Pithy gems from Archibald Alexander (1772 – 1851)

Pithy gems from Archibald Alexander
(1772 – 1851)

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No one was ever saved because his sins were small. No one was ever rejected on account of the greatness of his sins. Where sin abounds—grace shall much more abound.

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However long you may have continued in rebellion, and however black and long the catalog of your sins—yet if you will now turn to God by a sincere repentance, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall not be cast out!

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God is not glorified in any transaction upon earth—so much as in the conversion of a sinner.

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All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass: "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners!"

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It will never do to plead sin as an excuse for sin, or to attempt to justify sinful acts by pleading that we have an evil heart. This instead of being a valid apology, is the very ground of our condemnation.

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Men are more accountable for their motives, than for anything else; and primarily, morality consists in the motives, that is—in the affections.

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It is as natural and reasonable for a dependent creature to apply to its Creator for what it needs, as for a child thus to solicit the aid of a parent who is believed to have the disposition and ability to bestow what it needs.

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Virtue consists in doing our duty in the several relations we sustain, in respect to ourselves, to our fellow men, and to God—as known from reason, conscience, and revelation.

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Is it not more reasonable to believe what God speaks in His Word, than to confide in our own crude and feeble conceptions.

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Do not for a moment suppose that you must make yourself better, or prepare your heart for a worthy reception of Christ—but come at once—yet come as you are.

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If you were not a sinful, polluted, helpless, and miserable creature—this Savior would not be suited to you, and you would not be comprehended in his gracious invitations to sinful men.

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Now, my friend, I beg you to consider that this blindness and unyielding hardness is the very core of your iniquity—and to be convinced that you are thus blind and stupid, is true conviction of sin.

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God has set before you an open door which no man has a right or power to shut. If you should be shut out, it will be by your own unbelief, and not for want of a warrant to come. Enter, then, without delay or hesitation. None can less afford to delay than the aged sinner. Now is the time. Now or never. You have, as it were, one foot already in the grave. Your opportunities will soon be over. Strive, then, I entreat you, to enter in at the strait gate!

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In vain do we seek to awaken our churches to zeal in evangelism, as a separate thing. To be genuine, it must flow from love to Christ. It is when a sense of personal communion with the Son of God is highest that we shall be most fit for missionary work, either ourselves or to stir up others.