Thomas Guthrie Quotes on Grace, Prayer, Sin and Heaven
Thomas Guthrie preached in Edinburgh in the middle of the 1800s, and he was famous for his pictures. But he also had a gift for the short, balanced sentence that sums up a truth and stays in the mind: "Earth for work, heaven for wages." Preachers have borrowed his lines ever since.
Every quotation below is copied exactly from his books in TheWay Library, with the book and chapter it comes from. For his life story, see who was Thomas Guthrie. For a guide to his books, see Thomas Guthrie books.
On God's justice and mercy
Guthrie loved to show that God does not set aside His holiness to save us. At the cross justice and mercy meet.
Now, there is no greater mistake than to suppose that God, as a God of justice and a God of mercy, stands in antagonism to himself.
The Gospel in Ezekiel, Man Suffering
God has not overlooked the guilt of sin; he pardons, but does not palliate it.
The Way to Life, The Work of God
The manner of forgiveness sets forth not only God's hatred of sin, but his love to sinners in the strongest light.
Speaking to the Heart, Fear, the Fruit of Divine Forgiveness
God forgives offences; but the forgiven never forget them.
The Parables Read in the Light of the Present Day, The Parable of the Prodigal Son
On grace
Compared with the difference between a man, as grace finds him, and heaven gets him, how feeble are all earthly distinctions!
Christ and the Inheritance of the Saints, The Inheritance
Christ's resources are inexhaustible; and here, therefore, one man's gain is no other man's loss.
Speaking to the Heart, The Undecaying Power and Grace of God
There are stores of grace which, like the widow's barrel that grew no emptier for all the meals it furnished, will appear the fuller the more you draw on them.
Christ and the Inheritance of the Saints, The Fulness
Sin never wove, in hottest hell-fires the devil never forged, a chain, which the Spirit of God, wielding the hammer of the word, cannot strike from fettered limbs.
Christ and the Inheritance of the Saints, The Power of Darkness (Continued)
In these we see God seeking our salvation; not waiting till we go to him, but coming to us — to seek and to save the lost.
The Parables Read in the Light of the Present Day, The Parable of the Lost Piece of Money
On faith and hope
He wouldn't let anyone rest their hope on how strong their faith felt.
The believer's hope does not rest in any degree on the greatness of his faith, but in the greatness of him who is its object.
The Way to Life, The Christian's Faith
If we have not this woman's faith, thank God we have her Lord; if we have not the same voice to pray, thank God we have the same ear to pray to.
The Way to Life, The Christian's Faith
The hope of my text rests, not on the sinner's work, but on the Saviour's; on works, certainly, but not our own.
Speaking to the Heart, The Grace of Hope
On Jesus Christ
Should it not dissipate every care and fear, to think that our Saviour, friend, and lover, has the heart of a brother and the hand of God?
Christ and the Inheritance of the Saints, The Beginning
I do not say that we should look less to Christ as a Saviour, but we should certainly look more to him as a sovereign; nor fix our attention on his cross, so much to the exclusion of his crown.
Christ and the Inheritance of the Saints, The Kingdom of Christ
That head bows on a cross no more; that eye darkens in death no more; that brow, crowned with glory, bleeds under thorns no more.
Christ and the Inheritance of the Saints, The Head (Continued)
On the new heart and the Spirit
Be the objects which we love noble or base, good or bad, holy or sinful, belonging to earth or to heaven, some object we must love.
The Gospel in Ezekiel, The New Heart
He forms a holy people for a holy heaven — fits heaven for them, and them for heaven.
The Gospel in Ezekiel, The New Heart
When the believer is alone — God in his Holy Spirit abiding with him — he is not alone.
The Gospel in Ezekiel, The Renovator
It did not inspire Nehemiah with the love of country; but it made him a holy patriot.
The Parables Read in the Light of the Present Day, The Parable of the Leaven
On sin
Unless your prayers stop your sins, your sins will stop your prayers; and that by God's help you must kill sin, or sin will kill you.
Speaking to the Heart, The Good Fight
No sin, no suffering; no sin, no sorrow; no sin, no sting, nor death, nor grave, nor hell.
The Gospel in Ezekiel, Man Justified
It is not the world, observe, nor its money, nor its honours, nor its enjoyments that the Bible condemns; but the love of them.
Speaking to the Heart, The Apostate
The sins of a good man are but the diseases of life — the irregular palpitations of a living heart; but that cold indifference, that unfeeling selfishness — these are the rigidity and frigidity of death.
The City, Its Sins and Sorrows, Sermon II
On prayer
Pray on; for it is not on their feet, but on their knees that men climb to heaven.
The Way to Life, The Lamb of God
Yet, as it is only perseverance in grace that can carry us up to heaven, it is only perseverance in prayer that can bring its blessings down.
The Parables Read in the Light of the Present Day, The Parable of the Unjust Judge
Danger may thus extort prayer; it does not follow that God will accept it.
The Gospel in Ezekiel, The Nature, Necessity, and Power of Prayer
On love and the gospel for the poor
Guthrie preached to the rich of Edinburgh and fought for its poorest children. These lines come from that side of his work.
Men are not to be scolded into the love of God; nor can the terrors of hell frighten any into the love of heaven.
Speaking to the Heart, The Grace of Charity
The grand and only sovereign remedy for the evils of this world is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The City, Its Sins and Sorrows, Sermon III
God never made men to be reared in flocks, but in families.
The City, Its Sins and Sorrows, Pleas for Ragged Schools: First Plea
On work, rest and heaven
Earth for work, heaven for wages — this life for the battle, another for the crown — time for employment, eternity for enjoyment.
The Way to Life, The Christian's Life
There is a rest that remaineth for the people of God; but it is in heaven, not here.
The Way to Life, The Christian's Work
Since your life is hid with Christ in God, why then should you dread the grisly king?
Christ and the Inheritance of the Saints, The Head (Continued)
On the young and the humble
Guthrie never forgot the young or the poor in his pews. He told them that greatness in God's eyes looks nothing like greatness in the world's.
As there is a time to be born, there is a time to be born again: to turn to God; to die to sin, and live to righteousness.
Man and the Gospel, Early Piety: Part II
If the world is right in its judgment of what constitutes true greatness, the humblest believer is a great man.
Man and the Gospel, Risen with Christ: Part II
Poor senseless, stupid bird it seems to fancy that the danger which it ceases to see has ceased to exist.
Saving Knowledge, chapter III
On Bible characters
Take him for all in all, regard him not in one but many aspects, Moses is the greatest character in history, sacred or profane.
Studies of Character from the Old Testament, Moses the Patriot
Read Guthrie in full
Guthrie's lines shine brightest inside his pictures. Read The Way to Life for the whole Christian road, The Gospel in Ezekiel for his best-known series, or the parables a chapter at a time. For Bible portraits, try Studies of Character from the Old Testament. All nine books are on the Thomas Guthrie author page.