02.09. Miscellaneous Quotes

Miscellaneous Quotes The choicest, sweetest, wisest, strongest Christian

Remember that it is not hasty reading—but serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths, which makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul.

It is not the mere touching of the flower by the bee which gathers honey—but her abiding for a time on the flower which draws out the sweet.

It is not he who reads most, but he who meditates most—who will prove to be the choicest, sweetest, wisest, and strongest Christian.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The golden link of love!

It was the golden link of love that fastened Christ to the cross!

Certainly the more Christ has suffered for us, the more dear Christ should be unto us. The more bitter His sufferings have been for us, the more sweet His love should be to us, and the more eminent should be our love to Him. Oh, let a suffering Christ lie nearest your hearts; let Him be your manna, your tree of life, your morning star. It is better to part with all than with this pearl of great price.

Christ is that golden pipe through which the golden oil of salvation runs.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The highest, choicest, safest and sweetest life

Everything that a man leans upon but God—will be a dart which will certainly pierce his heart through and through. He who leans only upon Christ—lives the highest, choicest, safest and sweetest life.

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God eyes them

Though our private desires are ever so confused, though our private requests are ever so broken, and though our private groanings are ever so hidden from men, yet God eyes them, records them, and puts them upon the file of heaven, and will one day crown them with glorious answers and returns.

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There are three things which earthly riches can never do: they can never satisfy divine justice, they can never pacify divine wrath, nor can they ever quiet a guilty conscience. And until these things are done—man is undone!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The gate of heaven!

The best and sweetest flowers of Paradise God gives to His people when they are upon their knees.

Prayer is the gate of heaven, a key to let us into Paradise. God hears no more than the heart speaks; and if the heart be dumb—God will certainly be deaf.

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Crocodile sinners

The unbeliever never leaves his sin till sin first leaves him. Did not death put a stop to his sin—he would never cease from sin.

This may be illustrated by a similitude thus—a company of gamesters resolve to play all night; their candle, accidentally or unexpectedly, goes out, or is put out, or burns out. Their candle being out, they are forced to give over their game, and go to bed in the dark. But had the candle lasted all night, they would have played all night.

This is every sinner’s case in regard of sin—did not death put out the candle of life, the sinner would sin still.

Should the sinner live forever, he would sin forever; and, therefore, it is a righteous thing with God to punish him forever in hellish torments.

Every impenitent sinner would sin to the days of eternity, if he might live to the days of eternity.

I have read of the crocodile, that he knows no maximum size, he is always growing bigger and bigger, and never comes to a certain pitch of monstrosity so long as he lives.

Likewise, every habituated sinner would, if he were let alone, be a monster, perpetually growing worse and worse.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ A tender heart, a soft hand, an iron memory

("Words of counsel to a dear dying friend")

Look upon your dying day as your reaping day. Now you shall reap the fruit of . . .all the prayers that you have ever made, and of all the tears that you have ever shed, and of all the sighs and groans that you have ever fetched, and of all the good words that you have ever spoken, and of all the good works that you have ever done, and of all the great things that you have ever suffered.

When mortality shall put on immortality, you shall then reap a plentiful crop, a glorious crop, as the fruit of that good seed, which for a time, has seemed to be buried and lost.

As Christ has a tender heart and a soft hand, so He has an iron memory. He precisely remembers . . .all the sorrows, and all the services, and all the sufferings of His people, to reward them and crown them.

"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done." Rev 22:12

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However harsh His hand may be

("A Heavenly Cordial" 1665)

None of God’s afflictions upon His people ever make any change or alteration of God’s affections towards His people.

However harsh His hand may be against them—yet His love, His heart, His favor, His affections—are still one and the same to them.

When Munster lay sick, and his friends asked him how he felt? He pointed to his sores and ulcers, whereof he was full, and said, "These are God’s gems and jewels with which he decks His best friends; and to me they are more precious than all the gold and silver in the world!"

God’s dear love to His people is not founded upon anything good in His people, nor upon anything good which is done by His people—but only upon His own free grace and goodness!

