Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst; he promises honor, and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure, and pays with pain; he promises profit, and pays with loss, he promises life, and pays with death. But God pays as he promises; all his payments are made in pure gold.
Interpretation
The quote contrasts the empty promises of evil with the fulfilling promises of goodness.
This quote by Thomas Brooks highlights the deceptive nature of evil, which offers enticing promises but ultimately leads to negative consequences. In contrast, it emphasizes the reliability and purity of God's promises, suggesting that while the path of sin may seem appealing, it ultimately results in suffering, whereas following God leads to true value and fulfillment.
In practice
When discussing the moral implications of choices in a debate.
Remember this-all the sighing, mourning, sobbing, and complaining in the world, does not so undeniably evidence a man to be humble, as his overlooking his own righteousness, and living really and purely upon the righteousness of Christ.
Grace and glory differ very little; the one is the seed, the other is the flower; grace is glory militant, glory is grace triumphant.
He is the best preacher, not that tickles the ear, but that breaks the heart.
Ah! sinner, remember this, there is no way on earth effectually to be rid of the guilt, filth, and power of sin, but by believing in a Saviour. It is not resolving, it is not complaining, it is not mourning, but believing, that will make thee divinely victorious over that body of sin that to this day is too strong for thee, and that will certainly be thy ruin, if it be not ruined by a hand of faith.
Self is the only oil that makes the chariot-wheels of the hypocrite move in all religious concerns.
Humility can weep over other men's weaknesses, and joy and rejoice over their graces.
Laws that discriminate validate other kinds of discrimination.
We forget that the world is what we imagine it to be. We stop being the sun and become, instead, the pool of water reflecting it.
Science, it is said, no doubt has ameliorated the material conditions of human life, but is powerless to solve those moral and philosophical questions that interest cultured people so deeply.
If a man's at odds to know his own mind it's because he hasn't got aught but his mind to know it with.
Retirement may be looked upon either as a prolonged holiday or as a rejection, a being thrown on to the scrap-heap.
To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to.
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