THAT'S MY KING!

S. M. Lockridge-THAT'S MY KING!

THAT'S MY KING! The Bible says my King is a seven-way king He's the King of the Jews He's the King of Israel He's the King of Righteousness He's the King of the Ages He's the King of Heaven He's the King of Glory He's the King of kings, and He's the Lord of lords. That's my King. Well....I wonder, do you know Him? David said, "The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork." My King is a sovereign King. No means of measure can define His limitless love. No far seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of His shoreless supply. No barrier can hinder Him from pouring out His blessings. He's enduringly strong. He's entirely sincere. He's eternally steadfast. He's immortally graceful. He's imperially powerful. He's impartially merciful. Do you know Him? He's the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world. He's God's Son. He's the sinner's Saviour. He's the centrepiece of civilization. He stands in the solitude of Himself. He's august and He's unique. He's unparalleled. He's unprecedented. He is the loftiest idea in literature. He's the highest personality in philosophy. He is the supreme problem in higher criticism. He's the fundamental doctrine of true theology. He is the cardinal necessity for spiritual religion. He's the miracle of the age. He's -- yes He is -- He is the superlative of everything good that you choose to call Him. He's the only one qualified to be an all sufficient Saviour. I wonder if you know Him today? He supplies strength for the weak. He's available for the tempted and the tried. He sympathizes and He saves. He strengthens and sustains. He guards and He guides. He heals the sick. He cleansed the lepers. He forgives sinners. He discharges debtors. He delivers the captives. He defends the feeble. He blesses the young. He serves the unfortunate. He regards the aged. He rewards the diligent....and He beautifies the meek. I wonder if you know Him? Well, my King....He is the King! He's the key to knowledge. He's the wellspring of wisdom. He's the doorway of deliverance. He's the pathway of peace. He's the roadway of righteousness. He's the highway of holiness. He's the gateway of glory. Do you know Him? Well, His office is manifold. His promise is sure....and His light is matchless. His goodness is limitless. His mercy is everlasting. His love never changes. His word is enough. His grace is sufficient. His reign is righteous. And His yoke is easy, and his burden is light. I wish I could describe Him to you, but He's indescribable -- Yes He is!? He is God! He's incomprehensible. He's invincible. He's irresistible. Well, you can't get Him out of your mind. You can't get Him off of your hand. You can't out live Him, and you can't live without Him. The Pharisees couldn't stand Him, but they found out they couldn't stop Him. Pilate couldn't find any fault in Him. The witnesses couldn't get their testimonies to agree. Herod couldn't kill Him. Death couldn't handle Him, and the grave couldn't hold Him. Yea!!!, that's my King, that's my King. Yes, and Thine is the Kingdom....and the Power....and the Glory....Forever....and ever, and ever, and ever -- How long is that? And ever, and ever. And when you get through with all of the forevers, then. AMEN! Preached by Rev. S.M. Lockridge _________________ We put it as our most sober judgement that the great need of the Church in this and all ages is men of such commanding faith, of such unsullied holiness, of such marked spiritual vigor and consuming zeal, that their prayers, faith, lives, and ministry will be of such radical and aggressive form as to work spiritual revolutions which will form eras in individual and Church life. E. M. Bounds

Ligonier Academy (September 2012)

"Little sins carry with them but little temptations to sin, and then a man shews most viciousness and unkindness, when he sins on a little temptation. It is devilish to sin without a temptation; it is little less than devilish to sin on a little occasion. The less the temptation is to sin, the greater is that sin." - Thomas Brooks

"See what a hidden life the life of a good Christian is, and how much it is concealed from the eye and observation of the world. The most important part of the business lies between God and our own souls, in the frame of our spirits and the working of our hearts, in our actions that no eye sees except the all-seeing God. Justly are the saints called God's hidden ones, and His secret is said to be with them. They have meat to eat and work to do that the world does not know of, as well as joys, griefs, and cares that a stranger does not share." - Matthew Henry

"The Holy Spirit is not a Sceptic, nor are what he has written on our hearts doubts or opinions, but assertions more certain, and more firm, than life itself and all human experience." - Martin Luther
"We should bear in mind that the intellectual or spiritual quality of a revelation is not derived from the recipient but from its Divine Giver. The fundamental fact in all revelation is that it is from God." - B.B. Warfield

"The devil blows the fire and melts the iron, and then the Lord fashions it for his own purposes. Let men and devils rage as they may, they cannot do otherwise than subserve the divine purposes." - Charles Spurgeon

"The saddest symptom about many so-called Christians is the utter absence of anything like conflict and fight in their Christianity. They eat, they drink, they dress, they work, they amuse themselves, they get money, they spend money, the go through a scanty round of formal religious services once or twice every week. But of the great spiritual warfare - its watchings and strugglings, its agonies and anxieties, its battles and contests - of all this they appear to know nothing at all. Let us take care that this case is not our own." - J.C. Ryle

"The man who has not got eternal life does not know God, he is outside the life of God; and that means that he is dead." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"The best way for any one to know how much he ought to aspire after holiness, is to consider, not how much will make his present life easy, but to ask himself, how much he thinks will make him easy at the hour of death." - William Law

“There is no one of the titles of Christ which is more precious to Christian hearts than “Redeemer.” There are others, it is true, which are more often on the lips of Christians. The acknowledgment of our submission to Christ as our Lord, the recognition of what we owe to Him as our Saviour,–these things, naturally, are most frequently expressed in the names we call Him by. “Redeemer,” however, is a title of more intimate revelation than either “Lord” or “Saviour.” It gives expression not merely to our sense that we have received salvation from Him, but also to our appreciation of what it cost Him to procure this salvation for us. It is the name specifically of the Christ of the cross. Whenever we pronounce it, the cross is placarded before our eyes and our hearts are filled with loving remembrance not only that Christ has given us salvation, but that He paid a mighty price for it.” - B.B. Warfield
 

