Cackling is not laying, and promising is not paying.

Creditors who have waited long for their money are well aware of this, and their patience grows feeble as the false promise is repeated. Thomas Fuller says, "Creditors have better memories than debtors, and are great observers of days and times."

 

Call me, and I'll call thee.

Puff me, and I'll puff thee. Mutual-admiration societies are very common. Some seem to be in league to support each other's falsehoods: the Indians represent one man as saying, "There’s a tiger!" whereupon the other backs him up by saying, "There's his tail!" This joining of hand with hand will not save the guilty.

 

Call me cousin, but cozen me not.

Don't use your relationship as scissors to shear me with. Don't try to creep up my sleeve.

 

Call me not Olive till you see me gathered.

So uncertain is human life, that we cannot judge it to be either happy or good till we reach the end of it.

 

Call me what you like, but don't call me too late for dinner.

Most people take a great interest in feeding time. However, it is an animal business.

 

Call me wise, and I will allow you to be a judge.

Of course you will; but in this case there will be two of us who are not wise, and by no means good judges.

 

Camomile--the more you tread it the more you spread it.

In this it is like a persecuted opinion, or grace in the heart. The more the true Israelites are afflicted, the more they multiply.

 

"Candidly but cautiously," said the wise man.

So should we always speak. The truth by all means, but that truth with caution; for there are so many lying upon the catch, that one has need to look at his words twice before he speaks them.

 

Candles in the daytime are the light of folly.

Yes, and the height of folly too. Yet how commonly are they seen in churches nowadays! We wax wroth at the sight.

 

Candles on altars are a mark

That the parson's in the dark.

His Roman candles will not help him: the poor man is blind.

 

Candles on the altar

Prove Protestants falter.

Many other signs there are of this faltering. Men put up with anything nowadays. Even in Scotland, the modern backbone is not so firm as the ancient. Sometimes we say to ourselves, when we see Popish ornaments–

"Oh, were John Knox but here

To clear out all this gear!"

 

Can't I be your friend without being your fool?

Must I carry out your silly notions in order to be on good terms with you?

 

Care brings us clouds which bring no rain,

It veils the sun, but all in vain.

Beecher said, "And yet men love to nurse their cares, and seem as uneasy without some fret as an old friar would be without his hair girdle."

 

Care is no cure, and covet is not have it.

 

Care killed the cat, but sobered the kit.

Young people are the better for a little care, but older folks are apt to be overcome by it.

 

Care will kill a cat though she has nine lives.

Men are killed by worry, not by work. Let us turn an old song to better account, and sing:--

"Begone, dull care!

I pray thee begone from me ,

Begone, dull care!

By faith I will banish thee.

Long time thou hast been tarrying here;

And fain thou wouldst me kill,

But now I have learned to trust in God

Thou never shalt have thy will."

 

Careless prayers ask a denial.

Certainly they will get it. How can we expect God to answer us when our own heart does not answer to our words?

 

Carry an umbrella when it's dry; do as you like when it's wet.

A few eccentric persons always carry their ginghams; but the most of us care rather for the spirit of this proverb, and try to be prepared for danger when none is yet visible.

 

Carry no sticks to the wood: add no mire to the slough.

There is sin enough in the world without our increasing it. There are sticks enough in the world's wood, and there is mire enough in the world's slough; why add thereto? May grace be given us to diminish evil, burn the sticks, and drain the slough!

 

Carry not fire in one hand, and water in the other.

Let not your conduct be self-contradictory. Do not preach the gospel in words, and deny it in works.

 

Carry your eyes in your own head.

Judge for yourself. Don't make another your guide.

 

Casks are soon set rolling.

Some men are always ready to change. Oldham says of one of these for-ever-rolling folks--

‘More changing than the weather-cock, his head

Ne'er wakes with the same thoughts he took to bed."

 

Cast not a clout till May is out.

It will be found by experience that one had better keep on winter clothing till June, for our weather is so treacherous.

 

Cast not dirt into the well which gives you water.

Find not fault with those who feed you, nor with the trade which supports you, nor with the Lord who gives you all things.

 

Cast up your books, or your books will cast up you.

Bankrupts are afraid to look to their accounts, and so everything gets into a muddle, and goes to ruin.

