Arthur T. Pierson Quotes on the Bible, Prayer, Christ and the Spirit

Bible Study Prayer Holy Spirit Missions Preaching

Arthur T. Pierson (1837–1911) was an American Presbyterian pastor, Bible teacher and missions leader. He preached in Spurgeon's pulpit in London, spoke at Keswick and Northfield, edited The Missionary Review of the World, and wrote George Müller's authorized biography. He liked to put a truth in a short, balanced sentence, the kind you can carry around all day. That makes him easy to quote.

Many Pierson quotes online come without a source. Every quotation below is copied exactly from his books in TheWay Library, with the book and chapter it comes from, so you can read each one in its setting. For his life story, see who was Arthur T. Pierson. For a guide to all his books, see Arthur T. Pierson books.

On the Word of God

Pierson spent his life defending the Bible and teaching people how to study it. He never thought it needed protecting from honest questions.

For God's written Word no substitute has ever been found.
Knowing the Scriptures, Introduction

Give the Word of God free course and it will be victor over all assault.
Knowing the Scriptures, Introduction

If the Bible be a divine book, it has nothing to fear from rational inquiry.
God's Living Oracles, Introductory

The whole Old Testament is pervaded by prophecies of Christ.
God's Living Oracles, The Bible and Christ

The Word of God must show the God who inspired it.
Many Infallible Proofs, The Moral Beauty of the Bible

The Bible is the most practical of all books.
Shall We Continue in Sin?, Introductory

He believed most trouble with the Bible starts in the heart, not the head, and he asked readers to treat every detail of it with care:

We believe that it is the heart that makes the theology; and that most of our doubts may be ultimately traced to an "evil heart of unbelief" that departs from the living God.
Stumbling Stones Removed from the Word of God, A Word of Preface

In God's universe there are no little things.
Stumbling Stones Removed from the Word of God, General Suggestions: Laws of Interpretation, Etc.

Both the Church and Reason are authoritative only as they are conformed to, and are confirmed by, the Word of God.
Stumbling Stones Removed from the Word of God, Conclusion

On prayer

Pierson gathered every word Jesus spoke about prayer into one book, Lessons in the School of Prayer. The first lesson, he said, is the closet: time alone with God.

The highest act of prayer is impossible, unless and until the human suppliant deliberately seeks to meet God absolutely alone.
Lessons in the School of Prayer, Closet Communion with God

The praying soul speaks to God, and hears God speak.
Lessons in the School of Prayer, Closet Communion with God

But when such communion becomes real, prayer ceases to be mere duty and becomes delight.
Lessons in the School of Prayer, Closet Communion with God

Faith is mighty, not because it is small, but because it is the hiding of God's power.
Lessons in the School of Prayer, The Matter, Manner and Spirit of Prayer

He counseled many people whose prayers seemed to go unanswered. His answer was honest and tender:

The love of God quite as often withholds as grants.
A Spiritual Clinique, Unanswered Prayer

The sublimest triumph of prayer is to trust God absolutely when you do not get any sensible answer whatever.
A Spiritual Clinique, Unanswered Prayer

God carries us through six sorrows, and we doubt His presence in the seventh.
The Spirit's Voice to the Churches, In Everything Give Thanks

Lessons from George Müller

Pierson knew Müller personally and wrote his life. Some of his best lines come from what he learned watching Müller pray for the orphans of Bristol.

We are to argue our case with God, not indeed to convince Him, but to convince ourselves.
George Müller of Bristol, The Word of God and Prayer

Only by using faith are we kept from practically losing it, and, on the contrary, to use faith is to lose the unbelief that hinders God's mighty acts.
George Müller of Bristol, "The Narrative of the Lord's Dealings"

God guides, not by a visible sign, but by swaying the judgment.
George Müller of Bristol, Following the Pillar of Cloud and Fire

Meekness is a real preference for God's will.
George Müller of Bristol, Following the Pillar of Cloud and Fire

On life in Christ

Two words, "in Christ," were for Pierson the center of the Christian life. He wrote a whole book on them.

