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And it is a mercy to have so near a friend to be a helper to your soul; to join with you in prayer and other holy exercises; to watch over you and tell you of your sins and dangers, and to stir up in you the grace of God, and remember to you of the life to come, and cheerfully accompany you in the ways of holiness.Richard Baxter,A Christian Directoiy: or, Sum ofPractical7heology, and Cases of Conscience, 11.1 (7he Practical Works of the Rev. Richard Baxter [London: James Duncan, 1830], IV, 30).
Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?
With this nature or corrupt inclination, we are all now born into the world, for "who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" As a lion hath a fierce and cruel nature before it doth devour, and as an adder hath a venomous nature before she stings, so in our very infancy we have those sinful natures and inclinations before we think or speak or do amiss. And hence springs all the sin of our lives.
It is a palpable error in those ministers who make such a disproportion between their preaching and their living that they will study hard to preach accurately and study little or not at all to live accurately. They are loath to misplace a word in their sermons, but they make nothing of misplacing their affections, words, or actions in the course of their lives.
He bears you the greatest malice who are engaged to do him the greatest mischief. He has found, by experience, that to "smite the shepherd" is the most effectual means to "scatter the flock." You therefore shall have his most subtle insinuations, incessant solicitations, and violent assaults. Reformed Pastor
I know not how it is with other persons, but the most reverent preacher who speaks as if he saw the face of God does more affect my heart, though with common words, than an irreverent man with the most accurate preparations, though he bawl it out with ever so much seeming earnestness. If reverence be not equal to fervency, it has but little effect. Of all preaching in the world, I hate that most which tends to make the hearers laugh or to affect their minds with such levity as stage plays do instead of affecting them with a holy reverence of the name of God.
Hear, if possible, that minister that first feels what he speaks and so speaks what he feels, as tends most to make you feel.
Conceive of this duty of praising God according to its superlative excellencies as being the highest service that the tongue of men or angels can perform. To bless or praise or magnify God is not to make Him greater or better or happier than He is, but to declare and extol His greatness, goodness, and felicity. Practical Works
Use sin, as it will use you. Spare it not, for it will not spare you. It is your murderer and the murderer of the world; use it therefore as a murderer should be used. Kill it before it kills you, and then though it kill your bodies, it shall not be able to kill your souls. And though it bring you to the grave, as it did your head, it shall not be able to keep you there.
Engage thyself in the cheerful, constant use of the means and helps appointed by God for thy confirmation and salvation. He can never expect to attain the end that will not be persuaded to use the means. Of yourselves you can do nothing. God giveth His help by the means which He hath appointed and fitted to your help.
Love is the commander of the soul, and therefore God knows that if He has our hearts, He has all, for all the rest are at His command; for it is, as it were, the nature of the will, which is the commanding faculty, and its object is the ultimate end which is the commanding object. Love sets the mind on thinking, the tongue on speaking, the hands on working, the feet on going, and every faculty obeys its command.
Remember that as it is Christ's work to teach, it is yours to hear and read and study and pray and practice what you hear. Do your part, then, if you expect the benefit. You come not to the school of Christ to be idle. Knowledge drops not into the sleepy dreamer's mouth. Dig for it, as for silver, and search for it in the Scriptures as for a hidden treasure.
How often have I heard a common drunkard, with tears, cry out against himself for his sin and yet go on in it? And how many gracious persons have I known whose judgments and wills have been groundedly resolved for God and holiness, and their lives have been holy, fruitful, and obedient, and yet could not shed a tear for sin nor feel any great sorrows or joys? If you judge of a man by his earnestness in some good moods and not by the constant tenor of his life, you will think many a hypocrite to be better than most saints.
Heaven is a state of perfect holiness and of a continual love and praise to God, and the wicked have no heart to this. The imperfect love and praise and holiness which are here to be attained they have no mind of, much less of that which is so much greater. The joys of heaven are of so pure and spiritual a nature that the heart of the wicked cannot desire them.
Friendship must be cemented by piety. A wicked man can be no true friend.
How often have I found that human friendship is a sweet addition to our woe, a beloved calamity, an affliction which nature will not be without! Not because nature loves evil nor is wholly deceived in its choice, for there is good in friendship and delight in holy love, but because the good which is here accompanied with so much evil is the beginning of a more high and durable friendship and points us to the blessed society and converse which we shall have with Christ in the heavenly Jerusalem.
Love God in His saints and delightfully converse with Christ in them while thou hast opportunity. But remember thou livest not upon them or on their love, but upon God. And therefore desire their company but for His; and if thou hast His, be content if thou hast not theirs. He wants not man that enjoys God.
A Christian in the holy assemblies and in his reading, learning, prayer, conference is laying up for everlasting, when the worldling in the market, in the field, or shop is making provision for a few days or hours. Thou gloriest in thy riches and preeminence now, but how long wilt thou do so?
In melancholy distempers, especially when there is guilt on the soul, we can find no comfort in wife, children, friends, estate, etc. It is a pitiful state when body, soul, and conscience all are distempered, but even now let a Christian look to God's nature and promises. Though he cannot live by sight, yet let him live much by faith.
