Puritan Nuggets of Gold # 25

Emotion

Measure not God's love and favor by your own feeling. The sun shines as clearly in the darkest day as it does in the brightest. The difference is not in the sun, but in some clouds which hinder the manifestation of the light thereof.  (Richard Sibbes)

A man must first love that he would be, before he can be that which he loveth. (Andrew Willet)

Zeal is like fire; in the chimney it is one of the best servants; but out of the chimney it is one of the worst masters. (Thomas Brooks)

Grace comes not to take away a man's affections, but to take them up. (William Fenner)

Christianity doth not abrogate affections, but regulates them. (Thomas Manton)

Envy

Envy is sin, and it punisheth itself like gluttony; for it fretteth the heart, shorteneth the life, and eateth the flesh. (Henry Smith)

Tis very hard to behold our own gifts without pride, and the gifts of others without envy. (Vavasor Powell)

We must not envy them that have greater gifts, for if we have any it is more than (our) due or than we have deserved; and this will teach us to be contented with that which we have had. Let us then look on what we have and give God thanks for it, and know that if we should have more, He would give more; yea if we consider that they that have much must make the greater account, and that we are unfit to do so, we will thank God that we have no more than we have. (Richard Greenham)

Eternal Security

God's decree is the very pillar and basis on which the saints' perseverance depends. That decree ties the knot of adoption so fast, that neither sin, death, nor hell, can break it asunder. (Thomas Watson)

When God calls a man, He does not repent of it. God does not, as many friends do, love one day, and hate another; or as princes, who make their subjects favorites, and afterwards throw them into prison. This is the blessedness of a saint; his condition admits of no alteration. God's call is founded upon His decree, and His decree is immutable. Acts of grace cannot be reversed. God blots out His people's sins, but not their names. (Thomas Watson)

He (God) may for a time desert His children, but He will not disinherit them. (Thomas Watson)

It may be that we are sinful; but God did not love us for our goodness, neither will He cast us off for our wickedness. Yet this is no encouragement to licentiousness, for God knows how to put us to anguishes and straits and crosses, and yet to reserve everlasting life for us. (John Cotton)

Though [true] Christians be not kept altogether from falling, yet they are kept from falling altogether. (William Secker)