What could move the holy God to love us, who are poor, worthless, fruitless sinners? This question is best resolved in these words, "He loves us because He loves us!" The root of His love to us lies in Himself! God’s love to His people is a lasting love, yes, an everlasting love! It is a love which never decays nor waxes cold. "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness." Jer 31:3

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Death is a change of company

("A Believer’s Last Day, His Best Day")

A believer’s last day is his best day! Death is a change of company. In this world, the godliest man must live with the wicked, and converse with the wicked, etc.; and this is a part of their misery; it is their hell on this side heaven. This stuck upon the heart of David: "Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar!" Psa 120:5

I have read of a godly woman, who, being near death, cried out, "O Lord, let me not go to hell where the wicked are, for You know that I never loved their company while in this life!"

"Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people!" Jer 9:2

And this was that which did vex and tear Lot’s righteous soul—"Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard." 2Pe 2:7-8

Oh, but death is a change of company. A godly man does but change the company of profane people, of vile people, etc.—for the company of angels; and the company of weak Christians—for the company of just men made perfect.

"Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life." Rev 21:27

"Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood." Rev 22:15

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Death is a change of enjoyments

("A Believer’s Last Day, His Best Day")

A believer’s last day is his best day! Death is a change of enjoyments. Death is a change of our more dark and obscure enjoyment of God—for a more clear and sweet enjoyment of God. The best believer in this world, who enjoys most of God, and the visions of His glory—still he does not enjoy God clearly; but he is much in the dark.

We are weak, and able to take in little of God. We have but dark apprehensions of God. Witness our tears, sighs, groans, and complaints, because we go forward and backward. God hides Himself that we cannot see Him.

Ask those who live highest in the enjoyment of God, "What is your greatest burden?" They will tell you, "This is our greatest burden, that our apprehensions of God are no more clear, that we cannot see Him whom our souls do dearly love, face to face."

Oh—but now in heaven saints shall have a clear vision of God! There are no clouds or mists in heaven!

Death is a change of our imperfect and incomplete enjoyments of God, for a more complete and perfect enjoyment of Him. It is an excellent expression that Augustine has: "The glorious things of heaven are . . .so many—that they exceed number; so precious—that they exceed estimation; so great—that they exceed measure!"

Bernard says, "For Christ to be with Paul was the greatest security—but for Paul to be with Christ was the chief happiness!"

There are no complaints in heaven, because there are no needs. Oh, when death shall give the fatal stroke, there shall be an exchange . . .of earth—for heaven; of imperfect enjoyments—for perfect enjoyments of God! Then the soul shall be swallowed up with a full enjoyment of God; no corner of the soul shall be left empty—but all shall be filled up with the fullness of God.

Here in this present world, the saints receive grace; but in heaven they shall receive glory. God keeps the best wine until last; the best of God, Christ, and heaven—is beyond this present world. Here we have but some sips, some tastes of God; the fullness is reserved for the glorious state. He who sees most of God here on earth, sees but His back parts; His face is a jewel of that splendor and glory, which no eye can behold but a glorified eye.

The best of Christians are able to take in but little of God; their hearts are like the widow’s vessel, which could receive but a little oil. Sin, the world, and creatures take up so much room in the best hearts—that God gives out Himself little by little, as parents give sweets to their children. But in heaven God will communicate Himself fully at once to the soul! Grace shall then be swallowed up in glory!

Death is a change of a more inconstant and transient enjoyment of God—for a more constant and permanent enjoyment of God. Here on earth, the saints’ enjoyment of God is inconstant. One day they enjoy God, and another day the soul sits and complains in anguish of spirit. But in heaven there shall no clouds arise between the Lord and a believing heart. God will not one day smile, and another day frown; one day take a soul in His arms, and another day lay that soul at His feet. In heaven there are nothing but kisses and embraces, nothing but a perpetual enjoyment of God! When once God takes the soul unto Himself, all tears shall then be wiped away.

There are angels and archangels in heaven. Yes, but they do not make heaven; Christ is the most sparkling diamond in the ring of glory! It is heaven and happiness enough to see Christ, and to be forever with Christ.

Now, oh what a glorious change is this! Methinks these things should make us long for our dying-day, and account this present life but a lingering death. "And so we will be with the Lord forever! Therefore encourage each other
with these words." 1Th 4:17-18

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Death brings the soul to a state of eternal rest

("A Believer’s Last Day, His Best Day")

Rev 14:13, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." Why? "They will rest from their labor."

A believer’s last day is his best day! Death brings the soul to a state of eternal rest. Death is . . .a rest from the trouble of our labors, a rest from afflictions, a rest from persecutions, a rest from temptation, a rest from sin, and a rest from sorrow.

