Paul was Nero’s prisoner, but Nero was much more God’s.
The soldier is summoned to a life of active duty and so is the Christian.
Pride of gifts robs us of God’s blessing in the use of them.
The longer a soul hath neglected duty, the more ado there is to get it taken up.
Say not that thou hast royal blood in thy veins; say not that thou art born of God if thou canst not prove thy pedigree by daring to be holy!
Weak faith will as surely land the Christian in heaven as strong faith, for it is impossible the least dram of true grace should perish.
It is one thing to know a truth, and another thing to know it by unction.
The regenerating Spirit is compared to the wind. His first attempts on the soul may be so secret that the creature knows not whence they come, or whither they tend; but, before he hath done, the sound will be heard throughout the soul.
Least doers are the greatest boasters.
One Almighty is more than all mighties.
God’s wounds cure, sin’s kisses kill.
No torment in the world is comparable to an accusing conscience.
Compare not thyself with those that have less than thyself, but look on those that have far exceeded thee.
Blind zeal is soon put to a shameful retreat, while holy resolution, built on fast principles, lifts up its head like a rock in the midst of the waves.
God hath made it a debt which one saint owes to another to carry their names to a throne of grace.
As the eye of the body once put out, can never be restored by the creature’s art, so neither can the spiritual eye lost by Adam’s sin be restored by the teaching of men or angels. It is one of the diseases which Christ came to cure.
Christ will bear no equal, and Satan no superior; and therefore, hold in with both thou canst not.
If thou beest ever so exact in thy morals, and not a worshiper of God, then thou art an atheist.
All the plots of hell and commotions on earth have not so much as shaken God’s hand to spoil one letter or line he has been drawing.
Sometimes, perhaps, thou hearest another pray with much freedom and fluency, whilst thou canst hardly get out a few broken words. Hence thou art ready to accuse thyself and admire him, as if the gilding of the key made it open the door the better.
It is not only our duty to pray for others, but also to desire the prayers of others for ourselves.