Various

“ And just so with the good things of this present life: the Christian does not unreasonably deny that prosperity is pleasing, health desirable, friends and relations deeply attaching to us, and the smiles of social endearment or public favour greatly captivating; but neither does he, like the world, consider them to be necessarily all they seem to be, good to all persons, and under all circumstances; he does not forget that earthly and bodily good is just what it becomes in the use of it ”

“ Shall we not feel deeply interested in the spiritual welfare of our fellow-men? If we do not, it is, alas! a fearful, a decisive proof, that the flame of holy love, of devoted zeal, has not been kindled in our bosom; that we do not feel the importance of that salvation which is offered us so freely in the gospel; that we are not duly impressed with a dread of that woe unspeakable, that shall be the portion of those whose souls shall be for ever lost. ”

“ For whatever act has been performed by God, or angels, or by man, must remain for ever written upon the pages of eternity, never to be erased; and, therefore, no subsequent repentance on the sinner’s part, no tears of sorrow or contrition, can ever blot out his past transgressions; nor even could the united tears of angels erase the record of those offences for which man is brought in guilty before God! Can, then, subsequent obedience achieve the work of the sinner’s justification? ”

“ If he do not temper the trials of his servants, how in truth shall they overcome them? If he do not controul their enemies, how shall they ever escape them? Figure to yourself any place, or time, or circumstance, where God is not, or where he can be spared from the concerns of his people, either temporal or spiritual: but, if none can be imagined or assigned, then is it but justly and essentially true, that, by his especial order and his immediate appointment, “all things work together for good to them that love God.” ”

“ We do not consider that sinners are heaping up wrath against the day of wrath; and, though they may now enjoy an unhallowed prosperity, and now in an unbridled licentiousness derive happiness from the indulgence of fleshly lusts, yet that these war against the soul, against its present peace, and its ultimate felicity, and that ruin and destruction inevitably await them. Were our spirit that of the psalmist, or that of the prophet referred to, our feelings would be more lively, our endeavours to promote the good of mankind be more energetic. ”

“ Then being first transformed yourself, you will be enabled, by a divine power, to transform everything around you; you will receive all things as from the hand of the Father whom you love, the Benefactor and Friend whom you wish and aim to serve. Your willing and noble obedience to him will render, then, prosperity a new advantage to you by awakening your gratitude, and adversity a blessing, by exercising and perfecting your patience. ”

“ While the potatoe is in its state of winter repose, and no vegetative process going on, the elements of which the diastase is formed, are equally quiescent, but no sooner does the season recur when an augmented temperature rouses the slumbering energy of the tuber, than this potent principle exhibits its efficacy, and changes the insoluble starch into the nutritious sugar. Who, that can read, or reading reflect and ponder on these things, but must conclude that the laws which regulate the whole actions were impressed upon their subjects by a Creator infinite in design, in wisdom, and in power? ”

“ The bible teaches us to view all things in their consequences, and in their real and essential nature. View things in their consequences, in their final end and issue, if you would view them at all justly or wisely. Ease, and health, and worldly wealth, and success may be good, just as the plentiful feast is good, provided a man has temperance and soundness of constitution properly to partake of it ”

“ Every enemy opposed [Pg 29] to the Christian warrior affords him fresh opportunity for a sure victory in the strength of Christ. Every obstacle in his path is that which faith regards as a trial prepared for his soul; but hope and joy carry him over, to the glory of his sovereign Upholder. In evil company, which he seeks not, his courage is honourably put to the test, and abides it; amidst a world of licentiousness and excess, which he desires not to approach, he still trusts, through grace, that he shall not be found wanting. ”

“ When not overcome, as Agar feared he might be, saying, “lest I be full, and say, who is the Lord?”—but rather, when led by fulness to more gratitude, and by a lofty station to deeper humility, and to a more lowly submission to God, and meekness to man—how will he by such prosperity as this testify to the reality of Christian principles: how will he, in giving freely where he has freely received, esteeming even his highest gains as loss for Christ’s sake, and returning upon others all that mercy which has been exercised towards himself, prove that he has not received the grace of God in vain ”

“ Every event works for his good, because he is resolved it shall do so; and every result satisfies, pleases, rejoices him, because he is persuaded it ought to do so. Loving God, he has a confidence that he is beloved of God; and then, feeling himself in a world made by God, and proceeding forward under his guidance and permission, he never will believe that any thing falls out in it but what is intended to make him both good and happy. Happy then he will be, if God intends he should be so; and holy he will be encouraged to become, under the consciousness that God intends his holiness. ”

“ The man who forgets God is as little influenced by his law as the fool, who in his heart says there is no God at all. Now, this forgetfulness paralyzes our energies, damps our zeal, checks our benevolence. ”

“ As, in the healthy body, food of very different descriptions may yet all turn to nourishment, and minister to health and bodily strength; so, in the healthy mind, purified and strengthened by the grace of God’s Holy Spirit, every thing that meets it is converted to its advantage, and adds in some way to its improvement and its happiness. There is ever a colour cast upon outward circumstances from the complexion of the inward soul. The vain man, on his part, the ambitious, the sensual, the gainful, well know how to turn all to the advancement of their sinful objects ”

“ Prayer is the key that unlocks the holy place where Jesus meets his people at the mercy-seat, to dispense the gifts which have been purchased by his precious blood. And when the united petitions of ministers and people ascend in an unceasing stream of sacred incense to a throne of grace, blessings may be expected to descend in rich abundance on the church. ”

