Men die in darkness at your side,
Without a hope to cheer the tomb;
Take up the torch and wave it wide,
The torch that lights time’s thickest gloom.
– Horatius Bonar –
Death
Union With Christ – JC Ryle
Nothing will do then but real heart-union with Christ. Christ interceding for us at God’s right hand; Christ known and believed as our Priest, our Physician, our Friend. Christ alone can rob death of its sting and enable us to face sickness without fear. He alone can deliver those who through fear of death are in bondage. I say to everyone who wants advice; be acquainted with Christ. If ever you would have hope and comfort on the bed of sickness, be acquainted with Christ. Seek Christ. Apply to Christ.
– JC Ryle –
from Sickness
Jesus Cannot Be Understood Apart from the Cross – T. Austin-Sparks
It is of far-reaching importance and vital consequence to recognize that the Person of our Lord cannot really be known and understood apart from the Cross. It is equally of consequence to realize that the Cross is only really understood and adequately appreciated when the Person of Christ is discerned. These two work hand-in-hand and are mutually dependent.
– T. Austin-Sparks –
If Men knew – Thomas Brooks
The main reason why men dote upon the world, and damn their souls to get the world, is, because they are not acquainted with a greater glory. Men ate acorns, till they were acquainted with the use of wheat. Ah, were men more acquainted with what union and communion with God means, what it is to have ‘a new name, and a new stone, that none knows but he that hath it’ (Rev. 2:17); did they but taste more of heaven, and live more in heaven, and had more glorious hopes of going to heaven, ah, how easily would they have the moon under their feet.
– Thomas Brooks –
from Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices, 1652
What The Law Is To Do – Charles Spurgeon
The law is meant to lead the sinner to faith in Christ, by showing the impossibility of any other way. It is the black dog to fetch the sheep to the shepherd, the burning heat which drives the traveler to the shadow of the great rock in a weary land.
– Charles Spurgeon –
From Christ’s Glorious Achievements
Don’t Draw Back Before The Sacrifice – François Colliard
If you could only know what one feels on finding oneself … where the least ray of the Gospel has not penetrated! If those friends who blame … could see from afar what we see, and feel what we feel, they would be the first to wonder that those redeemed by Christ should be so backward in devotion and know so little of the spirit of self-sacrifice. They would be ashamed of the hesitations that hinder us. … We must remember that it was not by interceding for the world in glory that Jesus saved it. He gave Himself. Our prayers for the evangelization of the world are but a bitter irony so long as we only give of our superfluity, and draw back before the sacrifice of ourselves.
– François Colliard –
from On the Threshold of Central Africa
Unable To Hear My Voice – C S Lewis
He thinks great folly child,’ said Aslan. ‘This world is bursting with life for these few days because the song with which I called it into life still hangs in the air and rumbles the ground. It will not be so for long. But I cannot tell that to this old sinner, and I cannot comfort him either; he has made himself unable to hear my voice. If I spoke to him, he would hear only growling’s and roaring’s. Oh Adam’s sons, how cleverly you defend yourselves against all that might do you good! …
– CS Lewis –
How to Suffer Well – Charles Spurgeon
Suffering saints are living seed. Oh, that God might help us to such faith, that when we come to suffer in life, or to expire in death, we may so glorify God that others may believe in him! May we preach sermons by our faith which shall be better than sermons in words.
– Charles Spurgeon –
from his sermon The Trial Of Your Faith – December, 1888
Cast our Crowns – Elizabeth Charles
Till amid the hosts of light, We in Thee redeemed, complete, Through Thy cross made pure and white, Cast our crowns before Thy feet
– Elizabeth Charles –