Now while we are here in this present world, the soul is in a perpetual agitation. The godliest man in the world, who is highest and clearest in his enjoyments of God—either lacks some temporal mercy or spiritual mercy—and will do so until his soul is swallowed up in the everlasting enjoyments of God!

Death brings a man to an unchangeable rest!

Death is a believer’s coronation-day, it is his marriage-day. Death is an eternal rest . . .from sin, from sorrow, from afflictions, from temptations.

Death to a believer is an entrance into paradise—into the joy of his Lord.

A believer’s dying-day is his best day. The day of his death, is better than the day of his birth.

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Death puts an end to all changes

("A Believer’s Last Day, His Best Day")

A believer’s last day is his best day! Death puts an end to all changes. What is the whole life of a man—but a life of changes?

Here on earth, you often change . . .your joy for sorrow, your health for sickness, your strength for weakness, your honor for dishonor, your plenty for poverty, your beauty for deformity, your friends for foes, your silver for brass, your gold for copper.

All temporal things are transitory. Man himself—what is he—but a mere nothing—the dream of a dream, a shadow, a bubble, a flash, a puff!

Now the comforts of a man are smiling—but the next hour they are dying.

Now the Lord smiles upon the soul—and at another time He frowns upon the soul.

Now God gives assistance to conquer sin—but before long the man is carried captive by his sin.

Now he is strengthened against the temptation, in a short while he falls before the temptation, etc.

But death puts an end to all changes. Now the soul shall be tempted no more, sin no more, be foiled no more. Now you may judge by this, that a Christian’s dying-day is his best day.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ That dead man or dead woman

("A Believer’s Last Day, His Best Day")

"When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous have a refuge!" Pro 14:32

We should lament over that dead man or dead woman . . .whom hell harbors, whom the devil devours, whom divine justice torments!

But let rejoice over those departed believers whom Christ embosoms, and whom all the court of heaven comes forth to welcome!

"Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my end be like theirs!" Num 23:10

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints!" Psa 116:15

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Do not fear death

("A Believer’s Last Day, His Best Day")

Death is not such as some would paint it.

Never mourn immoderately at the death of any believer. Death is not the death of the man—but the death of his sin. Death is to them the greatest gain.

Remember this—death does that in a moment, which no graces or duties could do for a man all his lifetime! Death frees a man from those diseases, corruptions, temptations, etc., which no duties or graces could do.

Do not fear death. Do not say of death, what that wicked prince said to the prophet, "Have you found me, O my enemy?" But rather long for death, not to be rid of troubles—but that your soul may be taken up to a more clear and full enjoyment of God.

In life, we often find . . .our comforts to be rare, our crosses to be frequent, our pleasures to be momentary, our pains to be permanent. Believers, your dying-day is your best day. Oh, then, be not afraid of death!

The Lord Jesus has, as it were, disarmed death, and triumphed over death. He has taken away its sting, so that it cannot sting us! We may play with it, and put it into our bosoms, as we may a snake whose sting is pulled out. Paul, upon this consideration, challenges death, and out-braves death, and bids death do his worst, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1Co 15:55-57

Apt to hang and rest upon creature props

("A Believer’s Last Day, His Best Day")

God sometimes strips His people of their dearest mercies, that He may win them to a more complete and full dependence upon His blessed self. Man is a creature apt to hang and rest upon creature props. "Look to my right and see;" says the psalmist, "no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life." Psa 142:4. Well, what does he do, now that all props fail him? Why, now he sweetly leans upon God—"I cry to You, O Lord; I say—You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living." Psa 142:5. Men will hold upon one prop, and if God cuts off that—then they will catch hold on another, etc., until God cuts off all their props—and then they will come and rest and center in God, and say, "All my fountains are in You!" Psa 87:7

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God takes away the creature

("A Believer’s Last Day, His Best Day")

Diogenes noted the folly of the men of his time—that they undervalued the best things—but overvalued the worst things. Ah, that this were not the sin and shame of professors in these days!

God sometimes strips His people of their nearest and dearest outward mercies—that they may the more prize, and the better taste—of spiritual and heavenly mercies.

God takes away uncertain riches—that His people may the more prize certain riches!

God takes away natural strength—that His people may the more prize spiritual strength!

