Classic Christian Quotes from Classic Ministers

Classic Christian Quotes from Classic Ministers


There are so many lean Christians who devour hundreds of sermons!(Edmund Calamy) 

"His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night." Psalm 1:2

"I meditate on Your precepts and consider Your ways." Psalm 119:15 

It is not merely hearing a sermon that does you good, but meditating on what you hear. So when you hear a sermon, if you do not meditate and ponder upon what you hear, you will never get any good.

There are so many lean Christians who devour hundreds of sermons--and are never any better, never any fatter in grace. They never meditate, ponder and consider what they hear--that is the reason why they are so lean in grace.

Pray unto God to enlighten your understandings, to quicken your devotion, to warm your affections--that by meditation on holy things . . .
  you may be made more holy,
  you may have your lusts more mortified,
  you may have your graces more increased,
  you may better behold the vanity of the world, 
  you may lifted up to Heaven and eternal realities.

"Meditate upon these things." 1 Timothy 4:15
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And every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit (John 15:2).

A child of God was dazed by the variety of afflictions which seemed to make her their target. Walking past a vineyard in the rich autumnal glow she noticed the untrimmed appearance and the luxuriant wealth of leaves on the vines, that the ground was given over to a tangle of weeds and grass, and that the whole place looked utterly uncared for; and as she pondered, the Heavenly Gardener whispered so precious a message that she would fain pass it on:

"My dear child, are you wondering at the sequence of trials in your life? Behold that vineyard and learn of it. The gardener ceases to prune, to trim, to harrow, or to pluck the ripe fruit only when he expects nothing more from the vine during that season. It is left to itself, because the season of fruit is past and further effort for the present would yield no profit. Comparative uselessness is the condition of freedom from suffering. Do you then wish me to cease pruning your life? Shall I leave you alone?"

And the comforted heart cried, "No!"
--Homera Homer-Dixon

It is the branch that bears the fruit,
That feels the knife,
To prune it for a larger growth,
A fuller life.
Though every budding twig be lopped,
And every grace
Of swaying tendril, springing leaf,
Be lost a space.
O thou whose life of joy seems reft,
Of beauty shorn;
Whose aspirations lie in dust,
All bruised and torn,
Rejoice, tho' each desire, each dream,
Each hope of thine
Shall fall and fade; it is the hand
Of Love Divine
That holds the knife, that cuts and breaks
With tenderest touch,
That thou, whose life has borne some fruit
May'st now bear much.
--Annie Johnson Flint

~L. B. Cowman~

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MORNING

The Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own under-standing. - If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbradeth not; and it shall be given him. - The fool-ishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. - God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. That no flesh should glory in his presence.

The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. - Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.

All bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. - Never man spake like this man. - Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanc-tification, and redemption.

PROV. 2:6. Prov. 3:5. -Jas. 1:5. -I Cor. 1:25. -I Cor. 1:27,29. Psa. 119:130. Psa. 119:11. Luke 4:22. -John 7:46. I Cor. 1:30.

EVENING

The year of my redeemed is come.

Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, ... and unto his family.

Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead.

The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction.

Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name.

ISA. 63:4. Lev. 25:10. Isa. 26:19. I Thes. 4:16,17. Hos. 13:14. Jer. 50:34.