What They Said

“Conscience is God's deputy in the soul.”

"It is He alone—who can quench those lusts that set the world on fire, and implant the opposite virtues and graces. Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, meekness, are mentioned by Paul, as the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22, because the Spirit alone is the author of them. And if these dispositions were predominant in the world—what a serene, calm, peaceful region would it be, undisturbed with the hurricanes of human passions!"

“Joyful songs ring out into the gloom. The dark night of storm flings no shadows inside. The angry tempest breaks not the gladness of that sweet home. Picture this of the peace religion brings. The world is full of storms, but there is joy in the Christian’s heart through all. Songs ring out in the blackest night of trial.  Job had this peace, and it was not broken by all his adversities. Paul had it, and he went singing through all his tribulations, persecutions, and trials.”

“Our sea may sometimes be stormy, but we have an infallible Pilot, and shall infallibly gain our port.”

“He was laid in a manger because there was no room in the inn. How solemnly this brings out the world’s estimate of the Christ of God. There was no appreciation of His amazing condescension. He was not wanted. It is so still. There is no room for Him in the schools, in society, in the business world, among the great throngs of pleasure seekers, in the political realm, in the newspapers, nor in many of the churches. It is only history repeating itself. All that the world gave the Saviour, was a stable for His cradle, a cross on which to die, and a borrowed grave to receive His murdered body.”

“Believers are tenderly loved by God the Father. It is “the Father’s good pleasure” to give them a kingdom. He does not receive them grudgingly, unwillingly and coldly. He rejoices over them as members of His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. He regards them as His dear children in Christ.”

"The beauty of our conversation arises from the heavenly frame of our spirits."

"Keep your heart faithfully, and you will be prepared for any situation or service to which you may be called."

"God values no man by outward excellencies, but by inward graces; they are the internal ornaments of the Spirit, which are of great price in God's sight."

"Exercise holy trust in times of great distress.  Make it your business to trust God with your life and comforts, and then your heart will be at rest about them."

"Having composed your heart by previous meditations, immediately set a guard upon your senses.  How often are Christians in danger of losing the eyes of their mind by those of their body!"

“It is not open sin, or flagrant breaches of God's commandments alone, which lead men to eternal ruin. It is far more frequently an excessive attention to things which are in themselves lawful and being "cumbered about much serving.""

"What a wonder is it, that two natures infinitely distant, should be more intimately united than anything in the world; and yet without any confusion! That the same person should have both a glory and a grief; an infinite joy in the Deity, and an inexpressible sorrow in the humanity! That a God upon a throne should be an infant in a cradle; the thundering Creator be a weeping babe and a suffering man, are such expressions of mighty power, as well as condescending love, that they astonish men upon earth, and angels in heaven."

"May fathers and mothers set such an example of cheerful piety that sons and daughters shall say, "Let us tread in our father's footsteps, for he was a happy and a holy man. Let us follow our mother's ways, for she was sweetness itself.""

“One hour in Heaven will make us forget all our sorrows. As the sun dries up the water, so one beam of God's glorious face will dry up all our tears.”

“Our Lord Jesus Christ never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His heart is still as compassionate as when He was upon earth. His sympathy with sufferers is still as strong. Let us bear this in mind, and take comfort in it.”

“We learn more, and more effectually, by one minute's communication with Him through the medium of His written Word, than we could from an assembly of divines, or a library of books.”

“As trees without fruits are unprofitable; so knowledge without good works is abominable.  Leah and Rachel are fit emblems of knowledge and obedience; knowledge, like Rachel, is beautiful;  but obedience, like Leah, is fruitful.”

“No sin can be little, because it is committed against the great God of heaven and earth. To commit little sins the sinner must find out a little God. “

"To God nothing is mysterious. In purpose, nothing is unfixed; in forethought, nothing is unknown; in providence, nothing is contingent. His glance pierces the future as vividly as it beholds the past."

“The Lord Jesus Christ is not only a perfect and glorious Pattern of all graces, holiness, virtue, and obedience, to be preferred above all others, but also He alone is such.”

“Jesus Christ has true excellency, and so great an excellency, that when you come to truly see him, you look no further, but your mind rests there.”

"I certainly see on every side a vast increase of what people call" Church-work." But I own to a strong suspicion that there is little or no increase of true religion. There is more show, undoubtedly. But I doubt extremely whether there is more reality, and more growth of practical godliness and zeal to save souls."

"The best way to overcome the world is not with morality or self-discipline. Christians overcome the world by seeing the beauty and excellence of Christ. They overcome the world by seeing something more attractive than the world: Christ"

“Where love is the compelling power, there is no sense of strain or conflict or bondage in doing what is right: the man or woman who is compelled by Jesus’ love and empowered by His Spirit does the will of God from the heart.”

“Prayer is not flight, prayer is power. Prayer does not deliver a man from some terrible situation; prayer enables a man to face and to master the situation.”

“If afflictions drive us nearer to Christ, the Bible, and prayer, they are positive blessings. We may not think so now. But we shall think so when we wake up in another world.”

“The Word of God is not to be used as a lottery; nor is it designed to instruct us by shreds and scraps, which is detached from their proper places, have no determinate import; but it is to furnish us with just principles, right apprehensions to regulate our judgments and affections, and thereby to influence and direct our conduct.”

