Growing in Christ
Puritans
A few more quotes on Heaven
16 months ago
I posted earlier today a quote from J.C. Ryle on Heaven. I’ve been looking to compile a few quotes from our fathers in the faith from earlier generations, and hit a gold mine at Nick Roark’s blog Telle Lege. I have to confess that everything I’ve quoted below is merely swiped from him under his Heaven tag. If you enjoy what I post here, chances are, you’ll really enjoy what Nick posts at his blog, so check it out. Without further ado, more quotes on Heaven.
Christ is the very heaven of heaven
“Heaven is not heaven without Christ. It is better to be any place with Christ than to be in heaven itself without Him. All delicacies without Christ are but as a funeral banquet.
Where the master of the feast is away, there is nothing but solemnness. What is all without Christ? I say the joys of heaven are not the joys of heaven without Christ. He is the very heaven of heaven…
To be with Christ is to be at the spring-head of all happiness.”
~Richard Sibbes, “Christ is Best,’ in The Works of Richard Sibbes, Vol. 1 (Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth, 1634/1973), 339.
HT.
Joy is the serious business of Heaven
It is only in our ‘hours-off,’ only in our moments of permitted festivity, that we find an analogy. Dance and game are frivolous, unimportant down here; for ‘down here’ is not their natural place. Here, they are a moment’s rest from the life we were place here to live.
But in this world everything is upside down. That which , if it could be prolonged here, would be a truancy, is likest that which in a better country is the End of ends. Joy is the serious business of Heaven.”
(HT: Full quote here)
~C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (San Diego: Harvest, 1964), 93.
Heaven Will Work Backwards
“That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, ‘No future bliss can make up for it’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.”
~C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (New York: HarpersCollins, 1946), 69.
HT.
Heaven an Ocean of Love
There, in heaven, this infinite fountain of love — this eternal Three in One — is set open without any obstacle to hinder access to it, as it flows forever. There this glorious God is manifested, and shines forth, in full glory, in beams of love.
And there this glorious fountain forever flows forth in streams, yea, in rivers of love and delight, and these rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of love, in which the souls of the ransomed may bathe with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, as it were, be deluged with love!
Jonathan Edwards, ”Heaven, a World of Love” in Charity and Its Fruits (Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth, 1852/2000), 327-8.
Help each other up the hill towards Heaven
Labor to be much acquainted with heaven. If you are not acquainted with it, you will not be likely to spend your life as a journey thither. You will not be sensible of its worth, nor will you long for it…
Let Christians help one another in going this journey. There are many ways whereby Christians might greatly forward one another in their way to heaven, as by religious conference, etc. Therefore let them be exhorted to go this journey as it were in company: conversing together, and assisting one another. Company is very desirable in a journey, but in none so much as this. Let them go united and not fall out by the way, which would be to hinder one another, but use all means they can to help each other up the hill. This would ensure a more successful traveling and a more joyful meeting at their Father’s house in glory.”
~Jonathan Edwards, “The Christian Pilgrim, Or, The True Christian’s Life a Journey Toward Heaven,” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, ed. Edward Hickman, 2 vols. (1834; reprint, Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1974), vol. 2: p. 245-6.
Why you need the Holy Spirit
06 months ago
In doing a little research today, I ran across a section I’d marked in On Communion with God from a previous read that I thought I’d share. I tend to like lists, especially pithy ones that pack a lot of weight into a small amount of space. What I appreciate about what Dr. Owen says bellow is that he hits home on the mundain needs of the Spirit in daily life. We never drift towards godliness, and thus never drift towards a reliance on the Spirit. Thus, daily, I’m either content in Christ or complaining, hardened against sin or wooed by it, puffed up by performance or humbled by grace, taken in by the love of money and our sex-saturated culture, or fretting about the world around me. Without the Spirit, none of those distinctions have hope in them, but with the “consolations” or help of the Spirit there is the power of Christ to walk in wisdom and holiness.
In a word, in all the concernments of this life, and in our whole expectation of another, we stand in need of the consolations of the Holy Ghost.
- Without them, we shall either despise afflictions or faint under them, and God be neglected as to his intendments in them.
