The Puritannical Blog

"He doth not say, the word was a light unto his eyes, but a light unto his feet. The word is a light to the eyes: that is, it shineth to the understanding; yet the word is sometimes a light unto our feet when it is not a light unto our eyes; that is, God will have us to go where we cannot see our way." [Joseph Caryl]

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"Heart-work is hard work indeed. To shuffle over religious duties with a loose and careless spirit, will cost no great difficulties; but to set yourself before the Lord, and to tie up your loose and vain thoughts to a constant and serious attendance upon him: this will cost you something. To attain ease and dexterity of language in prayer and to be able to put your meaning into appropriate and fitting expressions is easy; but to get your heart broken for sin while you are actually confessing it; melted with free grace even while you are blessing God for it; to be really ashamed and humbled through the awareness of God's infinite holiness, and to keep your heart in this state not only in, but after these duties, will surely cost you some groans and travailing pain of soul." [John Flavel]

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Musical Instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the law. The Papists therefore, have foolishly borrowed, this, as well as many other things, from the Jews. Men who are fond of outward pomp may delight in that noise; but the simplicity which God recommends to us by the apostles is far more pleasing to him. [John Calvin]

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First of all, John wrote: "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin" (I John 3:9). "Whosoever is born of God sinneth not" (5:18).

A person who has been born again, or regenerated, does not habitually commit sin. He no longer sins with his heart and will and whole inclination. There was probably a time when he did not think about whether his actions were sinful or not, and he did not always feel grieved after doing evil. There was no quarrel between him and sin; they were friends. But the true Christian hates sin, flees from it, fights against it, considers it his greatest plague, resents the burden of its presence, mourns when he falls under its influence, and longs to be completely delivered from it. Sin no longer pleases him, nor is it even a matter of indifference to him; it has become a horrible thing which he hates. However, he cannot eliminate its presence within him.

If he said that he had no sin, he would be lying (I John 1:8). But he can say that he hates sin and that the great desire of his soul is not to commit sin at all. He cannot prevent bad thoughts from entering his mind, or shortcomings, omissions, and defects from appealing in both his words and his actions. He knows that "in many things we offend all" (James 3:2). But he can truly say, in the sight of God, that these things cause him grief and sorrow and that his whole nature does not consent to them. What would the apostle say about you? Are you born again? [J.C. Ryle]

We say, then, it is a most necessary duty thus to close with Christ Jesus, as the blessed relief appointed for sinners. Every one who is come to years of understanding, and hearth this gospel, is obliged to take to heart his own lost condition, and God's gracious offer of peace and salvation through Christ Jesus, and speedily to flee from the wrath to come, by accepting and closing with this offer, heartily acquiescing therein as a satisfying way for the salvation of perishing sinners. And, that all may be the more encouraged to set about this duty, when they hear Him praying them to be reconciled unto Him, let them remember that peace and salvation are offered in universal terms to all without exception: 'If any man will,' he shall be welcome. (Rev. 22: 17.) If any thirst, although after that which will never profit, yet they shall be welcome here, on the condition aforesaid--'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that has no money: come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not breads and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.' (Isa. 55: 1-3.) All are 'commanded to believe.' This is His commandment, 'that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ.' (1 John 3: 23.) The promises are to all who are externally called by the gospel. God excludes none, if they do not exclude themselves--'The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.' (Acts 2: 39.) So that if any desire salvation, they may come forward, 'He will in no wise cast them out' (John 6: 37), being 'able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God through Him.' (Heb. 7: 25.) And those who have long delayed to take this matter to heart, have now the more need to look to it, lest what belongs to their peace be hid from their eyes. But all these words will not take effect with people, until 'God pour out His Spirit from on high' (Isa. 32: 15); to cause them to approach unto God in Christ; yet we must still press men's duty upon them, and entreat and charge them, by the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, and their reckoning to Him in that day, that they give the Lord no rest until He send out that 'Spirit, which He will give to them who ask it' (Luke 11: 13), and cause them to know what belongs unto their peace, and bring them to their duty. [William Guthrie]

