Quotations for October, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Commemoration of Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, Apostle of the Franks, 533
Commemoration of Thérèse of Lisieux, Carmelite Nun, Spiritual Writer, 1897
I do a great wrong in His sight, when I beseech Him that He will hear my prayer, which as I give utterance to it I do not hear myself. I entreat Him that He will think of me; but I regard neither myself nor Him. Nay, what is worse, turning over corrupt and evil thoughts in mine heart, I thrust a dreadful offensiveness into His presence.
... Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, Selections from His Letters, Meditations, Sermons, Hymns and Other Writngs, tr. Horatio Grimley, CUP Archive, n.d., p. 195 
(see the book; see also Amos 5:21-24; Ps. 51:10; Hos. 4:7-8; John 3:19-20; more at Corruption, Evil, God, Heart, Prayer, Thought, Wrong)
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Sad, indeed, would the whole matter be if the Bible had told us everything God meant us to believe. But herein is the Bible greatly wronged. It nowhere lays claim to be regarded as the Word, the Way, the Truth. The Bible leads us to Jesus, the inexhaustible, the ever-unfolding Revelation of God. It is Christ “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” not the Bible, save as leading to Him.
... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Higher Faith”, in Unspoken Sermons [First Series], London: A. Strahan, 1867, p. 52-53
(see the book; see also Heb. 1:3; Matt. 16:1-4; John 14:5-6; 20:29; Col. 2:1-3; more at Bible, Christ, Knowledge, Treasure, Truth, Way, Wisdom)
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Commemoration of William Morris, Artist, Writer, 1896
Commemoration of George Kennedy Bell, Bishop of Chichester, Ecumenist, Peacemaker, 1958
The reason we can hope to find God is that He is here, engaged all the time in finding us. Every gleam of beauty is a pull toward Him. Every pulse of love is a tendril that draws us in His direction. Every verification of truth links the finite mind up into a Foundational Mind that undergirds us. Every deed of good will points toward a consummate Goodness which fulfills all our tiny adventures in faith. We can find Him because in Him we live and move and have our being.
... Rufus M. Jones (1863-1948), Pathways to the Reality of God, New York: Macmillan, 1931, p. xi-xii
(see the book; see also Ps. 139:7-12; Jer. 23:23-24; Acts 17:28; Heb. 7:25; more at Beauty, Faith, Good will, Goodness, Knowing God, Life, Love, Truth)
Monday, October 4, 2010
Feast of Francis of Assisi, Friar, Deacon, Founder of the Friars Minor, 1226
It was something more than a glorified Christ in the heavens in which [the Apostles] believed. At the beginning John the Baptist had taught his disciples to expect from the Christ the baptism, not of water only, as in his baptism, but of the Spirit. Before His death Jesus had sought to fill His disciples’ minds with the expectation of this gift... And that Spirit had come in sensible power upon them some ten days after Jesus had disappeared for the last time from their eyes... And this Spirit was the Spirit of God, but also and therefore the Spirit of Jesus. Jesus was not to them merely a past example, or a remote Lord, but an inward presence and power. A mere example in past history becomes in experience a feebler and feebler power... But the example of Jesus was something much more than a memory. For He who had taught them in the past how to live was alive in the heavenly places, and was working within them by His Spirit.
... Charles Gore (1853-1932), The Philosophy of the Good Life, J. Murray, 1930, p. 195
(see the book; see also Rom. 8:34; Matt. 28:19,20; John 14:16-17; Acts 1:4-5,8; 2:1-4; more at Baptism, Christ, Heaven, Holy Spirit, Pentecost, Power)
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
If the Holy Spirit can take over the subconscious with our consent and cooperation, then we have almighty Power working at the basis of our lives, then we can do anything we ought to do, go anywhere we ought to go, and be anything we ought to be. Life is supplied with a basic adequacy...The conscious mind determines the actions, the unconscious mind determines the reactions; and the reactions are just as important as the actions. Many Christians are Christians in their actions—they don’t lie, steal, commit adultery, or get drunk; but they react badly to what happens to them—they react in anger, bad temper, self-pity, jealousy, and envy... When the depths are held by the Holy Spirit, then the reaction is Christian.