 

Catch the hare before you sell her skin.

 

Catch the squirrel before you sell its tail.

These two proverbs forbid our making too sure of our hopes. The man who sold the bear's skin before he had killed it, was eaten by that bear, skin and all.

 

Cats always fall on their feet.

So do some men seem to prosper under all circumstances. Like the three legs of the Manx penny, they are always standing.

 

Cats are honest when the meat is out of reach.

Many who are not cats come under this category.

 

Cats can't catch fish if they won't wet their feet.

We must consent to some discomfort if we are to get on in the world, or hope to accomplish any useful design. This proverb is thus rhymed:--

"Fain the cat would fishes eat,

But she's loth to wet her feet."

 

Cats in mittens catch no mice.

Persons who are fastidious in dress seldom accomplish much. A minister who preaches in gloves is usually too fine a gentleman to move men's consciences.

 

Cats know the ways of cats.

Certain classes of people know one another's ways, which cannot be comprehended by strangers.

 

Cause not thy weaker brother to offend;

But to the needy helpful succour send.

 

Caution is the parent of safety.

 

Cease from dispute which causeth ill blood.

Plutarch says:

"Where two discourse, if the one's anger rise,

The man who lets the contest fall is wise."

 

Cease not loving because of hasty words.

Forget them, and begin again.

 

Cease not to pray, and hammer away.

Mix efforts with prayer. Cease neither from action nor sapplication. "Trust in God, and mind your own business."

 

Cease play when it ceases to be play.

When bad temper creeps in because the weaker does not like to be beaten, drop the game. It is meant for pleasure; end it when it causes pain.

 

Censure from the bad is true praise.

When Agesilaus heard any persons praised or censured, he remarked that it was as necessary to know the characters of the critics as the character of the person of whom they spoke. Slander is the homage which vice pays to virtue. If the wicked praised us, we should have to ask with the Stoic, "What have I done wrong, that these fellows should speak well of me."

 

Change of weather is the discourse of fools.

In England, if two are conversing together,

The subject begins with the state of the weather;

And 'tis ever the same, both with young and with old,

'Tis sure to be either too hot or too cold.

'Tis either too wet, or else 'tis too dry ;

The glass is too low, or else 'tis too high

But if all had their wishes once jumbled together,

Pray who upon earth could live in such weather?

It seemeth to me that it's best as it be,

And one thing is sure, they would never agree.

There's corn in the markets, there's hay in the mangers,

And that's more than there'd be if men were the rangers.

Jack would dry up the wheat to get in his hay;

We should have no more turnips if Tom had his way:

But thanks to the goodness that rules altogether,

Say whatever they like they can't alter the weather."

 

Character is a man's best capital.

It is the backbone of success, especially with those employed by others. Young man, see that you do not impoverish yourself by wasting this precious stock-in-trade of life.

 

Charge at your pleasure, but give me good measure.

Cheap or dear, fill to the brim.

False weights, and measures short eschew,

And give to every man his due.

 

Charity bread has hard crusts: bread of your own earning tastes sweet.

 

Charity gives itself rich, covetousness hoards itself poor.

"There was a man, though some did count him mad,

The more he gave away the more he had."

 

Charity is never so angelic as when its hand is hidden by its wing.

 

Charity is the salt of riches.

Sprinkle a good deal of it over your income. Be not one of those of whom Sidney Smith said that they were "ready to act the good Samaritan, without the oil and the twopence."

 

Charity lives at home, but walks abroad.

 

Charity should be warmest when the season is coldest.

Then is the time for coals and blankets, and the more the. merrier. It will warm your hearts to warm poor people's bodies.

 

Charity to the soul is the very soul of charity.

 

Cheerfulness is the sunshine of the heart.

It is the fine weather of the soul, and makes the face to shine. Oh, for more of it!

 

Cheerfulness smoothes the road of life.

It either gathers out the stones, or else trips so lightly over them that they are not noticed.

 

Chide thy friend in private, praise him in public.

The first will prove that thy faithfulness is full of love, and the second that thy love is not ashamed to own itself. This is what thou wouldst expect of him, therefore so act towards him.

 

Children and chicken, must ever be picking.