 “It has never been by putting unity first that the church has changed the world. At no point in church history has the mere unity of numbers ever made a transforming spiritual impression upon others. On the contrary, it was in the very period known as the dark ages that the Papacy could claim her greatest unity in western Europe.” - Iain Murray

"But now what piety without truth? What truth, what saving truth, without the word of God? What word of God, whereof we may be sure, without the Scripture?" - Miles Smith

"The first commandment to the Christian is not that we should love one another but that we should believe in the Lord Jesus. We are told about the early disciples that they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread and prayers. Today the fellowship is put first, and the doctrine is almost regarded as a hindrance and an obstacle. For this reason the church is in her present perilous condition. She has departed from the Apostolic order - faith in the Lord Jesus first, doctrine first; and then love towards all saints." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
 

"If a man tells me that he knows that he is a hopeless, vile, condemned, damned sinner, and that he relies only on the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ died for his sins, that His body was broken and His blood shed for his sins, that he trusts only to that atoning, reconciling work of Christ, that Christ was his Substitute, and that God in Christ by the Spirit has made a new man of him, and given him a new nature, I am one with such a man." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Ligonier Academy (August 2012)

"Faith is rest, not toil. It is the giving up all the former weary efforts to do or feel something good, in order to induce God to love and pardon; and the calm reception of the truth so long rejected, that God is not waiting for any such inducements, but loves and pardons of His own goodwill, and is showing that goodwill to any sinner who will come to Him on such a footing, casting away his own performances or goodnesses, and relying implicitly upon the free love of Him who so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son." - H. Bonar

"We know how, as Christian men, we approach this Holy Book, -- how unquestioningly we receive its statements of fact, bow before its enunciations of duty, tremble before its threatenings, and rest upon its promises... Christendom has always reposed upon the belief that the utterances of this book are properly oracles of God. The whole body of Christian literature bears witness to this fact. We may trace its stream to its source, and everywhere it is vocal with a living faith in the divine trustworthiness of the Scriptures of God in every one of their affirmations." - B.B. Warfield

 

"When God saves for his name’s sake, it is for the sake of his power, to shew, that he is able to do above all that we are able to ask or think; that he is able to do above our wants, above our deserts, above our prayers, and above our thoughts: we cannot want more than he can give; we cannot pray for so much as he can bestow; we are not able to think what he can do." - Ralph Erskine


"When Christ comes with regenerating grace, he finds no man sitting still, but all posting to eternal ruin, and making haste toward hell; till, by conviction, he first brings them to a stand, and then, by conversion, turn first their hearts, and then their lives, sincerely to himself." - Richard Baxter

"The devil has ever shown a mortal spite and hatred towards that holy book the Bible: he has done all in his power to extinguish that light; and to draw men off from it: he knows it to be that light by which his kingdom of darkness is to be overthrown. He has had for many ages experience of its power to defeat his purposes, and baffle his designs: it is his constant plague. It is the main weapon which Michael uses in his war with him: it is the sword of the Spirit, that pierces him and conquers him." - Jonathan Edwards

"The very abundance and persuasiveness of the evidence of the deity of Christ greatly increases the difficulty of adequately stating it... The deity of Christ is in solution in every page of the New Testament. Every word that is spoken of Him, every word which He is reported to have spoken of Himself, is spoken on the assumption that He is God." - Benjamin B. Warfield

“Men have a great deal of pleasure in human knowledge, in studies of natural things; but this is nothing to that joy which arises from divine light shining into the soul. This spiritual light is the dawning of the light of glory in the heart. There is nothing so powerful as this to support persons in affliction, and to give the mind peace and brightness in this stormy and dark world. This

knowledge will wean from the world, and raise the inclination to heavenly things. It will turn the heart to God as the fountain of good, and to choose him for the only portion. This light, and this only, will bring the soul to a saving closeness with Christ. It conforms the heart to the gospel, mortifies its enmity and opposition against the scheme of salvation therein revealed: it causes the heart to embrace the joyful tidings, and entirely to adhere to, and acquiesce in the revelation of Christ as our Saviour.” ― Jonathan Edwards

 

"See the dignity of all true believers. They are joined in marriage with Christ. There is not only assimilation but union; they are not only like Christ but one with Christ. All the saints have this honour. When a king marries a beggar, by virtue of the union she is ennobled and made of the blood royal. As wicked men are united to the prince of darkness, and he settles hell upon them as their inheritance, so the godly are divinely united to Christ, who is King of kings, and Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:16). By virtue of this sacred union the saints are dignified above the angels. Christ is the Lord of the angels, but not their husband." - Thomas Watson

 

"You cannot, my reader, mingle with the world and maintain at the same time spiritual nearness to the cross. The cross is the crucifier of the world, the death of sin. Beneath its awful shadow, brought to its sacred foot, the world's glory pales, sin's power is paralyzed, and Satan, the arch-tempter, recoiling from its brightness and writhing beneath its death-bruise, relinquishes his victim, and retires, defeated and dishonoured, to his own place." - Octavius Winslow

 

"If it be so very absurd, to worship the work of other men's hands what must it be, to worship the works of our own hands?... let me tell you, that trust, confidence, reliance, and dependence, for salvation, are all acts and very solemn ones too, of divine worship: and upon whatsoever you depend, whether in whole or in part, for your acceptance with God, and for your justification in his sight, whatsoever, you rely upon, and trust in, for the attainment of grace or glory; if it be any thing short of God in Christ, you are an idolater for all intents and purposes." - Augustus Toplady

 

"The Reformation represents a move to place God as He has revealed Himself in Christ at the centre of the church's life and thought." - Carl Trueman

 

"Man is totally incapable, he is without any strength at all in the matter of his salvation... Man as he is born into this world is totally unable to please God. His righteousness is but as filthy rags. Man does not like to be told that, and he does not believe it." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

