Part 1
Copyright © Monergism Books
Smooth Stones Taken From
Ancient Brooks
by Thomas Brooks
ed. by Rev. C. H. Spurgeon
BEING A COLLECTION OF SENTENCES, ILLUSTRATIONS, AND
QUAINT SAYINGS, FROM THE WORKS OF THAT
RENOWNED PURITAN, THOMAS BROOKS.
NEW YORK:
SHELDON & COMPANY, 115 NASSAU STREET.
BOSTON: GOULD & LINCOLN.
Prof. A. P. PEABODY f 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Memoir
Quotes 01-100
Quotes 101-200
Quotes 201-300
Quotes 301-400
Quotes 401-500
Quotes 501-600
Quotes 601-700
Quotes 701-800
Quotes 801-902
PREFACE.
As a writer, Brooks scatters stars with both his hands: he hath dust of gold; in his storehouse are all manner of precious stones. Genius is always marvelous; but when sanctified it is matchless. The ringing of the bells of the sanctuary is sweeter than the music of the house of feasting. Had Brooks been a worldly man, his writings would have been most valuable; but since he was an eminent Christian, they are doubly so. He had the eagle eye of faith, as well as the eagle wing of imagination. He saw similes, metaphors, and allegories everywhere; but they were all consecrated to his Master's service: his heart indited the good matter, for he spake of the things which he had made touching the King.
Reader, thou hast here presented to thee, in a cheap and readable form, the choice sayings of one of the King's mighties. The great divine who wrote these precious sentences was of the race of the giants. He was head and shoulders above all the people, not in his stature (like Saul), but in mind, and soul, and grace. Treasure these gems, and adorn thyself with them, by putting them into the golden setting of holy practice, which is the end the writer always aimed at. Use these "smooth stones" as David of old, and may the Lord direct
them to the very forehead of thy sins, for this is the author's main design!
One of these pithy extracts may assist our meditations for a whole day, and may open up some sweet passage of Scripture to our understandings, and perhaps some brief sentence may stick in the sinner's conscience, like an arrow from the bow of God.
So prays the servant of Christ and His Church,
C. H. Spurgeon.
MEMOIR.
Mr. Thomas Brooks was a very affecting preacher, and useful to many. Though he used many homely phrases, and sometimes too familiar resemblances, which to nice critics might appear ridiculous, he did more good to souls than many who deliver the most exact compositions. And let the wits of the age pass what censures they please, "he that winneth souls is wise." Mr. Brooks had been for some time preacher at St. Thomas Apostle, and about the year 1651 was chosen by the majority of the parishioners of St. Mary Magdalen. Gathering a church there in the congregational way, the rest of the parish preferred a petition against him to the committee of ministers, and he published a defense against their charges. He died September 27th, 1680. His friend, Mr. Reeve, preached his funeral sermon and succeeded him.
Mr. Baxter makes especial mention of Mr. Brooks, amongst those independent ministers who opened their meetings more publicly than before, after the fire of London. His farewell address to his people (which has no text) appears to have been published by himself. It is peculiarly adapted for usefulness. We shall therefore here introduce a full analysis of it, and the rather, as the account of
Mr. Brooks is so brief. It will give the reader a more just idea of the man than anything that could be said of him. He first answers three queries, viz.,
1. Why men make such opposition to the plain, powerful, conscientious preaching of the gospel?
2. What goes from a people when the, gospel goes? Answer: Peace, prosperity, safety, civil liberty, true glory, and soul-happiness, the presence of God. (2 Chronicles 13:9; 15:3, 5, 6; 1 Samuel 4:22; Jeremiah 2:11-13.)
3. Whether God will remove the gospel from England? Many reasons to hope the contrary. There may be a darkness upon it, but when it is darkest it is nearest day.
He then proceeds to give his people some hints of advice, which he calls legacies, hoping they might be of use to them in the perusal when he had not the advantage of speaking to them in public.
1. Secure your interest in Christ. This is not a time for a man to be between hopes and fears. Take not up with an outward form, crying, "The Temple of the Lord."
2. Make Christ and Scripture the only foundation for your souls, and for faith to build upon.
3. In all places and companies, be sure to carry your soulpreservatives with you, (a holy care and wisdom), as men carry outward preservatives with them in infectious times.
