The abuses of the tongue are many, one of which is the malignity of it. And whereas in David’s time a malignant and virulent tongue was the badge of an Atheist . . . now alas! this blotch [has] become the blotch of God’s children, and of high professors of religion.
– Matthew Poole
1624 – 1679
Mere head knowledge will be as unhelpful to the soul on judgment day, as a painted fire is unhelpful to the frozen body on a cold day. Theoretical knowledge may make the head giddy, but it will never make the heart holy. He who lives in sin, without repentance, shall die in sin, without forgiveness.
– William Secker
Birth Un/Kn – 1681
The servants of God consider the matter of religion more seriously than others do; and therefore their differences are more observable to the world. They cannot make light of the smallest truth of God . . . whereas the ungodly differ not about religion, because they have hardly no religion to differ about. Is this a unity and peace to be desired? I would rather have discord of the saints, than such a concord of the wicked. [The saints] are so careful about their duty that they are afraid of misusing it in the least particular; and this (with their imperfect light) is the reason of their disputings about these matters. But you that are careless concerning your duty, can easily agree about the ways of sin, or anything that comes along. The saints honor the worship of God so much that they would not have anything out of order; but you consider it so unimportant that you will be of the same religion as the king . . . . The controversies of lawyers, historians, chronologers, geographers, physicians, and such like, never trouble the brains of the ignorant; but for all that, I would rather be in controversy with the learned, than without such controversy with you. If you scatter a handful of gold or diamonds in the street, perhaps men will scramble for them, and quarrel about them, while swine will trample on them and quietly despise them, because they do not know their worth.
– Richard Baxter
1615 – 1691
They who design and endeavor to win others . . . must religiously avoid that which is the greatest obstruction of all, the profligate and atrocious lives of some that call themselves Christians. If men were prompted and employed by the devil himself, they could not be more effective in making the Gospel to be abhorred, than by living as some Christians do. How can it be expected, that the poor, ignorant heathen should have any reverence for the great and sacred name of God, when they hear those who pretend that they have a deep veneration for Him, reproach and blaspheme Him? . . . Can any man convince them, that the saints are such excellent creatures, when they see those who call themselves so, live like brutes or devils?
– George Hammond
I now see more good and more evil in men than I did before. . . . I once thought that anyone who could pray eloquently and fluently, and talk well of religion, had to be saints. But experience has revealed to me that low crimes can co-exist with high professions.
– Richard Baxter
1615 – 1691
A man may be theologically knowing and spiritually ignorant. . . . A man may be excellent in the grammar of Scripture, yet not understand the spiritual sense of it. . . . The highest rational knowledge of God cannot profit without the knowledge of faith. . . . It can be of no more advantage to us than it was to the Jews knowing Him, or to Judas living with Him. In the Scriptures, Christians are not called knowing persons, but believers.
– Stephen Charnock
1628 – 1680
To sin because mercy abounds is the devil’s logic. . . . He that sins because of God’s mercy shall have judgment without mercy. Mercy abused turns to fury. . . . Mercy is not for them that sin and fear not, but for them that fear and sin not.
– Thomas Watson
1620 – 1686
The sinners of a nation are really the weakness of it. . . . Wicked men are they that betray nations and kingdoms, expose them to God’s wrath, and subject them to His judgments. Did Noah bring the flood upon the old world? Or did the wicked do it by their wickedness? Did Lot bring down fire from Heaven upon Sodom? Or did the Sodomites do it by their own lewdness? Did Jeremiah by his preaching, . . . and those few other godly in Jerusalem by their praying and weeping and mourning, bring on the captivity of that people? Or did not the people themselves, by their idolatry, their profaneness, their swearing, their Sabbath-breaking, their polluting God’s ordinances, their shedding innocent blood, etc.?
– John Collins
1632 – 1687
Compare yourselves with the Word. See how the Scriptures and your hearts agree, how your dial responds to the sun. Are your hearts, as it were, a transcript of Scripture? Is the Word copied out in your hearts? The Word calls for humility; are you not only humbled, but humble? The Word calls for regeneration; have you the signature and engraving of the Holy Ghost upon you? Have you a change of heart? Not only a partial and moral change, but a spiritual? Is there such a change wrought in you as if another soul did live in the same body?
– Thomas Watson
1620 – 1686
Take notice, that it stands as a blot in the reputation of the Corinthians, that they were altogether for a gospel that should cost them nothing. Corinth was the most convenient, and so the most frequented, port of trade in all Greece. The inhabitants are said to have been very wealthy, proud, and voluptuous. They had abundance to spend upon themselves, but could find nothing for Paul, while he resided among them, and preached the gospel to them. . . . It is a sad word, but too frequently experienced, that a faithful minister of Christ may labor, and yet live in want, in a wealthy city.
– George Hammond
Christ Alone Wyoming 