Michael Walker

“Christ alone is without sin; and that all we, the rest, though baptized and born again in Christ, offend in many things; and if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.’ To use the language of our first homily, ‘There be imperfections in our best works: we do not love God so much as we are bound to do, with all our heart, mind and power; we do not fear God so much as we ought to do; we do not pray to God but with many and great imperfections. We give, forgive, believe, live and hope imperfectly; we speak, think and do imperfectly; we fight against the devil, the world and the flesh imperfectly. Let us, therefore, not be ashamed to confess plainly our state of imperfection.”
― J.C. Ryle, Holiness

“The fairest babe, that has entered life this year and become the sunbeam of a family, is not, as its mother perhaps fondly calls it, a little ‘angel’, or a little ‘innocent’, but a little ‘sinner’. Alas! As it lies smiling and crowing in its cradle, that little creature carries in its heart the seeds of every kind of wickedness! Only watch it carefully, as it grows in stature and its mind develops, and you will soon detect in it an incessant tendency to that which is bad, and a backwardness to that which is good. You will see in it the buds and germs of deceit, evil temper, selfishness, self-will, obstinacy, greediness, envy, jealousy, passion, which, if indulged and let alone, will shoot up with painful rapidity.”
― J.C. Ryle, Holiness

“all the troubles and dangers which attend the performance of all holy duties and heavenly services are but temporal and momentary—but the neglect of them may lay you open to all temporal, spiritual, and eternal dangers. 'How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?' (Heb. 2:3). He says not, if we reject or renounce so great salvation. No! but if we neglect, or shift off so great salvation, how shall we escape? That is, we cannot by any way, or means, or device in the world, escape. Divine justice will be above us, in spite of our very souls. The doing of such and such heavenly services may lay you open to the frowns of men—but the neglect of them will lay you open to the frowns of God; the doing of them may render you contemptible in the eyes of men—but the neglect of them may render you contemptible in the eyes of God; the doing of them may be the loss of your estate—but the neglect of them may be the loss of God, Christ, heaven, and your soul forever; the doing of them may shut you out from some outward temporal contents, the neglect of them may shut you out from that excellent matchless glory 'which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of men' (Is. 64:4). Remember this, there is no man who breathes, but shall suffer more by neglecting those holy and heavenly services that God commands, commends, and rewards, than he can possibly suffer by doing of them.”
― Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices

“Converse with the living, or read the history of departed saints, and you will find, that in their addresses to God, they still bless and praise him for that great and wonderful change of state which was made upon them when they first believed in Christ, and, on believing, passed from death to life; freely acknowledging before God, that they were, before their conversion, equal in sin and misery with the vilest wretches in the world: they heartily mourn for their daily sins, and fear nothing more than sin; no afflictions in the world go so near their heart as sin does. They mourn for the hardness of their hearts, that they can mourn no more for sin. They acknowledge that the chastisements of God upon them are not only the evidences of his displeasure against them for their sins, but the fruits of their uneven walking with him; and that the greatest of their afflictions is less than the least of their iniquities deserves. They bow at their Father’s feet as often as they fall into sin, humbly and earnestly suing for pardon, through the blood of Christ. They are not only sensible that God sees sin in them, but that he seeth such, and so great evils in them, as make them wonder at his patience, that they are not consumed in their iniquities. They find cause enough to suspect their own sincerity; doubt the truth of their faith, and of their graces; and are therefore frequent and serious in the trial and examination of their own state, by Scripture marks and signs. They urge the commands and threatenings, as well as the promises, upon their own hearts, to promote sanctification; excite themselves to duty and watchfulness against sin. They also encourage themselves by the rewards of obedience, knowing that their labor is not in vain in the Lord. And all this while they look not for that in themselves, which is only to be found in Christ; nor for that in the law, which is only to be found in the gospel; nor for that on earth which is only to be found in heaven. This is the way that they take. And he that shall tell them that their sins can do them no hurt, or that their duties do them no good, speaks to them not only as a barbarian, in a language they understand not, but in such a language as their souls detest and abhor.”
― John Flavel, A Blow at the Root of Antinomianism