Hymn Story: Thine Be the Glory

1 Corinthians 15:57

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Edmond L. Budry wrote "A Toi la Gloire," "Thine Be the Glory," in 1884, reportedly after the death of his first wife, Marie de Vayenborg. It was first published in Chants Evangeliques in Lausanne, Switzerland, 1885. It was translated into English in 1925 by Richard B. Hoyle, and appeared in Cantate Domino Hymnal, 1925, the hymnal of the World Student Christian Federation.

It is possible that an Advent hymn by Friedrich-Heinrich Ranke (1798-1876), using the same tune by Handel, and published in Evangelisches Gesangbuch fur Elsass-Lothringern, could have been the basis for "Thine Be the Glory."

Listen to it here: Thine Be the Glory

Ligonier Academy (June 2013)

"It is possible to preach about Jesus, and even mention grace in the process, and yet be preaching law, calling people to reform themselves with a little help from their heavenly Friend. Such a message breeds either self-deluded complacency or self-contemptuous despair." - Dennis E. Johnson

"Biblical public worship does not find its justification in what is thought to please me or the people around me, but in what is known to please God, according to what God has authorized in the Bible." - Daniel Hyde

"If you have a ministry of any sort—public or private—as a teacher, preacher, leader, helper, or as any kind of salt and light in the world (Mt. 5:13-16) —then take heed: you are a targeted man, a marked woman. The forces of evil have taken out a contract on you. There is a price on your head sufficient to make any bounty hunter salivate. Satan is out to get you. Why? Because he wants to nullify your ministry. Because you bear on your shoulders the reputation of Christ. The enemy scores a strategic victory in his assault on that sacred reputation if you lose your battle against sexual temptation. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers of darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the invisible realm (Eph. 6:12). These desperately evil beings have vested interests in our moral collapse. They will do everything in their power to strike out at Christ and His church." - Randy Alcorn

 

"Although we often succeed in teaching our pupils subjects, we fail lamentably on the whole in teaching them how to think: they learn everything, except the art of learning." - Dorothy Sayers

"I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put him. We have kept him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on him in prayer, we wonder where he is. He is exactly where we left him." - Ravi Zacharias

"God has made humans to reflect him, but if they do not commit themselves to him, they will not reflect him but something else in creation. At the core of our beings we are imaging creatures. It is not possible to be neutral on this issue: we either reflect the Creator or something in creation." - G.K. Beale

"If there is resistance in the heart to loving God, there will be resistance in the mind to knowing God-and therefore to listening to and seeking God. Only the truth can set us free." - Sinclair Ferguson
 
 "The key to subduing the downward drag of sin in our lives is to know the impulse of gratitude that follows the experience of forgiveness and reconciliation. Law-keeping out of love is the true path of holiness." - Derek W.H. Thomas

  "Malcolm Muggeridge famously said that 'without God we are left with a choice of succumbing to megalomania or erotomania.' The court's majority, in declaring by sheer judicial fiat the equal dignity under law of the family and sodomy, would appear to have gone Muggeridge one better by succumbing to both at once." - E. Feser.

Ligonier Academy (May 2013)

"However much we may delude ourselves, there is no such thing as a theoretical Christian. It is possible to hold the doctrine of the faith in the lecture room, to give an intellectual assent to these things, but that does not make us Christian." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"It is just as impossible that any one for whom Christ rose from the dead should fail to receive the righteousness of God as it is that God should undo the resurrection of Christ itself. Consequently, knowing ourselves one with Christ, we find in the resurrection the strongest possible assurance of pardon and peace." - Geerhardus Vos

"Sovereign grace is dear to those who have groaned deeply because they see what grievous sinners they are." - Charles Spurgeon

"Our nature is so corrupt, the power of sin is so great, that unless God does a supernatural work in our souls we will never choose Christ. We do not believe in order to be born again; we are born again in order that we may believe." - R.C. Sproul

"God is seen on almost every page of Holy Writ as He reveals Himself in words and actions. This revelation of God is the basis of our faith in the existence of God, and makes this an entirely reasonable faith." - Louis Berkhof

"It is not great talents God blesses so much as likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.” - Charles Spurgeon

"Thus it came about that in the hands of the great Protestant leaders of the sixteenth century, and of their successors, the Protestant systematisers of the seventeenth century, the threefold doctrine of imputation — of Adam’s sin to his posterity, of the sins of His people to the Redeemer, and of the righteousness of Christ to His people — at last came to its rights as the core of the three constitutive doctrines of Christianity — the sinfulness of the human race, the satisfaction of Jesus Christ, and justification by faith. The importance of the doctrine of imputation is that it is the hinge on which these three great doctrines turn, and the guardian of their purity." - B.B. Warfield

 "That which we know to be grounded upon the Scriptures we must receive, not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God. We must with reverence attend to it; we must in our hearts believe, and we must in our lives obey it." - William Gouge

"If the church as a whole is losing its ability to be “salt and light” in the culture, it is not because its members have no opinion of the films of Bernardo Bertolucci, no appreciation for the poetry of Emily Dickinson, and no regular slot on The Charlie Rose Show. More likely, it is because they do not have a solid grasp of the basic elements of the faith, as taught in Scripture and affirmed by the confessions and catechisms of the church." - Carl Trueman

"Paul, then, does not see evil in all its varied forms simply as so many ethical misdemeanours. He relates it all to God. It is a dishonouring of God, a failure to fear God, a hostility to God, and more. And God takes knowledge of it. People are responsible for their actions." - Leon Morris
"The spiritual security of believers, therefore, depends primarily not on their hold of God but on God's hold of them." - Anthony Hoekema

