Meditations on things unseen

It is only a life of faith that will be a life of holy heavenly joy. Excercise yourselves therefore to believing contemplations of things unseen. It must not be now and then a glance of the eye of the soul towards God…but a walking with him, and frequent addresses of the soul unto Him, which must help you to the delight which believers find in communion with him. [Richard Baxter]

The believer’s joy

It is a help to joy, it represents the excellency, truth and reality of spiritual things. That which we rejoice in, must be good, true, present. All joy ariseth from the presence of some good, either in actual posession, or in firm expectation. It is the nature of faith to make things absent present, it giveth being to hope, it sets up a stage in the heart of a believer, where God is represented acting whatever he hath promised. [Thomas Manton]

Respecting our fellow-travellers

I would fain have as free, as large, and as sweet a heart towards saints, as Christ hath. For a wolf to worry a lamb is usual, but for a lamb to worry a lamb is unnatural; for Christ’s lilies to be among thorns, is ordinary, but for these lilies to become thorns, to tear and fetch blood of one another, is monstrous and strange. Ah, Christians! Can Turks and Pagans agree? Can Herod and Pilate agree? Can Moab and Ammon agree? Can bears and lions, can wolves and tigers agree? yea, which is more, can a legion of devils agree in one body? and shall not the saints, whom heaven must hold at last agree?…All saints are fellow-members, fellow soldiers, fellow-travellers, fellow-heirs, fellow-sufferers, and fellow-citizens; and therefore I cannot, dare not, but love them all, and prize them all. [Thomas Brooks]

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The poor, humble, drooping soul, entering into the rest

Thou that now spendest thy days in sorrow, and thy breath in sighings, and turnest all thy voice into groanings; who knowest no garments but sackcloth, no food but the bread and water of affliction; who minglest thy bread with tears, and drinkest the tears which thou weepest; what sayest thou to this great change, from all sorrow to more than all joy? Thou poor soul, who prayest for joy, waitest for joy, complainest for want of joy, longest for joy; why, then, thou shalt have full joy, as much as thou canst hold, and more than ever thou thoughtest on, or thy heart desired. And, in the mean time, walk carefully, watch constantly, and then let God measure out thy times and degrees of joy. It may be he keeps them till thou have more need: thou mayst better lose thy comfort than thy safety: if thou shouldst die full of fears and sorrows, it will be but a moment, and they are all gone, and conclude in joy unconceivable. As the joy of the hypocrite, so the fears of the upright are but for a moment. And as their hopes are but golden dreams, which, when death awakes, doubts and fears are but terrible dreams, which, when they die, do all vanish; and they awake in joyful glory. For “God’s anger endureth but a moment, but in his favour is life: weeping may endureth in the morning,” Psal. xxx. 5. O blessed morning, thrice blessed m orning! poor, humble, drooping soul, how would it fill thee with joy now, if a voice from heaven should tell thee of the love of God; of the pardon of thy sins; and should assure thee thy actual possession shall convince thee of thy title and thou shalt be in heaven before thou art well aware! when the angels shall bring thee to Christ, and when Christ shall, as it were, take thee by the hand, and lead thee into thy purchased possession, and bid thee welcome to his rest, and present thee unspotted before his Father, and give thee thy place about his throne! Poor sinner, what sayest thou to such a day as this? Wilst thou not be almost ready to draw back and say, What I Lord, I, the unworthy neglecter of thy grace! I the unworthy disteemer of thy blood, and slighter of thy love! Must I have this glory? “Make me a hired servant, I am no more worthy to be called a son” But love will have it so; therefore must thou enter into his joy. [Richard Baxter]

The conquering Christian

A Christian is an impregnable person. He is a person that never can be conquered. Emmanuel became man to make the church and every Christian to be one with him. Christ’s nature is out of danger of all that is hurtful. The sun shall not shine, the wind shall not blow, to the church’s hurt. For the church’s Head ruleth over all things and hath all things in subjection. Therefore let all the enemies consult together, this king and that power, there is a counsel in heaven which will disturb and dash all their counsels. Emmanuel in heaven laugheth them to scorn. And as Luther said, “Shall we weep and cry when God laugheth?” [Richard Sibbes]

