Jeremiah Burroughs Quote (Indwelling Sin)

"God hates the workers of iniquity, but He does not hate the saints even though they have iniquity in them" (Burroughs Spots of the Godly and of the Wicked ,Second Sermon Pg. 125).

Jeremiah Burroughs Quote (Indwelling Sin)

"The Lord by allowing spots to continue in His own people, exercises their faith, humility, and patience, as well as other graces" (Burroughs The Spots of the Godly and of the Wicked, First Sermon Pg. 112).

Jeremiah Burroughs Quote (Indewelling Sin)

"God has reserved the time of full cleansing of his people, for another world. Christ could cleanse His people presently from all their spots if He desired. Surely, this is the case. But because they are to live in this world for now, Christ sees that it would not benefit them to be wholly cleansed from sin now and live in a sinful world. This world is not worthy of the saints. Even if you consider them with all their infirmities, still, the world is not worthy of them. Yet it is not for the world to have the saints live here without their spots. If the world is offended that Christians have their spots. then let them be offended. Let Christians be stumbling-blocks to them. It is without a doubt, that many saints are stumbling blocks to many souls. The world, they rejoice when they see the sins that are in the saints" Burroughs Spots of the Godly and of the Wicked First Sermon Pg. 111.

Augustine Quote (The Spirit and the Flesh)

"And so the Spirit, supereminent from the beginning, was 'borne above the waters.' To whom can I expound, and with what words can I express, the weight of cupidity pulling us downwards into the precipitous abyss and the lifting up of love given by your Spirit who was 'born above the waters'? To whom can I communicate this? How can I speak about it? For it is not about literal places where we sink down and rise up. This symbolic language contains a resemblance, but also a difference. It means our feelings and our loves. The impurity of our spirit flows downwards because of our love of anxieties, and the holiness which is yours draws us upwards in a love of freedom from anxiety"(Augustine Confessions Bk. XIII Pg. 277).

Timothy Rogers Quote

"We shall have no cause to murmur at their (the wicked) present undisturbed case and their seeming welfare; for their happiness is not real but apparent, and all the goods that are bestowed upon them are but mean and low in themselves, though our erroneous and blind judgments think them to be somewhat great and considerable. ... they ought rather to be looked on as an argument of God's wisdom than as any objection against his providence; for He understands the just value of things, and knows that the best of these worldly goods are bad enough to be thrown away upon the worst of men" (Rogers Trouble of Mind and the Disease of Melancholy Pg. 58).

Forgiveness (Colossians 3:13)

"Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye" (Col. 3:13).

It is noteworthy to observe that there is no factor of contingency as relates to the parties in question here. Forgiveness is altogether void of qualifiers. There will be many times that we are offended without any remorse and with seeming impunity as respecting our offender. Whatever the case is regarding the state of the offender - i.e. whether they are sorrowfully, contrite, and truly penitent - it is no less than Christ-like that we are forgiving of one another. The nature of the offense is no matter of importance either seeing that Christ forgave us all manner of sin. It is always easier to forgive those who repent and ask for our forgiveness as opposed to those that do not. But how shall we ever grow in grace if there is no strain on our part? What profit is it if we love only those who love us (Matthew 5:46)? Or if we salute our brethren only (Matthew 5:47)? Should we not rather pursue a higher level of perfection and righteousness than that which the Pharisees had, but only outwardly attained to (Matthew 5:48)? Let us not worry so much about the motives of others, whether they be right or wrong, and instead make sure that our spiritual attitude is one which is marked by that high grace and righteous act (Mat. 5:20 ff) of forgiveness. Let God be the judge of others and we ourselves be as we are: forgiven; and how we ought to be--forgivers of others. Who knows but that grace may be wrought about in those with exceedingly hard hearts? Were our hearts any less hard than others? Are we not at risk of becoming bitter and finding out that our hearts have once more become hardened if we do not forgive? Is not our love of Christ the fruit of him having first loved us? And does not goodness bring about repentance? Were we not such sinners as these when Christ died for us? Are we not still as such sometimes? Let us imitate God on the matter of forgiveness. He so often forgives us and can we not do that which has been done for us? We must do away with any notion of justice on our part when it comes to the grace of forgiveness. What we seek is not justice but vengeance dressed in her clothes. It is not possible to err and go too far in forgiving. But if there was room for error, what a glorious way to err! It is better to forgive than not. And when at all in doubt--forgive. If we don't forgive neither will our Father in heaven forgive us. There is no justice to be had at all when it comes to this subject. We are faced with only three options: that of vengeance, bitterness, and that of forgiveness. Forgive and forget my friends (Isa 43:25).

Augustine Quote (Justification)

"But just as there is a difference between light which illuminates and that which is illuminated, so also there is an equivalent difference between the wisdom which creates and that which is created, as also between the justice which justifies and the justice created by justification" (Augustine Confessions Book xii Pg.255,256).

Timothy Rogers Quote

"He recompenses good works far above their merit, but punishes crimes far below their demerit" (Rogers Trouble of Mind and the Disease of Melancholy)Pg. 48).

Psalm 143:2

"...enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified" (Psalm 143:2).