“If you wait for a perfect church, you must wait until you get to heaven ; and even if you could find a perfect assembly on earth, I am sure they would not admit you to their fellowship, for you are not perfect yourself. Find out those people who are nearest to the Scriptures, who hold the truth in doctrine and in ordinance, and are most like the apostolic church, and then cast in your lot with them, and you will be blessed in the deed. “

“In praying for His enemies not only did Christ set before us a perfect example of how we should treat those who wrong and hate us, but He also taught us never to regard any as beyond the reach of prayer.”

“To be a Christian is to be like to Christ, from whom the name is taken: it is to be a follower and imitator of him; to be possessed of his spirit and temper; and to live as he lived in the world: it is to have those just; exalted, and divine notions of God and divine things, and that just and full view of our duty to God and man, which Christ taught; in short, it is to have our sentiments, our temper, and practice, formed upon the sacred model of the gospel. Let me expatiate a little upon this amiable character.”

"Oh, then remember that there is nothing in heaven or earth more efficacious to cure the wounds of conscience than a frequent and serious meditation on the wounds of Christ."

"You may fear that the Lord has passed you by, but it is not so:  He who counts the stars and calls them by their names, is in no danger of forgetting His own children. He knows your case as thoroughly as if you were the only creature He ever made, or the only saint He ever loved.  Approach Him and be at peace."

“God’s law contains “wondrous things.” All the Divine works are wonderful. There is not a leaf which God has moulded, or an insect He has formed, or an atom He has made, which does not demand, and will not repay, our thoughtful study. But Revelation contains a brighter display of His wisdom and love than nature with all its sublime and glorious discoveries.”

“It is well for a parent to read to his child from the inspired page about the beauty of holiness; but it is better still when the child can see that beauty shining out transfigured in every feature of his parent's character.’

“The true Christian's possession shall never be taken from him.   He alone, of all mankind, shall never be stripped of his inheritance.  Kings must one day leave their palaces. Rich men must one day leave their money and lands.  They only hold them until they die.  But the poorest saint on earth has a treasure of which he will never be deprived. The grace of God, and the favor of Christ, are riches which no man can take from him. They will go with him to the grave when he dies. They will rise with him in the resurrection morning, and be his to all eternity.”

“No matter what your wealth, if you have not Christ, you are miserably poor; but with Christ, you are rich to all eternity.”

“There shall not be the least aversion to good, nor the least inclination to evil, in their wills, but they will be brought to a perfect conformity to the will of God; blessed with angelic purity, and fixed therein.”

"Self-denial is the foundation of godliness, and if this be not well-laid, the whole building will fall. If there be any lust in our souls which we cannot deny, it will turn at length either to scandal or apostasy. Self-denial is the thread which must run along through the whole work of religion. The self-denying Christian will be the suffering Christian. ‘Let him deny himself and take up his cross’.”

“You can never deceive a hungry child. You may give it a plaything to still its cries, it may serve for a few minutes; but the pains of hunger are not to be removed by a doll. A windmill or a horse will not allay the cravings after the mother's breast.  So with babes in grace.  A hungry soul cannot feed upon play-things.”

"Though our private desires are ever so confused, though our private requests are ever so broken, and though our private groanings are ever so hidden from men, yet God eyes them, records them, and puts them upon the file of heaven, and will one day crown them with glorious answers and returns."

“There are many people who cannot give money even to those who need money help; yet they need not conclude that they can do nothing at all. Indeed, money is usually the poorest alms we can give. Kind words are better, love is better. So far as we know, Jesus never gave anyone money, yet there never was such a giver as he. He gave love, he gave sympathy, he gave thought. It is not money people usually need most, even when they think nothing else will do. What they really need is sympathy, cheer, encouragement.”

“Preachers and trumpets of the unseen world the sights and sounds of the landscape ought to be. And still, in the cool of the day, when I pass through the country fields, or climb to the summit of the hill, or sit and gaze across the sea, God and my soul should meet and talk.”

"What power would come upon the soul to calm and quiet it, and make it ready for the hand of God, if we would grasp a single line of Scripture and suck the honey out of it till our soul is filled with sweetness."

“To God nothing is mysterious. In purpose, nothing is unfixed; in forethought, nothing is unknown; in providence, nothing is contingent. His glance pierces the future as vividly as it beholds the past. "He knows the end, from the beginning." All his doings are parts of a divine, eternal, and harmonious plan.”

“It is as easy for our Good Shepherd to know each of His millions personally, as for any human mother to know the name of each one of her little family of children. There is great comfort in this teaching. We are not lost in the crowd. Love always individualizes its object. We cannot love a crowd--we may pity a city in distress, as after the horrors of an earthquake, and yet not know one person in it. But if we have a brother, a child, or a friend among the sufferers--we know the one. Our Good Shepherd loves each one of His own.”

“Look within, each one of you. Examine your own hearts. Do you see there any habit which you know is wrong in the sight of God? If you do, resolve at once to cast it off.”

“Believe it, brethren, it is easier to declaim, like an orator, against a thousand sins of others, than to mortify one sin, like Christians, in ourselves; to be more industrious in our pulpits, than in our closets; to preach twenty sermons o our people, than one to our own hearts.”

“Let this precious truth, "My times are in your hand," divest your mind of all needless, anxious care for the present or the future. Exercising simple faith in God, "don't be anxious about anything." "Be content with such things as you have, for he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you." Learn to be content with your present lot, with God's dealings with, and his disposal of you. You are just where his providence has, in its inscrutable but all-wise and righteous decision, placed you.”

“Fear not, He tells me once more, for I will help thee. The future has its distresses. Peering ahead, what do I see? Many perplexities, many solitudes, much weariness, much struggle. But my Lord will go before me.”