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

" Now abideth—HOPE." -I Corinthians 13:13 [KJV] Gospel faith and Christian hope are twin graces in the heart: they are inseparable. Faith exists not without hope. Hope has no being without faith. Such as a man’s faith is, such is his hope. They both flow from God’s word, as light and heat from the sun. Take away a word spoken, and faith has no being. Without a promise made, hope has no existence. Faith receives and takes possession of Christ, as set forth in the word: hope expects all promised blessings, comforts, and joys in Him, with Him, and from Him, according to the word. “The word of God liveth and abideth for ever , ” (I Peter 1:23.) Jesus, Who is the essential word, “is our hope , ” (I Timothy 1:2.)   He is the cause of our hope; the object of our hope; and the life of our hope. Therefore, our hope abideth. Yea, though all in nature fails; all in sense forsakes us; and all, as to outward appearances, are against us;—though corruptions rage and foam, an...

"And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me." -Jeremiah 32:40 [KJV] Precious consideration to a poor exercised soul, that a covenant God in Christ, hath not only engaged for himself, but undertaken for His people also. God will not, and His people shall not. My soul, take a short view of the foundation of this precious, precious promise. It is God's everlasting love, everlasting grace, everlasting covenant. And remember, the Author of it is not changeable as thou art: "with Him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."   Moreover, it is purchased by the blood, sealed in the blood, and made eternally firm and sure in the blood and righteousness of Christ; the everlasting efficacy of which is as eternal as the Author of it . Neither is this all. There is an union with the person of thy Jesus. The head without ...

"...but speaking the truth   (- sincerely )   in love." -Ephesians 4:15 [KJV] Sincerity lies at the root of all gracious profession. If a man is not sincere he is nothing. God makes a man sincere by planting His truth in his heart; and whenever God does make a man sincere, the truth which He has implanted will grow. Truth does not lie in a man's soul dead and motionless, like a stone in the street; it is a living, active, expansive principle. If the truth is in the soul, it will be ever pushing out error, because the two principles cannot exist together; and as Isaac thrust out Ishmael, and Jacob proved stronger than Esau, so will simplicity and godly sincerity be ever mightier than craft and deception. The truth of God in the heart will not wither and die, but will be shined upon by the Sun of righteousness, and sunned into fruitfulness by the smiles of God; and as truth becomes day by day more and more precious, so will error and evil become day by day mo...

" Now abideth faith, hope, charity." -I Corinthians 13:13 [KJV] Where do these graces abide? in regenerate hearts. What is faith? a precious grace, the gift of God to miserable sinners. Lord, give us the comfort of it to-night. Say some, ‘faith is an assurance that my sins are pardoned; that Christ loved me, and gave Himself for me.’ Indeed it is not. They further add, ‘No one has faith without this assurance: if they have it not, they are in a state of wrath.’ This is false: this notion has inflated many with a vain hope, while it has distressed sincere souls without reason. Many who contend for this assurance of faith, believe a lie with it; for they say, ‘Those whom Christ has so loved as to die for, and whose sins are now forgiven, may at last perish.’  Such an assurance is not worth a straw. This is not the faith of God’s elect; for it gives the lie to Jesus, Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith: it contradicts His double oath, “Verily, verily, I say...

"Knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." -II Corinthians 5:6, 8 [KJV] My soul, is this thy real language? Pause, while thou art at home in the body, how dark and dim, how few and short, are all the glimpses thou hast by faith of Jesus. What from the workings of corruption, the claims of the body, the concerns of the world, and the numberless, nameless, obstructions which surround thee, how little dost thou know of Jesus. And wouldest thou desire for ever to live at this distance?  Think what the first view only of Jesus will be, when thou art once absent from the body, and present with the Lord! —What holy transports will break in upon the soul, when all the lines of love meet in one centre, to manifest the Lord Jesus to thy view in His redeeming fulness! If here below a single hour's enjoyment of thy Jesus, through ...

"And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat." -Exodus 25:22 [KJV] After a child of God has enjoyed something of the goodness and mercy of God revealed in the face of His dear Son, he may wander from His mercies, stray away from these choice gospel pastures, and get into a waste-howling wilderness, where there is neither food nor water; and yet, though half-starved for poverty, has in himself no power to return. But what has brought him for the most part into this state? Forgetfulness of the mercy seat; and as the Lord meets His people only there, a gradual estrangement from Him. But in due time the Lord seeks out this wandering sheep, and the first place He brings him to is the mercy seat, confessing his sins and seeking mercy. Faithful to His own word, once more the Lord meets him there; and O what a meeting! A penitent backslider and a forgiving God! O what a meeting! A guilty wretch drowned in tears, and a loving F...

" Men ought always to pray, and not to faint." -Luke 18:1 [KJV] Then, there can be no room for despair; for prayer exports wants, and imports blessings. But our dear Lord knows, there is in us, at all times, a backwardness to prayer; this He would remove. It arises from fainting; this He would prevent. Therefore He opposes prayer to fainting; for fainting prevents praying. Have you not found it so? When weary and faint in your mind, when your spirits are oppressed, your frame low and languid, you have thought, This is not a time for prayer. Yea, but it is. Pray always. Now, sigh out the burden of your heart and the sorrows of your spirit; now, though in broken accents, breathe your complaints into your Father’s ear; now, cry to Him who loveth you, and careth for you with the love and care of the most affectionate parent.  What makes us faint? Do troubles and afflictions? here is a reviving cordial: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and th...