- Without them, sin will either harden us to a contempt of it, or cast us down to a neglect of the remedies graciously provided against it.
- Without them, duties will either puff us up with pride, or leave us without that sweetness which is in new obedience.
- Without them, prosperity will make us carnal, sensual, and to take up our contentment in these things, and utterly weaken us for the trials of adversity.
- Without them, the comforts of our relations will separate us from God, and the loss of them make our hearts as Nabal’s.
- Without them, the calamity of the church will overwhelm us, and the prosperity of the church will not concern us.
- Without them, we shall have wisdom for no work, peace in no condition, strength for no duty, success in no trial, joy in no state, — no comfort in life, no light in death.
~John Owen, On Communion with God, Works II: 261.
Other editions:
Puritan Paperback Series: On Communion with God by John Owen (with abridgments and edits to be easier to read)
Communion with the Triune God by John Owen, edited by Justin Taylor and Kelly M. Kapic
His Providence Controlled by Promises
07 months ago
In the opening pages of John Flavel’s The Mystery of Providence, he makes a comment that helps me see how the Bible affects me today.
Rom 8:28, “and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” For it is certain, no ship at sea keeps more exactly by the compass which directs its course, than providence doth by that promise, which is its Cynosura and Pole-star.
The promises of God are woven into my life with the precision of the sovereign, loving, providential hand of my Father in Heaven. They aren’t scattered, waiting for me to gamble their power. God aims his promises, like a ship kept on course with a compass, to effectually work their power in my life. God’s aiming and guiding of his promises from Scripture into me is his providence. What else would he do for his beloved in Christ Jesus?
Not only is providence the means of God’s promises meeting me, but providence is controlled by the promises of God. The Lord is good and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. This means that my son waking up at 12am and staying awake for 3 hours is controlled in God’s providential hand by his promises to be good and gracious. That is, my dear soul, that you aren’t being flicked by the Lord, but loved. Loved so much that God’s providence demands you meet God’s promises in your most desperate moments.
A Prayer
I am humbled, O Lord, that you care for the intimate details of my life. You are good and gracious, and teach me your character and promises by your orchestration of my life. You guide my life to know your promises as true and real, and to follow the lines of your promises as they draw your face, that I may know you. O Father, teach me to see your providential care to know your promises more intimately today, that I may be prepared to meet you face to face when, by your plan, death comes to me, and that I might be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, your best and brightest promise.
Amen.
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Photo source.
New e-book: The Fountain of Life by John Flavel
28 months ago
The aim of every Christian’s heart should treasure with increasing delight the glory of Jesus Christ in their daily life. This desire ekes through every Apostle’s writings from Paul to John. One of the best ways we can do this apart from reading and meditating on Scripture is the reading of good sermons and books about the glory of Jesus Christ. To that end, John Flavel penned (and preached) one of his most infamous and famous works, The Fountain of Life. I’ve been working through it over the last couple years (a sermon here, a sermon there) and am about to finish it. There are several sermons in it that I have starred to reread again (if not the whole thing). Flavel has served my soul immensely (and become a good friend along the way, a beloved dead-pastor). In this digital age, I thought it would be helpful to convert it into e-book format, and have made my file available here, free, at no charge. Of course, you can buy the printed volume along with the rest of his works here. But in the mean time while you’re saving up, if you have the desire to have your soul fed with grand and glorious visions of Jesus Christ, here is his Fountain of Life in e-book format. (Click the picture for download. If you have any problems, please comment.)
Jesus, Hell, and the Love of God
09 months ago
Hell is a rather popular topic of controversy today. In the little that I’ve read in the discussion, most focus on human value and the victory of the love of God, with little seriousness about the sufferings of Christ. On this point in particular, my (dead) friend John Flavel has helped me deeply. C.S. Lewis commented that reading people outside of our own times and controversies helps bring the issues at stake into perspective through the wisdom of those who have gone (and thought) before us.
The sermon I’m quoting from is from The Fountain of Life. In this chapter Flavel is preaching on John 19:28
“After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said–I thirst!“
Of the many things he has to say on this passage (which you can read online for free here), these are the sections that I found most helpful in bring the matter of Hell and the sufferings of Christ into clearer focus.
