Daily Quote

If there be any hell in this world, they which feel the Worm of conscience gnaw upon their hearts, may truly say, that they have felt the torments of hell. Who can express that man’s horror but himself? Sorrows are met in his oul at a feast: and fear, thought, and anguish divide his soul between them. all the furies of hell leaps upon his heart like a stage. Thought calleth to fear; fear whistleth to horror; Horror beckoneth to despair, and saith, come and help me to torment the sinner: One saith, that she cometh from this sin, and another saith, that she come from that sin: so he goeth through a thousand deaths, and cannot die. All his lights are put out at once: he hath no soul fit to be comforted. Thus he lies upon the rack, and saith that he bears the world upon his shoulders, and that no man suffereth that which he suffereth. So let him lie (saith God) without ease, until he confess and repent, and call for mercy. this is the godly way which the serpent said would make you God’s and make him a devil.
—Henry Smith

We are like the child that lives and strives for a time blindly in the womb, but in this dark life of ours, there is a divine instinct, power, and faculty… that noting here can suffice: which shows.. that there is a condition which shall make a man fully happy; there must be a better life, which is, the spiritual life: for this life which we live in the flesh, is a thing of nothing… A Christian furnished with this spiritual life, can see Christ, and glory beyond all things in this life; he can look backwards, make use of all things past, see the vanity of things so admired of others, he can taste things nature doth not relish, he hath strength of reasons beyond all the apprehensions of reason: he is a man of strong working.
—Richard Sibbes “Saints Cordials”

I could find no one part of Divinity more profitable in these times…than that which consisteth more in experience and practice, than in theory and speculation; and more principally tendeth to the sanctification of the heart, than the informing of the judgement and the increasing of knowledge; and to the stirring up of all to the practice of what they k now in the duties of a godly life, and in bringing forth the fruits of faith in new obedience; than to fit them for discourse.
—John Downame “Guide to Godliness”

Because  man is so welded to the world and dotes upon his lust, all the arguments that we can use are most commonly unsuccessful. Therefore I shall add one more upon this sort of motives drawn from the qualifications of him whom I would fain have you acquainted with… Consider that he is altogether lovely; he’s made of love, goodness, and all excellencies…Ask of them that by faith have seen him.
—James Janeway “Heaven upon Earth: Jesus the Best Friend of Man”

What is the substance of the whole Bible? does not almost every chapter speak of God’s desire to be reconciled to man? Behold, he calls you. He offers you his  Son, a kingdom, a crown. Behold, the Father meets, he makes haste, to meet his returning prodigal.
—James Janeway “Heaven upon Earth: Jesus the Best  Friend of Man”

Be of good cheer, Christian. The time is near when God and you shall be near, and as near as you can desire. You will dwell in his family.. in his presence. You will be his child, and he will be your Father. You shall be an heir of his Kingdom.

Marvel not, Christian, how it can be eternal life to know God and Jesus Christ. To enjoy God and Christ is eternal life, and the soul’s enjoying is in knowing. They that savour only of earth, and consult with flesh, think it a poor happiness to know God. But we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God is come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know him who is true. And we are in him that is true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ. this is the true God, and eternal life
—Richard Baxter.

Why is hope compared to a helmet? The helmet defends the head… from dint of bullet and sword… This hope defends the soul… whereby no dangerous or deadly impression can by Satan or sin be made on it.. As the helmet defends the soldier’s head from wounding, so his heart also from swooning. It makes him bold and fearless in battle.
A man cannot drown so long as his head is above water. Now it is the proper function of  hope to do this for the Christian in times of danger… Two things make the head hang down–fear and shame. Hope eases the Christian’s heart of both.. and so forbids him to give any sign of a desponding mind by a dejected countenance.
—William Gurnall “The Christian in complete Armour”

The blessed God has laid the platform and the foundations of his temple, as it was to be restored and set up again among men, in and by that great Emmanuel, his own Son made flesh… an incarnate God among men, and a Man inhabited by all the fullness of God.. a most perfect temple…”God with us.”
Here [in Christ] were met together man that could die, and God that could overcome death; man that might suffer, and God that could give sufficient value to those sufferings; sufficient to atone to the offended Majesty, and procure that life might be diffused…to all that should unite with him, whereby they might become living stones,  joined to that living cornerstone–a spiritual temple, again capable of that divine presence which they had aforfeited and whereof they were forsaken.
God was to have the first and leading part in reconciliations, as man has in disagreements.
—John Howe “The Living Temple”