The danger of affliction

When our afflictions do not drive us to God, nor cause us more humbly to hear and seek His work, but rather to stop our ears, and to run from it, and to seek unlawful means, let us then mourn secretily and heartily unto God, for the direction of God’s Spirit, for that case is dangerous. [Richard Greenham]

Hard job of speaking the truth in love

Alas! it is no pleasure to a minister to speak to people upon such an unwelcome subject, any more than it is to a pitiful physician to tell his patient, I do despair of your life, except you let blood. Why, I beseech you, think on it reasonably without prejudice or passion, and tell me where doth God give any hope of your salvation, till you are new creatures? And will it do you any good for a minister to give you hopes where God gives you none? or would you desire him to do so? Why, what would you think of such a minister when those hopes foresake you; or what thanks will you give him when you find yourself in hell? Would you not lie there and curse him for a deciever for ever? I know this to be true, and there I had rather you were displeased with me here, than curse me there. [Richard Baxter]

The exceeding ugliness of sin

Shall I now entreat you to consider what has been said and, to think what an abominable and ugly thing sin is? It is the worst of evils, worse than the worst of words can express. It is contrary to God and man. For proof of this I have brought witness from heaven and earth, and hell. I have shown you how dearly it cost Jesus Christ who died for it. Therefore stand in awe and sin not. Lay up the Word of God’s command, promise and threatening, that you may not sin against him. Take heed of sinning, for at once you sin against God and your own selves. [Ralph Venning]

Humility

Humility will further tend to prevent a levelling behaviour. Some persons are always ready to level those above them down to themselves; while they are never willing to level those below them up to their own position. But he that is always under the influence of humilty will avoid both these extremes. On the one hand, he will be willing that all should rise just as far as their diligence and worth of character entitle them to; and on the other hand he will be willing that his superiors should be known and acknowledged in their place, and have rendered to them all the honours that are their due He will not desire that all should stand upon the same level, for he knows that it is best that there should be gradations in society; that some should be above others, and should be honoured and submitted to as such. And therefore he is willing to be content with this divine arrangement, and agreeable to it, to conform both his spirit and his behavour to such precepts as the following. Render therefor to all their dues; tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour; (Rom 13:7) ‘Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers to obey magistrates, to be ready for every good work.’[Titus 3:1] [Johanthan Edwards]

Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs

The Apostle exhorteth us to singing,so he instructeth us what the matter of our song should be, to wit, Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Now these three be the very titles of the Songs of David, as they are delivered to us by the Holy Ghost Himself..Now what reason can be given why the Apostle should direct us in our singing to the very title of David’s Psalms if it were not his meaning that we should sing them? [Joseph Cotton]

Christ, all in all

Hypocrites have awakening grace, and are much troubled; they have enlightening grace and know more than many Christians; they have affecting grace, and are wonderfully taken with the glad tidings of the Gospel, but satisfying grace, or grace that brings them to full rest, and satisfying sweetness of God, not only to their consciences but to their hearts.. this they never came to.. this is the last end and fruit of the redemption of Christ so to satiate as not to desire other things, and there to stay, though the heart doth oft not feel the same sweetness.  [Thomas Shephard]

Those with lesser mercies

If the Lord shows  lesser mercies to us than to others, we have no cause to complain because He is no debtor so we must not envy them that have greater gifts, for if we have any it is more than [our] due or than we deserve, and this will teach us to be contented with that which we have had. Let us then look on what we have and give God thanks for it, and know that if we should have more He would give more, yea, if we consider that they that have much must make the greater account, and that we are unfit to do so,we  will thank God that we have no more than we have. [Richard Greenham]

Faith and works and free grace

There is a sort of  men, who indeed abundantly cry down works, and  cry up faith in opposition to works, and set up themselves very much as evangelical persons in opposition to those that are of a legal spirit, and make a fair show of advancing Christ and the gospel, and the way of free grace, who indeed are some of the  greatest enemies to the gospel way of free grace, and the most dangerous opposers of  humble Christianity. [Johnathan Edwards]

