What They Said

From Whence This Fear and Unbelief

From whence this fear and unbelief?

Hath not the Father put to grief

His spotless Son for me?

And will the righteous Judge of men

Condemn me for that debt of sin

Which, Lord, was charged on Thee?

Complete atonement Thou hast made,

And to the utmost Thou hast paid

Whate'er Thy people owed;

How then can wrath on me take place,

If sheltered in Thy righteousness,

And sprinkled with Thy blood?

If thou hast my discharge procured,

And freely in my room endured

The whole of wrath divine;

Payment God cannot twice demand,

First at my bleeding Surety's hand,

And then again at mine.

Turn then, my soul, unto thy rest!

The merits of thy great High Priest

Have bought thy liberty;

Trust in His efficacious blood,

Nor fear thy banishment from God,

Since Jesus died for thee.

Augustus Toplady
(Hear Music Here (First Verse Only))

"This is not the time or place to give a dissertation upon threshing. We find every information upon that subject in proper books; but the meaning of the illustration is this—that as God has taught husbandmen to distinguish between different kinds of grain in the threshing, so does he in his infinite wisdom deal discreetly with different sorts of men. He does not try us all alike, seeing we are differently constituted. He does not pass us all through the same agony of conviction: we are not all to the same extent threshed with terrors. He does not give us all to endure the same family or bodily affliction; one escapes with only being beaten with a rod, while another feels, as it were, the feet of horses in his heavy tribulations."

Charles Spurgeon

(From: Farm Sermons)

"The Lord has also made this farm evidently his own by cultivation. What more could he have done for his farm? He has totally changed the nature of the soil: from being barren he hath made it a fruitful land. He hath ploughed it, and digged it, and fattened it, and watered it, and planted it with all manner of flowers and fruits. It hath already brought forth to him many a pleasant cluster, and there are brighter times to come, when angels shall shout the harvest home, and Christ "shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied."

Charles Spurgeon

(From: Farm Sermons)

"In the first place, the God of the whole earth is A GREAT HUSBANDMAN. This is true in natural things. As a matter of fact all farm operations are carried on by his power and prudence. Man may plough the soil, and sow the seed; but as Jesus said, "My Father is the husbandman." He appoints the clouds and allots the sunshine; he directs the winds and distributes the dew and the rain; he also gives the frost and the heat, and so by various processes of nature he brings forth food for man and beast. All the farming, however, which God does, is for the benefit of others, and never for himself. He has no need of any of our works of husbandry. If he were hungry, he would not tell us. "The cattle on a thousand hills," says he, "are mine." The purest kindness and benevolence are those which dwell in the heart of God. Though all things are God's, his works in creation and in providence are not for himself, but for his creatures. This should greatly encourage us in trusting to him."

Charles Spurgeon

(From: Farm Sermons)

"Farmers should make brave Christians when grace renews them, for God is everywhere about them, and in his presence gracious souls are sure to thrive. Of old the Lord met men by the bush, the brook, and the well, and spake with them in the field, the threshing-floor, and the sheep-fold; and he still seems nearer in the country than in the grimy town. Never can the tiller of the ground open his eyes without learning something if he is willing to be taught. Weeds and plants, frost and sunshine, green shoots and yellow ears, drills and reapers, hedges and ditches, foxes and sheep, drought and flood, waggons and horses, harrows and ploughs—all reveal some spiritual mystery concerning God and our own souls. Surely those men should learn much who find a schoolmaster and a lesson-book in every acre which they cultivate."

Charles Spurgeon

(From: Farm Sermons)

"It is fit that farmers should have sermons gathered out of their own occupation, for it is one which, above all others, abounds in holy teaching; and, as it would be ill for dwellers in the Indies to go from home for gold and spices, so would it be unwise to leave the field and the plough in search of instruction. He who dwells at Newcastle wastes time when he goes far for coals; he who lives by the labour of the field will be foolish if he neglects the teaching of nature for the most glittering philosophy. Some of the mightiest of prophets and preachers came from the plough, and surely that must be a good college which has furnished such able divines. As all the world is fed by the produce of the farm, so may all men's minds find food in meditating upon the ways of God in nature and providence, as seen by the husbandman."

Charles Spurgeon

(From: Farm Sermons)

"When the Word dwells as a familiar friend in the heart to direct, counsel and comfort us, then it is a sign it  abides there. The devil knows good and hates it, therefore knowledge alone is nothing; but when the promise alters the temper of the heart itself, then it is engrafted there."

Richard Sibbes

"An ignorant people will easily receive idolatry for their religion, and must bow their necks to the tyrant's yoke, because they are incapable of using rational liberty.  Will you then consign over your posterity to foolish and abominable superstitions instead of religion, and to be the slaves of despotism, when a small proportion of the produce of your labours will make them wise, free, and happy?"

Samuel Langdon

“Take a look at your own heart, and you will soon find out what has stuck to it and where your treasure is. It is easy to determine whether hearing the Word of God, living according to it, and achieving such a life gives you as much enjoyment and calls forth as much diligence from you as does accumulating and saving money and property.”