The day of Christ’s coming is a day of manifestation. All is n ow hidden. Christ is hidden, the saints are hidden, their life is hidden (Col. 3:3), their glory is hidden, but t hen shall Christ appear, and we shall appear with him in glory… It is a day of perfection…Here  we are very weak… there is some fuit of sin continued upon the body; but then body and soul are united, and perfectly glorified to praise God in heaven… It is a day of congregation, or gathering together. The saints are now scattered, they live in various countries and ages, but then all meet in one assembly and congregation. [We have] an earnest, well-grounded expectation of blessedness to come.
—Thomas Manton

To believe in Christ for redemption, for justification, for sanctification, is but one half of the duty of faith–it respects Christ only as he died and suffered for us, as he made atonement for our sins, peace with God and reconciliation for us, as his righteousness is imputed to us for justification… we are exhorted to receive him and believe in him, but that is not all that is required of us.  Christ in the gospel is proposed to us as our pattern and example of holiness… Wherefore let us be much in the contemplation of what he was, what he did, how in all instances of duties and trials he carried himself, until an image or idea of his perfect holiness is implanted in our minds, and we are made like him thereby.
—John Owen “Discourse on the Holy Spirit”

As Abraham saw Christ’s day and rejoiced, so we, in our most forlorn state, see that day when Christ shall give us rest and therein rejoice, I beseech you, Christian, for the honour of the Gospel, and for your soul’s comfort, leave not this heavenly art to be learned when in your greatest extremity you have most need to use it. He who with Stephen “sees the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,” will comfortably bear the shower of stones. “The joy of the Lord is our strength,” and that joy must be drawn from the place of our joy. If we walk without our strength, how long are we likely to endure?
—Richard Baxter “The Saint’s Everlasting Rest”

Here [in Christ] is the fairest representation that ever thi world had or that could be had, of this most delectable object. The Divine holiness incarnate did never shine so bright. And we may easily apprehend the great advantage of having so lively and perfect a model set before us of what we are to design and aim at. Rules and precepts could never have afforded so full a description or have furnished us with so perfect an idea.
Look steadily to Jesus, “with open face” behold the gory of the Word, and be “changed from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Cor. 3:18).
Truth is the means of holiness (John 17:17)… We have this practical truth not only exhibited in aphorisms and maxims in the Word, but we have it exemplified in the life of Christ. And when the great renovating work is to be done, the old man to be put off, the new man to be put o n, the spirit of our m ind to be renewed, our business is to learn Christ and the truth as it i in Jesus. (Eph. 4:20-24)
—John Howe “The Living Temple”

When we pray for thing pertaining to this life, we must desire temporal thing for spiritual ends; we must desire these things to be as helps in our journey to heaven. If we pray for health, it must be that we may improve this talen of health for God’s glory, and may be fitter for his service… if we are to pray for temporal good things, then how  much more for spiritual? If we are to pray for bread, then how much more for the bread of life? If we pray to have our hunger satisfied, how much more should we pray to have our souls saved…. Therefore, let u be earnest for spiritual mercies.—Thomas Watson, “Practical Divinity”

Men that are at the point to die have more need of the physician than they that are now and then troubled with a heart-fainting qualm (Mark 2:15-17). The publicans and sinners were in the mouth of  death… therefore the Lord Jesus receives them first, offers them mercy first.
This man has most need, he is furthest from God, nearest to  hell, and so one that has the most need of… mercy.
Mercy arises from compassion… from a feeling of the condition of those in misery (Isa. 63:9; James 5:11)… Mercy seems to be out of its proper channel when it deals with self-righteous men; but it runs with a full stream when it extends itself to the biggest sinner.
—John Bunyan “The Jerusalem Sinner Saved”

We are kept by God’s power, and God’s power is triggered by prayer… We pray aright when we “pray in the Holy Ghost.” This is necessary with respect to acceptance… Surely, God’s ear will be opened if our hearts be opened… Fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice was the solemn token of acceptance heretofore; fire from heaven is the token still, even a holy ardour wrought in us by the Spirit.
Prayer is a work too hard for us; we can babble of ourselves, but we cannot pray without the Holy Ghost; we can put words into prayer, but it is the Spirit who puts affections, without which it is but a little cold praattle adn spiritless talk.
—Thomas Manton “The Epistle of Jude”

