Saturday May 23, 2015
From The Author’s Experience
JOSEPH HART
. . . I would observe, that it is “not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God which sheweth mercy.” That none can make a Christian but He that made the world. That it is the glory of God to bring good out of evil. That whom He loveth, He loveth unto the end. That though all men seek, more or less, to recommend themselves to God’s favour by their works, yet “to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” That the blood of the Redeemer, applied to the soul by His Spirit, is the one thing needful. That prayer is the task and labour of a Pharisee, but the privilege and delight of a Christian. That God grants not the requests of His people because they pray; but they pray because He designs to answer their petitions. That self-righteousness and legal holiness rather keep the soul from, than draw it to, Christ. That they who seek salvation by them, pursue shadows, mistake the great end of the law, and err from the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
That God’s design is to glorify His Son alone, and to debase the excellency of every creature. That no righteousness besides the righteousness of Jesus (that is, the righteousness of God) is of any avail towards acceptance. That to be a moral man, a zealous man, a devout man, is very short of being a Christian. That the eye of faith looks more to the blood of Jesus than to the soul’s victory over corruptions. That the dealings of God with His people, though similar in the general, are nevertheless so various, that there is no chalking out the paths of one child of God to those of another; no laying down regular plans of Christian conversion, Christian experience, Christian usefulness, or Christian conversation. That the will of God is the only standard of right and good. That the sprinkling of the blood of a crucified Saviour on the conscience by the Holy Ghost, sanctifies a man, without which, the most abstemious life and rigorous discipline is unholy. Lastly, that faith and holiness, with every other blessing, are the purchase of the Redeemer’s blood, and that He has a right to bestow them on whom He will, in such a manner and in such a measure as He thinks best; though the spirit in all men lusteth to envy.