 

"Were thine eyes ever turned inward to see thyself; the sinfulness of thy depraved state, the corruption of thy nature, the sins of thy heart and life? Wast thou ever led into a view of the exceeding sinfulness of sin? Have thine eyes seen ...King Jesus in his beauty; the manifold wisdom of God in him, his transcendent excellence, and absolute fulness and sufficiency, with the vanity and emptiness of all things else?" - Thomas Boston

 

 

"Do you need wonders to be wrought for you? His name is Wonderful; look to him so to do, for his name's sake. Do you need counsel and direction? His name is the Counsellor: cast yourself on him and his name for this. Have you mighty enemies

to debate with? His name is the Mighty God; seek that he may exert his power for his name's sake. Do you need his fatherly pity? His name is the everlasting Father; "As a Father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." Plead his pity, for his name's sake. Do you need peace external, internal, or eternal? His name is the Prince of Peace; seek for his name's sake, that he may create peace. O sirs, his name is JEHOVAH ROPHI, the Lord, the healer and physician; seek, for his name's sake, that he may heal all your diseases. Do you need pardon? His name is JEHOVAH TSlDKENU, the Lord our righteousness: seek, for his name's sake, that he may be merciful to your unrighteousness. Do you need defence and protection? His name is JEHOVAH NISSI, the Lord your banner; seek, for his name's sake, that his banner of love and grace may be spread over you. Do you need provision in extreme want? His name is JEHOVAH JIREH, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen, the Lord will provide. Do you need his presence? His name is JEHOVAH SHAMMAH, the Lord is there: IMMANUEL, God with us: look to him to be with you, for his name's sake. Do you need audience of prayer? His name is the Hearer of prayer. Do you need strength? His name is the Strength of Israel. Do you need comfort? His name is the Consolation of Israel. Do you need shelter? His name is the City of Refuge. Have you nothing and need all; His name is All in all." - Ralph Erskine

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols,” was the injunction of the loving apostle John, and he wrote thus in love, because he knew that, if God sees us making idols of anything, he will either break our idols or break us." - Charles Spurgeon

"Those that deny the satisfaction of Christ, and talk of his dying to confirm the truth, and give us an example of meekness, patience, and self-denial, affirming these to be the sole ends of his death, do not only therein root up the foundations of their own comfort, peace, and pardon, but most boldly impeach and tax the infinite wisdom. God could have done all this at a cheaper rate: the sufferings of a mere creature are able to attain these ends: the deaths of the martyrs did it." - John Flavel

 

"Churches that depart from the Word will soon find that God has departed from them." —Robert Godfrey
Robert Godfrey exhorts us to have the word of Christ dwell in us richly: http://ligm.in/Sx4tGD

 

“It is a sad fault with those Christians who think themselves full of Grace, when they begin to despise their fellows! They may rest assured they are greatly mistaken in the estimate they have formed of themselves.” - Charles Spurgeon

 

Hymn Story: Crown Him with Many Crowns

Revelation 19:12

His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

 

The text of this great hymn is a composite or combination by two different authors, both of whom were inspired by Revelation 19:12. The first printing was a six-stanza hymn in Hymns of the Heart (1851) by Matthew Bridges, who later in his life left the Church of England and became a Roman Catholic. Bridges' hymn was originally titled: "The Song of the Seraphs."

In 1874, Godfrey Thring feared that some of the Bridges' verses spoke too much of Catholic doctrine. Verse two, for example, said:

Crown Him the virgin's Son, the God incarnate born,
Whose arm those crimson trophies won which now His brow adorn;
Fruit of the mystic rose, as of that rose the stem;
The root whence mercy ever flows, the Babe of Bethlehem.

He wrote six new stanzas for the hymn. The new six stanza text was published in Thring's Hymns and Sacred Lyrics."

Over the years, the twelve stanzas (six by Bridges and six by Thring) became intermingled in various hymnbooks.

Hence, the hymn that had two entirely different six-stanza texts appears in most hymnals with a composite 4 stanza text.

Listen to it here: Crown Him with Many Crowns

Ligonier Academy (July 2012)

"The natural man is void of the saving knowledge of spiritual things. He knows not what a God he has to do with: he is unacquainted with Christ, and knows not what sin is. The greatest graceless wits are blind as moles in these things." - Thomas Boston

"Value God and his love more than all the world, though there were millions of them. He valued you before the world, and therefore is beforehand with you in his love. He not only loved you from everlasting, (whereas your love is but of yesterday,) but in the valuation of it, he loved you before all worlds, and preferred you to all worlds: though you loved the world first, before you loved him." - Thomas Goodwin

 

"The better and holier a man is, the more he feels his need of pardon, and how far he falls short of his own imperfect standard of excellence. But Jesus, with the same nature as ours and tempted as we are, never yielded to temptation; never

had cause for regretting any thought, word, or action; he never needed pardon, or conversion, or reform; he never fell out of harmony with his heavenly Father. His whole life was one unbroken act of self-consecration to the glory of God and the eternal welfare of his fellow-men." - Philip Schaff

 

"Many men, after a long conversion, see more of the workings of sin in their hearts than ever they did before or at their first conversion. Now, such men have not an increase of sin, but an increase of illumination and light" - Christopher Love


"Men will never worship God with a sincere heart, or be roused to fear and obey Him with sufficient zeal, until they properly understand how much they are indebted to His mercy" - John Calvin
 
"He therefore, and he only, knows what "saved" means, that knows what hell, and death, and damnation means." - John Bunyan

“The true teacher should not seek to soar on the gaudy wings of brilliant oratory, pouring forth sonorous polished sentences in rhythmic harmony, but should endeavour to speak pointed Truths of God—things that will strike and stick—thoughts

that will be remembered and recalled, again and again, when the hearer is far away from the place of worship where he listened to the preacher’s words.” - C.H. Spurgeon

