J.C. Ryle- The Triumph of Christianity

“The religion of Christ must have been from heaven, or it could never have prospered and overspread the earth as it has done.  It is vain for infidels to attempt to answer this argument.  It cannot be answered.  A religion which did not flatter the rich, the great, and the learned,–a religion which offered no license to the carnal inclinations of man’s heart,–a religion whose first teachers were poor fisherman, without wealth, rank, or power,–such a religion could never have turned the world upside down, if it had not been of God.  Look at the Roman emperors and the heathen priests with their splendid temples on the one side!  Look at a few unlearned working men with the Gospel on the other!  Were there ever two parties so unequally matched?  Yet the weak proved strong, and the strong proved weak.  Heathenism fell, and Christianity took its place.  Christianity must be of God.”

Charles Spurgeon- The Earth Shall Be A Paradise

“The fact is this–the world was originally one great string in the harp of the universe, and when the Almighty swept that harp with His gracious fingers there was nothing to be heard but praise; now that string is snapped, and where it has been reset by grace, still it is not wholly restored to its perfect tune, and the note that cometh from it hath but little of sweetness, and very much of discord.  But, O bright Spirit, retain thy place, and live on.  The day is hastening with glowing wheels, and the axle thereof is hot with speed.  The day is coming when this world shall be a Paradise again.  Jesus Christ, who came the first time to bleed and suffer, that He might wash the world from its iniquity, is coming a second time to reign and conquer, that He may clothe the earth with glory; and the day shall arrive when thou, O Spirit, shalt hear again the everlasting harmony.  Once more the bells of earth shall be attuned to the melodies of heaven; once more shall the eternal chorus find that no singer in absent, but that the music is complete.”