Thursday, April 16, 2015

Puritan Nuggets of Gold # 86

Sin (continued)

What the sin against the Holy Spirit is in Divinity, that ingratitude is in morality, an offence unpardonable. (Thomas Fuller)

Thankless men are like swine feeding on acorns, which, though they fall upon their heads, never make them look up to the tree from which they come. (Jean Daille)

When he hath all things, he is unthankful; and when he hath nothing, he beginneth to be thankful. (Nebuchadnezzar) (Henry Smith)

What unthankfulness is it to forget our consolations, and to look upon matters of grievance; to think so much upon two or three crosses as to forget an hundred blessings. (Richard Sibbes)

"Thy will be done." Some have only said it, but not learned it. If things be not according to their mind ... they are discontented and querulous. Rachel cried, "Give me children, or I die." (Genesis 30:1). God let her have a child, bu it cost her her life. (Genesis 35:18). Israel was not content with manna, but they must have quails, and God punished them by letting them have their will. "And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against them, and the Lord smote them with a great plague" (Numbers 11:31, 33). Many have importunately desired the life of a child, and could not bring their will to God's to be content to part with it; and the Lord has punished them by letting them have their will; for the child has lived and been a burden to them. Seeing their wills crossed God, their child shall cross them. (Thomas Watson)

Five words cost Zachariah forty weeks silence. (Thomas Fuller)

As it is with a vessel that is full of liquor, if you strike upon it, it will make no great noise; but if it be empty, then it makes a great noise: so it is with the heart. A heart that is full of grace and goodness within, will bear a great many strokes and never make any noise; but an empty heart, if that be struck, will make a noise. (Jeremiah Burroughs)

Why dost thou complain of thy troubles? It is not trouble that troubles but discontent. It is not the water without the ship, but the water that gets within the leak, which drowns it. It is not outward affliction that can make the life of a Christian sad: a contented mind would sail above these waters; but when there is a leak of discontent open, and trouble gets into the heart, then it is disquieted and sinks. Do therefore as the mariners, pump the water out and stop this spiritual leak in thy soul, and no trouble can hurt thee. (Thomas Watson)

Complain to God you may, but to complain of God, you must not. (John Flavel)

Complain without cause, and thou shalt have cause to complain. (Thomas Taylor)

While I live in the world, my condition is to be but a pilgrim, a stranger, a traveler, and a soldier. When a man is at home, if he have not things according to his desire, he will be finding fault. But if a man travels abroad, perhaps he meets not with convenience, as he desires; yet this very thought may moderate a man's spirit, "I am a traveler, and I must not be finding fault, though things be not so in my own family." If a man meets with ill weather, he must be content. "It is a traveler's fare," we used to say, both fair weather and foul weather; and we must be content with it. If a man were at home and it should begin to drop in his house, he cannot bear it; but when he is traveling abroad, though he meets with rains and storms, he is not so much troubled. (Jeremiah Burroughs)

Few follow Him for love, but for loaves (John 6:26); few follow Him for His inward excellencies, but many follow Him for their outward advantages; few follow Him that they may be made good by Him, but many follow Him that they may be great by Him. (Thomas Brooks)


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