 

"The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose. It is true, that judgment against your evil works has not been executed hitherto; the floods of God’s vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in the mean time is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up more wrath." - Jonathan Edwards, Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

 

"It is certain that all who will go to heaven hereafter begin their heaven now, and have their hearts there." - Matthew Henry

 

 

"We must not judge of sin by the matter in which, but by the spirit from which, sin is committed. There is no sin so gross but the saints of God may fall into it; but yet the child of God is hindered by a contrary law of the Spirit from yielding full consent before, or taking full delight in a sin, or allowing or persisting after." - Richard Sibbes
 

“We say that we belong to Christ and we are not our own, but bought with a price. Do we live as if it were true? Come, let us take up the position now of being altogether Christ’s own sheep. If the sheep could speak it would say, ‘There is not a fragment of wool on my back that belongs to me: there is no part of me that is my own. I belong to my shepherd, and I am glad to have it so.’ You belong to Christ as absolutely as that.” - C.H. Spurgeon
 

 

“The preacher ought to preach so that it shall be almost an impossibility for his hearer to be altogether careless. You Christian people should set such an example in your households that it shall be next door to an impossibility for son or daughter or servant to remain at peace while they remain out of God and out of Christ in a state of sin!” - C.H. Spurgeon

 

 

"It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners, as it is in captive nations today. It was understood that whoever was caught doing this received a severe beating. A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege of preaching, so we accepted their terms. It was a deal: we preached and they beat us. We were happy preaching; they were happy beating us—so everyone was happy." - Richard Wurmbrand (Tortured for Christ).

 

"Warrior of the cross, fight on! Never rest till thy victory is complete, for thine eternal reward will prove worthy of a life of warfare. See, here is perfect purity for thee! A few in Sardis kept their garments undefiled, and their recompense is to be spotless. Perfect holiness is the prize of our high calling; let us not miss it. See, here is joy! Thou shalt wear holiday robes, such as men put

on at wedding feasts; thou shalt be clothed with gladness and be made bright with rejoicing. Painful struggles shall end in peace of conscience and joy in the Lord. See, here is victory! Thou shalt have thy triumph. Palm, and crown, and white robe shall be thy guerdon; thou shalt be treated as a conqueror and owned as such by the Lord Himself. See, here is priestly array! Thou shalt stand before the Lord in such raiment as the sons of Aaron wore; thou shalt offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving and draw near unto the Lord with the incense of praise. Who would not fight for a Lord who gives such large honours to the very least of His faithful servants? Who would not be clothed in a fool’s coat for Christ’s sake, seeing He will robe us with glory?" - C.H. Spurgeon

 

 

"He who hath a crown before him, it will make him run through the pikes or anything to attain it; so faith, having glory, immortality, and the joys of heaven before it, overlooks and despises all oppositions, and sees all things subdued to Christ, as though all were past; whereupon it gathers assurance that it shall triumph over all in him." - Richard Sibbes

"Above all encouragements, the gospel sets before us the sufferings of our Redeemer, and directs all his disciples in sincerity to accustom themselves to the contemplation and expectation of troubles on earth: it tells them it is a branch of their religion, to suffer with him that they may reign with him. And what is more reasonable, than if our Saviour endured superlative sufferings to purchase eternal glory for us, that we should with the same mind bear lighter afflictions to prepare us for it?" - William Bates


"If there be any name, any dignity, or excellency, not known in this life, and which shall be known in the other; yet, be what they may, Christ is above them all." - Matthew Poole

"If we know anything of growth in grace, and desire to know more, let us not be surprised if we have to go through much trial and affliction in this world... it is the experience of nearly all the most eminent saints. Like their blessed Master,

they have been men of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and perfected through sufferings... It is a melancholy fact that constant temporal prosperity, as a general rule, is injurious to a believer's soul... Sicknesses, and losses, and crosses, and anxieties, and disappointments seem absolutely needful to keep us humble, watchful, and spiritual-minded... We shall find that all worked for our good when we reach heaven. Let these thoughts abide in our minds, if we love growth in grace." - J.C. Ryle

 

 

"Once in Christ, ever in him. Having taken up his habitation in the heart, he never removes. None can untie this happy knot." - Thomas Boston

 

Ligonier Academy (June 2012)

"It is no wonder, then, that liberalism is totally different from Christianity, for the foundation is different. Christianity is founded upon the Bible. It bases upon the Bible both its thinking and its life. Liberalism on the other hand is founded upon the shifting emotions of sinful men." - J. Gresham Machen.


"There are many Christian people today, it seems to me, who claim to be believers in the inspiration of the Scriptures but who nevertheless quite deliberately avoid large portions of Scripture simply because they are difficult. But if you believe that the whole of Scripture is the Word of God, such an attitude is sinful; it is our business to face the Scriptures." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"Thou must be born again; otherwise thou shalt never see heaven, unless it be afar off, as the rich man in hell did. Deceive not thyself: no mercy of God, no blood of Christ, will bring thee to heaven in thy unregenerate state: for God will never open a fountain of mercy to wash away his own holiness and truth; nor did Christ shed his blood, to blot out the truths of God, or to overturn God's measures about the salvation of sinners." - Thomas Boston

"Those that God is pleased to make the objects of his love, let them be who they will, or what they will—never so mean, never so great sinners—they are the objects of a love that is infinitely full and sufficient. And therefore nothing that they need, nothing that they ask of God, nothing that their desires can extend themselves to, nothing that their capacity can contain, no good that can be enjoyed by them, is so great, so excellent that God begrudges it to them." - Jonathan Edwards

 

“Think not of the sinner, or of the greatness of his sin, but think of the greatness of the Savior!” - C.H. Spurgeon
 

"The man who has not got eternal life does not know God, he is outside the life of God; and that means that he is dead." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

 

