Horatius Bonar
Had it not been for this [Christ's] dying, grace and guilt could not have looked each other in the face; God and the sinner could not have come nigh; righteousness would have forbidden reconciliation; and righteousness, we know, is as divine and real a thing as love. Without this exception, it would not have been right for God to receive the sinner nor safe for the sinner to come. But now, mercy and truth have met together; now grace is righteousness, and righteousness is grace. This satisfies the sinner's conscience, by showing him righteous love for the unrighteous and unlovable. It tells him, too, that the reconciliation brought about in this way shall never be disturbed, either in this life or that which is to come. It is righteous reconciliation, and will stand every test, as well as last throughout eternity. The peace of conscience thus secured will be trial-proof, sickness-proof, deathbed-proof, judgment-proof.
http://www.igracemusic.com/hymnbook/authors/horatius_bonar.html
Francis Frangipane
Love is God's preservative. It surrounds our souls with a power greater than the power of the devil and the world around us. It keeps us balanced; it insulates us against the hostility that exists in our world. Love is the shelter of the Most High; it is the substance of the Place of Immunity.
http://frangipane.org/
Charles Bridges
A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grevious words stir up anger. (Pr 15:1) What a valuable mine of practical wisdom is this Book of God! Let us ponder this valuable rule for self-discipline, family peace, and Church unity. Scripture often illustrates the different effects of the tongue. The soft answer is the water to quench - Grevious words are the oil to stir up, the fire. And this is alas! man's natural propensity, to feed rather than to quench, the angry flame. We yield to irritation; retort upon our neighbour; have recourse to self-justification; insist upon the last word; say all that we could say; and think we "do well to be angry." (Jonah 4:9.) Neither party gives up an atom of the will. Pride and passion on both sides strike together like two flints; and "behold! how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" (James 3:5.)Thus there is the self-pleasing sarcasm; as if we had rather lose a friend, than miss a clever stroke. All this the world excuses as a sensitive and lively temper. But the gospel sets before us our Saviour's example (1 Peter 2:23); imbues with his spirit; and imparts that blessed "charity, that is not easily provoked" (1 Cor. 13:5); and therefore is careful not to provoke a chafed or wounded spirit. If others begin, let us forbear from continuing the strife. `Patience is the true peace-maker'. Soft and healing words gain a double victory - over ourselves and our brother.
Charles G. Finney
As I shut the door of the office after me, it seemed as if I met the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. It seemed to me that I saw Him as I would see any other man. He said nothing, but looked at me in such a manner as to break me right down at His feet. I fell down at His feet, wept aloud like a child, and made such confessions as I could with my choked utterance. It seemed to me that I bathed His feet in tears. I must have continued in this state for a good while. I returned to the front office, but as I turned and was about to take a seat by the fire, I received a mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit. Without any recollection that I had ever heard the subject mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to come in waves of liquid love; it seemed like the very breath of God. I wept aloud with joy and love.
http://www.ccel.org/f/finney/
Neva Coyle
The whole world can ignore me and treat me as if I weren't there at all, but God has picked me out to be His very own.
George A Buttrick
We demand proof of God, forgetting that if we could prove God we would be within the compass of our rationalities, and then our logical mind would be our own grotesque god.
James Charles J. C. Ryle
To be prayerless is to be without God, without Christ, without grace, without hope, and without heaven.
Ambrose Bierce
Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.
Elisabeth Elliot
When things happen which dismay we ought to look to God for His meaning, and remember that He is not taken by surprise nor can His purposes be thwarted in the end.
Dwight L. Moody
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn't really matter.