Great Throughts Treasury

"Let a particular judgment come upon any man, presently his conscience recalls back what sins long past have been committed by him, so that this waking of conscience shows that we are all sinful creatures."

"Many men oppose the power of divine grace, and rest in common civil things and mere outward performances. But when we do not duly regard the manner, God regards not the matter of the service we do; therefore oftentimes He punishes professors for the ill performance of good duties."

"Many men would be in Canaan as soon as they were out of Egypt, they would be at the highest pitch presently; but God will lead us through the wilderness of temptations and afflictions till we come to heaven, and it is a part of our Christian meekness to submit to God and not to murmur because we are not as we would be, but let us rather magnify the mercies of God that work in us any love of good things, and that He vouchsafes us any of the first-fruits of glory."

"?Measure not God's love and favor by your own feeling. The sun shines as clearly in the darkest day as it does in the brightest. The difference is not in the sun, but in some clouds which hinder the manifestation of the light thereof."

"Most of our disquietness in our calling is that we trouble ourselves about God?s work. Trust God and be doing, and let him alone with the rest."

"Natural men labor to quiet all checks of conscience by sensuality; men are loath to know themselves as they are; they are of the devil's mind, they would not be tormented before their time; such men when they are alone, are afraid of themselves."

"Nature cannot work above its own powers, as vapors cannot ascend higher than the sun draws them. Our hearts are naturally shut, and God opens them by His Spirit in the use of means. The children of Israel in the wilderness saw wonders upon wonders, and yet when they came to be proved, they would not believe."

"No man is a true divine but the child of God; he only knows holy things by a holy light and life. Other men though they speak of these things, yet practically they know them not. Take the most mystical points in religion such as justification, adoption, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, the sweet benefit of communion of saints, the excellent state of a Christian in extremity, to know what is to be done upon all occasions, inward sight and sorrow for sin; they know not what these things mean, for however aptly they may discourse of them, yet the things themselves are mysteries. Repentance is a mystery; joy in the Holy Ghost is a mystery; no natural man though he be never so great a scholar knows these things experimentally. He knows them only as physicians know physic by their books, but not as a sick man by his own experience."

"No sin is so great but the satisfaction of Christ and His mercies are greater; it is beyond comparison. Fathers and mothers in tenderest affections are but beams and trains to lead us upwards to the infinite mercy of God."

"None can be truly confident but God's children. Other men's confidence is like a madman's strength; he may have the strength of two or three for a time, but it is a false strength, and it is when they are lifted up upon the wings of ambition and favor of men; but these men in the time of trial sink. The hope of the hypocrite shall perish (Job 8:13)."

"Our desires are holy if they are exercised about spiritual things. David desires not to be great, to be rich in the world, or to have power to be revenged upon his enemies, but that he may dwell in the house of the Lord and enjoy His ordinances there."

"Our happiness consists in due subordination and conformity to Christ, and therefore let us labor to carry ourselves as He did to His Father, to His friends, to His enemies. In the days of His flesh He prayed whole nights to His Father. How holy and heavenly-minded was He, that took occasion from vines, stones and sheep to be heavenly-minded, and when He rose from the dead His talk was only of things concerning the kingdom of God, in His converse to His friends. He would not quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed; He did not cast Peter in the teeth with his denial, He was of a winning and gaining disposition to all; for His conduct to His enemies, He did not call for fire from heaven to destroy them but shed many tears for them that shed His blood. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" (Matt. 23:37), and upon the cross, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). So that if we will be minded like unto Christ, consider how He carried Himself to His Father, to His friends, to His enemies, yea to the devil himself. When He comes to us in wife, children; friends, etc. we must do as Christ did, say to Satan, "Get thee hence," and when we deal with those that have the spirit of the devil in them, we must not render reproach, but answer them, "It is written.""

