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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).
We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship.
A slothful spirit is an impediment to a heavenly life, and I verily think there is nothing hinders it more than this in men of a good understanding. If it were only the exercise of the body, the moving of the lips, the bending of the knee, men would as commonly step to heaven as they go to visit a friend. But to separate our thoughts and affections from the world, to draw forth all our graces and increase each in its proper object, and to hold them to it till the work prospers in our hands—this, this is the difficulty.
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.
He can be no true friend to thee that is a friend to thy faults, and thou canst be no friend to thyself if thou be an enemy to him that tells thee of thy faults. Wilt thou like him the worse that would have thee be better?
Dead stones in an arch uphold one another, and shall not living? It is the work of an angel to comfort—nay, it is the office of the Holy Ghost to be a comforter not only immediately but by breathing comfort into our hearts together with the comfortable words of others. Thus, one friend becomes an angel—nay, a God to another, and there is a sweet sight of God in the face of a friend.
True friendship and acquaintance stands not in bare words and complemental visits, but in real communication of offices and benefits. So here, converse and acquaintance with God stands in our improving God and our interest in Him, so as to acquaint Him with all our secrets, so as to impart unto Him all our griefs and fears, so as to rely upon Him to guide us in all our ways and to supply all our wants. This [very thing] God looks we should do and takes it unkindly when we do otherwise, as a true friend that is willing and able to help his friend takes it unkindly if he go to any other, thinks himself either distrusted or slighted, and it is almost a matter of falling out between them.
True friendship will value a great advantage of another's before a small one of our own.
A true friend is not born every day. It is best to be courteous to all; entire with few. So may we, perhaps, have less cause of joy—I am sure, less occasion of sorrow.
Man is made to be a friend, and apt for friendly offices. He that is not friendly is not worthy to have a friend; and he that has a friend and does not show himself friendly is not worthy to be accounted a man. Friendship is a kind of life, without which there is no comfort of a man's life. Christian friendship ties such a knot that great Alexander cannot cut. Summer friends I value not, but winter friends are worth their weight in gold.
A sincere Christian prays his friends to search him, and he prays soul-searching ministers to search him; but, above all, he begs hard of God to search him: "Search me, O God."
A true friend is neither known in prosperity nor hid in adversity.
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.
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1. Thomas Watson (195)
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. Richard Baxter (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. Richard Baxter (53)
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1. Sin (240)2. Prayer (186)
3. Scripture (166)
4. Faith (134)
5. Preaching (130)
6. Gospel (112)
7. The Law (111)
8. Suffering (99)
9. Salvation (94)
10. Sabbath (91)
11. Church (85)
12. Christ (82)
13. Grace (74)
14. Justification (63)
15. Law (61)
16. Truth (53)
17. Death (52)
18. Love (51)
19. Holiness (49)
20. Sanctification (48)
21. Children (46)
22. Pride (46)
23. Heaven (45)
24. Obedience (45)
25. Creation (43)
26. Theology (43)