Thomas Boston

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ What, have you no regard for a man in misery? Have you no pity, though he cry in bitterness of his soul? Help, help, for the Lord's sake? O, pray for, and pity those wounds and vexations of spirit, which no man feels but he that is thus wounded. ”

“ Consider it is not a vain thing that you are exhorted to, but that upon which the life of your souls, depends; for without a thorough sense and pricking at the heart for sin, there is no salvation from sin. He that would be Christ's disciple, must leave all he hath, father, mother, wife, children, all that's near and dear to him, and take up the cross and follow Christ. He that would be a true covenant must both confess and grieve for sin, as the Prophet Ezekiel saith, They shall remember their ways that were not good, and shall be ashamed. ”

“ Let me tell you it will never repent you at the last day, that you have had your heart humbled; it will never repent you that you have wept, when our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ comes to wipe away all tears from your eyes. ”

“ It is so that this sorrow, under the burden and weight of sin, will pierce a man's soul to the quick, and grinds him as it were to powder; being run through by the arrows of the Almighty, and that it is of so great necessity to be humbled, and greatly sorrowful for sin. ”

“ God is incensed, hell prepared, justice threatened, only mercy must prevent, or the soul is damned. O miserable news, the soul committed sin. But to give you some reasons why there must be this piercing wounding of souls for sin.
1 Reason. Because sin is the greatest evil of the soul, and the greatest burden also that is most grievous which is most heavy. Now, as there is no evil so properly and directly evil to the soul as the evil of sin is, so there is nothing that can properly do the soul good but God. Now, while a sinner cannot see his sin, he cannot sorrow for his sin. ”

“ It may be easy, O young man, to refrain in these thy sober days; but intemperance, when perfected into a habit, defies the powers of a warning voice, and would in every instance lead us to withdraw our counsels in despair, but that we recollect, a dying thief has been converted, God is able of stone to raise up children unto Abraham, with God all things are possible! ”

“ He has spent their money, he has quarrelled, he has met with mischief: sometimes he forgets it—and then he only disgusts them with buffoonery and nonsense; more frequently he remembers it—and then he wreaks upon then the spite and fury collected and inflamed amidst a drunken stew; and they must bear it; they must be stunned by his stupid roar; they must weather the tempest of blasphemy; they must be sickened by the approach of his loathsome person ”

“ Our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us. Get your consciences wounded, and resolve not to hear the counsel of carnal friends. Go thou and lie at God's footstool, and confess thy sins before him, for it is he that confesseth and forsaketh all, shall find mercy; and where there is this true and hearty confession, there must needs be a godly sorrow for sin. ”

“ To them conscience is a better guide than a thousand rules. Every one knows when he has quenched his thirst, diluted his food, refreshed his spirits; what does a man want more? "He claims a cheerful glass in addition." ”

“ Now, that something may be hinted to put sinners in a way to this unfeigned sorrow, let me beg of you, in the bowels of love, earnestly desiring your souls welfare, to meditate seriously on these three things, which will if set home by the spirit of God, help you to the after work, even hearty sorrow and true contrition. ”

“ Excessive Drinking is imprudent. It brings dimness and decay over the faculties of the soul; it has made the rich poor, and the condition of the poor intolerable; it robs a man of his real friends, and gathers round him designing knaves, and empty fools ”

“ Many do despight to the spirit of grace, and glory in these things for which they have cause to be ashamed. Says the vile swearer, I have swore such a man out of his house. Saith the drunkard, I have drank such a man under the table dead. ”

“ Happy the man who shall live in those days in which the practice of excessive drinking shall be universally laid aside, and detested! At present, we can scarcely name a vice more common, or that is carried to a more alarming height. ”

“ Excessive Drinking is sinful. Usually it suspends the exercise of sound reason, and thus levels the noblest distinction between men and brutes; it is an ungrateful waste of the Creator's bounty; it is disobedience: our Lord having expressly commanded his disciples to take heed, lest at any times their hearts should be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness: it is a practice of which the natural effect is to stupify conscience ”

“ His appetite increases as it is indulged; the quantity, which once intoxicated, now does but just cheer him; he feels a craving, he removes it by excess; he craves again, and becomes miserable if he does not again receive an extravagant supply. ”

“ Imagine the offender to be poor, and you complete the picture. He who should be the counsellor, the comfort, the ornament, of that family, is its tempter, its trouble, its reproach. His wife and children, when alone, enjoy a respite, and begin to brighten up ”

“ 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. ”

“ It prevails in the city, in the town, in the village, in the hamlet, among gentlemen, who ought to blush for its vulgarity, and among labourers, who can ill bear the expense. Are there not intemperate young men, intemperate old, men, intemperate parents, intemperate magistrates, intemperate professors of religion, intemperate preachers of the Gospel! ”

“ We shall be well rewarded, if, by means of this paper, one person, hitherto ignorant and insensible, be led to the Saviour. He will blush and mourn for the past; but his prospects will open into a glorious immortality. ”

“ This stung their consciences, and pricked their hearts: the arrows of the Lord, which the Apostles had shot secretly into their souls, came home to their hearts and consciences, that they could hear no longer ”

“ Excessive Drinking is a habit soon formed, stupid in its growth, and hard to root up. At first a man drinks for refreshment, he then takes a larger draught for pleasure, he still adds a little and a little, till he can never have his cups without taking a little too much. ”