16. Fragments

 •  9 min. read  •  grade level: 5
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"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver."
Prov. 25:11
Only the believer is the rich man; here is his estate summed up, "All things are his."
The creation is but a theater to act the great work of redemption upon.
Christ was not only "a Lamb without spot" but "a Lamb slain". Every pardon a sinner hath, is written in Christ's blood.
If we will needs be high-minded, let it be in setting our mind upon heavenly things.
If thou wouldest get Christ into thy heart, let heaven be in thine eye: "Set your affections upon things above" (Col. 3:2). There needs no exhortation to set our hearts on things below.
Though grace cannot be lost, yet it may be hid. David so clouded his graces by sin, that others could hardly see the cloth of gold under the filthy garments.
Why is prayer so sweet, but because the soul hath private conference with Christ? Why is the word precious but because it is a means to convey Christ? An ordinance without Christ, is but feeding upon the dish instead of the meat.
Here Christ puts His graces upon His spouse, in heaven He will put His glory upon her.
Such was Adam's ambition to know more, that by tasting the tree of knowledge, he lost the tree of life.
Unity in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, where one makes three, and three make but one: this is bad arithmetic, but good divinity.
Divisions are Satan's powder-plot to blow up religion.
The godly man hath all his best things to come; the wicked man hath all his worst things to come: as their way is different so their end.
Do not so look upon your troubles as to forget your mercies.
He that is proud of his knowledge, the devil cares not how much he knows.
How many have pulled down their souls to build up their houses.
God can strike a straight stroke by a crooked stick. Let who will rule, God over-rules.
God can with a word unpin the wheels, and break the axle-tree of the creation. He can stop the lion's mouth, cause the sun to stand still, and make the fire not burn.
How slow is God to anger. He was longer in destroying Jericho, than in making the world.
Christ will not throw away His pearls for every speck of dirt.
Christ shed tears for them that shed His blood.
Our nature is defiled; how then can the actions be pure? If the water be foul in the well, it cannot be clean in the bucket. "We are all as an unclean thing" (Isa. 64:6).
That which begins in hypocrisy ends in apostasy.
Eternity to the godly is a day which hath no sun-setting; and to the wicked, a night which hath no sun-rising.
Now is the time of God's long-suffering, after death will be the time of the sinner's long suffering.
Take heed lest by growing rich, you grow worth nothing at last.
Many live to see their names buried before them.
"When I awake I am still with Thee" (Psa. 139:18). If you would still be with God, watch over your hearts every day; lock up your hearts with God every morning, and give Him the key.
Toleration is the grave of reformation. By toleration we adopt other men's sins, and make them our own.
God loves a broken heart, not a divided heart.
If a wicked man seems to have peace at death, it is not from the knowledge of his happiness, but from the ignorance of his danger.
It will be so much the worse to go to hell with hopes of heaven.
An idle person is a fit subject for the devil to work upon.
God must light up the lamp of grace in the heart; weeds grow of themselves, flowers are planted.
Godliness is glory in the seed, and glory is godliness in the flower.
Look upon an humble Savior, and let the plumes of pride fall.
A godly man is an heavenly man; heaven is in him, before he is in heaven.
Other friends thou canst not keep, God is a friend thou canst not lose; He will be thy guide in life, thy hope in death, thy reward after death.
Many parents are careful to lay up portions for their children, but they do not lay up prayers for them.
We are apt to forget three things our faults, our friends, our instructions.
True faith will trust God where it cannot trace Him. Such sheep as have most wool are soonest fleeced. It is good to find out our sins, lest they find us out. Our life is a wayfaring life and a warfaring life. Affliction is a bitter root, but it bears sweet fruit.
"Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee" (Psa. 76:10). He can reap His glory out of men's fury.
True love is not only at the tongue's end, but at the finger's end; it is the labor of love.
Does Christ appear for us in heaven, and are we afraid to appear for Him on earth?
It is Satan that makes us have good thoughts of ourselves, and hard thoughts of God.
As we must answer to God for idle words, so for sinful silence.
As the glass shows what the face is, whether it be fair or foul, so the words show what the heart is.
