What are the honours of war but brags of murder? What the fame of conquerors but
the reek of manslaughter? TD76:4

The Gospel is the only preventive for war. TN311

Put up thy sword into thy sheath, for hath not he said, “Thou shalt not kill,” and he
meant not that it was a sin to kill one but a glory to kill a million, but he meant that
bloodshed on the smallest or largest scale was sinful. 1026.704

What pride flushes the patriot’s cheek when he remembers that his nation can
murder faster than any other people. Ah, foolish generation, ye are groping in the
flames of hell to find your heaven, raking amid blood and bones for the foul thing
which ye call glory. Killing is not the path to prosperity; huge armaments are a curse
to the nation itself as well as to its neighbours. 1026.706

War is nothing more than death holding carnival, and devouring his prey a little
more in haste than is his common wont. 1329.700

Someone once said that he thought there never was a good war, and never a bad
peace; and I believe to a very great extent he was right. Peace is of itself an
inestimable blessing, and war in itself, whether just or unjust, is a most terrific
scourge. 3072.627

Why, any fool can kill the enemy with a cannon, but it takes a Samson to smite them
with the jawbone of an ass. And so, when God has the choice of weapons, and he
always has, he chooses the weaker weapon, that he may get to himself the greater
renown. My brother, glory in your infirmities—thank God for your weakness. 608.19

God does not need your strength: he has more than enough of power of his own. He
asks your weakness: he has none of that himself, and he is longing, therefore, to take
your weakness, and use it as the instrument in his own mighty hand. Will you not
yield your weakness to him, and receive his strength? 2209.331

It is better to be happy than to be rich; and happiness lies in the heart rather than in
the purse. Not what a man has, but what a man is, will decide his bliss or woe in this
life and the next. GS285

Some have their portion in the city; their wealth is abundant, and flows to them in
constant streams, until they become a very reservoir of gold; but what is gold
compared with thy God? Thou couldst not live on it; thy spiritual life could not be
sustained by it. Put it on a troubled conscience, and could it allay its pangs? Apply it
to a desponding heart, and see if it could stay a solitary groan, or give one grief the
less? ME269

Yet not a whisper of worldly congratulation can follow the departing millionaire; they
say he died worth a mint of money, but what charm has that fact to the dull cold ear
of death? The banker rots as fast as the shoe-black, and the peer becomes as putrid
as the pauper. Alas! poor wealth, thou art but the rainbow colouring of the bubble,
the tint which yellows the morning mist, but adds no substance to it. TD49:18

Hence, it has been well said, that when we see how much a man has we envy him;
but could we see how little he enjoys we should pity him. 994.316

A golden coffin will be a poor compensation for a damned soul. 1003.425

The Lord does not think much of riches, and, therefore, he usually gives them to the
ungodly as men give bones to dogs. 2036.431

It little matters how you make money nowadays: only get it, and you will have plenty
of admirers, and the deceitfulness of riches will enable you to admire yourself. 2040.475

Where I have known one man fail through poverty, I have known fifty men fail
through riches. 2055.653

Though you hoard up wealth, gold is nothing but dust to a dying man. 2165.524

There is a time coming when that extra ten pounds which seems so important now,
or that extra ten thousand pounds, or that extra million pounds added to one’s estate
shall be thought to be of no more value than a single hair. When men come to die,
how their business dwarfs to nothing! 3032.149

What can your gold buy for you beyond a thicker slab of stone to lie upon your corpse
while the poor sleep under a lighter load in a field where the wild flowers grow? 3032.149

He never promised you riches; he did, however, promise you that you should lack no
good thing, and if riches had been a good thing for you, you would have had them. 3264.399

Try to be like the shepherd on Salisbury Plain, whose story should never be
forgotten. When he was asked, “Is it good weather?” he answered, “Yes, it is all good
weather that God sends.” “But does this weather please you?” “If it pleases God, it
pleases me,” was his reply. 2643.489

Our apostle, anxious that we should so run that we may obtain, points to certain
burdens and impediments which he foresees will hinder us, and he says, “Let us lay
aside every weight.” Note how he includes himself, so that his warning may not
sound like an upbraiding. We cannot win if we are weighted: the pace will have to be
very swift, and we cannot get to it, or keep it up, if we have weights to carry.
Unloaded, we shall find the race taxing all our powers; but weighted, we shall be
doomed to failure. 2037.434

I have heard of a good woman—a widow—who was once in great trouble when
visited by her pastor, but on a second visit she was found to be very happy. “What
has happened?” enquired her pastor; “what has made you so cheerful?” Said she, “I
have been reading that precious word, ‘Thy Maker is thy husband.’” “How has that
comforted you?” said he. “Why,” she answered, “when my husband was alive, I
always lived up to his income, and now that my Maker is my husband, I will try to
live up to his income; and oh! what a task I have got before me if I am to live up to
the income of God, that has no bounds and no limits, and knows of no such thing as
exhaustion! If I may draw upon him to the utmost extent of his income, how richly I
may live!” 3384.599

