Quotes About Faith

The best amongst us, in like manner, I fear, are come to the same pass that they were in Melancthon's time, who complained as he writeth in this sort: "We understand whom to avoid (meaning the Papists), yet whom to follow we know not."

True it is that Almighty God, if it had stood with His good pleasure, could easily have brought it to pass, in spite of the Devil, that there should never have been any such false prophets or heresies amongst us. But He saw it not to be expedient; for, as the Apostle saith, by His directions, "There must be heresies in the Church ... that faith, by having temptation, might also have probation."

As soon as we believe in something, we search for ways to prove it's true. What we are looking for here is to learn to doubt your limitations and be more certain of what is possible for you.

All is amiss. Love is dying, faith's defying, heart's denying.

While rejecting the apocalyptic militancy that called for literal holy war against Rome, John's message is not, 'Do not resist!' It is, 'Resist! – but by witness and martyrdom, not by violence.

It is clear that John saw himself, not only as one of the Christian prophets, but also as standing in the tradition of Old Testament prophecy.

the LORD stood beside him" (i.e., Jacob;

Testimony should be treated as reliable until proved otherwise. "First, trust the word of others, then doubt if there are good reasons for doing so.

We can answer the question "Who is God?" only by attending to who God has revealed himself to be.

If Jacob is now to find himself apart from his family, if he is to find who he can be in this newly uncertain world in which he is alone, he must also now find God as his own God. Not that he thinks of this for himself. It is not Jacob who turns to God but God who turns to Jacob.

If any have more of the government of thee than Christ, or if thou hadst rather live after any other laws than his, if it were at thy choice, thou art not his disciple.

Christ leads me through no darker rooms than He went through before.

In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity.

I preached as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men.

If God be not enough for you, you will never have enough. Turn to him more, and know him better, if you would have a satisfied mind. -Directions Against Sinful Desires and Discontent.

Preaching a man a sermon with a broken head and telling him to be right with God is equal to telling a man with a broken leg to get up and run a race.

God never saved any man for being a preacher, nor because he was an able preacher; but because he was a justified, sanctified man, and consequently faithful in his Master's work. Take heed, therefore, to yourselves first, that you be that which you persuade your hearers to be, and believe that which you persuade them to believe, and heartily entertain that Savior whom you offer to them.

Till you can rest in God's will you will never have rest.

Lord, will you send me with such an unbelieving heart to persuade others to believe? Must I daily plead with sinners about everlasting life and everlasting death, and have no more belief or feeling of these weighty things myself? Oh send me not naked and unprovided to the work; but, as you command me to do it, furnish me with a spirit suitable thereto." Prayer

While doubt cannot be expelled, it can be subdued.

The true knowing, living Christian complains more frequently and more bitterly of the wants and woes within him, than without him(55).

Believe it, brethren, God looks for more from England, than from most nations in the world; and for more from you that enjoy these helps, than from the dark, untaught congregations of the land (271).

How will it fill our souls with perpetual joy, to think that in the streams of this blood we have swum through the violence of the world, the snares of Satan, the seductions of flesh, the curse of the law, the wrath of an offended God, the accusations of a guilty conscience, and the vexing doubts and fears of an unbelieving heart, and are arrived safely at the presence of God!

If any have more of the government of thee than Christ, or if thou hadst rather live after any other laws than his, if it were at thy choice, thou art not his disciple (331).