Think of the inconceivable reward held out to thee. “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. viii. 18). Whatever our suffering may be here, it is only for a time—nay, it is sometimes but for a day—but the glory that awaits us is forever and ever. God knows perfectly all our adversities, and some day He will bring them all into judgment (Ecc. xii. 14). Oh, how distressing it will be for us to appear in that august gathering of all the universe without the ornaments of the cross and of our sufferings for Christ upon us. “And God Himself shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Is. xxv. 8; Rev. vii. 17; xxi. 4). O happy tears, which such a hand of such a Lord shall wipe away! O blessed cross, that shall in heaven be exchanged for such a reward! Scarce ten years did King David spend in exile, but for forty he ruled in his kingdom (2 Sam. v. 5). Here we may see prefigured the brevity of our life of suffering, and the unending glory which is to follow. ’Tis but a mere point of time after all in which the saints of God, often objects of the world’s pity, suffer the hardships of the cross; for “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Ps. xxx. 5). (Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations – XLI: The Principle of Christian Patience, Repristination Press, p. 236-237)

Rest in the Lord, O devout soul, and bear patiently the cross imposed upon thee by God. Meditate upon the awful passion of Christ, thy spiritual Spouse. He suffered in behalf of all, He suffered at the hands of all, He suffered in all things. He suffered for all, even for those who despised His Holy passion and trampled under foot the blood of the covenant, counting it an unholy thing (Heb. x. 29). He suffered at the hands of all. He is delivered up (Rom. viii. 32), He is stricken (Is. liii. 4, 5), He is forsaken (Matt. xxvii. 46) by His heavenly Father, He is deserted by the disciples whom He loved (Matt. xxvi. 56), He is rejected by the Jews, His own peculiar people (Matt. xxvii. 21, 22), who chose the robber Barabbas instead of Himself. He is crucified by the Gentiles, He bore the sins of all mankind, and so the whole race was concerned in the guilt of His death. He suffered, also, in every conceivable way. His soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death (Matt. xxvi. 38); and, overwhelmed with a sense of the divine judgment, He cried out on the cross that He was forsaken of God (Matt. xxvii. 46). His body sweat, as it were, drops of blood (Luke xxii. 44); His head is crowned with thorns; His lips taste the bitter myrrh; His hands and His feet are pierced with nails (Ps. xxii. 17); His side is lacerated with the spear; His whole body is scourged and stretched upon the cross. Ah! He suffered hunger, thirst, cold, contempt, poverty, insult, wounds, and the awful death of the cross. But oh, how unseemly it would be that the Lord should suffer thus, while the servant lives in undisturbed joy! Oh, how unseemly it would be that our Saviour should be severely punished for our sins, and we should continue to take delight in them! How unjust it would be that the head of the body should be afflicted, and the rest of the members should not suffer with it! Nay, rather, as it behooved Christ to suffer, and thus to enter into His heavenly glory (Luke xxiv. 26), so also we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God (Acts xiv. 22).
(Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations – XLI: The Principle of Christian Patience, Repristination Press, p. 235-236)

The love of God is life and rest to our souls; when the soul departs through death the body dies; but when God departs from the soul through sin, the soul dies. On the other hand, “God dwells in our hearts by faith” (Eph. iii. 17); He dwells in our souls by love, because the love of God is shed abroad in the hearts of the elect by the Holy Spirit (Rom. v. 5). There is no peace of mind without the love of God. The world and the devil are its greatest sources of trouble, but God is its true and highest rest. There is no peace of conscience except to those who are justified by faith; there is no true love of God except in those who have a childlike trust in God. Therefore let the love of ourselves, the love of the world, the love of the creature, die in us, that the love of God may dwell in us; and may God begin that love in us in this life, that He may perfect it in life eternal.  (Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations – IX: Loving God Alone, Repristination Press, p. 54)