The Lord nourishes and cherishes his church…When he first created man, he provided beforehand all things needful to nourish him…When he was moved deeply to destroy the earth…he had care of his church and provided an ark to keep her out of the water and stored up in the ark all things needful for her. When he purposed to bring a famine on the world, he sent a man beforehand to lay up a provision for his church. When his church was in a barren and dry wilderness, he gave them bread from heaven, water out of the rock…After this he brought his church into a land flowing with milk and honey…Neither has he merely nourished her with temporal blessings, but also with needful spiritual blessings–his Word and sacraments, his Spirit and grace… With his own flesh and blood he has fed her, and with his own righteousness he clothed her.
–William Gouge

One thing contained in heavenly rest is the ceasing from the means of grace. We have obtained the haven, we have done sailing.. When the workman receives his wages, it is implied that he has done his work. When the workman receives his wages, it is implied that he has done his work. When we are at our journey’s end, we have done with the way…There shall be no more prayer because there shall be no more necessity but the full enjoyment of what we h ave prayed for. Neither shall we n eed to fast, and watch, and weep any more, being out of the reach of sin and temptation… The labourers are called in because the harvest is gathered, the tares burned, and the work finished; the unregenerate past hope, and the saints past fear, for ever.
—Richard Baxter

The Lord Christ had called his apostles to the great work of building his church, and the propagation of his gospel in the world. Of themselves, they were plainly and openly defective in all qualifications and abilities that might contribute anything to it. But whatever is wanting in themselves… he promises to supply it… by sending the Holy Spirit to them, on whose presence and assistance alone depended the whole success of their ministry in the world.
…And this is the hinge whereon the whole weight of it turn and depends to this day. Take it away… and there will be an absolute end f the Church of Christ in this world—no dispensation of the Spirit, no church.
—John Owen

[2 quotes owing to each one's brevity]

Do not drown yourself because you are recommended to bathe, or hang yourself on an oak because tannin is described as a valuable astringent. An allowable thing carried to excess is a vice, even as fire is a good servant in the grate, but a bad master when raging in a burning house.
—Charles Spurgeon

We are justified and saved by the very righteousness of Christ, and no other. He wrought it, though we wear it.
—John Flavel

The apostle calls it to ‘fall into temptation’ (1 Tim. 6:9), as a man falls into a pit or deep place where there are  traps and snares with which he might be entangled. The man is not instantly killed or destroyed, but he is entangled and detained. He does not know how to get free or be at liberty. So Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 10:13 in terms of temptation taking us. To be taken by a temptation is to be tangled with it, to be held in its cords, and not find at present, a way to escape. Peter also says in 2 Peter 2:9, ‘The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations.’ If they are entangled with them, God knows how to deliver them out of them. When we allow a temptation to enter into us, then we ‘enter into temptation.’ When sin knocks at the door, we are at  liberty; but when a temptation comes in and we allow it to speak with our heart, reason with our mind, entice and allure our affections, for a long, or a short time, then sin subtly and almost imperceptibly draws our soul to take particular notice of it: we enter into temptation.
—John Owen, “Temptation”

True morality, or the Christian ethics, is the love of God and man, stirred up by the Spirit of Christ, through faith, and exercised in works of piety, justice, charity, and temperance…. Take heed that you lose not that common love which you own to mankind.
—Richard Baxter

To profit or benefit others, is a duty belonging to  all men… Love towards God cannot consist without this charity towards our neighbour… neither can any true religion.
—William Ames

Hypocrites are like pictures on canvas, they show fairest at farthest. A hypocrites profession is in folio, but his sincerity in decimo-sexto, nothing in the world to speak of. A hypocrite is like the Sicilian Etna, flaming at the mouth when it has snow at the foot: their mouths talk hotly, but their feet walk coldly. The nightingale has a sweet voice, but a lean carcass ;a voice, and nothing else but a voice: and so have all hypocrites…
Hypocrites labour to seem saints, not to be so; but the holy labour to be saints, more than to seem saints. The kite may fly aloft, but her mind and eye is to the earth. She seems to be a gallant bird at her pitch, till she falls down upon a carrion. Oh, how the pretentious zealot makes a show to honour Christ with his lofty profession, as if he were altogether a man of heaven: tarry but a little, throw the bait of glory his way, and he will stoop to a carrion, and be taken with the pride of his own commendation…
If you have an angels tongue and a devils heart, you are not better than  a post in the crossway, that rots itself to direct others, or a torch that, having pleasured others with the light, goes out itself in smoke and stench.
—Thomas Adams “Homiletical Encylopedia”