4. See that all your graces, your faith, love, courage, zeal, resolution, magnanimity, rise higher by opposition, threatenings, and sufferings. Say as David, if this be vile, I will be more vile.
5. Take more pains to keep yourselves from sin than from suffering. (Acts 2:40; Revelations 3:4.)
6. Be always doing or receiving good. This will make your lives comfortable, your deaths happy, and your account glorious in the great day of the Lord.
7. Set the highest examples of grace and godliness before you for imitation. Next to that of Christ, the pattern of the choicest saints. For faith, Abraham; for courage, Joshua; for uprightness, Job; for meekness, Moses, &c.
8. Hold fast your integrity. Let all go rather than let that go. (Job 27:5, 6.)
9. Let not a day pass without calling the whole man to an exact account. Hands.—What have you done for God to day? Tongue.— What have you spoke? &c.
10. Labor for a healing spirit. Away with all discriminating names that may hinder the applying of balm to heal our wounds. Discord and division become no Christian. For Wolves to worry the lambs is no wonder, but for one lamb to worry another is unnatural and monstrous.
11. Be most in the spiritual exercises of religion, meditation, selfexamination, Bodily exercises without these will profit nothing.
12. Take no truths upon trust, but all upon trial. Bring all to the balance of the sanctuary. (1 Thessalonians 5:21; Acts 17:11.) It was the glory of that church that they would not trust Paul himself.
13. The fewer opportunities and the lesser advantages you have in public, the more abundantly address yourselves to God in private. (Malachi 3:16, 17.)
14. Walk in those ways that are directly contrary to the vain, sinful, superstitious ways that men of a formal, carnal, lukewarm spirit walk in.
15. Look upon all the things of this world as you will when you come to die. Men may now put a mask upon them, but then they will appear in their own colors.
16. Never put off conscience with any plea that you dare not stand by in the great day of your account.
17. Eye more the internal workings of God in your souls, than the external providences of God. If God should carry on ever so glorious a work in the world as the conquest of nations to Christ, what would it advantage thee if sin, Satan, and the world triumph in thy soul?
18. Look as well on the bright as well as on the dark side of Providence.
19. Keep up precious thoughts of God, under his sharpest and severest dispensations to you.
20. Hold on and hold out in the ways of well-doing in the want of all outward discouragements. (Revelations 2:10.) Follow ye the Lamb, though others follow the beast and the false prophet.
21. In all your natural, civil, and religious actions, let divine glory rest upon your souls; let the glory of Christ lie nearest your hearts.
22. Record all special favors, mercies, providences, and experiences. Little do you know the advantages that will redound to your souls upon this.
23. Never enter upon the trial of your (spiritual) estate, but when your hearts are in the fittest temper.
24. Always make the Scripture, and not your carnal reason, or your bare opinion (or that of others) the rule by which to judge of your spiritual condition. (Isaiah 8:20; John 12:48.)
25. Make conscience of making good the terms on which you closed with Christ, viz., that you would deny yourselves, take up the cross, &c.
26. Walk by no rule but such as you dare die by, and stand by in the day of Jesus Christ. Walk not with the multitude. Make not the example of great men your rule, that stands in opposition to Jesus Christ. Who dare stand by either of these before him at the great day?
27. Lastly. Sit down and rejoice with fear. Rejoice in what God hath done for your souls by the everlasting gospel. Weep that you have done no more to improve it, and that you have so neglected the opportunities of enriching your souls. Here are your legacies. The Lord make them of singular use to you, that you may give up your account to the great and glorious God with joy. Make conscience of putting these things into practice till you shall be brought to the fruition of God, where you shall need ordinances, preaching, and praying no more.
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 disparisons: being blind at home, and too quicksighted 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, 14; 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 houseroom, 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" (Psalm 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" (Canticles, 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.
Quotes 101-200
101. Earthly riches are called thorns, and well they may be; for, as thorns, they pierce both head and heart; the head with cares in getting them, and the heart with grief in parting with them.