"Our whole life under the Gospel should be nothing but thankfulness and fruitfulness. But oh! take heed therefore of turning the grace of God into wantonness. The honor, grace and authority of the Gospel all require that we should deny all ungodliness, and worldly lust, and live righteously, and soberly, and godly in the present world. Therefore, when we find ourselves tempted to act otherwise, instantly we should think - oh! this is not the life of a Christian under the gospel."

"Partial obedience is not obedience at all; to single out easy things that do not oppose our lusts, which are not against our reputation, therein some will do more than they need; but our obedience must be universal to all God's commandments, and that because He commands it. Empty relationships are nothing; if we profess ourselves God's servants and do not honor Him by our obedience, we take but an empty title. Let us seek grace to make our professed relationship good, at least in our affections, that we may be able to say, I desire to fear Thy Name; yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early (Isaiah 26: 8-9)."

"Poverty and affliction take away the fuel that feeds pride."

"Poverty of spirit should accompany us all our life long to let us see that we have no righteousness nor strength of our own for sanctification; that all the grace we have is out of ourselves, even for the performance of every holy duty; for though we have grace, yet we cannot bring that grace into act without new grace, even as there is a fitness in trees to bear fruit, but without the influence of heaven they cannot be fruitful. That which oftentimes makes us miscarry in the duties of our callings is this, we think we have strength and wisdom sufficient, and then what is begun in self-confidence is ended in shame. We set about duties in our own pride and strength of parts, and find no better success; therefore it is always a good sign that God will bless our endeavors, when out of a deep sense of our own weakness, we in prayers and supplications like our Lord also water our business with strong crying and tears: "Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared" (Heb. 5:7)."

"Prayer exercises all the graces of the Spirit; we cannot pray, but our faith is exercised, our love, our patience, which makes us set a high price upon that we seek after and to use it well."

"See a flame in a spark, a tree in a seed. See great things in little beginnings."

"Sight is the noblest sense; it is quick; it can see from earth to heaven in a moment; it is large; it can see the hemisphere of the heavens with one view; it is sure and certain, for in hearing we may be deceived. Lastly, it is the most affecting sense; even so is faith the quickest, the largest, the most certain, and most affecting."

"Sin is not so sweet in the committing as it is heavy and bitter in the reckoning."

"Sincerity is the perfection of Christians. Let not Satan therefore abuse us. We do all things when we endeavor to do all things and purpose to do all things and are grieved when we cannot do better; then in some measure we do all things."

"Spiritual conviction is not total in this life, but always leaves in the heart some dregs of doubting, though the soul be safe. As a ship that rides at anchor is tossed and troubled, but the anchor holds it, so it is with the soul that is somewhat convinced of its good state, it is sure of the main, yet is tossed with many doubts and fears, but the anchor is in heaven."

"Succor us, so that our spirits may not utterly fail under that little taste of his displeasure which we may feel. He became not only a man but a curse, a man of sorrows, for us. He was broken that we should not be broken; he was troubled, that we should not be desperately troubled; he became a curse, that we should not be accursed. Whatever may be wished for in an all sufficient comforter is all to be found."

"Take a circumspect Christian and whatsoever he does, he does it in fear; if he calls God, Father, it is with filial fear, and he eats and drinks with cautious fear. Jude speaks of them that eat without fear; but the true servant of God has a holy fear accompanying him in all his actions, in his words, and even in his recreations, in his meat and drink, and throughout his life. He that has not this fear, how bold is he in wicked courses and loose in all his conduct! But mark a true Christian and you shall always see in him some happy expressions of a holy fear."

"Take heed of Satan's policy, that God has forgotten me because I am now in extremity; nay rather, God will then show mercy, for now is the special time of mercy; therefore beat back Satan with his own weapons."

"Temptations at first are like Elijah's cloud, no bigger than a man's hand, but if we give way to them they will soon overspread the whole soul. Satan nestles himself when we dwell upon the thoughts of sin; we cannot prevent the sudden risings of sin, but by grace we may keep them down, and they should never long remain without opposition. Let us labor therefore as much as we can to be in good company, and run in a good course, for as the Holy Ghost works by these advantages, so we should wisely observe and improve them."

