09. Quotes 801-902

Quotes 801-902

801. The heart is the spring and fountain of all natural and spiritual actions; it is the primum mobile, the great wheel that sets other wheels going; therefore keep it with all custody and caution, or else bid farewell to all true joy, peace and comfort.

802. Those shall be sure to fall short of divine acceptance, and of a glorious recompense, who are not able to look above the praises of men.

803. There is great truth in that old saying, "That duties are esteemed not by their Acts but by their ends." As the shining sun puts out the fire, so the glory of God must consume all other ends. Two things make a good Christian—good actions and good aims. And though a good aim doth not make a bad action good, as with Uzzah, yet a bad aim makes a good action bad, as in Jehu’s case, whose justice was approved, but his policy punished. God writes "Nothing" on all those services wherein men’s ends are not right.

804. Luther, in his preaching, met with every man’s temptation, and being once asked how he could do so, answered, "Mine own manifold temptations and experiences are the cause thereof."

805. If the prayers of God’s children are so faint that they cannot reach up as high as heaven, then God will bow the heavens and come down to their prayers.

806. When Satan prevails over the saints, he says, "Look, O Christ, are these the price of thy blood? Are these the objects of thy love? Are these the delight of thy soul? What, are these thy jewels? Are these the apple of thine eye? Are these thy pleasant portion? Why, lo, how I lead them! Lo, how I triumph over them! They seem rather to be mine than thine." Ah, Christians, resist as for life, that Satan may never have occasion thus to insult and triumph over Christ.

807. Every mercy that is gathered by the hand of private prayer is as sweet as the rose of Sharon; but those blessings which are received without either supplication or thanksgiving, lack the precious perfume of a Saviour’s love, and leave no fragrance in the ungrateful heart.

808. There is not a sin that a saint commits but Satan would trumpet it out to the world if God would give him leave.

809. It is sad to consider how few professors in these days have attained the right way of mortifying sin. They usually go out against their sins in the strength of their own purposes, prayers and resolutions; and scarcely look so high as a crucified Christ. They mind not the exercise of their faith upon Christ, and therefore it is a righteous thing with him that they should he carried away captive by their sins. Oh, if men would believe in Christ more, sin would die more.

810. When the house is on fire, if a man should only pray or cry, he may be burnt for all that; therefore he must be active and stirring; he must run from place to place and call out for help, and bestir himself as for life in the use of all means whereby the fire may be quenched. So grace must be acted on; it is not all a man’s praying and crying that will profit him or better him; grace must be exercised, or all will be lost —prayers lost, tears lost, time lost, strength lost, soul lost.

811. The world gives a little, that it may give no more; but Christ gives "that he may give." He gives a little grace, that he may give grace upon grace. He gives a little comfort, that he may give fullness of joy. He gives some sips, that he may give full draughts. He gives pence, that he may give pounds; and he gives pounds, that he may give hundreds.

812. When God crowns us, he doth but crown his own gifts in us; and when we give God the glory of all we do, we do but give him that which is due unto his name, for it is he, and he alone, that works all our works in us and for us.

813. The highest honor and glory that earthly princes can put upon their subjects is to communicate to them their greatest secrets. Now this high honor and glory the King of kings hath put upon his people: "For his secrets are with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant."

814. "We, then, that are strong," says the apostle, "ought to bear the infirmities of the weak." Mark he does not say the enormities, but the infirmities; he does not say the wickedness, but the weakness. The Lord bears with the weakness of his children. Peter is weak, and sinful through weakness; but the Lord Jesus carries it tenderly and lovingly toward him still. Thomas is very weak: "I will not believe," says he, "except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side." Now this Christ bears with much patience and sweetness: "Then said he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing" (John xk. 27). The Lord Jesus does, as it were, open his wounds afresh; he overlooks his weakness. "Well," says he, "seeing it is so, that thou wilt not believe, I will rather bleed afresh than that thou shouldest die in thy unbelief." Oh, how compassionate is our precious Lord.

