07. Quotes 601-700
Quotes 601-700
601. To look after holy and heavenly works is the best way to preserve the soul from being deceived and deluded by Satan’s devices, or by sudden flashes of joy or comfort; holy works being a more sensible and constant pledge of the precious Spirit, begetting and maintaining in the soul more solid, pure, clear, strong and lasting joy.
602. No man knows how the heart of God stands, by his hand. His hand of mercy may be toward a man when his heart is against him, as in the instance of Saul and others. And the hand of God may be set against a man when the heart of God is dearly set upon him, as you may see in Job and Ephraim. Nabal is rich as well as Abraham; Ahithophel wise as well as Solomon, and Doeg is honored by Saul as well as Joseph by Pharaoh. Usually the worst of men have most of these outward things, and the best of men have least of earth, though most of heaven.
603. Your sins may provoke Christ to frown upon you, they may provoke Christ to chide with you, they may provoke him gently to correct you, but they shall never provoke him to give you a bill of divorce.
604. Till a man comes to have God for his portion, he never comes to be temptation-proof.
605. No man knows either love or hatred by outward mercy or misery; for all things come alike to all, to the righteous and to the unrighteous, to the good and to the bad, to the clean and to the unclean. Tie sun of prosperity shines as well upon the brambles of the wilderness as upon the fruit trees of the orchard; the snow and hail of adversity light upon the best garden as well ad upon the wildest waste. Health, wealth, honors, crosses, sicknesses and losses are cast upon good and bad men indifferently.
606. Though Satan can never rob a Christian of his crown, yet such is his malice that he will therefore tempt, in order to spoil him of his comforts. Such is his enmity to the Father, that the nearer and dearer any child is to him, the more will Satan trouble him and vex him with temptations.
607. Let us do our duties, and let the Lord do as pleaseth him.
608. Idleness is hateful in any, but most abominable and intolerable in ministers, and sooner or later none shall pay so dear for it as such; witness the frequent woes that are denounced in Scripture against them. Where should a soldier die but in the field? And where should a minister die but in the pulpit?
609. When a man goes from the sun, yet the sunbeams follow him; so when we go from the Sun of righteousness, yet then the beams of his love and mercy follow us. Christ first sent to Peter who had denied him, and the rest who had forsaken him.
610. Such men as are contented with so much grace as will bring them to glory, and keep hell and their souls asunder, will never be rich in grace, or high in comfort and assurance. Such souls usually go to heaven in a storm. Oh, how weather-beaten are they before they can reach the heavenly harbor.
611. It was a weighty saying of one, "The spiritual good of a man consists in this, that a man hath friendship with God, and consequently that he lives for him, to him, with him and in him; he lives for him by consent, to him by conversation, with him by communion, and in him by contentation.
612. Happiness lies not in those things that a man may enjoy, and yet be miserable for ever. True happiness is too big and too glorious a thing to be found in anything below that God who is a Christian’s chief good.
613. Satan is as old as the world, and is grown very cunning by experience. When he was but a young serpent, he easily deceived and outwitted our first parents; but now he is that old serpent, as John speaks. Yet, notwithstanding all his plots, devices and stratagems, God’s chosen ones shall overcome him by the blood of the Lamb.
614. There is a wonder: God is on high, and yet the higher a man lifts up himself the farther he is from God; and the lower a man humbles himself, the nearer he is to God. (Isaiah 57:15.)
615. As earthly portions carry away worldly hearts from God, so when God once comes to be a man’s portion, he carries his heart away from the world, the flesh and the devil. All the world cannot keep a man’s interest and’ his heart asunder.
616. The gifts that Jesus Christ gives widen the heart and enlarge the soul of a believer to take in more of himself. Naturally we are narrow mouthed heavenward, and wide-mouthed earthward; but the Lord Jesus, by casting his jewels, his pearls, his precious gifts into the soul, doth widen, enlarge, and make it more capacious to entertain himself. Christ, by his gifts, causes all doors to stand open, that the King of glory may come in.
617. Remember, Christians, how many there are in the world, who sit sighing and mourning under the want of those very favors that you enjoy. Why does the living man complain? What, out of the grave, and complain? What, out of hell, and complain? This is a man’s sin and God’s wonder.
618. The Persians used to write their kings’ names in golden characters; so the Lord writes the names of souls rich in grace in golden letters; their names are always heirs to their lives. The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance.