You will never be saved against your will; God drags nobody to heaven by the ears.
2269.388

Do not forget that, although the Lord graciously changes man’s will, and he has
absolute power over the human will, and makes men willing in the day of his power,
yet he never saves anybody against his will, and, while the will stands out against
God, and is unrenewed and unchanged, the man is still unsaved. 2601.608

I have known persons (and this is talking about a very commonplace thing, but it
may be a very useful thing); I have known husbands who meant to make their wills
in a proper way, and to provide for their wives as they should do, but they have died,
and the will has been unmade, and the future life of the wife has been full of a sorrow
which might have been avoided by the proper use of the pen. Do not leave anything
undone which ought to be done; leave nothing undone which may be for the good of
others, for you cannot come back to do it. 1119.369

The doorstep of the palace of wisdom is a humble sense of ignorance. BA280

Truly wise men are never above asking questions, because they are wise men. CI98

True religion is sanctified common sense. Attention to the things of heaven does not
necessitate the neglect of the affairs of earth; on the contrary, he who has learned
how to transact business with God ought to be best able to do business with men.
TD112:5

Wisdom is man’s true strength; and, under its guidance, he best accomplishes the
ends of his being. Wisely handling the matter of life gives to man the richest
enjoyment, and presents the noblest occupation for his powers; hence by it he finds
good in the fullest sense. Without wisdom, man is as the wild ass’s colt, running
hither and thither, wasting strength which might be profitably employed. Wisdom is
the compass by which man is to steer across the trackless waste of life; without it he
is a derelict vessel, the sport of winds and waves. ME253

Wisdom is, I suppose, the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many
men know a great deal, and are all the more fools for what they know. There is no
fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. 991.282

Many a man might have known if he had but been aware that he did not know. A
sense of ignorance is the doorstep of the palace of wisdom. 1669.393

Many people think they know everything, and, consequently, they know nothing. I
think it is Seneca who says, “Many a man would have been wise if he had not
thought himself so; if he had but known himself to be a fool, he would have become
wise.” 2615.148

Do not be ashamed of confessing your past folly. I think a man who says, “I was
wrong,” really in effect says, “I am a little wiser to-day than I was yesterday.” 2623.243

Antisthenes, the founder of the sect of the Cynics, when he was told that Ismenias
played excellently upon the flute, answered properly enough, “Then he is good for
nothing else, otherwise he would not have played so well.” Such also was Philip’s
saying to his son, when, at a certain entertainment, he sang in a very agreeable and
skilful manner, “Are you not ashamed to sing so well?” Even so, when one who
professes to be of the seed royal of heaven, is able to rival the ungodly in their
cunning, worldliness, merriment, scheming, or extravagance, may they not blush to
possess such dangerous capabilities? Heirs of heaven have something better to do
than to emulate the children of darkness. FA60

When Boswell told Johnson one day that he had heard a woman preach that morning
at a Quaker’s meeting, Johnson replied, “Sir, a woman preaching is like a dog’s
walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at
all.” We will add that our surprise is all the greater when women of piety mount the
pulpit, for they are acting in plain defiance of the command of the Holy Spirit,
written by the pen of the apostle Paul. FA260

Women are best when they are quiet. I share the apostle Paul’s feelings when he
bade women to be silent in the assembly. Yet there is work for holy women, and we
read of Peter’s wife’s mother that she arose and ministered to Christ. She did what
she could and what she should. She arose and ministered to him. Some people can do
nothing that they are allowed to do, but waste their energies in lamenting that they
are not called on to do other people’s work. 1836.225

In like manner, you Christian people who cannot talk,—the women especially,—I
mean that you cannot preach, you are not allowed to preach,—I want you to shine. 2617.174

Just as the woman, by her venturous spirit, stepped first into transgression—lest she
should be despised and trampled on, God in His wisdom devised that the woman, and
the woman alone, should be the author of the body of the God-man who should
redeem mankind. CI111

In all the Evangelists there is no instance of a woman that had any hand in the death
of Christ. As far as they are connected with the matter they are guiltless, they rather
oppose his death than promote it. Woman was last at the cross and first at the
sepulchre, and therefore we can never say a word about her being the first in the
transgression. 1683.559

Although works do not justify a man before God, they do justify a man’s profession
before his fellows. 554.89

It is a noteworthy fact, that while work-mongers cry up works, they never have
any worth talking about; and while believers in Christ decry their own good works,
they abound in them. 2228.561