"We ought to devise all means possible for the preservation of true friendship where it exists and the reparation and retrivaal of it where it is withering and ready to die.""Let us be so wise as to choose for our intimate friends those who will concur with us in a serious endeavour to get the matter mended. For the truth is, in this, as in a trade, we can make only one side of the bargain. We can only do a little towards rectifying what is amiss in conversation and towards improving it to some good purpose unless those we converse with will do their part. We should desire to associate ourselves with those who will edify us and be edified by us, who we may either do good to, or get good from, or both." [Matthew Henry]

The Value of History

History is just a second Bible, with this difference, that it is written, not like the first in letters, but in great facts. The letters and the facts, however, are charged with the same meaning. In the first Bible–that written in letters–the Creator has made known the attributes of his character, and the great principles on which he conducts his government of his creatures; and he has warned nations that, if they would aspire to greatness and seek to be happy, they must base their power on the principles of truth and righteousness on which he rules the world. In harmony with his government theirs cannot be otherwise than stable and prosperous; but if they place themselves in opposition to it, by adopting as their fundamental and guiding maxims those principles which he has condemned, they will inevitably, sooner or later, come into collision with his omnipotent and righteous rule, and be broken in pieces by the shock and ground to powder. This great truth we read in the one Bible in words plain and unmistakable; we read it in the other in those beacons of warning and examples for imitation that rise on every side of us–in this nation overthrown, and covered with the darkness of ruin; in that seated on the foundations of truth, and rising sublime with the lights of liberty and morality shining around it.

Five lines, or five words, may suffice to announce a great principle; but five centuries or ten centuries may pass away before a nation has made full proof of the truth or the falsehood of that principle. The nation selects it as its corner-stone; it frames its law and policy according to it; its national spirit and action are simply the development of that principle; it goes on, working out its problem, for centuries; the end comes at last; the nation rises, we shall suppose, to wealth, to liberty, to renown; how manifest is it that the principle was true, and that in selecting it the nation chose "the better part!" Or it brings disaster, disgrace, and overthrow; equally manifest is it that the principle was false, and that in selecting it the nation chose "the worse part."

Let us take an instance illustrating each side of the principle. Spain fallen from the summit of power, her sierras treeless and flowerless, her plains a desert, her towns hastening to decay, her people steeped in ignorance, in poverty, and in barbarism, proclaims the supreme folly of which she was guilty when she chose to rest her greatness upon a conscience governed by the inquisition.

Britain, the seat of law, the sanctuary of justice, the fountain of knowledge, the emporium of commerce, and the bulwark of order and liberty, proclaims not less emphatically the wisdom of her choice when she made her first requisite a conscience emancipated and guided by the Bible.

Providence ever sends its instructors into the world, as the first preachers of Christianity were sent into it, by twos. Here have we Spain and Britain, the two great instructors of the world. They differ in that each is representative of a different principle; but they agree in that each teaches, the one negatively and the other positively, the self-same lesson to mankind. They are a tree of the knowledge of good and evil to the nations, as really as was the tree in the midst of the garden of old. How manifest is it that a fertilising dew has descended upon the one, and that a silent malediction has smitten the other! The Mount Ebal of Christendom, with the curse upon its top, stands over against the Mount Gerizim, from whose summit the blessing, like a star, beams out before the nations.

With history's page open before us, we have verily no need that one should demonstrate to us that there is a God, and that the Bible is a revelation of his character and will. The latter truth is continually receiving authentication and fulfillment in acts of righteousness and dispensations of terror for what are the annals of the world and the chronicles of the race but a translation into fact of the laws and principles made known in Holy Writ? God in no age, and in no land, leaves himself without a witness. The facts of history are the testimony of his being, and the proof of his Word. They are the never-ceasing echo of that awful Voice, which at the very dawn of national history proclaimed the attributes of the Divine character, and the principles of the Divine government, from the top of Sinai. In history that Voice is speaking still. [J.A Wylie]

These things I put you in mind of, beloved mother, that, albeit your pains sometimes are so horrible, that you find no release nor comfort, neither in spirit nor body; yet if the heart can only sob unto God, despair not; you shall obtain your heart's desire, and you are not destitute of faith. For at such time as the flesh, natural reason, the law of God, the present torment, and the devil, at once do cry, "God is angry, and therefore is there neither help nor remedy to be hoped for at his hands" ­ at such time, I say, to sob unto God is the demonstration of the secret seed of God, which is hid in God's elect children; and that sobs only are a more acceptable sacrifice unto God, than, without this cross, to give our bodies to be burnt, even for the truth's sake. For if God is present by [the] assistance of his Holy Spirit, or no doubt is in our conscience, but we stand assuredly in God's favor, what can corporeal trouble hurt the soul or mind? seeing the bitter frosty wind cannot hurt the body itself, which is most warmly covered and clad from violence of the cold. [John Knox]

