“Of some calamity we can have no relief but from God alone; and what would men do, in such a case if it were not for God?”
“There is no man that is knowingly wicked but is guilty to himself; and there is no man that carries guilt about him but he receives a sting in his soul.”
“A little wit and a great deal of ill-nature will furnish a man for satire; but the greatest instance of wit is to commend well.”
Source: The wisdom of being religious
“Every Christian is endued with a power whereby he is enabled to resist temptations.”
“Wickedness is a kind of voluntary frenzy, and a chosen distraction.”
Source: The Beauties of Dr. John Tillotson, Carefullet Selected from His Works [and] Containing His Admirable System of Early Education, Thoughts on Religion, Atheism and Infidelity, the Immortality of the Soul, Etc: To which are Prefixed Some of His Arguments for the Truth and Belief of the Christian Religion
“Was ever any wicked man free from the stings of a guilty conscience?”
Source: The works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson ... containing fifty four sermons and discourses, on several occasions
“In our pursuit of the things of this world, we usually prevent enjoyment, by expectation; we anticipate our own happiness, and eat out the heart and sweetness of worldly pleasures, by delightful forethoughts of them; so that when we come to possess them, they do not answer the expectation, nor satisfy the desires which were raised about them, and they vanish into nothing.”
Source: The works of the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson containing two hundred sermons and discourses, on several occasions ...
“When men live as if there were no God, it becomes expedient for them that there should be none.”
Source: The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson ...: Containing Fifty Four Sermons and Discourses, on Several Occasions. Together with The Rule of Faith
“The crime of a bad example is the same whether men follow it or not, because he that gives bad example to others, does what in him lies to draw them into sin; and if they do not follow it, that is no mitigation of his fault.”
Source: The works of the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson ...
“Truth is the shortest and nearest way to our end, carrying us thither in a straight line.”
Source: The works of the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson ...
“In matters of great concern, and which must be done, there is no surer argument of a weak mind than irresolution; to be undetermined where the case is so plain, and the necessity so urgent. To be always intending to live a new life, but never to find time to set about it; this is as if a man should put off eating, and drinking, and sleeping, from one day and night to another, till he is starved and destroyed.”
Source: Twenty Discourses on the Most Important Subjects: Calculated for Every Class of Readers
“The true ground of most men's prejudice against the Christian doctrine is because they have no mind to obey it.”
Source: The works of the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson containing two hundred sermons and discourses, on several occasions ...
“Abstinence is many times very helpful to the end of religion.”
“Convulsive anger storms at large; or pale
And silent, settles into full revenge.”
“The angriest person in a controversy is the one most liable to be in the wrong.”
“The little and short sayings of nice And excellent men are of great value, like the dust of gold, or the least sparks of diamonds.”
Source: The works of the most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: containing fifty four sermons and discourses ... Together with the rule of faith
“No man's body is as strong as his appetites, but Heaven has corrected the boundlessness of his voluptuous desires by stinting his strength and contracting his capacities.”
“With the history of Moses no book in the world, in point of antiquity, can contend.”
“Surely modesty never hurt any cause; and the confidence of man seems to me to be much like the wrath of man.”
Source: The works of the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: containing fifty four sermons and discourses on several occasions. Together with The Rule of Faith. Being all that were published by His Grace himself and now collected into one volume, to which is added an alphabetical table of the principle matter
“The covetous man heaps up riches, not to enjoy them, but to have them; and starves himself in the midst of plenty, and most unnaturally cheats and robs himself of that which is his own; and makes a hard shift, to be as poor and miserable with a great estate, as any man can be without it.”
Source: The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: Containing Fifty Four Sermons and Discourses, on Several Occasions : Together with the Rule of Faith : Being All that Were Published by His Grace Himself and Now Collected Into One Volume : to which is Added, an Alphabetical Table of the Principal Matters
“The gospel chargeth us with piety towards God, and justice and charity to men, and temperance and chastity in reference to ourselves.”
Source: Sermons Preach'd Upon Several Occasions: By John Tillotson, D.D. Dean of Canterbury, Preacher to the Honourable Society of Lincolns-Inn, and One of His Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary. The First Volume
“If people would but provide for eternity with the same solicitude and real care as they do for this life, they could not fail of heaven.”
“We anticipate our own happiness, and eat out the heart and sweetness of worldly pleasures by delightful forethought of them.”
“Whatever convenience may be thought to be in falsehood and dissimulation, it is soon over; but the inconvenience of it is perpetual, because it brings a man under everlasting jealousy and suspicion, so that he is not believed when he speaks the truth, nor trusted when perhaps he means honestly.”
“When a man has once forfeited the reputation of his integrity, he is set fast, and nothing will then serve his turn, neither truth nor falsehood.”
