“Jesus is the gardener Adam failed to be. (Genesis 2:15; John 20:15)”

—Sinclair Ferguson, Lessons from the Upper Room: The Heart of the Savior (Sanford, FL: @Ligonier Ministries, 2021), 190.

“To attend a marriage feast, and cleanse the temple from profanation were among the first acts of our Lord’s ministry at His first coming. To purify the whole visible Church, and hold a marriage supper, will be amongst His first acts, when He comes again.”

—J.C. Ryle, on John 2

“The Christian who withdraws entirely from the society of his fellow-men, and walks the earth with a face as melancholy as if he was always attending a funeral, does injury to the cause of the Gospel.”

—J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of John (@BannerofTruth), 1:64.

“One single soul saved, shall outlive and outweigh all the kingdoms of the world.”

—J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on John, Volume 1 (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1869/2012), 1: 169.

“The Word of God is a spring of living water, a deep mine of costly treasure, a table furnished with all sorts of food.

The Scriptures are the light by which thou walkest, and the tools with which thou workest.”

—George Swinnock, Works (Carlisle: @BannerofTruth, 1992), 1: 141.

“Let us never forget that our chief danger is from within.

The world and the devil combined cannot do us so much harm as our own hearts will, if we do not watch and pray (Prov. 28:26).”

–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew (@BannerofTruth), 144.

“Let all Christians remember that our best things are yet to come.

We are yet at school. But there is an eternal holiday yet to begin.

For this let us wait quietly. It will make amends for all. (2 Cor. 4:17)”

–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew (@BannerofTruth), 130.

“The first duty of every practitioner of science, and particularly of any theologian, is to be humble and modest.”

—Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: God and Creation, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004), 2: 239.

“The God who is Father, Son, and Spirit has reached out through the Son and by the Spirit to embrace us as sons and daughters to the end that we may call God our Father in the Spirit of the Son.”

—@scottrswain, The Trinity (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020), 26.

“Patriarchs, prophets, and apostles— martyrs, Fathers, Reformers, Puritans — all, all are sinners, who need a Saviour— holy, useful, honorable in their place— but sinners after all.”

–J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1856/2012), 168.

“There is an inexhaustible fullness in Scripture.

The more we read it, the richer we shall find it.”

—J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1856/2012), 133-134.

Father,

in Your mercy

dispel the darkness

of this night,

and let Your servant

sleep in peace,

that at the dawn

of a new day

I may wake

with joy in Your Name;

through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

“An hour’s enjoyment of the light of Christ’s countenance is worth more than the wealth of the Indies and the power of Kings.”

—John Newton, The Christian Correspondent (Hull: George Prince, 1790), 174.

This is from a letter written from Olney on April 1, 1769.

“The heart of the matter is this:

preach one Christ,

by Christ,

to the praise of Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria.”

—William Perkins, The Art of Prophesying (Carlisle, PA: @BannerofTruth, 1996), 79.

“He who has been with us thus far, will be with us to the end.

He knows how to manifest Himself even here, to give more than He takes away, and to cause our consolations to exceed our greatest afflictions.

Jesus is able to keep us from falling.”

—John Newton

“Be this my school, by frequent prayer and constant meditation on the Word of God, to wait upon the visits of the great Teacher! Then I shall be wise unto salvation myself, and fitted, if the Lord please, to assist as an instrument in the edification of others.”

—John Newton

“My heart is like a country but half subdued, where all things are in an unsettled state, and mutinies and insurrections are daily happening.”

—John Newton, The Christian Correspondent (Hull: George Prince, 1790), 78.

O Lord,

make Your Word a swift Word,

passing from the ear to the heart,

from the heart to the lip and conversation;

that, as the rain returns not empty,

so neither may Your Word,

but accomplish that for which it is given.

Amen.

—George Herbert

“Busyness kills more Christians than bullets.”

—Kevin DeYoung, Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013), 30.

By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us.

—1 John 3:16

“It is impossible to praise God without also uttering the praises of the Father, of the Son, and of the Spirit.”

-John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1989), 1: 205. Calvin is commenting on Isaiah 6:3.

“A doctrine of the church is only as good as the doctrine of God which underlies it.”

–John Webster, Confessing God: Essays in Christian Dogmatics II, The Cornerstones Series (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016), 156.

“The heart of Jesus Christ, now He is in heaven, is as graciously inclined to sinners as ever it was on earth.”

—Thomas Goodwin, The Works of Thomas Goodwin, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage, 2021), 4: 113.

“The second person of the Trinity is the Son, eternally begotten of the Father; the Word, eternally uttered by the Father; the image, perfectly representing the Father; the radiance, eternally shining forth from the Father.”

-@scottrswain, The Trinity (@Crossway, 2020), 78.

“I have determined, the Almighty God being my help and shield, yet to suffer if frail life might continue so long even till the moss shall grow on mine eyebrows, rather than thus to violate my faith and principles.”

-John Bunyan, (Works, 2: 594)

(11/30/1628 - 8/31/1688)