“ These tribes hang up mats in the air, which they fill with earth, and kindle on a layer of moist clay the fire necessary for their household wants. They have owed their liberty and their political independence for ages, to the quaking and swampy soil which they pass over in the time of drought, and on which they alone know how to walk in security to their solitude in the delta of the Oronooco, to their abodes on the trees, where religious enthusiasm will probably never lead any American Stylites (see Mosheim’s Church History) . ”

“ Can we look back on the loss of human lives, the almost paralyzing alarm excited by the threats of an infuriated populace, and the absolute destruction of property which took place during the riots in the city of Bristol, and not see that all those calamities sprung out of a want of obedience to the existing authorities? ”

“ But, again, the things really and essentially good in their very nature and inseparable qualities are those which, in the estimation of the mere world, are held in no account whatsoever. What the bible chiefly esteems, and the world wholly neglects, are spiritual blessings,—the good things of the soul of man, “the precious things of heaven, even of the everlasting hills.” ”

“ The Holy Spirit has employed the most concise mode of description in order to restrain our fancy within proper limits. We are, therefore, altogether incompetent to expatiate on a subject so sublime, for we know nothing, beyond what is written, of the glory which is associated with spiritual bodies. ”

“ If he be found, in a sober, self-denying spirit, setting little value on those things so commonly called good amongst mankind—using this world without abusing it—shall not the grace of God be more abundantly magnified? ”

“ Wherever their myriads spread, the verdure of the country disappears; trees and plants stripped of their leaves and reduced to their naked boughs and stems cause the dreary image of winter to succeed in an instant to the rich scenery of spring. When these clouds of locusts take their flight, to surmount any obstacles, or to traverse more rapidly a desert soil, the heavens may literally be said to be obscured by them. ”

“ As if to shew that “the earth full of the riches of the Lord,” in parts of the world where the low temperature is an obstacle to the profitable cultivation of the sugar-cane, a substitute is found for it in the acer saccharinum, or sugar-maple, which presents the great peculiarity of the ascending sap being charged with sugar to such a degree as to be then fit for the manufacture of this valuable substance. ”

“ All things being now ready, there began to spring up in the bosom of the British churches, a wide and simultaneous sense of the solemn responsibility under which they had been laid by the events of Providence, to avail themselves of so favorable an opening for the diffusion of the gospel throughout the eastern world. Men, qualified to undertake the high commission, must be sent across the ocean—and have not the toils, and perils, and successes, of Vasco de Gama, and other navigators, opened up a safe and easy passage? ”

“ Keeping in view the notion of what is truly good for this state of trial, and for the soul as well as for the body, there is no time and no extent to which we shall not find the promise sure, and the fulfilment exact, where God is pledged for the supply of his servants that trust in him: his eye is ever open, his ear ever attentive unto them. ”

“ Christians are generally well informed—and knowledge is power. They have there in Christian countries, as citizens and subjects, directly and indirectly, a large share of influence in the state. In most Christian states, if not in all—for a state could hardly be called Christian, if it were not so—Christianity is made a party of common law, and, when occasion demands, is recognised as such by the judicial tribunals. It is eminently so in Great Britain; it is so in America; and generally throughout Europe. ”

“ It is not until the mind is under the gracious influence of the Spirit of God, that men feel any anxiety to stop the torrent of evil, and endeavour to become the humble instruments of converting the sinner and saving his soul. Many, in fact, who feel deeply interested in their neighbours’ temporal comforts and prosperity, feel little anxious to supply their spiritual wants ”

“ But God hath revealed to him by his Spirit, these very things, as his chief good, his measure of all true happiness. Wealth may be good, health still better, kindly affections and attached friends the best of earthly boons; but the favour of God, the acquisition of his image, the means of grace, and the hope of glory, are to him sovereign and above all. ”

“ Even yams and sweet potatoes, which are naturally mild, are less articles of consumption in the south sea islands, than the Tarro, as these tubers of the arums are designated.
I omit all other plants to fix attention on the potatoe, which is not only the source of the purest starch of all, but has many interesting points connected with its history and habitudes, peculiarly connected with my subject. No plant has contributed more to banish those famines which were formerly of so frequent occurrence in Europe, and all the dire train of suffering and disease consequent upon them. ”

“ Human laws take no cognizance of these crimes. They are, however, as dishonourable to God as others which are punished by man. They are quite as detrimental to man’s best interests; and fearful must be the account rendered for their commission before that equitable tribunal, where the children of men must answer for all their offences against the majesty of heaven.
But there is a second reason why the true Christian will labour for the conversion of others, namely, the reflection that the sinner is ensuring his own destruction while he is at enmity against God ”

“ The chief source of sugar is large grass (saccharum officinarum) , of which there are several varieties, differing essentially in productiveness, but the best of which is the Otaheita cane, the stem of which is higher, thicker, and more succulent than the Creole cane, and which yields not only one-third more of juice than the Creolian cane on the same space of land; but from the thickness of its stem, and the tenacity of its ligneous fibres, it furnishes much more fuel. ”

“ Melancholy is the reflection, indeed, that neither God’s invitations on the one hand, nor his threatenings on the other, appear to affect their hearts; they are neither constrained by love nor fear. “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat.” ”