To sin under assurance, is to sin in paradise; it is to sin under the flaming sword, it is to sin the in suburbs of Heaven, it is to run the hazzard of losing that favour "that is better than life," of that"joy unspeakable and full of glory," and that "peace that passes understanding,". To sin under assurance, is to cast reproach upon Christ, to grieve the Spirit, to wound conscience, to weaken your graces, to blur your evidences, to usher in calamaties, to embitter your mercies, and to provoke to temper to triumph over your Saviour. Verily, that assurance is but presumption that works men to play with sin, to make light of sin, to walk on in the ways of sin. Such assurance will enver bring a man to Heaven, it will never keep him from dropping into hell, yea, it will double his damnation, and make him the most miserable among all damned, miserable, forlorn spirits. Ah, Lord! from such an assurance deliver my soul; and give me more and more of that divine assurance, that makes sin to be more hateful than hell, and that makes the soul to be more careful to avoid the one, than it is fearful of falling into the other. [Thomas Brooks]

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"As much as we be frail and have a rough and thorny way to go, yea and there be many stops to bar us, so as it will seem that there be great mountains to make us turn back again; let us pray to our God to give us strength to go on still forward. For if he strengthened Caleb and Joshua; let us assure ourselves he will do the like to us. And therewithal if we see that the world hinder us, and there is a store of stumbling blocks on all sides, let us pray to God that He suffer us not to be corrupted with others, but that we may bear him the honour to stick unto him and to yield ourselves wholly to his word, giving them leave to perish that needs will perish, and in the mean while staying ourselves by the promise of salvation which he has given us accordingly also as it is by his will that we should attain thereto any such knowledge."John Calvin

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God measures all men's actions by their ends; if their end be good, all is good; if the end is naught, all is naught. The end determineth the action. All actions of worship are good or bad, as the mark is at which the soul aims. He that makes God the object of prayer, but not the end of prayer, doth but lose his prayer, and take pains to undo himself. God will be all in all, or He will be nothing at all; He will be Alexander or Nemo (chief or nothing). He will be both the object and end of prayer, or else He will abhor your prayer. Those prayers never reach His ears, they are never lodged in His bosom, that are not directed to His glory. The end must always be as noble as the means, or else a Christian acts below himself, yea, below his very reason. [Thomas Brooks]

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The torments of hell:

First the variety of these torments. there is not one way but a hundred,athousand, ten thousand ways to torment you. Indeed, were you sick here, it may be you should have but one kind of desease upon you at once, but you have no variety. Had you plague, stone or gout, and fever concurring in one to afflict your body, how miserable would you be withal. but in hell there is not one kind but a variety to torment you. There is unquenchable fire to burn you, a lake of brimstone to choke you, eternal chains to tie you, utter darkness to frighten you, and a worm of conscience everlasting to gnaw you. a variety of torments has the Lord made to meet upon one man, and this makes the torments of hell to be very dismal indeed.

Second, there is not only a variety, but a universality of torments; not only many kinds, but these torments shall universally afflict both body and soul, all the parts o the body and all the powers of the soul. and this makes the torments of hell more dreadful. Upon earth you have deseases haply; but though some parts are afflicted other parts are free. though you are ill i n your body, yet your h ead may be free; though ill in your vitals, yet arms and legs free. there is no disease that puts the whole body in pain at once, but in hell it is not so. In hell all the parts of your bodies and the powers of your souls shall be tormented, if ever you go into
that dismal place.

All the parts of the body. the eyes shall be tormented with the sight of devils. the ear shall be tormented with the yellings and hiedous outcries of the damned in falmes. the nostrils shall be tormented with brimstone to choke you, the tongue with a flame. the whole body (in a word) shall be tormented in flames of fire. there is no part of the body, neither hand, foot, tongue, nor eye--but shall be subjects of those flames.