“If you do not love the Bible, you certainly do not love the God who gave it to us—but if you do love God, I am certain that no other book in all the world will be comparable, in your mind, to God’s own Book. Where God’s handwriting is most plainly to be seen, there God’s servants will at once turn their eyes. When God speaks, it is the delight of our ears to hear what He says.” - C.H. Spurgeon

"Oh, love God the Father who has made this crown for us. Love God the Son who has bought this crown for us. Love God the Holy Spirit who has made us fit to wear this crown." - Thomas Watson


“I have my own opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel if we do not preach justification by faith without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing unchangeable eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross.” - Charles Spurgeon


"Man is totally incapable, he is without any strength at all in the matter of his salvation... Man as he is born into this world is totally unable to please God. His righteousness is but as filthy rags. Man does not like to be told that, and he does not believe it." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones


"Let us use great caution that neither our thoughts nor our speech go beyond the limits to which the Word of God itself extends." - John Calvin

"Satan is a king given in God's wrath... Why doth God permit this apostate creature to exercise such a principality over the world? As a righteous act of vengeance on man, for revolting from the sweet government of his rightful Lord and Maker... The devil is God's slave, and man the devil's." - William Gurnall

“To make it quite practical I have a very simple test. After I have explained the way of Christ to somebody I say “Now, are you ready to say that you are a Christian?” And they hesitate. And then I say, “What’s the matter? Why are you hesitating?” And so often people say, “I don’t feel like I’m good enough yet. I don’t think I’m ready to say I’m a Christian now.” And at once I know that I have been wasting my breath. They are still thinking in terms of themselves. They have to do it. It sounds very modest to say, “Well, I don’t think I’ good enough,” but it’s a very denial of the faith. The very essence of the Christian faith is to say that He is good enough and I am in Him. As long as you go on thinking about yourself like that and saying, “I’m not good enough; Oh, I’m not good enough,” you are denying God – you are denying the gospel – you are denying the very essence of the faith and you will never be happy. You think you’re better at times and then again you will find you are not as good at other times than you thought you were. You will be up and down forever. How can I put it plainly? It doesn’t matter if you have almost entered into the depths of hell. It does not matter if you are guilty of murder as well as every other vile sin. It does not matter from the standpoint of being justified before God at all. You are no more hopeless than the most moral and respectable person in the world.” ― David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“Old John Newton used to say, ‘You who are called Calvinists—though you are not merely Calvinists, but the old, legitimate successors of Christ—you ought, above all men, to be very gentle with your opponents, for, remember, according to your own principles, they cannot learn Truth of God unless they are taught of God. And if you have been taught of God, you ought to bless His name—and if they have not, you should not be angry with them, but pray to God to give them a better education.’ Do not let us make any extra “offense of the Cross” by our own ill humour, but let us show our love to the Cross by loving and trying bless those who have been offended with it.” - C.H. Spurgeon

"Christians are worshippers of Christ. Christ requires his disciples to honour Him as they honour the Father. They are to believe in Him (put the same confidence in Him), as they do in God. It is the same offence under the new dispensation to refuse to worship Christ as GOD MANIFEST IN THE FLESH that it was under the old economy to refuse to worship Jehovah as the only living and true God." - Charles Hodge

Ligonier Academy (May 2012)

"When a man has a particularly empty head, he generally sets up for a great judge, especially in religion." - Charles Spurgeon

"Seeing we have such a prayer-hearing God as we have heard, let us be much employed in the duty of prayer: let us pray with all prayer and supplication: let us live prayerful lives, continuing instant in prayer, watching thereunto with all perseverance; praying always, without ceasing, earnestly, and not fainting." - Jonathan Edwards


"The true way to have our faith strengthened is not to consider the difficulties in the way of the thing promised, but the character and resources of God, who has made the promise." - Charles Hodge

"Self-sacrifice brought Christ into the world. And self-sacrifice will lead us, His followers, not away from but into the midst of men. Wherever men suffer, there will we be to comfort. Wherever men strive, there will we be to help. Wherever men fail, there will we be to uplift. Wherever men succeed, there will we be to rejoice. Self-sacrifice means not indifference to our times and our fellows: it means absorption in them. It means forgetfulness of self in others. It means entering into every man's hopes and fears, longings and despairs: it means manysidedness of spirit, multiform activity, multiplicity of sympathies. It means richness of development. It means not that we should live one life, but a thousand lives, -- binding ourselves to a thousand souls by the filaments of so loving a sympathy that their lives become ours....Only, when we humbly walk this path, seeking truly in it not our own things but those of others, we shall find the promise true, that he who loses his life shall find it." - B.B. Warfield

"It is because man has an inadequate conception of sin that he has an inadequate conception of the grace of God." - Martyn Lloyd-Jones
 

“He that changes pride for worldliness, sensuality for Pharisaism, vanity in Himself to the contempt of others, let him not think that he hath mortified the sin that he seems to have left. He hath changed his master, but he is a servant still…Simon the Sorcerer ( Acts 8 ) for a while left his sorcery, but his covetousness and personal ambition remained still, and simply acted out another way.” - John Owen

 

"There is no worse plague than when men are so drunk with their belief in their little learning, that they boldly reject everything contrary to their opinion." - John Calvin
 

"If we are to occupy the attitude towards Scripture which Christ occupied, the simple "It is written!" must have the same authority to us in matters of doctrinal truth, of practical duty, of historical fact and of verbal form that it had to Him: and to us as truly as to Him, the Scriptures must be incapable of being broken." - B.B. Warfield
 

"On Christ’s glory I would fix all my thoughts and desires, and the more I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes and I will be more and more crucified to this world. It will become to me like something dead and putrid, impossible for me to enjoy." - John Owen

