How Christ Was All To Some Saints Of Old

John Calvin:

. . . if we seek salvation, we are taught by the name of JESUS that it is in Him . . . If we seek redemption, it will be found in His sufferings; absolution, in His condemnation; remission of the curse, in His cross; satisfaction, in His sacrifice; purification, in His blood . . . newness of life and immortality, in His resurrection . . . protection, security, abundance and enjoyment of all blessings, in His kingdom; a fearless expectation of the judgment, in the judicial authority committed to Him . . . Christ is the beginning, middle and end . . . nothing is, or can be found, apart from Him . . . Let us draw from His treasury, and from no other source.

Octavius Winslow’s response to the text: "Unto you therefore which believe He is precious" (1 Pet 2.7):

Precious Jesus! All in all to me Thou art!

Samuel Rutherford:

Convene all your lovers before your soul, and give them their leave; and strike hands with Christ, that thereafter there may be no happiness to you but Christ, no hunting for anything but Christ, no bed at night, when death cometh, but Christ. Christ, Christ, who but Christ!

Paul Gerhardt:

O Jesus, nothing may I see,
Nothing desire, or seek, but Thee.

Charles Wesley:

Jesus, my all in all Thou art,
My rest in toil, my ease in pain,
The medicine of my broken heart,
In war my peace, in loss my gain,
My smile beneath the tyrant’s frown,
In shame my glory and my crown.
In want my plentiful supply,
In weakness my almighty power,
In bonds my perfect liberty,
My light in Satan’s darkest hour,
My help and stay whene’er I call,
My life in death, my heaven, my all.

Gerhard Tersteegen:

Though all the world my choice deride,
Yet Jesus shall my portion be;
For I am pleased with none beside;
The fairest of the fair is He.

Augustus Toplady:

Object of my first desire,
Jesus crucified for me;
All to happiness aspire,
Only to be found in Thee.
Let me but Thyself possess,
Total sum of happiness:
Perfect peace I then shall prove,
Heaven below and heaven above.

Philip Henry:

Have ye renounced all other things for your all, and have ye received Him to be your all?

Samuel Ward:

He that desires anything above Him, equally with Him, or without Him, shall never obtain Him.

Ralph Robinson:

The saints . . . would rather lose all than Christ; they are contented to part with liberty, estate, life, rather than with Christ.

Jeremiah Burroughs:

In all you enjoy, look how much you see of Christ in it. So far let your delight and esteem be carried out towards it, and no farther.

Do not satisfy yourself with anything without Christ.

Octavius Winslow:

The believer can say: Christ is mine, and I have all things in one, even in Christ, who is my all and in all.

Christ in His Godhead, Christ in His humanity, Christ in His great and finished work, Christ in His mediatorial fulness, must be all in all to the sinner.

Horatius Bonar:

"Christ is all and in all" (Col 3.11). He who knows this knows what fully satisfies and cheers. He who knows this best has the deepest and truest peace: for he has learned the secret of being always a sinner yet always righteous, always incomplete yet always complete, always empty and yet always full, always poor and yet always rich.

Samuel Rutherford:

I wish it were in my power . . . to cry down all love but the love of Christ, and to cry down all gods but Christ, all saviours but Christ, all well-beloveds but Christ, and all soul-suitors and love-beggars but Christ.

All quotations were taken from this excellent article.