What thy love is, that thou art; because thy love changes thee into itself; love is the very strongest bond, because the lover and the object loved become one. What is it that has joined together a righteous God and lost sinners, so infinitely removed from each other? Infinite love. And that the righteousness of God might not be rendered of no effect Christ interposed His infinite ransom. What is it, moreover, that unites those so far separated from each other, as God the Almighty Creator and a believing soul, the work of His hands? Love. In Heaven we shall be united to God in the very highest degree. Why? Because we shall love Him in the very highest degree. Love unites and transforms; if thou lovest carnal things, thou art carnal; if thou lovest earthly things, thou shalt become earthly. But flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. xv. 50). If thou lovest God and divine things, thou shalt become divine. The love of God is the chariot of Elijah ascending to heaven. The love of God is the delight of the mind, the paradise of the soul; it destroys the power of the world, conquers the devil, shuts the mouth of hell, and opens wide the gate of heaven. The love of God is the seal of God upon His elect and believing children (Rev. vii. 3). God will not acknowledge as His own in the last judgment, those who are not sealed with this seal. For faith itself, which is the sole means of our justification and salvation, is not genuine unless it shows itself by love (Gal. v. 6); it is not true faith unless it be also an unwavering trust, and such a trust is impossible without the love of God. A benefit is not recognized for which thanks are not rendered; we are not truly thankful to Him whom we do not love. If thy faith is genuine it will recognize the great benefits conferred by Christ, thy Redeemer; aye, it will recognize and render thanks; it will render thanks and it will love Him. (Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations – IX: Loving God Alone, Repristination Press, p. 52-53)

He loved us when we had fallen into sin; for it is because of His divine love, that He does not instantly deliver us over to death, when we transgress against Him, but patiently awaits our conversion. It is because of His divine love that above what we deserve, aye, even in very opposition to our just deserts, He is leading us to His heavenly mansions. Without the love of God never couldst thou come to a saving knowledge of God. Without that love all knowledge would be worthless; nay more, it would be harmful to thee. Why does love exceed the knowledge of all mysteries (1 Cor. xiii. 2)? Because the latter may be found even in the devil, but the former only in the godly. Why is the devil the most unhappy being? Because he cannot love the Highest Good. Why is God, on the other hand, the most happy and blessed of all beings? Because He loves all things, and takes delight in all the works of His own hands. Why is the love of God not perfected in us in this life? Simply because we love only as we know; and in this life we know only in part, and as in a riddle (1 Cor. xiii. 12). In heaven we shall be perfectly happy, because we shall love God perfectly, and we shall love Him perfectly because we shall know Him perfectly. But no one may cherish a hope of loving God perfectly in the future life, who does not begin to love Him in this life. The Kingdom of God must begin in the heart of man in this life, or it will never be consummated in the life that is to come. Without the love of God we have no desire for eternal life; and how then can we become sharers of that highest Good, if we do not love it, if we do not desire it, if we do not seek it? (Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations – IX: Loving God Alone, Repristination Press, p. 51-52)

If a very powerful earthly sovereign were to send his messengers to seek in marriage a maiden of humble birth and fortune, would not that maiden act very foolishly to reject the hand of the king, and take up with his messengers and servants instead?  And God, through the beauty of the works of His own hands, desires to call me to Himself and to incite me to love Him alone; why then should my soul, which Christ the heavenly Bridegroom seeks to unite to Himself, cling to a mere creature, as the messenger of this spiritual union which He desires to make with me? These creatures themselves exclaim, “Why dost thou cling so fondly to us? Why dost thou seek thy highest good in us? We cannot satisfy thy longings. Haste thee to our common Creator.” We dare not hope that the things of earth will reciprocate our love; nor do they first love us; but God, who is love (1 John iv. 16), cannot but love those who love Him; nay more, He even anticipates all our desires and all our love with His own love. Ah! how much then ought we love Him who first so dearly loved us. He loved us before we had any being, for it is because of His divine love that we were born into the world. He loved us when we were yet enemies (Rom. v. 10); for it is because of His divine love and compassion that He sent His Son to redeem us. (Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations – IX: Loving God Alone, Repristination Press, p. 50-51)

