Excerpts from 

 

"The Almost Christian" by Matthew Mead, 1661

The unsaved man's motto

With thanks to Grace_Gems

and its collection of timeless old messages

"There is a proud heart in every natural man. There was much pride in Adam's sin—and there is much of it in all Adam's sons. Pride is a radical sin, and from hence arises this over-inflated opinion of a man's spiritual state and condition.

"The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself:

'God, I thank you that I am not like other men— robbers, evildoers, adulterers." Luke 18:11

"This is the unsaved man's motto. A proud man has an eye to see his beauty—but not his deformity. He sees his abilities—but not his spots. He sees his seeming righteousness—but not his real wretchedness.

"It must be a work of grace that must show a man the lack of grace. The haughty eye looks upward—but the humble eye looks downward, and therefore this is the believer's motto, 'I am the least of saints—and the greatest of sinners!'

"But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, 'O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner!'  I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God!" Luke 18:13-14


See God's Wisdom versus Human Pride


More quotes from The Almost Christian:

"Common knowledge is that which floats in the head but does not influence the heart."

"No man was ever kept out of heaven for his confessed badness, though many are kept out of heaven for their supposed goodness."

"The ground of many a man’s engaging in religion is the trouble of his conscience, and the end of his continuing in religion is the quieting of conscience."

"It is a great deceit to measure the substance of our religion by the bulk of our profession, and to judge of the strength of our graces by the length of our duties."

"There are two things very hard: one is to take the shame of our sins to ourselves, the other is to give the glory of our services to Christ."

With thanks to A Puritan's Mind


     "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:8-9


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