Oh, the remembrance of my great sins, of my great temptations, and of my great fears of perishing forever! They bring afresh into my mind the remembrance of my great help, my great support from Heaven, and the great grace that God extended to such a wretch as I. Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
It is profitable for Christians to be often calling to mind the very beginnings of grace with their souls.Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (Authentic Original Classic) (Kindle Locations 71-72). Destiny Image. Kindle Edition.
The man who does not know the nature of the law cannot know the nature of sin. And he who does not know the nature of sin cannot know the nature of the Saviour.
The spirit, or soul, or life of Antichrist, is that spirit of error, that wicked, that mystery of iniquity, that under colour and pretence of verity, draweth men from truth to falsehood. The body or flesh of Antichrist, is that heap of men, that assembly of the wicked, that synagogue of Satan that is acted and governed by that spirit.
the point on which Scriptures specially insist is that which tends most to our comfort, and to the confirmation of our faith, namely, that angels are the ministers and dispensers of the divine bounty toward us... we are told how they watch for our safety, how they undertake our defense, direct our path, and take heed that no evil befall us.Institutes, Book 1 Chapter 14
Make the Lord's Day the market for thy soul. Let the whole day be spent in prayer, repetitions, or meditations. Lay aside the affairs of the other parts of the week. Let the sermon thou hast heard be converted into prayer. Shall God allow thee six days, and wilt not thou afford Him one?
A believer is to do nothing for justification, only believe and be saved; though the law be a rule for everyone that believes to walk by, it is not for justification. But if you do not put a difference between justification wrought by the man Christ without and sanctification wrought by the Spirit of Christ within, teaching believers their duty to their God for His love in giving Christ, you are not able to divide the word aright; but contrariwise, you corrupt the word of God and cast stumbling blocks before the people and will certainly one day most deeply smart for your folly, except you repent.
concerning the spiritual state of his family; he ought to be very diligent and cautious, doing his utmost both to increase faith where it is begun, and to begin it where it is not.
God is the chief good—good so as nothing is but Himself. He is in Himself most happy. Yea, all good and all true happiness are only to be found in God, as that which is essential to His nature, nor is there any good or any happiness in or with any creature or thing but what is communicated to it by God. God is the only desirable good; nothing without Him is worthy of our hearts. Right thoughts of God are able to ravish the heart. How much more happy is the man that has interest in God. God alone is able by Himself to put the soul into a more blessed, comfortable, and happy condition than can the whole world—yea, and more than if all the created happiness of all the angels of heaven did dwell in one man's bosom. I cannot tell what to say. I am drowned. The life, the glory, the blessedness, the soulsatisfying goodness that is in God are beyond all expression.
God's presence is renewing, transforming, seasoning, sanctifying, commanding, sweetening, and lightening to the soul. Nothing like it in all the world. His presence supplies all wants, heals all maladies, saves from all dangers—is life in death, heaven in hell, all in all.
Forgiveness is according to the riches of God's grace, wherein He has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Grace can continue to pardon, favor, and save—from falls, in falls, and out of falls. Grace can comfort, relieve, and help those that have hurt themselves; and grace can bring the unworthy to glory. This the law cannot do; this man cannot do; this angels cannot do; this God cannot do, but only by the riches of His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
When a man shall not only design me a purse of gold but shall venture his life to bring it to me, this is grace indeed. But, alas, what are a thousand such short comparisons to the unsearchable love of Christ? Riches, 103
Christ was never so joyful in all His life that we read of as when His sufferings grew near. Then He takes the sacrament of His body and blood into His own hands and with thanksgiving bestows it among His disciples. Then He sings a hymn, then He rejoices, then He comes with a "God, I come." O the heart—the great heart—that Jesus had for us to do us good! He did it with all the desire of His soul. Riches, 103
The angels are called ministering spirits; they are willing to minister for the good of the saints. Hence some observe, it is said, Lazarus was carried by the angels, in the plural, not by one angel— as if the angels had been ambitious to carry Lazarus and every one strived that should have a part. Discourses, 1:36
Where the Scripture hath no tongue we need not have ears, but must content ourselves with a learned ignorance, lest we fall into the sin of those angel worshipers (Col. 2:18).
Angels are exact and careful observers and eyewitnesses of our behavior and deportment in the public ordinances. To this end were the curtains of the tabernacle pictured: full of cherubim to signify that about our solemn meetings, whole troops of angels take notice of our behavior. Surely, if this were considered, we should be very serious in God's worship. Yea, how spiritual and heavenly should we be if our hearts were but fixed on these glorious angels?Communion with Angels, 100
Nevertheless we must take heed here lest, contrary to the nature of true religion, we attribute too much to angels. We must take heed that we not worship them; that we not call upon them, nor serve them. Indeed, when men hear that angels are given to them by God as ministers, and that God does good to us by them, they later think that some honour is to be ascribed and given to them. But sincere religion teaches us to acknowledge God as the author of all good things; that the angels are the ministers of God, and instruments as it were, by whom God works — just as we see the sun, the moon, and the stars, the patriarchs, the prophets, and the apostles, to be and to have been.The Decades, https://www.monergism.com/decades-ebook
we must further see what manner of creatures angels are: they are heavenly spirits, and incorruptible and most swift substances. The Decades, https://www.monergism.com/decades-ebook