01. Quotes 01-100
Quotes 01-100
01. Christ often takes the crown off his own head, and puts it upon the head of faith; witness such passages as these, which are frequent in Scripture: "Thy faith hath saved thee," (Luke 7:50). "Thy faith hath made thee whole," (Matthew 9:22). And no wonder that Christ crowns faith, for of all graces, faith takes the crown off a man’s own head, and puts it upon the head of Christ.
02. The little word "father," (said Luther,) lisped forth in prayer by a child of God, exceeds the eloquence of Demosthenes, Cicero, and all the other famed orators of the world.
03. Sin is bad in the eye, worse in the tongue, worse still in the heart, but worst of all in the life.
04. It was a good saying of one to a great lord, upon his showing his stately house, and pleasant gardens: "Sir, you had need make sure of heaven, or else, when you die, you will be a very great loser."
05. If you would be good betimes, you must acquaint yourselves with yourselves betimes. No man begins to be good till he sees himself to be bad. The ready way to be found is to see ourselves lost. The first step to mercy, is to see our own misery; the first step toward heaven, is to see ourselves near hell.
06. Ah, believer, it is only heaven that is above all winds, storms, and tempests; God did not cast man out of paradise, that he might be able to find himself another paradise in this world. The world and you must part, or Christ and you will never meet. "Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
07. "Speak, that I may see thee," said Socrates to a fair boy. We know metals by their tinkling, and men by their talking. Happy was that tongue in the primitive time, that could sound out anything of David’s doing; but how much happier is he who can tell anything of Christ from sweet experience!
08. "Let the thoughts of a crucified Christ," said one, 11 be never out of your mind. Let them be meat and drink unto you. Let them be your sweetness and consolation, your honey and your desire your reading and your meditation, your life, death, and resurrection."
09. There is no time yours but the present time, no day yours but the present day; therefore, do not please and feed yourselves with hopes of time to come; that you will repent, but not yet; and lay hold on mercy, but not yet; and give yourselves up to the Lord next week, next month, or next year; for that God who has promised you mercy and favor upon the day of your return, has not promised to prolong your lives till that day comes.
10. O how strong is grace! How victorious over sin, how dead to the world, how alive to Christ, how fit to live, and how prepared to die, might many a Christian have become had they been more frequent, serious, and conscientious m the discharge of closet duties!
11. It is the very nature of grace to make a man strive to be most eminent in that particular grace which is most opposed to his bosom sin.
12. Young men are very apt to compare themselves with those who are worse than they are, and this proves a snare unto them, and oftentimes their ruin, as it did to the Pharisee in the gospel, who pleaded his negative righteousness; he was not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, nor even as the publican; he stood not only upon his comparisons, but upon his dis- parisons: being blind at home, and too quick- sighted abroad, he contemns the poor publican who-was better than himself, making good that saying of Seneca, " The nature of man is very apt to use spectacles to behold other men’s faults, rather than looking-glasses in which to survey their own."
13. Among all God’s children, there is not one possessed with a dumb devil. Prayerless persons are forsaken of God, blinded by Satan, hardened in sin, and with every breath they draw, liable to all temporal, spiritual, and eternal judgments.
14. There is no such way to attain to greater measures of grace, as for a man to live up to that little grace he has.
15. Bring your graces to the touchstone, to try their tRuth rather than to the balance to weigh their measure.
16. Christ is of all gifts the sweetest gift. As the tree (Exodus 15:25) sweetened the litter 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, and1 makes every sweet more sweet.
17. Pride grows with the decrease of. other sins, and thrives by their decay. Satan is subtle; he will make a man proud of his very graces—he will make him proud that he is not proud.
18. There is nothing says one, "that endures so small a time as the memory of mercies received; and the more great they are, the more commonly they are recompensed with ingratitude."
19. It is very observable that the eagle and the lion, those brave creatures, were not offered in sacrifice unto God, but the poor lamb and dove, to denote that God regards not high and lofty spirits; but meek, poor, contemptible spirits God will accept.
