5 Quotes & Sayings By Charles Grandison Finney

Charles Grandison Finney was born in East Windsor, New Jersey, on February 27, 1792. He was the son of a Presbyterian minister. He received his early education at home, supplemented by private tutors who were sent to him by the Presbytery of Dutchess County to teach him Latin and Greek. At about the age of 13 he began his formal education at Princeton University where he studied under the famous Dr Read more

John Witherspoon who could trace his ancestry back to John Knox, Scotland’s first martyr. Dr. Witherspoon was convinced that man possesses an innate urge to develop his spiritual nature through self-culture.

"The desire of every human being is to become what God intended him to be." From Princeton, Finney went to Union College in Schenectady where he graduated in 1810 with honors in mathematics and classical literature. He would later receive honorary degrees from many other schools including Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton, the University of Vermont, Amherst College, Rutgers University and Brown University among others.

1
When God has specially promised the thing, we are bound to believe we shall recieve it when we pray for it. You have no right to put in an 'if', and say, 'Lord, if it be thy will..." This is to insult God. To put an 'if' in God's promise when God has put none there, is tantamount to charging God with being insincere. Charles Grandison Finney
2
It is the great business of every Christian to save souls. People complain that they do not know how to take hold of this matter. Why, the reason is plain enough; they have never studied it. They have never taken the proper pains to qualify themselves for the work. If you do not make it a matter of study, how you may successfully act in building up the kingdom of Christ, you are acting a very wicked and absurd part as a Christian. Charles Grandison Finney
3
Nothing tends more to cement the hearts of Christians than praying together. Never do they love one another so well as when they witness the outpouring of each other's hearts in prayer. Charles Grandison Finney
4
I was like you once, long time ago. I believed in the dignity of man. Decency. Humanity. But I was lucky. I found out the truth early, boy. And what is the truth, Stark? It's all very simple. There's no such thing as the dignity of man. Man is a base, pathetic and vulgar animal. Charles Grandison Finney