God takes away the creature—that His people may more prize their Savior.

Spiritual and heavenly things can alone satisfy the soul. The language of a godly man is this, "Ah, Lord! the good things which I have from You, though they may refresh me—yet they cannot satisfy me without Yourself!"

"Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever!" Psa 73:25-26

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Christians or heathens?

("Hypocrites Detected, Anatomized, Impeached, Arraigned and Condemned" 1650)

Many pretend to be Christians—and yet live like heathens.

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Misery here—and hell hereafter

("Hypocrites Detected, Anatomized, Impeached, Arraigned and Condemned" 1650)

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry." Col 3:5.

You must be the death of your sins—or they will be the death of your souls.

Sin is a viper, which always kills where it is not killed. There is nothing gained by making peace with sin—but misery here—and hell hereafter. Every yielding to sin is a welcoming of Satan into our very bosoms!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ A jewel of more worth than a world

("Hypocrites Detected, Anatomized, Impeached, Arraigned and Condemned" 1650)

Time is a jewel more of worth than a world. Time is not yours to dispose of as you please; it is a glorious talent which men must be accountable for, as well as any other talent. Of all talents, time is the hardest to use well.

Ah, beloved, have not you need to improve your time, who have much work to do in a short time: your souls to save, a God to honor, a Christ to exalt, a hell to escape, a race to run, a crown to win, temptations to withstand, corruptions to conquer, afflictions to bear, mercies to improve, and your generation to serve.

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Optimum maximum

("Hypocrites Detected, Anatomized, Impeached, Arraigned and Condemned" 1650)

God is optimum maximum—the best, and the greatest.

God is . . .all ear to hear, all hand to punish, all power to protect, all wisdom to direct, all goodness to relieve, all grace to pardon, the horn of plenty, the ocean of beauty, without the least spot of injustice!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ A jewel worth more than heaven!

("Hypocrites Detected, Anatomized, Impeached, Arraigned and Condemned" 1650)

"Above all else, guard your heart!" Pro 4:23

Oh guard your eyes—that they behold no vanity!

Watch your hands—that they touch not the golden wedge!

But, above all, guard your souls! The soul is a jewel worth more than heaven! Oh guard it! If that is lost—all is lost. If that is lost—you are eternally lost! Of all losses—the loss of the soul is the most incomparable, irreparable, and irrecoverable loss!

It is the greatest folly in the world, to lose your soul. "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" Mat 16:26

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Soberly, righteously, and godly

("Touchstone of Sincerity")

"Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." Tit 2:12

These words contain the sum of a Christian’s duty. To live soberly toward ourselves, righteously toward our neighbors, and godly toward God—is true godliness indeed, and the whole duty of man.

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True hatred of sin

("Touchstone of Sincerity")

To hate sin is not merely to refrain from sin, for so Balaam did. To hate sin is not merely to confess sin, for so Pharaoh and Judas did. To hate sin is not merely to be afraid to sin, for this may be where there is no hatred of sin. To hate sin is not merely to mourn because of the dreadful effects and fruits that sin may produce, for so Ahab did, and the Ninevites did, etc. He who fears sin for hell, fears not to sin—but to burn. He hates sin indeed—who hates sin as hell itself. It was a saying of one of the ancients, that if hell and sin were before him, he would rather fall into hell than fall into sin. Here was a true hatred of sin indeed.

A hypocrite may be troubled for sin, as it blots his reputation, and wounds his conscience, and brings a scourge, and destroys his soul, and shuts him out of heaven, and throws him to hell! But he is never troubled for sin, he never mourns for sin, he never hates sin because it is contrary to the nature of God, the being of God, the law of God, the glory of God, the design of God; or because of the evil which is in the nature of sin, or because of the defiling and polluting power of sin.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The hypocrite’s bane

("Touchstone of Sincerity")

"The Pharisee took his stand and was praying like this: God, I thank You that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get." Luk 18:11-12

A hypocrite . . .may know much, and pray much, and hear much, and fast much, and give much, and obey much—and all to no purpose, because he never does anything in a right manner; he never carries on his work from inward principles of faith, fervency, love, delight, etc.

The scribes and pharisees fasted, prayed and gave alms—but their hearts were not changed, renewed, nor sanctified—and this proved their eternal bane.

