What They Said

"The purpose of Christ's atoning work was to restore man to a position of covenant-keeping instead of covenant-breaking, to enable man to keep the law by freeing man "from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2), "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us" (Rom 8:4). Man is restored to a position of law-keeping."

R.J. Rushdoony

If therefore in doubtful cases you would discover God's will, govern yourselves in your search after it by the following rules:

1. Get the true fear of God upon your hearts. Be really afraid of offending him. God will not hide his mind from such a soul. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant" (Psalm 25:14).

2. Study the Word more, and the concerns and interests of the world less. The Word is light to your feet (Psalm 119:105), that is, it has a discovering and directing usefulness as to all duties to be done and dangers to be avoided.  It is the great oracle at which you are to enquire.  Treasure up its rules in your hearts, and you will walk safely.  "Thy Word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee" (Ps 119:11).

3. Reduce what you know into practice, and you shall know what is your duty to practice. "If any man do his will he shall know of the doctrine" (John 7:17). "A good understanding have all they that do his commandments" (Psalm 111:10).

4. Pray for illumination and direction in the way that you should go. Beg the Lord to guide you in straits and that he would not permit you to fall into sin.  This was the holy practice of Ezra:  "Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and our little ones, and for all our substance" (Ezra 8:21)

5. And this being done, follow Providence so far as it agrees with the Word and no further. There is no use to be made of Providence against the Word, but in subservience to it.

John Flavel

(From: The Mystery of Providence)

"I may be a bookman, and yet be an idiot and stark fool in Christ's way! Learning will not beguile Christ. The Bible beguiled the Pharisees, and so may I be misled."

Samuel Rutherford

"It is a common saying that a hog is good for nothing whilst he is alive: not good to bear or carry, as the horse; nor to draw, as the ox; nor to clothe, as the sheep; nor to give milk, as the cow; nor to keep the house, as the dog; but ad solan mortem nutritur (fed only to the slaughter). So a covetous rich man, just like a hog, doth no good with his riches whilst he liveth, but when he is dead his riches come to be disposed of.  "The riches of a sinner are laid up for the just.""

Andrew Willet

(1562-1621)

"48.  For to that end also in the holy Scripture profitable, to show which is the best manner of governing a commonwealth, and that the magistrate, as being God's minister, may by this guiding star be so directed, as that he may execute the parts of his office according to the will of God, and may perfectly be instructed to every good work; yet the minister is not said properly to treat of civil businesses, but of the scandals which arise about them, or in the cases of conscience which occur in the administration of the commonwealth, so also the magistrate is not properly said to be exercised about the spiritual things of the church, but rather about those external things which adhere unto and accompany the spiritual things."

George Gillespie 

(From: CXI Propositions Concerning the Ministry and Government of the Church)

"Suppose we ponder how slippery is the fall of the human mind into forgetfulness of God, how great the tendency to every kind of error, how great the lust to fashion constantly new and artificial religions. Then we may perceive how necessary was such written proof of the heavenly doctrine, that it should neither perish through forgetfulness nor vanish through error nor be corrupted by the audacity of men. It is therefore clear that God has provided the assistance of the Word for the sake of all those to whom he has been pleased to give useful instruction because he foresaw that his likeness imprinted upon the most beautiful form of the universe would be insufficiently effective."

John Calvin

"We shall all do well to remember the charge: “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is.” (Heb. 10:25). Never to be absent from God’s house on Sundays, without good reason – never to miss the Lord’s Supper when administered in our own congregation – never to let our place be empty when means of grace are going on, this is one way to be a growing and prosperous Christian. The very sermon that we needlessly miss, may contain a precious word in season for our souls. The very assembly for prayer and praise from which we stay away, may be the very gathering that would have cheered, established, and revived our hearts. We little know how dependent our spiritual health is on little, regular, habitual helps, and how much we suffer if we miss our medicine."

J.C. Ryle

"Many come to the word only to feast their ears; they like the melody of the voice, the mellifluous sweetness of the expression, the newness of the notion, Acts xvii. 21. This is to love the garnishing of the dish more than the food; this is to desire to be pleased, rather than edified. Like a woman that paints her face, but neglects her health: so they paint and adorn themselves with curious speculations, but neglect their soul's health. This hearing doth neither sanctify the heart, nor the sabbath.

Thomas Watson

"Is it not the great end of religion, and, in particular, the glory of Christianity, to extinguish the malignant passions; to curb the violence, to control the appetites, and to smooth the asperities of man; to make us compassionate and kind, and forgiving one to another; to make us good husbands, good fathers, good friends; and to render us active and useful in the discharge of the relative social and civil duties?"

William Wilberforce

"My argument is, therefore, that a man who feels he is competent, and that he can do this easily, and so rushes to preach without any sense of fear or trembling, or any hesitation whatsoever, is a man who is proclaiming that he has never been "called" to be a preacher.  The man who is called by God is a man who realizes what he is called to do, and he so realizes the awfulness of the task that he shrinks from it.  Noting but this overwhelming sense of being called, and of compulsion, should ever lead anyone to preach."

Martyn-Lloyd Jones

"How would the great work of sanctification go on in a person if they had no trial? Trouble is often the only fire which will burn away the dross that clings to our hearts. Trouble is the pruning–knife which Christ employs in order to make us fruitful in good works. The harvest of the Lord’s field is seldom ripened by sunshine only. It must go through its days of wind, rain and storm."

J.C. Ryle

"[Although resistance would provoke] great sufferings, [it was] better to suffer than sin.  Let them trust in the God of their fathers, which is better than to put confidence in princes.  And if they suffer, because they dare not comply with the wills of men against the will of God, they suffer in a good cause."

Increase Mather

"You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary."

Jonathan Edwards

‎"A Christian is a walking sermon. They preach far more than a minister does, for they preach all week long."

J.C. Ryle