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

"Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord." -John 20:20 [KJV] “Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun , ” (Ecclesiastes 11:7.) But, O how much more sweet and pleasant, to see the light, and behold the glory of the Sun of Righteousness! This inspires the heart with gladness. These disciples had lost their dear Lord, and mourned in darkness for His absence.  Tongue cannot tell their inexpressible joy, at seeing Him again. Their sight was by the eye of sense: ours is by the eye of faith . Yet our sight is not less real than theirs: and it brings the same gladness to our hearts also. Therefore it is highly prized by us. For we can neither live comfortably, walk holily, nor die happily, without seeing the Lord Christ.  For, (1st.) A sight of Christ by faith, brings peace to the conscience. There is ever a war within, between the flesh and the spirit: grace and nature: the old man and the new. The motion of si...

"And they shall hang upon Him all the glory of His father's house."  -Isaiah 22:24 [KJV] And who is this but Jesus, the true Eliakim and Governor of heaven and earth? Jesus sweetly explained it himself, when declaring himself possessing the key of David, see Revelation 3:7 . And hath not God the Father literally given all things into His hands? Is there any thing which Jehovah hath kept back? Hath it not pleased the Father, that in Him should all fulness dwell?  Is not Jesus the Head over all things to the church, which is His body? Is He not the Almighty Lord and Treasurer of all things—grace here, glory hereafter? And is not our Jesus the administrator of all things in the world, both of providence and grace? My soul, is there aught remaining to hang upon Jesus? Pause, hast thou hung upon Him all the glory of thy salvation? Pause again, my soul. Is all and every title given? Is there aught kept back? Is there any Achan in the camp of thine heart? Forbid it,...

"No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly."   -Psalm 84:11 [KJV] There are those who walk uprightly, very uprightly, in the fear of God, and yet have little comfortable or abiding evidence that they are at present partakers of God's grace, or will be hereafter sharers of Christ's glory.  But this one evidence they certainly do possess, though they can take no present comfort from it, that they walk uprightly before God and man. Let no one, however deeply experienced or highly favoured, despise this evidence of grace in others; and you who walk uprightly from a living principle of godly fear have here a marked testimony from the Lord Himself that He has a special regard for you. But what is it to "walk uprightly?" Oh! here is the grand difficulty in religion. We may talk; we may preach; we may hear; we may seem to believe; but it is when we come to act, to walk, and carry out into daily and hourly practice what we profess, th...

" For when I am weak, then am I strong." -II  Corinthians 12:10 [KJV]  We have read of St. Paul’s revelations, exaltings, buffetings, and his praying: now of his humbling sight of himself. He is brought down to his right place, low in self; and to his right feelings, weak in self.  Hence we see the true nature and blessed end of Christian experience. It keeps the soul from being puffed-up with pride, lest it fall into the condemnation of the devil. It sinks it low in humility: under a sense of weakness; and it leads out of self, to look for all its strength in Christ. Here the strength of faith is opposed to the weakness of sense. When I am sensibly weak, then I am believingly strong. This, though a difficult lesson, yet is a precious one.  (1st.) Do we see ourselves weak? Christ is held forth to us as our strength, and He calls upon us to be strong in Him. “Trust in the LORD for ever, for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength , ” (Isaiah 26:4.) B...

"Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither." -Deuteronomy 19:3 [KJV] Sweet thought to my soul, that He who is the Refuge is also the Way to every poor soul-slayer, who hath murdered his own soul by sin. And who, my soul, could prepare thee this way, but God thy Father, who gave both Jesus for the Way, and Jesus for the Refuge?  And how hath God the Spirit pointed to the way, cast up and prepared it, by taking up the stumbling-blocks out of the way, as God saith of His people? Isaiah 57:14. Is it not God the Holy Ghost that sets Jesus up, as Moses did the serpent; points to His person, to His blood, to His righteousness, as the sanctuary and the city of refuge to every poor sinner that is the manslayer of his own soul? And if what the Jews have said be true, that magistrates once a year made it their duty to have the roads examined, lest a...

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." - Romans 6:11 [KJV] How many poor souls are struggling against the power of sin, and yet never get any victory over it! How many are daily led captive by the lusts of the flesh, the love of the world, and the pride of life, and never get any victory over them! How many fight and grapple with tears, vows, and strong resolutions against the besetting sins of temper, levity, or covetousness, who are still entangled and overcome by them again and again!  Now, why is this? Because they know not the secret of spiritual strength against, and spiritual victory over them. It is only by virtue of a living union with the Lord Jesus Christ, drinking into His sufferings and death, and receiving out of His fulness, that we can gain any victory over the world, sin, death, or hell. Let me bring this down a little to your own experience. Say your soul has been, on on...

What is Faith? Is it Necessary? by D.G. Miles McKee (1) Is faith necessary? Yes indeed, faith is necessary.  For example, we can´t get a hold of our salvation without faith. The Bible says, we are saved by grace through faith and not of ourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8) . Grace, therefore, is the explanation of our salvation and faith is how we take a hold of it. But what are we saved from? Among other things, we are saved from the wrath of God (see Romans 5:9) and this amazing, saving salvation is all "by grace through faith . " Salvation by grace through faith is an excellent truth and we learn to take a hold of it by faith alone.  Self-righteous people reject this. They want to be saved by their own morality. But what do the Scriptures say? The Scriptures say that salvation is  “not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast ” (Ephesians 2:8-9) . I love what the hymnwriter, Stewart Townend, says....