Heresies in the Christian church come never from the city missionary, never from the
faithful pastor, never from the intense evangelist; but always from gentlemen at
ease, who take no actual part in our holy war. 1822.78

This, I take it, is the first general lesson of the text—in every event of Providence,
God has a purpose. “He is in one mind.” Mark, not only a purpose, but only one
purpose, for all history is but one. There are many scenes, but it is one drama; there
are many pages, but it is one book; there are many leaves, but it is one tree; there are
many provinces, yea, and there be lords many, and rulers many; yet there is but one
empire, and God the only potentate. 406.467

The masterpoints of history are not the battles of the conquerors, nor the change of
dynasties, but the preaching or the non-preaching of the gospel—the putting of the
candle into the candlestick, or the taking of the candlestick out of its place. 3166.495

Whenever you read, or hear people talk about prophecy, you may depend upon it that
inspiration has not been given to tell of Louis Napoleon, or any other earthly
sovereign. It is not the history of Prussia, Russia, or France, that the heavenly
apocalypse unveils. The whole book is written for his people; it does give us the
history of the church, but it does not give us the history of anything else. The way to
read the book, if you do read it, is with this central thought in your minds, that God
has not revealed to us anything concerning Assyria, Babylon, Greece, or Rome for
their own sakes, but he has referred to them because they happen to have a
connection with the history of his Church. 3412.306

What is holiness? Is it not wholeness of character? A balanced condition in which
there is neither lack nor redundance. AM53

Soil not the fingers which are soon to sweep celestial strings; let not these eyes
become the windows of lust which are soon to see the King in His beauty—let not
those feet be defiled in miry places, which are soon to walk the golden streets—let not
those hearts be filled with pride and bitterness which are ere long to be filled with
heaven, and to overflow with ecstatic joy. ME510

Nay, my brethren, I believe the holier a man becomes the more he mourns over the
unholiness which remains in him; but he is in very truth a far better man, he is a
spiritual and holy man. 926.221

You have been entreating very much for growth in holiness. Do you know, brother,
that in almost every case that means increased affliction? 1340.108

He that hath a clean heart will necessarily have clean hands. 1829.154

Those whom free grace chooses, free grace cleanses. We are not chosen because we
are holy, but chosen to be holy: and being chosen, the purpose is no dead letter, but
we are made to seek after holiness. 1854.442

To a man who seeks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, his house is a
temple, his meals are sacraments, his garments are vestments, every day is a holy
day, and he himself is a priest and a king unto God. 1864.558

He that is not holy on the way will not come to that holy end where the thrice holy
God reveals himself in his glory. 1912.413

Souls that sigh for holiness are not condemned to eternal death, for their sighing
proves that they are in Christ Jesus. 1917.470

Surely, the very holiness of God that puts into us a desire to be holy is a guarantee to
us that he will help us to be holy. He that makes us long for purity will work it in us. 2118.669

I do believe that some of God’s people are afraid of being too holy, which fear never
need haunt them much. 2278.498

If your religion does not make you holy, it will damn you as surely as you are now
alive. 2674.225

The proof that Christ came into the world should be, that his followers are holy. 2872.97

Aim at the highest conceivable degree of holiness; and, though you will not be perfect,
never excuse yourselves because you are not. 2895.382

Depend upon it, you and I do not grow holy by going to sleep. People are not made to
grow in grace as plants grow, of which it is said, “They grow ye know not how.” The
Christian is developed by actively seeking growth, by earnestly striving after holiness,
and resolutely endeavouring to obtain it. 3245.173

I would sooner be holy than happy if the two things could be divorced. Were it
possible for a man always to sorrow and yet be pure, I would choose the sorrow if I
might win the purity; for, beloved, to be free from the power of sin, to be made to love
holiness, though I have spoken after the manner of men to you, is true happiness. 3326.521

He suggests good thoughts, prompts good actions, reveals good truths, applies good
promises, assists in good attainments, and leads to good results. ME95

Where the Holy Ghost implants divine life in the soul, there is a precious deposit
which none of the refinements of education can equal. The thief on the cross excels
Cæsar on his throne; Lazarus among the dogs is better than Cicero among the
senators; and the most unlettered Christian is in the sight of God superior to Plato. ME549

The greatest crime of sinners is to blaspheme the Holy Ghost, and the greatest fault
of saints is to neglect the Holy Ghost. 2074.138

