Thomas Boston

“ But now, when the Lord comes to lay a heavier weight on this man's shoulders than those wicked sins, which were so sweet before, he finds them now as bitter as gall and wormwood; and now he lies down in sorrow, and cries out, "Oh is sin such a deadly killing evil, as it will certainly destroy body and soul in hell. And is there no entering into heaven with the guilt of these upon my soul. Oh, good Lord, do what thou wilt with me, only take my soul and save me, and take away my lusts and corruption from me." ”

“ If the knowledge of Christ be so valuable, then should not we lament the state of those nations that fit in the darkness of ignorance? My brethren, this gospel is not the privilege of mankind all the world over: nay, the proportion which the Christian world bears to the world at large, is computed but as five to thirty, which is a very small one. Should not we then lift up a prayer for our fellow men, that the light of the glorious gospel may yet shine upon them? Surely, if we love the Lord Jesus, we will desire an accession to his kingdom ”

“ As the lofty mountains cover the crawling worms, so doth the carnal world contemn worm Jacob, Psal. xxii. 6. "But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people." And, Psal. xxxii. 4. "Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud." Though they may value worm Jacob for his gifts, which he has in common with themselves, they will never value him for his grace; that leaves him still as a worm in their sight; what of religion lies beyond the reach of the nature of man. ”

“ Godly sorrow causeth repentance unto salvation. And as the prophet David in the bitterness of his spirit, said, Thou keepest mine eyes waking, and my sin is ever before me. If the Lord loves a sinner and means to do him good, he will not let the sinner alone in his own sinful courses but will free him from his den, bruise and beat him as in a mortar. What caused David’s sorrow but his sin? He needed no restoring had he not been degraded.
Well, then, is this a work of grace! Is his contrition and sorrow for sin, a beginning of repentance; then it must needs be of great necessity to salvation. ”

“ What wilt thou do, O man, when God shall come to tear thee in pieces, and there be none to help; when God shall grant the devil leave to take thee into his accursed mansions, and there shalt thou lie, weeping and gnashing of thy teeth for ever; there shalt thou lie blaspheming, with God's wrath, like a pile of fire upon thy soul, burning with floods and seas of tears, which thou mayest shed, but shall never quench it. Which way soever thou lookest, thou shalt see matter and cause of everlasting grief. Look up to heaven, and there thou shalt see, O! that God is good for ever. ”

“ How difficult is it get any tolerable insight into the most of sciences! how much time is necessarily spent in the very rudiments and elements of them! and all this is but an introduction into them. How many years may a man live, and study hard too, and yet make but a small progress in the knowledge of natural philosophy? He may know much in respect of others who are ignorant in these matters, and yet know but very little in comparison of what yet remains to be discovered in the vast continent of nature. ”

“ The poor man lies crying under the burden of sin, sighing and saying, Oh, when will. God revive his drooping soul! Certainly it would make one's heart bleed to hear the sounding away of such a man, that the sword of the Almighty hath pierced his heart, and he lying breathing out his sorrow, as though he was going down to hell. It is a sign that soul is marked for destruction of himself, who harboureth such a desperate design against poor wounded souls. ”

“ They despise the Christian entertainment on words and promises: They despise us as we do the dust; as we do the crawling of the worm, like Sanballet, when he mocked the Jews, saying, "What do these Jews? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish which are burnt?" But notwithstanding of all that, the worms lick up the Christian way of doing by faith.
4. Yet united to Christ, though a worm, worm Jacob. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself is of the worm family, Psal. xxii. 6 "This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob." ”

“ Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel: I will help thee, saith the Lord and thy Redeemer, the holy One of Israel.
Behold! I wilt make thee a new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth: Thou shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small and shalt make the hills as chaff. RELIGION is a mystery, and the truly religious are a mystery too. They are a mystery to the world, John iii. I. "The world knoweth us not. ”

“ Blessed are all they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Is it not better to endure a little torment here for a small time, than to be tormented in hell fire for ever? O, therefore, if you desire ever to see the face of God with comfort, and to have Christ speak for you, break your hearts with sorrow for sin. For the Lord's sake do not cozen yourselves. It is not only the tears of the eye, but the blood of the heart, your sins must cost; and till you come to this, never think your sorrow is good. ”

“ There is a law work followed with gospel grace wrought on them issuing in a thorough humiliation, breaking down their natural self conceit, tumbling down their towering imaginations about themselves, which they had in their state of blindness, bringing them in their own eyes the consistance of mountains to that of Worms and convincing them they are, have, and can do nothing. ”

“ There is no Saviour besides Christ, Acts iv, 12. 'Neither is there salvation in any other: For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.' All other are physicians of no value. All your own endeavours will not save you, nor any thing any creature can do for you. ”

“ The honourable Mr Boyle, a great searcher into nature, a profound philosopher, and at the same time altogether a Christian, affirms, that the shortness of man's life makes it impossible for him to understand thoroughly any one thing in nature. Besides, it is not the bulk of mankind, nay, it is only a few of them, that have capacity or opportunity for philosophical enquiries. But Christianity being designed for the benefit of mankind at large, it is plain and easy, and calculated for the weakest capacity: so that people of low life, and of little penetration, may make great proficiency therein. ”

“ And here let me make a lamentation, in the nature of reproof, against the secure souls in this generation wherein we live: the Lord be merciful unto a world of men, that live within the bosom of the church. O that we lead a fountain of tears to bewail this age in this respect, as Diogenes went about Athens with a lanthorn & candles at noon-day seeking honest men, so should a minister go front country to country, and from shire to shire. O how few would he find mourning for sin, Sin is so far from being a burden to them, that it is their sport and pastime, just Esau like. ”

“ Can you endure to see them pricked to the heart, roaring and staring under the heavy yoke and burden of their sins, crying out, What shall we do to be saved? O what shall we do to escape hell and damnation, and those unsupportable and unquenchable flames of the wrath of God? Canst thou stand still, and say or do nothing; or rather, canst thou upbraid them. O soul, assuredly the Lord will remember thee in the day of thy death, and as thou hast shewn no mercy, so shalt thou receive no mercy in that day ”

“ He is appointed to save them from all this, upon their coming to him, and employing him for that purpose, Isaiah xxxii. 2. 'And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of waters in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.' Sin let in a deluge of miseries on the world, which flow about the sinner continually in greater or lesser measure: He is a Saviour to dry it up for them. ”

“ The mystery of grace, carried on by Jesus Christ in his church and people, is like a worm threshing the mountains, infallibly to issue in it threshing them away quite and clean. Briefly, worw Jacob shall thresh the mountains, and thresh them away quite and clean. ”

“ The knowledge of Christ crucified excels all other knowledge in point of pleasure and satisfaction: "Wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace (x) [17] . The discovery of truth, absolutely considered, is accompanied with an intellectual, and therefore with a manly pleasure, vastly superior to all the delights of sense: and the more important and interesting the truth is which we discover, the joy arising from it is so much the greater. ”