"Little and often" is said to be the rule; but some children prefer a good deal and often. It is cruelty to keep growing children without their meals, or even to delay them very long beyond the proper hour. Boys can eat anything, and any quantity. It has been tartly observed, that a boy's appetite is always in apple-pie order.

 

Children and dogs love lovable people.

By, a strange instinct, the young dogs find out kind folk. Men with whom children and dogs make friends are seldom bad-natured.

 

Children are certain cares, but uncertain comforts.

 

Children have wide ears and long tongues.

So with the child who looked sharply at a visitor, and being asked what he meant by it, replied, "I wanted to see if you had a drop in your eye; I heard mother say you had frequently."

 

Children may make a rich man poor, but they make a poor man rich.

Was not this the saying of Bishop Hall, when at Waltham Abbey? One who saw his large family observed, "These are they that make a rich man poor." "Nay," said Hall, "these are they that make a poor man rich."

 

Children never tell what they don't know.

They are best sent out of the way when things are talked of which you do not wish reported.

 

Children speak words; men should speak things.

It is to be feared that we have many old children about, and very few well-grown men. Words are many, and works are few.

 

Chins without beards are better than heads without brains.

Young men, when wise, are to be preferred to those without sense, who have not even youth to excuse their folly. When Queen Elizabeth had sent a somewhat young ambassador to a foreign court, and the king complained of it, the ambassador replied, "If Her Majesty had known that you measure wisdom by beards, she would have sent you a goat."

 

Choice flowers bloom in the garden of affliction.

Some of us have there gathered such roses and lilies as grow nowhere else. Sweet herbs of sage, and balm, and a thousand others grow in this garden, whose hedge is of thorns.

He that enjoys a patient mind

Can pleasures in affliction find.

Choose a kit from a good cat.

Daughters will probably be like their mothers; therefore the mother is a good guide for a young man in selecting a wife.

 

Choose not alone a proper mate,

But proper time to marry.

Marriage too early or too late will prove a calamity.

 

Choose your friends with care, that you may have choice friends.

The Burmese bid us avoid sluggards, grumblers, the ungrateful, and the men who are always timorous.

"A sleepy head, and discontented mind.

The pilgrims wisely quit and leave behind:

So, too, th' ungrateful, and the slave of fear,

We hurry on and drop them in the rear."

 

Choose your love, and then love your choice.

 

Choose your wife from the wash-tub rather than the piano.

 

Choose your wife on Saturday rather than on Sunday.

When she is in her work-day clothes, and you can better see what she will be in common, every-day life. The same advice is put in another form, as follows:

"When you would select a wife,

Do not call on Sunday;

If you'd know her as she is,

Better seek on Monday."

 

Chop, and there will be chips.

Of course, if you attack any evil, there will be angry words and fierce replies, but no true woodsman puts up his axe because he is afraid of the chips.

 

Circumstances alter cases, and faces, and paces.

By the omission of a single circumstance a whole case may be made to seem other than it is. Change will soon affect the faces of men towards us, and alter their pace in journeying. This saying has also been used in legal matters. See the old story in Merry Tales and Quick Answers:-- "A husbandman in Zealand came before the chief ruler of the country, whose bull had killed the poor man's cow, and after he had leave to speak, he said, ‘My bull, leaping over the ditch, hath killed your cow; what is the law?’ The ruler, suspecting no deceit, answered, 'Thou must pay for her.' Then the poor man said, ‘Sir, I failed in my tale, your bull hath killed my cow.’ The ruler, being a little taken back, said, ‘This is another matter,’ but the poor man answered, 'Verily, it is all one thing, and you have truly judged.'"

 

Clean 'hands are better than clever hands.

Much is made of cleverness nowadays; but the devil is the cleverest of all, and yet he is the most wicked.

 

Clean hands need no rings.

 

Clean your own windows; don't break other people's.

 

Clean your tongue as well as your teeth.

This is easier said than done.

 

Cleanliness is a fine life-preserver.

Both as to body, food, air, and dwelling-place, this proverb holds; for "cleanliness is the seed of healthiness."

 

Close clipping makes thick hedges.

So the carrying out of the law tends to make it a greater defence to righteousness. Or the proverb may mean, that when expenses are cut down, an estate grows to solid wealth.

 

Close mouth and open eyes,

Marks of men truly wise.