"Other objects may be overrated and too highly esteemed; but so transcendent, so infinite, is the excellency of Christ, that he is, and will be to all eternity, more lovely than beloved. Yet, though all the love possible for saints and angels to show, falls, and will always fall, infinitely short of the Saviour's due: still it is a blessed privilege to love him at all, though in ever so faint a manner, and in ever so low a degree. They that love him at all, wish to love him more: and more and more they shall love him, through the ages of endless duration in heaven, where they shall be like him, and see him as he is." - Augustus Toplady

"We alone, as Christians, understand what is wrong with the world. We see powers and principalities, the rulers of the darkness of this world, behind the visible and seen phenomena, and we see perplexed politicians trying to deal with the problems, and failing. We know they must fail because they do not see what is at the back of it all. We see it as the conflict between heaven and hell." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"I would sooner be holy than happy if the two things could be divorced. Were it possible for a man always to sorrow and yet be pure, I would choose the sorrow if I might win the purity; for, beloved, to be free from the power of sin, to be made to love holiness, though I have spoken after the manner of men to you, is true happiness." - Charles Spurgeon

"This is the foundation of our religion, the Rock whereon the church is built, the ground of all our hopes of salvation, of life and immortality: all is resolved into this - namely, the representation that is made of the nature and will of  God in the person and office of Christ. If this fail us, we are lost for ever; if this Rock stand firm, the church is safe here, and shall be triumphant hereafter." - John Owen

 

"Is religion to be tabooed, the best and noblest of all themes forbidden? If this be the rule of any society, we will not comply with it. If we cannot break it down, we will leave the society to itself, as men desert a house smitten with leprosy. We cannot consent to be gagged. There is no reason why we should be. We will go to no place where we cannot take our Master with us." - Charles Spurgeon

 

"In weighing our sins, let us not use a deceitful balance, weighing at our own discretion what we will, and how we will, calling this heavy and that light: but let us use the divine balance of the Holy Scriptures, as taken from the treasury of the Lord, and by it weigh every offence, nay, not weigh, but rather recognize what has been already weighed by the Lord." - Augustine
 

"We do not say that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. We are glad they are throwing stones and we should be happy to encourage them in it. After all, the thing to do is to get the glass-houses all smashed; and this mutual stone-throwing is likely to accomplish that desirable end, and is therefore to be heartily welcomed by us. There is a house, not glass, built on the rock: when the stone throwing is all over it is likely that this house will be found standing alone." - B.B. Warfield

Hymn Story: Alleluia, Sing to Jesus

Revelation 19:1 

And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:

William Dix wrote "Alleluia! Sing to Jesus" as a communion hymn for Ascension Sunday. This hymn was originally called "Redemption through the Precious Blood" and was inspired by Revelation 5:9, "And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy . . . for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood." Our hymns proclaims "His the triumph, His the victory alone." "Jesus . . . hath redeemed us by His blood."

"Though the cloud from sight received Him," sings of Christ's ascension. Even as He assured us he would not leave us as orphans, this hymn also reminds us of His faithful promise, "I am with you evermore."

This hymn, although usually presented with three verses, has a fourth verse, and also originally repeated the first verse at the end, giving it five verses total. It was first published by Dix in Altar Songs, Verses on the Holy Eucharist, 1867. A year later it was included in the Appendix of Hymns Ancient and Modern, with a tune specifically written for it by Samuel Sebastian Wesley, called Alleluia. This tune is still preferred by Hymns Ancient and Modern, but it is seldom sung today. The 1909 edition had a different tune, Adoration, by B. Luard Selby, but this tune is not found in any modern hymnal. The tune to which it is most commonly sung is HYFRYDOL, written by Rowland H. Prichard.

Listen to it here: Alleluia, Sing to Jesus

Hymn Story: Abide with Me, Fast Falls the Eventide

Luke 24:29

But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.

It is commonly reported that Henry Lyte wrote this hymn in 1847, when he was dying of tuberculosis. He reportedly finished it the Sunday he preached his farewell sermon to the parish he had served for many years, before leaving for Italy in hopes of restoring his health. However, there is evidence that he wrote this hymn in 1820, after visiting a dying friend, who, on his death bed, kept murmuring the passage from Luke 24:29, where the disciples who were traveling to Emmaus asked Jesus to "abide with us, for it is evening and day is almost spent." Perhaps, feeling his own frailty on that Sunday in 1847, he remembered the hymn he had previously written, and brought it out at that time, lending credence to the first scenario.

Originally with a tune that was also written by Lyte, this hymn was not widely used at that time. It was first published in England in a book "Lyte’s Remains, 1850, and in America in Henry Ward Beecher’s Plymouth Collection, 1855. It was discovered by William Monk and included by him in Hymns, Ancient and Modern, 1861.

Lyte desired to leave behind a hymn that would endure. One of his earlier poems stated it: "Some simple strain, some spirit-moving lay, Some sparklet of the soul that still might live When I was passed to clay… And grant me … my last breath to spend In song that may not die!"

Listen to it here: Abide with Me, Fast Falls the Eventide

Ligonier Academy (April 2012)

“Christians have, on the whole, been pretty sharp at spotting the evils of pornography, simply considered. After all, porn is morally lethal in the way that having one’s brains beaten out with a baseball bat is physically lethal: both the medium and its effects are crude, obvious, and actually relatively easy to avoid if you see the bat coming at your head and manage to duck in time. But sitcoms and prime-time network entertainment are deadly in a different way. As carbon monoxide creeps through a house and is undetectable until the effects are irreversible and necessarily lethal, so the drip-drip-drip of prime time slowly but surely dulls the moral brain cells of those who uncritically absorb its messages and its projected lifestyle with no awareness of how they are being transformed, even manipulated, by the propagandistic virtual reality to which they are exposed” - Carl Trueman

"There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all. This is not true of us only when ...
we believe. It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be true as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in behaviour may be. It is always on His “blood and righteousness” alone that we can rest." - B.B. Warfield

