2 Timothy 1

To preach and not to catechize, is to build without a foundation; this way of catechizing is not novel, it is apostolical; the primitive church had their forms of catechism. So much those phrases imply, a form of sound words (2 Timothy 1:13). And the first principles of the orac…

Show your piety by your pity. 2. Walk holily; yours is a holy calling (2 Timothy 1:9). You are called to be saints (Romans 1:7).

The saints of old had it (1 John 2:3): We know that we know him. 2 Timothy 1:12: I know whom I have believed; here was Sensus Fidei, the reflex act of faith; and (Galatians 2:20) Christ has loved me. Here was faith flourishing into assurance.

The Spirit excites, strengthens, increases grace, and makes a Christian go from one step of faith to another, till he comes to the end of his faith — salvation (1 Peter 1:9). It is a fine expression of the Apostle (2 Timothy 1:14): The Holy Ghost which dwells in us. He who dwell…

Contentment is a rare jewel, it is the cure of care. If we have God to be our God; well may we be contented, I know whom I have believed (2 Timothy 1:12). There was Paul's interest in God (2 Corinthians 6:10).

3. Love to our heavenly Father is seen by loving his children (1 John 5:1): Every one that loves him that begat, loves him also that is begotten of him. If we love God, the more we see of God in any, the more we love them; we love them though they are poor: A child loves to see…

Those trees of righteousness that blossom and bear almonds can remember when they were like Aaron's dry rod, not one blossom of holiness growing: a sanctified soul can remember when he was estranged from God through ignorance and vanity, and then free grace planted this flower o…

2. The soul-dress is the exciting and stirring up the habit of grace into a lively exercise. (2 Timothy 1:6) I put you in remembrance, that you stir up the gift of God which is in you: that is, the gifts and graces of the Spirit. The Greek word to stir up, [in non-Latin alphabet…

You desire truth in the inward parts. Sincerity is the sauce which seasons all our actions, and makes them savory; it is the ingredient into every grace: It is called faith unfeigned (2 Timothy 1:5), and love [illegible] in sincerity (Ephesians 6:24). Coin will not go current th…

To this end, the Lord put of his spirit upon the seventy, which were to rule with Moses, Numbers 11.17. Now, the spirit of God, is not a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind, 2 Timothy 1.7. Which shows, that in a Magistrate must be courage to call, and…

For, though they sin, and so lose often the comfort of a good conscience for a time; yet they then lose not their righteousness, which is then in Christ; and to consider, that, when in this world they sustain losses or injuries, or lose all they have upon the earth: that yet the…

It is eternal, because it was set down by God from everlasting before all times, as Paul says, God has chosen the Ephesians to salvation before all worlds (Ephesians 1:4). And he says of himself, that he was called according to the purpose of God, which was before all worlds (2…

Again, works are to be done in regard of men: that our neighbor may be helped in worldly things — Luke 6:38; that he may be won by our example to godliness — 1 Peter 3:14; that we may prevent in ourselves the giving of any offense — 1 Corinthians 10:32; that by doing good we may…

But to a guilty conscience the rustling leaves are drums and trumpets. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of love and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). A sound mind, as it stands there in opposition to the spirit of fear, is a conscience unwounded by guilt.

And (Deuteronomy 30) and (Joshua 24) it's called a choosing of the Lord, and that upon deliberation, as knowing that we have need of him, that he is a Savior suited completely to all the necessities of our souls, and that we are warranted to believe on him; it's the native act a…

Therefore He is called a tried, elect, precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; and indeed that is no small ground of confidence, that when a soul comes to Christ by believing, it may be sure He will not fail it. 2. Being sure that we have committed ourselves to Christ (which su…

And M. Saltmarsh says the same, that our sorrow, repentance, mortification, and change of the whole man, are nothing in us; but they are in Christ, and must be apprehended by faith, as things unseen: whereas the divine nature is in the Saints (2 Peter 1:4). Faith dwells in us (2…

3. The Scripture both calls it impossibility, and also rebukes it as sinful (John 6:44), (Romans 8:6-8), (Ephesians 2:1-3, 11-13), (Ephesians 4:17-19), (Ephesians 5:8). Asser. 3. All preparations even wrought in us, by the common and general restraining grace of God, can have no…

It is true, the word, the works of God, are not the principal object of faith, nor objectum quod; faith rests only on God, and the Lord Jesus (John 14:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:8). Your faith toward God (1 Peter 1:21; Deuteronomy 1:32; John 3:12; Genesis 15:6; Daniel 6:23; Romans 4:3…

7. Indeed, upon this reasonless and fleshly ground, if we may omit praying, and so believing, loving, repenting, mortifying our lusts, when the Spirit stirs us not to these acts, and say, if God will suffer me to sin, let him see to it, then upon the same ground all the justifie…

The Holy Ghost shall come down upon you, as it were with fiery tongues, and shall warm and heat you, with whatever duties God shall call you to (1 Thessalonians 5:19). Quench not the Spirit; now quenching belongs to fire, a sign therefore that the spirit is of a fervent nature,…

Christ was forsaken of his disciples but not forsaken of his Father. So Paul (2 Timothy 1:16): "At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me." (Psalm 41:9) "My familiar friend in whom I trusted has lifted up his heel against me."