If melancholy be the cause of the sadness of thy thoughts, then physics and exercise may be requisite for thy body (to remove and prevent the cause thereof) as well as cheerful exercitation for the mind. Melancholy is Satan's chariot in which he rides and triumphs over sadthinking souls.
There are times of desertion when graces are not visible. In darkness we can neither see black nor white. In times of great dejection and discouragement, the work of a Christian is not to try, but believe: "Let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God" (Isa. 50:10). It is most seasonable to encourage the soul to acts of faith and to reflect upon the absolute promises rather than conditional. The absolute promises were intended by God as attractives and encouragements to such distressed souls. There is a time when the soul is apt to slumber and to be surprised with a careless security; then it is good to awake it by a serious trial. To a close carnal spirit an absolute promise is as poison; to a dejected spirit, as cheering wine. When the soul lies under fear and sense of guilt, it is unable to judge; therefore, examination only increases the trouble. But again, when the heart is drowsy and careless, trial is most seasonable, and it is best to reflect upon the conditional promises, that we may look after the qualifications expressed in them ere we take comfort.
Melancholy is a dark and dusky humor which disturbs both soul and body, and the cure of it belongs rather to the physician than to the divine. It is a most pestilent humor where it abounds; one calls it the devil's bath. It is a humor that unfits a man for all sorts of services, but especially those that concern his soul, his spiritual estate, his everlasting condition. The melancholy person tires the physician, grieves the minister, wounds relations, and makes sport for the devil. There are five sorts of persons that the devil makes his ass to ride in triumph upon— namely, the ignorant person, the unbelieving person, the proud person, the hypocritical person, and the melancholy person. Melancholy is a disease that works strange passions, strange imaginations, and strange conclusions. It unmans a man; it makes a man call good evil and evil good, sweet bitter and bitter sweet, light darkness and darkness light. The distemper of the body oftentimes causeth distemper of the soul, for the soul follows the temper of the body. Cabinet of Choice Jewels
Usually other causes go before this disease of melancholy (except in some bodies naturally prone to it), and therefore before I speak of the cure of it, I will briefly touch them. And one of the most common causes is sinful impatience, discontents and cares proceeding from a sinful love of some bodily interest and from a want of sufficient submission to the will of God, and trust in Him, and taking heaven for a satisfying portion. I must necessarily use all these words to show the true nature of this complicated disease of souls. The "ands" tell you that it is a conjunction of many sins, which in themselves are of no small malignity; and were they the predominant bent and habit of heart and life, they would be the signs of a graceless state. But while they are hated and overcome not grace, but our heavenly portion is more esteemed, chosen, and sought than earthly prosperity, the mercy of God through Christ doth pardon it and will at last deliver us from all.
Rightly understand what delight in God it is that you must seek and exercise. It is not a mere sensitive delight, which is exercised about the objects of sense or fancy and is common to beasts with men; nor is it the delights of immediate intuition of God, such as the blessed have in heaven; nor is it an enthusiastic delight, consisting in irrational raptures and joys, of which we can give no account of the reason. Nor is it a delight inconsistent with sorrow and fear, when they are duties; but it is the solid, rational complacency of the soul in God and holiness, arising from the apprehensions of that in Him, which is justly delectable to us. And it is such as, in estimation of its object and inward complacency and gladness though not in passionate joy or mirth, must excel our delight in temporal pleasure and must be the end of all our humiliations and other inferior duties.
Diligently labor, that God and holiness may be thy chief delight. And this holy delight may be the ordinary temperament of thy religion.
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1. Thomas Watson (193)
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3. J.C. Ryle (117)
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5. John Calvin (107)
6. J.I. Packer (95)
7. John Flavel (95)
8. William Gurnall (91)
9. George Swinnock (88)
10. John Piper (87)
11. John Owen (74)
12. Thomas Manton (70)
13. A.W. Pink (68)
14. Louis Berkhof (63)
15. C.S. Lewis (59)
16. B.B. Warfield (59)
17. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (58)
18. R.C. Sproul (55)
19. Matthew Henry (54)
20. Samuel Rutherford (53)
2. Charles Spurgeon (135)
3. J.C. Ryle (117)
4. Thomas Brooks (110)
5. John Calvin (107)
6. J.I. Packer (95)
7. John Flavel (95)
8. William Gurnall (91)
9. George Swinnock (88)
10. John Piper (87)
11. John Owen (74)
12. Thomas Manton (70)
13. A.W. Pink (68)
14. Louis Berkhof (63)
15. C.S. Lewis (59)
16. B.B. Warfield (59)
17. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (58)
18. R.C. Sproul (55)
19. Matthew Henry (54)
20. Samuel Rutherford (53)
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1. Sin (240)2. Prayer (186)
3. Scripture (166)
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5. Preaching (130)
6. Gospel (112)
7. The Law (111)
8. Suffering (99)
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11. Church (85)
12. Christ (82)
13. Grace (74)
14. Justification (63)
15. Law (61)
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17. Death (52)
18. Love (51)
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21. Children (46)
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24. Obedience (45)
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