All the powers of the soul. Nay, no only the body, but the powers of the soul also shall be tormented with the thoughts of what a heaven and happiness you have lost, what opportnnities you had to be saved, that you lived under the gospel, that you heard the ministers of Jesus Christ often and again warn you to amend, and yet you would not be persuaded. Your minds shall to rment you to consider what time you have abused. In a word, your understanding shall turment in the thoughts of past pleasures, present pains, and future sorrows wich are to last forever and your conscience shall be tormented wit a conitnal gnawing of worms. Not onlyl thebody, but thesld shall be tormented with these flames. [Christopher Love--sermon 3 on hells terrors]

Question: What is catechizing?

Answer: Teaching by voice and repetition of the grounds of the Christian religion

Question: where it should it be used and by whom

Answer: Both at home by master of the house and in the church likewise by the Minister

Question: why at home?

Answer: Because houses are the nurseriess of the church

Question: show some reasons and arguments to prove the necessities of catechizing and instruction in religion

1st: God accounted of Abraham for his care in this duty.

Secondly God commands all parents to perform this duty to their children

Thirdly all children are made blind in the knowledge of God and religion by Adam''s fall and consequently they must beene enlightened and informed with teaching if they will not die but Solomon therefore and our Saviour Christ bids the children be respected

Forthly, the examples of the godly in bringing their children with themselves. to holy exercises So Hannah bought up Samuel to the Tabernacle Mary, Jesus to the temple when he was 12 years old by way of which we perform the effect of consecrating our children to God

Fifthly common equity should move parents to this duty, for as their children received from them original sin by which they are made so blind in God''s matters it is equity that they should Labour to remove that blindness by teaching them after God''s word.

Sixthly: God promised as the greatest blessing to men that their children should speak to him under the Gospel.

Bishop Usher.

Concerning others we say nothing. But we ourselves have already been taught by more than enough experiences how wicked denunciation is effective in not only dividing the minds of otherwise good men, but also almost in the uprooting churches themselves, as often as it can spread sinister rumours about a matter not clearly investigated. Indeed, as a fire which has already burned far and wide is not extinguished offhand, so it is too late, once such evils have arisen, for us to try to cope with them. We are aware of two kinds of suspicions from which the church in the past sustained and today sustains very many evils. Either when we interpret the things done by our brethren and leaders on the left side, which if they got right and kindly judges, could be taken in the best part, or surely at least excused. Or when we to readily incline ourselves to quaff and rumours. What evils may follow from all these we prefer to imagine rather than to experience! For that reason let us ponder how to expend every effort to avert them. Accordingly, because it is going to be for us an incredible boon, let us struggle rather in mutual good-will and love, let us contend to provide with protection, let us both by example and exhortation call one another forth to duty. By forms of conflicts and contentions such as these the church is not fatigued, troubled, nor afflicted; rather it grows flourishes, and is strengthened with new increases. If there is zeal for cooperation and peace, let us urge unity of Doctrine and minds rather than insist somewhat peevishly on ceremonies conforming to the letter. For it is most unworthy of us to seek a servile conformity, having passed over ediication, in those whom the Lord leaves freedom in order that there might be greater readiness to be edified. And yet when that last judgement-seat will have been reached, where once for all an account of our performance will have to be made, it will not at all be the question of ceremonies nor conformity in external matters, but the lawful use of freedom will be strictly reckoned: Lawful at last will that be considered which has contributed most to a edification. Therefore, that all our care watchfulness, industry, attention press towards this edification which we know will succeed to the degree that advances in sober fear of God, sincere piety and unfeigned holiness of morals. [John Calvin's First Catechism]

The Lord hath been bringing a great trial in Gallow-ways way, I would ask one necessary question at you, whether or not, do you find yourselves getting any good of this as yet? Believe me, you look like a people sold under judgments rather than chaste into the Lord by judgments. But my friends, if you be getting good of this trial I will tell you what you will find wrought in you by the Lord's blessing. First you will find this wrought in you, it is a more serious frame, and sincere study in religion, seeking after God. You will find religion to be more seriously your concernment. A man or woman that is getting good of the trial will be getting more concernedness with religion, you will find that made more your work, and you will find more seriousness about it. This is one of the Lord’s special purposes in bringing this trial upon you, and how great and noble an advantage do you reach if this shall be gained. My friends, would you get good of this trial? Then be stirred up to make sure work with Himself, be stirred up by it to make religion your main work and to flee into Himself. Be stirred up to prize Christ the more and that which He hath purchased for sinners. Second, if you be getting good of this trial I will tell you what you will find wrought in your souls by His blessing. You will find a deep sense of the vanity and hatefulness of sin. The Lord is writing over and upon all the sinful courses of the time, vanity. Oh and that the vanity of them were a light to let you see the sinfulness of them. He is making many to see this, even that their compliance with sinful courses will not save nor help them. He let them see compliant courses to be vain and hateful courses. Oh all ye that would have good of this trial be instructed to look back upon your sinful ways and upon sin as it hath provoked the Lord so to deal with you. Oh look upon sin in its own colour as it is vain and a hateful thing. Oh how bitter and an evil thing it is to depart from the Living God. Oh hateful it is to depart form Him to sin against Him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity without indignation. Believe me I will tell you one thing that man and woman that looks not on sin as God looks on it, that is with hatred and detestation, they shall be looked on by God as He looks on sin, that is God will look upon you with hatred and abhorrency. If ye look not upon sin with the greatest of abhorrency .Third if you be getting good of this trial you will find it working in you an acceptance of the punishment of your iniquities and you will be justifying God in bringing it upon you. But know that an acceptance of the punishment of your iniquities is given by the Holy Ghost as an evidence of fittedness and preparedness for mercies. For when they accept of the punishment of their iniquities and are humbled for their own uncircumcisedness of heart then He will return and have mercy and remember His covenant with Jacob. Oh accept as the punishment of your sins and take it, out of God's hand. Do not look upon the trial as a thing coming upon you by chance, and coming only from men, take it as coming from the Lord, take it as the punishment for your sins and as His reproof. For indeed it is most just on your part as coming from Him, and as to Him it justifies Him who doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. Oh then accept of it as the punishment of your iniquity and beware at quarreling at God's hand, for this trial is to know who will accept of it and who not. And I will tell you one thing, if you be not helped by grace to accept of it as the punishment for your iniquity you will soon run into iniquity and into some sinful course and to add iniquity to sin which is explained by the Apostle and called murmuring and quarrelling or drawing back. Let me see a man or woman quarrelling at God, is punishing them for their iniquities this day and I will let you see a man or woman who will turn their back upon Christ the next day. Oh be patient unto the Lord's hand and submissive to what He sees fit to carve out in your lives. You must be submissive to His measuring out of your lot as He pleaseth. You must not set bounds to the unlimited Holy One of Israel. You must submit to His chastisements as long as He sees fit to lay them upon you. Proud conceited folks under the rod, show by their comportment they get no good from under the rod. Oh then humble yourselves under His hand, for the want of this humility draws many strokes out of His hand. Humble yourselves then under God's hand and lie in the dust if you would get good of trials and to Him only who can bless this present trial unto you, let us pray. James Renwick

"If there be but one God, then there can be but one true religion in the world. "One Lord, one faith." Eph iv 5. If there were many gods, then there might be many religions, every god would be worshipped in his way; but if there be but one God, there is but one religion; one Lord, one faith. Some say, we may be saved in any religion; but it is absurd to imagine that God who is One in essence, should appoint several religions in which he will be worshipped. It is as dangerous to set up a false religion, as to set up a false god. There are many ways to hell; men may go thither which way their fancy leads them; but there is only one direct road to heaven, viz. faith and holiness. There is no way to be saved but this. As there is but one God, so there is but one true religion." [Thomas Watson ]

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A sincere Christian rejoices in the righteousness of Christ above all: Isa 61:10, "1 will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." A sincere Christian rests on the righteousness of Christ as on a sure foundation: Isa 45:24, "Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength." It was a very sweet and golden expression of one, when he thought himself to be at the point of death: "I confess," said he, "I am not worthy; I have no merits of mine own to obtain heaven by; but my Lord had a double right thereunto; an hereditary right as a Son, and a meritorious right as a sacrifice; he was contented with the one right himself, the other right he hath given unto me, by the virtue of which gift I do rightly lay claim unto it, and am not confounded."