"It remains the duty of every person, therefore, first of all to put aside his or her hostility against the word of God and “to take every thought captive to obey Christ” [2 Cor. 10:5]. Scripture itself everywhere presses this demand. Only...the pure of heart will see God. Rebirth will see the kingdom of God. Self-denial is the condition for being a disciple of Jesus. The wisdom of the world is folly to God. Over against all human beings, Scripture occupies a position so high that, instead of subjecting itself to their criticism, it judges them in all their thoughts and desires." - Herman Bavinck

"But to be the Vicar of Christ, to claim to exercise his prerogatives on earth, does involve a claim to his attributes, and therefore our opposition to Popery is opposition to a man claiming to be God." - Charles Hodge

"It may sometimes seem difficult to take our stand frankly by the side of Christ and His apostles. It will always be found safe." - B.B. Warfield

"In case of discouragement, we must consider ourselves as Christ does, who looks on us as those he intends to fit for himself. Christ values us by what we shall be, and by what we are elected unto. We call a little plant a tree, because it is growing up to be so. ‘Who has despised the day of small things?’ (Zech. 4:10). Christ would not have us despise little things." - Richard Sibbes

 "Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, if it has its own way it will go out to the utmost sin in that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could, every thought of unbelief would be atheism if allowed to develop. Every rise of lust, if it has its way reaches the height of villainy; it is like the grave that is never satisfied. The deceitfulness of sin is seen in that it is modest in its first proposals but when it prevails it hardens mens' hearts, and brings them to ruin." - John Owen

"Biblical love will show in a Christian’s actions, making him ready to do good to everyone, without looking for any reward. It will show itself in willingness to bear evil. It will make him patient when provoked, forgiving, meek, and humble. He will often deny himself for the sake of peace and will be more interested in promoting peace than in securing his own rights. Biblical love will show in a Christian’s general attitude. We will be kind, unselfish, good-tempered and considerate, gentle and courteous, thoughtful of others’ comfort, concerned for others’ feelings and more willing to give than to receive. True love never envies, and never rejoices in people’s troubles." - J.C. Ryle

"It isn't the time of your entry into the kingdom that matters but the fact that you're in the kingdom." - Lloyd-Jones
 

Ligonier Academy (March 2012)

"Oh what deserving servants hath the world, that will serve it so diligently, so constantly, and at so costly a rate, when they beforehand know, that besides a little transitory, deluding pleasure, it will pay them with nothing but everlasting shame!" - Richard Baxter

"It took our Lord but a moment to speak some of its (the Bible’s) sentences; it will take us a lifetime fully to understand them." - Charles Spurgeon

"To incriminate God, and excuse ourselves, is always an evidence of ignorance and depravity." - Charles Hodge

“The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.” ― Charles Dickens

"This doctrine lets us see that believers are no such lowly and wretched persons as the world generally takes them to be; they are Christ's bride, and he is their husband: and, O what an honour is it to be married to the Son of God! Having ...him for an husband, they come to be related to all Christ's relations; God is their Father, because he is his Father; angels are their servants, because they are his servants; saints are their fellow-brethren, because they are his members; heaven is their inheritance, because it is the kingdom of their husband. In a word, whatever is his, is theirs; 'And all things are yours, for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's,' 2 Cor. 3:22,23." - Ralph Erskine

 

Hymn Story: Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven

   Psalm 103

   Bless the Lord, O my soul;
   And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
   And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
   Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
   Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
   So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The Lord executes righteousness
   And justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known His ways to Moses,
   His acts to the children of Israel.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
   Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
9 He will not always strive with us,
   Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
     Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

 

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
     So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
12 As far as the east is from the west,
     So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father pities his children,
     So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
14 For He knows our frame;
     He remembers that we are dust.

 

15 As for man, his days are like grass;
     As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
     And its place remembers it no more.
17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
     On those who fear Him,
     And His righteousness to children’s children,
18 To such as keep His covenant,
     And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

 

19 The Lord has established His throne in heaven,
     And His kingdom rules over all.

 

20 Bless the Lord, you His angels,
     Who excel in strength, who do His word,
     Heeding the voice of His word.
21 Bless the Lord, all you His hosts,
     You ministers of His, who do His pleasure.
22 Bless the Lord, all His works,
     In all places of His dominion.

 

     Bless the Lord, O my soul!

 

Henry Francis Lyte wrote "Praise, My Soul, The King of Heaven" for his congregation at Lower Brixham in Devon, England. The hymn was first published in 1834, among a collection of three hundred hymns entitled "Spirit of the Psalms."

Unlike translations of the Psalms-commonly used in Psalters of that time-or paraphrases like those written by Isaac Watts, "Spirit of the Psalms" contained hymns that were simply inspired by the Psalms. A part of this collection, "Praise, My Soul, The King of Heaven" captured the "spirit" of Psalm 103.

In the hymn, Lyte succinctly states each of the psalm's points: "Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies" (v. 3-4) become "ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven." And enlarging on the palmist's declaration that God is slow to anger and will not always chide (v. 8-9), Lyte declares, "Slow to chide and swift to bless."

In his refrain, Lyte picked up on the primary theme of the Psalm: "Praise Him, praise him." Today, some hymnals have changed these words to "Alleluia!" But either refrain fittingly calls us to join with all creation in praise of the King.

Queen Elizabeth II chose this hymn to be sung as the processional at her wedding. Interestingly, this was on November 20, 1947, exactly one hundred years after the death of Henry Francis Lyte.

 

Listen to it here: Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven

Hymn Story: Holy, Holy, Holy

Revelation 4:8  

And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

 

Reginald Heber wrote "Holy, Holy, Holy" while serving as vicar of Hodnet, Shropshire, England. He was the first to compile a hymnal ordering hymns around the church calendar. Wanting to celebrate a triune God, Heber wrote "Holy, Holy, Holy" for Trinity Sunday--a day that reaffirmed the doctrine of the Trinity and was observed eight Sundays after Easter. The hymn was first published in 1826.

