435 quotes
Thomas Watson Quotes
The sharpest, most searching lines from Thomas Watson, drawn straight from the Puritan Paperbacks. Filter by theme, or browse the whole collection.
“Mercy is not like the sun to the fire, to dull it, but like the oil to the wheel, to make it run faster.”
“A hard heart is the anvil on which the hammer of God’s justice will be striking to all eternity.”
“A gracious heart is like a piece of good ground that, having received the seed of mercy, produces a crop of obedience.”
“It is not enough to have a few transient thoughts of God by the by, but there must be a fixing of our minds on God, till our hearts are warmed in love to him, and we can say, like those in Like 24:32, 'Did not our heart burn within us?”
“An idle person is the devil’s tennis ball, which he bandies up and down with temptation till at last the ball goes out of play.”
“Faith is the oil which feeds the lamp of hope. Faith and hope are two turtle-dove graces; take away one, and the other languishes. If the sinews are cut, the body is lame; if this sinew of faith is cut, hope is lame.”
“Believers are Christ’s garden; their graces are flowers; their savory discourse is the fragrant scent of these flowers.”
“Faith is a cure-all – a remedy against all troubles. It is a godly man’s sheet anchor that he casts out into the sea of God’s mercy, and is kept from sinking in despair.”
“As the hard frosts in winter bring on the flowers in the spring, and as the night ushers in the morning-star, so the evils of affliction produce much good to those that love God.”
“Faith and fear go hand in hand. Faith keeps the heart cheerful, fear keeps the heart serious. Faith keeps the heart from sinking in despair, fear keeps it from floating in presumption.”
“A secure sinner provides for his body, but neglects his soul; like one that waters his flowers, but never minds his jewels.”
“A Christian by divine discourse may enlighten another when he is ignorant, warm him when he is frozen, comfort him when he is sad, confirm him when he is wavering.”
“Sinners desire Christ only for shelter. The Hebrews never chose their judges except when they were in some imminent danger. Godless persons never look for Christ except at death, when they are in danger of hell.”
“Sin is worse than hell, but yet God, by His mighty over ruling power, makes sin turn to the good of His people. Hence that golden saying of Augustine, 'God would never permit evil, if He could not bring good out of evil.”
“When the strings of the lute are snarled up, the lute is not fit to make music. So when a Christian’s spirit is perplexed and disturbed, he cannot make melody in his heart to the Lord.”
“An impatient man is like a troubled sea that cannot rest (Isa. 57:20). He tortures himself upon the rack of his own griefs and passions, whereas patience calms the heart, as Christ did the sea, when it was rough.”
“Surely, there is not a greater sign of a man ripe for hell, than this, not only to lack grace, but to hate it.”
“God so calls as He allures; He does not force, but draw. The freedom of the will is not taken away, but the stubbornness of it is conquered. ‘Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power’ (Psalm 110:3).”
“Eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset.”
“There is more evil in a drop of sin than in a sea of affliction!”
“The pleasure of sin is soon gone but the sting remains!”
“A weak faith can lay hold on a strong Christ.”
“Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.”
“Every time you draw your breath, you suck in mercy!”
“Prayer delights God's ear. It melts His heart and opens His hand.”
“The door of Heaven is always open for the prayers of God's people.”
“True faith will trust God's heart where it cannot trace His hand!”
“Knowledge without repentance will be but a torch to light men to Hell.”
“Sin has the devil for its father, shame for its companion, and death for its wages.”
“There are millions who would rather go sleeping to Hell than sweating to Heaven.”
“What fools are they who, for a drop of pleasure, drink a sea of wrath.”
“Read the Scripture, not only as a history, but as a love-letter sent to you from God.”
“Our murmuring is the devil's music.”
“First we practice sin, then defend it, then boast of it.”
“God sweetens outward pain with inward peace.”
“Christ went more willingly to the cross than we do to the throne of grace.”
“Knowledge is the eye which must direct the foot of obedience.”
“A humble sinner is in a better condition than a proud angel.”
“The right manner of growth is to grow less in one's own eyes.”
“It was wonderful love that Christ should rather die for us than for the angels.”
“Satan loves to fish in the troubled waters of a discontented heart.”
“The doctrine of redemption by Jesus Christ is a glorious doctrine; it is the marrow and quintessence of the gospel, in which all a Christian's comfort lies.”
“To sin because mercy abounds, is the devil's logic.”
“The wicked in hell shall be always dying but never dead. The smoke of the furnace ascends forever and ever.”
“Satan tempts to sin under a pretence of religion. He is most to be feared when he transforms himself into an angel of light.”
“Satan doth not tempt God's children because they have sin in them, but because they have grace in them.”
“There is a great deal of difference between falling into a temptation, and running into a temptation.”
“There are no sins God's people are more subject to than unbelief and impatience.”
