is spiritually. Perhaps you have been guilty of Achan's sin; you have been taking the accursed thing; have been too deeply connected with the world; have done things which God's displeasure is against. Let conscience speak in the bosom of each. The consequence has been, that you have got into the "valley of Achor!" Trouble, sorrow, and confusion are your lot, and you...

"Them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with Him." -I Thessalonians 4:14 [KJV] My soul, thy last night's thoughts, with which thou fell asleep, were upon a subject so truly connected with Jesus, that I hope thou couldest and didst say, "My meditation of Him was sweet!" There is another blessed thought, connected both with Jesus and it, that may be, proper to take along with it. Seek of God the Spirit to unfold its beauties in Jesus to thy view, this evening, and lead thee with it to fall asleep, this night, as on the former, in the Lord. The apostle opens it to thy meditation in these words; "They which sleep in Jesus, God will bring with Him." The bodies, as well as the souls of the redeemed, are alike the purchase of Christ's blood, and Jesus will have them all with Him. They are His jewels, His treasure. He suffers them to lie among the dust, it is true; but He saith Himself, though they have so lain, yet shall they be ...

" Then said JESUS unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself." -Matthew 16:24 [KJV] We are called to follow Christ in the regeneration, (Matthew 19:28.) That is, in the new state of things, called, “the time of reformation,” (Hebrews 9:10) wherein He has set all things right between God and us sinners. Christ has not left us any thing to do, whereby to satisfy divine justice, and to fulfil the holy law, in order to procure God’s favour, and a title to His kingdom: but only to come after Him, to reap all the glorious spoils and victories of the law-fulfilling life, and sin-atoning death, in our perfect reconciliation to God, justification before Him, acceptance and peace with Him.  O soul, this knowledge is essential to thy following Christ, in faith and love. Without this you cannot come after Him one step. Therefore in love He bids thee deny thyself. As though He had said, all things in the old creation of fallen nature are contr...