What They Said

“Our present edification is principally concerned in this beholding of the glory of Christ now, for in it the life and power of faith are most eminently acted. And from this exercise of faith, does love unto Christ principally, if not solely, arise. If, therefore, we desire to have faith in its vigor or love in its power, giving rest, complacency, and satisfaction to our own souls, we are to seek for them in the diligent discharge of this duty; they will not be found anywhere else. Here would I live; here would I die; here would I dwell in my thoughts and affections, to the withering and consumption of all the painted beauties of this world, to the crucifying all things here below until they become to me a dead and deformed thing, in no way meet for affectionate embraces.”

John Owen

“Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.”

Thomas Watson

“If he gives you the grace to make you believe, he will give you the grace to live a holy life afterwards. If he gives you faith, he gives you good works after- wards.”

Charles Spurgeon

“No; holiness means being righteous, and being righteous mens keeping the law.  Therefore if your so-called grace (which you say you have received) does not make you keep the law you have not received grace.  You may have received a psychological experience, but you have never received the grace of God. ”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“Ministers often seek great gifts—great eloquence—great congregations—great popularity. They are wrong in seeking these so-called great things. Let them rather seek real things, gracious things, things that will make their souls blessed here and hereafter.  ”

J.C. Philpot

"Men may refuse to see the truth of our arguments--but they cannot evade the evidence of a holy life. Live a holy life brethren!" 

J.C. Ryle

“We should judge of things as to whether they help or hinder our main purpose; whether they further or hinder our judgment; whether they make us more or less spiritual, and so bring us nearer to the fountain of goodness, God himself; whether they will bring us peace or sorrow at the last; whether they commend us more or less to God, and whether they are the thing in which we shall approve ourselves to him most.”

Richard Sibbes

“While unconverted you are a very servant to sin; it reigns over you, and holds you under its dominion, until you are brought within the bonds of God's covenant. There is not such another tyrant as sin. O the vile and fearful work that it engages its servants in!”

Joseph Alleine

“It [feminism] is mixed up with a muddled idea that women are free when they serve their employers but slaves when they help their husbands.”

G.K. Chesterton

"The Spirit and his fruits wherewith the heart is purified, as faith, hope, love, patience, longsuffering and obedience, could never be seen without outward experience.  For if you were not brought sometime into cumbrance [difficulty], when God only could deliver you, you would never see your faith.  Yea, except you fought sometime against desperation, hell, death, sin, and the powers of this world for your faith's sake, you would never know true faith from a dream.  Except your brother now and then offend you, you could not know whether your love were godly.  An unbeliever is not angry until he is hurt and offended: but if you love him that does the evil, then is your love of God.  And when you hurt not your neighbors, then you are sure that God's Spirit works in you and that your faith in no dream nor false imagination."

William Tyndale

“First, because when we come to worship God, we come to tender up the homage and service unto Him that is due from us as creatures unto the Creator.  That’s the very end of worship.  If you would know what it is to worship God, it is this.  You come to tender up that homage and respect that is due from the creature to the Creator.”

Jeremiah Burroughs

(Gospel Worship, pg 34)

"The nearer any come to God, if they sin against Him they must not expect to be spared.  Do not think that God will spare you the more because you are professors of religion or because you worship Him often.  I suppose you who are acquainted with Scripture know that place in Amos 3:2: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.””

Jeremiah Burroughs

(Gospel Worship, pg 29)

“Though the lives of men are dear and precious to God, yet they are not as precious as His Glory.  The glory go His name is a thousand, thousand times more dear unto God than the lives of thousands and thousands of people.”

Jeremiah Burroughs

(Gospel Worship, pg 28)

“Ah, how many poor souls doth this sin kill in the dark, Hos. iv. 6, while they think verily they have good hearts, and are in the ready way to heaven!  This is the murderer that dispatcheth thousands in a silent manner, when (poor hearts !) they suspect nothing, and see not "the hand that mischieves them. You shall find, whatever excuses you have for ignorance, that it is a soul-undoing evil, Isa. xxvii. 21, 2 Thess. i. 8, S Cor. iv. 3.  Ah! would it not have pitied a man's heart to have seen that woful spectacle, when the poor Protestants were shut up a multitude together, in a barn, and a butcher comes, with his inhuman hands warm in human blood, and leads them one by one, blindfold, to a block, where he slew them (poor innocents!) one after another, by the scores, in cold blood?  But how much more should our hearts bleed, to think of the hundreds in great congregations, that ignorance doth butcher in secret, and lead them blind, fold to the block?  Beware this be none of your case ; make no pleas for ignorance: if you spare that sin, know that it will not spare you. Will a man keep a murderer in his bosom?”

Jospeh Alleine

“It is true of multitudes who are engaged in the Christian warfare, that they are distrustful of their own weapons.  For a soldier, there could hardly be a more unfortunate prepossession.  His blows must be half-delivered, and his disposition to parley or to flee, exceedingly subversive of bold fighting.  The grand weapon of the Christian soldier is thus expressed, in the most general terms, and in a metaphor - 'the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”  This is the great instrument of assault against the world and against himself;  for it is a peculiarity of our warfare, that some of our most obstinate battles take place within the walls.  The truth of God, however largely understood, is the name of our whole offensive armor.  This truth in general, and certain prominent truths in particular, are precisely what the Captain of Salvation has put into our hands, to be used against the adversary.  It is a firm confidence in the temper, strength, and edge of these weapons, which makes the brave combatant."

James W. Alexander

"Temptation [is] soft and gentle when first it cometh to us, but how deadly, how damnable the wounds it causeth ere long!"

Charles Spurgeon

"Let us not attribute that to them, which belongs to Christ alone.  He died for us, and it is He alone who by his ministers does all for us.  We ought not therefore to minister occasions to the fond affections and inclinations of men, lest they should be led to adhere to the ministry of the truth, rather than to the truth itself.”

Thomas Wilson

“A revival of the Christian religion, we believe, will deliver mankind from its present bondage, and like the great revival of the sixteenth century will bring liberty to mankind. Such a revival will be not the work of man, but the work of the Spirit of God. But one of the means which the Spirit will use, we believe, is the awakening of the intellect.”

J. Gresham Machen

"The new year on which we are about to enter is unopened, and we know not what shall befall us; but if we follow Christ we need have no fear. So let us leave the old year with gratitude to God for its mercies, and with penitence for its failures and sins; and let us enter the new year with earnest resolve in Christ's name to make it the holiest and most beautiful year we have ever lived."

J. R. Miller

“Fear not because your prayer is stammering, your words feeble, and your language poor.  Jesus can understand you.  Just as a mother understands the first lispings of her infant, so does the blessed Savior understand sinners. He can read a sigh, and see a meaning in a groan.”

J.C. Ryle