Quotations for April, 2003
Tuesday, April 1, 2003
Commemoration of Frederick Denison Maurice, Priest, teacher, 1872
They, looking at Baptism as an act done in an instant, and accomplishing its purpose in an instance, and not rather as the witness of an eternal truth, the sacrament of constant union, the assurance of a continual living presence, are driven to this conclusion: that the moment after it has been performed is a period of ideal purity and excellence, from which the future life even of a saint is a deflection, and which those who have wandered far into sin cannot hope to recover. These must be content, by much prayer and fasting, to seek for God’s mercy, which may, perhaps, though there is no certain promise to uphold the flattering expectation, once again redeem them out of sin and hell... Where is the minister of Christ in London, Birmingham, or Manchester, whom such a doctrine, heartily and inwardly entertained, would not drive to madness? He is sent to preach the Gospel. What Gospel? Of all the thousands whom he addresses, he cannot venture to believe that there are two who, in Dr. Pusey’s sense, retain their baptismal purity. All he can do, therefore, is to tell wretched creatures, who spend eighteen hours out of the twenty-four in close factories and bitter toil, corrupting and being corrupted, that if they spend the remaining six in prayer—he need not add fasting—they may possibly be saved. How can we insult God and torment man with such mockery?
... Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-1872), The Kingdom of Christ: or Hints on the principles..., letters, by a clergyman of the Church of England, 1837, p. 96 
(see the book; see also 1 Pet. 3:18-22; Isa. 53:4-6; Rom. 6:3-4; Col. 2:11-14,20-23; Heb. 9:26; 1 Pet. 4:1; more at Assurance, Authenticity, Baptism, Corruption, Fasting, Gospel, Promise, Purpose, Sacrament, Toil)
Wednesday, April 2, 2003
Yet still, over all these limitations and humiliations, I felt astonishingly and profoundly free; I felt a flame, a secret little life of liberty beating away inside me, a liberty I could never lose. They could keep me locked up; they could take me to a Concentration Camp to-morrow, but they could never touch the sanctuary where my soul watched, where I was alone master. They might deceive me, abuse me, weaken me; they might get words out of me when my mind staggered from their cruelty, words which they could take as an admission; they could kill me. But they could never force my will, for it could never belong to them; it was between myself and God, and no one else could ever touch it.
... Henri Perrin (1914-1954), Priest-Workman in Germany, London: Sheed & Ward, 1947, p. 181-182
(see the book; see also John 8:35-36; Ps. 119:32; Isa. 61:1-2; Matt. 10:28; 16:26; Mark 8:36-37; John 8:31-32; Rom. 8:1-2; 2 Cor. 3:17; more at Affliction, Historical, Liberty, Life, Soul)
Thursday, April 3, 2003
It often happens that one who is not a Christian hath some knowledge, derived from the evidence of his senses, about the earth, about the heavens, about the elements of this world, about the movements and revolutions, or about the size and distance of the stars, about certain eclipses of the sun and moon, about the course of the years and the seasons, about the nature of animals, plants, and minerals... Now it is an unseemly and mischievous thing, and greatly to be avoided, that a Christian man speaking on such matters, as if according to the authority of the Christian Scriptures, should talk so foolishly that the unbeliever on hearing him and observing the extravagance of his error, should hardly be able to refrain from laughter. And the great mischief is not so much that the man himself is laughed at for his errors, but that our authors are believed, by many people without the Church, to have taught such things, and so are condemned as unlearned and cast aside, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we are so much concerned. [Continued tomorrow]
... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), On Genesis [415], tr. John Hammond Taylor, Newman Press, 1982, I.xix, p. 42-43
(see the book; see also Eccl. 2:13-15; 1:13-18; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; Tit. 3:9; more at Apologetics, Belief, Church, Error, Knowledge, Salvation, Scripture, World)
Friday, April 4, 2003
[Continued from yesterday]For when they find one belonging to the Christian body falling into error on a subject with which they themselves are thoroughly conversant, and when they see him moreover enforcing his groundless opinion by the authority of our Sacred Book, how are they likely to put trust in these Books about the resurrection of the dead, and the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, having already come to regard them as fallacious about those things they had themselves learned from observation, or from unquestionable evidences? And indeed it were not easy to tell what trouble and sorrow some rash and presumptuous men bring upon their prudent brethren, who, when they are charged with a perverse and false opinion by those who do not accept the authority of our Books, attempt to put forward these same Holy Books in defense of that which they have lightly and. falsely asserted, sometimes even quoting from memory what they think will suit their purposes, and putting forth many words without well understanding either what they say, or what they are talking about.
... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), On Genesis [415], tr. John Hammond Taylor, Newman Press, 1982, I.xix, p. 43
(see the book; see also Pr. 21:23-24; 1 Cor. 15:12-13; 2 Pet. 2:10-11; more at Apologetics, Body of Christ, Error, Eternal life, Kingdom, Resurrection, Scripture, Sorrow, Understanding)
Saturday, April 5, 2003
The only saving faith is that which casts itself on God for life or death.
... Martin Luther (1483-1546), A Treasury of Sermon Illustrations, Charles Langworthy Wallis, ed., Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1950, p. 116
(see the book; see also Rom. 14:8; 2 Cor. 5:15; Gal. 2:18-19; Phil. 1:21; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 Pet. 4:1-2; more at Death, Faith, God, Life, Salvation)
Sunday, April 6, 2003
Commemoration of Albrecht Dürer, artist, 1528, and Michelangelo Buonarrotti, artist, spiritual writer, 1564
Art—if it is to be reckoned as one of the great values of life—must teach men humility, tolerance, wisdom, and magnanimity. The value of art is not beauty, but right action.
... W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), Mr. Maugham Himself, Doubleday, 1954, p. 673
(see the book; see also Ps. 27:4; 1 Chr. 15:16; Isa. 52:7; more at Action, Art, Attitudes, Beauty, Humility, Teach, Wisdom)
Monday, April 7, 2003
With the death of absolutes, the prospects are grim for any lover of justice, freedom, and order. Western culture will lurch drunkenly between chaotic lawlessness and countering authoritarianism, in which some particularly abysmal vacuum of confidence could finally issue in a supreme dictatorship, mocking the Western aspirations for democracy as ineffective and demonstrating the strong alliance between technology and the state. Until then, violence, blood brother of such a totalitarianism, will play its fateful part, naked or disguised, in an inevitable power struggle on all levels.
... Os Guinness (b. 1941), The Dust of Death, Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973, p. 160
(see the book; see also Ps. 146:3-4; Amos 5:21-24; Acts 4:24-30; 1 Cor. 13:6; more at Culture, Freedom, Justice, Power, Social)
Tuesday, April 8, 2003
Commemoration of William Augustus Muhlenberg of New York, Priest, 1877
I like to begin a service with some divine assurance of the liberality and the eager forgiveness of the God who is now meeting with us; not by beseeching Him to be gracious, but by believing that He is; that He stands to His promises; and that, quite safely, we can deal with Him on that assumption.
... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), In the Secret Place of the Most High, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1947, p. 54
(see the book; see also Joel 2:13; Mark 1:15; Acts 17:30-31; 2 Tim. 2:25-26; 1 John 1:9; more at Assurance, Belief, Forgiveness, God, Grace, Promise, Safety)
Wednesday, April 9, 2003
Feast of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Teacher, Martyr, 1945
We Lutherans... have paid the doctrine of pure grace divine honours unparalleled in Christendom; in fact, we have exalted the doctrine to the position of God Himself. Everywhere Luther’s formula has been repeated, but its truth perverted into self-deception. So long as our Church holds the correct doctrine of justification, there is no doubt whatever that she is a justified Church! So they said, thinking that we must vindicate our Lutheran heritage by making this grace available on the cheapest and easiest terms. To be “Lutheran” must mean that we leave the following of Christ to the Nomians, the Calvinists, and the Anabaptists—and all this for the sake of grace! We justified the world, and condemned as heretics those who tried to follow Christ. The result was that a nation became Christian and Lutheran, but at the cost of true discipleship... We poured forth unending streams of grace. But the call to follow Jesus was hardly ever heard.
... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), The Cost of Discipleship, Simon and Schuster, 1959, p. 53-54
(see the book; see also Luke 18:28-30; Matt. 10:32-39; Luke 14:26-27; John 1:17; Rom. 6:14; 1 Cor. 15:10; Eph. 2:8-10; more at Call, Christ, Church, Disciple, Grace, Jesus, Self)
Thursday, April 10, 2003
Feast of William Law, Priest, Mystic, 1761
Commemoration of William of Ockham, Franciscan Friar, Philosopher, Teacher, 1347
Commemoration of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Priest, Scientist, Visionary, 1955
O plain, and easy, and simple way of salvation, wanting no subtleties of art or science, no borrowed learning, no refinements of reason, but all done by the simple natural motion of every heart, that truly longs after God. For no sooner is the finite desire of the creature in motion towards God, but the infinite desire of God is united with it, co-operates with it. And in this united desire of God, and the creature, is the salvation and life of the soul brought forth.
... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749], London: E. Justins for Ogles, Duncan, and Cochran, 1816, p. 47
(see the book; see also Ps. 42:1-2; 63:1; 84:2; 143:6-7; John 6:37-39; 7:37; Rev. 22:1-2; more at Heart, Life, Longing, Salvation, Soul)
Friday, April 11, 2003
Commemoration of George Augustus Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand, 1878
“I am learning never to be disappointed, but to praise,” Arnot of Central Africa wrote in his journal long ago... I think it must hurt the tender love of our Father when we press for reasons for His dealings with us, as though He were not Love, as though not He but another chose our inheritance for us, and as though what He chose to allow could be less than the very best and dearest that Love Eternal had to give.
... Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), Rose from Brier [1933], London: SPCK, 1950, p. 116
(see the book; see also Eph. 1:11-14; Matt. 6:31-34; Rom. 8:28; Phil. 4:11; Tit. 3:4-7; 1 Tim. 6:6-9; Heb. 13:5-6; more at Disappointment, Father, Inheritance, Love, Praise, Tender, Weakness)
Saturday, April 12, 2003
I do not find that this position, that of unbroken peacefulness and inward song, is one which we can hope to hold unassailed. It is no soft arrangement of pillows, no easy-chair. It is a fort in an enemy’s country, and the foe is wise in assault and especially in surprise. And yet there can be nothing to fear, for it is not a place that we must keep, but a stronghold in which we are kept, if only, in the moment we are conscious of attack, we look “away unto our faith’s Princely Leader and Perfecter, Jesus, who endured.”
... Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), Rose from Brier [1933], London: SPCK, 1950, p. 76
(see the book; see also Heb. 12:2; Acts 10:36; Rom. 5:1; 8:6; Eph. 2:14-17; Col. 3:15; more at Enemy, Faith, Foe, Jesus, Peace, Safety, Song, Weakness)
Sunday, April 13, 2003
Palm Sunday
Hosanna to the royal SonOf David’s ancient line!His natures two, his person one,Mysterious and divine.
The root of David here, we find,And Offspring are the same;Eternity and time are join’dIn our Immanuel’s name.
Bless’d he that comes to wretched menWith peaceful news from heaven!Hosannas of the highest strainTo Christ the Lord be giv’n!
Let mortals ne’er refuse to takeTh’ hosanna on their tongues,Lest rocks and stones should rise, and breakTheir silence into songs.
... Isaac Watts (1674-1748), Hymns and Spiritual Songs [1707], in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, ed. Samuel Melanchthon Worcester, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1834, book I, hymn 16, p. 301
(see the book; see also Matt. 21:9; Ps. 118:24-26; Isa. 55:12; 7:14; Matt. 1:23; Mark 11:9-10; Luke 19:38,40; more at Blessing, Christ, Jesus, Peace, Praise, Song, Worship)
Monday, April 14, 2003
Still as of oldMen by themselves are priced—For thirty pieces Judas soldHimself, not Christ.
... Hester H. Cholmondeley (19th century), included in Masterpieces of Religious Verse, James Dalton Morrison, ed., New York: Harper & Bros., 1948, p. 302
(see the book; see also Matt. 26:14-16; Ps. 54:3-4; Matt. 27:3-5; Mark 14:10-11; Luke 22:3-6; 1 Tim. 6:9-10; more at Abasement, Betrayal, Christ, Crucifixion, Good Friday)
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
Almighty and most merciful Father, I am now about to commemorate once more, in Thy presence, the redemption of the world by our Lord and Savior Thy Son Jesus Christ. Grant, O most merciful God, that the benefit of His sufferings may be extended to me. Grant me faith, grant me repentance. Illuminate me with Thy Holy Spirit. Enable me to form good purposes, and to bring these purposes to good effect. Let me so dispose my time, that I may discharge the duties to which Thou shalt vouchsafe to call me, and let that degree of health, to which Thy mercy has restored me, be employed to Thy Glory. O God, invigorate my understanding, compose my perturbations, recall my wanderings, and calm my thoughts, that having lived while Thou shalt grant me life, to do good and to praise Thee, I may when Thy call shall summon me to another state, receive mercy from Thee, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.
... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), Prayers and Meditations, London: Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe, 1806, Easter Day, 1771, p. 84-85
(see the book; see also Gal. 3:13-14; Pr. 13;4; 1 Cor. 15:58; Gal. 6:9; Eph. 1:7-8; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; Rev. 5:9; more at Christ, Duty, Easter, Jesus, Life, Mercy, Prayers, Repentance, Savior)
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
On April 16, 1521, German reformer Martin Luther, 34, arrived at the Diet of Worms, where he afterward defended his theological position behind the “Ninety-Five Theses” (first advanced in 1517). It was at this assembly where Luther concluded his defense with the historic words: “Hier stehe Ich; Ich kann nicht anders tun. Gott hilffe mir. Amen.” (“Here I stand! I can do nothing else. God help me! Amen.”)
... Bill Blake
(see also Luke 11:28; 1 Cor. 2:12-15; more at God, Historical, Steadfast, Theology)
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Maundy Thursday
The eve His life of love drew near its end,Thus Jesus spoke: “Whoever loveth Me,And keeps My word as Mine own faithful friend,My Father, then, and I his guests will be;Within his heart will make Our dwelling above.Our palace home, true type of heaven above.There, filled with peace, We will that he shall rest,With us, in love.”
... Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897), Poems of St. Teresa, Carmelite of Lisieux, Boston, Angel Guardian Press, 1907, “To Live of Love”, n. 1
(see the book; see also John 14:23-27; Ps. 90:1; 91:1; John 14:2-3; 1 John 4:15-16; Rev. 3:20; 19:9; more at Easter, Faith, Friend, Heaven, Jesus, Love, Peace)
Friday, April 18, 2003
Good Friday
God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, “I love you.”
... Billy Graham (1918-2018), The Quotable Billy Graham, Droke House, 1966, p. 82
(see the book; see also Tit. 3:4-7; John 3:16-17; Rom. 5;8; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; 1 John 3:16; 4:9-10,19; more at Christ, Cross, Death, Easter, God, Love, Proof, World)
Saturday, April 19, 2003
Holy Saturday
Commemoration of Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1012
If [Jesus] were God and nothing else, his immortality means nothing to us; if he were a man and no more, His death is no more important than yours or mine. But if He really was both God and man, then when the man Jesus died, God died too, and when the God Jesus rose from the dead, then man rose too, because they were one and the same person.
... Dorothy Leigh Sayers (1893-1957), Christian Letters to a Post-Christian World, Eerdmans, 1969, p. 16
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 15:21-22; John 1:4,14; 3:6; 10:10,30; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 John 5:12; more at Death, Easter, God, Incarnation, Jesus, Man)
Sunday, April 20, 2003
Easter
Ye choirs of New Jerusalem,Your sweetest notes employ,The Paschal victory to hymnIn songs of holy joy!
For Judah’s Lion burst his chainsAnd crushed the serpent’s head;Christ cries aloud through death’s domainsTo wake the imprisoned dead.
Triumphant in his glory now,To him all power is given;To him in one communion bowAll saints in earth and heaven.
All glory to the Father be,All glory to the Son,All glory to the Spirit beWhile endless ages run.
... Fulbert of Chartres (d. 1028), tr. Robert Campbell (1814-1868), Songs of Praise, enl. ed., Ralph Vaughan Williams, et al., ed., Oxford University Press, 1931, p. 44
(see the book; see also John 20:18; Gen. 3:15; 49:9-10; Matt. 28:18; Rev. 5:5-10; more at Christ, Death, Easter, Glory, Joy, Power, Song, Victory)
Monday, April 21, 2003
Feast of Anselm, Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1109
My God and my Lord, my hope and the joy of my heart, speak unto my soul and tell me whether this is the joy of which thou tellest us through thy Son: Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full (John 16:24). For I have found a joy that is full, and more than full. For when heart, and mind, and soul, and all the man, are full of that joy, joy beyond measure will still remain. Hence, not all of that joy shall enter into those who rejoice; but they who rejoice shall wholly enter into that joy.
... St. Anselm (1033-1109), Discourse on the Existence of God, Chicago: The Opencourt Publishing Co, 1903, p. 33
(see the book; see also John 16:23-24; Hab. 3:18; 1 Thess. 1:4-6; 5:16; 1 Pet. 4:13; 1 John 1:4; more at God, Heart, Hope, Joy, Mind, Son, Soul)
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
We see in the risen Christ the end for which man was made, and the assurance that the end is within reach.
... Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901), The Revelation of the Risen Lord, London: Macmillan, 1881, p. xiv
(see the book; see also Eph. 3:12; Ps. 23:4; Phil. 3:10-11; Col. 2:2-3; 1 John 3:2; 4:17; more at Assurance, Christ, Easter, Man)
Wednesday, April 23, 2003
Feast of George, Martyr, Patron of England, c.304
Commemoration of Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1988
Not praying is a clear proof that a person is not yet a true Christian. They cannot really feel their sins. They cannot love God. They cannot feel themselves a debtor to Christ. They cannot long after holiness. They cannot desire heaven. They have yet to be born again. They have yet to be made a new creature. They may boast confidently of election, grace, faith, hope and knowledge, and deceive ignorant people. But you may rest assured it is all vain talk if they do not pray.
... J. C. Ryle (1816-1900), A Call to Prayer, published in the 1850’s as a pamphlet, American Tract Society, 1867, sec. II
(see the book; see also Isa. 59:12-13; 1 Kings 18:25-40; Matt. 6:5; Rom. 12:12; Eph. 6:18; 1 Thess. 5:17; 1 Pet. 4:7; more at Authenticity, Christ, Confidence, Debt, Holiness, Love, People, Prayer, Predestination, Proof, Sin)
Thursday, April 24, 2003
Commemoration of Mellitus, First Bishop of London, 624
We profess that we know God, but by works we deny Him; for beatitude doth not consist in the knowledge of divine things, but in a divine life, for the devils know them better than man.
... Walter Raleigh (1552?-1618), The Works of Sir Walter Ralegh, Kt., v. II, Oxford: The University press, 1829, p. 32
(see the book; see also 1 John 2:22-23; Prov. 1:7; Matt. 10:33; 26:69-75; Acts 3:14; Jas. 2:14-19; 2 Pet. 2:1; more at Blessing, Devil, Goodness, Knowing God, Knowledge, Man, Work)
Friday, April 25, 2003
Feast of Mark the Evangelist
Fix my thoughts, my hopes, and my desires, upon heaven and heavenly things; teach me to despise the world, to repent me deeply for my sins; give me holy purposes of amendment, and [spiritual] strength and assistances to perform faithfully whatsoever I shall intend piously. Enrich my understanding with an eternal treasure of Divine Truths, that I may know thy will: and thou, who workest in us to will and to do of Thy good pleasure, teach me to obey all Thy commandments, to believe all Thy revelations, and make me partaker of all Thy gracious promises.
... Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), Holy Living [1650], in The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., v. III, London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1847, p. 34
(see the book; see also Matt. 13:51-52; Ps. 25:1-5; 119:11-12,25-40,64-68; Matt. 13:34-35; more at Belief, Commandment, Heaven, Hope, Intention, Obedience, Prayers, Promise, Repentance, Sin, Thought, Truth)
Saturday, April 26, 2003
Take the case of courage. No quality has ever so much addled the brains and tangled the definitions of merely rational sages. Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. “He that will lose his life, the same shall save it,” is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers. It might be printed in an Alpine guide or a drill book. This paradox is the whole principle of courage; even of quite earthly or quite brutal courage. A man cut off by the sea may save his life if he will risk it on the precipice. He can only get away from death by continually stepping within an inch of it. A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine. No philosopher, I fancy, has ever expressed this romantic riddle with adequate lucidity, and I certainly have not done so. But Christianity has done more: it has marked the limits of it in the awful graves of the suicide and the hero, showing the distance between him who dies for the sake of living and him who dies for the sake of dying. And it has held up ever since above the European lances the banner of the mystery of chivalry: the Christian courage, which is a disdain of death; not the [Oriental] courage, which is a disdain of life.
... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), Orthodoxy, London, New York: John Lane Company, 1909, p. 170
(see the book; see also Matt. 16:25; Ps. 31:24; Acts 4:13; 7:52-58; Heb. 13:6; more at Attitudes, Courage, Death, Heroism, Life, Paradox, Philosophy, Saint)
Sunday, April 27, 2003
Feast of Christina Rossetti, Poet, 1894
An Easter Carol.
Spring bursts today,For Christ is risen and all the earth’s at play.
Flash forth, thou Sun,The rain is over and gone, its work is done.
Winter is past,Sweet spring is come at last, is come at last.
Bud, Fig and Vine,Bud, Olive, fat with fruit and oil and wine.
Break forth this mornIn roses, thou but yesterday a thorn.
Uplift thy head,O pure white lily through the winter dead.
Beside your damsLeap and rejoice, you merry-making Lambs.
