Works? Works? A man get to heaven by works? I would as soon think of climbing to the moon on a rope of sand!
Interpretation
This quote challenges the notion that good deeds alone can earn salvation.
In this quote, George Whitefield argues against the belief that one can attain heaven solely through their good works, likening it to the absurdity of trying to climb to the moon with an inadequate rope. It emphasizes the futility of relying on human efforts for spiritual salvation, suggesting that grace and faith are far more important than mere actions.
In practice
During a sermon discussing the importance of faith, this quote can illustrate the futility of relying solely on actions.
And now let me address all of you, high and low, rich and poor, one with another, to accept of mercy and grace while it is offered to you; Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation; and will you not accept it, now it is offered unto you?
God is well pleased when all our actions proceed from love, love to Himself, and love to immortal souls.
If your souls were not immortal, and you in danger of losing them, I would not thus speak unto you; but the love of your souls constrains me to speak: methinks this would constrain me to speak unto you forever.
Whoever reads the gospel with a single eye, and sincere intentions, will find, that our blessed Lord took all opportunities of reminding his disciples that His Kingdom was not of this world; that His doctrine was a doctrine of the Cross; and that their professing themselves to be His followers, would call them to a constant state of voluntary suffering and self-denial.
The Christian world is in a deep sleep; nothing but a loud shout can awaken them out of it!
What could the Lord Jesus Christ have done for you more than he has? Then do not abuse his mercy, but let your time be spent in thinking and talking of the love of Jesus, who was incarnate for us, who was born of a woman, and made under the law, to redeem us from the wrath to come.
A myth is a lie that conveys a truth.
We have three approaches at our disposal: the observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation serves to assemble the data, reflection to synthesise them and experimentation to test the results of the synthesis. The observation of nature must be assiduous, just as reflection must be profound, and experimentation accurate. These three approaches are rarely found together, which explains why creative geniuses are so rare.
Enlightenment is: absolute cooperation with the inevitable.
There is no good trying to be more spiritual than God. God never meant man to purely spiritual creature. That is why He uses material things like bread and wine to put the new life into us. We may think this rather crude and unspiritual. God does not: He invented eating. He likes matter. He invented it.
Skepticism . . . is not intellectual only it is moral also, a chronic atrophy and disease of the whole soul.
To be born means being compelled to choose an era, a place, a life. To exist here, now, means to lost the possibility of being countless other potential selves.. Yet once being born there is no turning back. And I think that's exactly why the fantasy worlds of cartoon movies so strongly represent our hopes and yearnings. They illustrate a world of lost possibilities for us.
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