"That a man may be fit to persuade others, he must have love to their persons, a clear knowledge of the cause, and grace that he may be able to speak in wisdom to their souls and consciences. As we are saved by love, so we are persuaded by the arguments of love, which is most agreeable to the nature of man that is led by persuasion not by compulsion. Men may be compelled to the use of the means but not to faith. Many labor only to unfold the Scriptures for the increase of their knowledge, that they may be able to discourse, whereas the special intent of the ministry is to work upon the heart and affections."

"That is spiritual knowledge which alters the relish of the soul; for we must know there is a bitter opposition in our nature against all saving truths; especially, there is a contrariety between our nature and that doctrine which teaches us we must deny ourselves and be saved by another. The soul must relish before it can digest."

"That man has made good progress in religion that has high esteem of the ordinances of God, and though perhaps he may find himself dead and dull, yet the best things have left such a taste and relish in his soul that he cannot be long without them."

"That we may be convinced of sin, the Spirit must work a clear and commanding demonstration of our condition by nature. He takes away therefore all excuses, turnings "and windings; even as when we see the sun shine we know it is day. The Spirit not only convinces us in general that we are sinners, but in particular and that strongly, "Thou art the man." This conviction is also universal, of sins of nature, of sins of life; sins of the understanding, of the will and of the affections; of the misery of sin, of the danger of sin, of the folly and madness of sin; of sins against so many motives, so many favors. Proud nature arms itself with excuses, ready evasions, many mitigations. It is necessary therefore that the Holy Ghost should join with men's consciences to make them confess, "I am the man.""

"That which we drew from the first Adam was the displeasure of God; but we draw from the second Adam the favor of God; from the first Adam we drew corruption, from the second Adam we draw grace; from the first Adam we derive misery and death, and all the miseries that follow death; we draw from the second Adam life and happiness; whatsoever we had from the first Adam we have it repaired more abundantly in the second."

"The bitterest things in religion are sweet - there is a sweetness even in reproofs, when God meets with our corruptions and whispers unto us such and such things are dangerous, and that if we cherish them they will bring us to hell. The Word of God is sweet to a Christian that has his heart under its influence. Is not pardon sweet to a condemned man, and riches sweet to a poor man, and favor sweet to a man in disgrace, and liberty sweet to a man in captivity? So all that comes from God is sweet that has his heart touched with the sense of sin."

"The convincing of the Spirit may be distinguished from common conviction of conscience by this, that natural conviction is weak, like a little spark, and convinces only of our sins against the second table and not the first, especially of sins against the Gospel. Again, common conviction is against a man's will, it makes him not the better man, only he is tortured and tormented; but a man that is convinced by the Spirit, joins with the Spirit against himself; he accuses himself; he takes God's part against himself; he is willing to have his heart laid open, that he may seek and find the greater mercy."

"The love of a wife to her husband may begin from the supply of her necessities, but afterwards she may love him also for the sweetness of his person; so the soul first loves Christ for salvation but when she is brought to Him and finds what sweetness there is in Him then she loves Him for Himself."

"The quintessence and spirit of the things we ask in prayer are in God, as joy and peace and contentedness. Without this joy and peace, what are all the things in the world? And in the want of these outward things, if we have Him we have all, because the spirit of all is in Him and Him alone."

"The reason why the world sees not the happy condition of God's children is because their bodies are subject to the same infirmities with the worst of men, nor are they exempted from troubles; they are also subject to fall into gross sins, and therefore worldly men think, ?Are these the men that are happier than we?" They see their crosses but not their crowns; they see their infirmities but not their graces; they see their miseries but not their inward joy and peace of conscience in the Holy Ghost."

"The religious affections of God's people are mixed, for they mingle their joy with weeping, and their weeping with joy; whereas a carnal man's are all simple; if he rejoices, he is mad; if he is sorrowful (unless it be restrained) it sinks him; but grace always tempers the joy and sorrow of a Christian, because he has always something to joy in, and something for which to grieve. What a poorness of spirit is it to be over-joyful or overmuch grieved, when all things are fading and vanish so soon away. Let us therefore bear continually in our minds that all things here below are subordinate to the upper world."

