What They Said

"Happy the man who sees a God employed in all the good and ills that checker life."

"There is an infinite distance between God and His creatures, and it is an act of sheer grace for Him to take notice of earthly things. Christ, as God, is completely self-sufficient in His own eternal blessedness. How great, then, is the glory of His self-humiliation in taking our nature that He might bring us to God! Such humiliation was not forced on Him; He freely chose to do it."

"A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent."

"I have never once feared the devil, but I tremble every time I enter the pulpit."

"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.  If 'Thou shalt not covet' and 'Thou shalt not steal' were not commandments of heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free."

"Many blush to confess their faults, who never blush to commit them."

"However weak our country may be, I hope we shall never sacrifice our liberties!"

"Therefore ought a man to rest wholly upon God, so that he needeth not seek much comfort at the hands of men."

"Upon a life I did not live, upon a death I did not die; anothers life, anothers death, I stake my whole eternity."

"Contentment, then, is the product of a heart resting in God. It is the soul's enjoyment of that peace that passes all understanding. It is the outcome of my will being brought into subjection to the Divine will. It is the blessed assurance that God does all things well, and is, even now, making all things work together for my ultimate good."

"Employ they time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure; and since thou are not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour!"

"Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of."

"Oh!  That I could wear out of my mind every mean and base affection, conquer my natural pride and self conceit, expect no more difference from my fellows than I deserve, acquire that meekness, and humility, which are the sure marks and characters of a great and generous soul, and subdue every unworthy passion and treat all men as I wish to be treated by all."

"The world has lost the power to blush over its vice; the Church has lost her power to weep over it."

"Give me such love for God and men, as well blot out all hatred and bitterness."

"The most vital question to ask about all who claim to be Christian is this: Have they a soul thirst for God? Do they long for this? Is there something about them that tells you that they are always waiting for His next manifestation of Himself? Is their life centred on Him? Can they say with Paul that they forget everything in the past? Do they press forward more and more that they might know Him and that the knowledge might increase, until eventually beyond death and the grave they may bask eternally in 'the sunshine of His face?' That I might know him!"

"When you speak of God or his attributes, let it be seriously and with reverence."

"We have come to a turning point in the road. If we turn to the right mayhap our children and our children's children will go that way; but if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to God and to His Word."

"I believe in God and in His wisdom and benevolence: and I cannot conceive that such a being could make such a species as the human merely to live and die on this earth. 
If I did not believe a future state I should believe in no God.  This universe, this all, would appear with all it's swelling pomp, a boyish firework!"

"If I had not felt certain that every additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I could not have survived my accumulated sufferings."

"I recommend it to my sons, from my own experience in life, to prefer the happiness of independance and a private station to the roubles and vexations of public business; but if either their own inclinations or the necessity of the times should engage them in public affairs, I charge them, on a father's blessing, never to let the motives of private interest or ambition to induce them to betray, nor the terrors of poverty and disgrace, or the fear of danger of death deter them from asserting the liberty of their counrty, and endeavoring to transmit their posterity those sacred rights to which themselves were born."

"Measure not God's love and favour by your own feeling. The sun shines as clearly in the darkest day as it does in the brightest. The difference is not in the sun, but in some clouds which hinder the manifestation of the light thereof."

"Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure; and since thou are not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour."

"Lord, whatever you want, wherever you want it, and whenever you want it, that's what I want."

A Thanksgiving Declaration from George Washington

"Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence
of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and
humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of
Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to “recommend to
the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer,
to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and
signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an
opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety
and happiness:”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of
November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the
service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of
all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all
unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind
care and protection of the people of this country previous to their
becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable
interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the
late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which
we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we
have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our
safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately
instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are
blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful
knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which
He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers
and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him
to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all,
whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and
relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National
Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government
of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully
executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations
(especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with
good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and
practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among
them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of
temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best."

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

"Before He furnishes the abundant supply, we must first be made conscious of our emptiness. Before he gives strength, we must be made to feel our weakness. Slow, painfully slow, are we to learn this lesson; and slower still to own our nothingness and take the place of helplessness before the Mighty One"

"But hereof be assured, that all is not lawful nor just that is statute by civil laws; neither yet is everything sin before God, which ungodly persons allege to be treason."

"Imagine a person who comes in here tonight and argues 'no air exists' but continues to breathe air while he argues. Now intellectually, atheists continue to breathe - they continue to use reason and draw scientific conclusions [which assumes an orderly universe], to make moral judgments [which assumes absolute values] - but the atheistic view of things would in theory make such 'breathing' impossible. They are breathing God's air all the time they are arguing against him."