A hypocrite never performs religious duties from spiritual principles, nor in a spiritual manner. A hypocrite is never inclined, moved, and carried to God, to Christ, to holy duties—by the power of a new and inward principle of grace working a suitableness between his heart and the things of God. A hypocrite rests satisfied in the mere external acts of religion, though he never feels anything of the power of religion in his own soul. A hypocrite looks to his words in prayer, and to his voice in prayer, and to his gestures in prayer—but he never looks to the frame of his heart in prayer. A hypocrite’s heart is never touched with the words his tongue utters; a hypocrite’s soul is never divinely affected, delighted, or graciously warmed with any duty he performs.

A hypocrite’s spiritual performances never flow from spiritual principles, nor from a sanctified heart. Though his works may be new, yet his heart remains old; his new practices always spring from old principles; and this will prove the hypocrite’s bane, as you may see in Isa 1:15, "When you make many prayers, I will not hear, for your hands are full of blood." These were unsanctified ones; their practices were new—but their hearts were old still.

A hypocrite has no . . .inward, saving, transforming, experimental, affectionate, practical knowledge of God.

A sincere Christian is enamored with Christ above all. He cannot be satisfied nor contented with duties or ordinances, without enjoying Christ in them, who is the life, soul, and substance of them. But when hypocrites do duties—all they do is from common principles, from natural principles, and from an unsanctified heart—and that mars all. Hypocrites make a great profession and are much in the outward actions of religion; they make a very fair show, they hear, they read, they pray, they fast, they sing psalms, and they give alms; but these duties being not performed from a principle of divine love, nor from a principle of spiritual life, nor from a sanctified frame of heart—are all lost, and the authors of them are undone forever and ever. "If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed!" 1Co 16:22

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ This great doctor was so great a dunce

("Touchstone of Sincerity")

Nicodemus was a man of great note, name, and fame among the pharisees, and he fasted, and prayed, and gave alms, and paid tithes, etc., and yet was a total
stranger to the new birth. Regeneration was a paradox to him. "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?" This great doctor was so great a dunce, that he understood no more of the doctrine of regeneration, than a mere child does the highest precepts of astronomy!

As water can rise no higher than the spring from whence it came, so the natural man can rise no higher than nature.

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If you would live gloriously

("The Glorious Day of the Saints Appearance")

Professors look far too much upon the tempting world, when she smiles and holds forth her beautiful breasts! If you would live gloriously, look away from the tempting world: it is a plague and a snare! Look away from it—whether it smiles or whether it frowns.

Remember you have a God to look at, a Christ to look at, and an unfading crown of glory to look at; which is better than all—which is more than all other things to your souls.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The true Christian hates all sin

("The Glorious Day of the Saints Appearance")

"I hate every wrong path." Psa 119:104

The original word signifies to hate with a deadly and irreconcilable hatred; to hate so as that nothing will satisfy but the destruction of the thing hated.

The true Christian hates all sin. All sin strikes at God, at His holiness, as well as at an upright man’s happiness. All sin strikes at God’s glory, as well as at the soul’s comfort; therefore the soul strikes at all sin. All sins, in the eye of an upright heart, are traitors to the crown and dignity of the Lord Jesus; therefore the soul rises in arms against all. An upright heart looks upon sin to be a universal evil. An upright heart looks upon sin as that which has thrown down: the most righteous man in the world, as Noah; the best believer in the world, as Abraham; the best king in the world, as David; the best apostle in the world, as Paul; the strongest man in the world, as Samson; the wisest man in the world, as Solomon; the meekest man in the world, as Moses; the patientest man in the world, as Job; and so his soul rises against it.

An upright heart hates all sins, even those he cannot conquer. An unsound heart, a rotten heart, strikes at some sins—and yet loves and retains other sins.

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They run on another’s legs

("The Glorious Day of the Saints Appearance")

"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws." Eze 36:25-27

The principal reason why Christians persevere in the ways of God against all discouragements, is because they are preserved in the ways of God—from spiritual principles, from a principle of inward life and spiritual power. It is
true, if Christians only persevered from fleshly, carnal, and external causes—they would soon wheel about, and turn apostates, and be base, and what not. But they persevere in the ways of God, from inward principles, as in Jer 32:40, "I will put My fear in their hearts—and they shall never depart from Me." Christians persevere by an inward principle of fear, faith, and love.

