Matthew Henry “Love is the root; obedience is the fruit.” “By the light of nature we see God as a God above us, by the light of the law we see Him as a God against us, but by the light of the gospel we see Him as Emmanuel, God with us.” “God took Eve from the side of Adam, not from his foot to be his menial or slave or servant, not from his head to be his mental superior, and did take him from that which is nearest his heart, that he might love her, and that which is under his arm, that he might protect her.” “ThanksGiving is good but ThanksLiving is better.” “Be careful if you make a women cry, because God counts her tears. The woman came out of a man’s ribs. Not from his feet to be walked on, not from his head to be superior, but from his side to be equal, under the arm to be protected, and next to the heart to be loved.” “Hope for the best, get ready for the worst, and then take what God chooses to send.” “Meekness is calm confidence, settled assurance, and rest of the soul. It is the tranquil stillness of a soul that is at rest in Christ. It is the place of peace. Meekness springs from a heart of humility, radiating the fragrance of Christ.” “The God of Israel is sometimes a God who hides Himself, but never a God who absents Himself; sometimes in the dark, but never at a distance.” “When God intends great mercy for his people, he first of all sets them praying.” “Brotherly love is still the distinguishing badge of every true Christian.” “The best we can say to God in prayer, is what He has said to us.” “The Bible is a letter God has sent to us; prayer is a letter we send to him.” “The more reverence we have for the Word of God, the more joy we shall find in it.” “Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces.” “God’s Word must be the guide of your desires and the ground of your expectations in prayer.” “Come, and see the victories of the cross. Christ’s wounds are thy healings, His agonies thy repose, His conflicts thy conquests, His groans thy songs, His pains thine ease, His shame thy glory, His death thy life, His sufferings thy salvation.” “JOY in the LORD puts our mouths out of taste for the pleasures with which the tempter baits his hooks.” “Grace is the free, undeserved goodness and favor of God to mankind.” “I would think it a greater happiness to gain one soul to Christ than mountains of silver and gold to myself.” “Christ died. He left a will in which He gave His soul to His Father, His body to Joseph of Arimathea, His clothes to the soldiers, and His mother to John. But to His disciples, who had left all to follow Him, He left not silver or gold, but something far better-His PEACE!” “The meek are those who quietly submit themselves to God, to His Word and to His rod, who follow His directions, and comply with His designs, and are gentle toward all men.” “When I cannot enjoy the faith of assurance, I live by the faith of adherence.” “Take Jesus for your king, and by baptism swear allegiance to him; take him for your prophet, and hear him; take him for your priest, to make atonement for you.” “A state of apostasy is worse than a state of ignorance.” “God is either your worst enemy or your best friend.” “Peace is such a precious jewel that I would give anything for it but truth.” “I shall be supplied with whatever I need; and, if I have not everything I desire, I may conclude it is either not fit for me, or I shall have it in due time.” “If God and his grace do not rule us, sin and Satan will have possession of us.” “It is better to get wisdom than gold. Gold is another’s, wisdom is our own; gold is for the body and time, wisdom for the soul and eternity.” “The best evidence of our having the truth is our walking in the truth.” “Better to get up late and be wide awake then, than to get up early and be asleep all day.” “Christ’s followers cannot expect better treatment in the world than their Master had.” “It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our last day.” “The flower of youth never appears more beautiful than when it bends toward the sun of righteousness.” “Days of trouble must be days of prayer.” “If we would be angry and not sin, we must be angry at nothing but sin; and we should be more jealous for the glory of God than for any interest or reputation of our own.” “Those who teach by their doctrine must teach by their life, or else they pull down with one hand what they build up with the other.” “A good man is willing to know the worst of himself, and particularly under affliction, desires to be told wherefore God contends with him and what God designs in correcting him.” “Whatever we have of this world in our hands, our care must be to keep it out of our hearts, lest it come between us and Christ.” “Prayer is the midwife of mercy, that helps to bring it forth.” “Humility is the great preserver of peace and order in all Christian churches and societies, consequently pride is the great disturber of them, and the cause of most dissensions and breaches in the church.” “I thank Thee first because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse they did not take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth because it was I who was robbed, and not I who robbed.” “God’s favour is happiness.” “We cannot expect too little from man nor too much from God.” “Those who will not deliver themselves into the hand of God’s mercy cannot be delivered out of the hand of His justice.” “It is easy to be religious when religion is in fashion; but it is an evidence of strong faith and resolution to swim against a stream to heaven, and to appear for God when no one else appears for Him.” “No attribute of God is more dreadful to sinners than His holiness.” “The fear of God reigning in the heart is the beauty of the soul.” “The service of sin is perfect slavery.” “You may as soon find a living man who does not breathe, as a living Christian who does not pray.” “We must never promise ourselves any more than God has promised us.” “It is not enough for us to be where God is worshipped, if we do not ourselves worship him.” “The Scriptures were written, not to make us astronomers, but to make us saints.” “It is better to take time to consider, than find time to repent.” “Hard words indeed break no bones, but many a heart has been broken by them.” “Hypocrites do the devil’s drudgery in Christ’s livery.” “To a good man, God gives not only wisdom and knowledge, but joy.” “It was the greatest honor God did to man that he made man in the image of God; but it is the greatest dishonor man has done to God that he has made God in the image of man.” “Those who deceive others, deceive themselves, as they will find at last, to their cost.” “Seducers are more dangerous enemies to the church than persecutors.” “God has wisely kept us in the dark concerning future events and reserved for himself the knowledge of them, that he may train us up in a dependence upon himself and a continued readiness for every event.” “To wait on God is to live a life of desire toward Him, delight in Him, dependence on Him, and devotedness to Him.” “We should take heed of pride; it is a sin that turned angels into devils.” “Sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotions.” “What we count the ills of life are often blessings in disguise, resulting in good to us in the end. Though for the present not joyous but grievous, yet, if received in a right spirit, they work out fruits of righteousness for us at last.” “God warns before he wounds.” “Death to a good man is his release from the imprisonment of this world, and his departure to the enjoyments of another world.” “That which God plants he will take care to keep watered.” “None are ruined by the justice of God but those that hate to be reformed by the grace of God.” “Riches are a blessing or a curse to a man according as he has or has not a heart to make good use of them.” “The way to preserve the peace of the church is to preserve its purity.” “May Christ be our joy, our confidence, our all. May we daily be made more like to Him, and more devoted to His service.” “What God requires of us he himself works in us, or it is not done. He that commands faith, holiness, and love, creates them by the power of his grace going along with his word, that he may have all the praise.” “In all God’s providences, it is good to compare His word and His works together; for we shall find a beautiful harmony between them, and that they mutually illustrate each other.” “Saying and doing are two things.” “Pure Christianity and serious godliness fear not the scrutiny of a free thought, but despise the impotent malice of a prejudiced one.” “The counsels and decrees of God do not truckle to the frail and fickle will of man.” “Do nothing till thou hast well considered the end of it.” “Humility is the great preserver of peace and order in all Christian churches and societies, consequently pride is the great disturber of them, and the cause of most dissensions and breaches in the church.” “It is a great happiness to be under the influence of the Holy Ghost.” “Nothing exposes religion more to the reproach of its enemies than the worldliness and half-heartedness of the professors of it.” “Earth is embittered to us, that heaven may be endeared.” “Christianity is the salt of the earth.” “Were a man to live as long as Methuselah, and to spend all his days in the highest delights sin can offer, one hour of the anguish and tribulation that must follow, would far outweigh them.” “Riches, in the hands of a man that is wise and generous, are good for something, but in the hands of a sordid, sneaking, covetous miser, they are good for nothing.” “The prayers and supplications that Christ offered up were, joined with strong cries and tears, herein setting us example not only to pray, but to be fervent and importunate in prayer. How many dry prayers, how few wet ones, do we offer up to God!” “The way to forget our miseries, is to remember the God of our mercies.” “When we are calling to God to turn the eye of His favor towards us He is calling to us to turn the eye of our obedience towards Him.” “Christ teaches by the Spirit of wisdom in the heart, opening the understanding to the Spirit of revelation in the word.” “Holy love to God is the fire by which all our offerings must be made; else they are not of a sweet savour to God.” “It is not fit the public trusts should be lodged in the hands of any, till they are first proved and found fit for the business they are to be entrusted with.” “Christ is our temple, in whom by faith all believers meet.” “A Christian makes his body a sacrifice to God, though he does not give it to be burned.” “When the sins of a people reach up to heaven, the wrath of God will reach down to the earth.” “That which is won ill, will never wear well, for there is a curse attends it, which will waste it; and the same corrupt dispositions which incline men to the sinful ways of getting, will incline them to the like sinful ways of spending.” “As if men did not die fast enough, they are ingenious at finding out ways to destroy one another.” “The wits or wills of men, their inventions or their injunctions, cannot make that to be sin which the law of God has not made to be so.” “The glory of God is his own end, and it should be ours in all that we do.” “All the disciples and followers of the Lord Jesus must be nonconformists to this world.” “All obedience begins in the affections, and nothing in religion is done right, that is not done there first.” “The best use we can make of our worldly wealth is to honour God with it in works of piety and charity.” “We must believe that He is able to do what He will, wise to do what is best, and good, according to His promise, to do what is best for us, if we love Him, and serve Him.” “Jesus Christ in his person is God manifest in the flesh, he is light of light, the true Shechinah.” “Cast not away your confidence because God defers his performances. That which does not come in your time, will be hastened in his time, which is always the more convenient season. God will work when he pleases, how he pleases, and by what means he pleases. He is not bound to keep our time, but he will perform his work, honor our faith, and reward them that diligently seek him.” “Those that look with contempt upon worldly honours shall be recompensed with the honour that cometh from God, which is the true honour.” “There may be idols in the heart, where there are none in the sanctuary.” “What peace can they have who are not at peace with God?” “None are sent empty away from Christ but those who come to him full of themselves.” “The riches we impart are the only wealth we shall always retain.” “Christ’s disciples were no orators, till the Spirit made them such.” “Those whom God will employ are first struck with a sense of their unworthiness to be employed.” “All the benefit of our religious services is lost if we do not improve them, and conduct ourselves aright afterwards.” “Those that forget to attend God with their praises may perhaps be compelled to attend him with their prayers.” “When God pardons sin he quite abolishes it, casts it behind his back.” “Those that will not regard good ministers’ preaching cannot expect any benefit by their praying. If you will not hear us when we speak from God to you, God will not hear us when we speak to him for you.” “Those that abide in Christ as their heart’s desire shall have, through Christ, their heart’s desire.” “The greatest of men must turn beggars when they have to do with Christ.” “All Christians must be saints; and, if they come not under that character on earth, they will never be saints in glory.” “One way or other, God will give redress to the injured, who in a humble silence commit their cause to him;.” “If we have, through grace, an interest in Him who is the Fountain, we may rejoice in him when the streams of temporal mercies are dried up.” “God’s servants must think nothing below them but sin.” “When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon men it will make them expert even without experience.” “Were we to think more of our own mistakes and offences, we should be less apt to judge other people.” “Men cannot expect to do ill and fare well, but to find that done to them which they did to others.” “Those who have a heart to do good, never need complain for want of opportunity.” “Blushing is the colour of virtue.” “We have a cunning adversary, who watches to do mischief, and will promote errors, even by the words of scripture.” “Events are not determined by the wheel of fortune, which is blind, but by the wheels of Providence, which are full of eyes.” “Outward losses drive good people to their prayers, but bad people to their curses.” “The honour of being admitted into communion with God, and of being employed for him, does not exempt us from the duties of our relations and callings in this world.” “Even when God is coming towards his people in ways of mercy, he sometimes takes such methods as that they may think themselves but ill treated.” “The greater the privileges we enjoy the greater is our danger if we do not improve them and live up to them.” “The provisions of Christ’s gospel appear mean and scanty to the world, yet they satisfy all that feed on him in their hearts by faith with thanksgiving.” “A man that is endued with the powers of reason, by which he is capable of knowing, serving, glorifying, and enjoying his Maker, and yet lives without God in the world, is certainly the most despicable and the most miserable animal under the sun.”