If our mercies must be pure mercies, and our glory in heaven pure and unmixed glory, then the wrath which lie suffered must be pure and unmixed wrath. (I: 423)
None of the damned had ever so large a capacity to take in a full sense of the wrath of God as Christ had. The larger any one’s capacity is to understand and weigh his troubles fully, the more grievous and heavy is his burden. If a man cast vessels of greater and lesser quantity into the sea, though all will be full, yet the greater the vessel is, the more water it contains. Now Christ had a capacity beyond all mere creatures to take in the wrath of his Father; and what deep and large apprehensions he had of it may be judged by his bloody sweat in the garden, which was the effect of his mere apprehensions of the wrath of God. Christ was a large vessel indeed; as he is capable of more glory, so of more sense and misery than any other person in the world. (I: 423-424)
The sufferings of Christ for sin give us the true account, and fullest representation of its evil. “The law (says one) is a bright glass, wherein we may see the evil of sin; but there is the red glass of the sufferings of Christ, and in that we may see more of the evil of sin, than if God should let us down to hell, and there we should see all the tortures and torments of the damned. If we should see them how they lie sweltering under God’s wrath there, it were not so much as the beholding of sin through the red glass of the sufferings of Christ.”
If we should see and hear all this, it is not so much as what we may see in this text, where the Son of God, under his sufferings for it, cries out, I thirst. For, as I showed you before, Christ’s sufferings, in divers respects, were beyond theirs. O then, let not your vain heart slight sin, as if it were but a small thing! If ever God show you the face of sin in this glass, you will say, there is not such another horrid representation to be made to a man in all the world. Fools make a mock at sin, but wise men tremble at it. (I: 425-426)
A penal thirst, is God’s just denying of all refreshments or relief to sinners in their extremities, and that as a due punishment for their sin. This believers shall never feel, because when Christ thirsted upon the cross, he made full satisfaction to God in their room. These sufferings of Christ, as they were ordained for them, so the benefits of them are truly imputed to them. And for the natural thirst, that shall be satisfied: for in heaven we shall live without these necessities and dependencies upon the creature; we shall be equal with the angels in the way and manner of living and subsisting…Luke 20:6. And for the gracious thirsting of their souls for God, it shall be fully satisfied. So it is promised, Mat. 5:6. “Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled:” They shall then depend no more upon the stream, but drink from the overflowing fountain itself, Psalm. 36:8 “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of your house, and you shall make them drink of the river of your pleasures: for with you is the fountain of life, and in Your light shall we see light:” There they shall drink and praise, and praise and drink for evermore; all their thirsty desires shall be filled with complete satisfaction. O how desirable a state is heaven upon this account! and how should we be restless until we come there; as the thirsty traveler is until he meet that cool, refreshing spring he wants and seeks for. This present state is a state of thirsting, that to come of refreshment and satisfaction. Some drops indeed come from the fountain by faith, hut they quench not the believer’s thirst; rather like water sprinkled on the fire, they make it burn the more: but there the thirsty soul has enough.
O bless God, that Jesus Christ thirsted under the heat of his wrath once, that you might not be scorched with it forever. If he had not cried, I thirst, you must have cried out of thirst eternally, and never be satisfied. (I: 428-429)
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Image from Tony Reinke’s Flickr feed.
Isaac Ambrose – Looking Unto Jesus
09 months ago
In this knowledge of Christ, there is an excellency above all other knowledge in the world; there is nothing more pleasing and comfortable, more animating and enlivening, more ravishing and soul contenting;
only Christ is the sun and centre of all divine revealed truths, we can preach nothing else as the object of our faith, as the necessary element of your soul’s salvation, which doth not some way or other, either meet in Christ, or refer to Christ;
only Christ is the whole of man’s happiness,
the Sun to enlighten him,
the Physician to heal him,
the Wall of fire to defend him,
the Friend to comfort him,
the Pearl to enrich him,
the Ark to support him,
the Rock to sustain him under the heaviest pressures.
Only Christ is that ladder between earth and heaven, the Mediator between God and man, a mystery, which the angels of heaven desire to pry, and peep, and look into.”