Thou hast never done a good work in thy life; thou hast either spoilt it by thy selfish
motives before it, or by some carelessness in it, or else by some vainglorious pride
after it. 2468.270

You are to do good works as zealously as if you were to be saved by your good works,
and you are to trust in the merits of Christ as though you had done nothing at all. 2913.597

Every one of us ought to remember that a great deal of that commodity in this world
known by the name of good works, is not good works at all. What is a good work? I
should venture to say that anything that has in it the element of selfishness is not
good. You may question that, but I think it is the highest virtue to be unselfish. If a
man be found to be virtuous, as we say, with the design of benefiting himself, has he
not spoiled his virtue? 3408.260

If there were no future to this world as well as to ourselves, we might be glad to
escape from it, counting it to be nothing better than a huge penal colony, from which
it would be a thousand mercies for both body and soul to be emancipated. 788.2

If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him, and he who has the
smile of the ungodly must look for the frown of God. 1159.115

Perhaps I ought to add that there has grown up out of the existence of unconverted
men and the prevalence of sin in them certain customs, fashions, maxims, rules,
modes, manners, forces, all of which go to make up what is called “the world,” and
there are also certain principles, desires, lusts, governments and powers which also
make up a part of the evil thing called “the world.” Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of
this world.” James speaks of keeping ourselves “unspotted from the world.” John
says, “the world passeth away and the lust thereof;” and Paul says, “Be not
conformed to this world, but be ye transformed.” 1327.676

God keeps his own and preserves them to the end, but they get nothing out of this
world save the discipline of avoiding it. Vain world! It is no friend to grace; it does not
help us on to God. 2225.525

A man, who knows not the Lord Jesus Christ, can find rest in many places,—such
rest as it is. Give him a large estate, abundance of money, and plenty of worldly
friends, and you will find him quite content with those things. Like the mole, which
has its home in the earth, he will go and burrow, and make his home there. 2758.606

I am always glad when men cannot be happy in the world; for, as long as they can be,
they will be. 2900.438

We all know that this world is a very unpromising field for faith; according to our
varied experiences, we must all subscribe to the declaration that this earth is, more
or less, a vale of tears, that it is not our rest, for it is polluted. There are too many
thorns in this nest for us to abide comfortably in it. This world is under the curse, so
it still bringeth forth thorns and thistles, and in the sweat of our face do we eat our
bread until we return to the earth out of which man was at first taken. Were this
world really to be our home, it would be a terrible fate for us; if we were always to
live in this huge penal settlement, it would be sad indeed for us to know that we had
continually to dwell where the shadow of the curse ever lingers, and where we have
only the shadow of the cross to sustain us under it. 3017.590

It is a world of toil, and I believe that it will go on so; and instead of getting better,
the world will in some respects get worse. 3352.206

God has not made this world to be a nest for us, and if we try to make it such for
ourselves, he plants thorns in it, so that we may be compelled to mount and find our
soul’s true home somewhere else, in a higher and nobler sphere than this poor world
can give. 3362.327

Do you resolve to do the right and to love the true, depend upon it you will get no
assistance from this world. Of its maxims, nine out of ten are false, and the other one
selfish; and even that which is selfish has a lie at the bottom of it. 3511.219

It is clear that lax doctrine and lax living are pretty frequently associated. AM310

Does the world satisfy thee? Then thou hast thy reward and portion in this life; make
much of it, for thou shalt know no other joy. ME373

The mirth which cheers the worldly makes the Christian sad: the carrion which
delights the crow, would disgust the dove; and so, those things which are delightful
and full of pleasure to unrenewed men, shock and grieve the hearts of the regenerate.
577.368

When a Christian man constantly acts like a worldly man, can it be possible that he
is acting rightly? When the two actions are precisely the same, and you discern no
difference, is there not grave cause to suspect that there is no difference? for by the
fruit must you know the tree, and if two trees bear precisely the same fruit, is there
not cause to suspect that they are the same sort of trees? 704.441

It does not matter what you may think of it, but I am certain that grace is at a low
ebb in your soul when you even raise the question of how far you may go in worldly
conformity. 790.30

I am sure, if you are a child of God, you cannot be happy in the world, you cannot be
content while leaving Christ, but you are in a miserable way. Grace has spoiled you
for the world, and it is of no use your attempting to get comfort out of it. Your only
hope of happiness lies Godward. 2081.222

Ah, sirs! there may have been a time when Christians were too precise, but it has not
been in my day. There may have been such a dreadful thing as Puritanic rigidity, but
I have never seen it. We are quite free from that evil now, if it ever existed. We have
gone from liberty to libertinism. We have passed beyond the dubious into the
dangerous, and none can prophesy where we shall stop. 2085.267