 

Coaxing is better than scratching.

Gentle behaviour is greatly to be preferred to rough ways.

 

Cobbler, stick to your last.

Parson, keep to your text. Tradesman, mind your business.

"Ring your bell, your crumpets vend;

Each must to his trade attend."

 

Cockneys on the spree are lunatics at large.

One has only to see their conduct to feel that this is a very mild censure. "'Arry and 'Arriet go on any how."

 

Cold love soon grows colder.

 

Comb a dog, and curl a dog; still a dog is but a dog.

Do what you will with some people, they are what they always were. Combing and curling only make dogs snarl the more.

 

Come, Five-and-twenty! Don't work to the tune of "Old Hundredth"!

Let not the young man copy the aged in the slowness which the infirmity of age necessarily engenders.

 

"Committee" is a noun of multitude, signifying many, but not signifying much.

This is not yet a proverb in language, but its sense is generally admitted by all who have dealings with committees. How often committees commit themselves is equally well known.

 

Common fame is much to blame.

They say also, "Common fame is a common liar"; yet often "where there's smoke there's fire"; while another proverb saith, "Common fame is seldom to blame." The truth lies between the two sayings: general repute has usually a foundation in fact.

 

Compassion is of God, but passion is of the devil.

 

Compassion will do more than passion.

The kindly warmth of the sun made the traveller take off his cloak, while the cutting wind could not tear it off, but made him bind it close about him; so love does more than wrath.

 

Confess that you were wrong yesterday; it will show that you are wiser to-day.

A very learned man has said, "The three hardest words to pronounce in the English language are, ‘I was mistaken’"; and when Frederic the Great wrote his letter to the Senate, "I have just lost a great battle, and it was entirely my own fault"–Goldsmith says, "This confession displayed more greatness than all his victories."

 

Conquer a dog before you contend with a lion.

Better always accomplish the easier before you enter upon the harder task. Overcome your fellow mortal before warring with God.

 

Consider well, I beg you so,

Who you are, and what you do,

Whence you come, and whither you go.

If men would only think, they would be far more likely to go right. Surely it must be the first duty of an intelligent being to consider his own position towards God.

 

Constant dropping wears the stone.

Perseverance and importunity conquer. It is rhymed thus:--

Of all the proverbs none is better known

Than "Constant dropping wears away a stone."

 

Constant occupation removes temptation.

In a great measure it does so. David sinned with Bathsheba when he stayed at home from battle, and was resting on his bed in the day-time.

 

Content is health to the sick, and riches to the poor.

That is to say, it makes the sick man's mind well, and gives the poor man satisfaction in the little which he possesses. One says, "I do not love suffering, and yet I love to suffer when God wills it. I am not fond of the burden which I carry, and yet I am fond of carrying it when the Lord would have me do so."

 

Content thyself with knowing what is boiling in thine own pot.

 

Contentment comes of the heart, not of the house.

Isaac Walton, himself a man of a very cheerful, contented spirit, relates the following anecdote: "I knew a man who had health and riches, and several houses, all beautiful and well-furnished, who often troubled himself and his family to remove from one to another of them. On being asked by a friend why he removed so often from one house to another, he replied that it was in order to find content in some of them. But his friend, knowing his temper, told him that, if he would find content in any of his houses, he must leave himself behind, for content can never dwell but with a meek and quiet soul."

 

Contentment makes a fast a feast.

 

Contentment makes much of little; greed makes little of much.

Contentment, says Fuller, consisteth not in heaping more fuel, but in taking away some fire. Contentment finds multum in parvo: it hath a quick eye with which to spy out benefits.

Contentment from a little gift

A heap of precious joy will sift.

 

Cool head and warm heart:

These should never be apart.

Lest we should be carried away by excitement, and lose our balance of mind.

 

Cool ovens bake no biscuits.

Men without zeal accomplish little.

 

Copy the cows, and think more than you say.

They chew the cud, and hold their peace. Many would be better men if they gave less bellow, and more butter.

 

Coughing is catching.

When November comes, all the members of the family go down to Barking. At church the minister's "Let us pray" is understood to mean "Let us cough." Some part of the coughing might be suppressed--this we condemn; a part is real affliction–this we pity.

 

"Couldn't help it" doesn't mend it.