619. As the people prized David above themselves, saying, Thou art worth ten thousand of us, so should saints lift up Jesus Christ above themselves, and above every thing below himself. Ho that lifts not Christ up above all, has no interest in Christ at all. He who sets not Christ above all, is not a disciple of Christ.
620. A soul weak in grace has as much interest in the Lord as the strongest saint has, though he has not the skill to improve that interest. And is not this a singular comfort and support? Verily, were there no more to bear up a poor weak saint from fainting under all his sins and sorrows, and sufferings, yet this alone might do it.
621. This is your glory, Christians; —in the presence and sight of all your graces, to see the free grace of Christ, and his infinite, spotless, matchless, and glorious righteousness, to be your only comfort and refuge. Peter was*not well skilled in this lesson, and that was the very reason that he fell foulest when his confidence was highest.
622. Mercy and grace are sometimes upon the bare knee. Christ stands knocking at sinners’ doors; his hands and heart are full of rich and royal presents; and blessed and enriched forever are those who open to this King of Glory.
623. Christian, if you would keep humble, if you would lie low, draw forth your artillery, place your greatest strength against the pride of your soul. The death of pride will be the resurrection of humility.
624. Christ has given sin its death-wound by his death and resurrection, so that it cannot be long lived, though it may linger awhile in a saint. As a tree that* is cut at the root with a sore gash or two, must die within a year, perhaps a month —nay, it may be within a week, though for a time it may flourish, and have leaves and fruit— yet it secretly dies, and will very shortly wither and perish. So Jesus Christ has given sin such a mortal blow, that it shall never recover its strength and power more, and we may truly say it is dead, it is slain.
625. Though the scorpion be little, yet will it sting a lion to death; and so will the least sin, if not pardoned by the death of Christ.
626. I have read of one who did not fear what he did, nor what he suffered, so that he might get riches; "for," said he, "men do not ask how good one is, or how gracious one is, but how rich one is." O sirs, the day is coming, when God. will ask how rich your souls are; not how rich you are in money, or in jewels, or in land, or in goods, but how rich you are in grace; which should provoke your souls to strive, in the face of all discouragements, to be spiritually rich.
627. A gracious soul may look through the darkest cloud, and see his God smiling on* him, as by a rainbow we see the beautiful images of the sun’s light, in the midst of a dark and waterish cloud.
628. We must look through the anger of his correction to the sweetness of his countenance.
629. Sin gives Satan a power over us, and an advantage to accuse us, and to lay claim to us, as those that wear his badge.
630. God takes away a little comfort, that He may make room in the soul for a greater degree of comfort. This, the prophet Isaiah sweetly shows: "I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him, and to his mourners." (Isaiah 57:18.) Bear up sweetly, O precious soul! thy storm shall end in a calm, and thy dark night in a sunshiny day. Thy mourning shall be turned into rejoicing, and the waters of consolation shall be sweeter and higher in thy soul than ever. The mercy is surely thine, but the time of giving it is the Lord’s.
631. The law cannot condemn a believer—Christ has fulfilled it for him; divine justice cannot condemn him—that Christ has satisfied; his sins cannot condemn him—they are pardoned through the blood of Christ; and his own conscience, upon righteous grounds, cannot condemn him, because Christ, who is greater than his conscience, has acquitted him.
632. It is observable in the court of kings and princes, that children and the ruder sort of people are much taken with pictures and rich shows, and feed their fancies with the sight of rich hangings and fine gay things; whereas, such as are great favorites at court pass by all those as things below them, not worthy of their notice; they have business with the King; they have the eye, the ear, the hand, and the heart of the king to take pleasure and delight in. So most men admire the poor low things of the world, and are much taken with them; but a man that hath God for his portion, will pass by all the gay and gallant things of the world, for his business is with his God, and his thoughts, and heart, and affections are all taken up with him.
633. He who will not improve two talents, shall never have the honor to be trusted with five; but he that improves a little, shall be trusted with much. "The diligent hand maketh rich."
634. There is nothing that speaks out more the strength of grace in a man than his standing against sudden assaults and invasions that by the devil and the world are made upon him. Many a valiant person dares fight in a battle or a duel who yet would be timorous and fearful if suddenly surprised in a midnight alarm.
635. For a man to have a great name to live, and yet to have but a little life, is a stroke of strokes. To be high in name, and little in worth, is a very sad and sore judgment.
636. Such is the corruption of our nature, that, propound any divine good to it, it is entertained as fire by water; but propound any evil, and it is like fire to straw. Did God leave men to act according to their natures, they would be all incarnate devils, and this world a perfect hell.