102. Things satisfy as they suit. There is a good, and there is a suitable good; now it is only the suitable good that satisfies the soul of a man. A pardon is most suitable to a condemned man, and, therefore it best satisfies him. Health is most suitable to the sick, and therefore it satisfies when it is attained. As bread satisfies the hungry soul, and drink the thirsty soul, and clothing the naked soul, so do the precious gifts that Christ bestows upon the soul satisfy the soul.
103. There was a holy man that rarely heard of other men's crimson sins, but he usually bedewed the place with his tears, considering
that the seeds of those very sins were in his own nature. In thy nature thou hast that which would lead thee, with the Pharisees, to oppose Christ, and, with Judas, to betray Christ; and, with Pilate, to condemn Christ; and, with the soldiers, to crucify Christ. Oh! what a monster wouldst thou prove, should God but leave thee to act suitably to that sinful and woful nature of thine.
104. "We walk by faith and not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). Christians, you must remember that it is one thing for God to love you, and another thing for God to tell you that he loves you. Your happiness lies in the first, your comfort in the second. God has stopped his ears against the prayers of many a precious soul whom he has dearly loved. And, verily, he who ' makes sense and carnal reason a judge of his condition, will be happy and miserable, blessed and cursed, saved and lost, many times in a day, yea, in an hour.
105. Luther says, "When my heart is coldest and highest, I present God to my soul under the notions of his greatness; but when my heart is loose and fearing, then I present God to my soul under the notion of his goodness.
106. Jesus Christ has the greatest worth and wealth in him. As the worth and value of many pieces of silver is in one piece of gold, so all the heavenly excellencies that are scattered abroad in angels and men are united in Christ; yea, all the whole volume of perfection, which is spread through heaven and earth, is epitomised in Christ.
107. The altar under the law was hollow, to receive the fire, the wood, and the sacrifice; so the hearts of men under the Gospel must be humble, empty of all spiritual pride and self-conceitedness, that so they may receive the fire of the Spirit, and Jesus Christ, who offered himself a sacrifice for our sins.
108. There is no way to avoid perishing by Christ's iron rod, but by kissing his golden scepter.
109. Christ did not die all at once upon the cross, but by little and little: to show us that his death should extend to the slaying of sin gradually in the souls of the saints.
110. Satan is so artificial, so subtle and critical, that he can make our very graces to serve him against our graces; conquering joy by joy, sorrow by sorrow, humility by humility, fear by fear, love by love, if we do not look upon all our graces as streams flowing from the fountain above, and as fruits growing upon the tree of life that is in the midst of the Paradise of God. Therefore when one eye is fixed upon our graces, let the other be always fixed upon the God of grace.
111. A humble heart is an aspiring heart. It cannot be contented to get up some rounds in Jacob's ladder, but it must get to the very top of the ladder, to the very top of holiness. Verily, heaven is for that man, and that man is for heaven, who sets up for his mark the perfection of holiness.
112. Some say that roses grow the sweeter when they are planted by garlic. Verily, Christians who have gloriously improved their graces, are like those roses; they grow sweeter and sweeter, holier and holier, by wicked men. The best diamonds shine most in the dark, and so do the best Christians shine most in the worst times.
113. No knowledge humbles and abases like that which is inward and experimental. It is a sad thing to be often eating of the tree of knowledge, but never to taste of the tree of life. As the sun is necessary to the world, the eye to the body, the pilot to the ship, the general to the army; so is experimental knowledge to the humbling of a soul.
114. In heaven there are no prayers, but all praises. I am apt to think that there cannot be a clearer nor a greater argument of a man's right to heaven and ripeness for heaven, than this—being much in the work of heaven here on earth. There is no grace but love, and no duty but thankfulness, that goes with us to heaven.
115. Many saints have had their hearts warmed and heated by sitting near other saints' fires, by eyeing and dwelling upon other saints' graces. When men's graces shine as Moses' face did— when their lives, as one speaks of Joseph's life, is a very heaven, sparkling with variety of virtues as with so many bright stars—ah! how are others stirred up to glorify God, and to cry out, "These are Christians indeed; these are an honor to their God, a crown to their Christ, and a credit to their gospel."
116. Sin and grace are like two buckets at a well— when one is up, the other is down; they are like the two laurels at Rome—when one flourishes, the other withers. Certainly, the readiest and the surest way to bring under the power of sin, is to be much in the exercise of grace.
