Tag Archives: Love

“It is certainly indulgence to ourselves that makes us aggravate other men’s faults” by Hugh Binning

Posted on by
Reply

“Charity beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:7)

‘Charity beareth all things.’ By nature we are undaunted heifers, we cannot bear anything patiently; but charity is accustomed to the yoke, to the yoke of reproaches and injuries from others, to a burden of other men’s infirmities and failings.

We would all be borne upon others’ shoulders, but we cannot put our own shoulders under other men’s burdens, according to that royal law of Christ (Rom. 15:1), ‘We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.’ And, ‘Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ‘ (Gal. 6:2), that is, the law of love, without question.

“Charity believeth all things.’ Our nature is malignant and wicked, and therefore most suspicious and jealous, and apt to take all in the worst part; but charity has much candour and humanity in it, and can believe well of every man, and believe all things, as far as truth will permit.

It knows that grace can be beside a man’s sins; it knows that it itself is subject to similar infirmities; therefore, it is not a rigid and censorious judge; it allows as much latitude to others as it would desire of others.

It is true that it is not blind and ignorant: it is judicious, and has eyes that can discern between colours.

Credit omnia credenda, sperat omnia speranda. “It hopes all things that are hopeful, and believes all things that are believable.”

If love has not sufficient evidence, yet she believes if there are some probabilities to the contrary, as well as for it; the weight of charity inclines to the better part, and so casts the balance of hope and persuasion; yet being sometimes deceived, she has reason to be watchful and wise; for ‘the simple believeth every word.’ (Prov. 14:15)

If charity cannot have ground of believing any good, yet it hopes still: Qui non est hodie, cras magis aptus erit, (‘He who is not amenable today, will be more so tomorrow.‘) says charity; and therefore it is patient and gentle, waiting on all, ‘if peradventure God may give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth‘ (2 Tim. 2:25).

Charity would account it both atheism and blasphemy, to say such a man cannot, will not, find mercy.

But to pronounce of such as have been often approved in the conscience of all, and sealed in many hearts, that they will never find mercy, that they have no grace, because of some failings in practice and differences from us, it would not be insobriety, but madness.

It is certainly love and indulgence to ourselves that makes us aggravate other men’s faults to such a height; self-love looks on other men’s failings through a multiplying or magnifying glass; but she puts her own faults behind her back.

Non videt quod in mantica qua a tergo est (‘She does not see what is in the bag behind her.’); therefore she can suffer much in herself but nothing in others; and certainly much self-forbearance and indulgence can spare little for others.

But charity is just contrary, she is most rigid on her own behalf, will not pardon herself easily; knows no revenge but what is spoken of (2 Cor. 7:11), self-revenge; and has no indignation but against herself.

Thus she can spare much candour and forbearance for others, and has little or no indignation left behind to consume on others.”

–Hugh Binning, Christian Love (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1735/2022), 24-26.

“We will travel along the street of love together” by Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354-430)

Posted on by
Reply

“Dear reader, whenever you are as certain about something as I am go forward with me; whenever you hesitate, seek with me; whenever you discover that you have gone wrong, come back to me; or if I have gone wrong, call me back to you. In this way we will travel along the street of love together, making our way toward Him of whom it is said, ‘Seek His face always’ (Psalm 105:4).”

–Augustine of Hippo, The Trinity (De Trinitate), ed. John E. Rotelle, Second Edition., vol. I/5, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2017), 67. (I.iii.5)

“Free unbounded grace” by C.S. Lewis

Posted on by
1

“The experience is that of catastrophic conversion. The man who has passed through it feels like one who has awaken from nightmare into ecstasy.

Like an accepted lover, he feels that he has done nothing, and never could have done anything, to deserve such astonishing happiness.

Never again can he ‘crow from the dunghill of desert.’ All the initiative has been on God’s side; all has been free, unbounded grace.

And all will continue to be free, unbounded grace. His own puny and ridiculous efforts would be as helpless to retain the joy as they would have been to achieve it in the first place.

Fortunately they need not. Bliss is not for sale, cannot be earned. ‘Works’ have no ‘merit’, though of course faith, inevitably, even unconsciously, flows out into works of love at once.

He is not saved because he does works of love: he does works of love because he is saved. It is faith alone that has saved him: faith bestowed by sheer gift.

From this buoyant humility, this farewell to the self with all its good resolutions, anxiety, scruples, and motive-scratchings, all the Protestant doctrines originally sprang.

