Top 211 Quotes & Sayings by Matthew Henry - Page 3

God's favour is happiness.

A state of apostasy is worse than a state of ignorance.

Every tear of sorrow sown by the righteous springs up a pearl.

Poor people are as much in danger from an inordinate desire towards the wealth of the world as rich from an inordinate delight in it.

Though we cannot by our prayers give God any information, yet we must by our prayers give him honor.

None shall be saved by Christ but those only who work out their own salvation while God is working in them by His truth and His Holy Spirit. We cannot do without God; and God will not do without us.

We must never promise ourselves any more than God has promised us.

None are ruined by the justice of God but those that hate to be reformed by the grace of God.

It is better to take time to consider before than to find time to repent after.

If we would be angry and not sin, we must be angry at nothing but sin; and we should be more jealous for the glory of God than for any interest or reputation of our own.

God took Eve from the side of Adam, not from his foot to be his menial or slave or servant, not from his head to be his mental superior, and did take him from that which is nearest his heart, that he might love her, and that which is under his arm, that he might protect her.

It is a sin against God not to pray for the Israel of God, especially for those of them that are under our charge. Good men are afraid of the guilt of omissions ( I Samuel 12).

When I cannot enjoy the faith of assurance, I live by the faith of adherence.

When God intends great mercy for his people, the first thing he doth is to set them a praying.

Scriptures were written, not to satisfy our curiosity and make us astronomers, but to lead us to God, and make us saints.

A garment that is double dyed, dipped again and again, will retain the color a great while; so a truth which is the subject of meditation.

The greatest of men must turn beggars when they have to do with Christ.

Those that have so much power over others as to be able to oppress them have seldom so much over themselves as not to oppress.

Christ teaches by the Spirit of wisdom in the heart, opening the understanding to the Spirit of revelation in the word.

Though He had so much work to do with others, yet He [Jesus] chose sometimes to be alone, to set us an example.

Holy joy will be oil to the wheels of our obedience.

If therefore our houses be houses of the Lord, we shall for that reason love home, reckoning our daily devotion the sweetest of our daily delights, and our family worship the most valuable of our family comforts. This will sanctify to us all the conveniences of our houses, and reconcile us to the inconveniences of it.

The sentences in the book of providence are sometimes long, and you must read a great way before you understand their meaning.

The flower of youth never appears more beautiful than when it bends toward the sun of righteousness.

Christ is our temple, in whom by faith all believers meet.

Pride is at the bottom of a great many errors and corruptions, and even of many evil practices, which have a great show and appearance of humility.

Those that abide in Christ as their heart's desire shall have, through Christ, their heart's desire.

Those that forget to attend God with their praises may perhaps be compelled to attend him with their prayers.

Those, and those only, can expect to be taught by God, who are ready and willing to do as they are taught... Those who go up to the house of the Lord with an expectation that He will teach them His ways, must go with a humble resolution that they will walk in His paths.

We must believe that He is able to do what He will, wise to do what is best, and good, according to His promise, to do what is best for us, if we love Him, and serve Him.

All obedience begins in the affections, and nothing in religion is done right, that is not done there first.

Grace in the soul is heaven in that soul.

Why wilt thou be so sottish, such an enemy to thyself, as to prefer puddle-water, and that poisoned too and stolen, before pure living waters out of thy own well?

Brotherly love is the badge of Christ's disciples.

Hearkners, we say, seldom hear good of themselves.

I would think it a greater happiness to gain one soul to Christ than mountains of silver and gold to myself.

Tears are a tribute to our deceased friends. When the body is sown, it must be watered. But we must not sorrow as those that have no hope; for we have a good hope through grace both concerning them and concerning ourselves.

The kingdom of heaven was never intended to indulge the ease of triflers, but to the rest of them that labor.

A man that is endued with the powers of reason, by which he is capable of knowing, serving, glorifying, and enjoying his Maker, and yet lives without God in the world, is certainly the most despicable and the most miserable animal under the sun.

Esther came to a proud imperious man; we come to the God of love and grace.

I shall be supplied with whatever I need; and, if I have not everything I desire, I may conclude it is either not fit for me, or I shall have it in due time.

Better to get up late and be wide awake then, than to get up early and be asleep all day.

The fear of God reigning in the heart is the beauty of the soul.

It is better to get wisdom than gold. Gold is another's, wisdom is our own; gold is for the body and time, wisdom for the soul and eternity.

He that is in haste may contract much guilt in a little time. What we say or do unadvisedly when we are hot, we must unsay or undo again when we are cool, or do worse.

The true Christian hero will appear in the cause of Christ, not only when it is prevailing, but when it seems to be declining; (he) will be on the right side, though it be not the rising side.

Take Jesus for your king, and by baptism swear allegiance to him; take him for your prophet, and hear him; take him for your priest, to make atonement for you.

Though we may now think some sins light and little, if the Lord awaken the conscience, we shall feel even the smallest sin heavy upon our souls.

The provisions of Christ's gospel appear mean and scanty to the world, yet they satisfy all that feed on him in their hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

It is more to the honor of a Christian by faith to overcome the world, than by monastical vows to retreat from it; more for the honor of Christ to serve him in the city, than to serve him in the cell.

Those may justly be reckoned void of understanding that do not bless and praise God; nor do men ever rightly use their reason till they begin to be religious, nor live as men till they live to the glory of God. As reason is the substratum or subject of religion (so that creatures which have no reason are not capable of religion), so religion is the crown and glory of reason, and we have our reason in vain, and shall one day wish we had never had it, if we do not glorify God with it.

Riches, in the hands of a man that is wise and generous, are good for something, but in the hands of a sordid, sneaking, covetous miser, they are good for nothing.

Humility is the great preserver of peace and order in all Christian churches and societies, consequently pride is the great disturber of them, and the cause of most dissensions and breaches in the church.

The prayers and supplications that Christ offered up were, joined with strong cries and tears, herein setting us example not only to pray, but to be fervent and importunate in prayer. How many dry prayers, how few wet ones, do we offer up to God!

Prayer time must be kept up as duly as meal-time.

To a good man, God gives not only wisdom and knowledge, but joy.

Goodness makes greatness truly valuable, and greatness make goodness much more serviceable.

Those will soon come to make nothing of God that will not be content to make him their all.

Nothing can make a man truly great but being truly good, and partaking of God's holiness.

The beauty of holiness is that which the grave, that consumes all other beauty, cannot touch, or do any damage to.