What They Said

"Oh, the mysteries, the excellencies, the glories that are in the word!  Ah!  no book to this book, none so useful, none so needful, none so delightful, none so necessary to make you happy, and to keep you happy as this."

Thomas Brooks

“Beware of manufacturing a God of your own: a God who is all mercy, but not just; a God who is all love, but not holy; a God who as a heaven for every body, but a hell for none; a God who can allow good and bad to be side by side in time, but will make no distinction between good and broad in eternity. Such a God is an idol of your own, as truly an idol as any snake or crocodile in an Egyptian temple. The hands of your own fancy and sentimentality have made him. He is not the God of the Bible, and beside the God of the Bible there is no God at all."

J.C. Ryle

"Let us suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ were now to come amongst us, and to teach in our Churches, as once he did in the streets and synagogues of Judea : should we not, if we knew him to be that veryJesus, listen to him with the deepest attention?  Should we not revolve in our thoughts the various subjects of his discourse, and labour to ascertain their true import?  If we could suppose him now addressing us from the cross, and appealing to his sufferings as an unquestionable demonstration of his love, and an irresistible argument for our adherence to him; should we not be melted to tears?  should we not be ready to exclaim, " What have we to do any more with idols ? " "Other lords have had dominion over us; but by thee only will we make mention of thy name."  Or, lastly, let us suppose that we saw the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God: let us suppose he spake to us now, as once he did from Mount Sinai, with thunderings, and lightnings, and earthquakes, and the sound of the trumpet waxing louder and louder; should we not tremble?  should we not be ready to engage, as the Israelites did, " All that the Lord hath spoken will we do, and be obedient?" Were we to hear him speaking to us in any of these ways, the word would not more certainly be his, than this word is which we now possess:  and therefore whatever sentiments of fear or love or gratitude we should feel on account of such revelations of his will, we ought to feel in reference to that sacred volume which we have in our hands:  whenever we look upon it, we should say, This is the word of Him who came down from heaven to instruct me; of Him who died upon the cross to save me; of Him who now sits enthroned in glory, and will hereafter fix my doom according to it."

Charles Simeon

"From the manner in which we habitually treat the Bible, we may learn what are our feelings and dispositions towards God;  for as we treat the word of God, so should we treat God himself, were he to come and reside among us, in a human form, as he once dwelt on earth in the form of his Son.  The contents of Scripture are a perfect transcript of the divine mind.  If, then, God should come to dwell among us, he would teach the same things that the Scriptures teach, and pronounce upon us the same sentence which they pronounce. We should therefore feel towards him as we now feel towards them. If we reverence, and love, and obey the Scriptures, then we should reverence, love, and obey God. But if we dislike or disbelieve the Scriptures, if we seldom study them, or read them only with indifference and neglect, we should treat God in the same manner. Never would he be a welcome Guest in a family where his word is neglected."

Edward Payson

 “All that God is He has always been, and all that He has been and is He will ever be.”

Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)

(Quoted in The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer)

"God cannot change for the better, for He is already perfect; and being perfect, He cannot change for the worse.  Altogether unaffected by anything outside Himself, improvement or deterioration is impossible.  He is perpetually the same."

A.W. Pink

In Eden-sad indeed that day-
My countless blessings fled away,
My crown fell in disgrace.
But on victorious Calvary
That crown was won again for me-
My life shall all be praise.

Faith, see the place, and see the tree
Where heaven’s Prince, instead of me,
Was nailed to bear my shame.
Bruised was the dragon by the Son,
Though two had wounds, there conquered One-
And Jesus was His name.

William Williams

 (1717-91)

"Never does a man see any beauty in Christ as a Savior, until he discovers that he is himself a lost and ruined sinner.  Ignorance of sin is invariably attended by neglect of Christ."

J.C. Ryle

"Again, self-love may be the foundation of an affection in men towards God, through a great insensibility of their state with regard to God, and for want of conviction of conscience to make them sensible how dreadfully they have provoked God to anger; they have no sense of the heinousness of sin, as against God, and of the infinite and terrible opposition of the holy nature of God against it: and so, having formed in their minds such a God as suits them, and thinking God to be such a one as themselves, who favors and agrees with them, they may like him very well, and feel a sort of love to him, when they are far from loving the true God. And men's affections may be much moved towards God, from self-love, by some remarkable outward benefits received from God; as it was with Naaman, Nebuchadnezzar, and the children of Israel at the Red Sea."

Jonathan Edwards

"And what deep discoveries of internal corruption will  the Lord sometimes employ, to dig down to the root,  and cut off the core of that poisonous tree, pride!"

J.C. Philpot

"The many false and counterfeit appearances which we meet with, instead of proving that there is no religion in the world, not only prove that there is, but that it is extremely precious; otherwise it would not be counterfeited. No one will be at the trouble of counterfeiting, either what does not exist, or what is of no value.  No one will make false stones, or false dust, though many make false pearls and diamonds. If there were no real money, there would be no counterfeit; and so, if there were no real religion, there would be no false religion.  One cannot exist without the other any more than a shadow can exist without a substance; and he who rejects all religion, because hypocrites sometimes borrow its name and appearance, acts no less absurdly than he who throws his gold or jewels into the fire, because gold and jewels have sometimes been counterfeited."

Edward Payson

"The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father. There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, "Behold I am wise." But when we come to this master-science, finding that our plumb-line cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought, that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass's colt; and with the solemn exclamation, "I am but of yesterday, and know nothing." No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God."

Charles Spurgeon

"We cannot see divine things otherwise than in a glass. That sight of God that we shall have in heaven, immediately, without the word and sacraments, that is of a higher nature; when our natures shall be perfect. But while we live here we cannot see God but in Christ, and we cannot see him but in the word and sacraments. Such is the imperfection of our sight, and such is the lustre and glory of the object, the glory of God, that we cannot perfectly see it but in a glass. God said to Moses, 'None can see me and live.'  His meaning is, none can see me as I am, none can see me immediately and live. If we would see God, and the glory of God immediately without a glass, we must see it in heaven. We must die first. We must pass through death to see God face to face as he is; then, not as he is, but more familiarly than we can now. Then God will represent himself so as shall be for our happiness, though not simply as he is; for he is infinite, and how should finite comprehend infinite? We shall apprehend him, but not comprehend him . While we are in earth, therefore, we must be content to see him in a glass, which is the gospel, especially unfolded."

“How much this title implies, no tongue, human or angelic, can ever express; no mind conceive. It is a volume of an infinite number of leaves, and every leaf full of meaning. It will be read by saints and angels, through the ages of eternity, but they will never reach the last leaf, nor fully comprehend the meaning of a single page."

Edward Payson

(Speaking about God)