What They Said

"ln imitation of God and Christ, we must abstain from all revenge of the greatest evils suffered by us: we must extinguish any inclination to revenge. Sin begins in the desire, and ends in the action. We must not take the least pleasure, that evil befalls one that has been injurious to us; for the root of it is devilish."

William Bates

“When we ask anything of God, we may not ask it in our own name, in our own dignity and worthiness, in our own justice and righteousness, in our own good deeds and merits, in our own innocency and pureness, but in the name of Christ. What is it to ask in the name of Christ, but only to confess that for our own dignity and worthiness we are not worthy to be heard, and therefore, desiring to obtain mercy, grace, favour, and remission of our sins, we approach unto the throne of God with our faithful prayers, not in our own name, but in the name of Christ; that is to say, in Christ's dignity, worthiness, justice, righteousness, innocency, pureness, good deeds, and merits? And for his sake and for his goodness do we desire to be heard and to have our petitions granted.

This is a great comfort for them that shall pray, that, though they be imperfect, yet is Christ perfect, and his perfection is their perfection; though they be unrighteous, yet is Christ righteous, and his righteousness is their righteousness; though they be unholy, yet is Christ holy, and his holiness is their holiness; though they be void of perfect good works, yet hath Christ perfect good works, and his good works are their good works, if they leave their ungodliness, turn from their wicked ways, and study to live innocently; and therefore need they not fear for to pray, but boldly to ask all things in the name of Christ.” 

Thomas Becon

“'Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed,' James 1:14. Temptation were no temptation, if our hearts were not wicked hearts. Nay, many of us are ready to tempt temptations, to provoke the devil to temptations; we cast ourselves open to temptations. Temptations find lust within, and lust within is the mother to conceive sin, if temptation be the father. Times do not bring evils along with them, they do but discover what was hid before. All the evils and corruptions you now see among us, where were they in the day of our first love, when we were as a loving and beloved child? Have all these risen up of late? No certainly, all that you have seen and found were before, though they did not appear; before they were in the root, now you see the fruit. All the apostacy and profanity that hath been vented in these days, was all shut up within the corners of men’s hearts at the beginning. Time and temptation hath but uncovered the heart, and made the inside out, hath but opened a sluice to let out this sea of corruption. It is not bred since, but seen since.”

Hugh Binning

"As it is a great proof of the baseness and filthiness of sin, that sinners seek to cover it; so it is a great proof of the excellency of godliness, that so many pretend to it."

Matthew Mead

"That the sacred name of Religion has been too often prostituted to the most detestable purposes; that furious bigots and bloody persecutors, and self-interested hypocrites of all qualities and dimensions, from the rapacious leader of an army, to the canting oracle of a congregation, have falsely called themselves Christians, are melancholy and humiliating truths, which (as none so deeply lament them) none will more readily admit, than they who best understand the nature, and are most concerned for the honor of Christianity. We are ready to acknowledge also without dispute, that the religious affections, and the doctrine of divine assistances, have almost at all times been more or less disgraced by the false pretences and extravagant conduct of wild fanatics and brain-sick enthusiasts. All this, however, is only as it happens in other instances, wherein the depravity of man perverts the bounty of God."

William Wilberforce

"'I am the vine,' says He, 'ye are the branches. My Father is the husbandman. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me. For without me ye can do nothing.' (John 15:1,4-5). If we cannot bear fruit of ourselves, anymore than a branch can bud after it is torn up from the ground, and deprived of moisture, we must no longer seek for any aptitude in our nature to that which is good. There is no ambiguity in this conclusion, 'Without me ye can do nothing.' He does not say that we are too weak to be sufficient for ourselves, but reducing us to nothing, excludes every idea of ability, however diminutive."

John Calvin

“In order that we should glory in the Lord, it is absolutely necessary that we should cease to glory in SELF. By nature, we are all prone to glory in self through those cursed principles of self-esteem and self-exaltation. Nothing but the mighty power of God can put down these cursed principles. We are prone to this pride, and it is strengthened and matured in a fallen sinner's heart. “

J.C. Philpot

“The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal. There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man.”

