What They Said

"Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Spirit, for such things as God has promised."

John Bunyan

"Humility is a strange flower; it grows best in winter weather, and under storms of affliction."

Samuel Rutherford

“I hold that belief in God is not merely as reasonable as other belief, or even a little or infinitely more probably true than other belief; I hold rather that unless you believe in God you can logically believe in nothing else”

Cornelius Van Til

“Truly to confess out of the heart that all benefits come of God, even out of the goodness of his mercy and not the deservings of our deeds, is the only sacrifice that pleases God.”

William Tyndale

"Though other things may be the worse for breaking, yet a heart is never at the best till it be broken ; for till it be broken we cannot see what is in it; till it be broken it cannot send forth its sweetest odor; and, therefore, though God loves a whole heart in affection, yet He loves a broken heart in sacrifice. And no marvel, seeing it is He Himself that breaks it. Therefore, accept, O God, my broken heart, which I offer Thee with a whole heart; seeing Thou canst neither except against that for being whole which is broken in sacrifice, nor except against that for being broken which is whole in affection."

Sir Richard Baker

(1568-1645)

“In our prosperity we are apt to have secret thoughts that our enjoyments were the debts God owed us, rather than gifts freely bestowed upon us.  Hence it is that men are more unwilling to part with their righteousness than with their sins, and are apt to challenge salvation as a due, rather than beg it as an act of grace.”

Stephen Charnock

“The more godly a man is, and the more graces and blessings of God are upon him, the more need he hath to pray because Satan is busiest against him, and because he is readiest to be puffed up with a conceited holiness.”

Richard Greenham

(1535-1594)

"Some will obey partially, obey some commandments, not others ; like a plough which, when it comes to a stiff piece of earth, makes a baulk. But God that spake all the words of the moral law, will have all obeyed."

Thomas Watson

"….for the moment any mention is made of Christian liberty lust begins to boil, or insane commotions arise, if a speedy restraint is not laid on those licentious spirits by whom the best things are perverted into the worst. For they either, under pretext of this liberty, shake off all obedience to God, and break out into unbridled licentiousness, or they feel indignant, thinking that all choice, order, and restraint, are abolished. What can we do when thus encompassed with straits? Are we to bid adieu to Christian liberty, in order that we may cut off all opportunity for such perilous consequences? But, as we have said, if the subject be not understood, neither Christ, nor the truth of the Gospel, nor the inward peace of the soul, is properly known. Our endeavor must rather be, while not suppressing this very necessary part of doctrine, to obviate the absurd objections to which it usually gives rise."

John Calvin

"Wherefore, though the Christian, as a Christian, is the only man at liberty, as called thereunto of God; yet his liberty is limited to things that are good: he is not licensed thereby to indulge the flesh."

 John Bunyan

Fountains of Never Ceasing Grace

Fountain of never ceasing grace,
Thy saints’ exhaustless theme,
Great object of immortal praise,
Essentially supreme;
We bless Thee for the glorious fruits
Thine incarnation gives;
The righteousness which grace imputes,
And faith alone receives.

Whom heaven’s angelic host adores,
Was slaughtered for our sin;
The guilt, O Lord was wholly ours,
The punishment was Thine:
Our God in the flesh, to set us free,
Was manifested here;
And meekly bare our sins, that we
His righteousness might wear.

Imputatively guilty then
Our substitute was made,
That we the blessings might obtain
For which His blood was shed:
Himself He offered on the cross,
Our sorrows to remove;
And all He suffered was for us,
And all He did was love.

In Him we have a righteousness,
By God Himself approved;
Our rock, our sure foundation this,
Which never can be moved.
Our ransom by His death He paid,
For all His people giv’n,
The law He perfectly obeyed,
That they might enter Heav’n.

As all, when Adam sinned alone,
In his transgression died,
So by the righteousness of One,
Are sinners justified,
We to Thy merit, gracious Lord,
With humblest joy submit,
Again to Paradise restored,
In Thee alone complete.

Our souls His watchful love retrieves,
Nor lets them go astray,
His righteousness to us He gives,
And takes our sins away:
We claim salvation in His right,
Adopted and forgiv’n,
His merit is our robe of light,
His death the gate of Heav’n.

Augustus Toplady

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Your Harps, Ye Trembling Saints

Your harps, ye trembling saints,

Down from the willows take;

Loud to the praise of love divine

Bid ev'ry string awake.

Though in a foreign land,

We are not far from home;

And nearer to our house above

We ev'ry moment come.

His grace will to the end

Stronger and brighter shine;

Nor present things, nor things to come,

Shall quench the grace divine.

When we in darkness walk,

Nor feel the heav'nly flame,

Then is the time to trust our God,

And rest upon his Name.

Soon shall our doubts and fears

Subside at his control;

His lovingkindness shall break through

The midnight of the soul.

Blest is the man, O God,

That stays himself on thee:

Who wait for thy salvation, Lord,

Shall thy salvation see.

Augustus Toplady

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What Though I Cannot Break My Chain

What tho' I cannot break my chain

Or e'er throw off my load,

The things impossible to men

Are possible to God.

Who, who shall in thy presence stand,

Or match Omnipotence;

Unfold the grasp of thy right hand

And pluck the sinner thence?

Faith to be healed I fain would have,

O might it now be giv'n;

Thou canst, thou canst the sinner save,

And make me meet for heav'n.

Bound down with twice ten thousand ties,

Yet let me hear thy call;

My soul in confidence shall rise,

Shall rise and break through all.

Thou canst o'ercome this heart of mine,

Thou wilt victorious prove;

But everlasting strength is thine,

And everlasting love.

Augustus Toplady

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How Vast the Benefits Devine

How vast the benefits divine

Which we in Christ possess!

We are redeemed from guilt and shame

And called to holiness.

But not for works which we have done,

Or shall hereafter do,

Hath God decreed on sinful men

Salvation to bestow.

The glory, Lord, from first to last,

Is due to thee alone;

Aught to ourselves we dare not take,

Or rob thee of thy crown.

Our glorious Surety undertook

To satisfy for man,

And grace was given us in him

Before the world began.

This is thy will, that in thy love

We ever should abide;

That earth and hell should not prevail

To turn thy Word aside.

Not one of all the chosen race

But shall to heav'n attain,

Partake on earth the purposed grace

And then with Jesus reign.

Augustus Toplady

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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
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"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