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

"O, death! where is thy sting? O grave! where is thy victory?" -I Corinthians 15:55 [KJV]   Says a celebrated poet, “All men think all men mortal but themselves.”  True, there is a natural philosophy in us so to think; but new-born souls, not only know they are mortal, dying creatures, but, in the exercise of grace, they can indulge the thoughts of death with pleasing reflections. For death is not only a conquered enemy by the Captain of our salvation; but he is also enumerated in the catalogue of our blessings.— “Death is yours.”     Yours, to deliver you from all your evils of sin, sorrow, and temptations; yours, to introduce you into the presence of your God and Saviour, and into the enjoyment of all the glory and blessedness of His kingdom. But death has a sting, and the grave a victory: this sting is sin. And what gives strength to sin, and victory over the sinner, is, the law. That darts the sting into us, and so fixes it in us, that, for any thin...

"As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons."   -Song of Solomon 2:3 [KJV]   My soul! if the church found so much blessedness in making comparisons between her Lord and any of the beautiful objects of nature around her; see if thou canst raise a subject for thy meditation, this evening, from the statement she hath made in this lovely verse.   Why should not Jesus be in thy view as in hers? Doth He not infinitely transcend all sons, of whatever description or character that can be found? Angels, no doubt, by creation may be called "the sons of God;" and when God had finished the works of His hands, we are told that "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." But Jesus as far excels all angels of light, as the apple-tree the trees of the wood: for "He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they."     Neither did God at any time say unto the angels, ...

"Turn Thou us unto Thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old." -Lamentations 5:21 [KJV]   Are you not often destitute of the power to repent, and confess your sins before God? Does not conscience often bring to view a melancholy retrospect of carnal thoughts, wicked desires, vain imaginations, foolish words, frivolous speeches, and all that catalogue of evils, that huge bill which godly fear sometimes files in the court within, as seen in all our departures from the life of God?   But are you able to repent? are you able to feel cut to the very heart? are you able to mourn and sigh because conscience brings against you this long indictment? Can you always feel your soul melted down with sorrow on account of it? Are you always able to feel contrition because you are proud, worldly, covetous, everything that is evil, everything that is hateful in God's sight?   But, then, there are times and seasons when the Lord is pleased to work upon t...

"Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. " -Isaiah 40:1 [KJV] (1st.) Who are the people of God? “I am of that number,” saith one;  “for I feel my heart is full of comfort, as ever it can hold.”  It may be so. Then, this text is not for thee. But it will do thee no harm to examine into the nature of thy comforts, the tendency of them, and how thou contest by them. Saith another, “I am sure I cannot think myself one of the people of God.”  Why not? “Because, instead of the comforts of God’s children, I have continual sorrows and conflicts, am oppressed by Satan, harassed with temptations, groan under a body of sin and death, and dread, after all, that I shall perish in my sins, through unbelief."  Thou art the very person, one of the happy number of the Lord’s people, of whom He here speaks. He describes His people as poor and afflicted, who trusted in His name (Zephaniah 3:12.) What is His holy and blessed will concerning you?  Why, (2d.)...

"...who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for His body's sake, which is the church." -Colossians 1:24 [KJV] What can the apostle mean from these expressions? Not, surely, that the sufferings of Jesus were incomplete , or that the sufferings of His people were to make up a deficiency: for in treading the wine-press of the wrath of God against sin, Jesus trod it alone, and of the people there was none with Him. And so perfectly finished and complete was the whole work of redemption by Jesus, that by the one offering of Himself, once offered, "He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified."  But what a sweet scripture is this of the apostle's, when it is interpreted with reference to Jesus, that in all the sufferings of His people Jesus takes a part! Jesus suffered in His own person fully and completely, when as an expiatory sacrifice for sin He died, the just fo...

"Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe."   -Psalm 119:117 [KJV]   We are surrounded with snares; temptations lie spread every moment in our path. These snares and temptations are so suitable to the lusts of our flesh, that we shall infallibly fall into them, and be overcome by them but for the restraining providence or the preserving grace of God . The Christian sees this; the Christian feels this. He has had, it may be, a bitter experience of the past. He has seen how, from want of walking in godly fear, for want of circumspection and standing upon his watch-tower, he has been entangled in times past in the snares of death.  He has rued (- to   lament, regret & grieve ) the consequences, felt the misery of having slipped and fallen; the iron has entered into his soul; he has been in the prison house, in bondage, in darkness, and death; in consequence of his transgressions he has been "the fool"  described in Psalm 108, as "afflicted because of ...

"He was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, to pay the price of the redemption; and then crowned with glory and honor, and invested with the right of dominion over all the works of God’s hand; ‘but now we see not yet all things put under Him , ’ and the next step shall be His  actual and visible  government of the creatures."   -preacher William Andrews   Excerpt from 'The Voice of the Church on the Coming and Kingdom of the Redeemer'  Daniel Taylor, pp.389, 390