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

" I will put a division between My people and thy people: to-morrow shall this sign be." - Exodus 8:23 [KJV] Thus speaks the sovereign Jehovah to the haughty, stubborn monarch Pharaoh. Loving children delight to treasure up in their memories the words of an affectionate father: they love to reflect on them, and draw comfort from them. O that we may do so to-night, by this speech of our heavenly Father!  Consider, (1st.) here is a people distinguished from a people. The Lord has a people among a people, chosen out of a people . These He particularly calls His own— My people . They are so, by everlasting love, eternal choice, and covenant grace.  (2d.) Though near and dear as they are to the Lord, yet they may for a season continue under the power of, and suffer oppression from their enemies. Though the love of the Lord’s heart is ever set upon you, and the eye of His providence is ever over you, yet He may seem to leave you. O! tarry the Lord’s leisure, and be st...

"Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them." -Song of Solomon 4:2 [KJV] See, my soul, how Jesus sets off the beauties of His church, when made comely in His comeliness, which He hath put upon it. Jesus' whole church forms but one flock; for there shall be one fold and one Shepherd. And though it is called a little flock , and a flock of slaughter, yet it is a beautiful flock in the Lord's hand.  But wherefore are the teeth of the church said to be like a flock shorn? Probably, from their never being exercised but upon divine things: shorn to all desires in which unshorn and carnal persons delight. The believer feeds on Jesus: His flesh he finds to be meat indeed, His blood drink indeed : To the roof of his mouth this becomes, like the best wine, which goeth down sweetly, causing even the lips of those that sleep to speak. And how do believers, like...

"We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak." -II Corinthians 4:13 [KJV] There is a distinction to be made between faith and the spirit of faith. The spirit of faith is faith in exercise. Faith sometimes is like a day in which there is no wind blowing. It is so calm, that there scarcely appears to be any air stirring to move a leaf. But after a time a gentle breeze comes and blows over the earth. Thus it is with faith and the spirit of faith. Faith in repose is like the calm air of a summer's day, when there is nothing moving or stirring; faith acting, faith in exercise, is like the same air in the gentle breeze which makes itself sensibly felt.  If God has given me faith, that faith is never lost out of my breast. If once a believer, I always am a believer; for if I could cease to believe, I should cease to be a child of God; I should lose salvation out of m...

" Awake to righteousness, and sin not." -I Corinthians 15:34 [KJV] What St. Paul says of natural death, “Some are fallen asleep,” (verse 6,) may be applied, in a spiritual sense, to professors. There are many such in this day. It is a very bad frame to live in and indulge. Such bring no honour to God, credit to the gospel, or profit to their brethren. One would think, such sit all the year under that word, and heartily obey it, “Sleep on, and take your rest.” Can such be said to be running in the heavenly race, fighting the good fight of faith, wrestling with spiritual enemies, and pressing towards the mark, for the prize of their high calling of God in Christ Jesus?  No; no more than a man in a midnight sleep, can be said to be active in worldly affairs. But, what is worst of all, such sleepers dream that all is safe, and well with them. St. Paul, like a faithful watchman, cries out to such, Awake: “How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise ou...

"And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith ." -Luke 17:5 [KJV] Did the apostles need so to pray? Then well may I. Oh! Thou great Author and Finisher of our faith! I would look up to Thee, with thankfulness, that Thou hast granted even the smallest portion of faith to so unworthy a creature as I am. Surely, my soul, it is as great a miracle of grace that my God and Saviour should have kindled belief in thy stony heart, amidst all the surrounding obstructions of sin and Satan which lay there, as when the miraculous fire from heaven, in answer to the prophet's prayer, came down and consumed the wetted sacrifice.  I praise Thee, my God and King, this day, in the recollection of this unspeakable, unmerited mercy. And though this faith in my heart still be but as a grain of mustard seed; though it be but as a spark in the ocean; though it be but as the drop of the dew, in comparison of the river; yet, blessed, precious Jesus! still this is faith, and i...

" Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the L ORD of hosts." -Isaiah 6:5 [KJV] God has described His Zion as "full of wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores." When the Church of God fell in Adam, she fell with a crash which broke every bone and bruised her flesh with wounds which are ulcerated from top to toe. Her understanding, her conscience, and her affections were all fearfully maimed. The first was blinded, the second stupified, and the third alienated. Every mental faculty thus became perverted and distorted. As in a ship-wrecked vessel the water runs in through every leak, so when Adam fell upon the lee-shore of sin and temptation, and made shipwreck of the image of God in which he was created, sin rushed into every faculty of body and soul, and penetrated into the inmost recesses of his being. Or to use another f...

"Where a sincere love to Christ is in the heart, there will be obedience; " If a man love Me indeed, that love will be such a commanding and constraining principle in him, that, no question, he will keep My words ." Where there is true love to Christ, there is a value for His favor, a veneration for His authority, and an entire surrender of the whole man to his conduct and government. Where love is duty follows; it is easy and natural, and flows from a principle of gratitude."   -preacher Matthew Henry (1662-1714 A.D.)