Jeremiah Burroughs

“Though the lives of men are dear and precious to God, yet they are not so precious as His glory . . . If it comes to be that the lives of men and the sanctifying of God’s name cross, the glory of God must pass on and must have its course, let the lives of men go which way they will.”

Jeremiah Burroughs, “Gospel Worship (The Right Manner of Sanctifying the Name of God in General), edited by Don Kistler (Orlando: Soli Deo Gloria, 1990), 26; originally published in 1648.

Jeremiah Burroughs

“‘I will be sanctified . . . I will have My people to demean and carry themselves so as to hold forth their acknowledgment of My holiness, so that, by their behavior, I may appear to be a holy God. I will be sanctified by them, or otherwise, if they shall not in an active way sanctify My name, that is, if they shall not demean themselves so as to hold forth the glory of My holiness, then I will be sanctified upon them. I will demean and carry Myself towards them so that by My actions upon them I will make it appear what a holy God I am.’”

Jeremiah Burroughs, “Gospel Worship (The Right Manner of Sanctifying the Name of God in General), edited by Don Kistler (Orlando: Soli Deo Gloria, 1990), 6; originally published in 1648.

Charles Hodge

“Conscience is not satisfied with mere forgiveness. It is essential to peace with God, that the soul should see that justice is satisfied. This is the reason why the death of Christ, why his blood, is so inexpressibly precious in the eyes of his people. All the experience of the saints is a protest against the principle that expiation is unnecessary, that sin can be pardoned without a satisfaction for justice.”

Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, vol. 1, I.V.12D(7).

Charles Hodge

“Christ was set forth as a propitiation, in order that God might be just in justifying the ungodly. This assumes that it would be unjust, i.e., contrary to moral rectitude, to pardon the guilty without such a propitiation. This necessity for a satisfaction is never referred to expediency or to governmental considerations. If sin could have been pardoned, without a satisfaction, the Apostle says, Christ is dead in vain (Gal. 2.21).”

Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, vol. 1, I.V.12D(7).

Charles Hodge

“. . . evil inflicted for the benefit of the sufferer, is chastisement, and not punishment. Punishment, properly speaking, is evil inflicted in satisfaction of justice.”

Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, vol. 1, I.V.12C.

Charles Hodge

“Notwithstanding all the apparent inequalities in the distribution of his favours; notwithstanding the prosperity of the wicked and the afflictions of the righteous, the conviction is everywhere expressed that God is just; that somehow and somewhere He will vindicate his dealings with men, and show that He is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works.”

Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, vol. 1, I.V.12A.

Benjamin Franklin

“These libraries have made the common tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen from other countries, and perhaps have contributed in some degree to the stand so generally made throughout the colonies in defense of their privileges.”

Cited in Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003), 257-8.

Andrew Marvell

“Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run”

Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress,” final two lines.

Thomas Manton

“Love is at the bottom of all. We may give a reason of other things, but we cannot give a reason of his love, God showed his wisdom, power, justice, and holiness in our redemption by Christ. If you ask, Why he made so much ado about a worthless creature, raised out of the dust of the ground at first, and had now disordered himself, and could be of no use to him? We have an answer at hand, Because he loved us. If you continue to ask, But why did he love us? We have no other answer but because he loved us; for beyond the first rise of things we cannot go. And the same reason is given by Moses, Deuteronomy 7:7-8: ‘The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people; but because the Lord loved you…’ That is, in short, he loved you because he loved you. All came from his free and undeserved mercy; higher we cannot go in seeking after the causes of what is done for our salvation.”

Thomas Manton, The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, 2.340-341; this quote, found through a post by Tony Reinke, comes from the 22 volumes set (!).

Thomas Paine

“Mankind being originally equals in the order of creation, the equality could only be destroyed by some subsequent circumstance; the distinctions of rich, and poor, may in a great measure be accounted for, . . . but there is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the distinction of men into KINGS and SUBJECTS.”

Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 2nd printing of Feb. 14, 1776 as edited by Isaac Kramnick (London: Penguin, 1986), 71-2.