He is called in the first part of the verse, “the Spirit of God,” and then he is styled,
“the Spirit of Christ.” Christ and God are essentially one. The Holy Ghost stands in
intimate relationship both to the Father and to the Son, and is rightly called by
either name. 1133.530

The Spirit is said to do what only God can do, namely, to dwell in the hearts of all
believers. 1435.530

O for Pentecostal outpourings and Pentecostal labours. ME60

There are glad and high days when God’s anointed servants feel borne upon the
mystic wind aloft in thoughts sublime; no longer weak men, but men inspired to
break hard hearts, to stir emotions, to quicken the dead, to open blind eyes, and to
preach the gospel to the poor, and all by the power from on high. You who have felt
the sublime sensation of being filled with the Spirit, may read of Ezekiel’s being lifted
by a lock of his hair between earth and heaven, but you will know that to be filled
with the Spirit is a greater wonder still, for that lifts a man up from worldly cares,
enables him to lay hold upon God in prayer, bathes him in the joy of heaven, and
then sends him down with shining face to bless his fellow men. 511.297

You may very properly ask to be baptized into the Holy Ghost if you desire to know
his power to the full; and you may go down into his influences till you are immersed
therein; but how can we ask that the Spirit should again be poured out, when he has
not gone back to heaven? 2233.623

Do you know what unction is? I do, but I cannot tell you. I can tell when a man has
not any unction, and I can tell when he has; but I do not know exactly how to define
and describe it, except by saying that it is a special anointing from the Spirit of God. 2674.222

God, by his Spirit, brings old truth home to the heart, gives new light to our eyes, and
causes the word to exercise new power over us, but he reveals no new facts, and he
utters no words in any man’s ears concerning his condition and state. We must be
content with the old revelation and with the life and power and force with which the
Holy Spirit brings it to the heart. Neither must any of us seek to have any additional
revelation, for that would imply that the Scriptures are incomplete. 1428.450

It is asserted many times in Scripture, that the bodies of the saints are the temples
of the Holy Ghost. God dwelleth in you: ye are the temples of God. Now, do not cut
that down, and say that it means that he influences us and operates upon us. It does
mean that, but it means a great deal more; it means literally this—that the Holy
Ghost, the third Person of the sacred Trinity actually dwells in every regenerate man
and woman, that he has made our bodies to be his shrine, and he is the indwelling
Lord. 754.322

The Spirit of God doubtless illuminates the intellect and guides the judgment, but
this is not the commencement nor the main part of his work. He comes chiefly to the
affections, he dwells with the heart, for with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness, and “God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts.” Now,
the heart is the centre of our being, and therefore doth the Holy Ghost occupy this
place of vantage. He comes into the central fortress and universal citadel of our
nature, and thus takes possession of the whole. 1435.536

Let me remark that being “led by the Spirit of God” is a remarkable expression. It
does not say, “As many as are driven by the Spirit of God.” No, the devil is a driver,
and when he enters either into men or into hogs he drives them furiously. 1220.129

What a wonderful power is that which dwells in every believer, checking him when
he would do wrong, encouraging him to do right, leading him in the paths of
righteousness for Christ’s name’s sake! Happy men to have such a Conductor! 1917.477

Yet, brethren, these apostolic men were by no means inferior persons; but so superior
that we sink into insignificance in comparison with them. Jesus made them heralds
of his gospel, master-builders of his church; and if they displayed such ignorance,
even when the Lord Jesus Christ himself had personally spoken to them, we must
not wonder that we are apt to blunder; neither should we despair if we find ourselves
dull and slow. If those fathers of the church so greatly needed to be taught of the
Holy Ghost, how much more do we? 1842.289

Student in the school of Christ, wouldst thou be wise? Ask not the theologian to
expound to thee his system of divinity; but, sitting down meekly at the feet of Jesus,
ask that his Spirit may instruct thee; for I tell thee, student, though thou shouldest
read the Bible many a year, and turn over its pages continually, thou wouldst not
learn anything of its hidden mysteries without the Spirit. 3048.342

To keep debt, dirt, and the devil out of my cottage has been my greatest wish ever
since I set up housekeeping; and although the last of the three has sometimes got in
by the door or the window, for the old serpent will wriggle through the smallest
crack, yet thanks to a good wife, hard work, honesty, and scrubbing brushes, the two
others have not crossed the threshold. PT77

A home should be a Bethel not a Babel. PT92

When home is ruled according to God’s word, angels might be asked to stay a night
with us, and they would not find themselves out of their element. PT94

