“The true value of life is by service to God. It is not who lives most plentifully, but who lives most serviceably to God’s glory; therefore honour and greatness should not be the game in the chase, but service. All our care in the world should be to serve God in our generation, to be an instrument to do his pleasure.” –Thomas Manton “By Faith” p. 611
“Tell me that God has left His throne to do what I am each day doing for myself, and what I am entirely competent to do for myself, and how can I believe? But tell me that God has descended from heaven to work what were impossible to His suffering creatures–then indeed I may believe the word. It is because man cannot save himself, that I may believe that God has intervened to save him. It is because man cannot cleanse his soul, that I can believe that God will interfere to cleanse it.” –B. B. Warfield “The Power of God Unto Salvation” p. 99
“We are to trust in God for the salvation of our souls because He is the one who does the impossible. Do we clearly see that salvation is impossible to us, that a load of guilt rests upon us which we can never expiate? Our Saviour says, not that we are mistaken, not that if we will but try hard enough we may roll off the burden. No; He does not mock our despair. He fully recognized the impossibility which our hearts have found. He says, ‘It is impossible with men, but not with God: for all things are possible with God.’ Thus He places the rock under our feet–the rock of the omnipotence of God” –B. B. Warfield “The Power of God Unto Salvation” p. 108
“God gets his chief honor on earth, from having amongst us an organized church, a people publicly united in his service, as in The for the temple, still more in the gospel church. She is the light of the world, the salt of the earth, the depository of the truth, the witness for God and Christ, the conservator of good morals, good manners and true religion.” –William S. Plumer “Psalms” (Psalm 68) p. 672
“God’s providence as solace of believers…[the] meditation on providence…the best and sweetest fruit. Therefore the Christian heart, since it has been thoroughly persuaded that all things happen by God’s plan, and that nothing takes place by chance, will ever look to him as the principal cause of things…God’s providence keeps watch…and will not suffer anything to happen but what may turn out to its good and salvation. …As far as men are concerned, whether the are good or evil, the heart of the Christian will know that their plans, wills, efforts, and abilities are under God’s hand; that it is within his choice to bend them whither he pleases and to constrain them whenever he pleases.” –John Calvin “Institutes of the Christian Religion” p. 218
“… a kingdom awaits the godly…for it was prepared for them by their Father, not only before they themselves existed, but before the foundation of the world. …The kingdom is not in process of preparation, but was prepared before, and the sons of the kingdom do not prepare the kingdom, but are in process of being prepared themselves….” –Martin Luther “The Bondage of the Will” p. 182
“As we, considered in ourselves, are just as undeserving and hell-deserving as ever, this justification is to us an act of infinite grace. …God can be just in the justification of sinners. There is nothing in the perfection of his character, nothing in the immutability of the law, nothing in the interests of his moral government, that stands in the way of our pardon. A full, complete, infinitely meritorious satisfaction has been made for our sins, and therefore we may come to God with the assurance of being accepted. This is a ground of confidence which an enlightened conscience, burdened with a sense of sin, absolutely needs. It is not mere pardon, but justification alone, that gives us peace with God.” — Charles Hodge “2 Corinthians” p. 151