This brief phrase — a preposition followed by a proper name — is the key to the whole New Testament.
In Christ Jesus, Introductory

A circle surrounds us, but only on one plane; but a sphere encompasses, envelopes us, surrounding us in every direction and on every plane.
In Christ Jesus, Introductory

If any man be in Christ, he is by necessity a new creation.
In Christ Jesus, The Epistles to the Corinthians

What a death, when self gives up the ghost, and the life of Christ is all the life we know!
In Christ Jesus, The Epistles to the Thessalonians

No other religion has ever conceived of God as taking the initial steps.
The Believer's Life, The Past Tense

On victory over sin

At Keswick and in his addresses on Romans 6 to 8, Pierson taught that freedom from sin comes from union with Christ and a life yielded to God.

In His victory every believer is a victor, and for him also, so far as he is in Christ, Satan is a vanquished foe.
Shall We Continue in Sin?, Actual Union with Christ

If you want Christ-life to become Christ-power, you must maintain separation unto God.
Shall We Continue in Sin?, Marital Union with Christ

To yield myself to God is therefore to yoke my impotence to His omnipotence, and to make possible for Him to work in me as only He can work.
Shall We Continue in Sin?, Eternal Union with Christ

The greatest difficulty in adjusting oneself to the will of God lies often not at all in known sin, but in doubtful indulgence.
The Spirit's Voice to the Churches, Resisting the Holy Ghost

On the Holy Spirit

Pierson read the book of Acts as the acts of the Holy Spirit, and he longed to see the same Spirit lead the church in his own day.

The Holy Spirit was God's ascension gift to Christ, that he might be bestowed by Christ, as his ascension gift to his church.
The Acts of the Holy Spirit, The Promise of the Holy Spirit

No one attribute is more needful to-day for Christ's witnesses than Holy Spirit boldness due to Holy Spirit fullness.
The Acts of the Holy Spirit, The Fullness and Boldness of the Spirit

There is something higher than even to be taught by the Spirit, namely, to be led of the Spirit.
In Christ Jesus, The Epistle to the Galatians

The Spirit of Holiness must first be to us the Spirit of Life.
The Believer's Life, The Present Tense

You breathe the breath of the Holy Spirit imparted by Christ, and the life that God lives you live.
The Spirit's Voice to the Churches, Receiving the Holy Ghost

On preaching

Pierson gave lectures to Spurgeon's students while he filled the Metropolitan Tabernacle pulpit. He cared about sermon craft, but he cared more about the Spirit's power.

Men must be drawn not to us, but to the cross, and to us only that they may through us be drawn to Christ.
The Divine Art of Preaching, The Preacher in His Pulpit

It is a noteworthy fact that the master dialecticians and rhetoricians have never been the greatest soul-winners.
The Divine Art of Preaching, The Preacher Among Snares

Unction implies a vital insight into truth, in advance of an utterance which is of the Spirit; first, the anointed eyes and then the anointed tongue.
The Divine Art of Preaching, The Preacher Among Snares

On missions

Pierson is best remembered as a voice for world missions. He saw the missionary century as new chapters of the book of Acts.

The form of sound words without the spirit of faith and love in Christ Jesus, is dead orthodoxy.
The New Acts of the Apostles, The New Lesson of the Power

A free gospel for everybody, an open Bible, hearty singing, plain, simple talks, self-denying toil for souls — these were all the machinery.
The New Acts of the Apostles, Rapidity of Results

The devil delights in returning evil for good; man is quite willing to return good for good; but God's joy is to give the best where is returned only the worst!
The New Acts of the Apostles, New Incentives to Giving

Writing about his friend A. J. Gordon, he put the whole matter in a line:

Hence he not only preached the gospel to all he could reach, but he was essentially a missionary, for the Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions.
How Christ Came to Church, The Sacredness of the Preacher's Vocation

Where to read more

If these quotes stir you, start with Lessons in the School of Prayer, a short book that takes you through everything Jesus said about prayer. Then read George Müller of Bristol, Pierson's life of the man who taught him so much about faith. All his books are on the Arthur T. Pierson author page.