There is no inconsistency in saying that God rewards good works, provided we understand that nevertheless men obtain eternal life gratuitously.
It is a promise which eminently deserves our observation that all who are united to Christ and acknowledge Him to be Christ and Mediator will remain to the end safe from all danger, for what is said of the body of the Church belongs to each of its members since they are one in Christ.
But the present life should never be hated, except insofar as it subjects us to sin, although even that hatred should not properly be applied to life itself.
For though we very truly hear that the kingdom of God will be filled with splendor, joy, happiness and glory, yet when these things are spoken of, they remain utterly remote from our perception, and as it were, wrapped in obscurities, until that day.
It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of his Son, granted her the highest honor.
The marks of Jesus are imprisonment, chains, scourgings, blows and stoning in bearing testimony to the Gospel. Galatians 6:17 – 17 Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
Everyone flatters himself and carries a kingdom in his breast.
If everything proceeded according to their wishes, they would not understand what it means to follow God.
First of all, Scripture draws our attention to this, that if we want ease and tranquility in our lives, we should resign ourselves and all that we have to the will of God, and at the same time we should surrender our affections to him as our Conqueror and Overlord.
Whensoever God’s truth is defaced or when any man turns away from the pure simplicity of the Gospel, we must not in any wise spare him, but although the whole world should set itself against us, yet must we maintain the case with invincible constancy, without bending for any creature.
Peace and friendship are an amiable thing among men. They be so indeed, and we ought to seek them to the uttermost of our power. But yet for all that, we must set such store by God’s truth, that if all the world should be set on fire for the maintenance thereof, we should not stick at it.
It is a sign of a perverse and treacherous disposition to wound the good name of another, when he has no opportunity of defending himself.
The principle exercise which the children of god have is to pray. For in this way they give true proof of their faith.
We cannot rely on God’s promises without obeying his commandments.
We may rest assured that God would never have suffered any infants to be slain except those who were already damned and predestined for eternal death.
Let that ethical philosophy therefore of free-will be far from a Christian mind.
If a preacher is not first preaching to himself, better that he falls on the steps of the pulpit and breaks his neck than preaches that sermon.
Satan, who is a wonderful contriver of delusions, is constantly laying snares to entrap ignorant and heedless people.
Every person, on coming to the knowledge of himself, is not only urged to seek God, but is also led as by the hand to find Him.
Since we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself.
But as a heathen tells us, there is no nation so barbarous, no race so brutish as not to be imbued with the conviction that there is a God.