"The joy that attends the subduing of sin is a noble joy, a pure joy, a peculiar joy, an increasing joy, and a lasting joy; but that joy that attends the committing of sin is an ignoble joy, a corrupt joy, a decreasing joy, a dying joy."
I am sure that I am his, as I am sure that I live. I am his by purchase, and I am his by conquest; I am his by donation, and I am his by election; I am his by covenant, and I am his by marriage. I am wholly his; I am peculiarly his; I am universally his; I am eternally his. This I well know, and the knowledge thereof is my joy in life, and my strength and crown in death. p. 19
What I have found and felt, and what I do find and feel, is wonderfully beyond what I am able to express. I am as well able to tell the stars of heaven, and to number the sand of the sea, as I am able to declare to you the joy, the joy, the inconceivable joy, the assurance, the glorious assurance, that God hath given me. p. 52
Such souls as have once been in the arms of God, in the midst of all oppositions, they are as men made all of fire walking in stubble; they consume and overcome all oppositions; all difficulties are but as whetstones to their fortitude. The moon will run her course, though the dogs bark at it, so will all those choice souls that have found warmth under Christ's wings run their Christian race in spite of all difficulties and dangers. p.62
God loves to smile most upon his people when the world frowns most. When the world puts its iron chains upon their legs, then God puts his golden chains about their necks; when the world puts a bitter cup into their hands, then God drops some of his honey, some of his goodness and sweetness into it. p. 65
Ah, Christian, you wrong two at once, Christ and your own souls, whilst you thus reason: Lord, give me first assurance, and then I will believe in thee and rest upon thee; whereas your great work is to believe, and to hold on believing and acting of faith on the Lord Jesus, till you come to be assured and sealed up to the day of redemption. This is the surest and shortest way to assurance. p. 71
Ah, Christians! believing, believing is the ready way, the safest way, the sweetest way, the shortest way, the only way to a well-grounded assurance, and to that unspeakable joy and peace that flows from it, as the effect from the cause, the fruit from the root, the stream from the fountain. There is such assurance, and such joy that springs from the fresh and frequent actings of faith, that cannot be expressed, that cannot be painted. No man can paint the sweetness of the honeycomb, the sweetness of paradise, the fragrancy of the rose of Sharon. As the being of things cannot be painted, and as the sweetness of things cannot be painted, no more can that assurance and joy that flows from believing be painted or expressed; it is too great and too glorious for weak man to paint or set forth. p. 72
"O God, thou art my God, early I will seek thee! my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is: to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary." In these words you have David's strong, earnest, and vehement desires; here you have desire upon desire; here you have the very flower and vigor of his spirit, the strength and sinews of his soul, the prime and top of his inflamed affections, all strongly working after a fuller enjoyment of God. Look, as the espoused maid longs for the marriage day, the apprentice for his freedom, the captive for his ransom, the condemned man for his pardon, the traveler for his inn, and the mariner for his haven; so doth a soul, that hath met with God in his ordinances, long to meet with God in heaven. It is not a drop, it is not a lap and away, a sip and away, that will suffice such a soul. No. This soul will never be quiet till it sees God face to face, till it be quiet in the bosom of God. The more a saint tastes of God in an ordinance, the more are his desires raised and whetted, and the more are his teeth set on edge for more and more of God. p. 70
"Thous hast loved my sol from the grave, for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back." Ah, says Hezekiah, I have now found that in my afflictions thy affections have been most strongly carried towards me, as towards one whom thou art exceedingly taken with. p. 84
The surest and the shortest way to assurance is to wrestle and contend with God for holiness, as the angel contended with the devil about the body of Moses, Jude 9. When the stream and cream of a man's spirit runs after holiness, it will not be night with that man; the Sun of righteousness will shine forth upon that man, and turn his winter into summer, and crown him with the diadem of assurance. p. 87
Well! remember this, it is mercy to lack mercy till we are fit for mercy, till we are able to bear the weight of mercy, and make a divine improvement of mercy. p. 88
Praying souls, remember this. It is but weakness to think that men shall reap as soon as they sow, that they shall reap in the evening when they have but sowed in the morning. p. 90
The soul of Mary Magdalene was full of devils; and yet Christ cast them out, and made her heart his house, his presence chamber. Why dos thou then say there is no hope for thee, O despairing soul? Paul was full of rage against Christ and his people, and full of blasphemy and impiety, and yet behold, Paul becomes a chosen vessel, Paul is caught up into the heaven, and he is filled with the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost. Though the prodigal had run from his father, and spent and wasted all his estate in ways of wickedness, yet upon his resolution to return, his father meets him, and instead of killing him, he kisses; instead of kicking him, he embraces him; instead of shutting the door upon him, he makes sumptuous provision for him. And how then dost thou dare to say, O despairing soul, that God will never cast an eye of love upon thee, nor bestow a crumb of mercy on thee! p. 94
"God so loved the world;" so freely, so vehemently, so fully, so admirably, so inconceivably, "that he gave his only Son."