"Christ died"--that is history; "Christ died for our sins"--that is doctrine. Without these two elements, joined in an absolutely indissoluble union, there is no Christianity." - J. Gresham Machen

Ligonier Academy (April 2013)

"The grace of God in pardoning and justifying the ungodly sinner, is founded upon the propitiatory sacrifice of the death of Christ; and grace’s administration being built upon this ground, God is just in pardoning the sinner that believes in Jesus. The government of grace is founded on righteousness; that is, upon the righteousness of Christ, by which justice was satisfied in the execution of judgment upon the Surety." - Ebenezer Erskine

"But the gospel of Christ is entirely different. It is for anyone, for everyone. Its secret is that it postulates nothing in man except failure and sin and weakness. All those other ideas appeal only to certain types of psychological make-up and temperament, they have to presuppose something in us. And without that they fail of necessity. A man glories in his own country and not in another. A man without brains and natural ability cannot truly learn and understand. And so on through the entire list of proposals and panaceas. But the gospel is not concerned about our natural differences. It centres on that which we share in common--sin and rebellion against God, failure in our lives, and a sense of shame. It demolishes all distinctions by placing us all together before God. And it does so, further, by postulating our weakness and helplessness, and relying for its efficacy upon the power of God Himself.
It matters not therefore who we are nor what we are. None can be too high or too low for this. There is no such thing as wise and unwise, great and small, learned and ignorant, wealthy or poor. There is no longer Jew and Gentile, Barbarian or Scythian, male or female, bond or free. God sees us as souls lost and desperate, helpless and forlorn. And He offers us the same salvation." - Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"They hear indeed that there are but few saved, and that the greater part of men that have died heretofore are gone to hell; but each one imagines that he lays out matters better for his own escape than others have done." - Jonathan Edwards

"It is cold comfort to be told that God never thought on me before I repented and believed. But to know and feel that God had purposes of mercy toward me before the foundation of the world, and that all the work of grace in my heart is the result of an everlasting covenant and an eternal Election, is a thought full of sweet and unspeakable consolation. A work that was planned before the foundation of the world, by an Architect of almighty power and perfect wisdom, is a work which will never be allowed to fail and be overthrown." - J.C. Ryle

"You know so little of God, my reader, because you live at such a distance from God; you have so little transaction with Him- so little confession of sin, so little searching of your own conscience, so little probing of your own heart, so little dealing with Him in the blood and righteousness of Christ, so little transaction with Him in the little things of life. You deal with God in great matters; you take great trials to God, great perplexities, great needs; but in the minutiae of each day's history, in what are called the little things of life, you have no dealings with God whatever; and consequently you know so little of the love, so little of the wisdom, so little of the glory, of this glorious covenant God and reconciled Father.

I tell you, the man who lives with God in little matters, who walks with God in the minutiae of his life, is the man who becomes the best acquainted with God- with His character, His faithfulness, His love. To meet God in my daily trials, to take to Him the trials of my calling, the trials of my church, the trials of my family, the trials of my own heart- to take to Him that which brings the shade upon my brow, that rends the sigh from my heart- to remember it is not too trivial to take to God- above all, to take to Him the least taint upon the conscience, the slightest pressure of sin upon the heart, the softest conviction of departure from God- to take it to Him, and confess it at the foot of the cross, with the hand of faith upon the bleeding sacrifice- oh! these are the paths in which a man becomes intimately and closely acquainted with God!" - Octavius Winslow
"Many will be affected with some gross sins of theirs against the law, who never see the venom of their unbelief of the gospel. But this is the sin that draws deepest; and therefore that is the sin which the Spirit is in a special manner to convince of." - Thomas Boston

"There is something of a secret atheism in all, which is the fountain of the evil practices in their lives, not an utter disowning of the being of a God, but a denial or doubting of some of the rights of his nature." - Stephen Charnock

"What is a little money, health or liberty, to wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption?" - John Flavel

"God loves His saints as the purchase of His Son's blood... He that was willing to expend His Son's blood to gain them, will not deny His power to keep them." - William Gurnall

"Those, and those only, can expect to be taught by God, who are ready and willing to do as they are taught... Those who go up to the house of the Lord with an expectation that He will teach them His ways, must go with a humble resolution that they will walk in His paths." - Matthew Henry

"Death taketh all from us - honours and riches, and strength, and life; but it cannot take God and Christ from us. They are ours, and everlastingly ours." - Thomas Manton

"The gospel of Jesus Christ is thoroughly realistic, and it starts with us exactly where we are, and that is, at the bottom of a pit of corruption." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"Some anti-intellectualism is nothing but a thoughtless reaction to the skepticism toward Christianity found in many academic circles. But some of it is the pride of those who can do things with their hands but who do not or cannot make much of intellectual pursuits. Intellectual arrogance is still arrogance; blue-collar arrogance is still arrogance." — Don Carson

"There are many who are interested in 'religion' who are actually antagonistic to the things of the Spirit... You may be very interested in religious organizations, in religious activities, in denominations, in activities of your particular church, and so on, but it may have nothing to do with minding the things of the Spirit." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones "Heretics, like nurses, may put meat or poison into their mouths who are babes in understanding; they that are children in knowledge will be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. The blind man eats many a fly, and the ignorant man swallows many an error. Men will easily be brought to deny the truths which they understand not, and to speak evil of the things which they know not." - George Swinnock

Ligonier Academy (March 2013)

"Regenerating grace elevates the soul, translates it into the spiritual world, from whence this earth cannot but appear a little, yea, a very little thing; even as heaven appeared before, while the soul was grovelling in the earth. Grace brings a man into a new world: where this world is reputed but a stage of vanity, a howling wilderness, a valley of tears." - Thomas Boston