... E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973), Conversion, New York: Abingdon Press, 1959, p. 233,235
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 2:9-14; Matt. 19:26; Rom. 8:11; Eph. 2:22; 4:3-4; more at Cooperation, Envy, Holy Spirit, Pity, Power)
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Feast of William Tyndale, Translator of the Scriptures, Martyr, 1536
As in paradise, God walks in the Holy Scriptures, seeking man.
... St. Ambrose of Milan (Aurelius Ambrosius) (339-397), De Paradiso
(see the book; see also Gen. 3:9; Ps. 105:3-4; Matt. 6:31-33; 7:7-8; Heb. 4:12; 11:6; more at God, Paradise, Scripture)
Thursday, October 7, 2010
He has loved us without being loved... We are bound to Him, and not He to us, because before He was loved, He loved us... There it is, then: we cannot... love Him with this first love. Yet I say that God demands of us, that as He has loved us without any second thoughts, so He should be loved by us. In what way can we do this, then? ... I tell you, through a means which he has established, by which we can love Him freely; ... that is, we can be useful, not to Him—which is impossible—but to our neighbour... To show the love that we have for Him, we ought to serve and love every rational creature and extend our charity to good and bad, as much to one who does us ill service and criticizes us as to one who serves us. For, ... His charity extends over just men and sinners.
... Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), Saint Catherine of Siena as seen in her letters, J. M. Dent, 1906, p. 83
(see the book; see also 1 John 4:11-12; John 13:34-35; Rom. 12:10; 1 Pet. 1:22; 1 John 4:16-21; more at Charity, God, Goodness, Love, Reason, Service, Sinner)
Friday, October 8, 2010
One great remedy against all manner of temptation, great or small, is to open the heart and lay bare its suggestions, likings, and dislikings before some spiritual adviser; for, ... the first condition which the Evil One makes with a soul, when he wants to entrap it, is silence.
... François de Sales (1567-1622), Introduction to the Devout Life [1609], London: Rivingtons, 1876, IV.vii, p. 308
(see the book; see also Prov. 28:13; Ps. 38:18; Matt. 5:23-24; 10:26; 18:15; John 3:19; Jas. 5:16; more at Confession, Evil, Heart, Repentance, Silence, Temptation)
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Commemoration of Denys, Bishop of Paris, & his Companions, Martyrs, 258
Commemoration of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, Philosopher, Scientist, 1253
Recently, some Christians have recognized the existing state of the church as sinful, or, at least, as faulty and mistaken. They are trying to save the Christians out of this labyrinth by reuniting the divided churches, by forming an alliance of churches, or by trying to form an ecumenical church. For all that, it seems very difficult to obtain the desired result, because all the present churches are still standing on the principles of the Reformation, unable to rid themselves of the sectarian spirit inherited from Catholicism. So the number of denominations and sects shows no sign of decreasing, and all efforts to unite the churches seem likely to end only in the formation of yet other sects and denominations. Yet the center of Christianity is neither institution nor organization. Nor is it even the Bible itself, as the Reformers made it, for the Ekklesia existed before the formation of the New Testament canon. Christians were in fellowship with God and one another, centering their faith in Christ, long before there was any accepted New Testament. There is only one center of Christianity—spiritual fellowship with God through Jesus Christ.
... Kokichi Kurosaki (1886-1970), One Body in Christ, Kobe, Japan: Eternal Life Press, 1954, ch. 4
(see the book; see also John 17:20-23; Matt. 18:20; John 14:23; Rom. 12:5; 15:5-7; more at Bible, Church, Ecumenical, Fellowship, Jesus, Reformation, Sect, Unity)
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Feast of Paulinus, Bishop of York, Missionary, 644
A great many of those about me would be imprisoned under any law; in France, as here, they would be regular jail-birds. But I loved them better and better—and still I knew how little was my love for them compared to Christ’s. It is easy enough for a man to be honest and a “good Christian” and keeper of “the moral law,” when he has his own little room, his purse well filled—when he is well shod and well fed. It is far less easy for a man who has to live from day to day, roaming from city to city, from factory to factory. It is far less easy for someone just out of jail, with nothing to wear but old down-at-the-heels shoes and a shirt in rags. All of a sudden, I understood our Lord’s words: “I was in prison ... and you visited me not.” All these men, lazy, outside the law, starving: these failures of all kinds—they were dear to Christ—they were Christ, waiting in prison for someone to lean over Him—and if we were true Christians, we would do them every kindness.