Partial and total apostasy

When an important principle of evangelical truth is foresaken and renounced, especially when many of them are so; when the rule of obedience which the gospel prescribeth is habitually neglected; when men believe otherwise than it teacheth, and live otherwise than it requireth, there is a partial apostasy from it, whose guilt and danger answers the degrees and measures which in each kind it proceeds unto… Men are apt to please themselves, to approve of their own state and condition…Churches content themselves with their outward order and adminstration, and contend fiercely that all is well, and the gospel, sufficiently compiled withal, whilst their outward constitution is preserved and their laws of order kept involate…and it is known that the judgement of Christ concerning churches…is oft-times very distant from their own concerning themselves…Only a few remain that fruitlessly complain that, under all these conflicts, the glory, power and purity of the Christian religion are lost in the world. [John Owen]

Having mercy upon our own souls

Behold! O man, thy soul was formed by God Himself. It is of a finer texture than the trodden clod—endowed with an intelligence of a higher nature than animal instinct. It is a vile degradation of its powers to feed it only with the beggarly elements of earth–thou oughtest  to set thy affections on things that are above, and to commune with the invisible and the eternal.  Thou robbest the Almighty–thou art treasuring up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God. Thou canst not perish absolutely, for God will not annihilate thee.  Be zealous and repent, lest thou become an eternal monument of his just vengeance. Oh that some Jonas had this point in hand, to cry in your ears, ‘Yet a few days and the rebellious shall be destroyed;’  till you were brought down on your knees in sackcloth and ashes! Oh if some John Baptist might cry it abroad, ‘Now if the axe laid to the root of the trees; every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire!’ Oh that some son of thunder, who could speak as Paul, till the hearers tremble, were now to preach this doctrine to thee! Alas! as terribly as you think I speak, yet is it not with the thousandth part of what must be felt; for what heart can now possibly conceive, or what tongue can express, the dolours of those souls that are under the wrath of God? Ah, that ever blind sinners should willfully bring themselves to such unspeakable misery! You will then be crying to Jesus Christ,–Oh mercy! Oh, pity, pity on a poor soul! Why, I do now in the name of the Lord Jesus cry to thee, Oh, mercy, pity man, upon thine own soul! Who can stand before the Lord and hide the fierceness of his anger? Methinks thou shouldst need no more words, but presently cast away thy soul damning sins, and wholly deliver thyself up to Christ. Resolve on it immediately, man, and let it be done, that I may see thy face in rest among the saints. The Lord persuade thy heart to strike this covenant without any longer delay; but if thou be hardened unto death, and there be no rememdy, yet do not say another day that thou wasn’t faithfully warned, nor that thou hadst a friend that would fain have prevented thy damanation. [Richard Baxter]

Foolish sheep in the midst of subtle serpents

The devil has driven the pendulum far beyond its proper point of rest; and when he has carried it to the utmost length that he can, and it begins by its own weight to swing back, he probably will set in, and drive it with the utmost fury the other way; and so give us no rest; and if possible prevent our settling in a proper medium. What a poor, blind, weak and miserable creature is man, at his best estate! We are like poor helpless sheep; the devil is far too subtle for us What is our strength! What is our wisdom! How ready are we to go astray! How easily are we drawn aside into innumerable snares, while in the mean time we are bold and confident, and doubt but not we are right and and safe! We are foolish sheep in the midst of subtle of serpents and cruel wolves, and do not know it. Oh how unfit we are to be left to ourselves! And how much do we stand in need of the wisdom, the power, the condescenion, patience, forgiveness, and gentleness of our good Shepherd! [Johnathan Edwards]

The Sum of the Gospel

The sum of the gospel is this, that all who, by true repentance and faith, do foresake the flesh, the world and the devil, and give themselves up to God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit, as their Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, shall find God as a father, taking them for his reconciled children, and for Christ’s sake pardoning their sin, and by his Spirit give them grace; and, if they perservere in this course, will finally glorify them, and bestow upon them everlasting happiness; but will condemn the unbelievers, impenitent, and ungodly to everlasting punishment. that this is the sum of the Gospel appeareth by Mark 15:15-16: “Go preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth not shall be damned”;– where you have all the Christian religion laid before you in one short view and propsect. [Thomas Manton]