"There are many who are interested in 'religion' who are actually antagonistic to the things of the Spirit... You may be very interested in religious organizations, in religious activities, in denominations, in activities of your particular church, and so on, but it may have nothing to do with minding the things of the Spirit" - D. M. Lloyd-Jones

"Glory in nothing, but only in this, that you are in Christ. For God chose you in him; the being you had was in him before the world was." - Thomas Goodwin

"When you hear of a notorious sinner, instead of thinking you do well to be angry, beg of Jesus Christ to convert, and make him a monument of his free grace." - George Whitefield

"The nature of a truly Christian love is love that arises from apprehension of the wonderful riches of the free grace and sovereignty of God's love to us in Christ Jesus; being attended with a sense of our own utter unworthiness, as in ourselves the enemies and haters of God and Christ, and with a renunciation of all our own excellency and righteousness." - Jonathan Edwards

"Self-righteousness is as rapid a road to ruin as outward sin itself. We may as certainly destroy ourselves by opposing the righteousness of Christ as by transgressing the law of God. Self-righteousness is as much an insult to God as blasphemy is, and God will never accept it, neither shall any soul enter Heaven by it." - Charles Spurgeon

"We are one in Christ; let us be friends with one another; but let us never be friends with one another’s error. If I be wrong, rebuke me sternly; I can bear it, and bear it cheerfully; and if ye be wrong, expect the like measure from me, and neither peace nor parley with your mistakes." - Charles Spurgeon

"I hear one say, “Well, sir, you seem to be a fatalist!” No, far from it. There is just this difference between fate and providence. Fate is blind; providence has eyes. Fate is blind, a thing that must be; it is just an arrow shot from a bow, that must fly onward, but has no target. Not so, providence; providence is full of eyes. There is a design in everything, and an end to be answered; all things are working together, and working together for good." - Charles Spurgeon

"There is an atheism in the heart as well as in the judgment. Atheism in the judgment is when we are not convinced of the being of God; in the heart, when our affections are not set on God: this is more incurable, because the dogmatic atheist may be convinced by reason, but the practical atheist can only be reformed by grace." - Thomas Manton

“Ah! from how great bitterness of soul have you often delivered me, O Good Jesus, coming to me!… How often has prayer taken me, on the brink of despair, and restored me to the state of soul of one exulting in joy and confident forgiveness. Those who are afflicted in this way, behold they know that the Lord Jesus is truly a Physician Who healeth the broken of heart and bindeth up their bruises” - Bernard of Clairvaux

"The proper intent of mercies is to draw us to God. When the heart is full of a sense of the goodness of the Lord, the tongue cannot hold its peace. Self love may lead us to prayers, but love to God excites us to praises: therefore to seek and not to praise, is to be lovers of ourselves rather than of God." - Thomas Manton

"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

"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

"The man who is trying to be a Christian is trying to hold on to something. The man who is a Christian feels that he is being held by something. It has been put to him, it is there; it may even seem to be in spite of him, but it is there. It is not what he is doing that matters to him; it is what has been done to him, it is what he has become, it is the awareness of this power within him -- life." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"The ultimate sin is intellectual pride... There is no point in saying that you accept the Bible as the Word of God if you are determined to reject statements which you cannot understand." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"Our Saviour Christ never expostulated for himself; never said, Why scourge you me? why spit you upon me? why crucify you me? As long as their rage determined in his person, he opened not his mouth; when Saul extended the violence to the church, to his servants, then Christ came to that, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Here is a holy league, defensive and offensive; God shall not only protect us from others, but he shall fight for us against them; our enemies are his enemies." -- John Donne
O what a Saviour is Jesus Christ! He is the chief among ten thousand! Look at His sinless, yet real humanity — without a single taint, yet sympathizing with us in all our various conditions — our afflictions — our temptations — our infirmities — our griefs. Now that He is in glory, He is still cherishing a brother’s heart, bending down His ear to our petitions — ever standing near to catch our sighs, to dry our tears, to provide for our needs, to guide us by His counsel, and afterwards to receive us to glory!
 O what a Saviour is Jesus Christ! When He is known — all other beings are eclipsed.
 When His beauty is seen — all other beauty fades.
 When His love is felt — He becomes supremely enthroned in the affections.
 To know Him more, becomes the one desire of the renewed mind; and to make Him more known, is the one aim of the Christian life.
 O what a Saviour is Jesus Christ!
 ---Octavius Winslow

Ligonier Academy (February 2013)

“[The Bible] is utterly opposed to the view that God does not know what man will decide, and it is equally opposed to the view that what God foreknows he does not foreordain. Over against such views, it tells us in the clearest possible way, not only in general that God has foreordained all things according to the counsel of his will but also in particular that he has foreordained the salvation of some men and the loss of others.” - J. Gresham Machen

 

"Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit of agreeing in God's judgment, hating what He hates, loving what He loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of His Word" - J.C. Ryle

When one of his hearers was asked whether Jonathan Edwards was an eloquent preacher, replied: "If you mean by eloquence, what is usually intended by it in our cities; he had no pretensions to it. He had no studied varieties of voice, and no strong emphasis. He scarcely gestured or even moved; and he made no attempt, by the eloquence of his style, or the beauty of his pictures, to gratify the taste, and fascinate the imagination. But, if you mean by eloquence the power of presenting an important truth before an audience, with overwhelming weight of argument, and with such intenseness of feeling that the whole soul of the speaker is thrown into every part of the conception and delivery, so that the solemn attention of the whole audience is riveted, from the beginning to the close, and impressions are left that cannot be effaced, Mr. Edwards was the most eloquent man I ever heard speak"

 "The more objects you set your heart upon, the more thorns there are to tear your peace of mind to shreds." - Charles Spurgeon
 
According to this truth and this Word of God, we believe in one only God, who is one single essence, in which are three persons, really, truly, and eternally distinct according to their incommunicable properties; namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is the cause, origin, and beginning of all things visible and invisible. The Son is the Word, the wisdom, and the image of the Father. The Holy Spirit is the eternal power and might who proceeds from the Father and the Son. Nevertheless, God is not by this distinction divided into three, since the Holy Scriptures teach us that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit each has His personal existence, distinguished by Their properties; but in such a way that these three persons are but one only God.