815. Oh, weak and timid Christian, thou shouldst be greatly thankful for the little grace thou hast. Does free grace knock at thy door when it passes by the doors of thousands? Does it cast a pearl of price into thy bosom when others are lying in their blood forever? And wilt thou not be thankful? Remember, the least measure of grace is worth more than a thousand worlds, yea, worth more than heaven itself!

816. Much faith will yield unto us here our heaven, but any faith, if true, will yield us heaven hereafter.

817. Some of the learned think that Christ intercedes only by virtue of his merits; others, that it is done only by his speech. I think it may be done both ways, because Christ hath a tongue and body glorified in heaven; and is it likely that that tongue which pleaded so much for us on earth, should be altogether silent on our behalf when in heaven?

818. ’Tis thy duty to perform closet duties, but it is thy sin to rely on them, or to put confidence in them; do them thou must, but glory in them thou must not. He who rests in his closet duties, makes a Saviour of them. Let them lead thee to Jesus, and leave thee more in communion with him, and in dependence upon him, and then thrice happy shalt thou be. Let thy closet prayers, tears, and meltings, be a star to guide thee to Jesus, a Jacob’s ladder by which thou mayest ascend into the bosom of eternal love, and then thou art safe for ever.

819. Of all gifts, Christ is the sweetest gift. As the tree in Exodus 15:25, "sweetened the bitter waters," so this gift, the Lord Jesus, of whom that tree was a type, sweetens all other gifts that are bestowed upon the sons of men. He turns every bitter into sweet, and makes every sweet more sweet.

820. Many preachers in our days are like Heraclitus, who was called the dark doctor. They affect sublime notions, obscure expressions, and uncouth phrases, making plain truths difficult, and easy truths hard. "They darken counsel with words without knowledge." Studied expressions and high notions in a sermon, are like Ashael’s carcass in the way, that did only stop men, and make them gaze, but did no ways profit or edify them. It is better to present truth in her native plainness than to hang her ears with counterfeit pearls.

821. It is more a weakeness than a virtue in strong Christians, when a weak saint is fallen, to aggravate his fall to the uttermost, and to present his sins in such a dreadful dress as shall amaze him. He who shall lay the same strength to the rubbing of an earthen dish, as he does to the rubbing of a pewter-platter, instead of cleaning it will surely break it to pieces. The application is easy.

822. Absolute perfection is peculiar to the triumphant state of God’s elect in heaven; that is the only privileged place where no unclean thing can enter; the only place where sin and Satan and hell never obtained a footing. Such as dream of an absolute perfection in this life confound and jumble heaven and earth together. Absolute perfection is not a step short of heaven, ’tis heaven this side heaven; and they who would obtain it must step to heaven before they have it.

823. There is no receiving without asking; no finding without seeking; no opening without knocking. The threefold promise annexed to the threefold precept should encourage all Christians to be instant, fervent, and constant in prayer. (Matthew 7:7.)

824. A man’s most glorious actions will at last be found to be but glorious sins, if he hath made himself and not the glory of God, the end of those actions.

825. Grace is compared to the sweetest things, to sweet spices, and to wine and milk. Grace is a beam of that Sun of righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is a sweet flower of Paradise, a spark of glory. It is cherished and maintained by that sweet word, which is sweeter than honey or the honeycomb, and by sweet union and communion with the Father and the Son. It is exercised about the sweetest objects —God, Christ, the promises, and future glory; and it sweetens all our services and duties.

826. Secret sins are in some respects more dangerous than open sins. The more inward and secret the disease is, the more the man is in danger of losing his life. There are no fevers so dangerous as those that prey upon the spirits and inward parts: so there are no sins so pernicious to the souls of men as those that are most inward and secret. Secret sins often reign in the souls of men most powerfully when they are least apparent.