20. "Talk not of a good life," said a heathen, "but let thy life speak." God appointed that the weights and measures of the sanctuary should be twice as large as those of the commonwealth, to show that he expects much more of those that wait upon him in the sanctuary, than he does of others. Christians should be like musk among linen, which casts a fragrant smell; or like that box of spikenard, which being broken open filled the house with its odor.
21. Impunity oftentimes causes impudency, but forbearance is no acquaintance. The longer the hand is lifted up, the heavier will be the blow at last. Of all metals, lead is the coldest, but being melted, it becomes the hottest. Humble souls know how to apply this, and proud souls shall sooner or later experience this.
22. It was a sweet saying of one, "O Lord, I have come to thee; but by thee, I will never go from thee, without thee."
23. Our hearts naturally are like the isle of Patmos, which is so barren of any good, that nothing will grow but in earth that is brought from other places; yet Christ can make them like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.
24. The choicest buildings have the lowest foundations; the best balsam sinks to the bottom; those ears of corn and boughs of trees that are most filled and best laden, bow lowest; so do those souls that are most laden with the fruits of paradise.
25. Souls that are rich in grace, labor after greater measures of grace out of love to grace, and because of an excellency that they see in grace. Grace is a very sparkling jewel, and he who loves it and pursues after it for its own native beauty, hat much of it within him. -
26. Mercies make a humble soul glad, but not proud. A humble soul is lowest when his mercies are highest; he is least when he is greatest; he is most poor when he is most rich.
27. Pride is a sin that will put the soul upon the worst of sins. Pride is a gilded misery, a secret poison, a hidden plague. It is the engineer of deceit, the mother of hypocrisy, the parent of mercy, the moth of holiness, the blinder of hearts, the turner of medicines into maladies, and remedies into diseases.
28."Whereby ’ are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises" 2 Peter 1:4. The promises are a precious book; every leaf drops myrrh and mercy. They are golden vessels, laden with the choicest jewels that heaven can afford, or the soul desire. There is nothing you can truly call a mercy, but you will find it in the promises. of Christ is what spiritual communion is, and what the glory of heaven is, will not be put off by God or man with things that are mixed, mutable, and momentary. So Luther, a man strong in grace, when he had a gown and money given him by the elector, turned himself about, and said, I protest, God shall not put me off with these poor low things."
29. Plutarch reports, that it was wont to be the way of the Molossians, when they would seek the favor of their prince, that they took up the king’s son in their arms, and so went and kneeled before the king, and by this means overcame him. So do humble souls make a conquest upon God with Christ in their arms: the Father will not repulse the soul that brings Christ with him.
30. Katherine Bretterge once after a great conflict with Satan, said, "Reason not with me, I am but a weak woman; if thou hast anything to say, say it to my Christ, he is my advocate, my strength, and my Redeemer; and he shall plead for me."
31. Every soul won to Christ is a glorious pearl added to a preacher’s crown. They who, by preaching Christ, win souls to Christ, shall shine as the stars in the firmament (Daniel 12:3).
32. It is a sad thing when Christians borrow spectacles to behold their weak brethren’s weaknesses, and refuse looking glasses wherein they may see their weak brethren’s grace.
33. Three things are called precious in the Scriptures: "precious faith," (2 Peter 1:1); "precious promises," (verse 4); "precious blood," (1 Peter 1:19). All our precious mercies twine to us in precious blood, as may be seen by comparing these Scriptures together: Romans 5:9; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 9:7; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 10:19.; 1 John 1:7; Revelations 1:5. It was an excellent saying of Luther, "One little drop of this blood is more worth than heaven and earth." Christ’s blood is heaven’s key.
34. Well may grace be called the Divine nature, for as God brings light out of darkness, comfort out of sorrow, riches out of poverty, and glory out of shame, so does grace bring day out of night, and sweet out of bitter, and plenty out of poverty, and glory out of shame. It turns countors into gold, pebbles into pearls, sickness into health, weakness into strength, and wants into abundance; having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
35. He who is good, is bound to do good; for gifts and graces are given, not only to make us good and keep us good, but also to make us, yea, to provoke us to do good. Why has Christ put a box of precious ointment into every Christian’s hand, but that it should be opened for the benefit of others?
