All Proclaim in Glowing Language

What do not they lose, who are strangers to serious meditation on the wonders and beauties of created nature! How gloriously the God of creation shines in his works! Not a tree, or leaf, or flower; not a bird, or insect, but proclaims in glowing language, "God made me."

 

Taken from the tract The Diary Man's Daughter by Rev Legh Richmond found in the book The Publications of the American Tract Society  Tracts are from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries

Confession Must be Voluntary - Thomas Watson

Confession must be voluntary. It must come as water out of a spring, freely.

 

The confession of the wicked is extorted, like the confession of a man upon a rack. When a spark of God's wrath flies into their conscience, or they are in fear of death, then they will fall to their confessions. Balaam, when he saw the angels' naked sword, could say, 'I have sinned' (Numbers 22:34).

 

But true confession drops from the lips as myrrh from the tree or honey from the comb, freely. 'I have sinned against heaven, and before thee' (Luke 15:18): the prodigal charged himself with sin before his father changed him with it.

 

Taken from the book The Doctrine of Repentance by Thomas Watson 1668

 

 

It Sets us Above the Reach of Injuries - Jonathan Edwards

Love to God disposes us meekly to bear injuries from others, because it sets us very much above the injuries of men. …It sets above the reach of injuries from others, because nothing can ever really hurt those that are the true friends of God. Their life is hid with Christ in God; and he, as their protector and friend, will carry them on high as on the wings of eagles ; and all things shall work together for their good (Rom. viii. 28); and none shall be permitted really to harm them, while they are followers of that which is good (1 Pet. iii. 13).

 

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

 

My Chief Desire - JC Ryle

My chief desire in all my writings, is to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and make Him beautiful and glorious in the eyes of men; and to promote the increase of repentance, faith, and holiness upon earth.

 

JC Ryle 1816-1900

Sound Forth the Praises of the Most High - Charles Spurgeon

Psalm 145 is called "David's Psalm of praise," and you will see that all through it he is inflamed by a strong desire that God may be greatly magnified. Hence he uses a variety of expressions, and repeats himself in his holy vehemence. Run your eye down the psalm and notice such words as these: "I will extol thee"; "I will bless thy name"; "Every day will I bless thee"; "I will praise thy name forever and ever"; "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised"; "One generation shall praise thy works, to another"; "I will speak of the glorious' honor of thy majesty; "Men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts," and other words of like import, down to the last verse': "My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever."

 

David is not content with declaring that Jehovah is worthy of praise, or with pleading that his praise ought to be felt in the heart, but he will have it publicly spoken of, openly declared, plainly uttered, and joyfully proclaimed in song. The inspired Psalmist, moved by the Holy Ghost, calls upon all flesh, yea, and upon all the works of God to sound forth the praises of the Most High. Will we not heartily respond to the call?

 

Taken from the Book Spurgeon on Praise Charles Spurgeon 1834-1892

Most of All - DL Moody

A man ought to live so that everybody knows he is a Christian... and most of all, his family ought to know.

Dwight L. Moody 1837-1899

Jesus had Only Three Years - James Stalker

Jesus had only three years to accomplish His life-work. If we remember how quickly three years in an ordinary life pass away, and how little at their close there usually is to show for them, we shall see what must have been the size and quality of life, which in so marvelously short a time made such a deep and ineffaceable impression on the world and left to mankind such a heritage of truth and influence.

Taken From the book The Life of Jesus Christ by James Stalker 1880

I Pray for Christ Being Formed in Me - Thomas Chalmers

My God, in the confidence of Thy power would I pray for Christ being formed in me - that He may dispossess the legion of evil thoughts and imaginations within me. Pluck this thorn out of my flesh; or, if Thou wilt not eradicate, may Thy grace enable me to check those vile affections which war against my soul.

Taken from the book Sabbath Scripture Readings II
By Thomas Chalmers 1780-1847

Come, Thou Fount of Ev’ry Blessing - Robert Robinson

During his early teen years, Robert Robinson lived in London, where he mixed with a notorious gang of hoodlums and led a life of debauchery. At the age of 17 he attended a meeting where the noted evangelist George Whitefield was preaching. Robinson went for the purpose of "scoffing at those poor, deluded Methodists" and ended up professing faith in Christ as his Savior.