Heaven’s inhabitants will be ever digging into this gold mine, ever rolling this soul-delighting and precious stone, ever beholding, viewing, inquiring, and searching into the excellency of this same Christ.
If I had but one word more to speak to the world, it should be this; Oh! let all our spirits be taken up with Christ, let us not busy ourselves too much with toys, or trifles, with ordinary and low things, but look to Jesus.
Surely Christ is enough to fill all our thoughts, desires, hopes, loves, joys, or whatever is within us, or without us; Christ alone comprehends all the circumference of our happiness; Christ is the pearl hid in the large field of God’s word;
Christ is the scope of all the scripture:
all things and persons in the old world were types of him;
all the prophets foretold him,
all God’s love runs through him,
all the gifts and graces of the Spirit flow from him,
the whole eye of God is upon him,
and all his designs both in heaven and earth meet in him.
Isaac Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus
HT: Picture
No bare life in Christ
01 year ago
I’m warning you, if you keep reading, you’ll be filled with the joy of Christ, but it won’t be easy.
With that said, I wanted to share one of those glorious gems I’ve come across in reading John Owen.
Neither does this living head communicate only a bare life unto believers, that they should merely live and no more, a poor, weak, dying life, as it were; but he gives out sufficiently to afford them a strong, vigorous, thriving, flourishing life (John 10:10). He comes not only that his sheep “may have life,” but that “they may have it more abundantly,” that is, in a plentiful manner, so as that they may flourish, be fat and fruitful. Thus is it with the whole body of Christ, and every member thereof, whereby it “[is] to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Eph. 4:15-16 – changed to ESV). The end of all communications of grace and supplies of life from this living and blessed head [Jesus Christ] is the increase of the whole body and every member of it, and the edifying of itself in love. His treasures of grace are unsearchable; his stores inexhaustible; his life, the fountain of ours, full and eternal; his heart bounteous and large; his hand open and liberal: so that there is no doubt but that he communicates supplies of grace for their increase in holiness abundantly unto all his saints.
Wow, ok, take a knee. We need a breather. Dr. Owen is saying that Christ did not save us to be dull Christians, who plod along. Jesus did not save us to have a “bare life”, but a life full of joy in him. I don’t know about you, but this is a continual struggle for me. I don’t experience the joy of Christ very much. I’m probably not what you would call a regularly happy Christian.
However, it is not through introspection that this spiritual demeanor changes. Change comes actually through seeing this grand reality that Owen holds forth. Growth comes through love; love for Christ and what he offers that makes us happy – Himself. Being united with Christ through faith means that we enter into enjoying the joy and love of God. Christ has paid what our sins deserve, that we might receive what he deserved: unending, ever increasing joy in God. And it is through Christ himself that we receive this life that is more than bare life. It is a life with God. It is a life of joy.
But yet, maybe you’re asking with me, “Yes, I know this is true, and have tasted it from time to time, but why do I feel that my faith is stale and weak, and that my joy in Christ is minimal at best?” Owen, in being a thoughtful pastor, got on to help us at this point.
Oftentimes Christ gives very much grace where not many of its effects do appear. It spends its strength and power in withstanding the continual assaultsof violent corruptions and lusts, so that it cannot put forth its proper virtue toward further fruitfulness…It is forced oftentimes to put forth its virtue to oppose and contend against, and in any measure subdue, prevailing lusts and corruptions. That the soul receives not that strengthening unto duties and fruitfulness which otherwise it might receive by it isfrom hence. How sound, healthy, and flourishing, how fruitful and exemplary in holiness, might many a soul be by and with that grace which is continually communicated to it from Christ, which now, by reason of the power ofindwelling sin, is not only dead, but weak, withering, and useless!
Owen’s point is this. Often, the people of Christ bemoan their own weakness, minimal growth in grace, and lack of joy in Christ, all the while Christ is at work! They forget to see that the grace that would be working fruitfulness in their lives is actually working to prevent them from growing worse in sin. Owen gasps with us at how healthy many Christian souls would be, how happy they would be in Christ, if the grace they would be enjoying weren’t attacking their primary enemy: sin!