“The Scripture is the library of the Holy Ghost; it is a pandect of divine knowledge.”
“Without meditation the truths which we know will never affect our hearts.”
“The reason we come away so cold from reading the word is, because we do not warm ourselves at the fire of meditation.”
“Lord, I will never come away from Thee without Thee.”
“Meditation without reading is wrong and bound to err; reading without meditation is barren and fruitless.”
“Think not the better of sin because it is in fashion.”
“The more labour you have put forth for the Kingdom of heaven, the more degrees of glory you shall have.”
“None ever complained of serving God: it was their comfort and their crown on their death-bed.”
“He sheds tears for those that shed His blood.”
“Associate with sanctified persons. They may by their counsel, prayers, and holy example, be a means to make you holy.”
“Murmuring is the rising up of oneself against God. It sets oneself against God as if I am wiser than He.”
“Be not only attentive in hearing, but retentive after hearing.”
“Take heed of drowsiness in hearing; drowsiness shows much irreverence.”
“God being a Father, if He hide His face from His child, it is in love.”
“Eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset; eternity to the wicked is a night that has no sunrise.”
“It argues more grace to grieve for the sins of others than for our own.”
“God has given us two ears, but one tongue, to show that we should be swift to hear, but slow to speak.”
“I do not say that sin works for good to an impenitent person. No, it works for his damnation, but it works for good to them that love God.”
“More are hurt by lawful things than unlawful, as more are killed with wine than poison.”
“Faith is full of good works. It believes as if it did not work, and it works as if it did not believe.”
“God would have us part with nothing for Him, but that which will damn us if we keep it.”
“Praising God is one of the highest and purest acts of religion. In prayer we act like men; in praise we act like angels.”
“Make up your spiritual accounts daily; see how matters stand between God and your souls.”
“There is nothing that can hurt the soul but sin; it is not affliction that hurts it, it often makes it better, as the furnace makes gold the purer; but it is sin that damnifies.”
“To glorify God is to have God-admiring thoughts; to esteem him most excellent, and search for diamonds in this rock only.”
“The creation is the heathen man's Bible, the ploughman's primer, and the traveler's perspective glass, through which he receives a representation of the infinite excellencies which are in God.”
“Though heaven be given us freely, yet we must contend for it.”
“Seriousness is the Christian's ballast which keeps him from being overturned with vanity.”
“Though the way of religion has thorns in it with respect to persecution, yet it is full of roses with respect to that inward peace and contentment that the soul finds in it.”
“Obedience carries in it the life-blood of religion.”
“Repentance is never out of season.”
“Repentance is a grace of God's Spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed.”
“In Adam we all suffered shipwreck, and repentance is the only plank left us after shipwreck to swim to heaven.”
“The first sermon that Christ preached, indeed, the first word of his sermon was 'Repent'.”
“Repentance is a pure gospel grace. The covenant of works admitted no repentance; there it was, sin and die.”
“The two great graces essential to a saint in this life are faith and repentance. These are the two wings by which he flies to heaven.”
“That preaching is to be preferred which makes the truest discovery of men's sins and shows them their hearts.”
“When zeal like incense burns, first the lamp of knowledge must be lighted.”
“Truth is an antidote against error. Error is the adultery of the mind.”
“The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel.”
“Prayer delights God's ear; it melts His heart; and opens His hand. God cannot deny a praying soul.”
“Better have men reproach you for being good, than have God damn you for being wicked. Be not laughed out of your religion. If a lame man laugh at you for walking upright, will you therefore limp?”
“A man's greatest care should be for that place where he lives longest; therefore eternity should be his scope.”
“Affliction may be lasting, but it is not everlasting.”
“The world rings changes, it is never constant but in its disappointments. The world is but a great inn, where we are to stay a night or two, and be gone; what madness is it so to set our heart upon our inn, as to forget our home?”
“Let us then ascribe the whole work of grace to the pleasure of God's Will. God did not choose us because we were worthy, but by choosing us He makes us worthy.”
“Prayer as it comes from the saint is weak and languid; but when the arrow of a saint's prayer is put into the bow of Christ's intercession it pierces the throne of grace.”
“How many souls have been blown into hell with the wind of popular applause?”
“God's decree is the very pillar and basis on which the saint's perseverance depends. That decree ties the knot of adoption so fast, that neither sin, death, nor hell, can break it asunder.”
“If a wicked man seems to have peace at death, it is not from the knowledge of his happiness, but from the ignorance of his danger.”
“It is hard to carry a full cup without spilling, and a full estate without sinning.”
“Those prayers God likes best which come seething hot from the heart.”
“A wicked man in prayer may lift up his hands, but he cannot lift up his face.”
“The godly have some good in them, therefore the devil afflicts them; and some evil in them, therefore God afflicts them.”