For it must be clearly understood that they were at first doctrines not of terror but of joy and hope: indeed, more than hope, fruition, for as Tyndale says, the converted man is already tasting eternal life.

The doctrine of predestination, says the XVIIth Article, is ‘full of sweet, pleasant and unspeakable comfort to godly persons.'”

–C.S. Lewis, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century (Excluding Drama) (New York: HarperCollins, 1954/2022), 38.

“The great and wonderful love which is in the heart of Christ” by Jonathan Edwards

Posted on by
Reply

“There is no love so great and so wonderful as that which is in the heart of Christ.

He is one that delights in mercy; He is ready to pity those that are in suffering and sorrowful circumstances; one that delights in the happiness of His creatures.

The love and grace that Christ has manifested does as much exceed all that which is in this world as the sun is brighter than a candle.

Parents are often full of kindness towards their children, but that is no kindness like Jesus Christ’s…

Children ought to love Christ above all, in that He has done more for them than all the men in the world have ever done.

Their parents have done a great deal for them and have suffered a great deal for them—especially their mothers. And both their fathers and mothers have done a great deal in taking care of them, in providing for them and bringing of them up. They have been at a great deal of pains and charge for them.

But they have never done so much for them as Christ has done, for it is Christ that has kept ’em all their lives long. He has kept ’em from death, he has healed ’em when they have been sick.

And they have always lived upon that provision that Christ has made for them. It has been through the hands of their parents, but their parents could not have had it for ’em, had not Christ provided it for them.

They have always lived upon Christ’s provision; He has maintained ’em, and ’tis His wool and His flax that has clothed ’em. If it had not been for Christ’s preservation, they would have been in the grave, and there they would have been eaten up of worms long ago.

And ’tis Christ that has kept ’em out of the hands of the devil. The devils, if Christ permitted ’em, would immediately fall upon and carry them away. ’Tis Christ that has kept ’em out of hell. If it had not been for Christ, they would have been burning in hell among devils long before this time.

’Tis He that keeps ’em every night while they sleep. And, which is more than all, Christ has died for children.

None can conceive what dreadful things Christ has suffered, and all this he suffered not only for grown persons but for children. All children are by nature children of wrath and are in danger of eternal damnation in hell.

But children that live under the gospel have an opportunity to be delivered from hell and to become the children of God, and so to go to heaven when they die, and therefore to be happy and to shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of God, and enjoy rivers of pleasures at God’s right hand forevermore.

And this opportunity they have by the blood of Christ. They could have had no such opportunity but by its costing Christ His life and His undergoing great cruelties and a very tormenting death, though He was God’s only Son.

Now where is any in this world that has done so much for children as this? Where is anything that any have done for them to be compared with this? Surely, then, they ought to love Christ more than all things in this world.”

–Jonathan Edwards, “Children Ought to Love the Lord Jesus Christ Above All,” in Sermons and Discourses, 1739–1742, ed. Harry S. Stout, Nathan O. Hatch, and Kyle P. Farley, vol. 22, The Works of Jonathan Edwards (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2003), 22: 171, 173–174. Edward preached this sermon on Matthew 10:37 to the children in his congregation in August 1740.

“Come to Jesus Christ and be saved” by J.C. Ryle

Posted on by
1

“My second work of application shall be an invitation. I address it to everyone who is not yet a true believer.

I say to you, come and join the one true Church without delay. Come and join yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ in an everlasting covenant not to be forgotten.

Consider well what I say. I charge you solemnly not to mistake the meaning of my invitation.

I do not bid you leave the visible Church to which you belong. I abhor all idolatry of forms and parties. I detest a proselytising spirit.

But I do bid you come to Christ and be saved. The day of decision must come some time.

Why not this very hour?

Why not today, while it is called today?

Why not this very night, ere the sun rises tomorrow morning?

Come to Him, who died for sinners on the cross, and invites all sinners to come to Him by faith and be saved.

Come to my Master, Jesus Christ.

Come, I say, for all things are now ready.

Mercy is ready for you. Heaven is ready for you. Angels are ready to rejoice over you.

Christ is ready to receive you. Christ will receive you gladly, and welcome you among His children.

Come into the ark. The flood of God’s wrath will soon break upon the earth. Come into the ark and be safe.

Come into the life-boat of the one true Church. This old world will soon break into pieces!