G.K. Chesterton

“All this the apostle puts plainly: ‘Who is he that condemneth? it is Christ that died’ (Rom. 8. 34). He sets the death of Christ against all the charges that can be brought. It is evident that the court of the law cannot condemn the believer:

(1) Because that court is itself condemned; its curses, judgments, and sentences are made invalid. As men that are condemned have a tongue but no voice, so the law in this case has still a tongue to accuse, but no power to condemn. It cannot fasten condemnation on the believer.

(2) Because he is not under it as a court. He is not under the law as a covenant of life and death. As he is in Christ, he is under the covenant of grace.

(3) Because he is not subject to its condemnation. He is under its guidance, but not under its curses, under its precepts (though not on the legal condition of ‘Do this and live’), but not under its penalties.

(4) Because Christ, in his place and stead, was condemned by it that he might be freed: ‘Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us’ (Gal. 3. 13). It may condemn sin in us, but cannot condemn us for sin.

(5) Because he has appealed from it. We see this in the case of the publican, who was arrested, dragged into the court of justice, sentenced and condemned. But this has no force because he makes his appeal, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner’ (Luke 18. 13). He flies to Christ, and, says the text, ‘He went down to his house justified’. So the court of the law (provided that your appeal is just) cannot condemn, because you have appealed to the court of mercy.”

Samuel Bolton

From: The True Bounds of Christian Freedom, pg 32)

“We still have the presence of sin, nay, the stirrings and workings of corruptions. These make us to have many a sad heart and wet eye. Yet Christ has thus far freed us from sin; it shall not have dominion. There may be the turbulence, but not the prevalence of sin. There may be the stirrings of corruption. It was said of Carthage that Rome was more troubled with it when half destroyed than when whole. So a godly man may be more troubled with sin when it is conquered than when it reigned. Sin will still work, but it is checked in its workings. They are rather workings for life than from life. They are not such uncontrolled workings as formerly. Sin is under command. Indeed, it may get advantage, and may have a tyranny in the soul, but it will never more be sovereign. I say, it may get into the throne of the heart and play the tyrant in this or that particular act of sin, but it shall never more be as a king there. Its reign is over; you will never yield a voluntary obedience to sin. Sin is conquered, though it still has a being within you.”

Samuel Bolton

From: The True Bounds of Christian Freedom, pg 26)

“It would not be righteous of God to require payment from Christ, nay, to receive the full satisfaction of Christ, and to require anything from you. This is what God has done: H e laid on him the iniquity of us all’ (Isa. 53. 6). This is what Christ has done: He paid God till God said He had enough. He was fully satisfied, fully contented: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’ (Matt. 3. 17 and 12. 18), that is, ‘in whom I am fully satisfied and appeased’. Hence the apostle writes: God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself… for he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him’ (2 Cor. 5. 19-21). God was paying Himself out of the blood, scourgings, and sufferings of Christ; and in that, Christ made a full payment.”

Samuel Bolton

From: The True Bounds of Christian Freedom, pg 23)

“Then, too, it is a constant freedom; a Christian is brought into a condition of freedom, a state of freedom, as previously he was in a state of bondage. Wherever the Lord’s jubilee is proclaimed and pronounced in a man’s soul, he will never hear again of a return to bondage. He will never again come under bondage to Satan, the law, or aught else.”

Samuel Bolton

From: The True Bounds of Christian Freedom, pg 21)

“It is evil to sin, to do any act of maliciousness, but much more so to cloak or cover it; and much more again to make Christian liberty the cloak of sin: that is most damnable. To make religion, to make the truth of God, to make Christian liberty so dearly purchased, a cloak or pretext to sin, or to take occasion to sin by it, is a fearful sin.”

Samuel Bolton

(From: The True Bounds of Christian Freedom, pg 20)

O MY SAVIOUR,

LORD JESUS,

From The Valley of Vision; Puritan Prayers and Devotions

O GOD OF THE OPEN EAR,

O Holy Father, thou hast freely given thy Son,

O Divine Son, thou hast freely paid my debt,

O Eternal Spirit, thou hast freely bid me come,

O Triune God, thou dost freely grace me with salvation.

