You are not likely to see any general reformation, till you procure family reformation.
If life be long I will be glad, that I may long obey; if short, yet why should I be sad to welcome to endless day?
Nothing below heaven is worth setting our hearts upon.
I did nothing that I might not have done better.
Will any man that hath not lost his senses, now stand caviling, and quarrelling, that so few should be saved, instead of making sure of his own salvation? The reason that there are so few is, because they will not be saved upon God’s terms.
Though selfishness hath defiled the whole man, yet sensual pleasure is the chief part of its interest, and, therefore, by the senses it commonly works; and these are the doors and windows by which iniquity entereth into the soul.
An ounce of mirth is worth a pound of sorrow.
Alas! can we think that the reformation is wrought, when we cast out a few ceremonies, and changed some vestures, and gestures, and forms! Oh no, sirs’! it is the converting and saving of souls that is our business. That is the chiefest part of reformation, that doth most good, and tendeth most to the salvation of the people.
We are members of the world and of the church, and must labour to do good to many; and therefore we have greater work to do on earth, than merely securing our own salvation. We are intrusted with our Master’s talents for his service, to do our best in our places, to propagate his truth and grace, to edify his church, honour his cause, and promote the salvation of as many souls as we can. All this is to be done on earth, if we would secure the end of all in heaven.
When I compare my slow and unprofitable life with the frequent and wonderful mercies received, it shames me, it silences me, and leaves me inexcusable.
The more they love each other, the more they participate in each other’s griefs, and one or the other will be frequently under some sort of suffering.
Words and actions are transient things, and being once past, are nothing; but the effect of them on an immortal soul may be endless.
Lord, will you send me with such an unbelieving heart to persuade others to believe? Must I daily plead with sinners about everlasting life and everlasting death, and have no more belief or feeling of these weighty things myself? Oh send me not naked and unprovided to the work; but, as you command me to do it, furnish me with a spirit suitable thereto.” Prayer.
It is a palpable error of some ministers, who make such a disproportion between their preaching and their living; who study hard to preach exactly, and study little or not at all to live exactly.
Publicans and harlots do sooner come to heaven than Pharisees, because they are sooner convinced of their sin and misery.
You are likely to see no general reformation till you procure family reformation. Some little obscure religion there may be in here and there one; but while it sticks in single persons, and is not promoted by these societies, it doth not prosper, nor promise much for future increase.
Anger is the rising up of the heart in passionate displacency against an apprehended evil, which would cross or hinder us of some desired good.
Heaven is won or lost on earth; the possession is there, but the preparation is here.
There is a great deal of duty that husband and wife owe to one another, such as to instruct, admonish, pray, watch over one another, and be continual helpers to each other in order to their everlasting happiness; they must also patiently bear with the infirmities of each other.
How will it fill our souls with perpetual joy, to think that in the streams of this blood we have swum through the violence of the world, the snares of Satan, the seductions of flesh, the curse of the law, the wrath of an offended God, the accusations of a guilty conscience, and the vexing doubts and fears of an unbelieving heart, and are arrived safely at the presence of God!
Till you can rest in God’s will you will never have rest.