Martin Luther

"The soul is wider than creation, broader than space; give it all, it would be still unsatisfied, and man would not find rest. You say, "That is strange: if I had a little more I should be very well satisfied." You make a mistake: if you are not content with what you have you would not be satisfied if it were doubled. "Nay," says one, "I should be." You do not know yourself. If you have fixed your affection on the things of this world, that affection is like a horse-leech; it cries, "Give! give!" It will suck, suck, suck to all eternity, and still cry, "Give, give!" and though you give it all, it has not gotten enough."

Charles Spurgeon

"A sermon is not made with an eye upon the sermon, but with both eyes upon the people and all the heart upon God."

John Owen

"Take every opportunity which your nearness provides to be speaking seriously to each other about the matters of God, and your salvation.  Discussing those things of this world no more than required. And then talk together of the state and duty of your souls towards God, and of your hopes of heaven, as those that take these for their greatest business. And don’t speak lightly, or unreverently, or in a rude and disputing manner; but with gravity and sobriety, as those that are discussing the most important things in the whole world. [Mark 8:36]"

Richard Baxter

‎”What is the cause of all God’s purposes towards us? Himself. There is no other cause.”

Thomas Goodwin

"We must labor to do good to our children even from their earliest years. If Satan begins so early to do them harm, we must not be behind him in diligence to lead them to God. How soon in life a child becomes responsible and accountable, is a difficult question to solve. Perhaps far sooner than many of us suppose. One thing, at all events, is very clear–it is never too soon to strive and pray for the salvation of the souls of children–never too soon to speak to them as moral beings, and tell them of God, Christ, right and wrong. The devil, we may be quite sure, loses no time in endeavoring to influence the minds of young people. He begins with them even from childhood. Let us work hard to counteract him."

J.C. Ryle

“There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.”

Richard Sibbes

"Contentment is freely submitting to and taking pleasure in God's disposal."

Jeremiah Burroughs

""When a religion," says McCosh, "waxes old in a country—when the circumstances which at first favored its formation or introduction have changed—when in an age of reason it is tried and found unreasonable—when in an age of learning it is discovered to be the product of the grossest ignorance—when in an age of levity it is felt to be too stern—then the infidel spirit takes courage, and, with a zeal in which there is a strange mixture of scowling revenge and light-hearted wantonness, of deep-set hatred and laughing levity, it proceeds to level all existing temples and altars, and erects no others in their room."  The void which is created is soon filled with wantonness and violence. The State cannot be restored to order until it settles down upon some form of religion again. As the subjects of a State must have a religion in order to be truly obedient, and as it is the true religion alone which converts obedience into a living principle, it is obvious that a Commonwealth can no more be organized, which shall recognize all religions, than one which shall recognize none. The sanctions of its laws must have a centre of unity somewhere. To combine in the same government contradictory systems of faith, is as hopelessly impossible as to constitute into one State men of different races and languages. The Christian, the Pagan, Mohammedan, Jews, Infidels, and Turks, cannot coalesce as organic elements in one body politic. The State must take its religious typo from the doctrines, the precepts, and the institutions of one or the other of these parties."

James H. Thornwell

"Be earnest to procure ministers, who preach the uncorrupted doctrines of the gospel, in all your towns: let none of your parishes continue vacant thro’ indifference, negligence, or covetousness; and never withhold from faithful ministers a comfortable support. When we look round and see so many churches destitute of teachers, contenting themselves in the total neglect of all divine institutions, have we not reason to fear that God is departing from us? And if our religion is given up, all the liberty we boast of will soon be gone; a profane and wicked people cannot hope for divine blessings, but it may be easily foretold that “evil will befall them in the latter days.”

Samuel Langdon

(1723 –  1797)

"That Christianity should be twisted in with national constitutions, that the kingdoms of the world should become Christ's kingdoms, and their kings the church's nursing fathers."

Matthew Henry

“Now this is a mystery to a carnal heart. They can see no such thing; perhaps they think God loves them when he prospers them and makes them rich, but they think God loves them not when he afflicts them. That is a mystery, but grace instructs men in that mystery, grace enables men to see love in the very frown of God's face, and so come to receive contentment.”

Jeremiah Burroughs

"It is our duty, as far as lies in our power, immediately to organize human society and all its institutions and organs upon a distinctively Christian basis. Indifference or impartiality here between the law of the kingdom and the law of the world, or of its prince, the devil, is utter treason to the King of Righteousness. The Bible, the great statute-book of the Kingdom, explicitly lays down principles which, when candidly applied, will regulate the action of every human being in all relations. There can be no compromise. The King said, with regard to all descriptions of moral agents in all spheres of activity, "He that is not with me is against me."  If the national life in general is organized upon non-Christian principles, the churches which are embraced within the universal assimilating power of that nation will not long be able to preserve their integrity."

A. A. Hodge

"Resolved, never to do anything which I would be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life."

Jonathan Edwards

"Do not leave your children to wander out without the guardianship of holy knowledge, for there are seducers abroad who will mislead them if they can."

Charles Spurgeon

“The satisfying labors of a gardener are among the most profound and paradoxical evidences of grace in all of life.”

John Calvin

"We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ. The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope"

Chalres Spurgeon

"Let us not please ourselves that we have deep understandings, but let us shew our understandings by our practice." 

Richard Sibbes

"There is no surer standard of spiritual growth than a habit of aiming at the glory of God in everything."

Archibald Alexander