A Puritan at Heart

Faith is a grace that comes to get, and not to give; or if it gave anything, it is the ills of the soul, but nothing of good does it pretend to give. The sinner, in believing, upon the matter, says, ‘Lord, I give thee my folly, and take thee for my only wisdom; I give thee my guilt, that thou may be Lord of my righteousness; I give thee my defilements, and take thee for sanctification; I give thee my chains and fetters, that I may be indebted to thee for redemption and liberty; I give thee my poverty, and take thee for my only riches; I give thee my wicked, wandering, hard, and deceitful heart, that thou mayst give me the new heart and new spirit promised in thy covenant.’ Thus, I say, Christ is freely offered and must be freely recived." [Ebenezer Erskine]

…that, by all things, they may come to know more of the power, holiness, justice, truth, goodness, and glory of God in Christ. We use to say," Experience teaches fools." Surely there is not an experienced saint, but will find, that by all the good things and bad things he hath been trysted with, by all the various vicissitudes and changes of providence, he hath come to see more of God than he saw before. RALPH ERSKINE

Many, by a fair profession, a false conviction, and a bastard conversion, seem half way to heaven, who yet will lodge for ever in hell. He who sits down at halfway, and rests there, will never come to the end of his journey, but is still afar off. O sirs, it is to be feared that the most part of you, that even come so near to Christ, in approaching to his house and ordinances; yet you are as far from him as light is from darkness, or darkness from light; and we need not go far to prove the charge; for, if you be not washed, you are far from God and Christ; yea, you have no part in him; "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part in me," [John 13:8] said our blessed Lord to Peter. If you be not washed from the guilt of sin in justification, and from the filth of sin in sanctification, you have no part in Christ, and so are far enough from him; and this is the state, not of a few, but of a multitude; "There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness." [Prov 30:12][Ralph Erskine]