“He may look on death with joy, who can look on forgiveness with faith.”
“God takes away the world, that the heart may cleave more to Him in sincerity.”
“It is our work to cast care, and it is God's work to take care.”
“If God be our God, He will give us peace in trouble. When there is a storm without, He will make peace within.”
“Afflictions add to the saints' glory. The more the diamond is cut, the more it sparkles.”
“Many think they repent when it is not the offense but the penalty that troubles them.”
“Let them fear death who do not fear sin.”
“God does not justify us because we are worthy, but by justifying us makes us worthy.”
“Leave not off reading the Bible till you find your hearts warmed.”
“God loves a broken heart, not a divided heart.”
“A Christian without patience is like a soldier without arms.”
“We may force our Lord to punish us, but we will never have to force Him to love us.”
“Sin is like a poison, which corrupts the blood, infects the heart, and without a sovereign Antidote, brings death. Such is the venomous nature of sin, it is deadly and damning.”
“Many people think it is enough to bring their bodies to the assembly, but never look at their hearts. They satisfy themselves that they have been at church, though they have not been with God there.”
“It is in fashion nowadays to go to hell.”
“God often goes by contrary means, and makes the enemy do his work. He can make a straight stroke with a crooked stick.”
“A judge judges only matters of fact, but God judges the heart. He not only judges wicked actions, but wicked designs. He sees the treason of the heart and punishes it.”
“The worst that God does to His children is to whip them to heaven.”
“A soldier may as well be without his weapons, an artist without his pencil, a musician without his instrument, as a Christian can be without love.”
“We may hold the world as a posy in our hand, but it must not lie too near our heart.”
“Discontent is a fretting temper, which dries the brains, wastes the spirits, corrodes and eats out the comfort of life.”
“Neither deficiencies nor disappointments, losses nor crosses, can cause disquieting discontents in that bosom where faith is commander in chief.”
“It is easy to catch a disease from another, but not to catch health. The bad will sooner corrupt the good, than the good will convert the bad.”
“Let it not be said that repentance is difficult. Things that are excellent deserve labour. Will not a man dig for gold in the ore though it makes him sweat? It is better to go with difficulty to heaven, than with ease to hell.”
“Godly sorrow goes deep, like a vein which bleeds inwardly.”
“It is better that men should reproach you for repenting than that God should damn you for not repenting.”
“Either sin must drown in the tears of repentance, or the soul must burn in hell.”
“If God should show mercy only to such as deserve it, he must show mercy to none.”
“Obedience without knowledge is blind, and knowledge without obedience is lame.”
“The prayer that is faithless is fruitless.”
“When promises are verified, God's truth is magnified.”
“If we do not regard God when he speaks to us, he will not regard us when we pray to him.”
“It is not how much we do, but how much we love.”
“It is better to go to heaven with a few, than to hell in the crowd.”
“God comes down to us by his Spirit, and we go up to him by prayer.”
“The race is short between the cradle and the grave!”
“Humility was never a loser.”
“Kings' crowns are only crosses, but the cross of Christ is the only crown.”
“If you set your love on worldly things, they will not satisfy.”
“If God justify a man, who shall condemn him? But if God condemn him, who shall justify him?”
“Every time we draw our breath we suck in mercy.”
“God can turn stones into bread, and a sinner can turn bread into stones; the bread of life into the stone of stumbling.”
“When we profess God's name, but do not live answerably to it, we take it in vain.”
“We pray most fervently when we pray most feelingly.”
“The world can create trouble in peace, but God can create peace in trouble.”
“He who does not believe God's promises, will never love him.”
“Daily bread may make us live comfortably, but forgiveness of sins will make us die comfortably.”
“No man did ever come off a loser by his acquaintance with God.”
“Christ is never loved, until sin is loathed.”
“He who loves money is not weary of telling it: and he who loves God is not weary of serving him.”
“The more helpful we are to others, the more like we are to God.”
“A Christian without meditation is like a soldier without weapons, or a workman without tools.”
“What greater dignity can be put upon a mortal man, than to converse with his Maker, and to walk with God every day?”
“The God whom we worship is holy, the work we are employed in is holy, the place we hope to arrive at is holy; all this calls for holiness.”
“The holiness of the saints will not excuse them from sufferings.”
“As no flattery can heal a bad conscience, so no slander can hurt a good one.”
“The tree of the promise will not drop its fruit unless shaken by the hand of prayer.”
“To serve God, to love God, to enjoy God, is the sweetest freedom in the world.”
“Men think it a shame to be ignorant of their trade, but no shame to be ignorant of God. There is no going to heaven blindfold.”
“To have a thankful heart for deliverance is a greater blessing than the deliverance itself.”
“Lusts within are worse than lions without.”
“He that leaves off prayer leaves off to fear God.”
