Great Throughts Treasury

"God hath many sharp-cutting instruments and rough files for the polishing of His jewels; and those He especially loves and means to make the most resplendent, He hath oftenest His tools upon."

"Many afflictions will not cloud and obstruct peace of mind so much as one sin: therefore, if you would walk cheerfully, be most careful to walk holily. All the winds about the earth make not an earthquake, but only that within."

"Sin first is pleasing, then it grows easy, then delightful, then frequent, then habitual, then confirmed; then the man is impenitent, then he is obstinate, then he is resolved never to repent, and then he is ruined."

"Study to follow His will in all, to have no will but His. This is thy duty and thy wisdom. Nothing is gained by spurring and struggling, but to hurt and vex thyself; but by complying all is gained, sweet peace."

"A holy life is a voice; it speaks when the tongue is silent, and is either a constant attraction or a perpetual reproof."

"Adversity is the diamond dust heaven polishes its jewels with."

"An angelic life, spent between ascending in prayer to fetch blessings from above, and descending to scatter them among men."

"As the sun can be seen only by its own light, so Christ can be known only by His own Spirit."

"But herein is the excellency of this Divine Sun, that He illuminates not only the object, but the faculty; doth not only open the mysteries of His kingdom, but opens blind eyes to behold them."

"Calumny would soon starve and die of itself if nobody took it in and gave it a lodging."

"By this may all know that we are not His disciples, because we hate one another."

"Forgive thyself little and others much."

"God's choice acquaintances are humble men."

"Good words do more than hard speeches, as the sunbeams without any noise will make the traveler cast off his cloak, which all the blustering winds could not do, but only make him bind it closer to him."

"Men compare themselves with men, and readily with the worst, and flatter themselves with that comparative betterness. This is not the way to see spots, to look into the muddy streams of profane men's lives; but look into the clear fountain of the Word, and there we may both discern and wash them; and consider the infinite holiness of God, and this will humble us to the dust."

"Great is he who enjoys his earthenware as if it were plate, and not less great is the man to whom all his plate is no more than earthenware."

"Let thy great joy and comfort evermore be, to have His pleasure done in thee, though in pains, sickness, persecutions, oppressions, or inward griefs and pressures of heart, coldness or barrenness of mind, darkening of thy will and senses, or any temptations spiritual or bodily."

"If thou wouldst find much favor and peace with God and man, be very low in thine own eyes. Forgive thyself little and others much."

"How shall I do to love? Believe. How shall I do to believe? Love."

"Solitude, silence, and the strait keeping of the heart, are the foundations and grounds of a spiritual life."

"The cure of an evil tongue must be done at the heart. The weights and wheels are there, and the clock strikes according to their motion. A guileful heart makes a guileful tongue and lips. It is the work-house where is the forge of deceits and slanders; and the tongue is only the outer shop where they are vended, and the door of it. Such ware as is made within, such, and no other, can come out."

"That venomous worm of all goodness, vain glory."

"The flower that follows the sun does so even on cloudy days."

"The Sum is: 1. Remember always the presence of God. 2. Rejoice always in the will of God. And 3. Direct all to the glory of God."

"The world dares say no more for its device, than while I live, I hope; but the children of God can add by virtue of a living hope, while I expire, I hope."

"You must keep your memory clean and pure, as it were a wedlock chamber, from all strange thoughts, fancies and imaginations, and it must be trimmed and adorned with holy meditations and virtues."

"True prayer never comes weeping home: I am sure that I shall get either what I ask, or what I ought to have asked."