Charles Spurgeon on Trials

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Monday, December 31, 2012 at 7:30 AM


"God’s people have their trials. It was never designed by God, when he chose his people, that they should be an untried people. They were chosen in the furnace of affliction; they were never chosen to worldly peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness and the pains of mortality was never promised them; but when their Lord drew up the charter of privileges, he included chastisements amongst the things to which they should inevitably be heirs. Trials are a part of our lot; they were predestinated for us in Christ’s last legacy. So surely as the stars are fashioned by his hands, and their orbits fixed by him, so surely are our trials allotted to us: he has ordained their season and their place, their intensity and the effect they shall have upon us. Good men must never expect to escape troubles; if they do, they will be disappointed, for none of their predecessors have been without them. Mark the patience of Job; remember Abraham, for he had his trials, and by his faith under them, he became the “Father of the faithful.” Note well the biographies of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and you shall discover none of those whom God made vessels of mercy, who were not made to pass through the fire of affliction. It is ordained of old that the cross of trouble should be engraved on every vessel of mercy, as the royal mark whereby the King’s vessels of honour are distinguished. But although tribulation is thus the path of God’s children, they have the comfort of knowing that their Master has traversed it before them; they have his presence and sympathy to cheer them, his grace to support them, and his example to teach them how to endure; and when they reach “the kingdom,” it will more than make amends for the “much tribulation” through which they passed to enter it."
Charles Spurgeon


Matthew Henry on Election

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Friday, December 28, 2012 at 7:30 AM


"None can know their election but by their conformity to Christ; for all that are chosen are chosen to sanctification."
Matthew Henry


A.A. Hodge on Obedience to God in All Areas of Life

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Thursday, December 27, 2012 at 7:30 AM


"A Christian is just as much under the obligation to obey God's will in the most secular of his daily business as he is in his closet or at A Christian is just as much under the obligation to obey God’s will in the most secular of his daily business as he is in his closet or at the communion table. He has no right to separate his life into two realms, and acknowledge different moral codes in each…

The kingdom of God includes all sides of human life, and it is a kingdom of absolute righteousness. You are either a loyal subject or a traitor. When the King comes, how will he find you doing? The kingdom of God is one, it cannot be divided…

If the Church languishes, the State cannot be in health; and if the State rebels against its Lord and King, the Church cannot enjoy His favour…

I charge you, citizens of the United States, afloat on your wide sea of politics, THERE IS ANOTHER KING, ONE JESUS: THE SAFETY OF THE STATE CAN BE SECURED ONLY IN THE WAY OF HUMBLE AND WHOLE-SOULED LOYALTY TO HIS PERSON AND OF OBEDIENCE TO HIS LAW. communion table.  He has no right to separate his life into two realms, and acknowledge different moral codes in each."
A. A. Hodge


John Howe on Eternity

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 7:30 AM

"Men that believe not another world, are the ready actors of any imaginable mischiefs and tragedies in this."
John Howe


Elisha Coles on Works

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Tuesday, December 25, 2012 at 7:30 AM

"Faith Justifies the person, and works justify his faith."
Elisha Coles
(ca. 1608-1688)


John Owen on the Minister and Prayer

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , , | Posted On Monday, December 24, 2012 at 7:30 AM

"He that is more frequent in his pulpit to his people than he is in his closet for his people, is but a sorry watchman."
John Owen




Stephen Charnock on Worship

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Friday, December 21, 2012 at 7:12 AM

"We may be truly said to worship God, though we want perfection; but we cannot be said to worship Him if we want sincerity."
Stephen Charnock
(As a note: "want" here means lack)



Thomas Adams on the World

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Thursday, December 20, 2012 at 6:52 AM

"Let us use the world, but enjoy the Lord."
Thomas Adams


Samuel Rutherford on Truth

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 7:08 AM

"Serve Christ; back Him; let His cause be your cause; give not an hairbreadth of truth away, for it is not your's but God's."
Samuel Rutherford


A.W. Tozer on Worship

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 7:01 AM


‎"It is scarcely possible in most places to get anyone to attend a meeting where the only attraction is God."
A.W. Tozer


John Trapp on Truth

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Monday, December 17, 2012 at 7:00 AM

"Truth must be spoken however it be taken."
John Trapp


William Gurnall on Sin

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Friday, December 14, 2012 at 7:30 AM

"A sheep may fall in a ditch, but it is the swine that wallows in it."
William Gurnall


John Collins on Christians and Following Others

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Thursday, December 13, 2012 at 6:30 AM

"You are to follow no man further than he follows Christ."
John Collins
(c. 1632 - 1687)

James Janeway on Conversion and Delay

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 7:27 AM

"He that saith he will be good tomorrow, he saith he will be wicked today."
James Janeway


George Downame on the Preaching of the Law

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , , | Posted On Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 7:15 AM


"The preaching of the law does not make us more sinful, but reveals those sins unto us which before we discerned not; as the sun shining upon some filthy place does not make it so filthy, but only makes it manifest which was not seen in the dark."
George Downame
(1560-1634)


William Gurnall on Knowledge

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Monday, December 10, 2012 at 7:30 AM


“Your works may bear luscious-looking fruit, but you are not safe from the devil’s blight unless you add  to your virtue knowledge. Knowledge is to faith as sunshine is to the farmer. Without it, faith cannot see to do her work. Nor can the work, once finished, be adequately inspected in the dim light of half-truths.  If you do not ground yourself in the truth of the gospel, Satan will play upon your ignorance to thwart your spiritual growth. He has a clever proposition for every occasion. In one instance he may try to persuade you that you are not humble enough, and cause the weeds of self-condemnation to choke out the assurance of your salvation. Another time, he will flatter you into a false sense of pride in your humility, and the pestilence of self-righteousness will wipe out the Spirit’s crop of fruit in your life.  Satan is not particular what lie he tells you; one will work as powerfully as another if he can get you to believe it.”
William Gurnall


Abraham Wright on Chastisement

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Friday, December 7, 2012 at 7:30 AM


"We may feel God's hand as a Father upon us when He strikes us as well as when He strokes us."
Abraham Wright
(1611-1690)

John Boys on Covetousness

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Thursday, December 6, 2012 at 7:30 AM

"A poor man doth want many things, a rich miser wants everything."
John Boys


Nehemiah Rogers on Knowledge

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 7:30 AM


"Seek not so much to have thy ear tickled as thy understanding enlightened.” 
Nehemiah Rogers


George Downame on the Practice of Religion

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , , | Posted On Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 7:30 AM


"The end of all arts and sciences is the practice of them.  And as this is to be confessed in all other arts, so it cannot be decried in divinity and religion."
George Downame
(1560-1634)


Richard Baxter on Death

Posted by Bluegrass Endurance | Labels: , | Posted On Monday, December 3, 2012 at 7:30 AM

"Rebirth brings us into the Kingdom of grace, and death into the Kingdom of glory."
Richard Baxter