Previous Messages from the
Pen of the Puritans

Directions Against Sinful Desires and Discontent   by Richard Baxter
Be well acquainted with your own condition, and consider what it is that you have most need of; and then you will find that you have so much grace and mercy to desire for your souls, without which you are lost for ever, and that you have a Christ to desire, and an endless life with God to desire, that it will quench all your thirst after the things below.

How the Spirit Enables Us to Pray   by Thomas Boston
It is by the help of the Holy Spirit that we are able to pray, Gal 4:6, "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, 'Abba, Father!'" Rom 8:26, "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."

The Godly Man Strives to Make Others Godly   by Thomas Watson
He is not content to do to heaven alone but wants to take others there. Spiders work only for themselves, but bees work for others. A godly man is both a diamond and a lodestone-a diamond for the sparkling luster of grace and a lodestone for his attractiveness. He is always drawing others to embrace piety. Living things have a propagating virtue.

Christ is the Life of Believers   by Thomas Brooks
"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." The words do speak out the time when the glorious life of believers shall be manifested, and that is, when Christ shall appear in glory. I have in some other place observed from these words this point-namely, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the life of believers.

The Wisdom of Patience   by Thomas Goodwin
The opening of these words, 'If any of you lack wisdom,' will greatly conduce to ease your heart as to that; the effect of which is, that the Apostle plainly supposeth that true believers may both really, and in their own apprehensions especially, be found greatly lacking in point of patience when trials do befall them.

The Hearing of the Word   by William Ames
Hearing here, therefore, means any receiving of the word of God whether it be communicated to us by preaching, reading, or any other way. God is accustomed to work in his own way and by his own institution by the preaching and hearing of the word.

Do Not Frustrate the Grace of God   by Robert Traill
"I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."  In the text the apostle hath two arguments for this truth, against the contrary error, with which the Galatians were plagued; and both arguments are taken from the absurdities that follow upon the contrary doctrine.

Self-Denial   by Richard Baxter
You hear ministers tell you of the odiousness and danger and sad effects of sin; but of all the sins that you ever heard of, there is scarce any more odious and dangerous than selfishness, and yet I doubt there are many that never were much troubled at it, nor sensible of its malignity.

Love the Lord Jesus Christ!   by Thomas Brooks
Look that ye love the Lord Jesus Christ with a superlative love, with an overtopping love. There are none have suffered so much for you as Christ; there are none that can suffer so much for you as Christ. The least measure of that wrath that Christ hath sustained for you, would have broke the hearts, necks, and backs of all created beings.

Consecration to God   by Matthew Henry
Our eye must be ever towards God; to him we must, in every thing, make our requests known, as Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh, Judg. xi. 11. For our encouragement to do this, it is promised, "He shall direct thy paths, so that thy way shall be safe and good and the issue happy at last." Note, Those that put themselves under a divine guidance shall always have the benefit of it.

The Greatness of God's Love to His Elect   by Thomas Goodwin
"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Eph. 2:4-6.

Discourse On the Eternity of God   by Stephen Charnock
There is no succession in God. God is without succession or chance. It is a quality of eternity; "from everlasting to everlasting he is God," i.e. the same. God doth not only always remain in being, but he always remains the same in that being: "thou art the same" (Psalm 102:27). The being of creatures is successive; the being of God is permanent, and remains entire with all its perfections unchanged in an infinite duration.

Seen of Angels   by Augustus Toplady
"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." (1 Timothy 3:16) The compass of this single verse, St. Paul comprises several fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith. The whole passage, so far as it extends, may be considered as a little system of divinity; and literally deserves the name of the Apostle's Creed.

Sanctification   by William Ames
Sanctification is the real change in man from the sordidness of sin to the purity of God's image. Eph. 4:22-24, Put off that which pertains to the old conversation, that old man, corrupting itself in deceivable lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Put on that new man who according to God is created to righteousness and true holiness.

Holiness   by Thomas Manton
"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness" (Matt. 5:6)., So it is in desiring holiness, we have not yet attained (Phil. 3:13). There is an indigence and emptiness; we are not already perfect-we want more than we have, and our enjoyments are little in comparison of our expectations.

The Table and Shew-Bread, Typical of Christ and His Church   by John Gill
"Every sabbath, he shall set it in order before the Lord, continually; being taken from the children of Israel, by an everlasting covenant. And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’, and they shall eat it in the holy place for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the Lord made by fire, for a perpetual statute."   Leviticus 24:8, 9

Directions Against Sinful Desires and Discontent   by Richard Baxter
Be well acquainted with your own condition, and consider what it is that you have most need of; and then you will find that you have so much grace and mercy to desire for your souls, without which you are lost for ever, and that you have a Christ to desire, and an endless life with God to desire, that it will quench all your thirst after the things below.