Hear you not the tremblings of it? The world is but a wreck hard upon a sand-bank.

The night is far-spent– the waves are beginning to rise,– the wind is getting up,– the storm will soon shatter the old wreck.

But the life-boat is launched, and we, the ministers of the Gospel, beseech you to come into the life-boat and be saved.

We beseech you to arise at once and come to Christ.

Dost thou ask, “How can I come? My sins are too many. I am too wicked yet. I dare not come.”

Away with the thought! It is a temptation of Satan.

Come to Christ as a sinner. Come just as you are. Hear the words of that beautiful hymn:—

“Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God I come.”

This is the way to come to Christ. You should come, waiting for nothing, and tarrying for nothing.

You should come, as a hungry sinner, to be filled,—as a poor sinner to be enriched,—as a bad, undeserving sinner, to be clothed with righteousness.

So coming, Christ would receive you.

‘Him that cometh’ to Christ, He ‘will in no wise cast out.’ (John 6:37) Oh! come, come to Jesus Christ.

Come into ‘the true Church’ by faith and be saved.”

–J.C. Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots (Carlise, PA: Banner of Truth, 1877/2014), 321-322.

“Thanksgiving Day Proclamation (1936)” by Wilbur L. Cross

Posted on by
Reply

“Time out of mind at this turn of the seasons when the hardy oak leaves rustle in the wind and the frost gives a tang to the air and the dusk falls early and the friendly evenings lengthen under the heel of Orion, it has seemed good to our people to join together in praising the Creator and Preserver, who has brought us by a way that we did not know to the end of another year.”

–Wilbur L. Cross, “Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, 1936,” in Proclamations of His Excellency Wilbur L. Cross Governor of the State of Connecticut (Hartford: Lockwood and Brainerd Co., 1937), 16.

“There was one there far greater than Moses or Elijah” by J.C. Ryle

Posted on by
Reply

“In the last place, we have in these verses a remarkable testimony to Christ’s infinite superiority over all that are born of woman.

This is a point which is brought out strongly by the voice from heaven, which the disciples heard.

Peter, bewildered by the heavenly vision, and not knowing what to say, proposed to build three tabernacles, one for Christ, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

He seemed in fact to place the law-giver and the prophet side by side with his divine Master, as if all three were equal. At once, we are told, the proposal was rebuked in a marked manner.

A cloud covered Moses and Elijah, and they were no more seen.

A voice at the same time came forth from the cloud, repeating the solemn words, made use of at our Lord’s baptism, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him.’

That voice was meant to teach Peter, that there was one there far greater than Moses or Elijah.

Moses was a faithful servant of God. Elijah was a bold witness for the truth. But Christ was far above either one or the other.

He was the Saviour to whom law and prophets were continually pointing.

He was the true Prophet, whom all were commanded to hear. (Deut. 18:15)

Moses and Elijah were great men in their day. But Peter and his companions were to remember, that in nature, dignity, and office, they were far below Christ.

He was the true sun: they were the stars depending daily on His light.

He was the root: they were the branches. He was the Master: they were the servants.

Their goodness was all derived: His was original and His own.

Let them honor Moses and the prophets, as holy men. But if they would be saved, they must take Christ alone for their Master, and glory only in Him. ‘Hear ye Him.’

Let us see in these words a striking lesson to the whole Church of Christ. There is a constant tendency in human nature to ‘hear man.’

Bishops, priests, deacons, popes, cardinals, councils, presbyterian preachers, and independent ministers, are continually exalted to a place which God never intended them to fill, and made practically to usurp the honor of Christ.

Against this tendency let us all watch, and be on our guard. Let these solemn words of the vision ever ring in our ears, ‘Hear ye Christ.’

The best of men are only men at their very best.

Patriarchs, prophets, and apostles—martyrs, fathers, reformers, puritans– all, all are sinners, who need a Saviour– holy, useful, honorable in their place—but sinners after all.

They must never be allowed to stand between us and Christ.

He alone is ‘the Son, in whom the Father is well pleased.’

He alone is sealed and appointed to give the bread of life.

He alone has the keys in His hands, ‘God over all, blessed forever.’

Let us take heed that we hear His voice, and follow Him.

Let us value all religious teaching just in proportion as it leads us to Jesus.

The sum and substance of saving religion is to ‘hear Christ.'”

–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1856/2012), 167-168. Ryle is commenting on Matthew 17:1-13.

