Watchfulness

“More are hurt by lawful things than unlawful, as more are killed with wine than poison.”

“Seriousness is the Christian's ballast which keeps him from being overturned with vanity.”

“Truth is an antidote against error. Error is the adultery of the mind.”

“Our sleeping time is Satan's tempting time.”

“Christians must not be slothful. Idleness is the devil's bath; a slothful person becomes a prey to every temptation.”

“Learn to say no. It will be of more use to you than to be able to read Latin.”

“The worst thing thou hast to fear is the treachery of thine own heart.”

“Young people, you must pray, for your passions are strong, but your wisdom is little.”

“If I feel myself disinclined to pray, then is the time when I need to pray more than ever.”

“Speech is silver, but silence is golden when hearers are inattentive.”

“No man ever served God by doing things tomorrow.”

“Idleness and luxury are the devil's jackals, and find him abundant prey.”

“If the enemy begins to love one of the king's generals, the king may half suspect that his general is turning traitor.”

“Most of us think too much of speech, which is but the shell of thought.”

“The surest way to abstain from evil is to be fully occupied in doing good.”

“The giving way to a less sin makes way for the committing of a greater.”

“Time is a jewel more worth than a world. Time is not yours to dispose of as you please; it is a glorious talent that men must be accountable for as well as any other talent.”

“In heaven we shall appear, not in armour, but in robes of glory. But here these are to be worn night and day; we must walk, work, and sleep in them, or else we are not true soldiers of Christ.”

“The sheep may fall into a ditch, but it is the swine that wallows in it! Take heed of deliberate sins!”

“Of all men out of Hell, none more to be pitied than he who hangs over the mouth of it, and yet is fearless of his danger.”

“Never venture near the door where sin dwells, lest you are dragged in.”

“Set a strong guard about your outward senses, these are Satan's landing places, especially the eye and the ear.”

“When Satan finds the good man asleep, then he finds our good God awake; therefore thou art not consumed, because he changeth not.”

“He that is awake, but wanders with his eye or heart, what doth he but sleep with his eyes open?”

“The soldier is summoned to a life of active duty and so is the Christian.”

“I assure you by the Lord, your adversaries shall get no advantage against you, except you sin, and offend your Lord, in your sufferings.”

“So great an advantage is given to sin and Satan by your temper and disposition, that without extraordinary watchfulness, care, and diligence, they will prevail against your soul.”

“The indulgence of one sin opens the door to further sins; the indulgence of one sin diverts the soul from the use of those means by which all other sins should be resisted.”

“Satan's greatest success is in making people think they have plenty of time before they die to consider their eternal welfare.”

“My Brethren, look upon every duty of Worship as a great thing which you must be intent in your thoughts about, and not give way to the wandering of your thoughts.”

“I beseech you observe this; Take heed for ever of reasoning with Temptation, of consulting and casting about in your thoughts, what will become of it? what trouble may come by this if I hearken not to this?”

“Austin repented, and so have many thousands since, that he began so late, and knew God no sooner.”

“Many a valiant person dares fight in a battle or a duel, who yet will be timorous and fearful if suddenly surprised in a midnight alarm.”

“When a traveller sees the sun almost down, he would make haste; so if we believed that the time of grace is short, we would begin to make our calling and election sure.”

“But the devil will cry in the hearts of some men that this exhortation is as yet needless, for the day of judgment is not near, because all the signs are not yet passed.”

“What weary devotion will there be at night when a man is even tired out with the business of the day!”

“Can you find time for your body? time to eat and sleep? and not find time for your soul?”

“But the careless heart not heeding this, is brought within the power of temptation, as the Syrians were brought blindfold into the midst of Samaria, before they knew where they were.”

“You who, like the wise virgins, are not satisfied with the lamp of a profession, but are buying oil for your vessels, while the market of grace is standing.”

“Carrying the oil-less vessel with the untrimmed, unlit lamp of an outward Christian profession, we dream that all is safe until the startling summons to meet the Bridegroom awakes us to consciousness, to conviction, to despair!”

“Even the eternity of well or wo to your soul standeth upon the little point of your well or ill-employed, short, and swift-posting sand-glass.”

“Our hearts must be closely watched and kept—when we draw near to God in public, private, or secret duties; for the vanity of the heart seldom reveals itself more than at such times.”

“We are not born angels; die we must, therefore we had need carry always a death's head with us.”

“The fear of God is animœ vigil & custos, it is the sentinel and guard of the soul, which is very vigilant that no temptation may enter in, nor no corruption may pass out. 2.”

“To keep the heart then, is carefully to preserve it from sin, which disorders it; and maintain that spiritual frame which fits it for a life of communion with God.”

“Beware lest you go on saying all your life, “Men do very well without all this Bible-reading,” and find at length, to your cost, that men do very ill, and end up in Hell!”

“It was short then, it is shorter now. 'The time is short.' We are fallen into the latter end of the world.”

“The thoughts are the tiring-room of the soul, the privy chamber of it. 3.”

“Go forth, and meet the Bridegroom in a way of believing; for sad, sad, will be the event, if you do not, after all that has been said.”

“Over-awe your hearts every day, and in every place with the eye of God.”

“Now the fear of God enables the soul to improve every season, lest his Spirit should withdraw itself.”

“We are only safe when we wisely make use of all good advantages that we have access to.”

“Everybody that hath but common sense knows that this man is in the broad way to death, yet he laughs at his own damnation.”

“Many meet in taverns to trifle away time; the apostle bids us redeem time.”

“Many complain they cannot remember; here is the reason, God punishes their carelessness in hearing— with forgetfulness .”

“There is something due on a penny as well as on a pound, therefore we must be faithful in the least truth, when the season calls for it.”

“When you are dreaming of earth's long, calm, summer days, He will come.”

“Idleness is hateful in any—but most abominable and intolerable in ministers ; and sooner or later none shall pay so dear for it as such.”

“Take heed of giving thyself liberty of committing one sin, for that will lead thee to another; till, by an ill custom, it become natural.”

“Again when you go about any work that is difficult, take heed of any disorderly working of your heart about that work.”

“And to those that are otherwise-minded, I give only this necessary caution: let them take heed, lest by inventing new ways to heaven for others, they lose the true way themselves.”

“It is not well to lie wind-bound in dullness and indifference; but tempests are perilous, yes, though the wind is in the right point.”

“But all this time you may be slowly drifting downward into hell.”

“And I would have us labour to have in great readiness all things which Christ requires of us.”

“Some again pass their days in a golden dream, and drop into hell before they think of it.”

“Nothing can be so ruinous unto our profession as once to suppose it is an easy matter, a thing of course, to maintain our peace with God.”

“Many truths are lost, because ministers pour their wine into sieves, either into leaking memories or feathery minds.”

“Gracious habits are the candles of the Lord set up in us; and God has set up those candles of heaven not to idle by, not to sleep by—but to work by, and to walk by.”

“You say "Tomorrow, tomorrow I will repent," when you know not what a tomorrow will bring forth.”

“But, if the heart gives up the door, lusts in vile troops will enter, and do murderous work.”

“You complain that you cannot think on good things, but if you begin to think of them a little, soon your thoughts are off from them.”

“Had Joseph been familiar with his mistress in a wanton sporting manner, he might in time have been drawn to commit immorality with her.”

“We may be tempted, yet not enter into temptation.”

“God can make a way for a man to escape; when he is in, he can break the snare, tread down Satan, and make the soul more than a conqueror, though it have entered into temptation.”

“Christ is the crown of crowns, the glory of glories, and the heaven of heavens.”