Prayers and tears could not suffice to pardon

my sins,

nor anything less than atoning blood,

but my believing is my receiving,

for a thankful acceptance is no paying of the debt.

What didst thou see in me?

that I a poor, diseased, despised sinner

should be clothed in thy bright glory?

that a creeping worm

should be advanced to this high state?

that one lately groaning, weeping, dying,

should be as full of joy as my heart can hold?

that a being of dust and darkness

should be taken like Mordecai from captivity,

and set next to the king?

should be lifted like Daniel from a den

and be made ruler of princes and provinces?

Who can fathom immeasurable love?

As far as the rational soul exceeds the senses,

so does the spirit exceed the rational in its

knowledge of thee.

Thou hast given me understanding to compass

the earth,

measure the sun, moon, stars, universe,

but above all to know thee, the only true God.

I marvel that the finite can know the Infinite,

here a little, afterwards in full-orbed truth;

Now I know but a small portion of what

I shall know,

here in part, there in perfection,

here a glimpse, there a glory.

To enjoy thee is life eternal,

and to enjoy is to know.

Keep me in the freedom of experiencing

thy salvation continually.

“God requires satisfaction because He is holiness, but He makes satisfaction because He is love.”

Augustus Strong

“The Christian soldier must avoid two evils – he must not faint or yield in the time of fight, and after a victory he must not wax insolent and secure.  When he has overcome, he is so to behave himself as though he were presently again to be assaulted. For Satan’s temptations, like the waves of the sea, do follow one in the neck of the other;  and when one is past another is ready to overwhelm us, if, like skillful pilots, we be not ready to break the violence of that which follows, as well as of that which went before.”

George Downame

“None can hate it [sin] but that love the law of God; for all hatred comes from love. A natural man may be angry with his sin, but hate it he cannot; nay, he may leave it, but not loathe it; if he did, he would loathe all sin as well as any one sin.”

Abraham Wright

(1611-1690)

“In an astronomical sense the earth may be small and insignificant; in mass and weight it may be surpassed by thousands of planets and suns and stars; but in a religious sense the earth remains the center of the universe. It and it alone has been chosen as a dwelling place for man. It is the arena in which the great struggle against every evil power is conducted. It is the place for the establishment of the kingdom of heaven.”

Herman Bavinck

"Grace is the understanding that God is a better savior than you are a sinner."

Christopher Love

"There is nothing the natural man hates more than to be told that he is a sinner, and that his nature is twisted and perverted."

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“There can be no earnest desire to know Christ, nor any holy panting after a spiritual revelation of Him—while the heart is pursuing worldly objects. But he who is spiritually taught is at times panting with holy longing and intense desires to know Jesus—that He would come down in His heavenly power, in all His sweetness and suitability—and take up His abode in his soul, conforming it to His own image and likeness.”

J.C. Philpot

“Today we have a weakness in our education process in failing to understand the natural associations between the disciplines.  We tend to study all our disciplines in unrelated parallel lines.  This tends to be true in both Christian and secular education.  This is one of the reasons why evangelical Christians have been taken by surprise at the tremendous shift that has come in our generation.”

Francis Schaeffer

“Where our Father in heaven wills with divine generosity that an abundance of food grows from the ground, we are without excuse if, through our fault, this rich bounty is divided so unequally that one is surfeited with bread while another goes with an empty stomach to his pallet, and sometimes must even go without a pallet.”

Abraham Kuyper

“In the Scriptures 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.”

Herman Bavinck

“There are two kinds of people in the world, the conscious dogmatists and the unconscious dogmatists. I have always found myself that the unconscious dogmatists were by far the most dogmatic.”

G.K. Chesterton

“False ideas are the greatest obstacles to the reception of the gospel. We may preach with all the fervor of a reformer and yet succeed only in winning a straggler here and there, if we permit the whole collective thought of the nation or of the world to be controlled by ideas which, by the resistless force of logic, prevent Christianity from being regarded as anything more than a harmless delusion. Under such circumstances, what God desires us to do is to destroy the obstacle at its root.”

