Peril & Disquietude

SOVEREIGN COMMANDER OF THE UNIVERSE,

I am sadly harassed by doubts, fears, unbelief, in a felt spiritual darkness.

My heart is full of evil surmisings and disquietude, and I cannot act faith at all.
My heavenly Pilot has disappeared, and I have lost my hold on the Rock of Ages;
I sink into a deep mire beneath storms and waves, in horor and distress unutterable.

Help me, O LORD,
to throw myself absolutely and wholly on thee,
for better, for worse, without comfort, and all but hopeless.

Give me peace of soul, confidence, enlargement of mind,
morning joy that comes after night heaviness;
Water my soul richly with divine blessings;
Grant that I may welcome thy humbling in private
so that I might enjoy thee in public;
Give me a mountain top as high as the valley is low.

Thy grace can melt the worst sinner, and I am as vile as he;
Yet thou hast made me a monument of mercy,
a trophy of redeeming power;
In my distress let me not forget this.

All-wise God,
Thy never failing providence orders every event, sweetens every fear,
reveals evil's presence lurking in seeming good,
brings real good out of seeming evil,
makes unsatisfactory what I set my heart upon,
to show me what a short-sighted creature I am,
and to teach me to live by faith upon thy blessed self.

Out of my sorrow and night
give me the name Naphtali -
'satisfied with favor' -
help me to love thee as thy child,
and to walk worthy of my heavenly pedigree.


The Valley of Vision - A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

Love Flows

“Love to God, love to the brethren, love to the world, spring up within us as the heavenly love flows in.”


Excerpt From: Bonar, Horatius. “The Everlasting Righteousness.” Monergism Books, 2011-11-05T22:59:54.841000+00:00. iBooks. 
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The Value of the Soul

An 89-year-old grandmother just departed this world recently, and went home to be with her Savior. While her last days were filled with much physical pain, she expressed no distress over her impending death. She greatly cherished not only the presence of family by her bed, some singing hymns to her during her last days on this earth... but also most certainly, her assurance of where she was heading. She knew her soul was safe because of her faith in Jesus.

But what of those without this peace?

“Does any reader of this paper wish to have some faint idea of the value of a soul? Then go and measure it by the opinions of dying people. The solemnity of the closing scene strips off the tinsel and pretence of things, and makes men see them as they really are. What would men do then for their souls? I have seen something of this, as a Christian minister. Seldom, very seldom, have I found people careless, thoughtless, and indifferent about the world to come, in the hour of death. The man who can tell good stories, and sing good songs to merry companions, turns very grave when he begins to feel that life is leaving his body. The boasting infidel at such a season has often cast aside his infidelity. Men like Paine and Voltaire have often shown that their vaunted philosophy breaks down when the grave is in sight. Tell me not what a man thinks about the soul when he is in the fullness of health; tell me rather what he thinks when the world is sinking beneath him, and death, judgment, and eternity loom in sight. The great realities of our being will then demand attention, and must be considered. The value of the soul in the light of time is one thing, but seen in the light of eternity it is quite another. Never does living man know the value of the soul so well as when he is dying, and can keep the world no longer.”

Excerpt From: Ryle, J. C. “Old Paths.” iBooks.
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Condemnation or the Cross

“Condemnation makes sin strike its roots deeper and deeper. No amount of terror can extirpate evil. No fear of wrath can make us holy. No gloomy uncertainty as to God's favour can subdue one lust, or correct our crookedness of will. But the free pardon of the cross uproots sin, and withers all its branches. The 'no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus' is the only effectual remedy for the deadly disease of an alienated heart and stubborn will.”


Excerpt From: Bonar, Horatius. “The Everlasting Righteousness.” Monergism Books, 2011-11-05T22:59:54.841000+00:00. iBooks. 
This material may be protected by copyright.

Forgiving Love

“Forgiveness is the mainspring of holiness. Love, as a motive, is far stronger than law; far more influential than fear of wrath or peril of hell. Terror may make a man crouch like a slave and obey a hard master, lest a worse thing come upon him; but only a sense of forgiving love can bring either heart or conscience into that state in which obedience is either pleasant to the soul or acceptable to God.”


Excerpt From: Bonar, Horatius. “The Everlasting Righteousness.” Monergism Books, 2011-11-05T22:59:54.841000+00:00. iBooks. 
This material may be protected by copyright.

Love and Hell

“I have no sympathy with those who prophesy nothing but peace, and keep back from men the awful fact, that they may lose their souls.

...I am one of those old-fashioned ministers who believe the whole Bible, and everything that it contains. I can find no Scriptural foundation for that smooth-spoken theology, which pleases so many in these days, and according to which everybody will get to heaven at last.

...I believe that there is a real devil. I believe that there is a real hell. I believe that it is not charity to keep back from men that they may be lost.

...Charity! shall I call it? If you saw a brother drinking poison, would you hold your peace?

...Charity! shall I call it? If you saw a blind man tottering towards a precipice, would you not cry out “Stop”?

...Away with such false notions of charity! Let us not slander that blessed grace, by using its name in a false sense.

...It is the highest charity to bring the whole truth before men. It is real charity to warn them plainly when they are in danger."

"It is charity to impress upon them, that they may lose their own souls for ever in hell."


Excerpt From: Ryle, J. C. “Old Paths.” iBooks. 
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Assurance

“To an Arminian, who denies election and the perseverance of the saints, the knowledge of our present reconciliation to God might bring with it no assurance of final salvation; for; according to him, we may be in reconciliation today, and out of it tomorrow; but to a Calvinist there can be no such separation. He who is once reconciled is reconciled for ever; and the knowledge of filial relationship just now is the assurance of eternal salvation. Indeed, apart from God's electing love, there can be no such thing as assurance. It becomes an impossibility.”


Excerpt From: Bonar, Horatius. “The Everlasting Righteousness.” Monergism Books, 2011-11-05T22:59:54.841000+00:00. iBooks. 
This material may be protected by copyright.