“A good Christian holds secret communication with heaven. Private prayer keeps up the trade of godliness. When private holiness is laid aside, a stab is given to the heart of piety.”
“Sin robs God of his glory, Christ of his purchase, and the soul of its happiness.”
“Trust him where you cannot trace him.”
“Our sleeping time is Satan's tempting time.”
“A carnal person can no more value spiritual blessings than a baby can value a diamond necklace.”
“We shall never go to heaven when we die, unless we are in heaven while we live.”
“Morality shoots short of heaven. It is only nature refined.”
“The ship which lies at anchor may sometimes be a little shaken, but never sinks.”
“He who has no love in his heart to God, you may set him down for an apostate.”
“Sermons may inform the mind, but suffering instructs the heart.”
“Contentment is the true philosopher's stone, which turns everything to gold.”
“Better is that temptation which humbles me, than that duty which makes me proud.”
“Meditation is the saints' looking glass, by which they see things invisible. Meditation is the golden ladder by which they ascend to paradise.”
“The best mirror is not that which is most gilded, but that which shows the truest face.”
“An idle person is the devil's tennis ball, which he bandies up and down with temptation until at last the ball goes out of play.”
“To sweat in some duties of religion, and freeze in others, is the symptom of a disordered Christian.”
“If, when God speaks to us in his word, we are deaf, when we speak to him in prayer, he will be dumb.”
“Discontent makes a breach in the soul, and, usually at this breach, the devil enters by a temptation and storms the soul.”
“A hard heart is a vessel for Satan. Just as God has two places he dwells in: heaven and a humble heart, so the devil has two places he dwells in: hell and a hard heart.”
“What a comfort is this; when Satan is tempting, Christ is praying!”
“Christ's prayer takes away the sins of our prayers.”
“Was his head crowned with thorns, and do we think to be crowned with roses?”
“God made the world only as a dressing room to dress our souls in.”
“Sin is not only a defection, but a pollution. It is to the soul as rust is to gold, as a stain to beauty.”
“After a bitter pill, God gives sugar.”
“Read not the word carelessly, but with seriousness and affection; as the oracle of heaven, the well of salvation, the book of life.”
“Bad aims will spoil good actions.”
“The hypocrite suspects others of sin but has charitable thoughts of himself! The sincere Christian has charitable thoughts of others and suspects himself of sin.”
“Until the heart is pure, all our holy things are polluted. They are but splendid sins!”
“God's glory is more worth than heaven, and more worth than the salvation of all men's souls.”
“Self-examination is setting up a court in the conscience and keeping a register there, that by strict scrutiny a man may know how things stand between God and his own soul.”
“The mercies of God make a sinner proud, but a saint humble.”
“We must love God more for what He is, than for what He bestows.”
“Knowledge is the eye that must direct the foot of obedience.”
“Unless we deny our own will, we shall never do God's will.”
“The gospel sweetens the law.”
“Great was the work of creation, but greater was the work of redemption.”
“Our sins should humble us, but they must not discourage us from coming to Christ.”
“Be like Noah's dove. She made use of her wings to fly, but trusted in the ark for safety.”
“A man may read the figure on the dial, but he cannot tell how the day goes, unless the sun shines upon the dial: we may read the Bible over, but we cannot learn the purpose, till the Spirit of God shines into our hearts.”
“The word preached is not only to inform you but reform you.”
“Ministers can but speak to the ear, the Spirit speaks to the heart.”
“Men could be content to have the kingdom of heaven; but they are loathe to fight for it.”
“The pardoned soul is out of the gunshot of hell.”
“None can do as God; he brought the world out of nothing.”
“Who can have a better right to us than he that gives us our breath?”
“A godly man puts a kind interpretation upon providence.”
“A humble saint is content with that condition which God sees best for him.”
“God has put not only an emptiness, but a bitterness into the creature, and it is good for us that there is no perfection here.”
“An upright man is always worth beholding, but then he is most to be admired when like a bright star, he shines in the dark, and having lost all, he holds fast his integrity.”
“Repentance is of such importance, that there is no being saved without it.”
“Three wishes Paul had, and they were all about Christ; that he might be found in Christ, be with Christ, and magnify Christ.”
“Conscience is a bosom-preacher. Sometimes it convinces, sometimes it reproves.”
“Compare sin with hell, and you shall see that sin is worse. Torment has its emphasis in hell, yet nothing there is as bad as sin. Hell is of God's making, but sin is none of His making. Sin is the devil's creature.”
“Christians must not be slothful. Idleness is the devil's bath; a slothful person becomes a prey to every temptation.”
“Was ever love like this? Christ died for us, not being desired, and against being resisted.”
“Gold does but enrich the mortal part, grace the angelic part.”
“When the soul is alone in holy meditation and prayer, then not an angel—but God's own Spirit does come to comfort him.”
