Pilgrim's Progress

I have started reading The Pilgrim's Progress in preparation for my history class in the fall. (School's starting soon!) I think it's like the original version, with all the old english and everything. It's slightly hard to read, but there are some amazing truths in it. I'm posting a couple quotes I found especially meaningful here, so that you can read and learn more about the right way the Christian travels upon.


"He to whom thou wast sent for Ease, being by name Legality, is the son of the Bondwoman which now is, and is in bondage with her children, and is now a mystery this Mount Sinai, which thou hast feared will fall on thy head. Now if she with her children are in Bondage, how canst thou expect by them to be made free? This Legality, therefore, is not able to set thee free from thy Burden. No man was as yet ever rid of his Burden by him; nor is ever like to be."


"There shall be no more crying, nor sorrow, for he that is Owner of [heaven] will wipe all tears from our eyes."


"But thus thou mayst distinguish right from wrong, the Right only being strait and narrow."


"As to thy Burden, be content to bear it, until thou comest to the place of Deliverance: for there it will fall from thy back of itself."


"Then he took [Christian] by the hand, and led him into a very large parlour that was full of dust, because never swept. . . then said Christian, What means this? The Interpreter answered, This parlour is the heart of a man that was never sanctified by the sweet Grace of the Gospel: The dust is his Original Sin, and inward Corruptions that have defiled the whole man. He that began to sweep at first, is the Law; but she that brought Water, and did sprinkle it, is the Gospel. Now, whereas thou sawest that so soon as the first began to sweep, the dust did so fly about, that the room by him could not be cleansed, but that thou wast almost choaked therewith; this is to shew thee that the Law, instead of cleansing the heart (by it's working) from Sin, doth revive, put strength into, and increase it in the soul, even as it doth discover and forbid it, for it doth not give Power to subdue. Again, as thou sawest the Damsel sprinkle the room with Water, upon which it was cleansed with pleasure; this is to shew thee, that when the Gospel comes in, the sweet and precious influences thereof to the heart, then, I say, even as thou sawest the Damsel lay the dust by sprinkling the floor with Water, so is Sin vanquished and subdued, and the soul made clean, through the Faith of it, and consequently fit for the King of Glory to inhabit."






- Sarah :)

perspective in trials

"More than anything else I could ever do, the gospel enables me to embrace my tribulations and thereby position myself to gain full benefit from them. For the gospel is the one great permanent circumstance in which I live and move; and every hardship in my life is allowed by God only because it serves His gospel purposes in me. Wen I view my circumstances in this light, I realize that the gospel is not just one piece of good news that fits into my life somewhere among all the bad. I realize instead that the gospel makes genuinely good news out of every other aspect of my life, including my severest trials. The good news about my trials is that God is forcing them to bow to His gospel purposes and do good unto me by improving my character and making me more conformed to the image of Christ.

"Preaching the gospel to myself each day provides a lens through which I can view my trials in this way and see the true cause for rejoicing that exists in them. I can then embrace trials as friends and allow them to do God's good work in me."

- Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer for Christians, pages 31-32

ELSIE DINSMORE

I just finished reading the first two books in the Elsie Dinsmore series by Martha Finley, and they are just amazing.

For those of you who haven't read the books, Elsie is a fictional, 8-9 year old Christian girl living before the Civil War. I won't tell you all the details in hopes that you will read them (On a side note: I think you will enjoy them most if you are a girl!), but I will say that Elsie Dinsmore is a godly girl who is such an example to me of how not to grow weary of doing good, how to love your enemies, and how to put your full trust in Jesus when you feel alone. Because this young girl faces some really difficult trials, even in the first two books that I have read! I can't wait to read the rest of them. God has used the Elsie Dinsmore books to really strengthen my faith.

MORE ON REVELATION

"And [John] knew that the ending of The Story was going to be so great, it would make all the sadness and tears and everything seem like just a shadow that is chased away by the morning sun.

'I'm on my way,' said Jesus. 'I'll be there soon!'

John came to the end of his book. But he didn't write 'The End.' Because, of course, that's how stories finish. (And this one's not over yet.)

So instead, he wrote: 'Come quickly, Jesus!'

Which, perhaps, is really just another way of saying. . .

To be continued. . .

- The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones