It Is Often Those Who Are Despised

I Have Known Some Good Men Who Have Been So Addicted To Their Study, That They Have Thought The Last Day Of The Week Sufficient To Prepare For Their Ministry, Though They Employ All The Rest Of The Week In Other Studies. But Your Business Is To Trade With Your Spiritual Abilities. ... A Man May Preach A Very Good Sermon, Who Is Otherwise Himself; But He Will Never Make A Good Minister Of Jesus Christ, Whose Mind And Heart Are Not Always In The Work. Spiritual Gifts Will Require Continual Ruminating On The Things Of The Gospel In Our Minds.

Many There Are Who, Not Comprehending, Not Being Affected With, That Divine, Spiritual Description Of The Person Of Christ Which Is Given Us By The Holy Ghost In The Scripture, Do Feign Unto Themselves False Representations Of Him By Images And Pictures, So As To Excite Carnal And Corrupt Affections In Their Minds. By The Help Of Their Outward Senses, They Reflect On Their Imaginations The Shape Of A Human Body, Cast Into Postures And Circumstances Dolorous Or Triumphant; And So, By The Working Of Their Fancy, Raise A Commotion Of Mind In Themselves, Which They Suppose To Be Love Unto Christ.

Let Our Hearts Admit, “i Am Poor And Weak. Satan Is Too Subtle, Too Cunning, Too Powerful; He Watches Constantly For Advantages Over My Soul. The World Presses In Upon Me With All Sorts Of Pressures, Pleas, And Pretences. My Own Corruption Is Violent, Tumultuous, Enticing, And Entangling. As It Conceives Sin, It Wars Within Me And Against Me. Occasions And Opportunities For Temptation Are Innumerable. No Wonder I Do Not Know How Deeply Involved I Have Been With Sin. Therefore, On God Alone Will I Rely For My Keeping. I Will Continually Look To Him.

A Man May Be Carried On In A Constant Course Of Mortification All His Days; And Yet Perhaps Never Enjoy A Good Day Of Peace And Consolation.

God Hath Work To Do In This World; And To Desert It Because Of Its Difficulties And Entanglements, Is To Cast Off His Authority. It Is Not Enough That We Be Just, That We Be Righteous, And Walk With God In Holiness; But We Must Also Serve Our Generation, As David Did Before He Fell Asleep. God Hath A Work To Do; And Not To Help Him Is To Oppose Him.