“Ten thousand talents is a figurative speech, to express how great a debt sin is; and do you call this a pleasure?”
“Some talk of the comforting Spirit, who never had the sanctifying Spirit.”
“This then being the work of the ministry—to divide between men and their lusts, to part these two old friends—it is no wonder that it meets with so much opposition.”
“Let the Holy Spirit descend upon me. 'Create in me a clean heart, O God'.”
“As in a building, some bring stones, some timber, some perhaps bring only nails; yet all these are useful, these all serve to fasten the work in the building.”
“We are apt to burn incense to our own net, to attribute all we have to our own second causes.”
“But, in the kingdom of heaven, sorrow and sighing shall fly away.”
“It was real flesh that Christ took; not the image of a body (as the Manichees erroneously held), but a true body; therefore he is said to be ‘made of a woman.’ Gal 4: 4.”
“We usually weep for the loss of some great good; by sin we have lost the favour of God.”
“Even if sin did not bear such bitter fruit, if death did not grow on this tree, a gracious soul would forsake it out of love to God.”
“See how the case stands between God and you; do as merchants, cast up your estate, that you may see what you are worth.”
“In that very day his thoughts perish." I may allude to it in this sense—all worldly, vain thoughts, in that day of death perish, and come to nothing!”
“What weary devotion will there be at night when a man is even tired out with the business of the day!”
“Now a man must offer violence to his fleshly desires if he will be saved, Col. iii. 5.”
“Can you find time for your body? time to eat and sleep? and not find time for your soul?”
“If ever you would suffer for the truth—prize it above all things.”
“If Christians must be peaceable-minded, what shall we say to those who are given to strife and contention?”
“When a man is at the bottom of a hill, he cannot see very far; but when he is on the top, he may see many miles distant.”
“So when the minister came among the people, he found hearts of stone—but he left hearts of flesh.”
“An offence against the person of a king, is the crime of high treason, it enhances and aggravates the crime.”
“This is Christ's prayer, that the saints may be with him in his kingdom, and be bespangled with some of the beams of his glory.”
“They are likely to hold out best in temptation, who have most grace—and God gives more grace to the humble.”
“That bit of bread he has is with the love of God, and that sauce makes it relish sweet.”
“Nothing can have a greater force upon the heart, to sanctify it, than faith.”
“The confession of the wicked is extorted, like the confession of a man upon a rack.”
“To leave God and return to sin is tacitly to asperse the Deity.”
“This never-dying worm Christ speaks of, is the gnawing of a guilty conscience.”
“They think, 'Blessed are the rich.' The world would count him blessed who could have Midas' wish—that all that he touched might be turned into gold.”
“We are not born angels; die we must, therefore we had need carry always a death's head with us.”
“Conscience is like the bee, if a man does well—then conscience gives honey, it speaks comfort; if he does evil—it puts forth a sting.”
“A man may know his other debts—but he cannot number his spiritual debts.”
“The Cyprian diamond sparkles like the true diamond—but it is not of the right kind, it will break with the hammer.”
“Pride, idleness, wantonness, are three worms that usually breed of plenty.”
“A man must first recognize and consider what his sin is, and know the plague of his heart before he can be duly humbled for it.”
“A regenerate person abhors sin not only for the curse but for the contagion.”
“When a spark of God's wrath flies into their conscience, or they are in fear of death, then they will fall to their confessions.”
“To return to sin gives the devil more power over a man that ever.”
“A Christian's faith may anchor safely upon the rock of God's power.”
“When you have reckoned up so many myriads and millions of years, nay, ages—as have passed the bounds of all arithmetic, eternity is not yet begun!”
“What pains did they take in the Olympian games : they ran for a garland of flowers, and do we stand still who run for a crown of immortality?”
“The crown which the poor in spirit shall wear in heaven, is an honorable crown.”
“So all the faithful are peculiarly and eminently the children of God.”
“A man's name is of more worth, and he who takes away the good name of another sins more than if he had taken the the wares out of his shop!”
“If you have such a glorious inheritance to come—admire, and thankfully adore the love of God in settling this rich charter upon you!”
“Faith is an intelligent grace; though there can be knowledge without faith—yet there can be no faith without knowledge.”
“Climb up the celestial mount; take a turn, as it were, in heaven every day by holy meditation.”
“Every good Christian has a spirit of martyrdom in him, and is ready to suffer for the truth rather than the truth should suffer.”
“Single out rather some one topic at a time, which you will meditate upon.”
“Holy sorrow is the rhubarb to purge out the ill humours of the soul.”
“David acknowledges his birth-sin: Ì was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me' (Ps. 51.5).”
“They turn from swearing to slandering, from profuseness to covetousness, like a sick man that turns from a tertian ague13 to a quartan.”