J. Gresham Machen

“We profess to believe in an All-mighty, All-present, All-seeing God. But we would be highly offended if a person said to us, "You to know that God can do everything. And yet we are always cutting out schemes, and carving out contrivances, as though He were like the gods of the heathen, looking on and taking no notice. We profess to believe that God is everywhere present to relieve every difficulty and bring His people out of every trial. And yet when we get into the difficulty and into the trial—we speak, think, and act, as though there were no such omnipresent God, who knows the circumstances of our case, and can stretch forth His hand to bring us out of it.”

J.C. Philpot

“To ‘mind the things of the Spirit’ does not mean an interest even in theology as an end in itself, for a man can be interested in theology and Christian doctrine and yet not `mind the things of the Spirit.' A man can take up theology as a subject. Many have done so, and have made a career of it. They have enjoyed it, have been expert in it; but it may have nothing at all to do with `the things of the Spirit'; indeed, again, it may be extremely hostile to them. In other words, it is possible for a man with his natural mind to grasp a theological system in an intellectual way only. That may be of no spiritual value to him at all; it can even be the cause of his damnation. A man can approach Christianity as an intellectual system, as a philosophy; and if he has a certain type of mind he can be greatly interested in it. I have known men of whom that is true. Theology was their hobby, the subject they enjoyed reading. As other men have their various hobbies and pursuits, this happened to be theirs; and it can be one of the most fascinating intellectual pursuits that a man can take up. But a man can be interested and immersed in it, and spend his life at it, and yet remain spiritually dead. Now, of course, as I am about to show, the man who `minds the things of the Spirit' in the right way is obviously interested in theology and doctrine and in religion. All I am saying at the moment is that a mere interest in religious pursuits does not establish the fact that we are `minding' the things of the Spirit.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

(from: Exposition of Chapter 8:5-17 The Sons of God  Chapter Two)

“Mere heathen morality, and not Jesus Christ, is preached in most of our churches.”

George Whitefield

“Christianity does not consist in any partial amendment of our lives, any particular moral virtues, but in an entire change of our natural temper, a life wholly devoted to God.”

William Law

“Death begins a wicked man's hell, but it puts an end to a godly man’s hell.”

Thoms Watson

“Cultivate in your children a taste for pure and noble pleasures—instead of a love of worldly gaiety. Pure and noble pleasures last. They wear well. They leave no sting behind. The pleasures of worldliness and gaiety do not wear well. They exhaust the powers of body and mind, and all the capacities of enjoyment, prematurely—and leave a sting behind. That is the reason why the Word of God condemns them—and why Christians abstain from them.”

John Abbott

“The Bible is a book which calls not so much for the exertion of our intellect as it does for the exercise of our affections, conscience and will. God has given it to us not for our entertainment but for our education, to make known what He requires from us. It is to be the traveler’s guide as he journeys through the maze of this world, the mariner’s chart as he sails the sea of life. Therefore, whenever we open the Bible, the all-important consideration for each of us to keep before him is, What is there here for me today? What bearing does the passage now before me have upon my present case and circumstances—what warning, what encouragement, what information? What instruction is there to direct me in the management of my business, to guide me in the ordering of my domestic and social affairs, to promote a closer walking with God?”

A.W. Pink

“All government is an ugly necessity.”

G.K Chesterton

“There is no other way in which one's life will so surely and so quickly become transfigured — as in the faithful, happy, cheerful doing of everyday tasks. We need to remember that this world is not so much a place for doing things — as for making character. Household life is not primarily a sphere for good cooking, tidy keeping of things, thorough sweeping and dusting, careful nursing and training of children, hospitable entertainment of friends, and the thousand things that must be done each day. Home is a sphere for transforming souls into radiant beauty. But we must take heed always that we do our tasks, whatever they are, with love. Doing any kind of work unwillingly, fretfully, with complaint and murmuring, hurts the life.”

J.R. Miller

“We have only successfully acquired the art of living a Christian life—when we have learned to apply the principles of true religion, and enjoy its help and comfort in our daily life.”

J.R. Miller

“The world is not always friendly to us. It is not disposed always to pat us on the back, or to pet and praise us. One of the first things a young man learns, when he pushes out from his own home, where everybody dotes on him—is that he must submit to criticism and opposition. Not all he does receives commendation. But this very condition is healthful. Our growth is much more wholesome in such an atmosphere, than where we have only adulation and praise.”