“There is an inexhaustible fullness in Scripture” by J.C. Ryle

Posted on by
Reply

“Let us ponder these things well. There are great depths in all our Lord Jesus Christ’s recorded dealings upon earth, which no one has ever fully fathomed.

There are mines of rich instruction in all His words and ways, which no one has thoroughly explored.

Many a passage of the Gospels is like the cloud which Elijah’s servant saw. (1 Kings 18:44) The more we look at it, the greater it will appear.

There is an inexhaustible fullness in Scripture.

Other writings seem comparatively threadbare when we become familiar with them. But as to Scripture, the more we read it, the richer we shall find it.”

–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1856/2012), 133-134. Ryle is commenting on Matthew 14:13-21.

“An hour’s enjoyment of the light of His countenance” by John Newton

Posted on by
Reply

“Saturday evening has returned again. How quickly the time flies!

O that we may have grace to number our days, and to begin to view the things of this world in that light which they will, doubtless, appear in when we are are upon the point of leaving them.

How many things which are too apt to appear important now and to engross too much of our time, and thoughts, and strength, will then be acknowledged as vain and trivial as the imperfect recollection of a morning dream?

The Lord help us to judge now as we shall judge then, that all things on this side of the grave are of no real value further than they are improved in subservience to the will and glory of God, and that an hour’s enjoyment of the light of His countenance is worth more than the wealth of the Indies and the power of Kings.

How often are we, like Martha, cumbered about many things, though we say, and I hope at the bottom believe, that one thing alone is needful.

The Lord give us a believing, humble, spiritual frame of mind, and make it our earnest desire and prayer, that we may be more like the angels of God, who are always employed, and always happy, in doing His will and beholding His glory.

The rest we may be content to leave to those who are strangers to the love of Jesus and the foretastes of Heaven.

I have been attempting to pray that you and our friends in London may, together with us, behold the KING in His beauty tomorrow– that we may, like David, be satisfied in our souls as with marrow and fatness, and feel something of what Thomas felt, when he put his finger upon the print of His nails, and cried out with transport, ‘My Lord and my God!’

With dear love to you and all friends, I remain,

John Newton”

–John Newton, The Christian Correspondent: Or a Series of Religious Letters Written by the Rev. John Newton to Alexander Clunie (Hull: George Prince, 1790), 171-175. This letter was written from Olney on April 1, 1769.

“The hope to which God has called us” by John Newton

Posted on by
Reply

“What shall it be, ‘ere long, when the Lord shall call us up to join with those who are now singing before the throne?

What shall it be, when all the children of God, who in different ages and countries have been scattered abroad, shall be all gathered together, and enter into that glorious and eternal rest provided for them– when there shall not be one trace of sin or sorrow remaining, not one discordant note be heard, nothing to disturb, or defile, or lighten the never-ceasing joy!

Such is the hope to which God has called us: that day will surely come, as the present day is already arrived– every moment brings on its approach.

While I am writing and you are reading, we may say, ‘Now is our full salvation nearer.’ (Romans 13:11)

Many a weary step we have taken since the Lord first gave us to believe in His name; but we shall not have to tread the past way over again– some difficulties yet remain, but we know not how few.

Perhaps before we are aware, the Lord may cut short our conflict and say, ‘Come up hither.’

Or at the most it cannot be very long, and He who has been with us thus far, will be with us to the end.

He knows how to manifest Himself even here, to give more than He takes away, and to cause our consolations to exceed our greatest afflictions.

And when we get safely home, we shall not complain that we have suffered too much in the way.

We shall not say, ‘Is this all I must expect after so much trouble?’

No, when we awake into that glorious world, we shall in an instant be satisfied with His likeness. One sight of Jesus as He is will fill our hearts and dry up all our tears.

Let us then resign ourselves into His hands.

Let us gird up the loins of our minds, be sober, and hope to the end.

Let us, like faithful servants, watch for our Lord’s appearance, and pray earnestly that we may be found ready at His coming.

Jesus is able to keep us from falling.

Let us be steady in the use of His instituted means, and sincerely desirous to abstain from all appearance of evil.

The rest we may confidently leave to Him, in whom, whosoever trusts, shall never be ashamed.”

–John Newton, The Christian Correspondent: Or a Series of Religious Letters Written by the Rev. John Newton to Alexander Clunie (Hull: George Prince, 1790), 19-22. This letter was written from Liverpool on May 21, 1763.