It is therefore evident that the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Father, and likewise the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. Nevertheless, these persons thus distinguished are not divided, nor intermixed; for the Father has not assumed our flesh and blood, neither has the Holy Spirit, but the Son only. The Father has never been without His Son, or without His Holy Spirit. For these three, in one and the same essence, are equal in eternity. There is neither first nor last; for They are all three one, in truth, in power, in goodness, and in mercy.

- The Belgic Confession

 

"Every sufferer who bears pain, or slander, or loss, or personal unkindness for Christ’s sake, is filling up that amount of suffering which is necessary to the bringing together of the whole body of Christ, and the up building of His elect Church." - Charles Spurgeon

 

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

 "Behold in faith the sinless, spotless Lamb of God as having already borne that weight, as having suffered for those sins, as having died for those transgressions, and accept the precious truth that it was God's eternal love that laid them all on Jesus, and that nothing is left for you to do but to believe in Jesus, that He saves to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him." - Octavius Winslow

"The more purely God's word is preached, the more deeply it pierces and the more kindly it works." - William Gouge

"The state of unregeneracy is a state of impotency... The Spirit finds sinners in as helpless a condition, as unable to repent, or believe on Christ for salvation, as they were of themselves to purchase it. Confounded therefore for ever be the language of those sons of pride, who cry up the power of nature, as if man with his own brick and slime of natural abilities were able to rear up such a building, whose top may reach heaven itself... God himself hath scattered such Babel-builders in the imagination of their hearts, who raiseth this spiritual temple in the souls of men... And therefore, if any yet in their natural estate would become wise to salvation, let them first become fools in their own eyes, and renounce their carnal wisdom, which perceives not the things of God, and beg wisdom of God, who giveth and upbraideth not. If any man would have strength to believe, let them become weak, and die to their own." - William Gurnall
 

"Painfully do I call to mind hearing one Sabbath evening a deliverance called a sermon, of which the theme was a clever enquiry as to whether an angel did actually descend, and stir the pool at Bethesda, or whether it was an intermitting spring, concerning which Jewish superstition had invented a legend. Dying men and women were assembled to hear the way of salvation, and they were put off with such vanity as this! They came for bread, and received a stone ; the sheep looked up to the shepherd, and were not fed." - Charles Spurgeon

"Those, and those only, can expect to be taught by God, who are ready and willing to do as they are taught... Those who go up to the house of the Lord with an expectation that He will teach them His ways, must go with a humble resolution that they will walk in His paths." - Matthew Henry

 

"He that commandeth heaven and earth, commandeth thee to turn, and presently without delay, to turn... God is not a man that thou shouldst dally and play with him... Who is it that will have the worst of this? Dost thou know whom thou disobeyest and contendest with, and what thou art doing?.. Whosoever else be mocked, God will not; you had better play with the fire in your thatch than with the fire of his burning wrath." - Richard Baxter

 

“If two angels were to receive at the same moment a commission from God, one to go down and rule earth’s grandest empire, the other to go and sweep the streets of its meanest village, it would be a matter of entire indifference to each which service fell to his lot, the post of ruler or the post of scavenger; for the joy of the angels lies only in obedience to God’s will, and with equal joy they would lift a Lazarus in his rags to Abraham’s bosom, or be a chariot of fire to carry an Elijah home.” ― John Newton

 

"When a man is converted, he is forever at enmity with sin; yes, he is at enmity with all sin, but most of all with his own sins, and especially with his bosom sin. Sin is now the object of his indignation. His sin swells his sorrows. It is sin that pierces him and wounds him; he feels it like a thorn in his side, like a prick in his eyes... He is not impatient of any burden so much as of his sin. If God should give him his choice, he would choose any affliction so that he might be rid of sin." - Joseph Alleine

Scoffers

Psalm 1:1,2
[ Book One ] [ The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked ] Blessed is the man who walks
not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the
seat of scoffers; But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and on his law he meditates day and night.

Proverbs 1:22
“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight
in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?

Proverbs 9:7
Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs
injury.

Proverbs 9:8
Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love
you.

Proverbs 13:1
A wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

Proverbs 14:6
A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain, but knowledge is easy for a man of understanding.

Proverbs 15:12
A scoffer does not like to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.

Proverbs 19:25
Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove a man of understanding,
and he will gain knowledge.

Proverbs 19:29
Condemnation is ready for scoffers, and beating for the backs of fools.

Proverbs 21:11
When a scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise; when a wise man is instructed, he
gains knowledge.

Proverbs 21:24
“Scoffer” is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.

Proverbs 22:10
Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarrelling and abuse will cease.

Proverbs 24:9
The devising of folly is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind.

Proverbs 29:8
Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath.

Isaiah 28:14
[ A Cornerstone in Zion ] Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers, who rule
this people in Jerusalem!