637. Let those be thy choicest companions who have made Christ their chief companion.
638. Weak Christians are overcome with little crosses; the least cross does not only startle them, but it sinks them, and though they have many comforts for one cross, yet their hearts are so damped and daunted that joy and comfort flies away from them, and they sit down overwhelmed. Certainly this speaks out little of Christ within.
639. Sin may rebel, but it shall never reign in any saint.
640. Believer, remember this: all the honor that God has from you in this life, is from your living up to that light, knowledge, love, fear and faith that he has given you.
641. It was a good saying of one, "Wilt thou be great? Begin from below." As the roots of the tree descend, so the branches ascend. The lower any man is in this sense, the higher shall that man be raised. The lowest valleys have the blessing of fruitfulness, while the high mountains are barren.
642. There is no surer way for men to have their gifts and parts blasted and withered as to pride themselves in them and rest upon them; to make light and slight of those who want them, or to engage them against those persons, ways. and things that Jesus Christ has set his heart upon.
643. Carnal weapons have no might or spirit in them toward the making of a conquest upon Satan. We have not to do with a weak, but with a mighty enemy; and, therefore, we had need look to it that our weapons are mighty, and that they cannot be unless they are spiritual.
644. A true penitent has ever something within him to turn from. He can never get near enough to God, no, not so near him as once he was; and therefore he is still turning and turning, that he may get near and nearer to him who is his chiefest good and his only happiness.
645. Nothing will better that man, or move that man who is given up to spiritual judgments. Let God smile or frown, stroke or strike, cut or kill, he minds it not, regards it not. He is mad upon his sin, and God is fully set to do justice upon his soul. Such a man’s preservation is but a reservation unto a greater condemnation. He has guilt.in his bosom and vengeance at his back wherever he goes; neither ministry or misery, neither miracle nor mercy can mollify his heart; and if this soul be not in hell on this side hell, who is?
646. Many are miserable by loving hurtful things; but. they are more miserable by having them. It is not what men enjoy, but the principle from whence it comes, that makes men happy.
647. Where grace is improved to a considerable height, it will work a soul to sit down satisfied with the naked enjoyment of God without other things.
648. The mercy is the waiting man’s, but the waiting man must give God leave to time his mercy for him.
649. The more any man improves his graces, the clearer, the sweeter, fuller and richer is his enjoyment of God here. There is no man in all the world who has such enjoyment of God as that man has who most improves his graces. It is not he who knows most, nor he who hears, most, nor yet he who talks most, but he who exercises grace most, that has most communion with God, that has the clearest visions of God, and that has the sweetest discoveries and manifestations of his Lord and Master.
650. Despair is a sin exceedingly vile and contemptibly; it is a word of eternal reproach, dishonor and confusion; it declares the devil a conqueror, and what greater dishonor can be done to Christ than for a soul to proclaim, before all the world, the devil a crowned conqueror?
651. Pheraulus, a poor man on whom Cyrus bestowed so much that he knew not what to do with his riches, being wearied out with care in keeping them, desired rather to live quietly, though poor, as he had done before, than to possess all those riches with discontent; therefore, he gave away all his wealth, desiring only to enjoy so much as might supply his necessities. Let worldly professors think seriously of this story and blush.
652. It is good to own and acknowledge a little grace, though it be mingled with very much corruption, as that poor soul did in Mark 9:24.
653. He had but a little faith, and this was mixed with abundance of unbelief; yet he says, "Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief." The least measure of faith will make thee blessed here and happy hereafter.
654. He will not long be a babe in grace who lives out that little grace he has.
655. No man’s grace or experience rises so high, no man’s communion with God and divine enjoyment rises so high, no man’s springs of comforts or parts rise so high as theirs do who conscientiously wait upon God in private before they wait upon him in the assembly of his people, and who, when they return from public ordinances, retire into their closets, and look up to heaven for a blessing upon public means.
656. Christians may doubtless look to their graces as evidences of their part in Christ and salvation, and the clearer and stronger they are, the greater will be their comfort; but they must not look to them as causes.
657. Private prayer is a golden key to unlock the mysteries of the word unto us. The knowledge of many choice and blessed truths are but the returns of private prayer. The word dwells most richly in their hearts who are most in pouring out of their hearts before God in their closets.
658. Secret sins commonly lie nearest the heart, the fountain from whence they take a quick and continual supply. Secret sins are as near to the original sins as the first droppings are to the spring head.
659. It was long since determined in the schools that penitents had more reason to be thankful than innocents, sin giving an advantage to mercy, to be doubly free in giving and in pardoning, and so the greater obligation is left upon us to thankfulness.
660. As the tender dew that falls in the silent night, and makes the herbs and flowers to flourish and grow more abundantly than great showers of rain that fall in the day, so secret prayer will more abundantly cause the sweet herbs of grace and holiness to grow and flourish in the soul than all those more open, public and visible duties of religion, which are too often mingled and mixed with the sun and wind of pride and hypocrisy.
661. To run from Christ is Jo run from all life, peace and joy. It is to run from our strength, our shelter, our security, our safety, our crown, our glory. Crabs, that go backward, are reckoned among unclean creatures (Leviticus 11:10). The application is easy.
662. Christ was wonderfully faithful and careful in both parts of his priestly office, namely, satisfaction and intercession; he was his people’s only spokesman. Oh, how earnest, how frequent was he in pouring out prayers, and tears, and sighs, and groans for his people in secret when he was in this world, and now he is in heaven, he is still making intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).
663. All divine strength and power against sin flows from the soul’s union and communion with Christ. It is only faith in Christ that makes a man triumph over sin, Satan, hell and the world.
664. The assurance of our salvation and pardon of sin primarily arises from the witness of the Spirit of God that we are the children of God ; and the Spirit never witnesses this till we are believers, for we are sons by faith in Christ Jesus. Therefore, assurance is not faith, but follows it, as the effect follows the cause.
665. Believer, if you do not bear with the infirmities of the weak, who shall? who will? This wicked world cannot, and will not. The world will make them transgressors for a word, and will watch for their halting; and, therefore, you had need to bear with them so much the more. The world’s cruelty should stir up your compassion.
666. Of all graces, faith is the root grace, and if this die, you will find your graces languish. Your hope, love, fear, patience, humility, joy, can never outlive your faith; they live together and they die together.
667. Oh, the power of private prayer! it hath a kind of omnipotency in it, it takes God captive, it holds him as a prisoner, it binds the hands of the Almighty, yea, it will ring a mercy, a blessing out of the hand of Heaven itself.
668. The, lives of ministers oftentimes convince more strongly than their words; their tongues may persuade, but their lives command.
669. A humble soul can rejoice in the grace and gracious* actions of others, as well as in its own. But proud sou’s will be still casting contempt and disgrace upon those excellencies in others that they want in themselves.
670. The fountain has not the less water for the vessel it fills, nor the sun the less light for that it gives forth to the stars; so the Lord Jesus Christ has never a whit the less for what he gives forth unto his saints.
671. Chrysostom calls humility the root, mother, nurse, foundation and band of all virtue. Basil calls it the storehouse and treasury of all good. What is the scandal and reproach of religion at this day? Nothing more than the pride of professors.
672. A humble soul is often looking over the wrongs and injuries that he has done to God, and the sweet and tender carriage of God toward him, notwithstanding those griefs and injuries; and this wins him, and works him to be more willing and ready to bear and forgive wrongs than to revenge them.
673. Though the joint prayers of the people of God together were often obstructed and hindered in the times of the ten persecutions, yet they were never able to obstruct or hinder private prayer. When men and devils have done their worst, every Christian will be able to maintain his private trade with heaven.
674. Sotomen reports, that the devout life of a poor captive Christian woman made a king and all his family embrace the faith of Jesus Christ. Good works convince more than miracles themselves.
675. Christ choosing solitude for private prayer, doth not only hint to us the danger of distraction and deviation of thoughts in prayer, but how necessary it is for us to choose the most convenient places we can for private prayer. Our own fickleness and Satan’s restlessness call upon us to get into such places where we may freely pour out our soul into the bosom of God (Mark 1:85).
676. A humble heart cannot be satisfied with so much grace as will bring it to glory, with so much of heaven as will keep it from dropping into hell; it is still crying out, "Give, Lord, give; give me more of thyself, more of thy Son, more of thy Spirit; give me more light, more life, more love."
677. He who will not improve two talents, shall never have the honor to be trusted with five; but he who improves a little, shall be trusted with much.
678. God is never better pleased than when his people importune him in his own words, and urge Him with arguments taken from his own promises.
679. Certainly, the very soul of prayer lies in the pouring out of a man’s soul before the Lord, though it be but in sighs, groans, and tears. One sigh and groan from a broken heart is better pleasing to God than all human eloquence.
