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

"Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey." -John 4:6 [KJV] My soul, art thou wearied with the labours of the day, and glad that the evening of rest is come? Look unto thy Lord! Behold Jesus wearied with His journey. As part of the curse, this, among other consequences, seized upon the Lord of life and glory, from the moment He became flesh: "It behoved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren." All the sinful frailties and infirmities of our poor nature; all the calamities to which human life is exposed, in the thorns and thistles which the earth is made to bring forth to man, and the dust of death, into which, as Jesus spake by the spirit of prophecy, He knew Jehovah would bring Him (Psalm 22:15) .   These were the very conditions to which the Redeemer subjected Himself, in the days of His flesh, when "He was made sin for us Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him : " and hence His whole life was a life...

"To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace." - Luke 1:79  [KJV] What was it that moved the divine Father to send His own Son into the world? Was it not the free mercy of God flowing forth from His bosom to His family? Then, what merit, what claim can His family ever have? Their misery is their claim. Their worthlessness, their sunken state, the depth of their fall—these things call forth God's compassion. It is not what I have done for the glory of God; not what I am doing, or trying to do; not my wisdom, my strength, my resolutions, my piety, my holiness.   No; my misery, my helplessness, my worthlessness, my deeply sunken state, my fallen condition; which I feel only because of interest in the blood and love of the Lamb—this it is that makes me need God's mercy; and this it is that qualifies me to go to God through Jesus to receive mercy: for "He is able to save unto the uttermost all that co...

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 sin in our memb...

"The Tent Dissolved, and the Mansion Entered" (Be sure to   LISTEN to the Audio , as you  READ the text  below.) II Corinthians 5:1-2, "We know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in Heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling." Paul was a maker and mender of tent s. Unlike the substantiality of a house, a tent is a very frail structure . In that respect it is quite like this feeble body of ours, which is crushed before the moth. Our bodies are liable to death from causes so small as to be almost imperceptible: a breath of foul air, a particle of poisonous matter, a trifle, a mere nothing, may end this mortal life. I trust that we duly remember the frailty of our bodies. We are not so foolish as to think that because we are in robust health today, then we must necessarily live to old age. Our crowded cemeteries supply ten thousand argument...

"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 puft 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.) But surely, folly is b...

"For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her." -Zechariah 2:5 [KJV] Precious promises these, my soul! and, like all the other promises of our God, are "Yea and amen in Christ Jesus." Is the church, in this wilderness-state, exposed to the ravages of Satan, who goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour? then will God "be unto her a wall , " and that "of fire , " which (like travellers in the desert, who encircle themselves with fire against the attacks of wild beasts by night) will keep her secure from all approaches. Doth the church, in her poor circumstances, need comfort within? then will God in Christ be "the glory in the midst of her." And hence, all around, within and without, in every direction, and in every way, Jesus will be the hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; and upon all the glory shall be a defence.   Look up t...

"Through the tender mercies of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us." -Luke 1:78 [KJV]   By "day-spring" is meant the day-dawn, the herald of the rising sun, the change from darkness to light, the first approach of morn, in a word, the spring of the day. But what is this "day-spring" spiritually? It is the intimation of the rising of the Sun of righteousness. It is not the same thing as the Sun of righteousness; but it is the herald of His approach; the beams which the rising sun casts upon the benighted world, announcing the coming of Jesus, "the King in His beauty."     This expression was singularly applicable in the mouth of Zacharias. The Lord of life and glory had not then appeared; He was still in the womb of the virgin Mary. But His forerunner, John, had appeared as the precursor, the herald of His approach, and was sent to announce that the Sun of righteousness was about to arise. "There was a man sent from...