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The gospel is not a doctrine of the tongue, but of life. It cannot be grasped by reason and memory only, but it is fully understood when it possesses the whole soul and penetrates to the inner recesses of the heart.
The most effective poison to lead men to ruin is to boast in themselves, in their own wisdom and willpower; the only escape to safety is simply to follow the guidance of the Lord.
There is deliverance in store only for the man who gives up his selfishness, and whose sole aim is to please the Lord and to do what is right in his sight.
If we listen to the instruction of Scripture, we must remember that our talents are not of our own making, but free gifts of God.
Scripture urges and warns us that whatever favors we may have obtained from the Lord, we have received them as a trust on condition that they should be applied to the common benefit of the church.
If anyone, therefore, appears before you who is in need of your kind services, you have no reason to refuse him your help.
may happen that a man discharges his duties to the best of his abilities, but if his heart is not in them, he falls far from the mark.
Christians ought to imagine themselves in the place of the person who needs their help, and they ought to sympathize with him as though they themselves were suffering; they ought to show real mercy and humaneness and offer their assistance as readily as if it were for themselves.
Every man, however important he may be, should realize that he is a debtor to his neighbor and that love demands that he give to the limit of his ability.
he does not afflict to destroy or ruin us, but rather to deliver us from the condemnation of the world.
when God breathes his favor on us, all things work together for our happiness and our well-being.
It is clear that bearing the cross patiently does not mean that we harden ourselves or do not feel any sorrow; according to the old notion of the Stoic philosophers that a greathearted man is someone who has laid off his humanity, and who is not touched by adversity and prosperity, and not even by joy and sorrow, but who acts like a cold rock.
At present there are among Christians modern Stoics who think it is wrong to groan and to weep and even to grieve in loneliness. Such wild opinions generally come forth from men who are more dreamers than practical men, and who, therefore, cannot produce anything else but fantasies.
Scripture commands us to consider the divine will in a different light; first, as consistent with justice and fairness; then as directed to the perfection of our salvation.
our constant efforts to lower our estimate of the present world should not lead us to hate life or to be ungrateful toward God.
if the earthly life be compared to the heavenly, it should undoubtedly be despised and counted as a failure.
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.
we should become so wary and scornful of it that we may desire its end, though we should also be prepared to remain in ...
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it is fitting for us “to live and to die for the Lord,” let us leave the limits of our life and death to his decision and good pleasure.
If we remember that by death we are called back from exile to home, to our heavenly fatherland, shall we then not be filled with comfort?
Paul clearly teaches believers to go with anxious longing toward death, not to be stripped of our body but to be clothed with a new garment.
we should note that the Lord commands every one of us in all the actions of our life to be faithful in our calling.
There is no greater heroism even among philosophers than to deliver one’s country from tyranny. But the voice of the heavenly Judge openly condemns the private man who kills a tyrant.