Of Rules to Find Out Covetousness   by William Gouge
Well weigh the effects of thy desire of riches. If thoughts thereupon break thy sleep, and care thereabouts consume thy flesh, and labour and toil therein take up all thy time, and impair health and strength, that desire is immoderate, it is plain covetousness.

A Word about Pride, Especially to Ministers of the Gospel   by Richard Baxter
I confess I have often wondered that this most heinous sin should be made so light of, and thought so consistent with a holy frame of heart and life, when far less sins are by ourselves, proclaimed to be so damnable in our people and I have wondered more, to see the difference between godly preachers and ungodly sinners, in this respect.

Why Salvation Must Be Supernatural   by Stephen Charnock
Nothing can act beyond its own principle and nature. Nothing in the world can raise itself to a higher rank of being than that which nature has placed it in; a spark cannot make itself a star, though it mount a little up to heaven; nor a plant endue itself with sense, nor a beast adorn itself with reason; nor a man make himself an angel.

The Hallway to the Saints' Rest   by Richard Baxter
The hallway to heaven is not barricaded anymore. The flaming sword no longer bars the passage to Paradise, for Christ has provided the way in. The porch of this temple is magnificent, and the gate of it is called "Beautiful." Here are the four corners of this porch of Paradise.

Saving Faith   by John Bunyan
When I write of justification before God, from the dreadful curse of the law, then I must speak of nothing but grace, Christ, the promise, and faith. But when I speak of our justification before men, then I must join to these, good works.

Reading and Searching the Scriptures   by Thomas Boston
Some parts of the Bible are more difficult, some may seem very dry for an ordinary reader; but if you would look on all of it as being the very Words of God, never to be disregarded, but read with faith and reverence, then without a doubt you will find great gain.

Transformed by the Beholding of Christ   by Richard Sibbes
The very beholding of Christ is a transforming sight. The Spirit that makes us new creatures, and stirs us up to behold this Saviour, causes it to be a transforming beholding. If we look upon him with the eye of faith, it will make us like Christ.

The One Thing Necessary   by Thomas Watson
If there be anything excellent, it is salvation; if there be anything necessary, it is working out salvation; if there be any tool to work with, it is holy fear. "Work out your salvation with fear." The words are a grave and serious exhortation, needful, not only for those Christians who lived in the apostle's time, but may fitly be calculated for the meridian of this age wherein we live.

John Bunyan's Dying Sayings   by John Bunyan
A collection of aphorisms gathered and classified under headings.
They are his thoughts, whether uttered in his last illness, or expressed earlier in life.

The New Birth   by John Bunyan
"Not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." It may be some may have a will, a desire that Ishmael may be saved; know this, it will not save thy child. If it was of our will, I would have you all go to heaven. How many are there in the world that pray for their children, and cry, and are ready to die for them, and all this will not do? God's will is the rule of all.

Holy Violence   by Thomas Watson
The exercises of the worship of God are contrary to nature; therefore, there must be a provoking of ourselves to them. The movement of the soul toward sin is natural, but its movement toward heaven is violent. It has an innate propensity downward, but to draw up a millstone into the air is done by violence because it is against nature. So to lift up the heart to heaven in duty is done by violence and we must provoke ourselves to it.

The Life and Power of Divine Truth in Christ   by John Owen
Whatever notional knowledge men may have of divine truths, as they are doctrinally proposed in the Scripture, yet--if they know them not in their respect unto the person of Christ as the foundation of the counsels of God--if they discern not how they proceed from him, and centre in him--they will bring no spiritual, saving light unto their understanding. For all spiritual life and light is in him, and from him alone.

Satisfaction in God   by Cotton Mather
Whatever afflictions do lay fetters upon us, let us not only remember that we are concerned with God therein, but let our concernment with God procure a very profound submission in our souls. Let us behave ourselves, as having to do with none but God in our afflictions: And let our afflictions make us more conformable unto God: which conformity being effected, let us then say, "'Tis good for me that I have been afflicted."

The Church WITHOUT The Spirit   by Samuel Chadwick

True and False Consolation   by Horatious Bonar

The Work of Conversion   by John Owen

When is Prayer Heard?   by Christopher Love

The White Devil   by John Bunyan

The Life and Power of Divine Truth in Christ   by John Owen

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