HB James Boswell 29 Oct 1740

We have no right to make people happy against their will. - James Boswell quoted in James Pope-Hennesy, Sins of the Fathers 

We never have a long continuation of agreeable life. It is frequently interrupted, and a company who have been very happy together must have the pain of parting. After every enjoyment comes weariness or disgust. We never have a large lawn of agreeable life. It is cut to pieces with sunk fences, even where it is smoothest. -- James Boswell , letter, June 1774

Quotes 28 Oct

To be a Christian, it will cost a man his love of ease!- J.C. Ryle

He who counts the stars and calls them by their names, is in no danger of forgetting His own children! He knows your case as thoroughly as if you were the only creature He ever made, or the only saint He ever loved!- C H Spurgeon

The measure of a man's real character is what he
would do if he knew he would never be found out.
     --Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859)

Quotes 26 Oct

A religion that costs nothing is worth nothing. A cheap Christianity, without a cross
--will prove in the end to be a useless Christianity, without a crown.- J C Ryle

"An Australian home-owner came home one day to find that his house had collapsed; all that was left was a pile of dust and rubble. It transpired that, unbeknown to him, white ants has been eating away at the foundations and supporting timbers of the house for years. Everything had continued to look normal on the outside, but internally the house was being gradually consumed, until one day it crashed to the ground destroyed by the tiny insects.
This is an illustration of what has been happening both within Western civilisation and within the professing church for a long time. The Judeo-Christian heritage and foundations of Western society have been subjected to such undermining under the influence of secularism, materialism, and multi-culturalism. At the same time many ‘ants’ have been at work within the church, calling in question teachings and practices that had been taken for granted for many generations." —David J. Randall, 'A Sad Departure'

Look to the cross, and hate your sin--for sin nailed your Well-Beloved to the accursed tree!- C H Spurgeon

Quotes Oct 25

Death is the last and best physician. It cures all diseases and sins--the aching head and the unbelieving heart. Sin was the midwife which brought death into the world--and death shall be the grave to bury sin! O the privilege of a believer!- Thomas Watson
That preaching is sadly defective, which dwells exclusively on the mercies of God and the joys of Heaven--yet never sets forth the terrors of the Lord and the miseries of Hell. - J C Ryle

Without contest, the supreme sinfulness of sinners is the most disregarded reality — the world over. The fall of man is quite possibly the most forgotten, under appreciated, and misunderstood event in history. —
@BurkParsons

The terrors of God are the effects of guilt.
     --Stephen Charnoch (1628-1680)

Quotes Oct 24

Sin forsaken--is one of the best evidences of sin forgiven.- J C Ryle

A sheep may fall into a ditch, but it is the swine that wallows in it.—William Gurnall

We rob the gospel of its power if we leave out its
threatenings of punishment.
     --C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
      _Lectures To My Students_ [1860]

Quotes 23 Oct

There is more evil in a drop of sin--than in a sea of affliction!- Thomas Watson

Our Lord has . .many weak children in His family, many dull pupils in His school,
many raw soldiers in His army, many lame sheep in His flock.
Yet He bears with them all, and casts none away.
Happy is that Christian who has learned to do likewise with his brethren.- J C Ryle

Surely there are in everyone's life certain
connections, twists and turns which pass
awhile under the category of Chance, but
at the last, well examined, prove to be
the very Hand of God
     --Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682)
      _Religio Medici_ [1643]

Quotes 22 Oct

I expect perpetual conflicts and struggles in this life. I expect only a cross, while on this side of eternity.- George Whitefield

What fools are they who, for a drop of pleasure, drink a sea of wrath!-  Thomas Watson

One of the marks of spiritual maturity is the quiet
confidence that God is in control . . . without the
need to understand why He does what He does.
     --Charles R. Swindoll (1934-    )
      (In Martin H. Manser's _The Westminster Collection
       of Christian Quotations_ [2001], "Maturity")

There is no such thing as 'chance', 'luck', or 'accident' in the Christian journey through this world. All is arranged and appointed by God, who works all things together for the believer's eternal good.- J C Ryle