827. Jerome tells us of one Didymus, a godly preacher, who was blind, and Alexander a pious man, coming to him, asked him whether he was not sore troubled and afflicted for want of his sight? "Oh, yes" said Didymus, "it is a great grief and trial to me." Then Alexander chide him, saying, "Has God given you the excellency of an angel, and an apostle, and are you troubled for that which rats, mice, and brute beasts have?"

828. Tears are not always mutes. ’’Cry aloud, (saith one) not with thy tongue, but with thine eyes; not with thy words, but with thy tears; for such is the prayer which maketh the most forcible entry into the ears of the great God of heaven." Penitent tears are undeniable ambassadors, they never return from the throne of grace without a gracious answer.

829. If a man be not interested in Christ, he may perish with "Our Father" in his mouth.

830. When the world frowns most, then generally God smiles most; when the world puts its iron chains upon the saints’ legs, then God puts his golden chains about their necks; when the world puts a bitter cup into one hand, then the Lord puts a cup of consolation into the other; when the world cries out "Crucify them, crucify them," then commonly they hear that voice from heaven, "These are my beloved ones, in whom I am well pleased."

831. Believer, closet prayer will be found to be but a lifeless, comfortless thing, if you do not enjoy communion with God in it. That should be the very soul of all your closet duties, therefore press after it, as for life; when you go into your closet banish everything that can hinder your enjoyment of Christ.

832. True grace makes all new, the inside new, and the outside new; "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature."

833. Want of private duties is the great reason why the hearts of many are so dead and dull, so formal and carnal, so barren and unfruitful under public ordinances. Oh, that Christians would seriously lay this to heart! Certainly that man’s heart is best in public duties, who is most frequent in private exercises; they make most earnings in public ordinances, who are most conscientiously exercised in closet communings.

834. Oh, the horrid drudgery that is in the ways of sin, Satan, and the world. The worst day in Christ’s service is better than the best day, if I may so speak in sin or Satan’s service. Satan will pay the sinner home at last with the loss of God, Christ, heaven, and his soul forever.

835. God loves that his people should put his bonds, (his promises) in suit; and he who does so shall find God near him though friends should leave him and the world be in arms against him.

836. Troubled Christian, bear up bravely, for whatever hardships thou meetest with in the ways of God, shall only reach thy outward man; and under all these trials thou mayest have as high and sweet communion with him as if thou hadst never known what hardships meant.

837. There is nothing that so clearly and so fully speaks out the sincerity and spiritual ingenuousness of a Christian as thankfulness does. Thanks- giving is a self-denying grace; it is the making ourselves a footstool, that God may be lifted up upon his throne, and ride in a holy triumph over all. Self-love, flesh and blood, and many low and carnal considerations may induce men to pray, and hear, and talk, but thanksgiving is the free-will offering of a child.’

838. It was the saying of an old saint, that he was more afraid of his duties than of his sins; for the one made him proud, the other made him always humble.

839. The Lord Jesus gives the best gifts to his own people, that he may fence and strengthen them against the worst temptations. There are no men on earth lie so open to temptation as the saints. The best men have always been the most tempted. The more excellent any man is in grace and holiness, the more shall that man be followed with temptations, as you may see in David, who was tempted by Satan to murder the people; and Job to curse God and die; and Peter to deny Christ; and Paul, who was sorely buffeted; yea, and Christ himself was most grievously assaulted. But the Lord knows well enough, that Satan has a cruel, envious, and malicious eye upon his beloved ones, and therefore he is pleased, by his precious gifts, to strengthen them against his assaults.

840. Heart and tongue must go together; word and work, lip and life, prayer and practice must echo to one another, or else thy prayers and thy soul will be lost together.

841. An early turning to the Lord will prevent many temptations to despair; many temptations to neglect the means openly, to despise the means secretly; many temptations about the being of God, the goodness, faithfulness, truth and justice of God. Temptations to question all that God has said, and all that Christ has suffered, arise many times from men’s delaying and putting off God to the last; all which, with many others, are prevented by seeking and serving the Lord in the morning and springtime of youth.