Home is the grandest of all institutions. PT95

That wicked fiction of the Church of Rome, that her cathedrals are holy, has made us
think that our houses are not holy. 399.413

If there is anything that is a miniature picture of heaven upon earth, it is a pair of
Christians happily united, whose children grow up in the fear of the Lord, and render
to them increased comfort and joy every day. Oh, how much some of us owe to the
gospel for the happiness of our homes! 2488.509

There are some households where all are saved—how happy they should
be!—where every son and every daughter, father, and mother are all believers—a
church in the house, a church of which the whole of the house is comprised. It is such
an unspeakable blessing that those who enjoy it ought never to cease to praise God
for it day and night. 3473.397

The cities of Sodom and Gomorrha are bright as the sun goes down. The inhabitants
are merry with boisterous laughter, there is plenty in the barn, there is luxury in the
hall, for the plain of Sodom was well watered and lacked for nothing. Down went the
sun upon a disastrous eve, never to rise upon the most of those who were in that
doomed city. At day-break, just as the sun is beginning to shine upon the earth,
angels had hastened Lot and his family out of the city, and no sooner had they
reached the little city of Zoar than straightway the heaven is red with supernatural
flame, and down descends a terrific rain, as if God has poured hell out of heaven. 634.328

This once brought hell out of heaven upon Sodom; God sent down fire and brimstone
because of the lusts of the flesh that made Sodom to stink in his nostrils; the harlot
and the adulterer, and the fornicator, shall know that they sin not without provoking
God very terribly. 650.525

Shall the bestial vice of which Sodom was guilty never be checked? Why, if this
should spread amongst the sons of men, it would bring in its infernal train ten
thousand times more damage than the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The sin
itself is infinitely worse than the fire which burned it up. 3317.413

If you cannot get on honestly, be satisfied not to get on. PP129

Depend upon it, friends, if a straight line will not pay, a crooked one won’t. PT137

While the golden rule is more admired than practised by ordinary men, the Christian
should always do unto others as he would that they should do unto him. He should be
one whose word is his bond, and who, having once pledged his word, sweareth to his
own hurt, but changeth not. There ought to be an essential difference between the
Christian and the best moralist, by reason of the higher standard which the
gospel inculcates, and the Saviour has exemplified. Certainly, the highest
point to which the best unconverted man can go might well be looked upon as a
level below which the converted man will never venture to descend. 3281.602

Hope what you please; but remember, that hope without truth at the bottom of it, is
an anchor without a holdfast. A groundless hope is a mere delusion. CI146

It is reported that in the Tamul language there is no word for hope. Alas! poor men,
if we were all as destitute of the blessed comfort itself as these Tamul speakers are of
the word! What must be the misery of souls in hell where they remember the word,
but can never know hope itself! FA110

Hell alone excepted, hope is a dweller in all regions. TD71:14

Hope as much as ever a man can hope; for when your hope is in God you cannot hope
too much. WWi141

Do not bury a man before he is dead; hope that so long as a sinner lives he may yet
live unto God. 1838.248

Kill hope in a man, and you have killed the man’s best self. 2069.75

In a word, no condition can be so bad but God can change it. 2270.403

The New Zealander has a word for hope which signifies “the swimming-thought”;
because when all other thoughts are drowned, hope still swims. 3344.112

If any man could prove the religion of Christ to be a delusion, the next thing he
should do would be to hang himself, because there is nothing worth living for. 196.254

Human wisdom delights to trim and arrange the doctrines of the cross into a system
more artificial and more congenial with the depraved tastes of fallen nature;
instead, however, of improving the gospel, carnal wisdom pollutes it, until it becomes
another gospel, and not the truth of God at all. ME392

The aggregate thinking of fallible men is less than nothing when set against the one
solitary mind of God, who is infallible, as he reveals it to us by the Holy Ghost in the
words of truth in the Scriptures. 1453.28

It may be all very well to prove that such and such a revelation of God is consistent
with reason, consistent with analogy, consistent with a thousand things; but the
spirit which needs such argument is a spirit of rebellion against God. If there be a
revelation, every part of it is of authority, and must be believed. Human thought is
not the arbiter of truth, but the infallible Word is the end of all strife. It is not ours to
say what the truth must be, or what we think it should be, or what we would like it
to be, but reverently to sit down with open ear and willing heart to receive what God
has spoken. 1473.269