From first to last all is from free grace. God loves freely. The only ground of God's love is his love. p. 96
Verily, seeing all happiness and blessedness comes in a way of free grace, and not in a way of doing, not in a way of works, you should arise, O despairing souls! and cast off all despairing thoughts, and drink of the waters of life freely.
God's mercies are above all his works, and above all ours too. His mercy is without measures and rules. All the acts and attributes of God sit at the feet of mercy. p. 97
Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died." Romans 8:33-38 The apostle, upon the account of Christ's death, of Christ's blood cries out Victory, victory! He looks upon all his enemies and sings it sweetly out, "Over all these we are more than conquerors" or "above conquerors." We do over-overcome. p. 100
Do not deceive yourselves; it is not a careless, slight, slender searching into your own hearts that will enable you to see the deep, the secret, the curious, the mysterious work of God upon you. If you do not "seek as for silver," and search for Christ and grace "as for hid treasures," you will not find them. Your richest metals lie lowest, your choicest gems are in the bowels of the earth, and they that will have them must search diligently, and dig deep, or else they must go without them. p. 106
It is not a superficial, but a thorough, serious, substantial examination that must enable a man to know whether he hath precious faith or no; whether he be Christ's spouse or the devil's prostitute. All is not gold that glitters; all is not faith that men call faith. p. 106
God hath his doing hand, his working hand in every man's heart; either he is a-working there in ways of mercy or of wrath; either he is building up or a-plucking down; either he is a-making all glorious within, or else he is a-turning all into a hell. Well! doubting souls, remember this, that the soundest joy, the strongest consolation, flow from a thorough examination of things within.
Many trembling souls are apt to call their faith unbelief, and their confidence presumption, and their zeal passion, and by this means many are kept off from assurance. Now, the way to remove this impediment is wisely and seriously to distinguish between renewing grace and restraining grace, betwixt common grace and special grace, betwixt temporary grace and sanctifying grace. Now, the difference between the one and the other I have shewed in ten particulars in my treatise called "Precious Remedies against Satan's Devices," and to that I refer thee for full satisfaction. p. 107
A lazy Christian will always lack four things, viz., comfort, content, confidence, and assurance. ...The lazy Christian hath his mouth full of complaints, when the active Christian hath his heart full of comforts. God would have the hearts of his children to be hot in religious services. "Be fervent" (or seething hot, as it is in the original) "in spirit, serving the Lord," Rom. 12:11. p. 111
Therefore, if ever you would have assurance, seek the Lord, not only while he may be found, but also in every gracious dispensation where he may be found.
Sicily, saith one, is so full of sweet flowers, that dogs cannot hunt there, the scent of the sweet flowers divereth their smell. And ah! what doth all the sweet delights and contents of this world, but make men lose the sense of heaven, but divert men from hunting after assurance, and from running after Christ. p. 115
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