Ephesians Contains Six Chapters and not Four - JC Ryle

I would say it with all reverence, but say it I must - I sometimes fear if Christ were on earth now, there are not a few who would think His preaching legal; and if Paul were writing his Epistles, there are those who would think he had better not write the latter part of most of them as he did.

 

But let us remember that the Lord Jesus did speak the Sermon on the Mount, and that the Epistle to the Ephesians, contains six chapters and not four. I grieve to feel obliged to speak in this way, but I am sure there is a cause.

 

Taken from the book Holiness by JC Ryle 1879

 

And So Turn - Charles Spurgeon

Have your heart right with Christ, and He will visit you often, and so turn weekdays into Sundays, meals into sacraments, homes into temples and earth into heaven.

 

Charles Spurgeon 1834-1892

The Fruits of Faith

Good works are the fruits of faith; and if faith be true, it always works by love.

 

 

Taken from the tract The One Thing Needful, from the book The Publications of the American Tract Society

Tracts are from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries

 

Sunshine to my Heart - Frederick Faber

How you can think so well of us,

And be the God you are,

Is darkness to my intellect,

But sunshine to my heart.

Frederick Faber 1874

 

It is no Place to Trifle - Ichabod Spencer

 Familiar expressions about the Deity are always utterly inappropriate and untasteful. Awe becomes us - solemn reverence before Him …Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, the ground whereon thou standest is holy ground (Ex 3:5). It is no place to trifle, by the burning bush!

 

Taken from the book Doctrinal Sermons by Ichabod Spencer 1798-1854

 

The Only Safe Directions for Inquiring Sinners - Ichabod Spencer

The directions of God's word are the only safe directions for inquiring sinners. The more accurately we see their hearts the more appropriately we may bring Scripture truths to bear upon them. In this perception of their state and this application of divine truth consists the skill of anyone who would guide them to Christ.

Taken from the book A Pastor's Sketches by Ichabod Spencer 1798-1854

 

The Lord Cannot Forget You - Robert Murray McCheyne

"Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:20

The Lord cannot forget you. If you stood before God in your own righteousness, then I see how you might be separated from His love and care. But you stand before Him in Christ, and Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. You will be held in everlasting remembrance. The world may forget you, your friends may forget you; this is a forgetting world. You may not have a tombstone over your grave, but God will not forget you.

Taken from the book The Best of Robert Murray McCheyne

Robert Murray McCheyne 1813-1843

 

Man Must Pray - EM Bounds

Man must pray to God if love for God is to exist. Faith, hope, patience, and all the strong, vital forces of piety are withered and dead in a prayerless life. The blessings to the individual believer have their being, bloom, and fruitfulness in prayer.

 

Taken from the book The Best of EM Bounds EM Bounds 1835-1913

 

When we Love Christ - St. Augustine

Now this is the law of Christ, that we carry one another's burdens mutually. When we love Christ, it is easy to put up with the weakness of others, even when we do not yet love them for their good qualities.

 

Taken from the writings of St. Augustine 354 - 430 from the book Augustine Day by Day

If the Very Cat and Dog in the House - Hudson Taylor

A candle that won't shine in one room is very unlikely to shine in another. If you do not shine at home, if your father and mother, your sister and brother, if the very cat and dog in the house are not the better and happier for your being a Christian, it is a question whether you really are one.

 

Hudson Taylor 1832-1905

One Act of Obedience - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons.

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1906-1945

The Word Preached - Thomas Watson

A godly man loves the Word preached, which is a commentary upon the word written. The Scriptures are the sovereign oils and balsams; the preaching of the word is the pouring of them out. The Scriptures are the precious spices; the preaching of the Word is the beating of these spices, which causes a wonderful fragrance and delight. The Word preached is 'the rod of God's strength' (Psalm 110:2) and 'the breath of his lips' (Isaiah 11:4).

 

Taken from the book The Godly Man's Picture by Thomas Watson 1666

The Way to get Sinners to Christ - Charles Spurgeon

True lovers of men's souls learn the art of dealing with them, and the Holy Spirit makes them expert soul-surgeons for Jesus. It is not because a man has more abilities, nor altogether because he has more grace, but the Lord makes him to love the souls of men intensely, and this imparts a secret skill, since, for the most part, the way to get sinners to Christ is to love them to Christ.

Taken from the book The Soul Winner By Charles Spurgeon 1834-1892

Faith Does Not Fear Famine - Thomas Watson

Faith does not question that God will provide, though it sees not which way provisions should come in. ('Fides famem non formidat') Faith does not fear famine.

 

Taken from the book The Lords Supper by Thomas Watson 1665

The First Sign of Life - JC Ryle

All the children of God on earth are alike in this respect. From the moment there is any life and reality about their religion, they pray. Just as the first sign of life in an infant when born into the world is the act of breathing, so the first act of men and women when they are born again is praying.