This Christ that we love is so full of grace towards us that he is working in us even in (especially in) those moments when we least feel it. Christ is killing and holding back our sinful nature that he has conquered, even when we don’t think to ask him to do it. (And then I go and moan to God about not feeling his presence… all the while he’s preventing me from becoming a worse wretch than I would naturally be.)
When we see the “life abundantly” that God has for us in Christ, the moments of weakness are filled with the confidence that Jesus is with us, even when we don’t know the joy of his presence, so that we can find even more joy and happiness in him. He is our fountain of life.
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My quotes come from Overcoming Sin and Temptation by John Owen, edited by Kelly Kepic and Justin Taylor. You can pick it up at Westminster Books for a bare $13.67. I highly recommend it! It will have a profound impact on your walk with Christ and your joy in the Holy Spirit.
The Duty of the Mind
01 year ago
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about Christian duty and obedience, and how to think of this in terms of killing my indwelling sin. So in my reading, I came across this section in John Owen’s work on indwelling sin this morning that I found particularly helpful:
There are two things which belong unto the duty of the mind in that special office which it has in and about the obedience which God requires:
(1) To keep itself and the whole soul in such a frame and posture as may renderit ready unto all duties of obedience, and watchful against all enticements unto the conception of sin;
(2) In particular, carefully to attend unto all particular actions, that they be performed as God requires, for matter, manner,time and season, agreeably unto his will; as also for the obviating [of] all particular tenders of sin in things forbidden.
In these two things consists the whole duty of the mind of a believer; and from both of them does indwelling sin endeavor to divert it and draw it off.
Of course, Owen’s language is a tad stilted at times (obviation means “render unnecessary”), but his point is helpful. The whole duty of the mind is discipline and defense, readiness and action in obeying God.
Personally, I find the whole issue of keeping my mind set on the things of God rather hard, so to even think in terms of a constant readiness of my mind to evaluate things in terms of God is difficult to imagine. But on the other hand, I’ve trained my mind pretty well to be satisfied with me and my desires and “commands” from birth. I’m render obedience pretty easily to Jacob’s Universe and Law – I kinda like what he’s got going and what he has in mind.
The hope to change into practicing what Owen lays out here is within us, it’s in the Spirit’s power through the Bible. God tells us:
Do not be conformed to this world (i.e. Jacob’s Universe and Law), but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
It is through the power of God’s word that we are transformed to have a mind ready to action, constantly defending the soul from temptations assaults and allurements. We look at God’s mind, his ways, his wisdom, and see our own foolishness. But in this vision, we see a God who is eager to give wisdom and change our minds to love his law. He gives wisdom to those who bank on who God tells us he is (gracious, kind, good, loving, etc.) and ask him on the basis of that reality for more grace, more wisdom, more love. It’s a continual, every progressing, day after day, frustration after frustration, break-through after break-through type of transformation.
The picture of changing into the type of person that Owen holds out – the type who’s eager with his mind to discern the ways of the Lord so that his soul may enjoy God – is done through continually looking at the work and person of Jesus Christ. That’s the whole purpose of the Scriptures. Again, God tells us:
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 3:18)
May God make it so in me, in you. May God send his Spirit upon my mind to make me a man who loves the duty of loving God’s law, loves obedience so much to defend my soul with my mind as God made me to do.
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If you’re interested in reading more of Owen, you can get this work in a great edition from Crossway, edited Kelly M. Kapic and Justin Taylor, entitled Overcoming Sin and Temptation. You can see a preview of this volume and the page this was taken from at google books here. If you’re a purist, you can read the original from Owen in Volume 6 of his Works without edits. Happy reading!
Review: The Secret of Communion with God
2I think some times the Puritans get a bad wrap. Yea, they’re hard to read, and everybody thinks of witch burning when they think of them… But that’s kind of like associating the State of Alabama with The University of Alabama: Don’t lump all the good people in with the bad. (That’s right, in this case, Alabama is bad, very bad.)