36. Pride is Satan’s disease. It is so base a disease, that God would rather see his dearest children buffeted by Satan, than that in pride they should be like to Satan (2 Corinthians 12:7).
37. He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase (Ecclesiastes 5:10). A man may as soon fill a chest with grace, or a vessel with virtue, as a heart with wealth. If Alexander conquer one world, he will wish for another to conquer.
38. Sin’s murdering morsels will deceive those who devour them. Many eat that on earth, which they digest in hell.
39. Human* doctrines cannot cure a wound in the conscience. The remedy is too weak for the disease. Conscience, like the vulture of Prometheus, will still lie gnawing, notwithstanding all that such doctrines can do.
40. Zeal is like fire: in the chimney it is one of the best servants; but out of the chimney it is one of the worst masters. Zeal, kept by knowledge and wisdom in its proper place, is a choice servant to Christ and the saints; but zeal not bounded by wisdom and knowledge is the highway to undo all, and to make a hell for many at once.
41. Has God given thee a crown, and wilt thou not trust him for a crumb? Has he given thee a house that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God? Has he given thee a kingdom that shaketh not? And wilt thou not trust him for a cottage, for a little house-room, in this world? Has he given thee himself, his Son, his Spirit, his grace; and wilt thou not trust him to give thee bread, and friends, and clothes, and other necessary mercies that he knows thou needest? Has he given thee the greater, and will he stand with thee for the less? Surely not. He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32.)
42. One asked a philosopher what God was doing; he answered, that his whole work was to lift up the humble, and to cast down the proud.
43. A thankful soul holds consort with the music of heaven. The little birds do not sip one drop of water, but they look up as if they meant to give thanks;—to show us what we should do for every drop of grace.
44. The dove made use of her wings to flee to the ark; so does a humble soul of his duties to flee to Christ. Though the dove did use her wings, yet she did not trust in them, but in the ark; so though a humble soul does use duties, yet he does not trust in his duties, but in his Jesus.
45. Dionysius having not very well used Plato at his court, when he was gone, fearing lest he should write against him, sent after him to bid him not to do so. "Tell Dionysius," says Plato, that I have not so much leisure as to think of him." So humble, wronged souls are not at leisure to think of the wrongs and injuries that others do them.
46. The strongest creature, the lion, and the wisest creature, the serpent, if they be dormant, are as easily surprised as the weakest worms. So the strongest and wisest saints, if their graces be asleep, if they be only in the habit and not in the exercise, may be as easily surprised and vanquished as the weakest Christians in all the world: witness David, Solomon, Samson, and Peter. Every enemy insults over him that has lost the use of his weapons.
47. Grace is a ring of gold, and Christ is the sparkling diamond in that ring.
48. Weak Christians are very apt to three things —to choose their mercies, to choose their crosses, and to choose their employments.
49. Oh, how sweet is a harbor after a long storm, *and a sunshiny day after a dark and tempestuous night, and a warm spring after a sharp winter! The miseries and difficulties that a man meets with in this world, will exceedingly sweeten the glory of that other world.
50. "Add to your faith virtue" (2 Peter 1:5). The Greek word that is here rendered, add, has a great emphasis in it: it is taken from dancing round. "Link them," says the apostle, "hand in hand." As in dancing, virgins take hand, so we must pin hand to hand in these holy measures and lead up the dance of graces.
51. Austin says, "If one drop of the joy of the Holy Ghost should fall into hell, it would swallow up all the torments of hell."
52. "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day" (2 Timothy 1:12). The child cannot better secure any precious thing it has, than by putting it into the father’s hands to keep. Our mercies are always safest and surest when they are out of our hands, and in the hands of God. We trust as we love, and we trust where we love; where we love much, we trust much; much trust speaks out much love; if we love Christ much, surely we shall trust him much.