He who is going to think out his own way apart from revelation, will meet with
mysteries which he cannot surmount. There are mysteries in revelation, but these
rise before us like hills of light; while to those who trifle with the word of the Lord
there shall arise mountains of gloom. I care not what philosophy you take, whether it
be old or new, openly profane or faintly sprinkled with Christianity, you will never
get rid of mystery—it is essential to the limited capacity of the human mind
confronted by boundless truth. 1748.609

Alas, sirs! we often consider the means to be used, and forget to go onward to him
who will use them. We often stop at the means, and begin to calculate their natural
force, and thus we miss our mark. 1873.656

We, ever since the Fall, have learned to reason badly; our reasoning faculty has been
as much confused as any other power that we possessed; we have turned aside from
the straightforward path, and we know not how to draw the true inference which
God draws from our sins. 2754.555

From the word of God I gather that damnation is all of man, from top to bottom, and
salvation is all of grace, from first to last. He that perishes chooses to perish; but he
that is saved is saved because God has chosen to save him. Though some cannot
make these statements agree, they are nevertheless equally true—“Thou hast
destroyed thyself; but in me is thy help found.” 2045.538

God comes into our heart—He finds it full—He begins to break our comforts and
make it empty; then there is more room for grace. The humbler a man lies, the more
comfort he will always have because he will be more fitted to receive it. ME86

If you seek humility, try hard work; if you would know your nothingness, attempt
some great thing for Jesus. ME125

If our heavenly Father were to let your unhumbled spirit win a victory in His holy
war, you would pilfer the crown for yourself, and meeting with a fresh enemy you
would fall a victim; so that you are kept low for your own safety. ME193

John Newton says, “Young Christians think themselves little; growing Christians
think themselves nothing; full-grown Christians think themselves less than
nothing.” 415.541

Have you ever noticed the difference between being humble and being humbled?
Many persons are humbled who are not humble at all. 748.243

You may very accurately measure the reality of your grace by the reality of your
self-loathing. 1226.189

Depend upon it, our judgment is very much like a pair of scales: if Christ goes up self
goes down; and if self rises Jesus falls in our esteem. No man ever sets a high price
upon self and Christ at the same time. 1271.8

“I know I am nothing,” say you. Yes, but you would not even have had grace enough
to know you were nothing if God had not given it to you. To be nothing is ours by
nature: but to know that we are nothing and to confess that we are nothing is a gift
of his grace. 1423.388

Startle not when I say it,—I fear that many men proudly ask to be humble: they
desire to be humble in order that they may be admired for it. 1802.532

I believe every Christian man has a choice between being humble and being
humbled. 1802.533

The more self sinks, the more Christ rises: like the two scales of a balance, one must
go down that the other may go up: self must sink in repentance that Christ may rise
by faith. 2073.130

Humility has been rightly said to be a correct estimate of ourselves. 2232.603

The way up is downward. Your Master descended that he might afterwards ascend,
and fill all things; and your way of ascent must be downward, downward, downward,
so that you become less, and less, and less. 2784.297

“As he is, so are we also in this world.” You must take the manger, or you shall never
take the throne; you must have the cross, or you shall never wear the crown; you
must be despised and rejected, or you shall never be accepted and crowned; you must
wade through the mire, or you shall never walk the golden pavement. 3072.630

It was remarked by an excellent divine that growing souls think themselves nothing,
but that grown saints think themselves less than nothing, and I suppose that when
they are fully grown they fail to find language in which to express their sense of
insignificance. 3369.416

See Jesus and be proud? Impossible! Lean your head upon that bosom and be
exalted? Impossible! You will feel, when you have seen the Lord, that henceforth you
must blush to think that you are so little like him, and love him so little. 3369.416

If you, Christian people, must dispute about precedence, always fight for the lowest
place. If you aspire to be last and least, you will not have many competitors; there
will be no need to demand a poll, for the lowest seat is undisputed. 3372.454

Sometimes when I have said a humorous thing in preaching I have not asked you to
excuse me, for if God has given me humour I mean to use it in his cause; many a man
has been caught, and his ear arrested, and his attention won by a quaint remark. If
any one can prove it is a wickedness, and not a natural faculty, I will abandon it; but
it is a faculty of nature, and it ought to be consecrated and used for the cause of
Christ. 1163.165

There is no one part of a man’s constitution, which is really a part of his manhood,
which should not praise God. Ay, even the sense of humour should be sanctified to
the service of the Most High! 2121.7

Mark that in the father’s drawing there is no compulsion whatever; Christ never
compelled any man to come to him against his will. If a man be unwilling to be saved,
Christ does not save him against his will. 182.142

