Archive | The Heart RSS feed for this section

Jonathan Edwards – The Resurrection Power of Christ Exerted in Our Hearts

22 Mar

Gracious affections arise from those operations and influences which are spiritual, and that the inward principle from whence they flow, is something divine, a communication of God, a participation of the divine nature, Christ living in the heart, the Holy Spirit dwelling there, in union with the faculties of the soul, as an internal vital principle, exerting his own proper nature in the exercise of those faculties. This is sufficient to show us why true grace should have such activity, power, and efficacy. No wonder that what is divine, is powerful and effectual; for it has omnipotence on its side. If God dwells in the heart, and be vitally united to it, he will show that he is a God by the efficacy of his operation. Christ is not in the heart of a saint as in a sepulchre, as a dead saviour that does nothing; but as in his temple, one that is alive from the dead. For in the heart where Christ savingly is, there he lives, and exerts himself after the power of that endless life, that he received at his resurrection. Thus every saint who is the subject of the benefit of Christ’s sufferings, is made to know and experience the power, of his resurrection.

~Jonathan Edwards~






The Works of Jonathan Edwards Vol. 1 (Peabody, MA; Hendrickson Publishers, Inc; 2007) p. 316.

Books by Jonathan Edwards

Biography of Jonathan Edwards

Online Books Available

Other Edwards Quotes

John Calvin – Engraven on Human Hearts

18 Mar

From this, my present contention is brought out with greater certainty, that a sense of divinity is by nature engraven on human hearts. For necessity forces from the reprobate themselves a confession of it. In tranquil times they wittily joke about God, indeed are facetious and garrulous in belittling his power. If any occasion for despair presses upon them, it goads them to seek him and impels their perfunctory prayers. From this it is clear that they have not been utterly ignorant of God, but that what should have come forth sooner was held back by stubbornness.

~John Calvin~






The Institutes of the Christian Religion (Louisville, KY; Westminster John Knox Press; 1974) Vol. 1.4.4. p. 51

Books by John Calvin

Biography of John Calvin

Kindle Books

Online Books Available

Other Calvin Quotes

J.C. Ryle – He is With Us!

8 Mar

What stronger consolation could believers desire than this? Whatever happens, they at least are never completely friendless and alone. Christ is ever with them. They may look into the grave, and say with David, “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” They may look forward beyond the grave, and say with Paul, “we shall ever be with the Lord.” (Psalm 23:4. 1 Thes. 4:17.) He has said it, and He will stand to it, “I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” “I will never leave you and never forsake you.” We could ask nothing more. Let us go on believing, and not be afraid. It is everything to be a real Christian. None have such a King, such a Priest, such a constant Companion, and such an unfailing Friend, as the true servants of Christ.

~J.C. Ryle~


Expository Thoughts on the Gospels – Matthew (Edinburgh, Scotland; Banner of Truth; 1992) Commenting on Matthew 12:22-37. p. 414

Books by J.C. Ryle

Kindle Books

Other Ryle Quotes

J.C. Ryle – Our Words Matter

18 Jan

Our Lord tells us, that “every idle word that men speak, they will give account of in the day of judgment.” And He adds, “By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”         

There are few of our Lord’s sayings which are so heart-searching as this. There is nothing, perhaps, to which most men pay less attention than their words. They go through their daily work, speaking and talking without thought or reflection, and seem to imagine that if they do what is right, it matters but little what they say.

But is it so? Are our words so utterly trifling and unimportant? We dare not say so, with such a passage of Scripture as this before our eyes. Our words are the evidence of the state of our hearts, as surely as the taste of the water is an evidence of the state of the spring. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” The lips only utter what the mind conceives. Our words will form one subject of inquiry at the day of judgment. We shall have to give account of our sayings, as well as our doings. Truly these are very solemn considerations. If there were no other text in the Bible, this passage ought to convince us, that we are all “guilty before God,” and need a righteousness better than our own, even the righteousness of Christ. (Phil. 3:9.)         

~J.C. Ryle~


Expository Thoughts on the Gospels – Matthew (Edinburgh, Scotland; Banner of Truth; 1992) Commenting on Matthew 12:22-37. p. 132-133

Books by J.C. Ryle

Kindle Books

Other Ryle Quotes

John Flavel – What is Keeping the Heart?

4 Apr

To keep the heart then, is carefully to preserve it from sin, which disorders it; and maintain that spiritual frame which fits it for a life of communion with God.

1. Frequent observation of the frame of the heart. Carnal and formal persons take no heed to this; they cannot be brought to confer with their own hearts: there are some people who have lived forty or fifty years in the world, and have had scarcely one hour’s discourse with their own hearts. It is a hard thing to bring a man and himself together on such business; but saints know those soliloquies to be very beneficial. The heathen could say, “the soul is made wise by sitting still in quietness.” Though bankrupts care not to look into their accounts, yet upright hearts will know whether they go backward or forward. “I commune with my own heart,” says David. The heart can never be kept—until its case be examined and understood

~John Flavel~


Keeping the Heart (Portland, Oregon; MonergismBooks.com; 2010) eBook. Section: What is Keeping the Heart?

Books by John Flavel

More Flavel Quotes at The Old Guys

John Calvin – Freely Receive, Freely Give

1 Mar

[And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. – 2 Corinthians 9:8]

The reason why God does us good is — not that every one may keep to himself what he has received, but that there may be a mutual participation among us, according as necessity may require.

~John Calvin~


Calvin’s Commentaries – 2 Corinthians (Spokane, WA; Olive Tree Bible Software; http://www.olivetree.com) Commentary on Psalm 2 Corinthians 9:8

Books by John Calvin

Biography of John Calvin

Online Books Available

Other Calvin Quotes at the Old Guys

John Calvin – Follow God, Not Your Heart

21 Feb

[3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!
4 Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds
– Psalm 141:3-4]

For the two things stand connected the being silent, and the being free from the charge of evil thoughts. It is very possible that although he observed silence, he had many ungodly thoughts, and these are worse than vain words. We have simply alluded in passing to this foolish notion, as what may convince the reader of the possibility of persons running away with a word torn from its connection, and overlooking the scope of the writer. In committing himself to the guidance of God, both as to thoughts and words, David acknowledges the need of the influence of the Spirit for the regulation of his tongue and of his mind, particularly when tempted to be exasperated by the insolence of opposition. If, on the one hand, the tongue be liable to slip and too fast of utterance, unless continually watched and guarded by God; on the other, there are disorderly affections of an inward kind which require to be restrained. What a busy workshop is the heart of man, and what a host of devices is there manufactured every moment! If God do not watch over our heart and tongue, there will confessedly be no bounds to words and thoughts of a sinful kind, — so rare a gift of the Spirit is moderation in language.

~John Calvin~


Calvin’s Commentaries – Psalms (Spokane, WA; Olive Tree Bible Software; http://www.olivetree.com) Commentary on Psalm 141:3-4.

Books by John Calvin

Biography of John Calvin

Online Books Available

Other Calvin Quotes at the Old Guys

Augustine On The Heart’s Awakening

13 Apr

Thou awakest us to delight in Thy praise; for Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee.

~Augustine~






Confessions (Hyde Park, NY; New City Press, 97) p. 5.

Find more Augustine resources here.

Other Augustine Quotes