Frequent is the excuse, "I couldn't help it." It does not comfort the injured party, and it is seldom true. The Creoles very wisely say, "Asking my pardon does not cure the bump you made on my forehead."

 

Counsel must be followed as well as praised.

There is no use in hearing the gospel and admiring the sermon, unless we put it in practice.

 

Counsel over cups is crazy.

Drunkards are never good advisers.

 

Count money after your own kin.

In trade transactions deal with relatives as you would with strangers, so far as methods of business are concerned. This rule is a wise one, and promotes love.

 

Count not your chickens before they are hatched.

We have known some not only count them, but sell them, and spend the money; and pretty fowls they looked when the time came to deliver the birds, and they had none! We found in a small collection of Singhalese proverbs the following tale, which reminds us of the milkmaid and her eggs: "A person who had a drum-stick tree in his garden, when he saw the first blossoms on it, fell to thinking about the way the drum-sticks they would produce should be tied into bundles; from that he passed on to a speculation about the profits that would accrue to him by selling them, and the trade he could carry on with this money, and the extensive trade which, in course of time, he would be able to carry on with foreign countries with ships of his own; and the store-houses that should be built for foreign goods; and as the drum-stick tree seemed to obstruct the way to the store-houses, he cut it down."

 

Courage is the salt of character: put your fears in this brine.

 

Courage needs eyes as well as arms.

We must not blindly rush into danger. Fearless need not be heedless. True courage is not cousin to rashness.

 

Courageous foe is more to be admired than cowardly friend.

 

Courtesy costs little, but buys much.

When old Zechariah Fox, the great merchant of Liverpool, was asked by what means he contrived to realize so large a fortune as he possessed, his reply was, "Friend, by one article alone, in which thou mayest deal too, if thou pleasest--civility."

 

Covetousness is the punishment of the rich.

But the poor may suffer from it too. Covetousness is the hunger which comes from eating.

 

Cowards dread a pigmy's blows;

Heroes conquer giant foes.

 

Cowards should stop in their castles.

Then they can brag without testing their boasts.

 

Cows forget that they were calves.

Elderly persons fail to remember that they were once young themselves, and so they do not make allowance for the juveniles around them.

 

Creaking waggons are long on the road.

The proverb means the same as that which says, "Creaking doors keep long upon their hinges." Feeble lives are often long long ones.

 

Credit won by lying is quick in dying.

For very soon the falsehood is found out. Truth is like a cuckoo, you cannot hedge it in, nor prevent its voice being heard.

 

Crest or no crest, do your best.

He is noble who does nobly. Shirt sleeves, or arms without a coat, make a capital coat of arms.

 

Crooked Lane is a dirty road.

Policy, trickiness, duplicity, these are all foul ways.

 

Crooked questions ask for crooked answers.

 

Crow and corn should not be in the same field.

We should endeavour to keep our holy work free from evil influences. This is hard work, for crows fly over hedges; yet we can keep the clappers going by entering our protest.

 

Crow not; croak not.

Be neither a boaster, nor a grumbler.

 

Crows have no cause to blame rooks for being black.

Yet black hates black, and here's the tug of war. The poker rails at the tongs, and the frying pan calls the tea-kettle smutty.

 

Crow-bars swallowed strengthen the back.

Hard things, when patiently endured, tend to increase our mental and spiritual strength. An old friend of mine told me in my youth that I should have to swallow many bush-fagots cross-ways. I have done so, and have found the process of great service in clearing the throat.

 

Cultivate your roses, but not on your noses.

Roses on noses grow without watering, but readily come from vinous and beery liquidation. A seedy-looking individual said to one of his companions, "I have just seen a picture, only a few inches square, for which the owner paid a great sum of money. I should be sorry to spend my money like that." Some one who stood by, answered, "You have paid more for a smaller picture than that." "I have? Where is it?" "On the tip of your nose."

 

Curiosity is ill-manners in another's house.

Nobody likes a guest to be prying and poking his nose into private affairs.

Of Paul Pry we fight shy.

 

Curses and chickens come home to roost.

What a full hen-house some men will have!

 

Cursing men are cursed men.

For curses are like processions, which go their round and come home again.

 

Curved is the line of beauty;

Straight is the line of duty.