842. The curse of unsatisfiableness lies upon the creature. Honors cannot satisfy the ambitious man, nor riches the covetous man, nor pleasures the voluptuous .man. Man cannot take off the weariness of one pleasure by another, for after a few evaporated minutes are spent in pleasure, the body presently fails the mind, and the mind the desire, and the desire the satisfaction, and all the man.

843. The two poles could sooner meet, than the love of Christ and the love of the world.

844. Sin is the soul’s sickness, and nothing prejudices growth more than sickness. Christians, if ever you would be trees, having not only the leaves of honor but the fruits of righteousness, then take heed of sin, abhor it more than hell, and fly from it as from your deadliest enemy.

845. Ambrose was wont to say, "I am never less alone than when I am all alone; for then I can enjoy the presence of my God most freely, fully, and sweetly, without interruption."

846. "Take heed of crying, tomorrow, tomorrow," says Luther, "for a man lives forty years before he knows himself to be a fool, and by the time he sees his folly, his life is finished; so men die before they begin to live."

847. It was a notable saying of Luther, "The church converteth the whole world by blood and prayer." Divers have been won to Christ by beholding the gracious carriage of Christians under reproaches for their Master’s sake. Reproach is a royal diadem, it is Christ’s livery; therefore, Christian, count it your highest ambition in the world to wear this livery for his sake, who once wore a crown of thorns for your sake.

848. It is a great folly, it is double iniquity, for a Christian to be troubled for the want of those things which God ordinarily bestows upon the worst of men. Oh, the mercies that a Christian has in hand, in hope, and in the promises, are so many, so precious, and so glorious, that they should bear up his head and heart from fainting and sinking under all outward wants.

849. Closet duty speaks out most sincerity. He prays with a witness who prays without a witness.

850. Believer, be not impatient or forward when God shall take away some lesser mercies from you. He has given you the best and greatest gifts that your souls can beg, or himself will give, and will you be sighing and mourning when he shall come to take away some lesser favor ? Verily, this is the way to provoke God to strip thee naked of thy choicest ornaments, and to put thee in chains, or else to turn thee grazing among the beasts of the fields, as he did Nebuchadnezzar.

851. It is the greatest measure of grace that ushers in the greatest measure of joy and comfort into a believing heart.

852. "Lust having conceived, it bringeth forth sin." Sin hath its conception, and that is delight; and then its formation, and that is design ; and then its birth, and that is action; and then its growth, and that is custom; and then its end, and that is damnation.

853. It were ten thousand times better that we had never been born into the world than that we should go unrenewed out of the world.

854. It was a saying of Bede, "that he who comes not willingly to church, shall one day go unwillingly to hell."

855. All who grow rich in grace, grow rich gradually. The sun ascends by degrees; children, plants and trees grow by degrees; so do saints in spiritual things. As to temporals, it is true that by the death of a friend, or this and that providence, men may become rich on a sudden; but no soul that is rich in grace attains this treasure suddenly. "The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

856. God hears no more than the heart speaks; and if the heart be dumb, God will certainly be deaf.

857. God, who hath done singular things for our good, may indeed justly expect that we should do singular things for his glory.

858. We read in Plutarch of a young maid exposed for sale in the market, who, when a chapman asked her, "Wilt thou be faithful if I buy thee?" answered, "Aye, that I will, though you do not buy me." So also must we be found faithful, even though we meet with no encouragement in the work which our Father has given us to do.

859. Experience in religion is beyond notions and expressions. A sanctified heart is better than a silver tongue.

860. A young man, very much given up to pleasures, standing by St. Ambrose and seeing his excellent death, turned to other young men by him, and said, "Oh I that I might live with you and die with him!"

861. The gifts of the world are fading; a false oath, a spark of fire, a storm at sea, a treacherous friend brings all to nothing in a moment. But the gifts that Christ gives are permanent and lasting. The grace he gives is called an immortal seed; and the glory he gives is called everlasting glory.

