Great Throughts Treasury

"When the soul desires the forgiveness of sin and not grace to lead a new life, that desire is hypocritical, for a true Christian desires power against sin as well as pardon for it. If we have not sanctifying grace we have not pardoning grace. Christ came by water to regenerate as well as by blood to justify. It should therefore be our continual care and endeavor to grow and increase in grace, because without it we shall never get to heaven; without this endeavor our sacrifices are not accepted; without this, we cannot withstand our enemies nor bear any cross. Without it we cannot go on comfortably in our course. Without this we cannot do anything acceptable and pleasing to God."

"When the truth of grace is wrought in a Christian, his desires go beyond his strength, and his prayers are answerable to his desires. Whereupon it is that young Christians often call their state in question because they cannot bring heaven upon earth, because they cannot be perfect, but God will have us depend upon Him for increase of grace in a daily expectation."

"When the Word dwells as a familiar friend in the heart to direct, counsel and comfort us, then it is a sign it abides there. The devil knows good and hates it, therefore knowledge alone is nothing; but when the promise alters the temper of the heart itself, then it is engrafted there."

"When thou art disappointed with men, retire to God and to his promises; and build upon this, that the Lord will not be wanting in anything to do thee good."

"When we are young carnal delight leads us, and when we are old covetousness drowns us, so that if our knowledge be not spiritual we shall never hold out; and the reason why at the hour of death so many despair is because they had knowledge without the Spirit."

"When we come to be religious, we lose not our pleasure, but transform it; perhaps before we fed upon profane authors, now we feed upon holy truths. A Christian never knows what comfort is in religion till he comes to say with Augustine, "Lord, I have long lacked the true manna, all my former food was nothing but husks.""

"When we come to be religious, we lose not our pleasure, but translate it. Before we fed on common notions, but now we live on holy truths."

"When we love things baser than ourselves it is like a clear stream that runs into a sink. As our love therefore is the best thing we have, and none deserves it more than God, so let Him have our love, yea the strength of our love, that we may love Him with all our souls and with all our mind and with all our strength."

"When we pray God oftentimes refuses to give us comfort because we are not on good terms with Him; therefore we should still look back to our past life. Perhaps God sees you running to this or that sin, and before He will hear you, you must renew your repentance for that sin, for our nature is such that it will knock at every door and seek every corner before we will come to God? so that God will not hear before we forsake all helps and all false dependence upon the creature, and then He gets the greatest glory and we have the greatest sweetness to our souls. That water which comes from the fountain is the sweetest, and so divine comfort is the sweetest when we see nothing in the creature, and God is the best discerner of the fittest time to bestow His own consolations."

"When we receive any good to our souls or to our bodies, whoever is the instrument, let us look to the Principal; as in the gifts we receive, we look not to him that brings but to him who sent them."

"When we shoot an arrow, we look to the fall of it; when we send a ship to sea, we look for its return; and when we sow seed, we look for a harvest; so likewise when we sow our prayers, through Christ, in God's bosom, shall we not look for an answer and observe how we speed? It is a seed of atheism to pray and not to look how we speed. But a sincere Christian will pray and wait, and strengthen his heart with promises out of the Word, and never leave praying and looking up till God gives him a gracious answer."

"Where the Spirit dwells largely in any man, there is boldness in God's cause, a contempt of the world. He can do all things through Christ that strengthens him; his mind is content and settled. He can bear with the infirmities of others and not be offended (for it is the weak in the Spirit that are offended); he is ready in his desires to say, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." But where corruption bears too much sway there is, "O stay a little that I may recover my strength;" that is, "Stay awhile that I may repent;" for the soul in the present frame is not fit to appear before God, but where the Spirit dwells in grace and divine comforts."

"Wicked men depart out of this world like malefactors that are unwilling to go out of prison, but God's children when they die, they die in obedience... To be in the body is a good condition because we live by faith, but it is better to be with the Lord because then we shall live by sight."

"With our contemplation let us join this kind of reasoning; God so hated pride that He became humbled to the death of the cross to redeem us from it, and shall we be proud? When we are stirred up to revenge, consider that Christ prayed for His enemies; when we are tempted to disobedience, think God in our nature was obedient unto death; and shall we stand upon terms? And when we grow hard-hearted, consider Christ became Man that He might show bowels of mercy; let us reason thus when we are tempted to any sin, and it will be a means to transform us."