Keeping eternity in view

We must endeavour after the most succesful way, and pray for a just prosperity for our Labours; And when God doth prosper us with Wealth, we must take it thankfully (tho with fear) and use it to his Service, and do all the good with it that we can. Look up to Heaven men; and remember that there is thy Home, and there is thy Hope, or else thou art a man undone forever; and therefore it is for that thou must care and labour. [Richard Baxter]

The role of the church-what it is and isn’t

The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them… providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the church…the need is for Biblical doctrine, so understood and felt that it sets men aflame.[C.H. Spurgeon]

The refining fire

Job served God in truth, and yet was punsished, and so Lazarus; but this was not so much for their own sin as for the trial of their faith and that after them, the Church might recieve great comfort by their examples. For as it hurts not the gold to be put into the fire, both because it is tried, and also made more pure–so it is not evil for the children of God to have their faith tried. If it be a strong faith, it will bear the fire; if it be weak, it will shine yet brighter. The Lord often… by outward crosses draweth us from the state of security and untowardness to good works. Neither can we truly repent, unless by some cross we know this world to be a place of sorrow, and not of mirth and delight. We must be as birds on a bough, to remove at God’s pleasure, and that without resistance when the Lord shall visit us. And because we are too much given to think that we have the things in our own right, which we hold of the free goodness of God, we are taught in affliction how heinous unthankfulness it were to bind the Lord continually to entertain us in this life at so full charge and cost. [Richard Greenham]

Different responses to pointed preaching

Revivals of Religion were nowhere heard of, and an orthodox creed and a decent external conduct were the only points of which inquiry were made when persons were admitted to the communion of the Church.  The habit of the preachers was to address their people as though they were all pious, and only needed instruction and confirmation…Under such a state of things, it is easy to concieve that in a short time vital piety may have almost deserted the church. And nothing is more certain, than that when people have sunk into this deplorable state they will be disposed to manifest strong opposition to faithful, pointed preaching; and will be apt to view every appearance of revival with an unfavourable eye. Accordingly, when God raised up preachers, animated with a burning zeal, who laboured faithfully to convince their hearers of their ruined condition, and of the necessity of a thorough conversion from sin, the opposition to them was violent. The Gospel, among people in such a condition, is sure to produce strife and division between those who fall under its influence and those whose carnal minds  urge them to oppose it. [Archibald Alexander]

Assurance-A foretaste of Heaven

He preached on the subject of assurance of faith. The whole sermon was affecting to me, but especially when he came to show the way in which assurance was obtained, and to point out its happy fruits. When I heard him say that those who have assurance have a foretaste of heavenly glory, I knew the truth of it from what I then felt: I knew that I then tasted the clusters of the heavenly Canaan: my soul was overwhelmed and filled with light, and love and joy in the Holy Ghost, and seemed just ready to go away from the body [Sarah Edwards, wife of Johnathan, who had an exceptional experience of heaven on earth, when gaining utmost assurance that lasted the rest of her life]

Why so much preaching and so little learning?

Whereof comes it that there is so much preaching and so little learning? But because men preach high and delight to hear plausible novelties, to please the ear rather than the simple power of the Word to please the heart. [Richard Greenham]

True penitential confession

• True pentitence is free and voluntary, not forced, nor reluctantly squeezed out, like Pharoh’s and Saul’s confession of sin.
• True penitential confession is full and complete. Contrast that of Judas, who confessed his betrayal of innocent blood but not his covetousness.
• True penitential confession is sincere, springing from the impressons of grace on the soul.
• True penitential confession is distinct and not confused; in it offenders confess their sins wholesale and in detail, as David confessed his particular sins of adultery and blood-guiltiness.
• The true pentitent confesses the circumstances and aggravations of his lapse.
• The true penitent is sorrowful, coming before God as Benhadad’s servants came, with ropes about their necks. “Penitential tears are undeniable ambassadors.”
• True penitential confession is always mixed with faith, though not always with strong faith.
• True penitence is accompanied by reformation of life. [Thomas Brooks]