Isaiah 29:20
For the ruthless shall come to nothing and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do
evil shall be cut off,

Acts 13:41
“‘Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a
work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”

2 Peter 3:3
knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing,
following their own sinful desires.

Jude 1:18
They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own
ungodly passions.”

Fools

Psalm 14:1

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord. There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous. Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge. Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

 

Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and
instruction.

Proverbs 1:22
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their
scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

Proverbs 1:32
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall
destroy them.

Proverbs 3:35
The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.

Proverbs 7:22
He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the
correction of the stocks;

Proverbs 8:5
O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.

Proverbs 9:6
Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

Proverbs 9:13
A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing.

Proverbs 10:1
The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the
heaviness of his mother.

Proverbs 10:8
The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.

Proverbs 10:10
He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall.

Proverbs 10:14
Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.

Proverbs 10:18
He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.

Proverbs 10:21
The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.

Proverbs 10:23
It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom.

Proverbs 11:29
He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant
to the wise of heart.

Proverbs 12:15
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is
wise.

Proverbs 12:16
A fool’s wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame.

Proverbs 12:23
A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.

Proverbs 13:16
Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly.

Proverbs 13:19
The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: but it is abomination to fools to depart
from evil.

Proverbs 13:20
He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be
destroyed.

Proverbs 14:1
Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.

Proverbs 14:3
In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve
them.

Proverbs 14:7
Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of
knowledge.

Proverbs 14:8
The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit.

Proverbs 14:9
Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour.

Proverbs 14:16
A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.

Proverbs 14:17
He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated.

Proverbs 14:24
The crown of the wise is their riches: but the foolishness of fools is folly.

Proverbs 14:33
Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding: but that which is in the
midst of fools is made known.

Proverbs 15:2
The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out
foolishness.

Proverbs 15:5
A fool despiseth his father’s instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.

Proverbs 15:7
The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish doeth not so.

Proverbs 15:14
The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools
feedeth on foolishness.

Proverbs 15:20
A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish man despiseth his mother.

Proverbs 16:22
Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of
fools is folly.

Proverbs 17:7
Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.

Proverbs 17:10
A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.

Proverbs 17:12
Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.

Proverbs 17:16
Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no
heart to it?

Proverbs 17:21
He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy.

Proverbs 17:24
Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends
of the earth.

Proverbs 17:25
A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.

Proverbs 17:28
Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips
is esteemed a man of understanding.

Proverbs 18:2
A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.

Proverbs 18:6
A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes.

Proverbs 18:7
A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.

Proverbs 19:1
Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his
lips, and is a fool.

Proverbs 19:3
The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the Lord.

Proverbs 19:10
Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.

Proverbs 19:13
A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions of a wife are a
continual dropping.

Proverbs 19:29
Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools.

Proverbs 20:3
It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling.

Proverbs 21:20
There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man
spendeth it up.

Proverbs 22:15
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it
far from him.

Proverbs 23:9
Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

Proverbs 24:7
Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.

Proverbs 24:9
The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men.

Proverbs 26:1
As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool.

Proverbs 26:3
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back.

Proverbs 26:4
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.

Proverbs 26:5
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

Proverbs 26:6
He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet, and drinketh
damage.

Proverbs 26:7
The legs of the lame are not equal: so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

Proverbs 26:8
As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honour to a fool.

Proverbs 26:9
As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of
fools.

Proverbs 26:10
The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth
transgressors.

Proverbs 26:11
As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

Proverbs 26:12
Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

Proverbs 27:3
A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both.

Proverbs 27:22
Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not
his foolishness depart from him.

Proverbs 28:26
He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be
delivered.

Proverbs 29:9
If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no
rest.

Proverbs 29:11
A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.

Proverbs 29:20
Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

Proverbs 30:32
If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay
thine hand upon thy mouth.

Ecclesiastes 2:14
The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself
perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.

Ecclesiastes 4:5
The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.

Ecclesiastes 4:13
Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be
admonished.

Ecclesiastes 5:1
Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to
give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.

Ecclesiastes 5:3
For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by
multitude of words.

Ecclesiastes 5:4
When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in
fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.

Ecclesiastes 7:4
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the
house of mirth.

Ecclesiastes 7:5
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.

Ecclesiastes 7:6
For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also
is vanity.
 
Ecclesiastes 7:9
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.

Ecclesiastes 7:17
Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy
time?
 
Ecclesiastes 7:25
I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of
things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:
 
Ecclesiastes 9:17
The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among
fools.

Ecclesiastes 10:2
A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left.

Ecclesiastes 10:3
Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he
saith to every one that he is a fool.

Ecclesiastes 10:12
The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up
himself.
 
Ecclesiastes 10:13
The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is
mischievous madness.

Ecclesiastes 10:14
A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after
him, who can tell him?

Ecclesiastes 10:15
The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go
to the city.

Isaiah 35:8
And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men,
though fools, shall not err therein.

Isaiah 44:25
that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise
men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;

Jeremiah 4:22
For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they
have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no
knowledge.

Jeremiah 5:4
Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way
of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God.

Jeremiah 5:21
Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see
not; which have ears, and hear not:

Jeremiah 10:8
But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.

Romans 1:21
because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were
thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Romans 1:22
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Romans 10:19
But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by
them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.

1 Corinthians 1:18
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which
are saved it is the power of God.

1 Corinthians 1:20
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not
God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

1 Corinthians 1:21
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

1 Corinthians 1:23
but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks
foolishness;

1 Corinthians 1:25
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger
than men.

1 Corinthians 1:27
but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

1 Corinthians 2:14
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned.
 
1 Corinthians 3:18
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let
him become a fool, that he may be wise.

1 Corinthians 3:19
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the
wise in their own craftiness.

1 Corinthians 4:10
We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are
strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.

