Gardiner Spring Quotes on True Faith, the Cross, Prayer and Preaching
Gardiner Spring preached to one New York congregation for sixty-three years, and he wrote the way a careful pastor talks to his people: plainly, seriously, and with a sharp eye for the difference between real faith and a copy of it. Many of his sentences pack a whole sermon into a line.
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 Gardiner Spring. For a guide to his books, see Gardiner Spring books.
On a real hope and a false one
This was Spring's great subject. His Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character were written to help people find out whether their hope would hold.
There is a hope that is as an anchor to the soul; and there is a hope that is as the spider's web.
Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character, Introduction
It is true, that in the course of God's providence, conviction always precedes conversion; but it is not always true, that conversion follows conviction.
Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character, Conviction of Sin
There is a confidence which is obtained without the aid of God's Spirit, and cherished without the evidence of his Word.
Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character, Confidence in Good Estate
A life of humble, holy, Christ-like obedience, carries hope, and faith, and comfort, along with it.
Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character, Practical Obedience
On loving God
For Spring, the first mark of a new heart is love to God for who He is, not only for what He gives.
The enemies of God may love Him for what they imagine Him to be; none but the real friends of God love Him for what He is.
Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character, Love to God
To love God from no higher motive than the persuasion that you are interested in His favour, is supremely selfish. Those who love God from no higher principle, do not love Him at all.
Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character, Love to God
A sense of duty does much towards forming the religious character required by the Bible; but love to God does more.
The Bible Not of Man, The Religion of the Bible a Proof of Its Divine Origin
While the love of God is the reigning affection of the heart, it will turn away with disgust from the allurements of the world.
Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character, Non-Conformity to the World
On faith, humility and self-denial
Faith in Christ is not an exercise of the understanding merely; it is an affection of the heart.
Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character, Faith
None but a lost sinner needs, and none but a humbled sinner relishes, the grand sentiment of faith, that grace reigns through righteousness
Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character, Faith
Once, he was too proud to become a beggar; now, he begs for mercy; begs with hope and with joy in the name of Jesus.
Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character, Humility
As the spirit of self-advancement is the root of all sin; so the spirit of self-denial is the root of all holiness.
Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character, Self-Denial
Faith is an humble grace, a self-renouncing grace; but it is a trusting confidence.
The Mercy Seat, God a Father
On the cross
Spring never left readers staring at themselves. He sent them to Christ crucified. These come from The Attraction of the Cross.
Wherever the Cross is known, the truth of God is known; and wherever the Cross is unknown, or obscured, there the truth is unknown or obscured.
The Attraction of the Cross, The Truth of the Cross
It is not his own righteousness, but the righteousness of another. It is not what he has done, but what Christ has done.
The Attraction of the Cross, The Cross a Completed Justification
As there is no faith in Christ where there is no love to God, so there is no love to God where there is no faith in Christ.
The Attraction of the Cross, Faith in the Cross
I have yet to learn that the love of God is ever shed abroad in the heart save in the view of the Cross.
The Attraction of the Cross, Faith in the Cross
You may turn away from the Cross of Christ, but wherever you turn will find "no more sacrifice for sin."
The Attraction of the Cross, Conclusion
On holiness and assurance
He was just as clear that the cross makes people holy, and that it keeps them.
You will never know what holiness is, until you have felt the power of grace in Jesus Christ.
The Attraction of the Cross, The Holiness of the Cross
If you would be holy, you must begin with receiving Jesus Christ.
The Attraction of the Cross, The Holiness of the Cross
Christian men gain the victory over sin, by enjoying the favor of God, and living in communion with the Cross.
The Attraction of the Cross, The Holiness of the Cross
His salvation does not rest upon himself, but upon the all-sufficient God.
The Attraction of the Cross, Full Assurance of Hope at the Cross
Grace will not only keep him if he remains faithful, but will make him faithful.
The Attraction of the Cross, The Sinner's Excuses Refuted by the Cross
On prayer
These come from The Mercy Seat, his book on the Lord's Prayer.
God first gives the heart to pray, and then the words; he does not give the words first, and afterwards the heart.
The Mercy Seat, The Instructions of the Bible as to the Matter and Manner of Prayer
On every page of the Bible there is matter for prayer; and he who would pray with intelligence and with fervor, must study his Bible.
The Mercy Seat, The Instructions of the Bible as to the Matter and Manner of Prayer
Men sometimes utter the words of prayer, without seriously thinking of him to whom they pray; and though they believe there is a God, they pray as if there were none.
The Mercy Seat, God a Father
Sin cannot be mortified without prayer, because it cannot be mortified without a power superior to our own — the power of God's gracious, condescending, and omnipotent Spirit.
The Mercy Seat, The Dread of Sin
Let God be brought into view, and a holy mind will be happy; let God be withdrawn, and it is miserable.
The Mercy Seat, The Name of God Hallowed
On forgiving others
If God can see anything in men to love, men may surely see something to love in one another.
The Mercy Seat, A Forgiving Spirit
An unforgiving spirit has never tasted and seen that the Lord is gracious; it is utterly inconsistent with the Christian hope.
The Mercy Seat, A Forgiving Spirit
On preaching
After a lifetime in the pulpit, Spring wrote The Power of the Pulpit for preachers and their hearers.
Christ must be the theme, the scope, the life, the soul of the pulpit.
The Power of the Pulpit, The Truth of Which the Pulpit Is the Vehicle
What savors not of the cross of Christ, belongs not to the work of a Christian minister.
The Power of the Pulpit, The Truth of Which the Pulpit Is the Vehicle
It is the truth which affects us, but it is the Spirit of God which causes us to receive the truth.
The Power of the Pulpit, The Pulpit Associated with the Power of God
Let us not only think out our subject, but pray it out.
The Power of the Pulpit, Ministers Must Be Men of Prayer
Should God give to the churches the spirit of prayer for their ministers, it would be with the purpose of answering it.
The Power of the Pulpit, Prayer for Ministers
On the Bible
Not until the heart of man corresponds to the heart of God, is God known.
The Bible Not of Man, The Divine Origin of the Scriptures Attested by Christian Experience
Believing the truth, loving the truth, and walking in the truth, constitute one religion. Every truth begets its peculiar grace, and every grace its peculiar virtue.
The Bible Not of Man, The Unity of the Scriptures
Our belief of it does not make it true, nor does our unbelief of it make it false.
The Obligations of the World to the Bible, The Influence of the Bible on the Extent and Certainty of Moral Science
On one life given to God
Spring closed his memoir of the missionary Samuel J. Mills with this:
Without resources, without vigorous health, without fame, and with only a heart devoted to God, how much may be effected in one short life!
Memoirs of the Rev. Samuel J. Mills, Conclusion
On sorrow
In The Mission of Sorrow, written for a grieving nation during the Civil War, Spring would not tell mourners to hold back their tears.
Natural affections were given us that we might weep ourselves, and weep with them that weep.
The Mission of Sorrow, Chapter III: Submission Under Sorrow
Read them in context
The best way to read Spring is a chapter at a time. Start with the Essays on the Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character, then The Attraction of the Cross. If his quotes on prayer help you, read The Mercy Seat slowly alongside your own prayers. All his books are on the Gardiner Spring author page.