Sayings

of William Tiptaft.

'MAKE me of that spirit wherein thou delightest to dwell.'

'Grant that we may be more anxious to die well than to get through the world well.'

'Deliver us from everything that may entangle our affections and harden our hearts.'

'Grant that we may hold the world with a loose hand.' Grant that we may have dying strength for a dying hour.' Make our consciences tender and keep them so.'

'Grant that we may not sin cheaply.'

'Make us more dead to the world, and separate in spirit from it.'

'O Lord, keep our hearts, keep our eyes, keep our feet, and keep our tongues.'

'Bless those who have troubles and sorrows which they cannot tell to their nearest and dearest friends.'

'Brighten our evidences - clear up our difficulties - shine upon the path which thou art leading us in.'

'Make us very grateful for the least mark or evidence that we are among thy children.'

'Give us right judgment in all things.'

'Look upon those who mourn in Zion-put their tears into thy bottle - listen to their sighs and groans.'

'Make and keep our consciences very tender in thy fear.' Dear Lord, teach us what is right and give us power to do it.'

'Let us never shelter under the sins of any man, whether dead or alive.'

'Grant Lord that we may be made right in doctrine, right in experience, and right in practice.'

'Lord, teach us more what we are by nature and what we are by grace.'

'Teach us what we know in the letter and what we know in the spirit.'

'O Lord do look upon us in mercy if it be thy sovereign will and pleasure. Do regard the salt of the earth.'

'Grant Lord that our sins may be blotted out as a cloud and our iniquities as a thick cloud.'

May we never, never dare,
What we're not to say we are.
Make us well our vileness know,
Keep us very, very low.'

'Look upon the unworthy worm before thee. Let him be as thy mouth in separating the precious from the vile. Grant that he may rightly divide the word of truth and rightly divide the hearers.'

'Grant that he may pray that his last days may be his best days. Grant that he may pray earnestly that his last days may be his best days.'

'Give thy people a spirit of prayer for him who is about to speak. Grant him seals to his ministry and souls for his hire.'

'Bless him who is about to speak to the people. Sinful as he is, ignorant as he is, unfit as he is, and unworthy as he is to stand up in thy holy and great name.'

'Grant that he may exalt the Saviour and lay the sinner low.' ' Look upon thy little Zion here.'

'Bless our meeting together in this place; grant that it may be a Bethel to our souls, and the very gate of heaven.'

'Grant that thy word may have free course and be glorified.'

'What is your state before God? What is my state before God?'

'Who amongst you are begging for mercy from necessity?'

'Who amongst you are calling upon God to bless your souls, and calling upon your souls to bless God?'

'Who amongst you present are more anxious about your souls than about your bodies?'

'Who amongst you are praying for a religion of the right sort, whatever it may cost you?'

'Why will you follow the fashions of that ungodly city, Paris? Look at the judgments that came on Jerusalem for the pride of the women.'

'If the way to heaven is so narrow, and so few find it, what will become of those who never seek it?'
Are you ready to shake hands with death?'

'Can you call God your Father, Christ your elder Brother, and the blessed Spirit your Friend and Comforter?'

'Who amongst you are asking how a sinner can be saved, and that sinner yourself?'

'Have you not done anything within the last twenty-four hours which you would not like to die doing? Would you like to die in a bad temper?'

'Has your religion ever kept you awake at night? Have you ever esteemed it a mercy that you are out of hell?'

'Who began the work in your soul, God or you? If you say that you helped God to begin it, then I cannot encourage you. I have no right to encourage you if you have not a sight of your sinfulness before God.'

'Have you ever stood on the same plot of ground with the publican, crying, " God be merciful to me a sinner?"'

'If you have not found mercy, are you among the seekers?'

'Is Christ the one thing needful? Are you willing to pluck out right-eye sins, and cut off right-hand sins?'

'Some may say, " The minister never describes my ease." Have you a case to describe? or are you at ease in Zion? " Woe to them that are at ease in Zion!"'

'Some may say, " If the minister preached better, we should be better hearers;" but the minister might say, " If I had better hearers, I should preach better."'

'Has your religion cost you anything? if it has cost you nothing, it is worth nothing. Do you put it on and off with your Sunday clothes? " Be not deceived; God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."'

'Have you ever experienced the new birth? if not, living and dying in your present state to hell you must go.'

'What a mercy to have a religion of the right kind What a very great mercy to have a religion of the right kind! What an extraordinary great mercy to have a religion of the right kind!'