Walk in the last, and thou shalt see

The former ever follow thee.

 

Custom in sin kills conscience of sin.

Wrong can be so often done that the doer thinks he is right.

 

Custom is the plague of wise men, the idol of fools.

 

Cut no more than you can eat.

Specially referring to your finger, or your hand.

 

Cut the loaf fair if you eat it all.

Housekeepers don't like to see food carved unfairly: only selfish and rude persons would be guilty of such conduct. But fools and clowns are not all gone to Gotham.

 

Cut your coat according to your cloth.

Longer or shorter according to the measure of the stuff. Outgoings must be regulated by incomings.

 

Cut your wisdom teeth as early as you can.

Have as little as possible sown in the field of folly, for it is bad harvesting. He is wise truly who is wise early.

 

Cutting off a mule's ear won't make him a horse.

Mere change of appearances is of little value. To take away some one glaring folly will not change a man's nature. The proverb is Creole. The Italians say, "Cut off the dog's tail, and he remains a dog."

 

 

Sayings of a more Spiritual Sort.

 

Can pride and grace

Dwell in one place?

They squeeze in somehow, but they can never agree.

 

Carnal joys breed sorrow, but spiritual sorrows breed joy.

Earth's entertainments are like those of Jael:

Her left hand brings me milk; her right a nail.

 

Carnal men love the God that they make, but not the God that made them.

 

Carnal minds may hear and wonder;

Gracious souls will hear and ponder.

 

Carry an appetite to God's house, and you will be fed.

A notable preacher said: "The hearer sometimes complains, ‘There was no food for my soul,’ when the truth is, there was no soul for the food."

 

Change not thy faith with changing times.

The gospel never alters; alter not in thy belief of it. These are ill times. Not without cause does the Scotch believer cry:--

"There's nae gospel noo, lassie,

There's nae covenant blood:

There's nae altar noo, lassie,

There's nae Lamb o' God.

"There's nae Chalmers noo, lassie,

There's nae gude M‘Cheyne;

And the dear, dear cross they preached, lassie,

The dear, dear cross is gane.

"Folks dinna want the cross, lassie,

They've cutten down the tree;

And naebody believes in it

But fules like you and me."

 

Christ and a crust is heaven below.

 

Christ became a man for you; be a man for Christ.

That was an instructive epitaph which was placed on the grave of a converted soldier:--

"When I was young, in wars I shed my blood,

Both for my king, and for my country's good;

In older years my care was chief to be

Soldier to him that shed his blood for me."

 

Christ bore our curse, and we may well bear his cross.

 

Christ chooses us that we may choose him.

 

Christ died that sinners might live.

"O boundless depth! O love beyond degree!

The offended dies to set the offender free!"

 

Christ has come to us, that we might come to him.

 

Christ has cords of love; but he has also a rod of iron.

 

Christ has many joint heirs, but no successors.

 

Christ in the heart is better than corn in the barn.

 

Christ in the heart is heaven on earth.

 

Christ is a great Saviour for great sinners.

 

Christ is a physician who asks no fees

 

Christ is all in all to all his people.

"My Christ, he is the heaven of heavens:

My Christ what shall I call?

My Christ is first, my Christ is last,

My Christ is all in all."–Mason.

 

Christ is better with his cross than the world with its crown.

Rutherford wrote: "I know his sackcloth and ashes are better than the fool's laughter."

 

Christ is gone from our eyes, but abides in our hearts.

 

Christ is in all believers, and all believers are in Christ.

 

Christ is not loved at all if not loved above all.

 

Christ is our adornment as well as our atonement.

 

Christ is our hope of glory, and the glory of our hope.

 

Christ is our mercy and our merit, our myrrh and our mirror.

 

Christ is our patron and our pattern.

He spent his life for us, and now he reproduces his life in us. Toplady has the idea in his verse–

"Let thy Cross my will control ;

Conform me to my Guide;

In the Manger lay my soul,

And Crucify my pride."

 

Christ is preparing saints for heaven, and heaven for saints.

 

Christ is the soul's sole solace.

"I have heard the voice of Jesus,

Tell me not of aught beside;

I have seen the face of Jesus,

All my soul is satisfied."

 

Christ is now with us, but soon we shall be with Christ.