“Roses hanging in the garden may give a fragrant redolence, yet their sweet water is distilled only by the fire.”
“Like epileptics, before they were in a paroxysm, or hot fit of zeal; but now that the cold fit has taken them, they are formal and frozen in piety.”
“The promises are made to encourage faith, not to nourish sloth.”
“He who does not mourn, has surely lost the use of his reason.”
“In the law, he who could not bring a lamb for an offering, if he brought but two turtledoves, it sufficed.”
“If your friend is wicked, though he were your friend on earth, you will cease to be his friend in heaven.”
“O how sweet is that peace which faith breeds! it is a plant of the heavenly paradise; it is a Christian's festival! it is his music: it is as Chrysostom speaks, the anticipation of heaven. 5.”
“When a father bids his child lift a heavy object—and the child is not able—but tries, and does his best, the father accepts it as if he had done it.”
“To the witness of conscience, God adds the witness of his Spirit; and in the mouth of these two witnesses our joy is confirmed.”
“And Jesus Christ will not condemn them, for believers are His spouse; and Christ will not condemn His own spouse.”
“If a man were going to poison or drown himself, would he not be his friend who should hinder hint from doing it?”
“Manasseh's affliction brought him to humiliation, but Judas' sin brought him to desperation.”
“They do not confess all; they confess the pence but not the pounds.”
“Christ is a Prince and Saviour, but not to save men in an absolute way, whether or not they repent.”
“Meditation makes the heart serious, and then it is ever best.”
“Certainly, if only the violent take Heaven, the idle person will never come there.”
“We should mourn more for sin than for the loss of friends or estate.”
“As the tree in winter, though it has lost its leaves and fruit—yet there is sap in the root; so in the winter of desertion there is the sap of grace in the root of the heart.”
“And though being in Christ, there is no danger—yet his heart hesitates and trembles.”
“A Christian, by the eye of faith, through the telescope of the promise—may see into heaven.”
“It was not so much for flesh to suffer—but for God to be made flesh—this was the wonder of humility!”
“Man comes into the world with a cry—and goes out with a groan!”
“Why is he punished with death, who clips the king's coin or defaces his statue—but because it is an abuse offered to the person of the king?”
“Vocula pater dicta in corde [The little word ‘father’ spoken in the heart], says Luther.”
“The snares they lay for others catch themselves. ‘In the net which they hid is their own foot taken.’ Psa 9: I5.”
“Men naturally are in the house of bondage, they are enslaved to Satan.”
“Those whom God intends to be pillars in his church must be more hewn.”
“What then, are all our earthly enjoyments —with the sword of divine vengeance hanging over our head!”
“So long as the heart is an Exchange, I do not expect that it should be a Temple.”
“Who will be earnest for a physician, who thinks it is but a trivial disease?”
“Reproach works for good to God's children; it increases their grace and their glory.”
“But heaven is set out by the temple , which was fixed and permanent.”
“A believer is now an heir of this joy; let him wait until he is of age, and he shall be fully possessed of the joys of heaven.”
“How hard it is for rich people to get into the Kingdom of God!”
“When Christ has fasted forty days, and is hungry, the devil comes and tempts him with the glory of the world.”
“God feeds the sinner, keeps off evils from him, bemiracles him with mercy; but the sinner not only forgets God’s mercies, but abuses them.”
“Rejoice at the approach of the day, as a day wherein we have a prize for our souls, and may enjoy much of God’s presence.”
“Paul, after he had seen the heavenly vision, was so turned that all men wondered at the change (Acts 9.21).”
“Meditation on hypocrites final falling away, would make us earnest in prayer for perseverance.”
“The Law must be in Joshua's mouth; he was first to read--and then meditate.”
“When business is over, and everything calm, it is good to take a turn with God in the evening.”
“He was in agony; he "continued all night in prayer," Luke vi. 2.”
“He has as much love in his heart to pity us—and as much strength in his arm to help us!”
“They shall be 'called the children of God', that is, they shall be accounted and admitted for children.”
“The ten commandments are like a ten-stringed instrument, and we must touch every string, obey every commandment, or we cannot make sweet melody in religion.”
“It is as if a physician prescribed a good remedy—but the patient would not take it.”
“Who is fitter to steer a ship than an old, experienced pilot?”
“Christ did not rise from the dead as a private person, but as the public head of the church; and the head being raised, the rest of the body shall not always lie in the grave.”
“If you shed tears for outward losses, it will not advantage you.”
“The sin of our nature is not only a privation of good but an infusion of evil.”
“It reproves those whose turning is as good as no turning, who expel one devil and welcome another.”
“And surely, if we have outsinned the devils, it may well put us to the blush.”
“Many meet in taverns to trifle away time; the apostle bids us redeem time.”
