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.
But the divine dayspring from on high is adored, Christ the Lord, who is our sun and shield; the sun of every blessing, asserting the glory of religion; the shield of the most safe protection, affording an invincible and inexpugnable guard to liberty.
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.
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.
We are weak, but we are His; we are deformed, but yet carry His image upon us. A father looks not so much at the blemishes of his child as at his own nature in him; so Christ finds matter of love from that which is His own in us. He sees His own nature in us. We are diseased, but yet His members. Whoever neglected his own members because they were sick or weak? None ever hated his own flesh. Can the head forget the members? Can Christ forget Himself? We are His fullness, as He is ours. Bruised Reed, 107
If we knew the glory of our elder Brother in heaven, we should long to be there to see Him. We children think the earth a fair garden, but compared with the garden of the Lord it is but wild, cold, barren ground. All things are fading that are here; it is our happiness to make sure of Christ.
If you win Christ, though not in the sweet and pleasant way you would have Him, it is enough. For the Well Beloved comes not our way; He must choose His way Himself. He cuts off your love to the creature that you might learn that God only is the right owner of your love, sorrow, loss, sadness, death, or the worst things that are.
O that the heaven, and the heaven of heavens were paper, and the sea ink, and the multitude of mountains pens of brass, and I able to write my dearest, my loveliest, my sweetest, my matchless, and my most unequaled and marvelous Well Beloved! Woe is me, I cannot set Him out to men and angels! I am put to my wit's end how to get His name made great. How sweet is Christ's back! O, what there is in His face! Those that see His face, how are they able to get their eye plucked off Him again!Garden of Spices, 41
Christ's sitting down at God's right hand in heaven notes the advancement of Christ's human nature to the highest honor, even to be the object of adoration to angels and men. For it is properly His human nature that is the subject of all this honor and advancement, and being advanced to the right hand of Majesty, it is become an object of worship and adoration. Not simply as it is flesh and blood, but as it is personally united to the second person and enthroned in the supreme glory of heaven. Oh, here is the mystery, that flesh and blood should ever be advanced to the highest throne of Majesty, and being there installed in that glory, we may now direct our worship to him as God man. Fountain of Life, 420
Oh! Christ's riches are so many, they cannot be numbered; they are so precious, they cannot be valued; so great, they cannot be measured. Oh, the infinite riches of our King! Christ is a mine of gold which we must dig till we find heaven.Christ\'s Famous Titles, 51
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
For I have been in my preaching, especially when I have been engaged in the doctrine of life by Christ without works, as if an angel of God had stood at my back to encourage me. Oh! It hath been with such power and heavenly evidence on my own soul while I have been laboring to unfold it, to demonstrate it, and to fasten on the consciences of others that I could not be contented with saying, "I believe and am sure"; I thought I was more than sure (if it is lawful to express myself) that those things which then I asserted were true.