“A man shall as soon force fruit out of a branch broken off from the tree and withered, as work righteousness without believing in, and uniting with Christ.”

“A man must first be righteous before he can work righteousness of life. ‘He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.’ 1 John 3:7. The tree makes the fruit, not the fruit the tree; and therefore the tree must be good before the fruit can be good. Matthew 7:18. A righteous man [...]

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“But there are those who will trust Christ no further than they can see Him, and will not believe His promise, unless the means of the performance of it be visible; as if [God] were tied to our methods, and could not draw water without our buckets.”

“But there are those who will trust Christ no further than they can see Him, and will not believe His promise, unless the means of the performance of it be visible; as if [God] were tied to our methods, and could not draw water without our buckets.” Matthew Henry, Commentary on John ch 4. Daily [...]

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September 30 – “O grant, that our faith may be sustained by this support—that thou art the governor of the world, and that men were not only once created by thee, but are also preserved by thy hand…”

“Grant, Almighty God, that as it cannot be but that, owing to the infirmity of our flesh, we must be shaken and tossed here and there by the many turbulent commotions of this world,—O grant, that our faith may be sustained by this support—that thou art the governor of the world, and that men were [...]

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September 26 – “Except then we be fully persuaded, that God by his secret providence regulates all these confusions, Satan will a hundred times a day, yea every moment, shake that confidence which ought to repose in God.”

“This is a truth much needed: for Satan darkens, as with clouds, the favor of God, when any adversity happens to us, and when God himself thus proves our faith. But adversities are as it were clouds, excluding us from seeing God’s fervor, as the light of the sun appears not to us when the [...]

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