862. What though, O precious soul, thy language be clipped and broken? What though thou canst not talk so fluently and so eloquently for Christ as others? What though thy hand be so weak that thou-canst not do so much for Christ as others, nor do so well for Christ as others? Yet the Lord, seeing thy heart sincere, will reward thee. Thou shalt have an everlasting rest for a little labor, and a great reward for a little work.

863. A little of this world’s goods will serve a man who is strong in grace; much, will not serve a man who is weak in grace; nothing will serve a man who is void of grace.

864. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door, let him be never so guilty, never so filthy, never so unworthy, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me." Lord, at whose door dost thou stand knocking? Is it at the rich man’s door, or at the righteous man’s door, or at the qualified and prepared man’s door?. "No," says Christ, "it is at none of these doors." At whose then, O blessed Lord? At the lukewarm Laodicean’s door; at their door who are neither hot nor cold, who are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked? "These," says Christ, "are the worst of the worst, yet if any of them shall open the door, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me." Ah, poor souls, Christ is willing to bestow the best gifts upon the worst sinners.

865. If any prayer be a duty, then secret prayer must be superlatively so, for it prepares and fits the soul for all other supplication.

866. If a tree do not bud, blossom and bring forth fruit in the spring, it generally is dead all the year after; so if in the spring and morning of your days you do not bring forth fruit to God, it is a hundred to one that you bring forth fruit to him when the evil days of old age shall overtake you, wherein you shall say you have no pleasure; for, as the son of Sirach observes, u If thou hast gathered nothing in thy youth, what canst thou find in thine old age?"

867. Cold prayers are like arrows without heads, swords without edges, birds without wings;’ they pierce not, they cut not, they fly not up to heaven. Those prayers that have no heavenly fire in them always freeze before they reach as high as heaven; but fervent prayer is very prevalent with God.

868. Many take unfit seasons for private prayer, which more obstruct the importunity of the soul in prayer than do all the suggestions and importunities of Satan.

869. Rashness will admit of nought for reason, but what unreasonable self shall dictate for reason.

870. As sloth seldom brings actions to a good birth, so rashness snakes them always abortive ere well formed.

871. "Continuing instant in prayer." The Greek is a metaphor taken from hunting dogs that never give over the game till they have got their prey. A Christian must not only pray, but hold on in prayer, till he has obtained the heavenly prize. We are daily in want, and therefore we had need be daily praying

872. Ah, how many threadbare souls are to be found under silken cloaks and gowns! How often are worldly riches like executioners! they hide men’s faces with a covering that they may not see their own end, and then they hang them. Yes, and if they do not hang you, they will shortly leave you, for they "make themselves wings and flee away."

873. By nature we are as full of hard thoughts of God as hell is full of sin; and where the heart is not mightily overawed by the Spirit of God, and overpowered by the grace of God, there all manner of dark and dismal apprehensions of him abound; for Satan knows very well that our corrupt natures are made up of sad and evil thoughts of God, and therefore he uses all his power and craft to stir us up to sin against him. That Christian is a very great stranger to his own heart who is not able to say from experience, that it is one of the highest and hardest works in this world to keep up good and gracious thoughts of God in a suffering condition, or under dark and dismal dispensations.

874. When we consider that sin has slain our Lord Jesus Christ, 0 how should the thought provoke our hearts to be revenged on sin, for having murdered the Lord of glory, and done more mischief than all the devils in hell could have done.

875. All the riches of Christ are unsearchable riches. A saint, with all the light that he has from the Spirit of Christ, is not able to search to the bottom of these treasures; nay, suppose that all the perfections of angels and saints in a glorified estate should meet in one noble breast, yet all those perfections could not enable that glorious creature to fathom the depths of Christ’s unsearchable riches. And when believers come to heaven, when they shall see God face to face, shall know as they are known, and shall be filled with the fullness of God, even then they will sweetly sing this, song: Oh, the height, the depth, the length, the breadth of the unsearchable riches of our Lord Jesus Christi

876. He who will attend closet prayer without distraction or disturbance, must not slip out of the world into his closet, but he must first slip into his closet before he be compassed about with a crowd of worldly employments.