53. Weak saints are as much united to Christ, as much justified by Christ, as much reconciled by Christ, and as much pardoned by Christ, as the strongest saints. He that looked upon the brazen serpent, though with weak sight, was healed as thoroughly as he that looked upon it with a stronger sight.
54. If you would have a clear evidence that that little love, that little faith, that little zeal, you have is true, then live up to that love, live up to that faith, live up to that zeal that you have; and this will evidence beyond all contradiction.
55. Faith has an influence upon all other graces: it is like a silver thread, that runs through a chain of pearls; it puts strength and vivacity into all other graces.
56. Gregory calls the Scripture "the heart and soul of God for in the Scriptures, as in a glass, we may see how the heart and soul of God stand towards his poor creatures.
57. Labor to be rich in grace. A little star yields but a little light, and a little grace will yield but a little comfort; but great measures of grace will yield a man not only a heaven hereafter, but also a heaven of joy here. Divine comfort is a choice flower, a precious jewel, and only to be found in their bosoms who are rich in grace.
58. Christ dwells in that heart most eminently that hath emptied itself of itself.
59. "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee1’ (Hebrews 13:5). There are five negatives in the Greek to assure God’s people that he will never forsake them. Five times this precious promise is renewed in the Scripture, that we might have the stronger consolation, and that we might press and press it again, till we have gotten all the sweetness out of it.
60. Augustine said: "Deliver me, O Lord, from that evil man, myself"
61. Grace is a sweet flower of paradise, a spark of glory.
62. He humbled himself." The Sun of Righteousness went ten degrees back in the dial of his Father, that he might come to us with healing under his wings.
63. "When, thy faith hath made thee whole’ (Luke 8:48). Ah! Christians, it is not your trembling, or your falling down, or your sweating in this or that service, that will stop the bloody issue of your sins; but believing in Christ.
64. All the sighing, mourning, sobbing, and complaining in the world do not so undeniably evidence a man to be humble as his overlooking his own righteousness, and living really and purely upon the righteousness of Christ. This is the greatest demonstration of humility that can be shown by man.
65. A humble soul is like the violet that by its fragrant smell draws the eye and the heart of others to it.
66. It was a wise and a Christian speech of Charles the Fifth to the Duke of Venice, who, when he had showed him the glory of his princely palace and earthly paradise, instead of admiring it, or him for it, only returned him this grave and serious memento, "These are the things which make us unwilling to die."
67. As a humble soul knows that the stars have their situation in heaven, though sometimes he sees them by their reflection in the bottom of a well, or in a ditch; so he knows that godly souls, though never so poor, low, and contemptible, as to the things of this world, are fixed in heaven, in the region above; and therefore their poverty and meanness is no bar to hinder him from learning of them.
68. Those sins shall never be a Christian’s bane that are now his greatest burden. It is not falling into the water, but lying in the water, that drowns. It is not falling into sin, but lying in sin, that destroys the soul. If sin and thy heart are two, Christ and thy heart are one.
69. Poor men do not live upon themselves, they live upon others; they live upon the care of others, the love of others, the provision of others; and thus a humble soul lives upon the care of Christ, the love of Christ, the promise of Christ, the faithfulness of Christ, the discoveries of Christ.
70. Seneca calls sloth "the nurse of beggary, the mother of misery." And slothful Christians find it so.
71. The nearer any soul draws to God, the more humble will that soul lie before God. None so near God as the angels, and none so humble before God as the angels.
72. God scatters giftless gifts, the honors, riches, and favors, of this world, up and down among the worst of men; but as for his gold, his Spirit, his grace, his Son, his favor, these are jewels that he only casts into the bosoms of saints, and that because he dearly loves them.
73. Much of a Christian’s spiritual strength lies in secret prayer, as Samson’s did in his hair. Nothing disarms Satan and weakens sin like this.
74. Secret prayers are the pillars of smoke wherein the soul ascends to God out of the wilderness of this world. Secret prayer is Jacob’s ladder, where you have God descending into the soul, and the soul sweetly ascending to God. Secret meals are very fattening, and secret duties are very soul-enriching.
