Snippets of Grace

“It is not hard to die. It is harder a thousand times to live. To live is to see God imperfectly, as in a cloudy mirror. To die is to see Him face to face. To live is to be still in the ore. To die is to be smelted — and come out pure gold. To live is to be in winter's ice. To die is to be in mid-summer where there is perfect harmony and perfect beauty.” ~Henry Ward Beecher

“Blessed are those who in this aloneness can say, 'Yet I am not alone, because my Father is with me!' God is the only friend who can really enter into the inner sanctuary of our life. God's is the only companionship we can really have in the inner experiences of our hearts. God's is the only friendship that can really meet all our soul's deep needs and cravings. Human love is only a little trickling stream; God's love is a great river, broadening into a shoreless ocean! Human companionship helps us at a few points; the divine fellowship flows all about us and enters into every experience of ours. We never can be left alone--if we still have Christ. When other helpers and comforts flee--He will abide with us. When other faces fade out of view--His face will appear, shining out with perfect love, pouring its holy light upon us. 'I am not alone, because the Father is with me.'" ~J.R. Miller

“Thus the one great need of life--is Christ. If we do not have Christ--what will we do in life's crises? When human joy fades--what will be left? When human companionships are stripped off--who will walk with us the rest of the lonely way? When death comes, and we must drift out from all we ever have known, from earth's refuges and trusts and from earth's familiar places and friends--where shall we go? In whom shall we trust? Who will receive us and lead us home? If we have not Christ, life is hopeless and the universe is homeless for us. But if we have Christ, then, no matter what is taken, He will remain--and He will suffice!” ~J.R. Miller

“Man has a soul of vast desires; and the solemn truth will come home irresistibly at times, even to the comfortable epicure. Something is lacking still. There is more of pain than peace, in the remnants of feasting, and the exhausted rounds of pleasure.” ~ Timothy Shay Arthur

“Your friend may deceive you- the world has deceived you- He never will! Myriads in glory, are there to tell how not one thing has failed of all that the Lord their God has spoken. Rely on this faithfulness. He gave His Son for you. After the greater blessing, surely, for subordinate ones, you may trust Him. And where do these promises beam most brightly? Like the stars, it is in the night! In the midnight of trial- when the sun of earthly prosperity has set- when deep is calling to deep, and wave to wave; when tempted, bereaved, beaten down with "a great fight of afflictions," the spiritual firmament with its galaxy of Promises is brightest and clearest!” ~John MacDuff

“Alas! with what desperate madness are those chargeable — who are taken up with transitory trifles, and neglect the realities of the everlasting world? When I consider the vanity of all earthly greatness, I cannot help concluding, that such as pursue after it are intoxicated with poison. But even if the pleasures of this world were real and solid, yet they are so transient — that they are not worthy our pursuit!” ~James Meikle

“Forsake all—and possess all. Give up all—and enjoy all. 
This is the doctrine of Jesus—and the experience of true 
believers. We overcome the world . . .
  by preferring the love of Christ to everything besides;
  by really tasting that the Lord is gracious;
  by truly feeling the comforts of His love;
  by actually partaking of fellowship with Jesus;
  by freely conversing with the Father of all consolations!
O how transporting to the heart! How ravishing to the soul!” ~William Mason

“By ‘the wrath to come’ we are to understand the infinite wrath of the sin-avenging God—in comparison with which, the wrath of all other creatures in the world is mild, and not in the least to be regarded.
This wrath which is to come, will be most bitter—beyond any gall or wormwood to the taste. This wrath will be most pure—without any alloy or mixture of any comfortable ingredients. This wrath will be most plentiful—the treasury of which will be opened in hell, and all the damned will be filled with it abundantly. This wrath will be most weighty—beyond any mountain of lead, to sink sinners down into the bottomless pit. This wrath will be most fierce—and so powerful that all the powers of men and devils shall not be able to make the least resistance. This wrath will be intolerable—and yet must be borne; it will be implacable—so as never to be appeased; and it will be eternal—so as never to be ended!” ~Thomas Vincent

“We are now but as wayfaring men, wandering in the lonely night, who see dimly upon the distant mountain peak the reflection of a sun that never rises here, but which shall never set in the ‘new heavens’ hereafter. And this is enough. It comforts and cheers us on our dark and rugged way. It would not be enough hereafter, but it is enough just now. This wilderness will do for us until we cross into Canaan. The tent will do until the eternal city comes. The joy of believing is enough until we enter on the joy of seeing. We are content with the ‘mountain of myrrh, and the hill of frankincense,’ until ‘the day breaks and the shadows flee away.’” ~Horatius Bonar

I Was a Wandering Sheep

(Horatius Bonar)

I was a wandering sheep,
I did not love the fold.
I did not love my Shepherd's voice,
I would not be controlled.

I was a wayward child,
I did not love my home.
I did not love the Father's Word,
I loved afar to roam.

The Shepherd sought His sheep,
The Father sought His child.
They followed me over vale and hill,
Over deserts waste and wild.

They found me near to death,
famished and faint and lone.
They bound me with the bands of love,
They saved the wandering one.

Jesus is my Shepherd,
It was He that loved my soul.
It was He that washed me in His blood,
It was He that made me whole.

It was He that sought the lost,
That found the wandering sheep.
It was He that brought me to the fold,
It is He that still does keep.

I was a wandering sheep,
I would not be controlled.
But now I love my Shepherd's voice,
I love, I love the fold.

I was a wayward child,
I once preferred to roam.
But now I love my Father's voice,
I love, I love His home.

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