Taken from the book A Call to Prayer by JC Ryle 1816-1900

A King Seeks - Andrew Murray

A king seeks in the whole education of his son to develop in him a kingly spirit. Our Father in heaven desires to educate us as His children for the holy, heavenly life in which He dwells. For this he gives us, from the depths of His heart, His own Spirit. This was Jesus' whole aim when, after having made atonement with His own blood, He entered into God's presence to obtain for us, and send down to dwell in us, the Holy Spirit.

 

Taken from the book Teach Me To Pray by Andrew Murray 1828-1917

 

 

When God Hath Called me to a Place - John Cotton

When God hath called me to a place, he hath given me some gifts for that place.

John Cotton 1585-1652

 

We Spread our Nets - Cotton Mather

In our occupation we spread our nets;

but it is God who brings unto our nets all that comes into them.

 

Cotton Mather 1585–1652

 

 

If You Act Contrary to Those Rules - Benjamin Wadsworth

Be sure to set a good example before your children... Other methods of instruction probably will not do much good, if you don't teach them by a godly example. Don't think your children will mind the good rules you give them if you act contrary to those rules yourselves... If your counsels are good, and your examples evil, your children will be more like to be hurt by the latter, than benefited by the former.

 

Benjamin Wadsworth 1670-1737

 

The Best Knowledge - Thomas Manton

That is best which endeth in practice.

The hearer's life is the preacher's best commendation.

 

Thomas Manton 1620-1677

 

 

The Objects from Which we Turn - Joseph Alleine

The objects from which we turn in conversion are, sin, Satan, the world, and our own righteousness.

 

Taken from the book A Sure Guide to Heaven by Joseph Alleine 1671

Nobody ever outgrows scripture - Charles Spurgeon

Nobody ever outgrows scripture. The Book widens and deepens with our years.

 

Charles Spurgeon     1834-1892  

The Great Thing About Faith in God

The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance.

Taken from the book The Quotable Oswald Chambers
Oswald Chambers 1874-1917

The Christian is the Man Who - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Christian is the man who no longer seeks his salvation, his deliverance, his justification in himself, but in Jesus Christ alone. He knows that God's Word in Jesus Christ pronounces him guilty, even when he does not feel his guilt, and God's Word in Jesus Christ pronounces him not guilty and righteous, even when he does not feel that he is righteous at all. The Christian no longer lives of himself, by his own claims and his own justification, but by God's claims and God's justification.

 

Taken from the book Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1939

His Humanity had no Need to Die - Charles Spurgeon

Our Lord Jesus, the Ever Living, the Immortal, the Eternal, became  man, "and being found in the fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and [died] …the death of the cross"(Phil 2:8)

That death was not on His own account. His humanity had no need to die. He might have lived on and have seen no death, if He had so willed. He had committed no offense, no sin, and, therefore, no punishment could fall upon Him.

Every pang upon the cross was substitutionary; for you, the sons of men, the Prince of Glory bled, "the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18).

Taken from the book God Loves You by Charles Spurgeon 1834-1892

Fear May Suppress Sin - Samuel Bolton

Fear may suppress sin, though faith alone conquers and overcomes sin.

 

Taken from the book The True Bounds of Christian Freedom 

by Samuel Bolton 1645

Knowing him as Father - Ralph Venning

Knowing him as Father brings us more love and joy than knowing him as our God.

(2 Corinthians 6:16-18, Hebrews 1:5)

 

Taken from the book Learning in Christ's School by Ralph Venning 1675

We Heard Only Because - Oswald Chambers

When we pray relying on the Holy Spirit, He will always bring us back to this one point: we are not heard because we are in earnest, or because we need to be heard, or because we will perish if not heard; we are heard only on the ground of the Atonement of the Lord. (Hebrews 10:19)

 

Taken from the book If You Will Ask by Oswald Chambers 1874-1917

The Very Soul of True Faith - Jonathan Edwards

The working, active, and acting nature of anything, is the life of it; and that which makes us call a thing alive, is, that we observe an active nature in it.

 

This active, working nature in man is the spirit which he has within him. And as his body without this spirit is, dead, so faith without works is dead also.

 

And if we would know what the working active thing in true faith is, the apostle tells us in Gal. v. 6, "Faith worketh by love." So that it is love which is the active working spirit in all true faith. This is its very soul, without which it is dead.

 

Taken from the book Charity and its Fruits by Jonathan Edwards 1668–1759

Embrace every Method God has Recommended - American Tract Society

Embrace every method God has recommended for maintaining communion with him, and obtaining relief from him: the various ordinances of his house, the encouragements of his word, the society of his children, and especially prayer. Often speak to Him who "seeth in secret," "and is nigh unto all that call upon him," though, with the woman of Canaan, you can only say, "Lord, help me."

