the love of god

God is not the kind of father who casts off sick and erring children; if he were, he would have no children.

- Martin Luther

revenge

The corpse of an enemy always smells sweet.

- Napoleon Bonaparte

preach the gospel

If the pope himself would lend me his pulpit, I would gladly proclaim the righteousness of Jesus Christ therein.

- George Whitefield

accomodation

Fellowship between faith and unbelief must sooner or later be fatal to the former.

- Horatius Bonar

teaching

The whole art of teaching is only awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.

--Anotole France

teaspoon battles

A civilization may be wrecked without any spectacular crimes or criminals but
by constant petty breaches of faith and minor complicities on the part of men
generally considered very nice people.

- Herbert Butterfield

preach the gospel

If the pope himself would lend me his pulpit, I would gladly proclaim the righteousness of Jesus Christ therein.

- George Whitefield

read, study, teach, live

"In truth you cannot read too much in Scriptures;
and what you read you cannot read too carefully,
and what you read carefully you cannot understand too well,
and what you understand well you cannot teach too well,
and what you teach well you cannot live too well."

--Martin Luther, WA 53, 218;

fashion

The great guide of the world is fashion and its god is respectability--two phantoms at which brave men laugh! How many of you look around on society to know what to do; you watch the general current and then float upon it; you study the popular breeze and shift your sails to suit it. True men do not so! You ask--Is it fashionable? If it be fashionable, it must be done. Fashion is the law of multitudes, but it is nothing more than the common consent of fools.

- CH Spurgeon

Don't try to sound profound

It is not difficult to make easy things appear hard, but to render hard things easy is the hardest part of the work of preachers.

- Archbishop James Ussher

On the Lord's Supper

I would rather drink blood with a papist than mere juice with the Zwinglians.

- Luther, after Marburg in 1530

when tradition is wrong

Custom should yield to truth.

- Zwingli

perseverance

A great tree will fall with many small chops. Pray for daily grace to keep chopping.

- Piper

By perseverance the snail reached the ark.

- Spurgeon

we preach christ crucified...

Don’t preach in a way that a Muslim would approve. Preach a divine crucified Christ.

- Piper

faith and doubting

My mother [spoke to me] in those dark hours when the lamp burned dim, when I thought that faith was gone and shipwreck had been made of my soul. "Christ," she used to say, "keeps firmer hold on us than we keep on him."

My mother's word meant...that salvation by faith does not mean that we are saved because we keep ourselves at every moment in an ideally perfect attitude of confidence in Christ. No, we are saved because having once been united to Christ by faith, we are his forever. Calvinism is a very comforting doctrine indeed. Without its comfort, I think I should have perished long ago in the castle of Giant Despair.

- J. Gresham Machen, Selected Shorter Writings, 561

comforting, theology, and thoughtfulness

There is a way of using theology and theological arguments that wounds rather than heals. This is not the fault of theology and theological arguments; it is the fault of the "miserable comforter" who fastens on an inappropriate fragment of truth, or whose timing is off, or whose attitude is condescending, or whose application is insensitive, or whose true theology is couched in such culture-laden cliches that they grate rather than comfort.
...at the very least we ought to examine ourselves, our attitudes, and our arguments very closely lest we simultaneously delude ourselves and oppress others.

- Carson, For the Love of God, February 17 (on Job 16-17)

the hard work of learning

Whoever passes by what is over his head condemns his head to its present low altitude; for nothing can elevate a mind except what is over its head; and that elevation is not accomplished by capillary attraction, but only by the hard work of climbing up ropes, with sore hands and aching muscles.

Mortimer Adler

waiting on the lord

Let us not think that waiting on the Lord will mean getting less done. The truth is that by doing the Lord's work in the Lord's way we will accomplish more, not less. You need not fear that if you wait for God's Spirit you will not get as much done as if you charge ahead in the flesh. After all, who can do the most, you or the God of Heaven and earth?

- Francis Schaeffer, No Little People

new persuasions/beliefs

If ever I am inclined to turn to the opinion of any other sect: Resolved beside the most deliberate consideration, earnest prayer, etc, privately to desire all the help that can possibly be afforded me from some of the most judicious men in the country, together with the prayers of wise and holy men, however strongly persuaded I may seem to be that I am in the right.

- Jonathon Edwards, diary, May 21, 1725

Luther on prayer

Always make a good and hearty ‘Amen,’ and never doubt that God hears you and says ‘Yes!’ to your prayer. Further, always bear in mind that you are not standing or kneeling alone but the whole of Christendom is standing or kneeling with you. It is the Word of God and His promise which makes good your prayer, not your own devotion.

- Luther