 

Soon he felt called to preach the gospel and subsequently became the pastor of a rather large Baptist church in Cambridge, England. Despite his young age, Robinson became known as an able minister and scholar, writing various theological books as well as several hymns, including these words written when he was just 23 years of age:

Come, Thou Fount of ev'ry blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace; streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above; praise the mount—I'm fixed upon it—mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer—hither by Thy help I'm come; and I hope by Thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger wand'ring from the fold of God; He to rescue me from danger interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be! Let Thy goodness like a fetter bind my wand'ring heart to Thee: Prone to wander—Lord, I feel it—prone to leave the God I love; here's my heart—O take and seal it; Seal it for Thy courts above.

 

Robert Robinson, 1735–1790

Taken from Kenneth W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace : 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications, 1990), 343.

 

God Must Perform the Work - Charles Spurgeon

God must perform the work, or else it never will be performed. Along the road from sin to heaven, from the first leaving of the swine-trough right up to the joyful entrance into the banquet, and the music and dancing of glorified spirits, every step we must be enabled to take by divine grace. Every good thing that is in a Christian, not merely begins, but progresses and is consummated by the fostering grace of God, through Jesus Christ.

 

If my finger were on the golden latch of paradise, and my foot were on its jasper threshold, I should not take the last step so as to enter heaven unless the grace which brought me so far should enable me full and fairly to complete my pilgrimage. Salvation is God's work, not man's.

 

Charles Spurgeon 1834-1892

 

Most Important Time of my Day - Andrew Murray

The most important and profitable time of my whole day is the time I spend with God.

Taken from the book 199 Treasures of Wisdom on Talking with God: Compiled from the Writings of Andrew Murray -Andrew Murray 1828-1917

Even Then he Prayed - William Bridge

Oh, you reply, but there lies my grief, for I have not kept His commandments, and God, I fear, is displeased and angry with me.

 

Be it so, and did Jonah keep His commandments, when he fled to Tarshish? And was not God angry with him when He threw him into the sea? Yet even then he prayed, and the Lord heard his prayer.

 

Taken from the book A Lifting Up For The Downcast by William Bridge 1649

 

Though the Sickness be Continued - Matthew Henry

 They presented the sick man to Christ, and he said, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee (Luke 5:20), that is the blessing thou art most to prize and seek; for if thy sins be forgiven thee, though the sickness be continued, it is in mercy; if they be not, though the sickness be removed, it is in wrath.

 

Taken from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible by Matthew Henry 1662-1714

 

Our Lord's First Obedience - Oswald Chambers

Our Lord's first obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of men: his obedience brought the outcome of the saving of men. If I am devoted to the cause of humanity only, I will soon be exhausted and come to the place where my love will falter; but if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity though men treat me as a doormat.

 

Oswald Chambers 1874-1917

 

Here, O Lord You Have Placed Us - T.C. Upton

It is a fatal mistake to suppose that we cannot be holy except on the condition of a situation and circumstances in life such as shall suit us. It is one of the first principles of holiness to leave our times and our place, our going out and our coming in, our wasted and our goodly heritage entirely with the Lord.

Here, O Lord you have placed us, and we will glorify you here.

 

T.C. Upton 1799-1872

 

There Was a Day When I Died - George Mueller

There was a day when I died, utterly died- died to George Mueller, his opinions, preferences, tastes, and will! - died to the world, its approval or censure - died to the approval or blame even of my brethren or friend, - and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God.

 

George Mueller 1805-1898

 

Let Me do Nothing Today Without - John Wesley

Let me do nothing today without calmness of soul.

 

John Wesley 1703-1791

 

Without Great Assaults and Trails it Cannot be Understood - Martin Luther

Martin Luther's wife, Kate, said, "I would never have known the meaning of various Psalms, come to appreciate certain difficulties or known the inner workings of the soul; I would never have understood the practice of the Christian life and work, if God had never brought afflictions to my life."

 

Martin Luther went one step further, saying, "Oh! His grace and goodness toward us is so immeasurably great, that without great assaults and trails it cannot be understood."

 

Martin Luther 1483-1546

Katherina Luther 1499-1552