Thomas Chalmers Born : March 17, 1780 Died : May 31, 1847 Browse All Authors Top 44 quotes by Thomas Chalmers The best way to overcome the world is not with morality or self-discipline. Christians overcome the world by seeing the beauty and excellence of Christ. They overcome the world by seeing something more attractive than the world: Christ Thomas Chalmers religious christian beauty Such is the grasping tendency of the human heart, that it must have a something to lay hold of - and which, if wrested away without the substitution of another something in its place, would leave a void and a vacancy as painful to the mind, as hunger is to the natural system.... The heart must have something to cling to. Thomas Chalmers vacancy mind heart The heart is not so constituted, and the only way to dispossess it of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one Thomas Chalmers power heart love Every man is a missionary, now and forever, for good or for evil, whether he intends or designs it or not. Thomas Chalmers design evil men Write your name in kindness, love and mercy on the hearts of the thousands you come in contact with year by year, and you will never be forgotten. Thomas Chalmers kindness heart writing I want to feel my own nothingness, I want to give myself up in absolute resignation to God, to lie prostrate and passive at His feet, with no other disposition in my heart than that of merging my will into His will, and no other language in my mouth than that of prayer for the perfecting of His strength in my weakness. Thomas Chalmers prayer christian lying Faith is like the hand of the beggar that takes the gift while adding nothing to it. Thomas Chalmers christian faith hands A man's needs are few. The simpler the life, therefore, the better. Indeed, only three things are truly necessary in order to make life happy: the blessing of God, the benefit of books, and the benevolence of friends. Thomas Chalmers blessing book happy-life It is in those times of hopeless chaos when the sovereign hand of God is most likely to be seen. Thomas Chalmers sovereign war hands Guard against that vanity which courts a compliment, or is fed by it. Thomas Chalmers court vanity compliment Thousands of men breathe, move, and live; pass off the stage of life and are heard of no more. Why? They did not a particle of good in the world; and none were blest by them, none could point to them as the instrument of their redemption; not a line they wrote, not a word they spoke, could be recalled, and so they perished--their light went out in darkness, and they were not remembered more than the insects of yesterday. Will you thus live and die, O man immortal? Live for something. Thomas Chalmers light men moving Prayer does not enable us to do a greater work for God. Prayer is a greater work for God. Thomas Chalmers religious christian god Not till we come to a simple reliance on the blood and mediation of the Saviour, shall we know what it is either to have trust in God, or know what it is to walk before Him without fear, in righteousness and true holiness. Thomas Chalmers holiness simple blood The sum and substance of the preparation needed for a coming eternity is that you believe what the Bible tells you, and do what the Bible bids you. Thomas Chalmers preparation substance believe Regardless of how large, your vision is too small. Thomas Chalmers vision I take one decisive and immediate step, and resign my all to the sufficiency of my Saviour. Thomas Chalmers sufficiency decision steps It is not scholarship alone, but scholarship impregnated with religion, that tells on the great mass of society. We have no faith in the efficacy of mechanic's institutes, or even of primary and elementary schools, for building up a virtuous and well conditioned peasantry, so long as they stand dissevered from the lessons of Christian piety. Thomas Chalmers christian education school The Bible is like a wide and beautiful landscape seen afar off, dim and confused; but a good telescope will bring it near, and spread out all its rocks and trees and flowers and v__ulant fields and winding rivers at one's very feet. That telescope is the Spirit's teaching. Thomas Chalmers confused flower beautiful The human mind feels restless and dissatisfied under the anxieties of ignorance. It longs for the repose of conviction; and to gain this repose it will often rather precipitate its conclusions than wait for the tardy lights of observation and experiment. There is such a thing, too, as the love of simplicity and system,--a prejudice of the understanding which disposes it to include all the phenomena of nature under a few sweeping generalities,--an indolence which loves to repose on the beauties of a theory rather than encounter the fatiguing detail of its evidences. Thomas Chalmers simplicity light ignorance I feel my disease, and I feel that my want of alarm and lively affecting conviction forms its most obstinate ingredient; I try to stir up the emotion, and feel myself harassed and distressed at the impotency of my own meditations. But why linger without the threshold in the face of a warm and urgent invitation? "Come unto me." Do not think it is your office to heal one part of the disease, and Christ's to heal the remainder. Thomas Chalmers office meditation thinking