“Meditation leaves one in a holy frame: it melts the heart when it is frozen, and makes it drop into tears of love.”
“The more serious the heart grows, the more spiritual, and the more spiritual, the more it resembles the Father of spirits.”
“Many complain they cannot remember; here is the reason, God punishes their carelessness in hearing— with forgetfulness .”
“In that celestial kingdom there shall be no vilifying or slandering one another, no raking into those sores which Christ died to heal.”
“They are like paint, which glitters a little in our eyes—but at death all this paint will be worn off.”
“We love gold in the ore, though it has some drossiness in it.”
“Here on earth, the body is a clog ; in heaven it shall be a wing .”
“He gives us something to sweeten our pilgrimage here—some tastes of his love— these are the pledge and first-fruits.”
“We are bid to contend earnestly, to strive as in an agony for the faith—that is, the doctrine of faith.”
“Let us not be content however, without the evidence and sense of pardon.”
“Just so, a hypocrite would spin a web of salvation out of his own righteousness.”
“Instead of being as gods, they became as the beasts that perish.”
“They who will not confess their sin as David did, that they may be pardoned, shall confess their sin as Achan did, that they may be stoned.”
“If the sins of the godly be mentioned at the day of judgment, it will not be to shame them, but to magnify the riches of God's grace in pardoning them.”
“That must needs be sad fare (as Latimer says) where weeping is served for the first course, and gnashing of teeth for the second.”
“Serious meditation on the love of Christ, would make us love him in return.”
“Oh come with hungerings after Christ and be assured of satisfaction!”
“The world thinks, 'Blessed are they on the pinnacle!' But Christ pronounces them blessed, who are in the valley.”
“As God will deliver his people from temporal danger , so from spiritual danger , as from sin , and from hell .”
“Happy are we if we have the pardon of sin sealed, though at the very last hour; but why do men think pardon of sin so easy to be obtained?”
“Were you indeed to stand in your own strength, you might fall away.”
“God loves to show his wisdom when human help and wisdom fail.”
“Other slaves are brought to correction, but sin’s slaves are without repentance, and are brought to condemnation.”
“Just so, the hypocrite’s faith will break with the hammer of persecution.”
“When guilt lies boiling in the conscience, confession gives ease.”
“So the first thing in a penitent is illumination: `Now ye are light in the Lord' (Eph. 5.8).”
“God's vial of wrath will be always dropping upon a wicked man.”
“Sin betrays us into the devil's hands—who writes all his laws in blood.”
“By meditation the spirits are raised and heightened to a kind of angelic frame.”
“I gave Christ's poor good words; I did bid them be warmed—but I should have clothed and fed them.”
“God himself installs them into their honor and sets the royal crown upon their head.”
“When God has clipped his children's wings by poverty—they fly swiftest to the throne of grace.”
“In this life the godly are called the troublers of Israel, seditious , rebellious and what not! but a day is shortly coming, when God himself will proclaim their innocency.”
“We give the creature the milk of our love; but God gets the cream!”
“When a person is reduced to outward needs and straits, the devil tempts him.”
“Meditation on the heavenly kingdom, would put a damp and slur upon all worldly glory.”
“On the blessed Sabbath, God intends to have sweet communion with you; he seems to say to you, as Christ to Zacchaeus, ‘Make haste and come down, for this day I must abide at thy house.’ Luke 19: 5.”
“A profane man with God’s praises is like a dunghill with flowers.”
“There remains one case of conscience: are we bound to confess our sins to men?”
“There is a deadly antipathy between the scorpion and the crocodile; such should there be between the heart and sin.”
“The Spirit has been tuning your soul, and now you make sweet melody in prayer.”
“But grace weighs heavier than gold; gold draws the heart from God, grace draws the heart to God.”
“What good will the whole globe of the world do at such a time?”
“Many truths are lost, because ministers pour their wine into sieves, either into leaking memories or feathery minds.”
“But every mourning for sin is not sufficient to entitle a man to blessedness.”
“The minister's work is to preach against men's sins, which are as dear to them as their right eye—and they cannot endure this.”
“Here on earth, the saints of God are in the valley of tears, they are at the bottom of the hill, and cannot tell what God is a doing.”
“What a blessed time will that be, never to grieve God's Spirit any more!”
“If the devil cannot destroy our faith—yet if he can disturb it, if he can hinder and stop its actings, he knows all the other graces will be lame and inactive.”
“To do God's will sincerely lies in two things, first, to do God's will out of a pure respect to his command.”
“Ludi praebent semina nequitiae [Plays furnish the seeds of wickedness].”
“And I will write upon him the name of my God”, that is, he shall be openly acknowledged as my child, just as the Son bears his Father’s name.”
“Pharaoh was more troubled for the frogs and river of blood than for his sin.”
“Affliction only reaches the body, but sin goes further: it poisons the fancy, disorders the affections.”