The same Spirit that guided the holy apostles and prophets to write it, must guide the people of God to know the meaning of it; and as he first delivered it, so must he help men to understand it.
—Thomas Goodwin

The Spirit represents the person of Jesus Christ. He works and effects whatever the Lord Christ had taken upon himself to work and effect towards his disciples…All their work and duty being  suspended on the accomplishment of that promise since he is God, they might suppose that he would come with some absolute new dispensation of truth, so that what they had learned and received from Christ should pass away and be of no use to them. To prevent any such apprehension he lets them know that the work he had to do was only to carry on and build on the foundation which was laid in his person or doctrine. This was the Holy Spirit to do. And this he did.
—John Owen, “Discourse on the Holy Spirit”

If you would be acquainted with God, you must visit him often… knock at his door… wait for him… through solemn meditation, secret  prayer, fasting, communion with the saints, and the Lord’s supper.
—James Janeway  “Heaven upon Earth: Jesus the best friend of Man”

It is especially noted of Christ, that as there was ocassion, he slept, he ate, he rested and otherwise refreshed  himself… Against this good instinct of nature do many offend. Covetous misers who so dote upon their wealth and so delight in abundance of goods treasured up, they afford not themselves things needful to nourish their bodies… Such men make their riches to be snares and hindrances, to keep them from eternal life… Others are too intent upon their businesses, even the affairs of their lawful callings… In this, many students, preachers, lawyers, tradesmen, farmers, labourers and others offend [for in good things their may be excess]…. They who by such means disable themselves to make themselves guilty of the neglect of so much good as they might have done, if they had nourished and cherished their bodies.
—William Gouge “Domestical Duties”

Let not any so much presume upon their own strength, as to imagine that they can retain their sincerity, though they keep wicked company, and rather convert them to good, than be perverted by them to evil, seeing this is a matter of great difficulty… For as he who is running down the hill can sooner pull with him one that is ascending, than he who is going up can cause him to ascend that is running down… And thus it is in our spiritual state, wherein the worse more prevails to corrupt the better, than the better to reform the worse.
—George Downame.

There was first in Christ human flesh, abased flesh, and then glorious flesh. Abasement was first  necessary for Christ; he could not have performed the office of a servant, unless he had undertaken the condition of a servant. He must first be abased and then glorious, our ill must be his before good, his cause could be ours. And how could he undergo our ill, our sin and misery, and the curse due to us, unless abased? Our sins must be imputed to him, and then his righteousness and whatsoever is good is ours; so here is both the abasement of his condition and the excellency of his office to be a King, priest,  and prophet to his church.

—Richard Sibbes “A Description of Christ”

If you would be preserved from actual and scandalous sins, labour to mortify original sin, think what an odious thing sin is, get the fear of God planted in your hearts, be careful to avoid all the inlets and occasions of sin, study sobriety and temperance, watch your passions, consult with the oracles of God, be well-versed in Scripture (Ps. 119:11), get your hearts fired with love to God.
—Thomas  Watson “Practical divinity”

Stand manfully… make good your ground against the enemy, by a valiant receiving of his charge and repelling his force… Satan in his temptations is stoutly to be resisted.
Stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…Some by truth mean truth of doctrine; others will have it truth of heart, sincerity… Both are required to make the belt complete… sincerity to propound a right end, and knowledge of the Word of truth to direct us in the right way to that end.
—-William Gurnall “Christian in Complete Armour”

A man is not so prone to live according to the truth he knows except it deeply affect him, so neither doth his soul enjoy its sweetness, except speculation do pass to affection. The understanding is not the whole soul, and therefore cannot do the whole work… The understanding must take in truths, and prepare them for the will, and it must receive them and commend them to the affections;… the affections, are, as it were, the bottom of the soul.
—Richard Baxter