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We are sometimes apt to think that a charge that is unfounded is very cruel to us. I have heard people say sometimes, and I have laughed when I have heard them say it, “Mr. So-and-so has charged me with such-and-such a thing, but I am quite innocent. I should not have minded if I had been guilty.” I…

I remember well going to speak to the minister and telling him that I hoped I had found the Savior, and begging him to ask me such questions as he thought fit to test me. The true pilgrim never wishes to enter the house Beautiful if he does not have a right to be there; he is afraid that he may be guilty…

When a man ran in the Grecian games, if he had run halfway, and passed most of his fellows, and had then turned to look round and to rejoice over the distance which he had already covered, he would have lost the race. Suppose he had commenced singing his own praises, and said, “I have come down the hill,…

I have read of a competition of certain young plowmen who were set to plow for a prize. Most of them made very crooked work of it. After they had ended, one of the judges said, “Young man, where did you look while you were ploughing?” “I kept my eyes on the plow handles, sir, and saw what I had to hold.”…

That was an eloquent speech of Henry VI of France, when on the eve of battle, he said to his soldiers, “Gentlemen, you are Frenchmen. I am your King. There is the enemy!” Jesus Christ says, “You are my people. I am your leader. There is the foe!” How shall we dare to do anything unworthy of such a Lord…

Remember John Bunyan when he refused to give up preaching. They put him in prison and said to him, “Mr. Bunyan, you can come out of prison whenever you will promise to cease preaching the gospel.” He said, “If you let me out of prison today, I will preach again tomorrow, by the grace of God.” “Well,”…

A good old minister was once asked whether he believed in the final perseverance of the saints. “Well,” said he, “I do not know much about that matter, but I firmly believe in the final perseverance of God, that where He has begun a good work He will carry it on until it is complete.” To my mind, that…

There was a crest and motto that some of the old Reformers used to use, and that I commend to any of you who are under trial. It was an anvil with a number of hammers, all broken, lying around; and this was the motto when translated, “The anvil breaks many hammers.” And how does it do this? Not by striking:…

A student at the university, hoping to gain a prize, uses his best endeavors, burns the midnight oil, and strains all his faculties that he may reach the mark that will ensure his passing the examinations. Even thus the Christian with a lively hope devotes himself to obtaining the blessings that God…

If any of you should be well assured that, in a certain line of business, you would make a vast sum of money, would that confidence lead you to refuse that business? Would it lead you to lie in bed all day, or to desert your post altogether? No, the assurance that you would be diligent and would prosper…

There was a good old soul whose minister called to see her when she was dying. Among other things he said to her, “My sister, you are very weak; don’t you feel yourself sinking?” She looked at him, and gave no answer, but said, “Did I understand you, minister? Please tell me what you said—I hope you…

He who would be a great artist must not follow low models. The artist must have a perfect model to copy; if he does not reach to it, he will reach far further than if he had an inferior model to work by. When a man once realizes his own ideal, it is all over with him. A great painter once had finished…

THE STORY I was born in 1725, and I died 1807. The only godly influence in my life, as far back as I can remember, was my mother, whom I had for only seven years. When she left my life through death, I was virtually an orphan. My father remarried, sent me to a strict military school, where the severity…

The hammer said, “I will break the anvil.” The anvil did not answer, but abode in its place, while the hammer smote it day after day. Month after month, year after year, the anvil patiently received the blows, but after a while the hammer broke. And though it did not say so, for it was too quiet to speak,…

Many Christians resemble the nautilus, which in fine smooth weather swims on the surface of the sea in a splendid little squadron, like the mighty ships. But the moment the first breath of wind ruffles the waves, they take in their sails and sink into the depths. Many Christians are the same. In good…

It is like John Bunyan’s parable of Passion and Patience in Pilgrim’s Progress. Passion would have his best things first; Patience would have his best things last. Passion had all his best things, and laughed at Patience as Patience sat there. But after a while, Passion had used up all his best things…

A man goes to work to make money, and after toiling hard for it he gets it and it is a consolation to him. But it is not an everlasting consolation, for he may spend or he may lose all his money. He may invest it in some company (limited or unlimited) and very soon find it vanish or he may be compelled…

It is no new thing for men to attempt to escape the army by pretending to be in bad health, but we must have none of this cowardly malingering in Christ’s army. We must be ready for anything and everything. We must compel ourselves to duty when it goes against the grain. When it is a clear duty, obedience…

There is a measure of reason in appointing the age of twenty-one as the period of a man’s majority, for he is then mature and full grown. It would be unwise to make a person to be of age while only ten, eleven, or twelve; everybody would see that such boyish years would be unsuitable. On the other hand,…

“You are a very peculiar person,” said one to a Christian. “I thank you for that testimony,” answered the Christian, “for that is what I desire to be, as Peter says, ‘You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s possession” (1 Pet 2:9). “Ah!” said the other, “but there…

Had Abraham stopped in Ur of the Chaldees with his friends and rested there and enjoyed himself, where would his faith have been? He had God’s command to leave his country to go to a land that he had never seen, to sojourn there with God as a stranger, dwelling in tents, and in his obedience to that…

We are never so subject to impatience as when there is nothing we can do. While the farmer is occupied with ploughing, harrowing, tilling, drilling, hoeing, and the like, he is too busy to be fretful. It is when the work is done, and there is nothing more to occupy his hands, that the very leisure he…

Suppose one of you had a boy who said, “Father, I do not like my home. I do not care for you, and I will not endure the restraints of family rule; I am going to live with strangers. But father, I shall come to you every week, and I shall require many things of you, and I shall expect that you will give…

Faith is like a metalworker who is about to prepare some work of fine art, such as smiths used to produce in the days of wrought iron. Faith, like a strong and vigorous smith, has love as its arm. Faith does not lift a finger without love. Faith believes and resolves, and then it proceeds to action,…

How to Abide and How to hear God’s will