What They Said

"For another thing, if we would be sanctified, our course is clear and plain - we must begin with Christ.  We must go to him as sinners with no plea but that of utter need, and cast our souls on him by faith for peace and reconciliation with God."

J.C. Ryle

"There is nothing under heaven that can constrain a pious soul like a sense of redeeming love."

Charles Simeon

 "And truly, for sinners to have fellowship with God, the infinitely holy God, is an astonishing dispensation."

John Owen

A Debtor to Mercy Alone

A debtor to mercy alone, of covenant mercy I sing;
Nor fear, with Thy righteousness on, my person and off’ring to bring.
The terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do;
My Savior’s obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from view.

The work which His goodness began, the arm of His strength will complete;
His promise is Yea and Amen, and never was forfeited yet.
Things future, nor things that are now, nor all things below or above,
Can make Him His purpose forgo, or sever my soul from His love.

My name from the palms of His hands eternity will not erase;
Impressed on His heart it remains, in marks of indelible grace.
Yes, I to the end shall endure, as sure as the earnest is giv’n;
More happy, but not more secure, the glorified spirits in Heav’n.

Augustus Toplady

"Because God is holy, acceptance with Him on the ground of creature doings is utterly impossible. A fallen creature could sooner create a world than produce that which would meet the approval of infinite Purity."

A.W. Pink

"Happy souls, who put on Christ
By pure and living faith,
Finding him their King and Priest,
Their God, and guide to death.

God's own foe may plague his sons:
Sin may distress—but can't subdue.
Christ who conquered for us once,
Will in us conquer too."

William Mason

(1719 – 1791)

"When Satan charges sin upon the conscience, then for the soul to charge it upon Christ, that is gospel-like; that is to make Him Christ. He serves for that use, to accept Christ’s righteousness alone, His blood alone for salvation, that is the sum of the gospel. When the soul, in all duties and distress, can say, “Nothing but Christ, Christ alone, for righteousness, justification, sanctification, redemption” (I Cor 1:30); not my humblings, not my duties, not my graces; then that soul has got above the reach of the billows."

Thomas Wilcox

"We must be holy as Christ is holy, yet still we must look at the holiness of Christ, as the sun, and root, and fountain; and that our holiness is but as a beam of that sun,  but as a branch of that root, but as a stream of that fountain."

Isaac Ambrose

"It is peculiar to God alone, that he need only will what he intends to perform. His power is his will; it is because he wills it, that thereby he effects all, both in nature and in grace."

Pasquier Quesnel

COME, O my soul, in sacred lays, 

Attempt thy great Creator's praise: 

But O what tongue can speak his fame? 

What mortal verse can reach the theme!

Enthroned amid the radiant spheres, 

He glory like a garment wears;

To form a robe of light divine,

Ten thousand suns around him shine.

In all our Maker's grand designs, 

Omnipotence, with wisdom, shines;

His works, through all this wondrous frame,
Declare the glory of his name. 

Raised on devotion's lofty wing,
Do thou, my soul, his glories sing;
And let his praise employ thy tongue,
Till listening worlds shall join the song. 

Thomas Blacklock

Nature With Open Volume Stands

Nature with open volume stands,
To spread her Maker's praise abroad,
And ev'ry labor of His hands
Shows something worthy of our God.

But in the grace that rescued man
His brightest form of glory shines;
Here on the cross 'tis fairest drawn,
In precious blood and crimson lines.

Here his whole name appears complete
Nor wit can guess, nor reason prove
Which of the letters is best writ,
The Pow'r, the Wisdom, or the Love.

Here I behold His inmost heart
Where grace and vengeance strangely join,
Here on the Cross 'tis fairest drawn
In precious blood and crimson lines.

O the sweet wonders of that Cross
Where God the Savior loved and died!
Her noblest life my spirit draws
From His dear wounds and bleeding side.

I would for ever speak His name,
In sounds to mortal ears unknown,
With angels join to praise the Lamb,
And worship at His Father's throne.

Isaac Watts

"When the soul, in all duties and distress, can say, “Nothing but Christ, Christ alone, for righteousness, justification, sanctification, redemption” (I Cor 1:30); not my humblings, not my duties, not my graces; then that soul has got above the reach of the billows."

Thomas Wilcox

"There is no end to this glorious message of the cross, for there is always something new and fresh and entrancing and moving and uplifting that one has never seen before."

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"Salvation is not ultimately for our sakes; but for the glory of God. God in salvation is vindicating Himself, and manifesting Himself to the whole universe. He is displaying His everlasting and eternal glory. Hence His purpose cannot and will not fail."

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"They rejoice when sinners repent, because God is glorified and hie perfections are displayed in giving them repentance and remission of sins. The perfections of God are to be seen only in his works. His moral perfections are to be seen only, or at least principally, in his works of grace. There is more of God, more of his essential glory displayed in bringing one sinner to repentance, and forgiving his sins for the sake of Christ, than in all the wonders of creation."  

Edward Payson 

"We may plead guiltless as to the blood of the body, but there is the blood of souls. How many of us have sacrificed our children to the idols of the present Canaan, fashion, custom, dress, dancing, and worldly conformity in general. Look at the education given. Look at the company chosen. Look at the practices indulged in. Can it be said, that we realize the value of the soul, and seek first and principally the salvation of our children and friends, with the glory of God?  O how many of our children have been sacrificed to form, fashion, and the various idols of the world!"

James Smith

"Only engrossment with God can maintain perpetual spiritual enthusiasm because only God can supply everlasting novelty.  In God every moment is new and nothing ever gets old.  Of things religious we may become tired; even prayer may weary us; but God never.  He can show a new aspect of His glory to us each day for all the days of eternity and still we shall have but begun to explore the depths of the riches of His infinite being."

A.W. Tozer

"Home! How much that one word used to convey! It is still one of the most precious in the English language unto some of us. Much more so when to all its natural attractions are added the hallowed associations which gather around a Christian home. Is not our favourite concept of heaven embodied in that blessed expression, "My Father's House"? Because the Christian is not his own, but bought with a price, he is to aim at glorifying God in every relation of life. No matter what station he occupies, or wherever he be, he is to serve as a witness for Christ. Next to the church, of God, his own home should be the sphere of his most manifest devotedness unto Him. All its arrangements should bear the stamp of his heavenly calling. All its affairs should be so ordered that everyone entering it should feel "God is here!" The supreme aim of family life should be household piety, everything else being subordinated thereto."

A.W. Pink