365 Quotations from Welsh Christians

Salvation like a boundless sea Keeps swelling on the shore; Here shall the weak and helpless find Enough for evermore. William Williams Pantycelyn  1717-1791

Having Christ, I have more than the whole material Creation. I want to love him unspeakably more than I ever did as yet; first, for the sake of his own excellencies, and then for his love and goodness towards me. Benjamin Francis 1734-1799

Beware of hypocrisy and formality of profession. There is much of a Pharisaical spirit abroad, typically among such as have never known, or if they have known, have forgotten, the workings of grace, and the constraining power of love. These place all their religion in an outward conformity to certain cornposed gestures and affected garbs of their leaders; thereby showing a voluntary humility, which things indeed have a show (and nothing but a show) of wisdom in will worship and humility, and neglecting of the body; though even then (as the apostle saith of the like people) they are vainly puffed up with a fleshly mind, Col. 2:18, 23. John Miles 1621-1683

Preach the Gospel to the people, dear Sir, and apply the Balm of Gilead, the blood of Christ, to their spiritual wounds, and show the necessity of faith in the crucified Saviour. Philip Pugh (1679-1760)

Then was a cry in my inmost soul, which I was totally unacquainted with before, Abba, Father! Abba, Father! I could not help calling God my Father; I knew that I was His child; and that He loved me and heard me. Howell Harris 1714-1773

The consciousness of a duty performed gives us music at midnight. George Herbert 1593-1633

(In 1 Corinthians 2:8) the contrast between "they crucified" and "the Lord of glory" is intentional (cf Heb xii. 2). Christ was put to death by the rulers of the world as the representatives of its highest wisdom, which has proved itself foolishness in not knowing the Son of God. The triumphant antithesis to this verse is Gal. vi. 14. The world that crucified Christ has been crucified by the power of Christ's cross. Thomas Charles Edwards 1837-1900

Pharaoh fought ten great battles with God, and did not gain one. Thomas Rhys Davies 1790-1859

Always act honestly and then you will act openly for 'he that doeth truth to the light'. You have my heart's desire and prayer to God that you may enjoy the peace of God in your own souls, be pillars in his church and that you and I may at last meet in a better country in a world of perfect love. Jehoiada Brewer 1752-1817

Be sure you make God your friend and his glory your aim and then you need fear nothing. Let the ignorance of others be an excitement to your minds in the pursuit of useful knowledge. Be assured that 'for the heart to be without knowledge is not good. ' Jehoiada Brewer 1752-1817

Those who doubt most, and yet strive to overcome their doubts, turn out to be some of Christ's strongest disciples. Selwyn Hughes 1928-2006

You cannot make yourself happy, but you can make yourself rejoice, in the sense that you will always rejoice in the Lord. Happiness is something within ourselves, rejoicing is 'in the Lord'. You must say to yourself: 'Whatever happens I am going on'. You do not give in or give way. Dr D M Lloyd-Jones 1899-1981

I remember reading ... of a man who killed himself through envy. His fellow citizens had reared a statue to one of their number ... a celebrated victor in the public games. So strong was the feeling of envy which this excited in the breast of one of the hero's rivals that he went forth every night in order if possible to destroy that monument. After repeated efforts he moved it from its pedestal and it fell and in its fall it crushed him. An unintentional symbolic act was this showing the suicidal action of envy on the soul. David Thomas 1813-1894

The mind of man is like a mill which will grind whatever is put into it whether it be husk or wheat The Devil is very eager to have his turn in this mill and to employ it for grinding the husk of vain thoughts hence the necessity of constant watchfulness in order to keep the wheat of the word in the mind Keep thy heart with all diligence. William Williams of Wern 1781-1840

Therefore consider what treasure there is in the Gospel; there are unsearchable treasures in the Gospel, but of all this is the jewel of all, the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Walter Cradock c 1606-1659

Have I not again and again preached up the necessity of an inward and habitual fitness for heaven, the beginning of which is called a new birth and its process conversion and sanctification.  And why did I represent this change as the effect of divine power and promoted by means but in order to fix your dependence on the divine being and gain your application to the means of grace? Morgan Edwards 1722-1792

He is called the Rose of Sharon, Handsome, radiant, fair of face, He excels by far ten thousand Splendid sights in time and space; Friend of sinners, Here’s their pilot on the sea. Ann Griffiths 1778-1805 (original in Welsh)

Christianity as it works in the heart is mightier than it is when explained and enforced in a thousand volumes. Christianity in books is like seed in the granary dry and all but dead. It is not written but living characters that are to convert the infidel. The life of good men and not the library of theologues is the converting power. David Thomas 1813-1894

There is in God, some say, A deep but dazzling darkness, as men here Say it is late and dusky, because they See not all clear. O for that night! where I in Him Might live invisible and dim! Henry Vaughan 1621-1695

He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven; for everyone has need to be forgiven George Herbert 1593-1633

... the antichrist ... "the false prophet", "the great whore" ... "the red dragon" ... is to be defeated by the Lord Jesus; and the gospel of life will overrun the places, kingdoms and extensive countries that this antichrist has ruled; such as Europe which is now ruled by the Church of Rome and other formal, lifeless churches; Asia, and a great part of Africa, which is today under the authority of Mohametanism; together with the remotest parts of the world in Asia, Africa and America, which paganism covers as a flood. William Williams Pantycelyn  1717-1791

Jesus Christ is still the same One. If He was worthy that Stephen and James should die for His sake He is worthy of our allegiance too. Yea He will be the same for ever. When the world has passed away with its fashion and its lust, when the earth and the works that are therein are burned up and dissolved, Jesus Christ abides. What He was yesterday to His martyr Stephen that He is to all that follow Him in earth's today and that He will for ever be when He shall have appeared unto them who expect Him unto salvation. Thomas Charles Edwards 1837-1900

The enormous load of human guilt Was on my Saviour laid; With woes as with a garment He For sinners was arrayed. And in the fearful pangs of death He wept, He prayed for me; Loved and embraced my guilty soul When nailed to the tree. O love amazing! love beyond The reach of human tongue; Love which shall be the subject of An everlasting song. William Williams Pantycelyn 1717-1791