J.R. Miller

(Getting Help From Criticism)

“But it should be understood, that for every wife the first duty is the making and keeping of her own home! Her first and best work should be done there—and until it is well done—she has no right to go outside to take up other duties. She is to be a "worker at home!" She must look upon her home as the one spot on earth, for which she alone is responsible, and which she must cultivate well for God—even if she never does anything outside. For her the Father's business is not attending benevolent societies, and missionary meetings, and mothers' meetings, and bible conventions, or even teaching a Sunday-school class—until she has made her own home all that her wisest thought and best skill can make it!”

J.R. Miller

(The Christian Wife)

“True religion is intensely practical. Only so far as it dominates one's life—is it real. We must get the commandments out of God's Word—and give them a place in the hard, dusty paths of our earthly toil and struggle. We must get them off the tables of stone—and have them written on the walls of our own hearts! We must bring the Golden Rule—into our daily, actual life. 

We are too apt to imagine, that holiness consists in mere good feeling toward God. It does not! It consists in obedience in heart and life to the divine requirements. To be holy is, first, to be set apart for God and devoted to God's service, and it necessarily follows that we must live for God. 

Our hands are God's—and can fitly be used only in doing His work; our feet are God's—and may be employed only in walking in His ways and running His errands; our lips are God's—and should speak words only that honor Him and bless others; our hearts are God's—and must not be profaned by thoughts and affections that are not pure.

True holiness is no vague sentiment—it is intensely practical. It is nothing less than the bringing of every thought and feeling and act—into obedience to Christ! We are quite in danger of leaving out the element of obedience, in our conception of Christian living. If we do this, our religion loses its strength and grandeur—and becomes weak, nerveless and forceless. 

Our religion must touch every part of our life—and transform it all into the beauty of holiness.”

J.R. Miller

“To reason with the non-Christian in a fashion purporting to be independent of God or independent of reliance upon revelation is to honor the unregenerate's notions of "evidence" and "verification" as legitimate and correct. However, for the Christian, it is Scripture that governs every aspect of his life, even his concept of "evidence" and the way he reasons with skeptics.”

Greg Bahnsen

“We must not defend our message (that Christ's Word is self-attesting and possessing ultimate authority from the Lord) with a method that works counter to it- by claiming an ultimate epistemological standard outside of Christ's Word of truth.”

Greg Bahnsen

“God either rules as sovereign in interpretation over all areas of life or none.”

Greg Bahnsen

“Without faith, there is no proper understanding by which a man can judge. As Augustine well said, 'I believe in order to understand'.”

Greg Bahnsen

“We must not be satisfied to present Christianity as the most reliable position to hold among the competing options available. Rather, the Christian faith is the only reasonable outlook available to men.”

Greg Bahnsen

I SING the almighty power of God, 

That made the mountains rise, 

That spread the flowing seas abroad, 

And built the lofty skies. 

I sing the wisdom that ordained 

The sun to rule the day; 

The moon shines full at His command 

And all the stars obey. 

I sing the goodness of the Lord 

That filled the earth with food; 

He formed the creatures with His word. 

And then pronounced them good.

There's not a plant or flower below

But makes His glories known.; 

And clouds arise, and tempests blow, 

By order from His throne.

Creatures, as numerous as they be,

Are subject to His care; 

There's not a place where we can flee 

But God is present there.

His hand is my perpetual guard,

Isaac Watts

(Divine Songs for Children - Song 2)

“Religion and common life are not two different and distinct things. We may not cut our existence in two parts, and say, "Over this Christ shall rule — but over that He shall have no control." 

True religion knows no difference between Sunday and Monday, so far as the ethics of life are concerned.  Each day brings its own specific duties; but there are not moral precepts for the one day which are suspended when its sun sets, that for six days a mitigated or less holy law may prevail.  Holiness is to be the Christian's dress all the week through, in every hour's conduct. All pleasures and amusements must be tested by the unvarying rule of right.  The standard of perfect purity cannot be lowered.”

J.R. Miller