Did our thoughts dwell above we should live sweeter lives. The higher the lark flies the sweeter the songs.
Heaven is a place where sorrow cannot live and joy cannot die.
'Tis vain to speak of hopes of salvation and yet have the marks of damnation.
The world is a flattering enemy, it kills with embracing... whom the world kisseth it betrayeth.
The way to overcome is upon our knees.
The world is enough to busy us, not to fill us. "In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits" (Job 20:22).
Immorality begins at infidelity (Heb. 3:12).
Do you love to see Christ's picture in a saint, though hung in never so poor a frame?
Be more afraid of sin than of suffering.
Is heaven in thine eye, and Christ in thy heart, and the world under thy feet?
How many have perished by being their own saviors.
To render evil for evil is brutish; to render evil for good is devilish; to render good for evil is Christian.
None so empty of grace as he that thinks he is full. Such as would be over-rich, will over-reach.
It is a poor thing to have an applauding world and an accusing conscience.
Saints have their infirmities; but the wicked do not hate them for these, but for their holiness.
Whatever you deny for Christ, you shall find again in Christ.
The sins you commit in haste you will repent at leisure. Prayer keeps the heart open to God and shut to sin.
"Gideon took thorns of the wilderness, and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth" (Judg. 8:16). God by the thorns and briers of affliction teaches us.
God gives gracious supports in affliction. If He strikes with one hand, He supports with the other. "Underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deut. 33:27).
Prosperity exposes to much evil: it is hard to carry a full cup without spilling, and a full estate without sinning.
God lets us fall into sufferings to prevent falling into snares.
Why should we think to tread only upon roses and violets, when prophets and apostles have marched through briers to heaven?
If a man begins his voyage to heaven in the storm of death, it is a thousand to one if he does not suffer eternal shipwreck.
Pride stops the current of gratitude. A proud man will never be thankful; he looks upon all he has either to be of his own procuring or deserving.
Many pray Agur's first prayer, "Give me not poverty", but few pray his last prayer, "Give me not riches" (Prov. 30:8).
They that sleep in seedtime, will beg in harvest.
The prayer which wants a good aim wants a good issue.
God's rod is a pencil to draw Christ's image more distinctly upon us.
Affliction is God's flail to thresh off the husks, not to consume the precious grain.
Fiery trials make golden Christians (Prov. 17:3).
God only threshes the precious wheat, but He burns the useless chaff. He chastens the righteous, but He condemns the wicked.
The jewel of assurance is best kept in the cabinet of an humble heart.
Christ is never sweet until sin is felt to be bitter.
At Christ's death "the rocks rent". Not to be affected with Christ's dying love, is to have hearts harder than rocks.
Conscience is like a bee; use it well, and it will give honey; use it ill, and it will put forth a sting.
A troubled conscience is the first-fruit of hell.
Eternity is a sea without bottom or banks, for what line or plummet can fathom its depths?
A heathen, exercising much cruelty to a Christian, asked him, in scorn, what great miracle his Master, Jesus Christ, ever did. The Christian replied, "This miracle, that although you use me thus, I can forgive you."
Grace is Christ's portrait drawn on the soul.
He that sins because of God's mercy, shall have judgment without mercy.
Where grace grows sin cannot thrive.
God makes grace flourish most in the fall of the leaf. "They shall still bring forth in old age" (Psa. 92:14).
The sinner may live in a calm, but he will die in a storm. He that lives graceless, dies peaceless.
He who has no faith in his heart will have no fear of God before his eyes.
He who believes not in the blood of the Lamb, must feel the wrath of the Lamb.
Sin unrepented of ends in a tragedy. It has the devil for its father, shame for its companion, and death for its wages.
When people do not mind what God speaks to them in His word, God as little minds what they say to Him in prayer.
The godly have some good in them, therefore the devil afflicts them; and some evil in them, therefore God afflicts them.
A sinner's heart is the devil's mansion-house. "I will return unto my house" (Matt. 12:44).
A sinner grinds in the devil's mill. "The lusts of your father ye will do" (John 8:44).