In The Secret of Communion with God by Matthew Henry,
readers will see just how helpful, caring, and pastoral the Puritans are. Henry’s tone through the whole book is like a warm grandfather, eager to help his grandchild learn how to do the basic, important things in life (like count, or hit a ball). The subject of the book is prayer – an area that every Christian feels is weak in their lives. Henry, in biblical fashion, is not eager to condemn or damn people lacking much motion in their prayer lives. He follows the pattern of the Bible and holds up a picture of who God is, God’s mercy to us to enjoy him, and encourages us towards the discipline of prayer with excitement about the grace we’ll receive.
Summary
Matthew Henry starts his book on communion with God by defining prayer for us:
Prayer is lifting up the soul to God, and pouring out the heart before him; yet, as far as the expressing of the devout affections of the heart by words may be of use to fix the thoughts, and to excite and quicken the desires, it is good to draw near to God, not only with a pure heart, but with a humble voice; so we must “render the calves of our lips.” (13)
That is, prayer is lifting up the soul to God, using words to fix our attention and thoughts on God, while also using words to instruct our emotions and affections to enjoy God. Ultimately, prayer is good because we draw near to God. Through the book, Henry applies this to our souls through the course of the day.
The book consists of three simple parts: How to begin your day with God, How to keep your day with God, and How to end your day with God. Henry discusses the three parts of the day in simply applying a Psalm to our lives. For beginning the day he applies Psalm 5:3 – “O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.” Here he opens up how to begin the day in one’s attitude towards God and expectations in reading his Word. The Christian has much to be grateful for in beginning their day, and much to ask God for grace in as they look towards the day ahead. If you’re needing help in seeing why you should begin your day in prayer, and how you should be praying to God, this section will be helpful for you.
In the middle of the day, Henry applies Psalm 25:5, “for you I wait all the day long.” Henry goes through here and applies “waiting on the Lord” in how to spend the day with God. He helps us to ask what we are boasting in through the day. Am I boasting in God in my attitude and approach to the day’s activities? Or am I boasting in myself? The Christian’s life is bound up in dependence on Jesus Christ, and Henry beckons the soul to rest in Jesus.
Finally, Henry closes the book by applying Psalm 4:8 to how we end our days, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Here we see how to think about the day behind us. To be repentant of the sins we’ve committed, thankful for the mercies we’ve received. The grace of God to give us peace in Christ through the Gospel is applied to our souls to help us join with David in knowing real peace as we lie down. Henry closes by drawing our attention to think on that final peace we will know in death, to draw sobriety from that, as well as joy for that day when we will see our Lord Jesus.
Reasons to like the book
As I read through the book, I felt instructed on how to think about daily prayer and how to make a discipline of the normal events of the day into moments where I express simply faith in Christ. Many books on prayer want to address specific issues about prayer – how to pray for certain things, how to understand theological issues in prayer, etc. Other books want to give only practical guides for prayer – how to’s and when’s – without giving any instruction. Henry’s little work gives you a whole vision of why you should pray during the day. The book feels like a parent helping their child see consolations in the heavens; Henry points to regular moments of our lives, stands us in them, and points us up to see how the glory of God relates to them.
One of the ways I want to use this book from here is to go through and make little short lists of his guidance of the types of things to be praying about for mental joggers. For example, when waking, Henry reminds us that we are dependent upon God, and lists out several areas that we see this: Our happiness depends on God; our guilt makes us dependent on mercy; our souls depend on God for life; our safety from enemies depends on God; our impending death makes us dependent upon God for every moment of life; we depend on Christ being members of his body, the Church; we depend on God for strength and wisdom in all of our relationships. That’s a helpful list to keep in mind when thinking about the day’s business ahead.
Personally, the most helpful chapter in the book – and I think the most needed for Western Christians – is his section on waiting upon God. American’s are not patient. The call and application to wait in prayer upon God is very helpful.
Favorite quotes
Here are my favorite (small) quotes from the book to wet your appetite.
