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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).
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 freedom from all evil both of sin and suffering, so that a name in heaven entitles us to a blessed redemption from all evil. There is no sin there. Grace weakens sin, but it is glory that abolishes it. Old Adam shall there be put off, never be put on again. The Lord Christ will present His church in that day, "faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24). There is no affliction there. Sin and sorrow came in together, and they shall go out together.
How can they look for heaven when they die that thought it not worth their minding while they lived?
The saints in heaven shall be like the angels in their alacrity, love, and constancy to serve God; and the damned, like the devils in sin as well as punishment.
You may go to heaven without health, without wealth, without honor, without pleasure, without friends, without learning, but you can never go to heaven without Christ.
Afflictions make heaven appear as heaven indeed. To the weary, it is rest. To the banished, home. To the scorned and reproached, glory. To the captive, liberty. To the soldier, conquest; and to the conqueror, it is a crown of life, of righteousness and of glory. To the hungry, it is hidden manna. To the thirsty, the fountain of life. To the grieved, fullness of joy. And to the mourner, pleasures forevermore. In a word, to them that have lain upon the dunghill and kept their integrity, it is a throne on which they shall sit and reign with Christ forever and ever.
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?
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.
Judge not of so great a cause in a time of melancholy, when fears and confusions make you unfit. But in such a case as that, as also whenever Satan would disturb your settled faith or tempt you at his pleasure to be still new questioning resolved cases and discerned truths, abhor his suggestions and give them no entertainment in your thoughts, but cast them back into the tempter's face. There is not one melancholy person of a multitude but is violently assaulted with temptations to blasphemy and unbelief when they have but half the use of reason and no composedness of mind to debate such controversies with the devil. It is not fit for them in this incapacity to hearken to any of those suggestions which draw them to dispute the foundations of their faith, but to cast them away with resolute abhorrence.
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.
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1. Thomas Watson (196)
2. Charles Spurgeon (135)
3. J.C. Ryle (117)
4. Thomas Brooks (113)
5. John Calvin (107)
6. J.I. Packer (95)
7. John Flavel (95)
8. William Gurnall (92)
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 (113)
5. John Calvin (107)
6. J.I. Packer (95)
7. John Flavel (95)
8. William Gurnall (92)
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 (241)2. Prayer (186)
3. Scripture (166)
4. Faith (134)
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)
19. Holiness (49)
20. Sanctification (48)
21. Children (46)
22. Pride (46)
23. Heaven (45)
24. Obedience (45)
25. Creation (43)
26. Theology (43)