Source: The works of Dr. John Tillotson ... with the life of the author
“Fear is that passion which hath the greatest power over us, and by which God and His laws take the surest hold of us.”
Source: The works of the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: containing fifty four sermons and discourses on several occasions. Together with The Rule of Faith. Being all that were published by His Grace himself and now collected into one volume, to which is added an alphabetical table of the principle matter
“Malice and hatred are very fretting and vexatious, and apt to make our minds sore and uneasy; but he that can moderate these affections will find ease in his mind.”
“Great is the advantage of patience.”
“Piety and virtue are not only delightful for the present, but they leave peace and contentment behind them.”
Source: Works
“If they be principles evident of themselves, they need nothing to evidence them.”
Source: The works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson ... containing fifty four sermons and discourses, on several occasions
“Is not he imprudent, who, seeing the tide making haste towards him apace, will sleep till the sea overwhelms him?”
“None so nearly disposed to scoffing at religion as those who have accustomed themselves to swear on trifling occasions.”
Source: The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: Containing Fifty Four Sermons and Discourses on Several Occasions. Together with the Rule of Faith
“Religion in a magistrate strengthens his authority, because it procures veneration, and gains a reputation to it. In all the affairs of this world, so much reputation is in reality so much power.”
“Take away God and religion, and men live to no purpose, without proposing any worthy end of life to themselves.”
Source: The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson ...: Containing Fifty Four Sermons and Discourses, on Several Occasions. Together with The Rule of Faith
“Whether religion be true or false, it must be necessarily granted to be the only wise principle and safe hypothesis for a man to live and die by.”
Source: The works of the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson containing two hundred sermons and discourses, on several occasions ...
“If a man were only to deal in the world for a day, and should never have occasion to converse more with mankind, never more need their good opinion or good word, it were then no great matter (speaking as to the concernments of this world), if a man spent his reputation all at once, and ventured it at one throw; but if he be to continue in the world, and would have the advantage of conversation while he is in it, let him make use of truth and sincerity in all his words and actions; for nothing but this will last and hold out to the end.”
Source: The works of the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson ...
“There is one way whereby we may secure our riches, and make sure friends to ourselves of them,--by laying them out in charity.”
Source: The works of the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson ...
“It is hard to personate and act a part long; for where Truth is not the bottom, Nature will always be endeavoring to return, and will peep and betray herself one time or other.”
“Are we proud and passionate, malicious and revengeful? Is this to be like-minded with Christ, who was meek and lowly?”
Source: Twenty Discourses on the Most Important Subjects: Calculated for Every Class of Readers
“Men sunk in the greatest darkness imaginable retain some sense and awe of the Deity.”
“It is pleasant to be virtuous and good, because that is to excel many others; it is pleasant to grow better, because that is to excel ourselves; it is pleasant to mortify and subdue our lusts, because that is victory; it is pleasant to command our appetites and passions, and to keep them in due order within the bounds of reason and religion, because this is empire.”
Source: Works
“To be happy is not only to be freed from the pains and diseases of the body, but from anxiety and vexation of spirit; not only to enjoy the pleasures of sense, but peace of conscience and tranquillity of mind.”
Source: The wisdom of being religious
“Integrity gains strength by use.”
Source: The works of the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson ...
“Our belief or disbelief of a thing does not alter the nature of the thing.”
Source: The Beauties of Dr. John Tillotson, Carefullet Selected from His Works [and] Containing His Admirable System of Early Education, Thoughts on Religion, Atheism and Infidelity, the Immortality of the Soul, Etc: To which are Prefixed Some of His Arguments for the Truth and Belief of the Christian Religion
“There are two restraints which God has laid upon human nature, shame and fear; shame is the weaker, and has place only in those in whom there are some reminders of virtue.”
“He who is sincere hath the easiest task in the world, for, truth being always consistent with itself, he is put to no trouble about his words and actions; it is like traveling in a plain road, which is sure to bring you to your journey's end better than byways in which many lose themselves.”
“If the show of any thing be good for any thing, I am sure sincerity is better; for why does any man dissemble, or seem to be that which he is not, but because he thinks it good to have such a quality as he pretends to?”
“Sincerity is to speak as we think, to do as we pretend and profess, to perform and make good what we promise, and really to be what we would seem and appear to be.”
“If our souls be immortal, this makes amends for the frailties of life and the sufferings of this state.”
“Truth is always consistent with itself, and needs nothing to help it out. It is always near at hand, and sits upon our lips, and is ready to drop out before we are aware; whereas a lie is troublesome, and sets a man's invention upon the rack; and one trick needs a great many more to make it good.”