A sincere Christian looks upon the righteousness of Christ as that which renders him most splendid and glorious in the eyes of God: Phil 3:9, "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." A sincere Christian looks upon the righteousness of Christ as his only security against wrath to come. Wrath to come is the greatest wrath, wrath to come is the purest wrath, wrath to come is infinite wrath, wrath to come is everlasting wrath. Now the sincere Christian knows no way under heaven to secure himself from wrath to come, but by putting on the robe of Christ's righteousness.[Thomas Brooks]

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REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER--Ye know that this is a time in which all men almost seek their own things, and not the things of Jesus Christ. Ye are your lone, as a beacon on the top of the mountain; but faint not: Christ is a numerous multitude Himself, yea, millions. Though all the nations were convened against Him round about, yet doubt not but He will, at last, arise for the cry of the poor and needy.

For me, I am now near eternity; and for ten thousand worlds I dare not venture to pass from the protestation against the corruptions of the time, nor go alongst with the shameless apostasy of the many silent and dumb watchmen of Scotland. But I think it my last duty to enter a protestation in Heaven, before the righteous Judge, against the practical and legal breach of Covenant and all oaths imposed on the Reformation, the introducing of popery and the mystery of iniquity, is now set on foot in the three kingdoms; and whosoever would keep their garments clean are under that command, "Touch not, taste not, handle not."

The Lord calleth you dear brother, to be still, "stedfast, unmovable and abounding in the work of the Lord." Our Royal kingly Master is upon His journey, and will come, and will not tarry; and blessed is the servant who shall be found watching when He cometh. Fear not men, for the Lord is your light and salvation. It is true, it is somewhat sad and comfortless that ye are your lone; but so it was with our precious Master; nor are ye your lone, for the Father is with you. It is possible that I shall not be an eyewitness to it in the flesh, but I believe He cometh quickly who will remove our darkness, and shine gloriously in the Isle of Britain, as a crowned King, either in a formally sworn covenant, or in His own glorious way; which I leave to the determination of His infinite wisdom and goodness. And this is the hope and confidence of a dying man, who is longing and fainting for the salvation of God.

Beware of the ensnaring bonds and obligations by any hand writ or otherwise to give unlimited obedience to any authority, but only in the Lord. For all innocent self-defence (which is according to the covenant, the Word of God, and the laudable example of the reformed churches) is now intended to be utterly subverted and condemned; and what is taken from Christ, as the flower of His prerogative-royal, is now put upon the head of a mortal power; which must be that great idol of indignation that provoketh the eyes of His glory. Dear brother, let us mind the rich promises that are made to those that overcome, knowing that those that endure to the end shall be saved. [Samuel Rutherford]

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I have been a witness of Calvin''s life for 16 years. And I think I am fully entitled to say that in this man there was exhibited to all, a most beautiful example of the life and the death of the Christian." [Theodore Beza commenting on John Calvin after his death]

If you would Christians, attain unto assurance, then you must mind your work more than your wages; you must be better at obeying than disputing; at doing, at walking than at talking and wrangling. [Thomas Brooks]

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Worship is an act of the understanding, applying itself to the knowledge of the excellency of God, and actual thoughts of his majesty...It is also an act of the will, whereby the soul adores and reverenceth his majesty, is ravished with his amiableness, embraceth his goodness, enters itself into an intimate communion with this most lovely object, and pitcheth all his affections upon him. [Stephen Charnock]

"The reason men worship God in a casual way is because they do not see God in His Glory. If a man has ever had Isaiah's vision of the Holiness of God, he would be changed in an instant. But until men have seen God as He truly is they will be forever guilty of the very same rebuke God gave to the wicked in Psalms 50:21 'You thought I was just like you'." [Jeremiah Burroughs]

"Every one of you will be to the glory of God. You will be made to glorify him in one way or another. You will either do it willingly or unwillingly. You must form a step to his throne. Ah, brethren! I believe each of you will yet be a beacon or a monument - either a beacon of wrath or a monument of mercy, "He hath made all things for himself; even the wicked for the day of evil." Yes, wicked man, you would rob God of his glory if you could, but you cannot. If you come to Christ, you will show forth his glory in saving you; but if you do not, God will show forth his power in destroying a vessel of his wrath." [Robert Murray M'Cheyne]

