Scripture

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(a) Do you believe the Bible? Then depend upon it, hell is real and true. It is true as heaven,—as true as justification by faith,—as true as the fact that Christ died upon the cross,—as true as the Dead Sea. There is not a fact or doctrine which you may not lawfully doubt if you doubt hell. Disbelieve hell, and you unscrew, unsettle, and unpin everything in Scripture. You may as well throw your Bible away at once. From "no hell" to "no God" there is but a series of steps.

J. C. Ryle

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I charge every reader of this paper to ask himself frequently what the Bible is to him. Is it a Bible in which you have found nothing more than good moral precepts and sound advice? Or is it a Bible in which you have found Christ? Is it a Bible in which “Christ is all “? If not, I tell you plainly, you have hitherto used your Bible to very little purpose. You are like a man who studies the solar system and leaves out in his studies the sun, which is the centre of all. It is no wonder if you find your Bible a dull book!

J. C. Ryle

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(1) Let us have a reverend esteem of every part of canonical Scripture. ‘More to be desired are they than gold.’ Psa 19: 10. Value the book of God above all other books. It is a golden epistle, indited by the Holy Ghost, and sent us from heaven. More particularly to raise our esteem, the Scripture is a spiritual glass, to dress our souls by. It shows us more than we can see by the light of natural conscience. This may discover gross sins; but the glass of the word shows us heart-sins, vain thoughts, unbelief, &c. It not only shows us our spots, but washes them away. The Scripture is a magazine out of which we may fetch spiritual artillery to fight against Satan. When our Saviour was tempted by the devil, he fetched armour and weapons from Scripture; ‘it is written.’ Matt 4: 4, 7. The holy Scripture is a panacea, or universal medicine for the soul; it gives a recipe to cure deadness of heart, Psa 119: 50; pride, 1 Pet 5: 5; and infidelity, John 3: 36. It is a physic garden where we may gather a herb or antidote to expel the poison of sin. The leaves of Scripture, like the leaves of the tree of life, are for the ‘healing of the nations.’ Rev 22: 2. Should not this cause a reverential esteem of the word?

Thomas Watson

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We know the devil's instruments, corrupt and heretical teachers, can and do pervert the Scripture, to their own and others' damnation, 2 Pet. 3:16. We see they have the free use of Scripture, in every part of it: there is no text so precious and sacred, but they are permitted to abuse it, to the eternal ruin of multitudes of souls; and there are no weapons they make use of with which they do more execution. And there is no manner of reason to determine, that the devil is not permitted thus to use the Scripture, as well as his instruments. For when the latter do it, they do it as his instruments and servants, and through his instigation and influence: and doubtless he does the same he instigates others to do; the devil's servants do but follow their master, and do the same work that he does himself.

Jonathan Edwards

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By all this we see, that the yielding to lesser sins, draws the soul to the committing of greater. Ah! how many in these days have fallen, first to have low thoughts of Scripture and ordinances, and then to slight Scripture and ordinances, and then to make a nose of wax of Scripture and ordinances, and then to cast off Scripture and ordinances, and then at last to advance and lift up themselves, and their Christ-dishonoring and soul-damning opinions, above Scripture and ordinances.

Thomas Brooks