'Who amongst you would rather sit under a ministry like a sharp threshing instrument having teeth, than like a soft velvet brush?'
How many of you would be in chapel to-day, if you knew that you would be flogged for it in the Market-place to-morrow? and if you were flogged for it to-morrow, how many of you would be here next Sunday? '

'What a mercy to have a religion that will do to die by, - that will stand when the world is in a blaze! Those amongst you who are favoured with such a religion cannot be too thankful; it is a greater mercy than if you could call all Abingdon your own.'

'I can tell you one thing you have to be thankful for, and that is, that you are out of hell, on praying ground, and where hope can come.'

'God is pleased with gratitude,- he gets so little of it. God has been a good God to me, and if I were not to say so he would be angry with me.'

'God can rain money into farmers' pockets and he can rain it out. He can shine it in and shine it out.'

'It is a great work to make people fit for the cemetery. If you are to go to heaven you must be made fit for heaven. There are prepared mansions for a prepared people.'

'Six feet by two-and-a-half is all the ground that the richest man in England will shortly occupy.'

'If not washed in Christ's blood and clothed in his righteousness, no heaven for you, no heaven for me.'

'How awful to die out of Christ! How blessed to die in Christ! '

'What an awful thing to die without repentance! What God may do for you before you die it is not for me to say. But

"You that die without repentance,
You must rise when Christ appears;
Rise to hear your dreadful sentence,
While the saints rejoice in theirs;
You to dwell with fiends infernal,
They with Jesus Christ to reign;
They go into life eternal,
You to everlasting pain,"'

'I am not afraid of alarming people too much about their souls; I wish I could hear more crying out, "What must I do to be saved? " under a feeling sense of their lost and ruined condition, and crying earnestly for mercy.'

'If I preach to please men, I am not the servant of Christ; and " woe unto me, if I preach not the gospel!" '

'If you have one grain of grace, you must die to know how rich you are.'

'If you have one grain of godly sincerity, it is better than if you could call all Abingdon your own.'

'However you may be persecuted, they cannot put you where you cannot pray. What a mercy!'

'What an awful thing to see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven and you yourselves thrust out! O to be amongst the "thrust out!" What can be more awful! "And they that were ready went in with him to the marriage sapper: and the door was shut."'

'I am tried about the beginning, middle, and end of my religion. Tried about sin in myself and tried about sin in others.'

'It is a great mercy that I am on my feet in the great battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil.'

'Sin is of a defiling nature, You cannot touch pitch and not be defiled.'

'Sin is of a hardening nature: like the rubbing of my hand, it is at first tender, but if continued, becomes callous.'

'Sin in ourselves and sin in those connected with us is sure to bring trouble.'

'The most depraved characters did not become so all at once, they go from bad to worse; and like a wheel going down hill, the further it goes the faster it goes.'

'Sinning will stop praying, or praying will stop sinning.'

'How hard it is to pray against besetting sins! I want to be begging mercy every hour.'

'Pity a helpless sinner, Lord,
Who would believe thy gracious word,
But own my heart, with shame and grief,
A sink of sin and unbelief.'

'A prayerless man is a careless man.'

'Shew me a man who prays for himself alone, and I will shew you a man who alone is prayed for.'

'I should not think lightly of that man's religion who gets answers to prayer.'

'When the Lord finds his rod, his people find their knees.'

Be sure thou hast grown slack,
And settled on thy lees;
The Bible cast behind thy back,
And seldom on thy knees.'

'Where we see blossom we hope for fruit, but where there are no blossoms we are sure there will be no fruit.'

'Shew me a man's books and shew me a man's companions, and I will tell you what sort of a man he is.'

'Shew me a man not straight in his words, and I will shew you a man not straight in his actions.'

'The world think little of God's people, but they expect much: they would be more surprised to see any of you who attend this chapel at the races than any other sect. How they would talk about it! '

'Children take more notice of what their parents do than what they say.'

'Actions speak louder than words.'

'If you were to go about telling people that you had an inheritance worth a million of worlds, and yet to be out of temper for half-an-hour about a thing not worth sixpence, they would not believe you.'

'We are not going to jump out of Delilah's lap into Abraham's bosom.'

'I used to try to reconcile creature comforts and spiritual consolations. We cannot hold the world in one hand and Christ in the other. "Ye cannot serve God and mammon."'

'God requires pure desires,
All the heart or nothing.'

'Dead fish go with the stream, living ones against it.'

'In vain men talk of living faith,
When all their works exhibit death;
When they indulge some sinful view,
In all they say and all they do.'

'A tree which bears but little fruit,
Brings no great glory to its root;
When on the boughs rich fruit we see,
'Tis then we say, " A goodly tree."'

