Self-righteousness Is The Devil's Masterpiece.

(Choice quotes from the Puritan Thomas Adams, 

1583-1652)

Pride thrust . . . 
  Adam out of paradise,
  Saul out of his kingdom,
  Nebuchadnezzar out of men's society,
  Haman out of court, and
  Lucifer out of Heaven!
   ~  ~  ~  ~

Satan, like a skillful fisherman, 
baits his hook according to 
the appetite of the fish!   ~  ~  ~  ~

Half our virtue arises from our 
being out of the way of temptation!   ~  ~  ~  ~

No man more truly loves GOD, 
than he who is most fearful 
to offend HIM.   ~  ~  ~  ~

Good deeds are such things 
that no man is saved for them, 
nor without them.
   ~  ~  ~  ~

Death is as near to the young as 
to the old. Here is all the difference:
death stands behind the young man's 
back, but before the old man's face.

How certain you are to die, you know;
how soon to die, you know not.

You can name no living man, 
not the sickest, which you are 
sure shall die before you. 

We spend our years with sighing--
it is a valley of tears.
Death is the funeral of all 
our sorrows!   ~  ~  ~  ~

Conscience is GOD'S 
deputy in the soul.   ~  ~  ~  ~

CHRIST is the sum of the whole 
Bible, prophesied, typified, prefigured, 
exhibited, demonstrated, to be found 
in every leaf, almost in every line--
the Scriptures being but as it were, 
the swaddling bands of the child JESUS.   ~  ~  ~  ~

Self-righteousness is the devil's 
masterpiece to make us think 
well of ourselves.
   ~  ~  ~  ~

He who demands mercy and shows 
none, burns the bridges over which 
he himself must later pass!
   ~  ~  ~  ~

JESUS . . .
  hides our unrighteousness with HIS righteousness,
  covers our disobedience with HIS obedience,
  shadows our death with HIS death--
that the wrath of GOD cannot find us!

   ~  ~  ~  ~

GraceGems has published Thomas Doolittle's superb article,
"Motives to Love JESUS".