What They Said

“The Lord does not measure out our afflictions according to our faults, but according to our strength, and looks not what we have deserved, but what we are able to bear; for, as the prophet says, in wrath He remembers mercy (Hab. iii.2), which makes Him in all our chastisements to intend our profit, and not our punishment."

George Downame

"A military government may make a nation great, but it cannot make them free."

Fisher Ames

“Many will rejoice in that love which is profitable to themselves. But where is he that will as well rejoice in that love which is profitable only to others?”

Daniel Dyke 

(1617-1688)

“In vain do we seek to awaken our churches to zeal in evangelism as a separate thing. To be genuine it must flow from love to Christ. It is when a sense of personal communion with the Son of God is highest that we shall be most fit for missionary work, either ourselves or to stir up others.”

Archibald Alexander

“It is a great cause oftentimes why God blesseth not means, because we are so apt to trust in them, and rob God of his glory, not waiting for a blessing at his hands.  This causeth the Lord to cross us, and to curse his own benefits because we seek not him, but sacrifice to our own nets, putting confidence in outward means.  Therefore when we hope for help from them, God bloweth upon them, and turneth them to our hurt and destruction."

Abraham Wright

"Sound Protestant and Evangelical doctrine is useless if it is not accompanied by a holy life. It is worse than useless: it does positive harm. It is despised by keen-sighted and shrewd men of the world, as an unreal and hollow thing, and brings religion into contempt."

J.C. Ryle

"When we come to be religious, we lose not our pleasure, but translate it.  Before we fed on common notions, but now we live on holy truths."

Richard Sibbes

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniencies attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."

Thomas Jefferson

(From letter to Archibald Stuart - 12,23,1791)

(Word "inconveniences" was originally "dangers" but it was crossed out and TJ used the current word)

“I wish that Christian men would insist more and more on the unrighteousness of war, believing that Christianity means no sword, no cannon, no bloodshed, and that, if a nation is driven to fight in its own defence, Christianity stands by to weep and to intervene as soon as possible, and not to join in the cruel shouts which celebrate an enemy’s slaughter.” 

Charles Spurgeon

(An All-Round Ministry)

“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Trade increases the wealth and glory of a country; but its real strength and stamina are to be looked for among the cultivators of the land." 

William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham 

(1708 – 1778)

"As a moth gnaws a garment, so doth envy consume a man."

John Chrysostom

"The Lord afflicts us at times; but it is always a thousand times less than we deserve, and much less than many of our fellow creatures are suffering around us. Let us therefore pray for grace to be humble, thankful, and patient."

John Newton

"But, though persecuting malice raged, yet the Gospel shone with resplendent brightness; and, firm as an impregnable rock, withstood the attacks of its boisterous enemies with success.  Tertullian, who lived in this age, informs us the if the Christians had collectively withdrawn themselves from the Roman territories, the empire would have been greatly depopulated. "

John Foxe

"It therefore requires a certain effort not to believe in a personal God: “No one disbelieves the existence of God except the person to whom God’s existence is not convenient.” There are no atheists so thoroughly sure of their unbelief as to be willing to die a martyr’s death for it. Since atheism is abnormal and unnatural, based not on intuitions but on inferential proofs and fallible reasoning, it is never sure of its causes. The arguments for the existence of God may be weak, but in any case they are stronger than those advanced for its denial. It is even impossible to prove that there is no God. To accomplish that feat a person would have to be omniscient and omnipresent, that is, to be God!"

Herman Bavinck

"Scripture was written by the Holy Spirit that it might serve him in guiding the church, in the perfecting of the saints, in building up the body of Christ.  In it God daily comes to his people, not from afar but nearby. In it he reveals himself, from day to day, to believers in the fullness of his truth and grace. Through it he works his miracles of compassion and faithfulness. Scripture is the ongoing rapport between heaven and earth, between Christ and his church, between God and his children. It does not just tie us to the past; it binds us to the living Lord in the heavens. It is the living voice of God, the letter of the omnipotent God to his creature."

Herman Bavinck

"I think the man who above all others should be pitied is the man who has never learned how to amuse himself without mechanical assistance when he is alone."

J. Gresham Machen

"If God gives you a watch, are you honoring Him more by asking Him what time it is or by simply consulting the watch?"

A.W. Tozer

"We begin by considering that THE CHURCH IS GOD'S FARM. The Lord has made the church his own by his sovereign choice. He has also secured it unto himself by purchase, having paid for it a price immense. "The Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance." Every acre of God's farm cost the Saviour a bloody sweat, yea, the blood of his heart. He loved us, and gave himself for us: that is the price he paid. Henceforth the church is God's freehold, and he holds the title deeds of it. It is our joy to feel that we are not our own, we are bought with a price. The church is God's farm by choice and purchase."

Charles Spurgeon

"What each one honors before all else, what before all things he admires and loves, this for him is God."

Origen (c. 185-254)