'Some will say, "I am an hundredfold fruit-bearer;" but will they who live near you say so? '

Let worldly minds the world pursue,
It has no charms for me;
Once I admired its trifles too,
But grace has set me free.'

'If you can repeat that verse as your experience you are a blessed people. Yours is a peculiar religion.'

'Real religion is to be severed from the world, to be married to Christ, and to bring forth fruit unto God.'

'You may deceive yourselves, but you cannot deceive God; " for God is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed." '

'I used to try to reconcile the friendship of the world and God's favour, but I found it would not do: " he that will not forsake all is not worthy of me."'

'O what a narrow way is that which leads to life!'

'Better to be in a union poor-house with a grain of grace than to live in a palace without it, for what would the palace avail you in a thousand years?'

'You may pay people to do many things for you, but no one can die for you; no one can go to hell for you.'

'Fit or not fit we must all die, and we know not how soon. As death leaves us, the judgment must find us.'

'I know nothing more awful to be said than this, " The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." '

'What a great work is the work of the ministry! to stand up between the ever-living God and never-dying souls. "If thou shalt cease to warn the wicked, their blood will I require at your hands." Soul blood stains deeply.'

'What sorrow, troubles, and afflictions attend all the followers of the Lamb! '

'Many of the Lord's people have troubles which they cannot tell at every corner of the street.'

'Whoever thinks of finding real happiness in this world will be a day's march behind.'

'You must not always expect the wind to be at your back all your way to heaven.'

'Who are you and what are you that you should expect to escape trouble? '

'It is better to be preserved in the brine of tribulation than to rot in honey.'

'The rougher the file the less the rust.'

Afflictions make us see,
What else would 'scape our sight,
How very foul and dim are we,
And God how pure and bright.'

'We come into the world crying, we go through it complaining, and go out of it groaning.'

'If we were allowed to choose our own ballast it would be something as light as saw-dust or shavings, but grace must be fried.'

'A sense of sin and guilt will stop the mouth, and cut off boasting.'

'The poet says,

"Poor and afflicted, Lord, are thine;
Poor and afflicted is their lot,
They know it and they murmur not:"

but they know it and they do murmur.'

'God's people seek to be made spiritually minded, and when the Lord answers their prayers they fret and murmur, and are ready to quarrel with God, but God will not spare the rod for their crying.'

'We cry to God to humble us and then such crosses and troubles come upon us that instead of a crop of gratitude there is a crop of rebellion and peevishness.'

'We are all good till we are tried.'

'How different is a young recruit, spending his bounty money, to an old veteran who has often encountered the enemy.'

'We have not much persecution in our day, - a little of the scourge of the tongue has been the most, - but we know not what we may have to suffer.'

'Whatever little differences may be amongst God's people, they will be sure to cleave close together in prison and in heaven.'

'If you put a dog into a sheepfold, the sheep will be sure to huddle together in a corner of the fold.'

'They that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution. - No cross, no crown.'

'We are all born but we are not buried; what may take place before we die we cannot tell.'

'We need restraining grace as well as saving grace.'

'God will give dying grace in the dying hour.'

'If Christ's righteousness will not do to die by, creature righteousness will not.'

'If free grace will not save a soul, free-will will not.'

'When a man is brought into the stripping-room and brought in guilty before God, the question is not whether he will be a Christian, but whether God will make him one.'

'I should not think much of that man's religion who has no changes: " Because they have no changes therefore they fear not God."'

'True religion's more than notion,
Something must be known and felt.'

'There is something great in real religion.'

'If you are a peculiar people, God must make you so and keep you so.'

'I desire to encourage the feeblest work of grace in a sinner's soul.'

'I would not despise the least mark of grace.'

'It is impossible to say how small a grain of grace will take a soul to glory.'

'The child a month old is as much a part of the family as the son of twenty-one years old. Those amongst you who know the most now, were once very ignorant.'

'The largest oak in the county was once an acorn.'

'Those who go with the baggage waggon are as much a part of the army as those who go in the front of the battle.'

'Many are going about saying what they are doing for God; but who can tell what he is doing for them? " Come all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul." I was a long time before I could say, "I will declare what he hath done for my soul;" but I could say, "what I hope he hath done for my soul:

"Come all ye chosen saints of God,
Disciples of God's suff 'ring Son,
Let me relate and you record
What he for my poor soul hath done."'

'If you are contented with a sound creed and a little morality in your lives you are in an awful state; I should not like to die in your state for a thousand worlds.'

'What a great mercy to be among the living in Zion; you cannot prize it too highly!'

'A living dog is better than a dead lion.'

'It is the living child that draws out the breast. Some want encouraging; some need discouraging.'

