Christ is in all believers, as the vine is in the branches and as the head is in the members. Here is a notable bond of union between Christians; Christ by his Spirit is in them all. Christ is one in...  Read More

As for unbelievers, we must know that God shuts out no one but those who shut themselves out, those who think the things of the gospel are too good to be true, and therefore will enjoy their pleasure...  Read More

We must help unbelievers realize that they misread the abundant common blessings of this life as a sign that God must love them. For example, some think their case is good because God has given them ...  Read More

It is clear to anybody who knows anything in religion that we ought to labour to know God's love for us. Avoid any who teach that we ought to doubt God's love for us. Are we not prone enough to distr...  Read More

We cannot be thankful to God until we know that he loves us in Christ. Who can be thankful to someone he doesn't know? It is a duty to joy in the Lord as our portion, but we must be certain of his lo...  Read More

The evils which we suffer are from the meritorious evil of sin. It is sin that makes God to bring evil upon the creature. We must know that the evil of punishment is the good of justice, because it d...  Read More

The lives of God's children do keep back judgment and evil from the place where they live, and their death is a forerunner of judgment. The reasons: (1) Because gracious men do make the times and the...  Read More

This is a comfort to us in the departure of our believing friends, to render their souls up with comfort into the hands of God. We know they are not lost but sent before us. Why should we inappropria...  Read More

It is a very sweet word, that death is nothing but a gathering. It presupposes that God's children are all scattered in this world amongst wicked men, in a forlorn place, as pilgrims in a strange lan...  Read More

How should we pray so that God will hear? (1) If we want God to hear us, then let us hear him. For 'he that turns away his ears from hearing the law, even his prayers shall be abominable' (Prov. 28:9...  Read More

If this be so, that God does hear us, let us be plentiful in prayers, and lay up a great store of them in the bosom of God, for this is what will do us the most good. He hears everyone in due time. W...  Read More

Some will object, God does not hear me: I have prayed a long while, and yet he has not given me an answer. (1) God does always hear, though he seems not to hear sometimes, to increase our importunity...  Read More

How do we know God hears the groans of his children? David said, 'My groaning is not hidden from you' (Psa. 38:9). Also, 'He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him; he will also hear their cry,...  Read More

How will we know when to cease and leave off mourning? The soul has many things to do and it cannot always mourn nor always rejoice. We have mourned enough, when we have overcome our hearts, and brou...  Read More

We are told to weep and mourn always and to rejoice and be thankful always, how can these agree? To this I answer that the state of a Christian in this life is a mixed state. The outward state and th...  Read More

The best way to weep is to enter into the house of mourning and set before our eyes the afflictions of others. The very sight of misery is a means to make the soul weep. And let us be willing to hear...  Read More

Tears and mourning for sin, when it comes from inward grief, is a temper well befitting any man. It is not an unmanly or base thing. When one has to deal with God, he must forget his state and take t...  Read More

(6) In false humility the hypocrites are sorrowful for the judgment, that is upon them; but not for that which is the cause of the judgment, which is sin; but the child of God, he is humbled for sin,...  Read More

(4) True humility proceeds from faith and is in the faithful not only when judgment is upon them, but before the judgment comes. True humility quakes at the threats, as the very frowns of a father wi...  Read More

How may we know holy from hypocritical humility? (1) Holy humility is voluntary. But, on the contrary, the humility of other men is against their will and by force it is extorted from them. God will ...  Read More

A humble heart is a grace itself, and a vessel of grace. It does better the soul and make it holy, for the soul is never fitter for God than when it is humbled. It is a fundamental grace that gives s...  Read More

It is a strange thing that the devil should raise men to be proud of that which is not of themselves, but of things they have borrowed or have been given; as for men to be proud of themselves in rega...  Read More

(6) That we may humble ourselves, let us work upon our own souls by reasoning, discoursing, and speaking to our own hearts. For the soul has a faculty to work upon itself. So, discourse thus: If a pr...  Read More

(3) That we may humble ourselves, let us be content to hear of our sins and baseness by others. Let us be content that others should acquaint us with anything that may humble us. Proud men are the de...  Read More