I propound in the name of the Lord the doctrine of life, salvation, and
peace. Let it be known, therefore, to you that God the Father, looking
upon the sinful children of men, and seeing them all in a perishing
condition by sin, out of infinite bowels of tender compassion, has
provided a glorious way of mediation, of propitiation for sin. And, to
that end He has sent His only beloved Son out of His bosom, who has
taken man's nature upon Himself, united in a personal union to the end
that He might be a fit Mediator to stand between a provoked God and
sinful souls. And this Christ has borne the full vials of the wrath of
His Father, the curse of the law due to sin, satisfied infinite divine
justice, and made a full atonement between God and sinful man. Upon
these terms alone, now, He tenders and offers to every poor, wearied,
distressed soul all that His Son has purchased by His blood, all His
merits, that they might be an atonement for sin, a propitiation for your
soul to discharge all your sins, that you might come through Him to
stand acquitted before the Father for evermore. This is the sum of the
gospel, and this I present and preach and offer to you, and this I offer
not only to the least sinner, but to the greatest sinner in the world.
This I present as in the name of God, as the message we have in the name
of God to deliver unto you. And now, whatever your sins have been
heretofore, God only requires that your souls should now stand admiring
the infinite riches of His grace in His Son, and that your souls should
be taken off from the creature and sin to live upon Christ, surrender
your souls to Him, and cast your souls on that infinite, rich grace of
God in Him; and upon that instant, every one of your sins, though never
so great and heinous, yet I pronounce in the name of the Lord, every one
of them is pardoned and all is done away with as if they had never been
committed. This is the sum of the gospel unto those who come to see
their sins and are sensible of their need of Christ by their sin.
Jeremiah Burroughs [The Evil of Evils]

I will not judge a person to be spiritually dead whom I have judged formerly to have had spiritual life, though I see him at present in a swoon (faint)as to all evidences of the spiritual life. And the reason why I will not judge him so is this -- because if you judge a person dead, you neglect him, you leave him; but if you judge him in a swoon,(faint) though never so dangerous, you use all means for the retrieving of his life. [John Owen]

Labels: John Owen

"At times one hesitates to reprove or admonish evildoers, either because
one seeks a more favorable moment or fears his rebuke might make them
worse, and further, discourage weak brethren from seeking to to lead a
good and holy life, or turn them aside from the faith. In such
circumstances forbearance is not prompted by selfish considerations but
by well-advised charity."

"What is reprehensible, however, is that while leading good lives
themselves and abhorring those of wicked men, some, fearing to offend,
shut their eyes to evil deeds instead of condemning them and pointing
out their malice. To be sure, the motive behind their malice is that
they may suffer no hurt in the possession of those temporal goods which
virtuous and blameless may lawfully enjoy; still there is more
self-seeking here than becomes men who are mere sojourners in this world
who profess the hope of a home in heaven." [Augustine of Hippo]

"Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst; he promises honour, and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure, and pays with pain; he promises profit, and pays with loss; he promises life, and pays with death. But God pays as he promises; all his payments are made in pure gold." "Thomas Brooks

Labels: Thomas Brooks

"Christ is the most tender-hearted physician. He hath ended his passion but not his compassion. He is not more full of skill than sympathy, 'He healed the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds' (Psalm 147:3). Every groan of the patient goes to the heart of the physician." [Thomas Watson]

Labels: Thomas Watson

Judas knew the Scriptures, and without doubt did assent to the truth of them, when he was so zealous a preacher of the gospel; but he never had so much as one drachma of justifying faith in his soul. . . . Yea, Judas master, the devil himself, one far enough (I suppose) from justifying faith, yet he assents to the truth of the Word. He goes against his conscience when he denies them: when he tempted Christ he did not dispute against the Scripture but from the Scripture, drawing his arrows out of this quiver. . . . Assent to the truth of the Word is but an act of the understanding, which reprobates and devils may exercise. But justifying faith is a compounded habit, and hath its seat both in the understanding and will: and, therefore, called a believing with the heart (Romans 10:10), yea, a believing with all the heart(Acts 8:37).
— William Gurnall