"The righteousness of works leaves, the soul in perplexity; that righteousness which comes by any other means than by Christ leaves the soul unsettled, because the law of God promises life only upon absolute and personal performance. Now the heart of man tells him that this he has not done, such and such duties he has omitted, and this breeds perplexity because he has not any support."

"The Spirit of God may be known to be in weak Christians, as the soul is known to be in the body by the pulses; even so the Spirit discovers itself in them by pulses, by groaning, sighing, complaining that it is so with them and that they are no better, so that they are out of love with themselves. This is a happy sign that the Spirit in some good measure dwells in such souls."

"The tenets of [the Christian life] seem paradoxes to carnal men; as first, that a Christian is the only freeman, and other men are slaves; that he is the only rich man, though never so poor in the world; that he is the only beautiful man, though outwardly never so deformed; that he is the only happy man in the midst of all his miseries."

"The whole life of a Christian should be nothing but praises and thanks to God; we should neither eat nor drink nor sleep, but eat to God and sleep to God and work to God and talk to God, do all to His glory and praise."

"The whole life? should be nothing but praises to God."

"The winter prepares the earth for the spring, so do afflictions sanctified prepare the soul for glory."

"The Word from the mouth of God is more ancient than the Scripture, for the first word of Scripture was the promise, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15). The Scripture is but the mode, the manner of conveying the Word of God. This Scripture is the rule whereby we must walk and the judge also of all controversies of religion, and in spite of the church of Rome it will judge them. Augustine has an excellent remark; When there is contention betwixt brethren, witnesses are brought, but in the end, the words, the will of the dead man is brought forth, and these words determine. Now shall the words of a dead man be of force, and shall not the word of Christ determine? Therefore look to the Scripture."

"The Word of God dwells in our hearts when it rules in the soul, when it directs our thoughts, affections and conversations, so that we dare not do anything contrary thereunto. but we shall be checked. Who shall get out that which God's finger has written in our hearts? No fire nor faggot, no temptation whatever."

"There are four things observable in the nature of love; first, an esteem of the party beloved, secondly a desire to be joined to him, thirdly a settled contentment, fourthly a desire to please the party in all things."

"There are in the world many of the poor who yet are exceeding proud, but God sanctifies outward poverty to His children so that it promotes true poverty of spirit. As they are poor, so they have a mean esteem of themselves; it makes them inwardly more humble and more tractable to God's government. Therefore when we are under any cross let us observe how it works, see whether we join with God or not. When He afflicts us outwardly, whether inwardly we be more humble. When He humbles us and makes us poor, whether we become also poor in spirit. When God designs to humble us we should labor through grace to abase ourselves and mortify pride."

"There are many that will give some way to divine truths, but they have a reservation of some sin? Some sin has got the dominion over their affections, but conscience says, "I warn thee against this sin," and then that hatred which should be turned upon the sin is turned upon the Word and the minister. Some vermin when they are driven to a stand will fly in a man's face, so these men, when they see they must yield, grow malicious, so that what they will not follow, that they will reproach. Therefore it should be our care at all times to yield obedience according to what we know of the divine will."

"There are many things to hinder the grace of waiting. There is a great deal of tedious time and many crosses to meet with, such as the scorn and reproach of this world, and many other trials. God seems also to do nothing less than to perform His promise; but let us comfort ourselves that He waits to do them good that wait upon Him."

"There are none that in sincerity do frequently promote holy conference but are great gainers thereby. Many men ask questions and are inquisitive to know, but not that they might put into practice. This is but a proud desire to taste of the tree of knowledge? We gain much oftentimes by discourse with those that are young in religion. Paul desires to meet with the Romans though they were his converts, that he might himself be strengthened and comforted by their mutual faith. "That is, that I may be comforted together with you, by the mutual faith both of you and me" (Rom. 1:12)."