2 Corinthians 11:19
For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.

2 Corinthians 12:6
For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth:
but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be,
or that he heareth of me.

Galatians 3:1
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before
whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?

Galatians 3:3
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

Ephesians 5:15
See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

1 Timothy 6:9
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and
hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

2 Timothy 2:23
But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.

Titus 3:3
For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers
lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

Titus 3:9
But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the
law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

1 Peter 2:15
For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of
foolish men:

Ligonier Academy (January 2013)

"What a power was put forth in raising Christ from the grave when such a tombstone lay upon him as the sins of all the world! yet he was raised up by the Spirit. The same power is put forth by the Spirit of God in working faith. The Spirit irradiates the mind, and subdues the will. The will is like a garrison, which holds out against God: the Spirit with sweet violence conquers, or rather changes it; making the sinner willing to have Christ upon any terms; to be ruled by him as well as saved by him." - Thomas Watson

How long shall we lie still under our formal complaints of the decay of Christian piety? How long shall we idly see the retirement of warm religion from the hearts and bosoms of its professors? Do we look into the churches of the Lord Jesus, or into our own souls and observe the deadness and dispiritedness that is there to all the parts of real godliness; and are we content, that so it should be? ... Are we willing to yield to all the lukewarmness and degeneracy that has overspread us? Shall we take no methods to recover and revive? Even the truly pious are dull and heavy in their religion, [and] march on wearily in their appointed race, as if either their Lord had lost His glory or His promise to them; or they [have lost] their faith and hope in Him.... Is it not time to proclaim among the churches, the message of the Mediator sent from heaven to the Church of Laodicea: Be zealous and repent?" - John Reynolds (1667-1727)

"Christianity is Christ. Christianity centres in Christ -- it is in Him. Without Him there is no Christianity. It is the Person who matters; it is the Lord who counts." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"God's chief end was not to bring Christ into the world for us, but us for Christ. He is worth all creatures. And God contrived all things that do fall out, and even redemption itself, for the setting forth of Christ's glory, more than our salvation." - Thomas Goodwin

"Will any man that hath not lost his senses, now stand cavilling, and quarrelling, that so few should be saved, instead of making sure of his own salvation? The reason that there are so few is, because they will not be saved upon God's terms." - Richard Baxter

"If there were infinite worlds made of creatures loving, they would not have so much love in them as was in the heart of that man Christ Jesus." - Thomas Goodwin 

"The sum of the sum: Preach one Christ by Christ to the praise of Christ." - William Perkins

"Praying for one another will ease differences, jealousies, and suspicions. It will make the godly of one heart and one mind. If you find yourself thinking how poorly a brother has treated you, pray for that man. It will immediately quiet those wins and waves" - Anthony Burgess

God covers under the wings of His care each single one of His creatures." - John Calvin

"If the unborn is not a human person, no justification for abortion is necessary. However, if the unborn is a human person, no justification for abortion is adequate." - Gregory Koukl

"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

 

"To behold the glory of God is both our privilege and our duty. The duties of the Law were a burden and a yoke; but those of the gospel are privileges and advantages... In the contemplation of this glory consists the principal exercise of faith. And who can declare the glory of this privilege, that we who are born in darkness, and deserved to be cast out into utter darkness, should be translated into this marvellous light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ?" - John Owen

"Only those who have learned well to be earnestly dissatisfied with themselves, and to be confounded with shame at their wretchedness truly understand the Christian gospel." - John Calvin

 

“Here, then, is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God's Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy. ” ― R.C. Sproul

 

“I'm afraid that in the United States of America today the prevailing doctrine of justification is not justification by faith alone. It is not even justification by good works or by a combination of faith and works. The prevailing notion of justification in our culture today is justification by death. All one has to do to be received into the everlasting arms of God is to die.” ― R.C. Sproul

"If there can be any doctrines, however few, which justly deserve the name of essential doctrines and stand at the root of the Christian life as its conditions, foundations, or presuppositions, it surely becomes the duty as well as the right of the Christian man to study them, to seek to understand them in themselves and in their relations, to attempt to state them with accuracy and to adjust their statement to the whole body of known truth - in a word, the right and function of Systematic Theology is vindicated." - B.B. Warfield

Ligonier Academy (December 2012)

"In the salvation of every person there is an actual putting forth of the divine power, whereby the dead sinner is quickened, the unwilling sinner is made willing, the desperately hard sinner has his conscience made tender; and he who rejected God and despised Christ, is brought to cast himself down at the feet of Jesus." - Charles Spurgeon

"Unbelievers are loth to burn, yet willing to sin; though sin kindle those everlasting flames. So that in two things the unbeliever shews himself worse than brutish: he cannot think of damnation, the effect of sin, without horror; and cannot yet think of sin, the cause of damnation, without pleasure; he is loth to perish to all eternity without a remedy, and yet refuses and declines Christ as if he were an enemy, who only can and would deliver him from that eternal perdition." - John Flavel

 

“Should that man be proud that has sinned as thou hast sinned, and lived as thou hast lived, and wasted so much time, and abused so much mercy, and omitted so many duties, and neglected so great means?-that hath so grieved the Spirit of God, so violated the law of God, so dishonoured the name of God? Should that man be proud, who hath such a heart as thou hast?” - Richard Mayo

"The Lord increase the number of them which may rejoice that their names are written in heaven." - William Perkins

Q. 1. What is thy only comfort in life and in death?

A. That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me, that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him. - Heidelberg Catechism