Isa 40:31, "Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength like the eagle; they shall run and not be weary," because they run on another’s legs—namely, the Lord Christ’s; "and they shall walk and not faint," because they walk in the strength of Christ.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ A sweet interpretation

("The Glorious Day of the Saints Appearance")

Love will enable the soul to persevere in the ways of godliness against all discouragements, by putting a blessed interpretation, and a heavenly construction upon all the afflictions, sorrows, and discouragements which an upright heart can meet with in the ways of God. All the afflictions and discouragements which upright hearts meet with, love will thus interpret and expound: "Oh! all these afflictions are but means that God will use to rub off my dross and filth, to convey more of Himself! They are all my friends, and shall work for my good! All these cursings, God will turn to blessings," says Love. "All these afflictions which befall me, are but out of some noble designs that God has to reveal more of Himself and of His glory to me. It is but that He may empty me more of myself and of the creature, so that he may communicate more of His own sweetness and fullness to my soul," says Love. "I know, though for the present it is bitter—yet," says Love, "it will be sweet in the end. I know the way to the crown is by the cross, and I know all those afflictions shall lead me to more heavenly enjoyments of God!" Love thus puts a sweet interpretation on all the afflictions which befall the soul.

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Too big for troubles and afflictions

("The Glorious Day of the Saints Appearance")

One way by which faith enables the soul to persevere against all discouragements, is by raising the soul to converse with soul-greatening objects, such as God and Christ, and those treasures, pleasures, and sweetnesses which are in the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2Co 4:16-18

There is nothing which so enables the soul, and which so divinely greatens the soul and makes it too large, too wide, and too big for troubles and afflictions to discourage—than faith’s conversing with those high and glorious eternal
realities.

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Those treasures are mine!

("God’s Delight in the Progress of the Upright")

Faith enables us to walk in the ways of God, against all the discouragements which may befall us. Faith looks on God, and says with the psalmist, "This God is my God forever and ever! He shall be my guide unto death!" Faith looks on Christ, and says with Thomas, "My Lord and my God!" Faith looks on the promises, and says, "These precious promises are mine!" Faith casts an eye upon the crown of righteousness, and says with Paul, "Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness!" It looks upon all treasures, pleasures, and sweetnesses which are in Christ, and which are by Christ prepared for the soul, and says faith, "Those treasures are mine! Those pleasures are mine! All that sweetness which is in Christ, is mine!"

Thus faith enables the soul to persevere against all discouragements which it meets with.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The sweetener

("Hypocrites Detected, Anatomized, Impeached, Arraigned and Condemned" 1650)

Communion with God is . . .the life of all your graces; the sweetener of all providences and mercies; the strengthener of your hearts and hands; the soul of your comforts; the crown of your souls.

Nothing can compare with communion with God—to fence you against temptations, to sweeten all afflictions, and to make you own God, and stand for God, and cleave to God—in the face of all troubles and oppositions. Communion with God makes bitter things—sweet, and massive things—light.

A man high in communion with God, is a man too big for temptations to conquer—or troubles to subdue! Those who have but little communion with God—are usually as soon conquered as tempted—as soon vanquished as assaulted.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ An inlet to three dreadful things

("A Heavenly Cordial" 1665)

Death is dreadful to the unbelieving sinner, for it puts an everlasting end to all his temporal . . .mercies, comforts, contentments, and enjoyments.

Death will put an everlasting end to all his pleasures of sin. Now the sinner shall never more have one merry day. In hell there is . . .no singing—but howling; no music—but madness; no sporting—but sighing; no dancing—but wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth for evermore!

In a word, now the sinner shall find by woeful experience that death will be an inlet to three dreadful things:
1. To judgment, Heb 9:27;
2. To an irreversible sentence of condemnation, Mat 25:41;
3. To endless, ceaseless, and remediless sufferings.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ A mine of rich treasures!

("A Heavenly Cordial" 1665)

"He has given us his very great and precious promises." 2Pe 1:4

Oh how should saints then treasure up those precious promises, which assure their preservation, protection, maintenance, deliverance, comfort, and everlasting happiness!

The promises are a mine of rich treasures! They are a garden full of the choicest and sweetest flowers of paradise! In them are wrapped up all celestial
contentments and enjoyments! Therefore study them more than ever, and prize them more than ever, and improve them more than ever.