God Loves Us

 What would keep us from believing God loves us? The answer is a sense of guilt and condemnation because of our sin. The same tender conscience that enables us to become aware of sins that lie deep beneath the level of external actions can also load us down with guilt. When we're under that burden and sense of condemnation, it is difficult to love God or believe that He loves us.

We cannot love God if we think we're under His judgment and condemnation. James Fraser said, "But whilst the conscience retains the charge of guilt, condemnation, and wrath, there cannot be purity, or sincerity of heart toward God, or sincerity of the love of God. Human nature is so formed, that it cannot love any object that is adverse and terrible to it."

Jerry Bridges

Sea of Sorrow

 "You must be plunged into that sea of sorrow; but it will not drown you, it will only wash and cleanse you."

— Charles Spurgeon

Lay Hold

 We must not allow the accusations of Satan or the condemning indictments of our consciences to bring us under a sense of God’s unrequited justice. Instead, we should by faith lay hold of the wonderful truth that God’s justice has been satisfied for us by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jerry Bridges

Lift Up Thy Head

 "Did the Spirit of God ever convince you of sin? Do you see yourself liable to the curse of the law, and the just vengeance of God, for the innate depravity of your nature, and the transgressions of your life? Do you come to Christ humbled and self-condemned; sensible that unless you are clothed with the merits of Him our Elder Brother, you are ruined and undone, and can never stand with joy or safety before the holy Lord God?

If so, lift up thy head; redemption is thine; thou art in a state of grace; thou art translated from death to life; thou art an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ. But, if you never felt, nor desire to feel, this work of the Holy Ghost upon thy heart, this conviction of sin, this penitential faith, all the supposed righteousness of thine own, wherein thou trusted, is but a broken reed; a painted sepulchre; and the trappings of a Pharisee."

~ Augustus Toplady (1740-1778) writer of the hymn "Rock of Ages"

God's Care

 God’s care is not conditioned on our faith and our ability to cast our anxiety on Him; rather, it is because He does care for us that we can cast our anxiety on Him.

Jerry Bridges

Christ for us is applied

 It is through faith that we are united to Christ, so that His life becomes our life, His death becomes our death, and His righteousness our righteousness. All the objective work of Christ for us is applied to us and received by us through faith in Him.

Jerry Bridges

Joking and Unconcerned

 “Non-Christians have death and damnation at their doors and yet are joking and unconcerned.”

— Charles Spurgeon

William Seward

William Seward

“Can you imagine having your eye violently blinded by a furious mob, yet choosing to go right back out and preach until they literally stone you to death?

William Seward (1702-1740) was a passionate, 38-year-old open-air preacher during the Great Evangelical Revivals of the 1700s.

He was a close friend and supporter of legendary preachers like John Wesley and George Whitefield.

But bringing the Gospel to the streets of England and Wales was an incredibly dangerous calling.

When Seward preached in the open air, his message of salvation didn't just draw crowds; it provoked furious, violent opposition.

During a ministry trip to South Wales, Seward faced a level of hatred that most of us cannot even fathom:

In one town, a furious mob rushed him, physically tearing the clothes right off his body.

They pelted him with apples, rocks, and literal animal dung, throwing hard stones directly into his face.

During the chaos, a brutal blow struck him squarely in the right eye, completely destroying his sight.

For days, the trauma was so severe that he couldn't see out of his good eye either, forcing this bold leader to be led around helplessly by the hand.

Most men would have gone home.

Most men would have decided they had sacrificed enough.

But Seward was undeterred.

Despite being permanently maimed, he refused to be silenced.

In October of 1740, he stood up in the open air to proclaim the Gospel to yet another hostile crowd.

The crowd’s anger quickly turned into a murderous rage.

They began pelting the one-eyed preacher with heavy stones.

Suddenly, a rock violently struck the back of Seward’s head, sending him crashing to the ground, completely unconscious.

He never woke up.