'The soul that with sincere desires
Seeks after Jesus' love,
That soul the Holy Ghost inspires
With breathings from above.'

'Those feeble desires, those wishes so weak,
'Tis Jesus inspires, and bids you still seek.'

'A man must know by experience the seventh chapter of Romans before he can know the eighth.'

'I have no objection to your calling God your Father if he has called you his child. It is by degrees we attain to this knowledge. First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.'

'I have nothing to say against a living assurance; but I would not encourage a dead assurance.'

'By the grace of God I am what I am.'

'I have no stone to cast at the vilest of the vile. It is all of grace that I am made to differ.'

'They are well kept whom the Lord keeps.' Berridge says,

"When sin and guilt are understood,
To Jesus Christ direct the eye,
And preach a pardon through his blood,
And bid them on his grace rely." '

'If a man preach free will how pleased men will be, but if he preaches free grace how offended they are. It is the truth which gives offence.'

Mercies in providence and grace
Flow from thy bounteous hand,
And claim incessant songs of praise,
And fervent love demand.'

'The poorest servant girl would not change places with the Queen for a year if she knew that she must die at the end of it.'

'If rich people only knew when they died, how their relations would scramble for their money, the worms for their bodies, and the devils for their souls, they would not be so anxious to save money.'

'The greatest evil we can fear
Is to possess our portion here.'

'Take heed and beware of covetousness. The Lord saw the need of doubly warning against that besetting sin.'

'My brethren, why these anxious fears,
These warm pursuits and eager cares
For earth and all its gilded toys?
If the whole world you could possess,
It might enchant; it could not bless;
False hopes, vain pleasures, and light joys!'

If more refined amusements please,
As knowledge, arts, or learning,
A moment puts an end to these,
And sometimes short's the warning.'

'You can hardly meet with any one who cannot tell you of some one either dead or likely to die.'

'If this world with its fading pleasures is so much admired, what must heaven be, which God praises?'

'Many are saying, "Lord, have mercy on us miserable sinners," who never fell their need of mercy.'

'We must lose things to know the value of them. It is a dry well which makes people know the value of water.'

'They have taken one woe off me since I have been in this neighbourhood. "Woe unto you, when all men speak well of you! for so did their fathers of the false prophets."'

'What a mercy to be made right in doctrine, right in experience, and right in practice! How many are watching for our halting, and would be glad of our slips and falls!'

'In that blessed ordinance of believers' baptism, the water represents a grave, - buried with Christ in baptism. And however men may despise that ordinance, all who go to heaven must be saved by a baptist [the Lord Jesus Christ].'

'If your religion does not interfere with your buying, it will not interfere with your selling; if it does not interfere with you in public, it will not interfere with you in private; if it does not interfere with everything, it will soon interfere with nothing. There is something great in real religion.'

'It will avail you nothing to say that you have not been so bad as such a one. When a man is on trial for his life it will be useless saying, " I have not done such a thing, and such a man has." He will be told what he has done: and he that offends in one point is guilty of all.'

'How many who died last century will be in hell who never committed half the sins some of you have!'

'What sins God sees in this nation to provoke him to auger! What sins he sees in his people!'

'If God should turn this fruitful land into a barren wilderness for the iniquities of those who dwell herein, what could we English people say? O how long-suffering God is!'

'If you were as full of gratitude as an egg is full of meat, you would have a thousand times too little.'

'If the Queen sent a messenger with a reprieve for a man about to be executed, that man would be ready to kiss the feet of the horse that brought the messenger; and if the Lord deliver your souls from hell you will honour and praise him for it, or the stones would cry out.'

'If you had a thousand crowns you would put them all on the head of Christ; and if you had a thousand tongues they should all sing his praise, for he is worthy.'

'I wish I could love Christ more, and be more concerned for-his honour and glory. I wish I could love the Lord more, and speak more of him; if I did not speak well of his name I should be a base, ungrateful wretch, for he has been a good God to me, both in providence and grace. You MAY THINK OF THIS WHEN MY GREY HAIRS ARE LAID IN THE GRAVE.'

This closing remark is realized, and many think of these sayings now that the grey hairs of their author are in the silent grave. We have heard it remarked that in reading them persons who had listened to his preaching could almost imagine that they were hearing him again; this is just what we had hoped in collecting them for printing, and we are happy that we were not mistaken in supposing that they would prove acceptable to the people of God. They will bear frequently referring to, and being short sentences may be read when opportunity does not offer for reading lengthy articles. We send forth our prayer with them that they may be blessed to many souls yet unborn. We may at some future time introduce a few more, and also make some other allusion to the memory of the godly William Tiptaft.