What They Said

“Contentment is a DIVINE thing. It becomes ours, not by acquisition—but as a gift from God. It is a slip taken off from the tree of life, and planted by the Spirit of God in the soul. It is a fruit that grows not in the garden of human learning—but is of a heavenly birth.”

“To be content is to be independent. He is the independent man who hangs on no created things for comfort, and has God for his portion.”

“The love of God is uninfluenced. By this we mean, there was nothing whatever in the objects of His love to call it into exercise, nothing in the creature to attract or prompt it. The love which one creature has for another is because of something in them; but the love of God is free, spontaneous, uncaused. “

"No work nor deed of ours whatsoever, no not faith itself, can be the condition of the covenant of grace properly so called; but only Christ's fulfilling all righteousness."

"A sermon in shoes is often more eloquent than a sermon on paper."

"We cannot alter the disposals of Providence, therefore we must humbly submit and resign ourselves to them.“

"The religious life, which God declares to be blessed, must be practical as well as emotional. It is idle to talk of fearing the Lord if we act like those who have no care whether there be a God or no, God's ways will be our ways if we have a sincere reverence for him: if the heart is joined unto God, the feet will follow hard after him"

"In glory, Christ shall appear in all the loveliness of his person and character. The presence of Him who loved us, and gave himself for us, will make a sweet, glorious heaven indeed."

"Prayer is never out of season: in summer and in winter its merchandise is precious. Prayer gains audience with heaven in the dead of night, in the midst of business, in the heat of noonday, in the shades of evening. In every condition, whether of poverty, or sickness, or obscurity, or slander, or doubt, your covenant God will welcome your prayer and answer it from his holy place."

“Yet, weak and imperfect as the holiness of the best saints may be, it is a real true thing, and has a character about it as unmistakable as light and salt. It is not a thing which begins and ends with noisy profession: it will be seen much more than heard. Genuine Scriptural holiness will make a man do his duty at home and by the fireside, and adorn his doctrine in the little trials of daily life. It will exhibit itself in passive graces as well as in active. It will make a man humble, kind, gentle, unselfish, good-tempered, considerate of others, loving, meek, and forgiving. It will not constrain him to go out of the world, and shut himself up in a cave, like a hermit. But it will make him do his duty in that state to which God has called him, on Christian principles, and after the pattern of Christ.”

"It is the duty of Christians to desire, and aim at and press towards perfection in grace and holiness.“

"A man's heart will be seen in his walk, and the blessing will come where heart and walk are both with God."

"To enjoy sweet communion with a glorified Savior, is to be in a state of perfect happiness. This unspeakable blessedness awaits all the friends of Jesus in a world of glory. O happy thought!"

"Prayer is an open door that none can shut. Devils may surround you on all sides, but the way upward is always open, and as long as that road is unobstructed, you will not fall into the enemy's hand."

“Holiness is not absolute perfection and freedom from all faults. Nothing of the kind! The wild words of some who talk of enjoying "unbroken communion with God for many months, are greatly to be deprecated, because they raise unscriptural expectations in the minds of young believers, and so do harm. Absolute perfection is for heaven, and not for earth, where we have a weak body, a wicked world, and a busy devil continually near our souls. Nor is real Christian holiness ever attained, or maintained, without a constant fight and struggle.”

"This single attraction, the enjoyment of God in Christ through a blessed eternity, should draw every soul to glory. Such a blessedness, eternity alone can unfold. This blessing will enrich your soul to all eternity."

"Prayer is the never-failing resort of the Christian in any case, in every plight. When you cannot use your sword, you may take to the weapon of all-prayer. Your powder may be damp, your bow-string may be relaxed, but the weapon of all-prayer need never be out of order."

“The first visible ensign of sovereignty, was creation, or God’s giving the world an actual existence in time, according to his decree from everlasting; bringing that huge, yet void and formless mass, at first out of nothing; and then, this glorious fabric out of that confusion: his hanging the earth on nothing: his assigning to every sort of creatures such form and station, to order, use, and efficacy, and im­pressing on them such laws and instincts of nature, as seemed to him good, (but all in a regular subservience to the good of the whole,) which also was effected by his word.”

“It is as certain as anything in the Bible that "without holiness no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). It is equally certain that it is the invariable fruit of saving faith, the real test of regeneration, the only sound evidence of indwelling grace, the certain consequence of vital union with Christ.”