"A consciousness of our powerlessness should cast us upon Him who has all power. Here then is when a vision and view of God's sovereignty helps, for it reveals His sufficiency and shows us our insufficiency."  

~A.W. Pink~

"It is not a true Gospel that gives us the impression that the Christian life is easy, and that there are no problems to be faced. That is not the New Testament teaching. The New Testament is most alarming at first, indeed terrifying, as it shows us the problems by which we are confronted. But follow it-go on! It does not stop halfway, it goes on to this addition, this second half; and here it shows us the way in which, though that is the truth concerning the battle, we can be enabled to wage it, and not only to wage it, but to triumph in it. It shows us that we are meant to be "more than conquerors."

"Evangelical Christianity today is now tragically below the New Testament standard.  Worldliness is an accepted part of our way of life.    Our religious mood is social instead of spiritual.  we have lost the art of worship.  We carry on our religious activities after the methods of the modern advertiser.   Our literature is shallow and out hymnody borders on sacrilege.  and scarcely anyone appears to care!"

"I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize the Lord is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine. It makes no matter where He places me, or how. That is rather for Him to consider than for me; for in the easiest positions He must give me His grace, and in the most difficult, His grace is sufficient."

"Because God has made your soul, there is something in it of God Himself, a divine stamp has been impressed upon you; there is something of God's power, thought, and creative genius in you, as in no other.  You are one of the Lord's own works of art, precisely like which He created none other."

"Works make not the heart good, but a good heart makes the works good."

"A good conscience is the place of Christ; the temple of the Holy Ghost; the paradise of delight; the standing Sabbath of the saints."

"If you neglect to instruct your children in the way of holiness, will the devil neglect to instruct them in the way of wickedness? No. If you will not teach them to pray, he will teach them to curse, swear, and lie. If ground be uncultivated, weeds will spring.—If the season of their youth is neglected, how little probability is thereof any good fruit afterwards!"

"We are stewards of all that we have under God. No man has a right to our property, but neither do we. We have received of the Lord that which we have; it is to be used, first, to prosper our covenant family in Christ. Second, it must be used to further His Kingdom. Third, we must help in Christ's name those who are in need."

"Take heed that the misdeeds for which thou correctest thy children be not learned them by thee. Many children learn that wickedness of their parents for which they beat and chastise them."

"God chooses us, not because we believe, but that we may believe".

"I have heard men with prudish and mock-modesty, who would like to alter the Bible; and (I almost blush to say it) I have heard minister’s alter God’s Bible, because they were afraid of it. Have you never heard a man say, “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not,” What does the Bible say? “shall be damned.” But that does not happen to be polite enough, so they say, “shall be condemned.” Gentlemen! pull the velvet out of your mouths; speak God’s word; we want none of your alterations. I have heard men in prayer, instead of saying, “Make your calling and election sure,” say “Make your calling and salvation sure.” Pity they were not born when God lived, far-far back, that they might have taught God how to write." 

~Charles Spurgeon~

"Knowledge of the sciences is so much smoke apart from the heavenly science of Christ."

"Let a thing here be noted, that the prophet of God sometimes may teach treason against kings, and yet neither he nor such as obey the word, spoken in the Lord's name by him, offend God."

"We are all born Arminians." It is grace that turns us into Calvinists."

"We have all been encouraged to feel in the guardianship and guidance of that Almighty Being whose power regulates the destiny of nations, whose blessings have been so conspicuously dispensed to this rising Republic."

"Do you wish to grow in grace and be a holy Christian? Then never forget the value of prayer." 

"If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper. I make it a practice to read the Bible through once every year."

"Whether we like it or not, a breakdown in home-life will eventually lead to a breakdown everywhere. This is, surely, the most menacing and dangerous aspect of the state of society at this present time. Once the family idea, the family unit, the family life is broken up - once that goes, soon you will have no other allegiance."

"God was so precious to my soul that the world with all its enjoyments appeared vile. I had no more value for the favor of men than for pebbles."

"In my opinion, the great single need of the moment is that light-hearted superficial religionists be struck down with a vision of God high and lifted up, with His train filling the temple. The holy art of worship seems to have passed away like the Shekinah glory from the tabernacle. As a result, we are left to our own devices and forced to make up the lack of spontaneous worship by bringing in countless cheap and tawdry activities to hold the attention of the church people."