They love the doctrine of election, but there is one doctrine they love better, and that
is, the doctrine of exclusion. They love to think they are shut in, but they feel quite as
much delight that others are shut out. 431.58

I know men who are wise in their own eyes, and very well assured of their own
intellects, who, while palpably ignorant of everything that is rational, are conscious
that they know everything that is spiritual. Their acquaintance with theology is
thoroughly exhaustive; they have learned long ago to count to five, to reckon them at
their fingers ends—one, two, three, four, five. These mystic figures comprise all the
doctrines of the gospel. They know them, and they are ready to fight anybody about
them. They are men of a great deal of wisdom,—seeing men; but I think a man that
gets a little nearer to God discovers that he does not know everything; and he is quite
clear that he can no more compass the whole of divine truth, than he can hold the
ocean in the hollow of his hand. I have long felt that I shall never understand where
the two great truths of free agency and predestination meet. I believe them both—
believe them with equal faith; but how to reconcile them I no longer wish to know,
because I do not think that God intends we should know. 1310.473

Are there not some who think that they carry the gospel and all the doctrines of it in
their pockets as if it were a five-sided lozenge? They have condensed the infinite into
a pentagon. 1669.393

The grace of God constrains men to become Christians, and yet only constrains
them consistently with the laws of their mind. The freedom of the will is as great a
truth as the predestination of God. The grace of God, without violating our wills,
makes men willing in the day of God’s power, and they give themselves to Jesus
Christ. You cannot be a Christian against your will. How could it be? A servant of
God against his will! A child of God against his will! Nay, it never was so, and it
never shall be so. 3411.290

Pedley, who was a well-known natural simpleton, was wont to say, “God help the
fool.” None are more ready to pity the folly of others than those who have a small
share of it themselves. “There is no love among Christians,” cries the man who is
destitute of true charity. “Zeal has vanished,” exclaims the idle talker. “O for more
consistency,” groans out the hypocrite. “We want more vital godliness,” protests the
false pretender. As in the old legend, the wolf preached against sheep-stealing, so
very many hunt down those sins in others which they gladly shelter in themselves. FA24

In common matters of daily life, a double-minded man is despised, but in religion he
is loathsome to the last degree. ME638

I heard one man say, a little while ago, that he did not believe there was a true
Christian living, because he had found out so many hypocrites. I reminded him that
there could be no hypocrites if there were no genuine ones. No one would think of
passing a bad sovereign if there were no sterling coin. So the fact of there being some
hypocrites proves that there are some genuine characters. 22.171

Of all the things in the world that stink in the nostrils of an honest man, hypocrisy is
the worst. 276.411

Hypocrites do not love one another; though they are always talking about the want
of love there is in the church. 1158.106

I warrant you there were not many hypocrites in the catacombs of Rome, when to be
a Christian involved almost certain death. 1528.178

Those who are walking in the light are free from pretence, and are living in real
earnest: is it so with you? Contentment with unreality is a sign of dwelling in
darkness. Careful keeping up of shams, diligent puffing out of wind-bags, and
constant creation of make-believes—all this is of the night and its dreams; but to be
what you seem to be, to be true in all the phases of your life, this is surely seen in
those who walk in the light of God. 1986.556

Men and brethren, if you pray at all, pray God to make you real, through and
through. 2088.309

Profess only what you possess, and rest only in that which has been given you from
above. 2088.312

I have sometimes been obliged to a wicked world for what it has done to inconsistent
professors of religion. I remember a young man, in my early pastorate, going to a
certain place of doubtful fame, and in the midst of a dance, somebody cried out, “That
is one of Spurgeon’s people. Fling him out of the window.” And out he went. 2106.527

Every Sunday morning some folks take out their godliness and touch it up, while
they are turning the brush round their best hat. Many women, after a fashion, put on
the fear of God with their new bonnet. When the Sunday is over, and their best
things are put away, they have also put away their best thoughts and their best
behaviour. We must have a seven-days’ religion, or else we have none at all.
Periodical godliness is perpetual hypocrisy. 2150.339

If the preacher says anything about hypocrites, very often the hypocrites will not
take it to heart, but the most sincere saint in the congregation very likely says, “Oh,
I am afraid that I am a hypocrite!” If you are, you are an odd sort of hypocrite, for I
never knew of a hypocrite who was afraid that he was one. 2442.584

Again, methinks you have great cause for questioning, unless your holiness is
uniform; I mean, if your life is angelic abroad and devilish at home. You must suspect
that it is at home that you are really what you are. 2902.463