Rouse thyself, O faithful soul, and love thou Him who is the Highest Good, in whom is every good thing, and without whom there is nothing truly good. No created thing can really satisfy our souls’ desires, for no creature possesses all of perfect good in itself, but only that good in which it participates. A rivulet of goodness from the divine fountain may flow down to it from above, but the fountain itself always remains in God. Why then should we desire to leave the fountain and follow the rivulet? Every manifestation of good in the creature is but an image of the perfect goodness which is in God, nay, which is God Himself. Why then should we desire to leave the reality to grasp the image? The dove sent out from Noah’s ark could not find, amid the raging waters, a place of rest for her feet (Gen. viii. 8). Thus our souls, amid the vast multitude of earthly comforts, can find nothing to satisfy fully their immortal desires, because these things are so very frail and fleeting in character. Does not that man do himself injury who loves anything beneath the dignity of his nature? Our souls are far more noble than any created thing because redeemed by the passion and death of God. Why then should we stoop to love the creature? Would not that be inconsistent with the dignity to which God has exalted the human soul? Whatever we love, we love because of its power, its wisdom, or its beauty. Now what is more powerful, what is wiser, what is more beautiful, than God? All the power of earthly monarchs is from Him and is subject to Him; all human wisdom, compared with the divine, is foolishness; all creature beauty in comparison with God’s is absolute deformity. (Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations – IX: Loving God Alone, Repristination Press, p. 49-50)

What if my sins accuse me; in this Intercessor do I trust; greater is He who is for me than my sins that are against me. What if my very weakness terrifies me; in His strength do I glory. What if Satan accuses me, if only this Mediator shall pardon me. What if the heavens and the earth accuse me and mine iniquities declare my guilt; yet it is enough for me that the Creator of the heavens and of the earth and He who is righteousness itself pleads my cause for me. It suffices for me to have Him propitious to me. His merit, because mine will not suffice, suffices enough for me, and the satisfaction of the Beloved One, the Creator of the believers, suffices for me. If I were not so ardently burdened with sin, I should not so ardently desire His righteousness: if I were not sick, I would not call in the aid of the physician. He Himself is my Physician (Matt. ix. 12); He Himself is my Saviour (Matt. i. 21); He Himself is my Righteousness (1 Cor. i. 30). He cannot deny Himself, since I am spiritually sick, I am condemned; I am a sinner, I cannot deny myself. Have mercy upon me, O Thou my blessed Physician, my Saviour, my Righteousness. Amen!  (Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations – VIII: The Certainty of Our Salvation, Repristination Press, p. 47-48)

Inexpressibly great was the price of our redemption (1 Peter i. 18); great and marvelous, then, is the mercy of God in our redemption. It would almost seem to one as if God loves His elect children as dearly as He loves His only-begotten Son; for what we obtain by purchase we certainly esteem of greater value than that which we give in exchange for it. And that He might have adopted sons, God did not spare His own co-essential Son. What marvel then, that He should have prepared mansions (John xiv. 2) in His heavenly home for us, since He has given His own Son, in whom is all the fulness of the Godhead (Col. ii. 9). Certainly where the fulness of the Godhead is, there is likewise the fulness of eternal life and glory. And if in Christ He hath given the fulness of eternal life, how will He deny us a little particle of it? Truly God has greatly loved us, His adopted sons, since for us He gave His only-begotten Son. Truly the Son has greatly loved us, since for us He gave Himself. To make us rich, He took upon Himself the direst poverty; for He had not where to lay His head (Matt. viii. 20). That He might make us the sons of God, He became a man; and the work of redemption being finished, He does not now neglect us, but sitting at the right hand of the Divine Majesty, He there maketh intercession for us (Rom. viii. 34). What that is necessary to my salvation will He not accomplish for me, since He hath devoted Himself to the work of my eternal salvation? What will the Father deny the Son, who became obedient to Him unto death, even the death of the cross (Phil. ii. 8)? What will the Father deny the Son, since He hath already accepted the ransom offered by the Son?  (Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations – VIII: The Certainty of Our Salvation, Repristination Press, p. 46-47)