Quotable Quote - Augustine

If open punishment were now inflicted for every sin it would be supposed that nothing would be reserved till the last judgment.

Again, if God now did not openly punish any sin it would be presumed that there was no divine providence.

Quotable Quote from John Calvin on wicked rulers

Quotable Quote - The deathbed thoughts of John Owen

On the day before the eminent John Owen was taken home to glory, 23rd August 1683, he wrote a letter to a very close friend Charles Fleetwood. The letter was dictated by John Owen and written down by his wife. It was the last letter he wrote. This letter contains the last preserved words of this mighty servant of the Lord. 

Dear Sir,
Although I am not able to write one word myself, yet I am very desirous to speak one more word to you in this world, and do it by the hand of my wife. The continuance of your entire kindness is not only greatly valued by me, but will be a refreshment to me, as it is, even in my dying hour.

I am going to Him whom my soul has loved, or rather who has loved me with an everlasting love, — which is the whole ground of all my consolation. The passage is very wearisome, through strong pains of various sorts, which are all issued in an intermittent fever.

Quotable Quote - R A Torrey

Men hope by the denial of God's existence to shield themselves from the discomfort of His acknowledged presence.

Reuben Archer Torrey was born in January 1856 and died in October 1928. He was an American evangelist, pastor, educator, and writer.

In 1889 R A Torrey joined D L Moody in his evangelistic work in Chicago and became superintendent of the Bible Institute of the Chicago Evangelisation Society.

Five years later, he became pastor of the Chicago Avenue Church in 1894.

Quotable Quote - C H Spurgeon on Secondary Separation

In a sermon entitled "NO COMPROMISE" preached, 130 years ago, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on Lord's day morning 7th October 1888, C. H. Spurgeon stated the following about his own practice of 'secondary separation':

"That I might not stultify my testimony I have cut myself clear of those who err from the faith, and even from those who associate with them." 

Spurgeon's text that morning was the words of Genesis 24:5-8: And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest? And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again. The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.

Quotable Quote

In September 1840 Robert Murray M’Cheyne, wrote a letter to William Chalmers Burns. It contained the following sentiments:

I am deepened in my conviction, that if we are to be instruments in a true revival we must be purified from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.

Oh, cry for personal holiness, constant nearness to God by the blood of the Lamb!

Bask in His beams, lie back in the arms of love, be filled with the Spirit, or all success in the ministry will only be to your own everlasting confusion.

The complete letter, including others written to William Chalmers Burns by Robert Murray M’Cheyne, can be found in The Memoir & Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne.

Quotable Quote - J C Ryle

Beware of manufacturing a God of your own: a God who is all mercy — but not just; a God who is all love — but not holy; a God who has a Heaven for everybody — but a Hell for none; a God who can allow good and evil to be side by side in time — but will make no distinction between good and evil in eternity. Such a God is an idol of your own imagination! It is as true an idol as any snake or crocodile in an Egyptian temple — as true an idol as was ever molded out of brass or clay! The hands of your own imagination and sentimentality have made him. He is not the God of the Bible — and beside the God of the Bible — there is no God at all.

J C Ryle

Quotable Quote - C. H. Spurgeon

We anticipate the happy day when the whole world shall be converted to Christ; when the gods of the heathen shall be cast to the moles and the bats; when Romanism shall be exploded, and the crescent of Mohammed shall wane, never again to cast its baleful rays upon the nations; when kings shall bow down before the Prince of Peace, and all nations shall call their Redeemer blessed. 

Some despair of this… but we cannot read our Bibles without the conviction that:
“Jesus shall reign where'er the sun 
Does his successive journeys run.” 

We are not discouraged by the length of his delays; we are not disheartened by the long period which he allots to the church in which to struggle with little success and much defeat. We believe that God will never suffer this world, which has once seen Christ’s blood shed upon it, to be always the devil’s stronghold. 

Quotable Quote

Martin Luther is reported to have once said: I preach as though Christ died yesterday, rose from the dead today and is coming back tomorrow.

How different our lives would be if we lived with this spirit!

Reformation Quotable Quote

Every week I preach justification by faith to my people, because every week they forget it. Martin Luther

Reformation Quotable Quote

Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason-I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other-my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen. Martin Luther at the Diet of worms 1521.

Luther at the Diet of Worms

In April 1521 Martin Luther appeared at the Diet of Worms and confessed his allegiance to the teachings of Scripture before the Emperor and Church hierarchy. It was here he made his famous statement: Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.

Some years ago I had the privilege of being in the city of Worms. There is a large monument to Luther and other Reformers in the centre of the city. This monument was erected to honour Luther and his fellow Reformers in Worms in 1868.

The monument bears witness to Luther determination to stand for Bible truth.

Reformation Quotable Quote

From the beginning of my Reformation I have asked God to send me neither dreams, nor visions, nor angels, but to give me the right understanding of His Word, the Holy Scriptures; for as long as I have God's Word, I know that I am walking in His way and that I shall not fall into any error or delusion. Had I followed the enthusiasts and their many dreams and visions, I would have had to change my doctrine more than thirty or forty times. Martin Luther, Commentary on Genesis.

Quotable Quote

The nearest place to the gate of heaven is the throne of the heavenly grace. C. H. Spurgeon

Quotable Quote - Martin Luther

When charged with heresy at the Diet of Worms Martin Luther had this to say in his defence:
Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason - I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other - my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.

Quotable Quote

God knoweth we have nothing of ourselves, therefore in the covenant of grace he requireth no more than he giveth, and giveth what he requireth, and accepteth what he giveth - by the Puritan Richard Sibbes

Taken from The Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax, being the substance of several sermons on Matthew 12:20: A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoaking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.

Quotable Quote

Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right. C. H. Spurgeon

Quotable Quote - A. W. Pink on Justification and Sanctification

In his book on the Doctrine of Justification A. W. Pink had this to say about the connection between Justification and Sanctification:

It is therefore the bounden duty of those who profess to have been justified by God to diligently and impartially examine themselves, to ascertain whether or not they have in them those spiritual graces which always accompany justification. It is by our sanctification, and that alone, that we may discover our justification. Would you know whether Christ fulfilled the law for you, that His obedience has been imputed to your account? Then search your heart and life and see whether a spirit of obedience to Him is daily working in you. The righteousness of the law is fulfilled only in those who "walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:4). God never designed that the obedience of His Son should be imputed to those who live a life of worldliness, self-pleasing, and gratifying the lusts of the flesh. Far from it: "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Cor. 5:17).

Quotable Quote - John Bunyan on Justification

But if you do not put a difference between justification wrought by the Man Christ without, and sanctification wrought by the Spirit of Christ within, teaching believers their duty to their God for his love in giving Christ, you are not able to divide the word aright; but contrariwise, you corrupt the word of God, and cast stumbling-blocks before the people, and will certainly one day most deeply smart for your folly, except you repent. John Bunyan

Quotable Quote

Evangeline Booth, the daughter of William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, once said that intoxicating liquor:
Has drained more blood,
Hung more crepe,
Sold more houses,
Plunged more people into bankruptcy,
Armed more villains,
Slain more children,
Snapped more wedding rings,
Defiled more innocence,