“The necessity of meditation appears in this, because without it we can never be godly Christians .”
“Just so, many do not possess salvation—but remain secure; they presume all is well, never seriously meditating whether they have oil or not.”
“O that I might prevail with Christians to take pains with themselves in this great work of examination.”
“Such as go drooping under fears and discouragements cannot be violent in piety.”
“The provisions shall never be taken away—but they shall always be feeding upon those sweets and delicacies which are set before them.”
“This condemns the church of Rome, which teaches that ignorance is the mother of devotion!”
“Here on earth, the body is a clog; in heaven it shall be a wing.”
“Though this kingdom is given us freely—yet Christ bought it with the price of his blood; which is a heaven procuring blood.”
“The outward wheel, which turns all, is providence; the wheel within this wheel is God's decree; this believed, would rock the heart quiet.”
“As you first cleanse the vessel, and then pour in the wine; so God first cleanses us by sanctification, and then pours in the wine of glory.”
“The heart misgives secretly that God does not hear, nor will he grant.”
“But common sinners are in a manner wholly brutified; they do not act rationally but are carried away by the violence of their lusts and passions.”
“Paul, the prince of the apostles, who was to be God's ensignbearer to carry his name before the Gentiles and kings, was to have his heart more deeply lanced by repentance.”
“Sin gives a dash in the wine of our comforts; it digs our grave (Rom. 5.12).”
“We have many who have Bible ears , they are swift to hear —but slow to meditate .”
“Is not conversion called a "new birth" and "a new creation"?”
“Had Joseph been familiar with his mistress in a wanton sporting manner, he might in time have been drawn to commit immorality with her.”
“There is such a thirst raised in the soul, that nothing can quench it but the blood of Christ!”
“Such beams of majesty fall from the angels, that we are not able to bear a sight of them.”
“They were so externally devout in God's worship, that the Jews thought, that if but two in all the world went to heaven, the one would be a Scribe, and the other a Pharisee.”
“An abscess is not more dangerous in the body than pride in the soul.”
“Affliction is sanctified when it attains the end for which it was sent.”
“That is surely reprobate silver which becomes harder in the furnace.”
“There is no beating of drums or roaring of cannons; but the voice of harpers harping, in token of peace.”
“How desperate is that thief who robs in the very place where his fellow hangs in chains.”
“It is easy to lose one's purse in a crowd; and in a crowd of worldly employments, it is easy to lose all the thoughts of God.”
“Meditation on death would make us use time better, and crowd up much work in a little space.”
“Canaan was given Israel freely—but they had to fight with the Canaanites.”
“Transitory worldly things, are not commensurate to the desires of the soul—therefore they cannot render him blessed.”
“I have read of Phocion who, being wrongfully condemned to die, desired that his son might not remember the injuries which the Athenians had done to him, nor revenge his blood. 3.”
“It is true, God does chequer his work in this life—white and black.”
“A believer has a heart of oak—he is strong to resist temptation, to bear afflictions, to foil corruptions; he gives check to them, though not full mate .”
“The saints have God's picture drawn in their hearts: a man cannot abuse the picture of Caesar, without some reflection upon Caesar's person.”
“This is as if one should be thankful to the servant, and never take notice of the master of the family who provides all.”
“The more lazy a Christian’s desires are, the more lively his corruptions.”
“So it may be said of many, they are without a heart; they have no heart to resist temptation.”
“Who should rejoice if not a believer, who is heir of the kingdom, and such a kingdom as eye has not seen?”
“Be assured, the more we are ashamed of sin now, the less we shall be ashamed at Christ's coming.”
“When things are frozen and congealed, the best way to separate them is by fire.”
“The Lord's Supper is a love-feast.”
“Nothing could fasten Jesus to the cross but the golden link of love.”
“The right way to take heaven is by storm.”
“The Word is the treasury of divine knowledge; it is the rule and touchstone of truth; out of this well we draw the water of life.”
“Self-examination is the setting up a court in conscience, and keeping a register there, that by strict scrutiny a man may know how things stand between God and his own soul.”
“Godliness is the sacred impression and workmanship of God in a man, whereby from being carnal he is made spiritual.”
“Godliness consists in an exact harmony between holy principles and practices.”
“Reason makes us men; godliness makes us earthly angels.”
“Weeds grow by themselves; flowers are planted.”
“Counterfeit piety is double iniquity.”
“God enriches by impoverishing; He causes the augmentation of grace by the diminution of an estate.”
“Affliction is a bitter root, but it bears sweet fruit.”
“Grace is of the nature of fire, which will not be pent up.”
“Words are the looking-glass of the mind.”
“It is better to go with difficulty to heaven, than with ease to hell.”
“Faith and repentance preserve the spiritual life, as heat and water preserve the physical life.”