The mercy of God

To see a prince entreat a beggar to receive an alms would be strange sight; to see a king entreat a traitor to accept of mercy would be a stranger sight than that; but to see God entreat a sinner, to hear Christ say, 'I stand at the door and knock,' with a heart full and a heaven full of grace to bestow upon him that opens, that is such a sight as dazzles the eyes of angels.

J Bunyan
Quoted in J Beeke
Reformed Preaching
Crossway
p223

To be without the Word of God

Nothing is more tragic than to be without the Word of God. Without access to special revelation from the Lord - His words through His prophets and Apostles - all we have is His general revelation, which is His revelation in nature and on our consciences of His attributes and our being under His wrath. To be without God’s special revelation is to be without the hope of the gospel and thus without the hope of redemption.

B Parsons
Tabletalk Magazine
Ligonier
April 2019, p 35