... Henri Perrin (1914-1954), Priest-Workman in Germany, London: Sheed & Ward, 1947, p. 83
(see the book; see also Deut. 16:11; Ps. 69:32,33; Matt. 25:36; Rev. 3:17; more at Christ, Historical, Kindness, Law, Love, Prison)
Monday, October 11, 2010
Commemoration of Ethelburga, Abbess of Barking, 675
Some have said that the power of a Redeemer would depend upon two things: first, upon the richness of the self that was given; and second, upon the depths of the giving. Friend and foe alike are agreed on the question of the character of Jesus Christ... Whatever our creed, we stand with admiration before the sublime character of Jesus. Character is supreme in life, and hence Jesus stood supreme in the supreme thing—so supreme that, when we think of the ideal, we do not add virtue to virtue, but think of Jesus Christ, so that the standard of human life is no longer a code, but a character.
... E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973), Now and Then
(see also Acts 8:32-35; Ps. 69:4; Isa. 52:13-53:12; Matt. 27:12-14; Luke 17:12-14; more at Giving, Ideal, Jesus, Life, Thought, Virtue)
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Commemoration of Wilfrid, Abbot of Ripon, Bishop of York, Missionary, 709
Commemoration of Elizabeth Fry, Prison Reformer, 1845
From the crude cry which we have so often heard during the war years: “If there is a God, why doesn’t He stop Hitler?,” to the unspoken questioning in many a Christian heart when a devoted servant of Christ dies from accident or disease at what seems to us a most inopportune moment, there is this universal longing for God to intervene, to show His hand, to vindicate His purpose. I do not pretend to understand the ways of God any more than the next man; but it is surely more fitting as well as more sensible for us to study what God does do and what He does not do as He works in and through the complex fabric of this disintegrated world, than to postulate what we think God ought to do and then feel demoralized and bitterly disappointed because He fails to fulfill what we expect of Him.
... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Making Men Whole, London: Highway Press, 1952, p. 33
(see the book; see also Ps. 106:13-15; 3:1-3; Lam. 3:33; Rom. 8:18; 2 Tim. 3:12; more at Adversity, Death, Disappointment, God, Purpose, Sin, Will of God, Work)
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Feast of Edward the Confessor, 1066
You rob, and spoil, and eat his people as bread, by extortion, and bribery, and deceitful weights and measures, and deluding oaths in buying and selling, and then come hither, and so make God your receiver, and his house a den of thieves. His house is sanctum sanctorum, the holiest of holies, and you make it only sanctuarium; it should be a place sanctified by your devotions, and you make it only a sanctuary to privilege malefactors, a place that may redeem you from the ill opinion of men, who must in charity be bound to think well of you, because they see you here.
... John Donne (1573-1631), Works of John Donne, vol. III, London: John W. Parker, 1839, Sermon LXVIII, p. 217
(see the book; see also Ps. 47:2; 65:5; 69:9; 97:2; Isa. 56:6-7; Jer. 7:11; Matt. 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; more at Church, Evil, Holiness, Sanctuary, Sin)
Thursday, October 14, 2010
If we are honest, we freely admit that the Christian system involves difficulties; but so does every other system. No thoughtful person gives up a position merely because he finds difficulties in it; he does not abandon it until he is able to find other and alternative systems with fewer difficulties... I learned from my professors of philosophy... that, while philosophy might not provide me with a watertight intellectual defense of the Christian faith, it would, if used aright, help me to reveal the weakness of its enemies. By careful analysis it is possible to see that there are glaring weaknesses and non-sequiturs in atheism, naturalism, positivism, scientism, and psychologism. The Christian must be a fighter, for he is always under attack. The Church will not be as strong as it ought to be until each local pastor uses his precious freedom from outside employment in order to become a scholarly participant in the intellectual struggle of our day and generation.
... Elton Trueblood (1900-1994), The Incendiary Fellowship, New York: Harper, 1967, p. 47-48
(see the book; see also Jude 1:3; Matt. 6:26; Acts 6:8-10; 9:22; 18:28; Eph. 4:14-15; Phil. 1:27; more at Apologetics, Atheism, Enemy, Fight, Philosophy, Struggle)
Friday, October 15, 2010
Feast of Teresa of Avila, Mystic, Teacher, 1582
Jesus lived His life in complete dependence upon His Father, as we all ought to live our lives. But such dependence does not destroy human personality. Man is never so fully and so truly personal as when he is living in complete dependence upon God. This is how personality comes into its own. This is humanity at its most personal.