Christ keeps no servants merely to wear a livery.

They have each an appointed service, and let them fulfil it.

 

Christ lives for believers and in believers.

 

Christ may wait long, but he will not wait for ever.

 

Christ not only gives life to repentance, but he gives repentance unto life.

 

Christ pleads for us above; let us plead for him below.

 

Christ receives the Devil's castaways.

In Mr. Whitefield's Memoir a memorable instance is recorded of a wretched woman who was led to hope in Christ Jesus by hearing the preacher say that Christ was willing to receive even the devil's castaways. How gloriously true is the expression!

 

Christ sends none away empty but those who are full of themselves.

He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away."--Luke i. 53.

 

Christ sweetens our comforts and sanctifies our crosses.

 

Christ takes possession of us on earth, and for us in heaven.

 

Christ was born for us that he might be born in us.

"If he had not lived for thee,

Thou hadst died most wretchedly;

And two deaths had been thy fee."--Herbert.

 

Christ was born a man that we might be born again.

 

Christ was delivered for our sins that we might be delivered from our sins.

"If he had not died for thee,

Thou hadst lived in misery,

Two lives worse than ten deaths be."--Herbert.

 

Christian names are everywhere;

Christian men are very rare.

 

Christians may sin most when least tempted, and sin least when most tempted.

 

Christ's actions are our patterns.

 

Christ's crimson blood cleanses crimson sin.

 

Christ's cross is a happy burden.

"Christ's cross is the sweetest burden that ever I bore; it is such a burden as wings are to a bird, or sails to a ship, to carry me forward to my harbour."--Rutherford.

 

Christ's cross sweetens our crosses.

 

Christ's merit covers our demerit.

"Cover" is the Old Testament word for expiation and propitiation, and we rejoice in it, notwithstanding the opposition of "philosophy falsely so called." Yet let no man wickedly say that "imputed righteousness is a clean glove which covers a foul hand" for whom the Lord Jesus covers he also cleanses.

 

Christ's name on your heart proves that your name is on Christ's heart.

"We love him, because he first loved us." Our love to him is the sure token of his peculiar love to us.

 

Christ's riches are prepared for the poor.

Read Psalm 1xviii. 10. "Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor."

 

Christ's school is a free school.

The penniless scholar is free to all his teaching. It must be without price, for it is priceless.

 

Christ's soldiers fight best on their knees.

The praying legion is the thundering legion, and chases the enemy before it.

 

Clocks need weights, and men need troubles.

Afflictions by God's grace set our graces going.

 

Cold prayers are called prayers, but are no prayers.

They are prayers in name only. Their manner asks for a denial, and a denial will be given them.

 

Cold preachers make bold sinners.

Imagining that there is no truth in religion preached so feebly, the ungodly take liberty to sin.

 

Come over to Him whom you cannot overcome.

Even to the Lord, against whom resistance is vain.

 

Comfort of the promises comes to those who make conscience of the precepts.

The promises often lose their sweetness because we have been eating the grapes of Sodom. Obedient children receive the kiss.

 

Confession must be salted with contrition.

Otherwise it is a mere form, and may be even an aggravation of the fault.

 

Conformists to Christ are nonconformists to the world.

"Those who are bound for heaven must be willing to swim against the stream."--Matthew Henry.

 

Conscience cannot speak peace till God speaks pardon.

How can we be at peace with ourselves till we have reason to believe that God is at peace with us?

 

Consciences and souls were made

To be the Lord's alone.

It was a saying of Napoleon's, "My dominion ends where that of conscience begins."

 

Conviction may be without conversion, but there is no conversion without conviction.

 

Corn is cleansed with wind, and the soul with chastenings.

The Lord uses trouble as a means, but he himself is the real purifier. "I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."

 

Count upon trials, or you count amiss.

"Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth." "Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward." It is as Master Bunyan saith:

"A Christian man is never long at ease;

When one grief's gone, another doth him seize."

 

Corruptions may slumber, but godliness must watch.

So long as we live, the corruptions of the old nature will be ready to rise in rebellion, and they must be held down by divine grace working in us continual care. Quaint Berridge wisely says:--

"And if the monsters round thy head

Lay harmless down, like sheep,

Yet never once surmise them dead,

They have but dropped asleep."