Quote of the day

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That age of the church which was most fertile in subtle questions was most barren in religion; for it makes people think religion to be only a matter of cleverness, in tying and untying of knots. The brains of men inclining that way are hotter usually than their hearts. (Richard Sibbes)

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It is Thy will, O God, to be found that Thou mayest be sought, to be sought that Thou mayest the more truly be found. (Bernard of Clairveaux)

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“Christians who are much in secret prayer, and in meditation and contemplation, rather than they who are in hearing and reading and conference, are men of greatest life and joy, because they are nearer the source of the fountain.” (Richard Baxter)

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"He told our class that we would find that one of the best preparations for death was a thorough knowledge of the Greek grammar." "This," comments Dr. Hodge, in his quaint fashion, "was his way of telling us that we ought to do our duty." (Benjamin Warfield)

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He develops toward himself a kindly sense of humor and learns to say, "Oh, so you have been overlooked? They have placed someone else before you? They have whispered that you are pretty small stuff after all? And now you feel hurt because the world is saying about you the very things you have been saying about yourself? Only yesterday you were telling God that you were nothing, a mere worm of the dust. Where is your consistency? Come on, humble yourself, and cease to care what men think." (A.W. Tozer)

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Think not again the wells of Life to fill,
By any conscious act of your own will;
Retire within the silence of your soul,
And let God's Spirit enter, and control.
The springs of feeling which you thought were stilled,
Shall so be deepened, sweetened, and refilled.

Anna J. Granniss

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"You little think how much the life of all your graces depends upon your ready and cordial obedience to the Spirit. When the Spirit urgeth thee to secret prayer, and thou refusest obedience; when He forbids thee a known transgression, and yet thou wilt go on; when He telleth thee which is the way, and which not, and thou wilt not regard--no wonder if heaven and thy soul be strange."

- Richard Baxter

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Some Richard Sibbes (from "The Bruised Reed")...

Therefore desire God that he would bring a clear and a strong light into all the corners of our souls, and accompany it with a spirit of power to lay our hearts low.

Nothing in the world is of so good use as the least grain of grace.

How careful not to put new wine into old vessels (Matt. 9:17), not to alienate new beginners with the austerities of religion (as some do indiscreetly). Oh, says he, they shall have time to fast when I am gone, and strength to fast when the Holy Ghost is come upon them.

It would be a good contest amongst Christians, one to labour to give no offence, and the other to labour to take none.

When truth is most unadorned, it is most lovely and powerful.

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Moses’ father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out." (Ex 18:17–18)

Don't be unwise enough to think that we are serving God best by constant activity at the cost of headaches and broken rest. I am getting to be of the opinion that we may be doing too much. We want at least this is my own want--a higher quality of work. Our labor should be to maintain unbroken communion with our blessed Lord; then we shall have entire rest, and God abiding in us; that which we do will not be ours, but His.

- John Kenneth Mackenzie

Our object in life should not be so much to get through a great deal of work, as to give perfect satisfaction to Him for whom we are doing the work.

- William Hay M. H. Aitken

From Joy and Strength, by Mary Wilder Tileston

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"To understand this, we should remember, firstly, that God's children usually, in their troubles, overcome by suffering. Here lambs overcome lions, and doves eagles, by suffering, that herein they may be conformable to Christ, who conquered most when he suffered most. Together with Christ's kingdom of patience there was a kingdom of power." (Richard Sibbes)

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Oh, brethren, be great believers! Little faith will bring your souls to Heaven, but great faith will bring Heaven to your souls.

- C. H. Spurgeon

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They were hungry and thirsty,
and their lives ebbed away.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress. (Ps 107:5–6)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled. (Mt 5:6)

If God had not said, Blessed are those that hunger, I know not what could keep weak Christians from sinking in despair; many times all I can do is to find and complain that I want Him, and wish to recover Him; now this is my stay, that He in mercy esteems us not only by having, but by desiring also; and, after a sort, accounts us to have that which we want and desire to have. (Joseph Hall)

Honest sighing is faith breathing and whispering in the ear; the life is not out of faith, where there is sighing, looking up with the eyes, and breathing toward God. (Samuel Rutherford)

He never yet rejected the feeble soul which clung to Him in love. (H.L. Sidney Lear)

(from Joy and Strength, by Mary Wilder Tileston)

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According to your faith be it unto you. (Mt. 9:29)

Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (John 11:40)

"I find that while faith is steady nothing can disquiet me, and when faith totters nothing can establish me. If I ramble out among means and [people], I am presently lost, and can come to no end. But if I stay myself on God, and leave Him to work in His own way and time, I am at rest, and can lie down and sleep in a promise, though a thousand rise up against me. Therefore my way is not to cast beforehand, but to walk with God by the day. Keep close to God, and then you need fear nothing. Maintain secret and intimate acquaintance with Him, and then a little of [fellowmen] will go a great way. Crowd not religion into a corner of the day. Would men spend those hours they wear out in plots and devices in communion with God, and leave all on Him by venturesome believing, they would have more peace and comfort."

- Joseph Eliot, 1664

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Be content to go on quietly. When you discover somewhat in yourself which is earthly and imperfect, be patient while you strive to cast it out. Your perceptions will grow--at first God will show you very obvious stumbling-blocks, be diligent in clearing these away, and do not aim at heights to which you are not yet equal. Leave all to God, and while you earnestly desire that He would purify your intention, and seek to work with Him to that end, be satisfied with the gradual progress He sets before you; and remember that He often works in ways unseen by us.

- Jean Nicolas Grou

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Miss Havergal has said: "Every year, I might almost say every day, that I live, I seem to see more clearly how all the rest and gladness and power of our Christian life hinges on one thing; and that is, taking God at His word, believing that He really means exactly what He says, and accepting the very words in which He reveals His goodness and grace, without substituting others or altering the precise modes and tenses which He has seen fit to use."

Bring Christ's Word--Christ's promise, and Christ's sacrifice--His blood, with thee, and not one of Heaven's blessings can be denied thee. --Adam Clarke