 Q. 60. How art thou righteous before God? 

A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. That is: although my conscience accuse me, that I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God, and have never kept any of them, and that I am still prone always to all evil, yet God, without any merit of mine, of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ, as if I had never committed nor had any sin, and had myself accomplished all the obedience which Christ has fulfilled for me, if only I accept such benefit with a believing heart. -- The Heidelberg Catechism
 

Ligonier Academy (November 2012)

"The work of life must be done before we die, for it cannot be done afterwards; and it is very desirable, when we come to die, to have nothing else to do but to die." - Matthew Henry

"Pride is the worst viper in the heart; it is the first sin that ever entered into the universe, lies lowest of all in the foundation of the whole building of sin, and is the most secret, deceitful, and unsearchable in its ways of working, of any lusts whatever." - Jonathan Edwards

"There are three parables recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Luke as spoken by our Lord in His defence against the murmurs of the Pharisees at His receiving sinners and eating with them. The essence of the defence which our Lord offers for

Himself is, that there is joy IN HEAVEN over repentant sinners! Why IN HEAVEN, before the throne of God?... He is representing His action in receiving sinners, in seeking the lost, as His proper action, because it is the normal conduct of heaven, manifested in Him. He is heaven come to earth." - B.B. Warfield 
 

"The systematic theologian is preeminently a preacher of the gospel; and the end of his work is obviously not merely the logical arrangements of the truths which come under his hand, but the moving of men, through their power, to love God with all their hearts and their neighbours as themselves; to choose their portion with the Saviour of their souls; to find and hold Him precious and to recognize and yield to the sweet influences of the Holy Spirit whom He has sent." - B.B. Warfield

 

"There are some who do little else but complain. They complain of the times, of the weather, of the government, of their families, of their trade; if, for once, they would complain of themselves, they might have a more deserving subject for fault-finding." - Charles Spurgeon

"Self-denial is when the soul knows it has nothing, and therefore is so overpowered with the mighty hand of God and the work of his Spirit that it does not so much as expect any power or ability from itself... It therefore looks up to heaven and seeks all sufficiency from God alone... For a man to deny himself is for him to know that he has no power in himself to do any spiritual duty. Therefore we must look only to the voice that calls us, the voice of Christ, and know that he who calls us from the ways of darkness, and out of ourselves, must and will bring us out. Therefore, expect power from Christ alone to pluck you out of yourself, and to make you a believer; for the same hand must do both or it will never be." - Thomas Hooker

"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
"Scripture is my authority and I must never go outside it. I must never add to it; I must never take from it. This is the whole revelation of God to man, and it is the only authority." - Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"Humility imports a deep sense of our own weakness, with a hearty and affectionate acknowledgment of our owing all that we are to the divine bounty. This is always accompanied with a profound submission to the will of God, and great deadness towards the glory of the world and the applause of men." - Henry Scougal

"The trouble with modern men is not that they do not understand the terminology of the Authorized Version of the Bible, it is that they are spiritually dead." - Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"And let us not take it into our heads either to seek out God anywhere else than in his Sacred Word, or to think anything about him that is not prompted by his Word, or to speak anything that is not taken from that Word." - John Calvin

"The men of the world give out that the way of righteousness is a solitary way and makes them melancholy who walk in it, and that they must expect to lose their joy by the way. These forget that golden saying of Augustine that when a man is converted and turned to God, his joy is not taken away but changed. Tis more sublime and pure." - Thomas Watson  

Ligonier Academy (October 2012)

"For those who are well-disposed, the revelation of God in and of itself, even before the proof drawn from his works, suffices to demonstrate not only his providence, but also his fervent love toward us. For he does not simply watch over us, but also loves us; he ardently loves us with an inexplicable love, with an impassible yet fervent, vigorous, genuine, indissoluble love, a love that is impossible to extinguish." - John Chrysostom

"The use of God's rod is to bring us home unto God, and the affliction driveth us to make better use of his word: it changeth us from vanity to seriousness; from error, to truth; from stubbornness, to teachfulness; from pride, to modesty." - Thomas Manton

"If God did not deliver us, many a time, by prerogative, out of those straits and distresses which we bring ourselves into by our own sin and folly, and which therefore we could not expect any deliverance from by promise, we should soon be ruined, nay, we should have been ruined long before this. He deals not with us according to our deserts." - Matthew Henry

"The bulk of the common people seldom think for themselves in religious concerns, but judge it sufficient to give up their understandings and consciences to their professed teachers." - John Newton

"...the Bible in miniature." —Martin Luther on the Psalms

"The line between the Church and the world is almost invisible, and the people of God no longer stand out in their uniqueness as they once did." - D. M. Lloyd-Jones

"Faith is the acknowledgment of the entire absence of all goodness in us, and the recognition of the cross as the substitute for all the want on our part. Faith saves, because it owns the complete salvation of another, and not because it contributes anything to that salvation. There is no dividing or sharing the work between our own belief and Him in whom we believe. The whole work is His, not ours, from the first to last." - H. Bonar
 

"There are many circumstances concerning covetousness which do much aggravate the heinousness thereof; for, it is a deceiving sin; it blinds the understanding and corrupts the judgment in a main point of happiness... Upon this conceit of happiness, wealth so stealeth away a man's heart, and so inflames his affections, as he maketh it his god. Justly therefore is a covetous person called an idolater." - William Gouge

 "When I have a hasty thought against a man and wish him out of the world, I have killed him in thought, and even though I may disguise the wish under the expression of wishing him in heaven, there is guilt in the desire. Oh the hard, cruel, black thoughts which men have towards one another, when they are angry; why they kill and slay a thousand times over." - Charles Spurgeon

"What more can we wish, if not even a hair of our head can fall, save in accordance with his will?" - John Calvin

"No man can truly preach the gospel in his own strength and power. He can talk perhaps, and talk eloquently; but talk is not preaching, and it will lead to nothing." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“No sooner do I conceive of the one than I am illumined by the splendour of the three; no sooner do I distinguish them than I am carried back to the one. When I think of any one of the three I think of Him as the whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking escapes me” - Gregory Nazianzen (Quoted by John Calvin, Institutes, 1.13.17).