680. The humble soul knows that God out of Christ is incommunicable, that God out of Christ is incomprehensible, that God out of Christ is very terrible, and that God out of Christ is inaccessible; and, therefore, he always brings Christ with him, presents all his requests in his name, and so prevails.
681. Christ frequently joins praying and preaching together; and those whom Christ hath joined together, let no man presume to put asunder (Luke 22:8-9; Luke 22:41; Luke 22:44-45).
682. Suffering times are sealing times. The primitive Christians found them so, and the suffering saints in Mary’s days found them so. When the furnace is seven times hotter than ordinary, the Spirit of the Lord comes and seals *up a man’s pardon in his bosom, his peace with God, and his title to heaven. Blessed Bradford looked upon his sufferings as an evidence to him that he was on the right way to heaven.
683. Though there is nothing more dangerous, yet there is nothing more ordinary, than for weak saints to make their sense and feeling the judge of their condition. Now, this is dishonorable to God, and very disadvantageous to the soul. Sense is sometimes opposite to reason, but always to faith; we must, therefore, strive to walk by faith, (2 Corinthians 5:7.)
684. There is oftentimes greatest danger to our bodies in the least diseases that hang upon us, because we are apt to make light of them, and to neglect the timely use of means for removing them, till they are grown so strong that they prove mortal to us. So there is most danger often in the least sins. If the serpent wind in his head, he will draw in his whole body after.
685. Though none of the people of God have the Spirit in this life in perfection, yet every Christian hath so much of the Spirit as will bring him to Christ, and enable him to reach heaven safely at last.
686. The more our gifts and graces are exercised, the more they are strengthened and increased. All acts strengthen habits.
687. Luther professeth, "That he profited more in the knowledge of the Scripture by private prayer in a short time, than he did by study in a longer space."
688. Caesar in warlike matters, minded more what was to conquer than what was conquered; what was to gain, than what was gained; so does a humble soul mind more what he should be, than what he is; what is to be done, than what is already accomplished.
689. Temptation is God’s school, wherein he gives his people the clearest and sweetest discoveries of his love; a school wherein God teaches his people to be more frequently and fervent in duty; a school wherein God teaches his people to be more tender, meek, and compassionate to other poor, tempted souls than ever; a school wherein God teaches his people to see a greater evil in sin than ever, and a greater emptiness in the creature than ever, and a greater need of
690. Christ and free grace than ever; a school wherein God will teach his people that all temptations are but his goldsmiths, by which he will try and refine, and make his people more bright and glorious.
691. Oh, Christians I God loses much, and you lose much, and Satan gains much, by this, that you do not walk lovingly together. It is your sin and shame that you do not pray together, and hear together, and confer together, and mourn together, because that in some far less things you are not agreed together. You will not do many things you may do, because you cannot do everything you should do I Ah I God will whip you into a better temper before he has done with you.
692. The pious examples of others should be the looking-glasses by which we should dress ourselves. He is the best and wisest Christian, that writes in the fairest Scripture copy, that imitates those Christians that are most eminent in grace, and that * have been most exercised in closet prayer, and in the most secret duties of religion.
693. It is better to have a sore than a seared conscience.
694. "We have given thee of thine own," says David. So, Christian, do thou say, "Lord, the love with which I love thee, is thine own; and the faith by which I hang upon thee, is thine own; and the fear by which I fear before thee, is thine own; and the joy with which I rejoice before thee, is thine own; and the patience with which I wait upon thee, is thine own."
695. That man is doubtless upon the brink of ruin, whose worldly business eats up all his thoughts of God, of Christ, of heaven, of eternity, and of his soul; who can find time for anything, but none to meet with God in his closet.
696. God sees us in secret, therefore, let us seek his face in secret. Though heaven be God’s palace," yet it is not his prison.
697. Promises must be prayed over in private; God loves to be sued upon his own bond, when he and his people are alone.
698. Love covereth all sin. Love’s mouth is very large. Love hath two hands, and makes use of both to hide the defects of weak saints. O ye strong ones, Christ casts the mantle of his righteousness over your weakness, and will you not cast the mantle of love over your brother’s infirmities?
699. A man may as truly say, the sea burns, or fire cools, as that free grace and mercy should make a soul truly gracious do wickedly.
700. God keeps an exact account of every penny that is laid out upon him and his, and that is laid out against him and his: and this in the last day men shall know and feel, though now they wink and will not understand.