 

Years later, John Dykes composed the tune Nicaea especially for Heber's "Holy, Holy, Holy."

Text and tune were first published together in 1861. Since that time, this popular hymn has appeared in hundreds of hymnals and been translated into many languages.

Heber was impressed by the holiness of God. Whether in England, with the prevalence of vice, or in Calcutta, where people worshiped idols, he would often write "Only Thou art holy." Based on the words of Revelation 4:8, he used the symbolism of three repeatedly throughout his hymn: God is "holy, merciful and mighty," he's "perfect in power, in love and purity," he's worshiped by saints, cherubim, and seraphim, and he's praised "in earth and sky and sea."

Through these consistent units of three, this hymn describes and worships God in three persons. Alfred Lord Tennyson felt "Holy, Holy, Holy" was the world's greatest hymn. It truly does call us to worship our God, falling down before him with those who sing in Revelation 4:8, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."

 

Listen to it here: Holy, Holy, Holy

Ligonier Academy (February 2012)

"You will never get comfort to your soul out of what you do not understand, nor find guidance for your life out of what you do not comprehend; nor can any practical bearing upon your character come out of that which is not understood by you." - Charles Spurgeon

“Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces.” ― Matthew Henry
 
"Christ was anointed, so that he might be our king, teacher, and priest forever. He will govern us, lest we lack any good thing or be oppressed by any ill; he will teach us the whole truth; and he will reconcile us to the Father eternally." - Martin Bucer
 
No man-pleaser preaches the whole counsel of God. —R.C. Sproul

“In the sphere of religion, as in other spheres, the things about which men are agreed are apt to be the things that are least worth holding; the really important things are the things about which men will fight.” ― J. Gresham Machen

 "Oh, my brothers and sisters in Christ, if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies; and if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay, and not madly to destroy themselves. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for." - Charles Spurgeon

“In the moral realm, there is very little consensus left in Western countries over the proper basis of moral behavior. And because of the power of the media, for millions of men and women the only venue where moral questions are discussed and weighed is the talk show, where more often than not the primary aim is to entertain, even shock, not to think. When Geraldo and Oprah become the arbiters of public morality, when the opinion of the latest media personality is sought on everything from abortion to transvestites, when banality is mistaken for profundity because uttered by a movie star or a basketball player, it is not surprising that there is less thought than hype. Oprah shapes more of the nation's grasp of right and wrong than most of the pulpits in the land. Personal and social ethics have been removed from the realms of truth and structures of thoughts; they have not only been relativized, but they have been democratized and trivialized.” ― D.A. Carson

“For it is not we who call God by these names. We do not invent them. On the contrary, if it depended on us, we would be silent about him, try to forget him, and disown all his names. We take no delight in the knowledge of his ways. We tend... continually to oppose his names: his independence, sovereignty, righteousness, and love, and resist him in all his perfections. But it is God himself who reveals all his perfections and puts his names on our lips. It is he who gives himself these names and who, despite our opposition, maintains them. It is of little use to us to deny his righteousness: every day he demonstrates this quality in history. And so it is with all his attributes. He brings them out despite us. The final goal of all his ways is that his name will shine out in all his works and be written on everyone’s forehead (Rev. 22:4). For that reason we have no choice but to name him with the many names his revelation furnishes us.” ― Herman Bavinck

"Christ is the very essence of all delights and pleasures, the very soul and substance of them. As all the rivers are gathered into the ocean, which is the meeting-place of all the waters in the world, so Christ is that ocean in which all true delights and pleasures meet." - John Flavel

"Contentment does not lie in abundance of earthly enjoyments, but in calm peace of mind and spiritual joy; for unbelievers have no relish for such things, but to believers a persuasion of God’s fatherly love is more delightful than all earthly enjoyments." - John Calvin

"There is nothing more exciting or more interesting as an intellectual pursuit than to be reading theology and philosophy. But, valuable as it is, and wonderful as it is, it may become one of the most subtle dangers and temptations to the soul. A man can be so absorbed in the intellectual apprehension that he forgets that he is alive, and forgets other people. He spends the whole of his time reading and enjoying it, he never makes contact with anybody, and he is useless to everybody." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones [Studies in the Sermon on the Mount].
 

“Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[...s] be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke ; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.”
― John Donne
 

"When God wants to give us his very best, he gives us whatever will make us like his Son. This is the ultimate blessedness he has for us (1 John 3:2); it is also the explanation of the often strange, even unwelcome, twists and turns of life's pathway (2 Corinthians 4:10-11)." - Alec Motyer

A CLERK there was of Oxenford also
That unto logic hadd long y-go.
As lean was his horse as is a rake,
And he was not right fat, I undertake,
But lookd hollow, and thereto soberly.
Full threadbare was his overest courtepy,
... For he had gotten him yet no benefice
Nor was so worldly for to have office,
For him was lever have at his bed's head
Twenty books clad in black or red
Of Aristotle and his philosophy
Than robs rich or fiddle or gay psalt'ry.
But albeit that he was a philosopher,
Yet hadd he but little gold in coffer,
But all that he might of his friends hent
On books and on learning he it spent,
And busily gan for the souls pray
Of them that gave him wherewith to scholay.
Of study took he most care and most heed.
Not one word spoke he more than was need,
And that was spoke in form and reverence,
And short and quick and full of high senténce.
Sounding in moral virtue was his speech,
And gladly would he learn and gladly teach.
- Geoffrey Chaucer

"The time is coming when the wicked shall persecute no more, when the mouth of iniquity shall be stopped, when the desire and hope of all believers shall be satisfied, when the Redeemer's work shall be consummated, when the kingdom shall be... delivered up to the Father, when those that made a jest of this day shall be fully confuted. Faith sees the certainty of it, and love makes us hold out till the time come about." Thomas Manton