 

Taken from the tract House of Mourning from the book The Publications of the American Tract Society,

Tracts are from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries

The Worst of all Pride - Ichabod Spencer

Spiritual pride is the worst of all pride, if it is not the worst snare of the devil.

The heart is peculiarly deceitful just on this thing, pride.

 

 

Taken from the book A Pastor's Sketches by Ichabod Spencer 1798-1854

 

The Strength of the Conflict lies Between

Whatever our trials are, the strength of the conflict lies between faith and unbelief.

 

Quoted in the Book

Light at Evening Time - A Book of Support and Comfort for the Aged

Your Choice of Friends - JC Ryle

Never make an intimate friend of anyone who is not a friend of God. Understand me, I do not speak of acquaintances. I do not mean that you ought to have nothing to do with anyone but true Christians. To take such a line is neither possible nor desirable in this world. Christianity requires no man to be discourteous.

But I do advise you to be very careful in your choice of friends. Do not open all your heart to a man merely because he is clever, agreeable, good-natured, and kind. These things are all very well in their way, but they are not everything. Never be satisfied with the friendship of anyone who will not be useful to your soul.

Believe me, the importance of this advice cannot be overrated. There is no telling the harm that is done by associating with godless companions and friends. The devil has few better helps in ruining a man's soul…. You may resist many open temptations, refuse many plain snares; but once you take up a bad companion, he is content. That awful chapter, which describes Amnon's wicked conduct about Tamar, almost begins with these words, "Now Amnon had a friend, a very shrewd man" (2 Samuel 13:3). JC Ryle

Taken from the book Thoughts for Young Men by JC Ryle 1886

 

                            

The Furnace, the Hammer, and the File - C. H. Spurgeon

Rev Dr D. A. Doudney,                                                  Menton, Dec. 5, 1890

Venerated Friend,

It made my heart leap for joy when I read in your note that you had liberty in prayer for me. I am recovering. I can hold the pen, as you see. My hand was puffed up, and, in consequence, like all puffed up things, useless; but it is coming to its true form, and I am rallying from the weakness which follows great pain.

 

 

Of a surety, it is well. I praise God with all my heart for the furnace, the hammer, and the file. May he bless to you the infirmities of years, and carry you ever in his bosom!

 

Your Loving, grateful friend,

 

C. H. Spurgeon

 

Taken from the book Letters of Charles Haddon Spurgeon Charles Spurgeon 1834-1892

 

The paths of Wisdom - Matthew Henry

The paths of wisdom are not like walks in the garden, which we make use of for diversion only, and an amusement; but like tracks in a great road, which we press forward in with care and pains, as a traveler in his journey, till we come to journey's end.

 

 

Taken from the book The Pleasantness of a Religious Life by Matthew Henry 1714

 

It is a Shameful Thing - Brother Lawrence

We should establish ourselves in a sense of God's presence by continually conversing with Him. (It is) a shameful thing to quit His conversation to think of trifles and fooleries.

 

 

Taken from the book The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence 1614-1691

 

The Beginning of Warfare - John Owen

To labour to be acquainted with the ways, wiles, methods, advantages and occasions of (sins) success, is the beginning of warfare. So do men deal with enemies. They inquire out their counsels and designs, ponder their ends, consider how and by what means they have formerly prevailed, that they may get the start of them.

 

Taken from the book The Mortification of Sin by John Owen 1656

 

 

When Religion is in a State of Quiet and Prosperity - William Wilberforce

Christianity especially has always thrived under persecution. For at such times it has no lukewarm professors. The Christian is then reminded that his Master's kingdom is not of this world. When all on earth looks black, he looks up to heaven for consolation. Then he sees himself as a pilgrim and a stranger. For it is then as in the hour of death that he will examine well his foundations and cleave to the fundamentals.

 

But when religion is in a state of quiet and prosperity, the opposite effect tends to take place. The soldiers of the church militant will then tend to forget they are at war. Their ardor slackens and their zeal languishes. John Owen has made an apt comparison: Religion in a state of prosperity is like a colony that is long settled in a strange country. It is gradually assimilated in feature, demeanor, and language to the native inhabitants, until at length every vestige of its distinctiveness has died away

 

Taken from the book Real Christianity by William Wilberforce 1797

 

 

Where is God - John Arrowsmith

A heathen philosopher once asked: "Where is God?"

The Christian answered: "Let me first ask you, where is He not?"

 

John Arrowsmith 1602-1659

A Carnal Heart, A gracious Heart - Jeremiah Burroughs

A carnal heart thinks, I must have my wants made up or else it is impossible that I should be content. But a gracious heart says, 'What is the duty of the circumstances God has put me into?"

 

 

Taken from the book The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment
By Jeremiah Burroughs 1648