After hovering between life and death for several days, William Seward passed away at the tender age of 38, becoming the very first "Methodist martyr."

But perhaps the most chilling and beautiful part of his story is what they found in his journal.

Just the night before he suffered that fatal blow, Seward wrote these prophetic words:

“Oh, that I may lay down my head and fall asleep in the arms of my Lord.”

William Seward’s blood reminds us of a sobering truth: great movements of God are always characterized by great sacrifice.

He didn't just preach the Gospel; he paid for it with his life!”

Yes, the core of the story is true. William Seward (1702–1740) was a real historical figure—a wealthy stockbroker turned passionate open-air preacher, supporter of George Whitefield and the early Methodist revival, who died at age 38 after mob violence. Verified Facts

• Background and calling: He was a friend and financial supporter of Whitefield, traveled with him (including to America), and became an enthusiastic lay preacher in the open-air revivals of the 1730s–1740s.
• The eye injury: In September 1740, while preaching with Howell Harris in Caerleon, South Wales, a mob attacked. Seward was struck in the right eye by a stone (or hard object), which destroyed his sight in that eye. The injury was severe enough that for a time it affected his other eye, and he had to be led by hand. Contemporary accounts (including his own journal) confirm the pelting with stones, dirt, dung, etc.
• Death: In October 1740 at Hay-on-Wye (or nearby), he faced another hostile crowd and was struck in the head by a stone. He fell unconscious, lingered for several days, and died on October 22, 1740. He is widely regarded as the first Methodist martyr.
• Journal entry: The poignant line “Oh, that I may lay down my head and fall asleep in the arms of my Lord” appears in multiple accounts as one of his final writings.

Minor Clarifications / EmbellishmentsThe viral version you shared is dramatic and inspirational (common in modern retellings on social media and church sites), but some details blend or heighten events:

• The fatal head injury happened at/near Hay-on-Wye, but some historians note that the exact role of the final stoning is debated. The earlier eye injury (and possible infection/complications) contributed significantly to his decline. Later “martyrdom at Hay” stories grew in the telling, though the violence and head blow are well-attested.
• He wasn’t literally “stoned to death” on the spot like Stephen in Acts—he was injured, carried away, and died days later.

Overall, the account is historically reliable in substance. Seward really did endure brutal opposition, lose an eye to a mob, keep preaching anyway, and die from the violence shortly afterward. His courage and sacrifice were genuine.

Freed up to Love Him

 When our sense of guilt is taken away because our consciences are cleansed by the blood of Christ, we’re freed up to love Him with all our hearts and souls and minds. We’re motivated in a positive sense to love Him in this wholehearted way.

Christ's Obedience

 Christ’s active and passive obedience is mine. God looks upon me as if I had not sinned; nay, as if I had perfectly obeyed his law.

Thomas Watson

Our Infinite Profit

 Christ gave himself to us for our infinite profit. If we give ourselves to him, it won't be for his profit but for our own.

Jonathan Edwards

Obedience of Love

 "The Christian delights to be obedient—but it is the obedience of love, to which he is constrained by the example of his master."

— Charles H. Spurgeon

All your wickedness before Him.

"Spread all your wickedness before him, and do not plead your goodness; but plead your badness, and your necessity on that account: and say, as the psalmist in the text, not “Pardon mine iniquity, for it is not so great as it was,” but, “Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.”

Jonathan Edwards

WLC 185

 WLC 185  How are we to pray?

A. We are to pray with an awful apprehension of the majesty of God, and deep sense of our own unworthiness, necessities, and sins; with penitent, thankful, and enlarged hearts; with understanding, faith, sincerity, fervency, love, and perseverance, waiting upon him, with humble submission to his will.

Our attitude or disposition in prayer ought to be characterized by a reverent recognition of God’s majesty & our own unworthiness, necessities, and sins (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2; Luke 18:9-14), repentant and thankful hearts (Philippians 4:6; 1 Samuel 1:15; 2:1), sincere and devoted affections (Mark 11:22-24; James 1:5-8), and a persevering confidence and patience (Isaiah 62:6-7; Luke 18:1-8).  