117. Of all the graces that be in the soul of man, faith is the most useful grace; and therefore above all, labor to be rich in faith. It is a Christian's right eye, without which he cannot look for Christ; it is his right hand, without which he cannot do for Christ; it is his tongue, without which he cannot speak for Christ; it is his vital spirits, without which he cannot act for Christ.
118. Count Anhalt, that princely preacher, was wont to say, "that the whole Scriptures were the swaddling bands of the child Jesus, he being to be found almost in every page, in every verse, in every line."
119. The only way to avoid cannon-shot is to fall down. No such way to be freed from temptations as to keep low.
120. He that escapes reprehension, may suspect his adoption. God had one Son without corruption, but no son without correction.
121. There is no such way to get much grace, as to be thankful for a little grace. He who opens his mouth wide in praises, shall have his heart filled with graces. Ingratitude stops the ear of God, and shuts the hand of God, and turns away the heart of the God of grace; and therefore we had need to be thankful for a little grace.
122. Satan's greatest plot is to weaken the faith of Christians. "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not" (Luke 22:31, 32). Satan has an aching tooth at thy faith; his design is upon that; he will labor might and main to weaken that, to frustrate that; and therefore I have prayed that thy faith fail not.
123. As a poor man lives and deals upon the credits of others, so does a humble soul live and deal with God, for the strengthening of every grace, and for the supply of every mercy upon the credit of the Lord Jesus. He knows that since he broke with God in innocency, God will trust him no more, he will take his word no more; and therefore when he goes to God for mercy, he brings his Benjamin, his Jesus, in his arms, and pleads for mercy upon the account of Jesus.
124. Some Christians as are like to Pharaoh's lean kine, reproach three at once—God, the Gospel, and their teachers; and this age is full of such Christians.
125. Pride sets a man in opposition against God. Other sins are aversions from God, but this sin is a coming against God. In other sins a man flies from God, but in this sin a man flies upon God. "God resisteth the proud" (James 4:6).
126. No saint so like a sinner, as a weak saint.
127. None are such objects of scorn and envy, as those who have most of Christ within. Envy does ever ascend: it never descends.
128. None so much in the school of temptation as those who are most rich in grace. There are none who are such blocks, such mountains in Satan's way, as these; none do him that mischief as these; none are so active and so resolute in their oppositions against him, as these; and therefore none so assaulted and tempted as these.
129. Whatever gift of God in man brings him within the compass of God's promise of eternal mercy, that gift must be an infallible
evidence of salvation and happiness.
130. A real sense of our own unworthiness renders us most fit for divine mercy. This objection, "I am unworthy," is an unworthy objection, and speaks out much pride and ignorance of the Gospel, and of the freeness and riches of God's grace.
131. Carnal reason is an enemy to faith: it is ever crossing and contradicting it. It will never be well with thee, Christian, so long as thou art swayed by carnal reason, and reliest more upon thy five senses, than upon the four Evangelists. As the body lives by breathing, so the soul lives by believing.
132. Though grace is a glorious creature, it is but a creature, and therefore must be upheld by its Creator. Though grace be a beautiful child, yet it is but a child, that must be upheld by the father's arms. This, Christians, you must remember, and give glory to God.
133. Luther confesses that, before his conversion, he met not with a more displeasing word, in all the study of divinity, than the word repent, but after the Lord had converted him, and manifested himself to him, he delighted in this word; then he could sorrow for his sins, and rejoice in his sorrow.
134. The number of difficulties makes the Christian's conquest the more illustrious. A gracious man should be made up all of fire, overcoming and consuming all opposition, as fire does the stubble. All difficulties should be but whetstones to his fortitude.
135. A humble soul is quick-sighted: he sees the rod in a father's hand; he sees honey upon the top of every twig; and so can bless God; he sees sugar at the bottom of the bitterest cup that God doth put into his hands; he knows that God's house of correction is a school of instruction; and so he can sit down and bless when the rod is upon his back.
136. Such as have made a considerable improvement of their gifts and graces, have hearts as large as their heads; whereas most men's heads have outgrown their hearts.
137. A Christian should be like the lamp in the story, that never went out. Were it not for the sun, it would be perpetual night in the world, notwithstanding all starlight, and torchlight, and moonlight. It is not the torchlight of natural parts and creature comforts, nor the starlight of civil honesty and common gifts, nor yet the moonlight of temporary faith and formal profession, that can make day in the soul, till the Sun of Righteousness arise and shine upon it.
138. "What a shame is it," says Hierome, "that faith should not be able to do that which infidelity has done!" What, not better fruit in the vineyard, in the garden of God, than in the wilderness? What, not better fruit grow upon the tree of life, than upon the root of nature?
139. Everything that a man leans upon but God, will be a dart that will certainly pierce his heart through and through. He who leans only upon Christ, lives the highest, choicest, safest, and sweetest life.
140. Luther would often say he had rather that all his books should be burnt, than that they should be a means to hinder persons from studying the Scripture.
141. Everyone should strive to be like to them in grace whom they desire to be equal with in glory. He that shoots at the sun, though he be far short, will shoot higher than he who aims at a shrub. It is best, and it speaks out much of Christ within, to eye the highest and the worthiest examples.
142. It is a proof that a man is grown higher when he can reach higher than he could before; so it is an argument that a soul is grown rich in grace when it can reach beyond what formerly it could reach unto; when in duty, it can reach above duty; when in an ordinance, it can reach to Christ above the ordinance; when under enlargements, it can reach above enlargements to Jesus Christ.
143. Anselm used to say that if he should see the shame of sin on the one hand and the pains of hell on the other, and must of necessity choose one, he would rather be thrust into hell without sin than go into heaven with sin; so great was his hatred and detestation of sin.
144. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him" (Zechariah 12:10). All Gospel mourning flows from believing; they shall first look, and then mourn. All who know anything, know this, that u Whatever is not of faith, is sin." Till men have faith in Christ, their best services are but. glorious sins.
145. Corruption in the heart, when it breaks forth, is like a breach in the sea, which begins in a narrow passage, till it eats through and casts down all before it. The debates of the soul are quick and soon ended, and that may be done in a moment which may undo a man forever.
146. "In everything give thanks" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). The language of a humble soul is, If it be thy will that I should be in darkness, I will bless thee ; and if it be thy will that I should be again in light, I will bless thee; if thou wilt comfort me, I will bless thee, and if thou wilt afflict me, I will bless thee; if thou wilt make me poor, I will bless thee; if thou wilt make me rich, I will bless thee; if thou wilt give me the least mercy, I will bless thee; if thou wilt give me no mercy, I will bless thee.
147. God is most angry when he shows no anger. God keep us from this mercy. This kind of mercy is worse than all other kind of misery.
148. Thoughts are the first-born, the blossoms of the soul, the beginning of our strength, whether for good or evil, and they are the greatest evidences for or against a man that can be.
149. The senate of Rome accounted it a diminution of Augustus Caesar's dignity to join any consuls with him for the better carrying on of the affairs of the state. Oh! but our God does not think it a
diminution of his dignity that even his poor despised servants should be fellow-laborers and co-workers with him in the salvation of souls.
150. Humility cannot find three things on this side heaven: it cannot find fullness in the creature, or sweetness in sin, or life in an ordinance without Christ; but it always finds these three things on this side heaven: the soul to be empty, Christ to be full, and every mercy and duty to be sweet wherein Christ is enjoyed.
151. Afflictions are called by some "the mother of virtue." Manasseh's chain was more profitable to him than his crown. Luther could not understand some Scriptures till he was in affliction.
152. No vessels that God delights so much to fill as broken vessels, contrite spirits. "He resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble" (James 4:6). The silver dews flow down from the mountains to the lowest valleys. A humble soul that lies low, oh, what sights of God has he I what glory does he behold, when the proud soul sees nothing! * He that is in the low pits and caves of the earth sees the stars in the firmament, when they who are upon the tops of the mountains discern them not.
153. A Christian's graces are but Christ's picture, Christ's image, and, therefore, do not you worship his image, and, in the meanwhile, neglect his person. Make much of his picture, but make more of himself; let his picture have your eye, but let himself have your heart.
154. "I know not," says one, "whether the maintenance of the least sin be not worse than the commission of the greatest; for this may be of frailty, that argues obstinacy. One little miscarriage in the eyes of the world overshadows all a Christian's graces, as one cloud sometimes overshadows the whole body of the sun.
155. Our hearts carry the greatest stroke in every sin. Satan can never undo a man without himself; but a man may easily undo himself without Satan.
156. The most holy men are always the most humble men; none so humble on earth as those that live highest in heaven.
157. Mr. Fox used to say that, as he got much good by his sins, so he got much hurt by his graces.
158. Christians, remember this, that your strength to stand and overcome must not be expected from graces received, but from the fresh and renewed influences of heaven. You must lean more upon Christ than upon your duties; you must lean more upon Christ than upon spiritual tastes and discoveries; you must lean more upon Christ than upon your graces; or else Satan will lead you into captivity.
159. "Nor quench the smoking flax" (Matthew 12:20). The wick of a candle is little worth, and yet less when it smokes, yielding neither light nor heat, but rather offends with an ill smell, which men cannot bear, but will tread it out. But the Lord Jesus Christ will not do so. Souls whose knowledge, love, faith, and zeal, do but smoke out, the Lord Jesus will not trample under foot; nay, he will cherish, nourish, and strengthen such to life eternal.
160. If all Christians should be rich in all graces, what difference would there be between heaven and earth? what need would there be of ordinances? and when would Christians long to be dissolved, and to be with Christ?
161. "Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as I also am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12), Christians know but little of what they should know; they know but little of what they might know; they know but little of what others know; they know but little of what they desire to know; they know but little of what they shall know, when they shall come to know even as they are known; and these weak and imperfect glimpses that they have of God and heaven here, are infallible pledges of that perfect knowledge and full prospect which they shall have of God and heaven hereafter. That little spark of joy is
an earnest of those everlasting delights which shall be theirs when all sorrow and mourning shall flee away; and those sips of comfort are but foretastes of that river of everlasting pleasures which is at God's right hand.
162. Some degree of comfort follows every good action; as heat accompanies fire; as beams and influences issue from the sun.
163. Guilt or grief is all that gracious souls get by communion with vain souls.
164. "It is with tRuth" said Melancthon, "as it is with holy water, every one praises it, and thinks it has some rare virtue in it; but offer to sprinkle them with it, and they will shut their eyes, and turn away their faces from it."
165. Sometimes grace in a rugged, unhewn nature is like a gold ring on a leprous hand, or a diamond set in iron, or a jewel in a swine's snout.
166. The stars which have least circuit are nearest the pole; and men who are least perplexed with business, are commonly nearest to God.
167. Christ was born in an inn, to show that he receives all comers; his garments were divided into four parts, to show that out of what parts of the world soever we come, we shall be received.
168. He that fights against Satan, in the strength of his own resolutions, constitution, or education, will certainly fly and fall before him: Satan will be too hard for such a soul, and lead him captive at his pleasure. The only way to stand, conquer, and triumph, is still to plead, it is written, as Christ did. There is no sword, but the twoedged sword of the Spirit, that will be found to be mettle of proof, when a soul comes to engage against Satan.
169. Hard weather tries what health we have; afflictions try what sap we have, what grace we have. Withered leaves soon fall off in windy
weather; rotten boughs quickly break: with heavy weights.
170. It is said of Caesar, that he had greater care of his books than of his royal robes: for swimming through the water to escape his enemies, he carried his books in his hand above the water, but lost his robes. What are Caesar's books to God's book?
171. Faith cannot be lost, but assurance may; therefore assurance is not faith. Though assurance is a precious flower in the garden of a saint, and is more infinitely sweet and delightful to the soul than all outward comforts and contents, yet it is but a flower that is subject to fade, and to lose its freshness and beauty, as saints by sad experience find.
172. Let your souls dwell upon the vanity of all things here below, till your hearts are so thoroughly convinced and persuaded of their vanity of them, as to trample upon them, and make them a footstool for Christ to get up and ride in a holy triumph in your hearts.
173. When men have poor, low, light, slight, thoughts of God in their drawing near to God, they tempt the devil to bestir himself, and to cast in a multitude of vain thoughts to disturb and distract the soul in its waiting on God.