“If every attribute of the Deity were a distinct member, purity would be the form, the soul, the spirit to animate them. Without holiness, his patience would be an indulgence to sin, his mercy a fondness, his wrath a madness, his power a tyranny, his wisdom an unworthy subtlety. Holiness gives decorum to them all.” - Stephen Charnock

"There wanteth even in the hearts of God’s people a greater reverence of the Word of God than to this day appeareth among us, and this let me say, that want of reverence of the Word is the ground of all disorders that are in the heart, life, conversation, and in Christian communion. Besides, the want of reverence of the Word layeth men open to the fearful displeasure of God." - John Bunyan

Hymn Story: Come, Christians, Join to Sing

Psalm 95

1 O come, let us sing unto the Lord:
   let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving,
   and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

 

"Come Christians, Join to Sing" began as a Sunday school song for children. Originally entitled, "Come, Children, Join to Sing," the hymn's name was changed when its author realized everyone loved to sing his hymn. The hymn was written in 1843 and first appeared in a Scottish hymnbook for children entitled Sacred Melodies for Sabbath Schools and families.

 

The words "alleluia" and "amen" are found in each stanza, drawing on rich biblical language. "Alleluia", the Latin equivalent of Hallelujah, is found in many of the Psalms and means "Praise the Lord." "Amen," of course, ends many prayers, and it simply means "truth," "assuredly," or "so be it."

Combining the praise of "Alleluia" with the jubilant assertion of "Amen" this hymn resounds with praise for Christ our King. Calling on Christians to sing praise both now and forevermore, it's a fitting hymn for children and adults alike.

Listen to it here: Come, Christians, Join to Sing

Hymn Story: Angels We Have Heard on High

Luke 2

¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ¹⁴ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

The French carol "Les anges dans nos campagnes," now known as "Angels We Have Heard on High," is completely anonymous. It has always been printed with no known lyricist or composer.

The beautiful carol tells the story of Christ's birth, when the angel choir told the good news to nearby shepherds. The chorus, "Gloria in Excelsis Deo," reflects the chorus of the angel choir that long-ago Christmas night.

Many years ago shepherds in the hills of southern France had a Christmas Eve custom of calling to one another, singing "Gloria in Excelsis Deo," each from his own hillside. The traditional tune that the shepherds used may have been from a late Medieval Latin chorale. It became the magnificent chorus of "Angels We Have Heard on High."

The carol seems to be of eighteenth-century origin, since it was known in England by 1816. At that time James Montgomery wrote his carol "Angels From the Realms of Glory", originally basing it on the tune of "Les anges dans nos campagnes." "Angels From the Realms of Glory" was sung to the French tune until Henry Tomas Smart wrote a new tune for it in 1967.

"Angels We Have Heard on High" was first published in France in 1855. The English translation came seven years later, in Henri Frederick's Crown of Jesus Music. This 1862 translation differed from the form we use now. The version we use today was first printed in a 1916 American carol collection entitled Carols Old and Carols New.

Listen to it here: Angels We Have Heard on High

Hymn Story: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

 

With its haunting minor melody, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is a much-loved Advent hymn. Its lyrics come from the Advent events of the medieval Christian church. Each night, for seven days before Christmas, the church would sing one of the "Great O Antiphons"- anthems sung to a short verse.

The word "antiphon" implies that the lines of each anthem were sung alternately by two choirs sitting opposite each other in the chancel. Each antiphon featured a prayer beginning with "O Come" and including an Old Testament reference for the Messiah:

The Great O Antiphons

"O Sapientia, quae ex ore altissimi. . ." (O Wisdom from on high...)

"O Adonai et dux domus Israel. . ." (O Lord and leader of the house of Israel...)

"O Racix Jesse qui stas in signum populorum. . ." (O Root of Jesse who stood as a standard of the people)

"O Clavis David et sceptrum domus. . ." (O Key of David and sceptre of our home...)

"O Oriens, splendor lucis aeternae. . ." (O Dayspring, splendour of eternal light...)

"O Rex gentium et desideratus. . ." (O longed-for King of the nations...)

"O Emmanuel, rex et legiter noster. . ." (O Emmanuel, our king and lawgiver...)

Read backward as an acrostic, the first letters of these antiphons spell ero cras, which translates into a hopeful advent message: "tomorrow I shall be there."

About the twelfth century five antiphons were put together as verses of a single hymn and a chorus was added, creating the words for "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." John Mason Neale translated this hymn to English, originally beginning "Draw nigh, draw nigh, Emmanuel." A year later, he changed the opening lines to "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," the well-known words we use today.

The hymn's five antiphons include five Old Testament references to the coming Messiah, including:

Emmanuel (God with us) Isa. 7:14
Lord of Might Ex. 19:16
Rod (Branch) of Jesse Isa. 11:1, Isa. 11:10
Dayspring (Morning Star) Num. 24:17
Key of David Isa. 22:22

The other two "O Great Antiphons," less commonly sung are:

Wisdom Isa. 28:29
Desire of nation Hag. 2:7

The chorus echoes the desire of Zechariah 9:9, "See, your king comes to you" and Revelation 22:20, "Amen, Come Lord Jesus." We echo the glorious last plea of the New Testament as we meditate on the names and person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Listen to it here: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel