William Guthrie (1620 - 1665)  was one of Scotland's most powerful and effectual preachers. One of his contemporaries, a fellow minister, stated that under Guthrie's ministry thousands of souls were converted, and that Guthrie himself was considered the greatest practical preacher in the land. Like so many other Puritans of his day, Guthrie was forced out of his pulpit by the Act of Uniformity in 1662. Prior to this time he published what has been hailed by many as one of the most simple and yet profound theological works ever - The Christian's Great Interest. John Owen, himself possibly the ablest theologian in the history of Christianity, referred to Guthrie as one of the greatest divines who ever wrote, and confessed that he carried Guthrie's book with him constantly. All who are serious about going to heaven and knowing if they are GENUINELY saved can profit mightily from William Guthrie's magnum opus.

If interested in pursuing Guthrie, I recommend that you purchase his great production from The Banner Of Truth Trust, as the only other modern publisher (that I'm aware of) who has reproduced this book has altered, omitted, and added to the wording of Guthrie, as well as altering the scripture references by using a modern translation, and thus in many cases the very words that Guthrie wrote and the very words that Guthrie keys off of are obliterated or obscured so that the force of his entire point is lost. Accordingly, I heartily recommend that you check these matters out before purchasing any of the Puritans' works, for some publishers aren't satisfied unless they've succeeded in completely mangling the original, as at least one publisher has done with Guthrie's work.

"A man's interest in Christ, or his gracious state, may be known, and that with more certainty than people conjecture; yea, and the knowledge of it may be more easily attained unto than many imagine." The Christian's Great Interest - Part I

"Very few have, or seek after a saving interest in the covenant; and many foolishly think they have such a thing without any solid ground." The Christian's Great Interest - Part I

"Few find, or walk in, the narrow way. This should alarm people to be serious about the matter, since it is of so great consequence to be in Christ, and since there be but few that may lay just claim to him; and yet many do foolishly fancy an interest in him, who are deceived by a false confidence, as the foolish virgins were." The Christian's Great Interest - Part I

"Men must resolve to be determined by Scripture in this matter of their interest in Christ. The Spirit speaking in the Scripture is judge of all controversies." The Christian's Great Interest - Part I

"If any person take liberty here, and turn grace unto licentiousness, there is, without doubt, in so far a delusion: since there is mercy with him upon condition that it conciliate fear to him." The Christian's Great Interest - Part I

"They complain that they know not whether they be in Christ or not; but as few take pains to be in him, so few take pains to try if they be in him. It is a work and business which cannot be done sleeping... It is a business above flesh and blood: the holy anointing which teacheth all things, must make us know the things freely given to us of God... You who judge this below you, and unworthy of your pains, any part or minute of your time, it is probable, in God's account, you have judged yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, so that you shall have no lot with God's people in this matter." The Christian's Great Interest - Part I

"Yea, as there be but few at all saved: Many be called, but few are chosen; and fewest saved this way; so the Lord hath peremptorily threatened to laugh at the calamity, and not to hear the cry of such as mocked formerly at his reproof, and would not hear when he called to them: Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh, which scripture, although it doth not shut mercy's door upon any, who at the hour of death do sincerely judge themselves and flee to Christ, as this penitent thief did; yet it certainly implieth that very few, who reject the offer until then, are honoured with repentance as he was; and so their cry, as not being sincere, and of the right stamp, shall not be heard." The Christian's Great Interest - Part I

"The Lord discovers a sight of men's sin and misery to them, to chase them out of themselves, and to put them out of conceit of their own righteousness. Men naturally have high thoughts of themselves, and incline much to the covenant of works; the Lord therefore discovers to them so much of their sin and corruption, even in their best things, that they are made to loathe themselves, and despair of relief in themselves; and so they are forced to flee out of themselves... The sight of a man's own misery and lost estate by nature is a ready way to make him prize Christ highly, who alone can set such a wretch at liberty." The Christian's Great Interest - Part I

"God offereth to own men as their God and Father, upon condition they will allow no peaceable abode to Belial." The Christian's Great Interest - Part I

"The sight of a man's own vileness and deservings makes him silent, and constrains him to lay his hand on his mouth, whatsoever God doth unto him... The man careth not what God doth to him, or how he deal with him, if only he save him from the deserved wrath to come: also any mercy is great mercy to him who hath seen such a sight of himself... He thinks it rich mercy that he is not consumed." The Christian's Great Interest - Part I

"Be advised so to study new discoveries of the sense of thy lost condition every day, because of thy old and new sins; and also to seek fresh help in Christ, who is a priest for ever to make intercession; and to have the work of sanctification and patience with thankfulness renewed and quickened often: for somewhat of that work, which abaseth thee, exalteth Christ, and renders thee conformed to his will." The Christian's Great Interest - Part I

"True faith in the lowest degree is the gift of God, and above the power of flesh and blood; for God must draw men to Christ." The Christian's Great Interest - Part I

"Where the Spirit of the Lord savingly discovers God's will in the Scriptures to a man, there is liberty from any obligation to the ceremonial law, and from the condemning power of the moral law." The Christian's Great Interest - Part I

"Bless God if you want nothing essential for the making out of a saving interest in Christ. God hath given unto you Christ Jesus, the greatest gift he had; and since your heart is laid out for him, he will, with him, give you all things that are good for you in their season." The Christian's Great Interest - Part I

"Although the greater part of people do foolishly fancy that they have closed with God in Christ Jesus sincerely and heartily; or, at least, they do, without any ground or warrant, promise a new heart to themselves before they depart this life; yet there be but very few who do really and cordially close with God in Christ Jesus as he is offered in the gospel; and so there be but very few saved -- Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and FEW there be who find it -- If people would believe this, it might help to alarm them." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"If men do not believe that he who was slain at Jerusalem, who was called Christ Jesus, and witnessed unto by the prophets, and declared to be the Son of God by many mighty works -- I say, if men do not believe that he is the way, and close not with him as the only way, they shall die in their sins... those who have long delayed to take this matter to heart, have now the more need to look to it, lest what belongs to their peace be hid from their eyes." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"Every man is by nature void of the grace of God, and is an enemy unto God, and an heir of condemnation... the man must know that the wrath of God denounced in Scripture is standing in force against those very sins whereof he is guilty, and so, consequently, he is the party undoubtedly against whom God, who cannot lie, hath denounced war... a man must know that he hath nothing of his own to procure his peace, and to set him free from the hazard under which he lieth... he must be affected with these things, and must be in earnest about them, as he used to be in other cases in which he was most serious... this seriousness makes the man peremptory to find relief, since it is not in himself. He dare not put off and delay his business as before; and this is indeed required, that he finds himself so pursued and urged to it, that he flees for refuge somewhere." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"Let none deceive themselves; if the hazard of their soul, and the salvation thereof, and how to be in favour with God, have not gone nearer to their heart than anything in the world beside, it cannot be presumed, upon just grounds, that they have known sin, or God, or the eternity of his wrath, aright." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"The poor distressed people in the gospel did most resolutely cast themselves upon Christ. This resoluteness of spirit is in respect to all difficulties that lie in the way; violence is offered to these. The man whose heart is laying out for Christ Jesus cannot say -- There is a lion in the street! If he cannot have access by the door, he will break through the roof of the house... This resoluteness in the soul proceedeth from desperate self-necessity within the man, as it was with the Philippian jailer, and from the sovereign command of God, obliging the man to move towards Christ... But above all, this resoluteness doth proceed from the arm of JEHOVAH, secretly and strongly drawing the sinner towards Christ - No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"It is a shame for a believer to be afraid of evil tidings, since the Lord, with whom he is one, alone ruleth all things, and doth whatsoever pleaseth him in heaven and earth." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"There is such a disproportion between God and man, that unless God himself had devised that covenant, and of his own free will had offered so to transact with men, it had been high treason for men or angels to have imagined that God should have humbled himself, and become a servant, and have taken on him our nature, and have united it by a personal union to the blessed Godhead; and that he should have subjected himself to the shameful death of the cross; and all this, that men, who were rebels, should be reconciled unto God, and be made eternally happy, by being in his holy company for ever." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"If God had not sovereignly commanded men so to close with him in and through Christ, no man durst have made use of that device of his -- Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, and buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price -- yet, since he hath in his holy wisdom devised that way, and knows how to be richly glorified in it, and hath commanded me, as I shall be answerable at the great day, to close with him in Christ, I dare not disobey, nor inquire into the reasons of his contrivance and commands, but must comply with the command, as I would not be found to frustrate the grace of God; and in a manner disappoint the gospel, and falsify the record which God hath borne of his Son, that there is life enough in him for men, and so make God a liar, and add that rebellion to all my former transgressions." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"Is your sin beyond the drunkenness and incest of Lot; adultery covered with murder in David; idolatry and horrid apostasy in Solomon; idolatry, murder, and witchcraft in Manasseh; anger against God and his way in Jonah; forswearing of Christ in Peter after he was forewarned, and had vowed the contrary; bloody persecution in Paul, making the saints to blaspheme?... I say, are your sins beyond these? yet all these obtained pardon through Christ, as the Scripture showeth. Know, therefore, that all sins are equal before the free grace of God... If the person have a heart to come unto God through Christ, then he is able so save to the uttermost. Yea, it is more provoking before God not to close with Christ, when the offer comes to a man, than all the rest of his transgressions." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"He is able to save to the UTTERMOST those who come to God by him -- no man can sufficiently declare what is God's UTTERMOST!" The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"Saving faith, by which alone a man can heartily close with God in Christ, is above our power and is the gift of God... The Lord commanding this thing, which is above our power, willeth us to be sensible of our inability to do the thing, and would have us to put it on him to work it in us. He hath promised to give the new heart, and he hath not excluded any from the benefit of that promise." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"Go speedily and search for God's offers of peace and salvation in the scripture, and work up your heart and soul to close with them, and with Christ in them, and with God in Christ; and do it so, as you may have this to say, that you were serious, and in earnest, and cordial here, as ever you were in any thing." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"It is a warrantable practice and an incumbent duty, expressly and by word, to covenant with God... Oh! shall men study to be express, explicit, plain, and peremptory, in all their other great businesses, because they are such: and shall they not much more be peremptory and express in this, which doth most concern them?... God is so formal, express, distinct, and legal, to say so, in all the business of man's salvation, namely, Christ must be a near kinsman to whom the right of redemption doth belong; he must be chosen, called, authorized, and sent; covenants formally drawn between the Father and him, the Father accepting payment and satisfaction, giving formal discharges, all done clearly and expressly. Shall the Lord be so express, plain, and peremptory in every part of the business, and shall our part of it rest in a confused thought, and we be as dumb beasts before him?" The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"It is fit that men, in all their walk, hold their heart to the business, by heart-cleaving to God in Christ... The man must labour to bring up his heart to the thing, that it do not belie the tongue; it will be a great mocking of God, so to draw near to him with the lips, whilst the heart is far from him." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"It is no small thing to be allied unto, and with, the great God of heaven and his Son Jesus Christ." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"There should be special guarding and watching that the heart keep spiritual in transacting with God." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"If you covenant honestly with God, he engageth, beside the new heart, to put his fear and law therein, and to give his Spirit to cause you to walk in his ways." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"Nothing can work grace but the arm of JEHOVAH: and if men would lean upon Christ, and covenant with him as their duty absolutely, whatsoever may be the consequence, at least looking only to him for the suitable fruit, it would fare better with them." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II

"O blessed bargain of the new covenant, and thrice blessed Mediator of the same! Let him ride prosperously and subdue nations and languages, and gather in all his jewels, that honourable company of the firstborn, that stately troop of kings and priests, whose glory it shall be to have washed their garments in the blood of that spotless Lamb, and whose happiness shall continually flourish in following him whithersoever he goes, and in being in the immediate company of the Ancient of days, one sight of whose face shall make them in a manner forget that ever they were on the earth. Oh, if I could persuade men to believe that these things are not yea and nay, and to make haste towards him, who hasteth to judge the world, and to call men to an account, especially concerning their improvement of this gospel." The Christian's Great Interest - Part II