All Herds and FlocksRejoice, all Beasts of thickets and of rocks.
Sing, Creatures, sing,Angels and Men and Birds, and everything,
All notes of DovesFill all our world: this is the time of loves.
... Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), Christina Rossetti: the complete poems, London: Penguin Classics, 2001, p. 363-364
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 15:42-45; Song of Solomon 2:11-13; Isa. 60:1-2; Matt. 6:28-29; John 20:19; Eph. 5:8; 1 John 5:20; more at Christ, Easter, Love, Resurrection, Spring, Today)
Monday, April 28, 2003
Commemoration of Peter Chanel, Religious, Missionary in the South Pacific, Martyr, 1841
How many are there not who seem capable of anything for the sake of the church or of Christianity, except the one thing the Lord cares about—that they should do what He tells them! He would deliver them from themselves into the liberty of the sons of God, make them His brothers; they leave Him to vaunt their church.
... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Displeasure of Jesus”, in Unspoken Sermons, Third Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1889, p. 188
(see the book; see also John 13:17; Matt. 12:50; Luke 11:28; John 14:15,23; 15:14; Eph. 4:1; 1 Tim. 6:13-16; Jas. 1:22-25; more at Authenticity, Church, God, Liberty, Obedience, Son)
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
Feast of Catherine of Siena, Mystic, Teacher, 1380
And what am I, to knowyour promises, your mercies, your grace, your love?Suppose my heart is (as I can only too well believe)hard, unfruitful, deep, deceitful—is that beyond the powerof the fingers that made the heavens?
O, majestic Lord, you care for me,you have me in your mind and heart.In that I rest.Amen.
... Timothy Dudley-Smith (b. 1926), Someone Who Beckons: readings and prayers for 60 days, InterVarsity Press, 1978, p. 29
(see the book; see also Jer.7:5-7; 17:9; Heb. 3:12-13; 4:1,11; more at Grace, Knowing God, Mercy, Power, Promise, Rest)
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922
The Old Testament [is] a reflection of national life in sharply defined phases: the Hebrews, Israel, and the Jews successively appear as its bearers. But there is a religious unity through the complicated story, a unity which carries with it a continuity of purpose. The people themselves were not always conscious of that purpose; even when they were, they frequently did their best to thwart it. Nevertheless, the purpose prevailed. The religious mind calls it a revelation of God, and the more we pass through a study of the literature into a conception of the people among whom it arose, the more we compare their faith and fortunes with those of their neighbours, the more impossible it seems to explain the rise and career of these particular Semitic clans within the ancient world, a part from a Divine choice. Those who called the literature the “Old Testament” believed that this Divine choice and purpose was fulfilled in the “New Testament,” in the religious movement within Judaism which, during the first century A.D., named itself after Jesus Christ. The members of this movement held that the Old Testament was unintelligible apart from the New, and the New unintelligible apart from the Old. The Church believes that the divine purpose revealed in the Old Testament is not to be fulfilled in any national future for Judaism, within Palestine or elsewhere, but in a catholic community for the world. Hence its Bible adds the New Testament to the Old as the one and only sequel.
... James Moffatt (1870-1944), A New Translation of the Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1935, New York: Harper, 1935, Introduction, p. xv-xvi
(see the book; see also Heb. 1:1-2; Ps. 18:2; 67:1,2; Acts 2:16-18,36; Rom. 8:1,2; Heb. 12:1-2; more at Bible, Church, Fulfillment, Israel, Life, Nation, Purpose, Revelation, Unity)
|
Welcome to the CQOD archive. This page contains all the quotations for April, 2003.
means text and bibliography have been verified.
Here are some important links to help you get around:
Previous month
Next month
CQOD for today
CQOD on the go!
Use our double opt-in listserve to receive CQOD by email
CQOD daily index
All monthly archives
What’s New on CQOD
Author index
Title index
Poetry index
Scripture index
Subject index
Search CQOD (or see below)
CQOD Blog
 CQOD RSS
 Facebook CQOD Fan Page
 Follow CQOD on Twitter
 Follow CQOD on Instagram
About CQOD
CQOD on the Web
CQOD FAQ
CQOD Liturgical Calendar
Mere Christianity: a conversation
Simple Songs for Psalms
Quotations Bible Study
Essays Archive
Bookworms
Spotlights
Publications:
Jonah: a miracle play
Ruth: a play
Also visit these organizations:
Arab Vision
Crescendo
Oratorium
More devotionals
Search CQOD:
|