75. He that drew Alexander whilst he had a scar upon his face, drew him with his finger upon the scar. So when the Lord comes to look upon a poor soul, he lays his finger upon the scar, upon the infirmity, that he may see nothing but grace, which is the beauty and the glory of the soul.
76. What madness and folly is it, that the favorites of heaven should envy the men of the world, who at best do but feed upon the scraps that come from God’s table 1 Temporals are the bones; spirituals are the marrow. Is it below a man to envy the dogs, because of the bones? And is it not much more below a Christian to envy others for temporals, when himself enjoys spirituals?
77. The Canaanitish woman, in the 15th of St. Matthew sets a high price upon a crumb of mercy. "Ah! Lord," says the humble soul, "if I may not have a loaf of mercy, give me a piece of mercy; if not a piece of mercy, give me a crumb of mercy. If I may not have sunlight, let me have moonlight; if not moonlight, let me have starlight; if not starlight, let me have candle-light; and for that I will bless thee." Faith will pick an argument out of a repulse, and turn discouragements into encouragements.
78. One of the ancients used to say, that humility is the first, second, and third grace of a Christian.
79. When you look upon the stream, remember the fountain; when you look upon the flower, remember the root; when you look upon the stars, remember the sun ; and when you look upon your graces, remember the fountain of grace, else Satan will be too hard for you.
80. All those services are lost, wherein faith has not a hand. We may write "lost" upon all the prayers we make, and upon all the sermons we hear, and upon all the tears we shed, and upon all the alms we give, if all be not managed by a hand of faith.
81. "My sin is ever before me" (Psalms 51:3). A humble soul sees that he can stay no more from sin, than the heart can from panting, and the pulse from beating. He sees his heart and life to be fuller of sin than the firmament is of stars; and this keeps him low. He see3 that sin is so bred in the bone, that till his bones, as Joseph’s, be carried out of the Egypt of this world, it will not out. Though sin and grace were never born together, and though they shall not die together, yet while the believer lives, these two must live together; and this keeps him humble.
82. When Caesar gave one a great reward, "This," said he, is too great a gift for me to receive;" but, says Caesar, "It is not too great a gift for me to give." So, though the least gift that Christ gives, in one sense, is too much for us to receive, yet the greatest gifts are not too great for Christ to give.
83. "But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him, as he said unto you11 (Mark 16:7). O admirable love! O matchless mercy! Where sin abounds, grace does superabound. This is the glory of Christ, that he carries it sweetly towards his people, when they carry themselves unworthily towards him. Christ looks more upon Peter’s sorrow, than upon his sin; more upon his tears, than upon his oaths. The Lord will not cast away weak saints for their great unbelief, because there is a little faith in them. He will not throw them away for that hypocrisy that is in them, because of that little sincerity that is in them. He will not cast away weak saints for that pride that is in them, because of those rays of humility that shine in them. He will not despise his people for their passions, because of those grains of meekness that are in them. A wise man will not throw away a little gold, because of a great deal of dross that cleaves to it; nor a little wheat, because mixed with much chaff; and will God? will God?
84. Grace is a ring of gold, and Christ is the pearl in that ring; and he that looks more upon the ring than the pearl that is in it, in the hour of temptation will certainly fall. When the wife’s eye is upon her rings or jewels, then her heart must be set upon her husband. When grace is in the eye, Christ must at that time be in the arms. Christy and not grace, must lie nearest to a Christian’s heart.
85. Here God gives his people some taste, that they may not faint; and he gives them but a taste, that they may long to be at home, that they may keep humble, that they may sit loose from things below, that they may not break and despise bruised reeds, and that heaven may be more sweet to them at last.
86. Grace grows by exercise, and decays by disuse. Though both arms grow, yet that which a man most uses is the stronger; so it is both in gifts and graces. In birds, the wings which have been used most, are sweetest: the application is easy.