174. It was a saying of Austin, u He that willingly takes from my good name, unwillingly adds to my reward."
175. The less the temptation is to sin, the greater is that sin. Little sins carry with them but little temptation to sin, and then a man shows most viciousness and unkindness when he sins on a little temptation.
176. The best men's souls in this life hang between the flesh and the spirit, as it' were, like Mohammed's tomb at Mecca, between two lode stones; like Erasmus, as the papists paint him, between heaven and hell; like the tribe of Manasseh, half on this side Jordan, in the land of the Amorites, and half on that side in the holy land; yet in the
issue they shall overcome the flesh, and trample upon the necks of their spiritual enemies.
177. He that turns not from every sin, turns not aright from any one sin.
178. The flowers smell sweetest after a shower; vines bear the better for bleeding; the walnut tree is most fruitful when most beaten; so saints spring and thrive most internally when they are most externally afflicted.
179. Bodia had a story concerning a great rebel who had made a strong party against a Roman emperor. The emperor makes proclamation that whoever could bring the rebel, dead or alive, he should have a great sum of money. The rebel hearing of this, comes and presents himself before the emperor, and demands the sum of money. "Now," says the emperor, "if I should put him to death, the world would say I did it to save my money." Ah, sinners, shall a heathen do this who had but a drop of mercy and compassion in him; and will not Christ do much more, who has all fullness of grace, mercy and glory in himself? Surely his bowels do yearn toward the worst of rebels.
180. When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of an orator, what the second, and what the third, he answered, "Action." The same may I say if any should ask me what is the first, the second, the third part of a Christian, I must answer, "Action." Luther says that "he had rather obey than work miracles." Obedience is better than sacrifice.
181. He that, to avoid a greater sin, will yield to a lesser, ten thousand to one but God, in justice, will leave that soul to fall into a greater. If we commit one sin to avoid another, it is just we should avoid neither, we having not law nor power in our own hands to keep off sin as we please; and we, by yielding to the less, do tempt the tempter to tempt us to the great.
182. As the water lifted up Noah's ark nearer heaven, and as all the stones that were about Stephen's ears did but knock him the closer to Christ, the corner stone, so all the strange, rugged providences that we meet with shall raise us nearer heaven and knock us nearer to Christ, that precious corner stone.
183. Luther reports of Staupicius, a German minister, that he acknowledged himself that before he came to understand aright the free and powerful grace of God that he vowed and resolved a hundred times against some particular sin, and never could get power over it; at last he saw the reason to be his trusting to his own resolutions ; therefore be skillful in the word of righteousness, and in the actings of faith upon Christ and his victory, and that crown of glory that is set before you, and Satan will certainly fly from you.
184. Satan works most strongly on the fancy when the soul is drowsy. The soul's security is Satan's opportunity to fall upon the soul and to spoil the soul, as Joshua did the men of Ai.
185. You may as soon fill a bag with wisdom, a chest with virtue, or a circle with a triangle, as the heart of man with anything here below. A man may have enough of the world to sink him, but he can never have enough to satisfy him.
186. Socrates said of his enemies, "They may kill me, but they cannot hurt me," So afflictions may kill us, but they cannot hurt us; they may take away my life, but they cannot take away my God, my Christ, my crown.
187. What is the reason that the angels in heaven have not so much as an idle thought? It is because they are filled with the fullness of God. Take it for an experienced tRuth the more the soul is filled with the fullness of God, and enriched with spiritual and heavenly things, the less room there is in that soul for vain thoughts. The fuller the vessel is of wine, the less room there is for water.
188. God is like a prince that sends not his army against rebels before he has sent his pardon, and proclaimed it by a herald of arms. He first hangs out the white flag of mercy; if this wins men in, they are happy for ever; but if they stand out, then God will put forth his red flag of justice and judgment. If the one is despised, the other shall be felt with a witness.
189. "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils" (Mark 16:9). Jansenius says, "It is very observable that our Saviour, after the resurrection, first appeared to Mary Magdalene and Peter who had been grievous sinners, in order that even the worst of sinners may be comforted and encouraged to come to Christ, to believe in Christ, to rest and stay their souls upon Christ, for mercy here and glory hereafter.