We read of preaching the word out of season, but we do not read of praying out of season, for that is never out of seas: the throne of grace is always open, and humble supplicants are always welcome, and cannot come unseasonably. (11)
Wherever God finds a praying heart, he will be found a prayer-hearing God. (12)
What a shame is this to us, that God is more willing to be prayed to, and more ready to hear prayer, than we are to pray. (14)
If you love God, you cannot be to seek for something to say to him, something for your hearts to pour out before him, which his grace has already put there. (16)
Though we cannot by our prayers give him any information, yet we must by our prayers give him honour. It is true, nothing we can say can have any influence upon him, or move him to show us mercy, but it may have an influence upon ourselves, and help to put us into a frame fit to receive mercy. (19)
God’s word must be the guide of your desires, and the ground of your expectations in prayer; nor can you expect he should give a gracious ear to what you say to him, if you turn a deaf ear to what he saith to you. (20)
Prayer is heart’s-ease to a good Chrisitan. (26)
Whatever you do, begin with God. (27)
Aurora musis amica – “The morning is a friend to the muses” and if the morning be a friend to the muses, I am sure it is no less so to the graces. (28)
It is not enough to say your prayers, but you must pray your prayers (38-39)
When you have prayed, look upon yourselves as thereby engaged and encouraged, both to serve God and to trust in him; that the comfort and benefit of your morning devotions may not be as the morning cloud which passeth away, but as the morning light which shines more and more. (39)
To wait on God, is to live a life of desire toward him, delight in him, dependence on him, and devotedness to him. (44)
Desire is love in motion… delight is love at rest. (45)
Something or other the soul has that it values itself by, something or other that it reposes itself in; and what is it? God or the world? What is it that we pride ourselves in ? Which we make the matter of our boasting? (45)
To wait on God is to make his will our rule. (47)
And then it intimates this, that those, and those only, can expect to be taught of God, who are ready and willing to do as they are taught. (48)
Did we think more of death, we would converse more with God. (71)
O that, when I awake, I may be still with God, that the parenthesis of sleep, though long, may not break off the thread of my communion with God, but that as soon as I awake 1 may resume it. (99)
Conclusion
Ultimately, I think this is a really helpful book on prayer. I highly recommend it to anybody looking for a little puritan book to guide them in thinking about prayer, and stir their affection to be with God.
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I was given this book for free by the publisher for reviewing.
We need bruising
11 year ago
One of my favorite books of all time is The Bruise Reed by Richard Sibbes. At 128 pages, it’s a highly distilled vaccine of Gospel power. Virtually every page of my copy is underlined and starred. In this book, Sibbes exposites the prophetic promise of Isaiah about Jesus that, “a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice” (Isaiah 42:3). The book is like a solid home-cooked meal. All from scratch, warm, steaming, just the right company and family around, with an explosion of comforting, soothing flavor as it hits the palate. Here’s one little quote for the book that I thought I’d share today:
After conversion we need
bruising so that reeds may know themselves to be reeds, and not oaks. Even reeds need bruising, by reason of the remainder of pride in our nature, and to let us see that we live by mercy. Such bruising may help weaker Christians not to be too much discouraged, when they see stronger ones shaken and bruised. Thus Peter was bruised when he wept bitterly (Matt. 26:75). This reed, till he met with this bruise, had more wind in him than pith when he said, `Though all forsake thee, I will not’ (Matt. 26:33). The people of God cannot be without these examples. The heroic deeds of those great worthies do not comfort the church so much as their falls and bruises do. Thus David was bruised until he came to a free confession, without guile of spirit (Psa. 32:3 5); nay, his sorrows did rise in his own feeling unto the exquisite pain of breaking of bones (Psa. 51:8). Thus Hezekiah complains that God had `broken his bones’ as a lion (Isa. 38:13). Thus the chosen vessel Paul needed the messenger of Satan to buffet him lest he should be lifted up above measure (2 Cor. 12:7).
Hence we learn that we must not pass too harsh judgment upon ourselves or others when God exercises us with bruising upon bruising. There must be a conformity to our head, Christ, who `was bruised for us’ (Isa. 53:5) that we may know how much we are bound unto him.
Ungodly spirits, ignorant of God’s ways in bringing his children to heaven, censure broken hearted Christians as miserable persons, whereas God is doing a gracious, good work with them. It is no easy matter to bring a man from nature to grace, and from grace to glory, so unyielding and intractable are our hearts. (Pages 5-6)
