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

Brethren, it is better for us to go without earthly praise for thus we escape the assault of temptations which might prove too strong for our strength. Let the world then form its own estimate, and let us patiently endure, and let us wait our reward. And we can endure, we can wait, if faith come in to our aid.  Faith shall brighten our vision, and give us to see, while looking through time's dim vapors, that 'our witness is in heaven, and record is on high.' Faith shall open our ears, and give us to hear, by anticipation, the music of that blessed plaudit, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servants! enter into the joy of your Lord!'    -preacher Andrew Broaddus (1770-1848 A.D.)

" But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground, as though He heard them not." -John 8:6 [KJV] Every, the most minute transaction of the life of Christ, should be precious to the faith of our hearts. For in all that He did in life, and by all that He suffered in death, He manifested Himself to be the Saviour of lost sinners. The love of His heart knows no bounds to such. He willingly came to seek, and to save them. It is His joy to find, and His glory to save the lost . O were it not so, the hand that writes must tremble, that holds the pen, drop it with terror, while his heart would be filled with distress, and his soul sink into black despair.  But, O this faithful saying, “That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners , ” braces every nerve with joy, and fills the whole man with triumph—See a vile prostitute brought before our Lord; and her crimes charged upon her. She was taken in the act. Here are witnesses to prove it. Her sin ad...

"He hath poured out His soul unto death." -Isaiah 53:12 [KJV] My soul! From the garden to the cross, follow Jesus. Behold Him apprehended and hurried away, both to judgment and to death. He who struck to the ground the band that came to take Him, might surely, by the same breath of His mouth, have struck them to hell, and prevented His being apprehended by them. But one of the sweetest and most blessed parts of Jesus' redemption of His people, consisted in the freeness and willingness of His sacrifice. Yes, Thou precious Lamb of God! No man (as Thou Thyself hadst before said) had power to take Thy life from Thee; but Thou didst lay it down Thyself: Thou hadst power to lay it down, and Thou hadst power to take it again. Delightful consideration, to thee, my soul! Now, my soul, let this day's meditation be sacred to the view of thy Redeemer pouring out His soul unto death. And to-morrow, if the Lord give thee to see the morrow, let the solemn subject of thy s...

"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." -II Corinthians 3:18 [KJV] A view of Christ's glory and a foretaste of the bliss and blessedness it communicates has a transforming effect upon the soul. We are naturally proud, covetous, and worldly, often led aside by, and grievously entangled in various lusts and passions, prone to evil, averse to good, easily elated by prosperity, soon dejected by adversity, peevish under trials, rebellious under heavy strokes, unthankful for daily mercies of food and raiment, and in other ways ever manifesting our base original. To be brought from under the power of these abounding evils, and be made "meet for the inheritance of the saints in light," we need to be "transformed by the renewing of our mind," and conformed to the image of Christ.  Now this can only be by beholding His glor...

" Thy God reigneth." -Isaiah 52:7 [KJV] Christ commissions His ministers, to proclaim this joyful truth to Zion, His church, that every member of His might receive it in faith, change the pronoun and say, My God reigneth . Christ’s reign is His people’s glory, their triumph on earth; and the shouts of disembodied saints in glory. Listen to their acclamations of joy. “Allelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come.” -Revelation 19:6, 7   Are we married to the Lamb? Has He our hearts and affections? Then we shall constantly rejoice, and give honor to Him, that He, Who is our God, reigneth. Where? Where He dwells. In heaven for us: and in our hearts over us. For, as He dwells in our hearts by faith, He spiritually reigns over all within us. O what matter of joy and consolation is this!  For (1st.) If our King has set up His throne in our hearts, what enemy can hurt us? They...

"Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am He . And Judas also, which betrayed Him, stood with them. As soon then as He had said unto them, I am He , they went backward and fell to the ground ." -John 18:4-6 [KJV] What a glorious scripture is this! Ponder it well, my soul; for of all the miracles of thy Jesus, there is not one more sweet and satisfactory to contemplate. Yesterday thou wast looking at thy Redeemer under a heavy cloud. Look at Him as He is here represented, for He is still, in this transaction, in the same garden of Gethsemane; and behold how the Godhead shone forth with a glory surpassing all description.  Observe what a willing sacrifice was Jesus. He knew the hour was come, for He had said so. He doth not wait to be taken, and by wicked hands to be crucified and slain: but He goeth forth to surrender Himself. Ye...

"And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him?" -Luke 18:7 [KJV] "Behold, he prayeth," was the word of the Lord to Ananias to convince him that that dreaded persecutor, Saul of Tarsus, had been quickened by the Spirit. And what a mercy it is for the quickened soul that the blessed Spirit thus helps his sinking, trembling spirit, puts life and energy into his cries and sighs, holds him up and keeps him steadfast at the throne, and thus enables him to persevere with his earnest suings for mercy, mingles faith with his petitions, and himself most graciously and kindly intercedes within him and for him with groanings which cannot be uttered. This is "praying with the spirit" (I Corinthians 14:15) and "in the Holy Ghost" (Jude 20) .  This is pouring out the heart before God (Psalm 62:8) , pouring out the soul before the Lord (I Samuel 1:15) ; and by this free discharge of the contents of an almost bursting ...