87. Christ is a most precious commodity, he is better than rubies or the most costly pearls; and we must part with our old gold, with our shining gold, our old sins, our most shining sins, or we must perish forever. Christ is to be sought and bought with any pains, at any price; we cannot buy this gold too dear. He is a jewel more worth than a thousand worlds, as all know who have him. Get him, and get all; miss him and miss all.
88. "The light and glory of humble Christians rises by degrees" (Song of Solomon 6:10). Looking forth as the morning, with a little light; fair as the moon, more light; clear as the sun, coming up to a still higher degree of spiritual light, life, and glory.
89. All the arrows that are shot at a Christian, stick in his buckler; they never reach his conscience, his soul. The raging waves beat sorely against Noah’s ark, but they touched not him.
90. Faith is the champion of grace, and love the nurse; but humility is the beauty of grace. Be clothed with humility. The Greek word imports that humility is the ribbon or string that ties together all those precious pearls, the rest of the graces. If this string break, they are all scattered.
91. The Lord Jesus shares with saints in their afflictions. "In all their afflictions he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them" (Isaiah 63:9). It is between Christ and his Church, as between two lute-strings—no sooner one is struck, but the other trembles.
92. It was a sweet observation of Luther, "That for the most part when God set him upon any special service for the good of the Church, he was brought low by some fit of sickness or other." Surely, as the lower the ebb, the higher the tide; so the lower any descend in humility, the higher they shall ascend in honor and glory. The lower this foundation of humility is laid, the higher shall the roof of honor be overlaid.
93. Great measures of grace carry with them the greatest evidence of a man’s union and communion with God: and the more a man’s union and communion with God are evidenced, the more will the soul be filled with that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory, and with that comfort and peace which pass understanding. In great measures of grace, as in a crystal glass, the soul sees the glorious face of God shining and sparkling, and this fills the soul with joy.
94. "Who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou hast not received?" (1 Corinthians 4:7.) Thou talkest of light, of love, of fear, of faith: but what are all these but pearls of glory, that are freely given thee by the hand of grape?
95. Every good and every perfect gift cometh down from above. The greatest excellencies in us do as much depend on God, as the light does upon the sun. When thou lookest upon thy wisdom thou must say, "Here is wisdom, but it is from above. Here is some weak love working towards Christ, but it is from above. Here is joy, and comfort, and peace, but these are all the flowers of paradise; they never grow in nature’s garden." When a soul looks thus*upon all those costly diamonds with which his heart is decked, he keeps low, though his graces are high.
96. A humble soul cannot, a humble soul dares not, call anything little that has Christ in it; neither can a humble soul call or count anything great wherein he sees not Christ, wherein he enjoys not Christ.
97. God looks more upon the bright side of the cloud than the dark. <c Remember the patience of Job" (James 5:11). It is not "Remember the murmuring of Job the cursing of Job the complainings of Job the impatience of Job" but "Remember the patience of Job." God looks upon the pearl and not upon the spot that is in it. So in Hebrews 11:30-31, there is mention made of Rahab’s faith, love, and peaceable behavior towards the spies; but no mention made of her lie. The Lord overlooks her weakness, and keeps his eye upon her virtues. Where God sees but a little grace, he does, as it were, hide his eyes from those circumstances that might seem to deface the glory of it.
98. The picture of a dear friend is not to be thrust into a. corner, but placed in some conspicuous part in the house: so our graces are the very image of Christ; they are his picture, and therefore to be held forth to open view.
99. As there are no mercies equal to spiritual mercies, so there are no judgments equal to spiritual judgments. Ohl the slightness, the coldness, the deadness, the barrenness, that are abroad in the world I God suits his judgments to men’s sins; the greatest sins are always attended with the greatest judgments. In these days men sin against more glorious means, more great love, more clear light, more tender bowels of mercy, than formerly; and therefore God gives men up to more sad and dreadful spiritual judgments than formerly.
100. Little sins (suppose them so) are very dangerous. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump; a little staff may kill one; a little leak in a ship sinks it; a little flaw in a good cause mars it; so a little sin may at once bar the door of heaven, and open the gates of hell; 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.