Meditate on them, seek after them. First begin with the sureness of Christian doctrine, that you may lay a good foundation that Christ is the teacher of the Church, who has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel (2 Timothy 1:10). Then penitently sue out your pa…

Then for his power and sovereign dominion, there is not a better argument for confidence, than the preface and conclusion of the Lord's Prayer. Whatever state you are reduced to, God is still to be trusted, who is Our Father, which is in Heaven, and whose is the kingdom, power a…

(2.) His goodness and fatherly love, (Psalm 100:2) "Serve the Lord with gladness, and come before his presence with singing." (3.) His holiness, (2 Timothy 1:3) "I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers, with pure conscience." (2 Timothy 2:22) "With them that call on the Lor…

The Gospel is the very word of God, both the Father's and the Son's, it is an act of loving, serving, and pleasing God, for this is the word Christ preached, that we love God, and Christ loves us again. 3. A prospect of eternal happiness, (2 Timothy 1:10) He has brought life and…

(Jeremiah 1:17): Truss up your loins, arise and speak to them all that I command you: be not afraid of their faces, lest I destroy you before them. Like liberty may the ministers of the word use, observing Paul's rule (2 Timothy 1:7): God has not given us the spirit of fear, but…

2. If you be Christ's, then commend your soul, and life, and all that you have, into the hands of Christ. This was the practice of David (Psalm 22), of Christ upon the cross, of Paul (2 Timothy 1:12). And this practice is the only way to obtain safety and protection.

Both which are necessary in the church of God. Catechisms have a necessary use, both in regard of the simple, who are to be fed with milk, being but babes in Christ; and of the learned who are strong men in Christ, that they may have some rule, whereby to try the spirits, conson…

It is not for nothing the Apostle says that Abraham doubted not, knowing that he which had promised, was also able to do it (Romans 4:20). And in the same sense he says (2 Timothy 1:12), I know whom I have believed; God is able to keep that which I have committed to him. To this…

Such persons were chosen by God to be the sacred keepers of the law, by whom the heavenly doctrine committed to them should be honestly handed down to posterity. With this view therefore, Luke dedicates his Gospel to Theophilus, that he might undertake the faithful preservation…

“I know,” says he, “whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him,” (2 Timothy 1:12.) This may seem to be a small portion of faith; for no man, however wicked, openly denies God’s claim to be Almighty.

The commencement of this light, and, as we might say, the dawn, was the return of the people from Babylon. At length, Christ, “the Sun of Righteousness,” (Malachi 4:2,) arose in full splendor, and, by his coming, utterly “abolished” (2 Timothy 1:10) the darkness of death. In the…

But those studies have a far higher value. When we see the greatest minds tasked to their utmost strength, and yet utterly failing to discover, by unassisted reason, the path which leads to happiness, we appreciate more highly Leland's argument "On the advantage and necessity of…

For it must not be restrained to the manifestation of election, whereof mention shall be made shortly after, but simply it is opposed to man's course: as though Paul had said, the faithful get not to themselves godliness by their own motion, but rather it is brought by the hand…

Having a Form of Godliness, but denying the Power of it. The Spirit of God, in those that have sound and solid Religion, is a Spirit of powerful holy Affection; and therefore, God is said to have given them the Spirit of Power, and of Love, and of a sound Mind, 2 Timothy 1:7. An…

For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 2 Timothy 1:12. I know whom I have believed; and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him, against that day.

Therefore we are always confident; knowing that whilst we are at home in the Body, we are absent from the Lord: For we walk by Faith, not by Sight; we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the Body, and present with the Lord. 2 Timothy 1:12. For the which Ca…

And this is given to us in command, that we neglect not his motions in us, but comply with them in a way of Diligence and Duty; see ver. 14. 15. So are we injoyned, to attend to particular Duties through the Holy Ghost that dwelles in us, 2 Tim. 1. 14. that is, through his Assis…

Sect. 21 Thirdly, It has the same Tendency and Effect in the Assurance we have from from there, that notwithstanding all the Oppositions we meet withall, we shall not utterly and finally miscarry. Gods Election will at last obtain; Rom. 11. 7. and His Foundation standes sure, 2…

A man may have grace, and yet not have it at some times much acting; he may have grace for life, when he has it not for fruitfulness and comfort, though it be his duty so to have it Revelation 3:2. 2 Timothy 1:6. And a man may have grace acting in him, and yet not know, not be s…

2. This Church-authority is not given to professors in common, or to the Bride as the first subject; but to their guides, Christ's ministers and servants. 3. It is no less a duty, nor is it less necessary to put forth this power against false teachers, than against other gross o…

Thus it is said of Timothy, that from a child he had known the Holy Scriptures. And doubtless he was trained up in that knowledge by the care of his mother, and grandmother, whom the apostle honorably commends (2 Timothy 1:5). And,

He has delivered us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10). He has abolished death for us, and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel (2 Timothy 1:10). And therefore as our deliverance is spiritual, so ought our obedience to be; that being delivered from…

God spoke also in an extraordinary way to his prophets of old, when he made known to them his counsel, that they might declare it to the people: Sometimes he spoke to them with an audible voice, which he created when no shape was seen; sometimes by angels, who appeared in bodies…

He will preserve both the case and the jewel, soul and body; the least atom of dust shall not be lost. How much more will he graciously preserve that good work of grace, and fruits of the Spirit, that he has committed to you (2 Timothy 1:12). Therefore I beseech you take my coun…

There are four sorts of divine truths that I would counsel all Christians to get their heads and hearts well stocked with, which are these: namely, 1. Doctrinal truths. 2. Disciplinary truths. 3. Practical truths. 4. Experimental truths. 1. Doctrinal truths (2 Timothy 1:13): Hol…

The work of redemption by this was carried on further that ever it had been before; as, by this wonderful work of God, there was a great increase of gospel light to the church of God, in this respect, that hereby the church had a clearer manifestation of a future state and of th…

According to his Mercy he SAVED us, by the washing of REGENERATION, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. 2 Timothy 1:9. Who hath SAVED us, and called us with an holy Calling.

The Point is of great use in these times, in which God calls for so much appearing in his cause, for his people; but generally men seek a safe way to themselves as they think, to keep their Religion within, and not to venture themselves, by appearing what they are; and if any sh…