877. A good name is always better than a great name, and a name in heaven is infinitely better than a thousand names on earth; and the way to both of these, is to be much with God in secret.

878. As we are never out of the reach of God’s hand, so we are never out of the view of God’s eye. When we are in the darkest place God hath windows in our breasts, and observes all the secret actings of our inner man. M Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord ?" (Proverbs 15:3.) 879. God loves to see a poor Christian shut his closet door, and then open his bosom and pour out his soul before him.

880. Hatred stirreth up strife, but love covereth all sins. Love’s mantle is very large. Tale-bearers and tale-hearers are alike abominable. Heaven is too holy a place for them.

881. When grace is improved and exercised, gracious services are easily performed. The more our natural strength is exercised and improved, with the more ease and pleasure are all physical duties discharged; so, the more grace is acted and exercised, with the more profit and delight all Christian services are performed. Such souls find wages in their very work; they find that not only for keeping, but also in keeping of his commandments there is great reward.

882. Satan labors might and main to keep your graces low and poor. You never hurt him less, you never honor Christ less, you never mind* your work less than when grace is weak and low. This he knows, and therefore he labors to keep your graces down.

883. A man never begins to fall in love with Christ till he begins to fall out with his sins. Till sin and the soul be two, Christ and the soul cannot be one.

884. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Php 2:12). The reason why many men’s hearts tremble and are so full of fears and doubts, is because they do not make thorough work in their souls; they do not put the question home, whether they have grace or not, an interest in Christ or not. They do not rise with all their strength against sin, nor with all their power to serve the Lord, and therefore fears and doubts always compass them round about.

885. The conversion of the thief upon the cross is an example without a promise. It is an example of late repentance, but where is there a promise to late repentance? O sinner, remember it is not examples, but promises, that are foundations for faith to rest on. For, consider, as one of the dying malefactors was saved to teach sinners not to despair, so the other was damned to teach them not to presume. Oh, think seriously of this, and the Lord make you wise for eternity.

886. Satan watches the Christian’s motions, so that he cannot turn into his closet, or creep into any place to converse privately with his God, but he follows hard at his heels, and will be continually injecting into the soul, or else objecting one thing or another against the soul. A Christian is as well able to tell the stars of heaven, and to number up the sands of the sea, as he is able to reckon the many devices that Satan uses to obstruct the soul’s private addresses to God.

887. Faith is one of those glorious ingredients which must make every sermon and every truth work for the soul’s advantage. Nothing will conduce to a believer’s good and gain, if his graces be asleep.

888. Self is the only oil that makes the chariot wheels of the hypocrite move in religious concerns. They are like blazing stars, which, so long as they are fed with vapors, shine as fixed stars; but let the vapors dry up, and soon they vanish and disappear.

889. Is not the soul more than raiment, more than friends, more than life, yea, more than all? Then why do you not labor to enrich your soul? ’Twere better to have a rich soul under a threadbare coat, than a threadbare soul under a golden garment. If he be a monster among men, who makes liberal provisions for his servant or his slave, and starves his wife, what a monster is he who makes much provision for his baser part, but none for his nobler nature friends, a slothful heart in the things of God is a very heavy judgment.

890. Company and allurements to sin will be found no sufficient excuse for sin. If Eve lay her fault on the serpent, and Adam lay his upon Eve, God will take it off, and lay a curse on both. It is in vain for the bird to complain that it saw the corn, but not the pitfall. The God of spirits and of all flesh will not be put off with any excuses or pretenses when he shall try and judge the children of men.

891. As there is no mercy too great for God to give, so there is no mercy too little for us to crave. Certainly that man hath little worth to him, who thinks any mercy not worth a seeking.

