This collection of quotations is primarily designed for preachers, but we believe will be of benefit to new Christians, those involved in personal evangelism and all servants of our Lord Jesus Christ who need the help and encouragement which such tools can bring.
Some quotes or illustrations are great statements (even one-liners) from the Puritan fathers; others are up-to-date stories with a message.
Francis Dixon often used quotes and illustrations in his preaching, but was careful only to do so if they helped to press home a point, rather than over-stretching a spiritual application.
New quotes will appear regularly. We have tried to give credit where the source is known. We trust you will find them a blessing and a help.
David and Mary Tucker
CRITICISM
“Men may misjudge thy aim, think they have cause to blame,
say thou art wrong –
Hold thou thy quiet way, heed not what men may say;
Christ is the Judge – not they;
fear not, be strong!
Be brave, and dare to stand alone against the foe;
thy Saviour stood alone for thee
long, long ago.
Be not a coward in the fight – look up! Be strong!
The morn of victory is near –
the day of song.”
(Final words of a covenant Charles Cowman made with God)
DEATH
There is a democracy about death. It comes equally to us all, and makes us all equal when it comes.
(John Donne)
DEATH
(Luke 2:29) No one is ready to die in peace until he has seen Christ; but when he has seen Him, he needs no further preparation for dying.
(J. R. Miller)
DEATH
It is a fearful thing for anyone to see death before seeing Christ.
(J. R. Miller)
DEATH
Nothing of God dies when a man of God dies.
(A. W. Tozer)
DEATH
Death begins at birth.
(Augustine)
DEATH (And Life)
Those who live here are IN CHRIST, and those who have passed over are WITH CHRIST; thus in Him we are still united.
(J. R. Miller)
DEATH
At the prayer meeting the day after his wife (Mary) died, George Muller ‘with a literally shining countenance’, rose and said, “Beloved brethren and sisters in Christ, I ask you to join with me in hearty praise and thanksgiving to my precious Lord for His loving-kindness in having taken my darling, beloved wife out of the pain and suffering which she has endured, into His own presence; and as I rejoice in everything that is for her happiness, so I now rejoice as I realise how far happier she is, in beholding her Lord whom she loved so well, than in any joy she has known or could know here. I ask you also to pray that the Lord will so enable me to have fellowship in her joy that my bereaved heart may be occupied with her blessedness instead of my unspeakable loss.”
(A. T. Pierson, “George Muller of Bristol”)
DEATH
George Muller’s text of the sermon at his wife’s funeral was Psalm 119:68: “Thou art good and doest good”. Its three divisions were:
- in giving her to me;
- in so long leaving her to me;
- in taking her from me.
DEATH
(Famous last words): At the end of John Newton’s life, hardly able to speak, he whispered,
“My memory is nearly gone. But I remember two things:
That I am a great sinner…”
He paused for breath – “…and that Christ is a great Saviour.”
DEATH
For the Christian, death becomes a junction instead of a terminus.
(Fred Mitchell)
DEATH
At F. B. Meyer’s funeral service in Bournemouth (following his death on 28 March 1929), it was suggested that an appropriate record would be, “Here lies a man that reckoned on God.”
DEATH
‘Blessed by God,’ cried the Puritan leader John Preston on his death-bed. ‘I shall change my place but not my company!’
DEATH (To self)
(Matthew 7:4; Psalm 18:19)
How very narrow is the gate that leads to a life in God! How little one must be to pass through it, it being nothing else but death to self! But when we have passed through it, what enlargement do we find! David said, “He brought me forth also into a large place”. And it was through humiliation and abasement that he was brought there.
(Jeanne Guyon)
DEVOTION
No public feast with God can compensate for the loss of the private interview.
(Anon)
DEVOTION
(1 Kings 17:3; 1 Kings 18:1) The Lord said first to Elijah, “Go hide thyself”; then, “Go, show thyself”.
He who does not first hide himself in the secret place to be alone with God, is unfit to show himself in the public place to move among men.
(A. T. Pierson, “George Muller of Bristol”)
DISCIPLESHIP
Have you ever come across Christians who have said (in relation to habits and behaviour) – ‘That wouldn’t do me any harm!’? What a negative way to conduct your Christian life! When deciding if it’s right or wrong for a Christian to go somewhere, the old evangelical criteria has been, ‘Could I take Jesus there with me?’ – but I don’t want my life to be lived by that criteria. I want to go only to the places where Jesus will lead me.
(Anon)
DISCIPLESHIP
There is an aquatic species of spider which, though air-breathing, lives on the mud at the bottom of ponds. It survives under water by going at intervals to the surface and trapping oxygen in a bubble between the hairs on its body. Then it descends to the bottom of the pond, able to breathe under water. We too, as believers, live in a world whose atmosphere is often inimical to our faith. We have to survive spiritually in an alien element and can only do so if we take from a regular prayer-life and reading of God’s word our spiritual oxygen into that element with us.
(Peter Lewis)
DISCIPLINE
(Hebrews 12:6) It is for our comfort to remember that (God) never punishes one of His children because His patience is exhausted, for that can never be, but always because the chastisement is needed and the correction is worthwhile … He is like a father, but only the very best father is an illustration of Him.
(Fred Mitchell)
DISOBEDIENCE
Consider the story of Jonah. Jonah ran from God. God said ‘GO!’ and Jonah said ‘NO!’
(R. T. Kendall)