Two Pastoral Problems

“Wherefore, there are two things hard and difficult in this case:— “1. To convince those in whom sin evidently has the dominion that such indeed is their state and condition. “They will with their utmost endeavor keep off the conviction hereof. Some justify themselves, some excuse themselves, and some will make no inquiry into this matter. “It is a rare thing, especially of late, to have any brought under this conviction by the preaching of the word, though it be the case of multitudes that attend unto it. “2. To satisfy some that sin has not the dominion over them, notwithstanding its restless acting itself in them and warring against their souls; “yet unless this can be done, it is impossible they should enjoy solid peace and comfort in this life. “And the concernment of the best of believers, while they are in this world, does lie herein; for as they grow in light, spirituality, experience, freedom of mind and humility, the more they love to know of the deceit, activity, and power of the remainders of sin. “And although it works not at all, at least not sensibly, in them, towards those sins wherein it reigns and rages in others, “yet they are able to discern its more subtile, inward, and spiritual actings in the mind and heart, to the weakening of grace, the obstructing of its effectual operations in holy duties, with many indispositions unto stability in the life of God; which fills them with trouble.”

 — John Owen 

Sinclair Ferguson’s paraphrase: “There are actually only two pastoral problems you will ever encounter.

“The first is this: persuading those who are under the dominion of sin that they are under the dominion of sin. That’s the task of evangelism. “And [second], persuading those who are no longer under the dominion of sin that they are no longer under the dominion of sin because they are Christ’s.” — Sinclair Ferguson

Rest in Jesus

 You have, perhaps, dear reader, long been in want of the assurance that you are saved. But you have sought it in yourself, and not in Christ.

You have been searching for evidence amid the shadows and the taint of your own heart, the imperfect traces of your own doings, the varied exercises of your mind, and have sought them in vain. But now try the experiment―an experiment that has never failed one poor soul―of finding the evidence of your present salvation in a believing looking to a present Savior. Rest in Jesus from the burden and the guilt of sin; rest in Jesus from the conflict with doubt and fear; rest in Jesus from the fear of death and the dread of condemnation; rest in Jesus from your entire self; rest in His finished work, in His accepted sacrifice, in His boundless grace, in His unchanging love, and present intercession and your assurance will be built upon a rock, against which no force of Satan or unbelief shall ever prevail. Octavius Winslow (From Grace to Glory, p. 89)

I am His child still

 Though I may have backslidden... yet I have only to go back to my Father, and say, “Father, I have sinned,” and I am his child still, and he will fall upon my neck and kiss me, and I shall yet sit at his table, and hear music and dancing, because he that was lost is found.

--Spurgeon.

(I wish people would cite the source, I assume quotes are of the authors, though I don't know the bibliography of when and in what sermon/book it was said.)

Best Efforts Marred

 Our best efforts are marred with imperfect performance and impure motives. But God "sees" the righteousness of Christ He has imputed to us.

Jerry Bridges

Hope in God

 When we wonder what God is doing, we need to talk to ourselves:

"Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?" While not denying the harsh reality of our circumstances, we preach to ourselves a simple message: Hope in God. We put our hope in God when the pain is chronic, or the illness is incurable, when the persecution is unavoidable, or the relationship has turned poisonous. We put our hope in God when the days are oppressively gray, and sadness has set in like a thick fog, hiding all from view. We put our hope in God when the horror of sin overwhelms like a tsunami, when the foundations of society begin to crumble, and we fear for what the future might hold, when we begin to feel our own mortality with the passing of the years. We put our hope in God, remembering that “if He smiles on us, it is enough, though the whole world should be against us.” From The Heart Taken Up: 90 Days with the Puritans by Stephen Yuille — a 90-day devotional drawing on the richest Puritan writers to move truth from the head to the heart.

God's Refusals

"God's refusals are always mercies." -Elisabeth Elliot.