892. As long as there is fuel in the heart for a temptation, we cannot be secure. He that has gunpowder about him, bad need keep far enough off from sparks; he that is either tender of his credit abroad, or comfort at home, had need shun the very shadow of sin; and he that would t neither wound conscience or credit, God or the gospel, had need hate the garments spotted with the flesh.

893. God lades the wings of private prayer with the sweetest, choicest, and chiefest blessings. Ah! how often hath God kissed the poor Christian at the beginning of private prayer, spoken peace to him in the midst of his prayer, and filled him with light, joy, and assurance upon its close!

894. Secret duties shall have open rewards. "Thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Ah, Christians, did you really believe and seriously dwell on this, you would walk more thankfully, more cheerfully, suffer more patiently, fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil more courageously, lay out yourselves for God, his interest and glory, more freely, live upon what Providence hath given you for your portion more quietly and contentedly, and certainly you would be in private prayer more frequently and abundantly.

895. There is no other name, no other nature, no other blood, no other merits, no other persons to be justified and saved by, but Jesus Christ. All the tears in the world cannot wipe off one sin, nor can all the grace and holiness that is in angels and men purchase the pardon of the least transgression. All remission is only by the blood of Jesus Christ.

896. Consider the worth and excellency of souls. A soul is a spiritual, immortal substance; it is capable of the knowledge of God, of union with God, of communion with God, and of a blessed and happy fruition of God. Christ left his Father’s bosom for the good of souls; he assumed man’s nature for the salvation of men’s souls; Christ prayed for souls, he wept for souls, he bled for souls, he hung on the cross for souls, he trod the wine-press of the Father’s wrath for souls, he died for souls, he rose again from death for souls, he ascended for souls, he intercedes for souls, and all the glorious preparations he has been making in heaven these sixteen hundred years are for souls.

897. Remember, that the good works which Jesus Christ will reward at last are supernatural works; they are the works of God, wrought from God, for God, in God, according to God. They are works that flow from supernatural principles, and they are directed to supernatural ends, and performed in a supernatural way. Now, the sooner a man begins to be good, the more he will abound in these good works, and, doubtless, the greater reward shall he have in heaven. But it must not be forgotten that the best works of hypocrites, and all men out of Christ, are but fair and shining sins, beautiful abominations.

897. Natural and moral endowments will enable men to do much, but grace will teach them to do ten thousand times more. There is no work too high or too hard for souls rich in grace; they are choice instruments in the Lord’s hands, to do him service, and bring down blessings upon all around them.

898. Chilo, one of the seven sages, being asked what was the hardest thing in the world to be done, answered, "To use and employ time well."

899. Ah, young men and women, remember death is oftentimes sudden in his approaches, and you had need therefore to be prepared to meet him. Nothing more sure than death. Nothing more uncertain than life; therefore, turn from your sins, lay hold on the Lord, and make peace with him, so that you may never have to say, as Caesar Borgia said when he was sick unto death, "When I lived, I provided for everything but death; now I must die, and am unprepared!"

900. Youth is the age of folly, of vain hopes, and overgrown confidence. How wise many might have been had they not been wise in their own opinion too early! Lean not to great parts, lean not to natural or acquired accomplishments, lest you lose them and yourselves too. It was.an excellent saying of St. Austin, ’He who stands upon his own strength shall never stand." Ah, young men, if you must needs be leaning, lean upon precious promises, lean upon the rock that is higher than yourselves, lean upon the Lord Jesus Christ, as John did, who was the youngest of all the disciples. John leaned much, and Christ loved him much. Oh! lean upon Christ’s wisdom for direction, upon his righteousness for justification, upon his blood for remission, and upon his all-sufficient merits for salvation.

901. As a body without a soul, much wood without fire, or a bullet in a gun without powder, so are words in prayer without the spirit of prayer.

902. There is no way under heaven to be interested in Christ, but by believing. He That Believeth shall be saved, let his sins.be ever so great; and he that believeth not shall be damned, let his sins be ever so little. The End.