If ye find your pleasure with the world, you shall meet your condemnation with the
world; if with the world you live, with the world you shall die, and with the world you
shall live again for ever, lost. 3434.569

I will not attempt to point my finger at any of my brethren, or expose their faults, but
a man must be blind not to perceive that many Christians do their utmost to be as
worldly as they can be consistently with their idea of getting to heaven at last. 3533.483

A doubting, fretful spirit takes from us the joys we have. You have not all you could
wish, but you have still more than you deserve. Your circumstances are not what
they might be, but still they are not even now so bad as the circumstances of some
others. WC113

As we feel a thousand deaths in fearing one, so do we feel a thousand afflictions in
the fear of sorrows which will never come. Probably the major part of our griefs are
born, nourished, and perfected, entirely in an anxious, imaginative brain. Many of
our sorrows are not woven in the loom of providence, but are purely homespun, and
the pattern of our own invention. Some minds are specially fertile in self-torture;
they have the creative faculty for all that is melancholy, desponding, and wretched.
847.709

They stab themselves with imaginary daggers, they starve themselves in imaginary
famines, and even bury themselves in imaginary graves. Such strange creatures
are we that we probably smart more under blows which never fall upon us than we
do under those which do actually come. The rod of God does not smite us as sharply
as the rod of our own imagination does; our groundless fears are our own chief
tormentors; and when we are enabled to abolish our self-inflictions, all the inflictions
of the world become light enough. 3098.302

Of all self-torture, that of importing future trouble into present account is, perhaps,
the most insane. 3445.64

Apart from vital godliness all religion is utterly vain; offered without a sincere heart,
every form of worship is a solemn sham and an impudent mockery of the majesty of
heaven. ME706

If we choose a false way of worship we shall, ere long, choose to worship a false god.
TD106:28

No fish ever came upon God’s altar, because it could not come there alive; the Lord
wants none of your dead, heartless worship. WCo77

It is idolatry to worship the true God by a wrong method. 514.336

Depend upon it, the nearer we get back to the nakedness of worship, the nearer we
get to its truth and purity; and it is because man has fallen, that as his body wants
clothing, so he is always dressing up his religion. 695.332

We are all so ready to go to books, to go to men, to go to ceremonies, to anything
except God. Man will worship God with his eyes, and his arms, and his knees, and his
mouth—with anything but his heart—and we are all of us anxious, more or less,
until we are renewed by grace, to get off the heart-worship of God. 735.90

Do not flatter yourselves: if you go to places of worship merely to look about you or to
hear music, you are not worshipping God. 1991.615

We don’t believe in such worship as these professed votaries of nature affect to offer.
We hear of the piety, but we have never seen anything but the profanity. 3477.450

My soul, bow down under a sense of thy natural sinfulness, and worship thy God.
Admire the grace which saves thee—the mercy which spares thee—the love which
pardons thee! ME333

Thus they (seraphim) have four wings for adoration and two for active energy; four to
conceal themselves, and two with which to occupy themselves in service; and we may
learn from them that we shall serve God best when we are most deeply reverent and
humbled in his presence. Veneration must be in larger proportion than vigour,
adoration must exceed activity. 1351.244

Consider whom we profess to worship, and we shall not hurry into his presence as
men run to a fire. Moses, the man of God, was warned to put off his shoes from off his
feet when God only revealed himself in a bush; how should we prepare ourselves
when we come to him who reveals himself in Christ Jesus his dear Son? 1847.350

Instead of cavilling at the Lord because of certain stern truths which we read
concerning him, we are enabled in these to worship him by bowing our reason to his
revelation. That which we cannot understand we nevertheless believe, and believing,
we adore. It is not ours to arraign the Almighty, but to submit to him. We are not his
censors, but his servants. We do not legislate, but love. 2048.568

In fact, there is no worship of God that is better than the hearing of a sermon. 2395.17

He has done such great things for us, and he has shown so much good will towards
us, that to pay him reverence seems not so much the call of duty as the natural
impulse of love. 3550.68

God thinks of every separate child of His as much as if He had only that one. TN70

I am descended from the King of kings. WC29

Think of yourself, my dear friend, then (if, indeed, you have believed in Christ), as
being a singularity in the realm of beings, a special wonder to the creation. You alone
can say, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” Neither in the earth nor in the stars,
however they may be peopled, nor in yonder golden streets, are there any beings save
men who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
We are the costliest of creatures; dearest to God, for he has spent most upon us, and
made us the choicest objects of his heavenly expenditure. 1554.471

Luther once said, “The devil hates goose quills,” and, doubtless, he has good reason,
for ready writers, by the Holy Spirit’s blessing, have done his kingdom much damage. ME301