... Donald M. Baillie (1887-1954), God was in Christ: an essay on incarnation and atonement, Scribner, 1955, p. 93
(see the book; see also Luke 22:35; Ps. 16:9; Luke 4:3-4; John 12:49,50; 1 Cor. 2:9-10; 2 Cor. 9:8-10; more at Dependence, Father, God, Jesus, Life)
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Commemoration of the Oxford Martyrs, Hugh Latimer, Nicolas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer, bishops and martyrs, 1555
[Unbelievers] think they have made great efforts to get at the truth when they have spent a few hours in reading some book out of Holy Scripture, and have questioned some cleric about the truths of the faith. After that, they boast that they have searched in books and among men in vain.
... Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pensées (Thoughts) [1660], P.F. Collier & Son, 1910, #194, p. 70
(see the book; see also John 20:9; Matt. 12:7; John 5:39-40; Gal. 3:22; Tit. 1:15; 2 Pet. 3:3-5; more at Bible, Boasting, Man, Scripture, Truth, Unbelief, Vanity)
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Feast of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr, c.107
There is a state of perfect peace with God to be attained under imperfect obedience.
... John Owen (1616-1683), An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, ch. VIII-X, in Works of John Owen, v. XXIII, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1855, p. 251
(see the book; see also Phil. 2:12-13; Ps. 85:8; Isa. 53:5; John 13:17; 14:27; Col. 3:15; more at God, Obedience, Peace)
Monday, October 18, 2010
Feast of Luke the Evangelist
“When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” If He should now come, would He find it in us? What fruits of faith have we to show? Do we look upon this life only as a short passage to a better? Do we believe that we must suffer with Jesus Christ before we can reign with Him? Do we consider this world as a deceitful appearance, and death as the entrance to true happiness? Do we live by faith? Does it animate us? Do we relish the eternal truths it presents us with? Are we as careful to nourish our souls with those truths as to maintain our bodies with proper diet? Do we accustom ourselves to see all things in the light of faith? Do we correct all our judgments by it? Alas! The greater part of Christians think and act like mere heathens; if we judge (as we justly may) of their faith by their practice, we must conclude they have no faith at all.
... François Fénelon (1651-1715), Pious Reflections for Every Day in the Month, London: H. D. Symonds, 1800, p. 1-3
(see the book; see also Phil. 1:21-24; Hab. 2:4; Luke 18:8; 21:7; 2 Tim. 2:11-13; more at Death, Faith, Heathen, Jesus, Judgment, Suffer, Truth)
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Feast of Henry Martyn, Translator of the Scriptures, Missionary in India & Persia, 1812
But must we believe that Judas, who repented even to agony, who repented so that his high-prized life, self, soul, became worthless in his eyes and met with no mercy at his own hand,—must we believe he could find no mercy in such a God? I think when Judas fled from his hanged and fallen body, he fled to the tender help of Jesus, and found it—I say not how. He was in a more hopeful condition now than during any moment of his past life, for he had never repented before. But I believe that Jesus loved Judas even when he was kissing Him with the traitor’s kiss; and I believe that He was his Saviour still.
... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “It Shall Not Be Forgiven”, in Unspoken Sermons [First Series], London: A. Strahan, 1867, p. 94-95
(see the book; see also Ps. 51:17; Matt. 27:3-5; Luke 22:47-48; John 1:16; Acts 1:16-20; Rom. 5:17; more at Forgiveness, Jesus, Love, Mercy, Repentance, Savior)
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
It is not in our life that God’s help and presence must still be proved, but rather God’s presence and help have been demonstrated for us in the life of Jesus Christ. It is, in fact, more important for us to know what God did to Israel and to His Son Jesus Christ, than to seek what God intends for us today.
... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together [1954], tr. Daniel W. Bloesch & James H. Burtness, Fortress Press, 2004, p. 62
(see the book; see also John 1:17-18; Rom. 1:1-4; Tit. 1:1-3; Heb. 1:1-2; 13:8; more at God, Intention, Israel, Jesus, Life, Proof, Social, Today)
Thursday, October 21, 2010
A student: “Sir, don’t you think that God has revealed himself in other religions and not only in Christianity?”Barth: “No, God has not revealed himself in any religion, including Christianity. He has revealed himself in his Son.”
... Karl Barth (1886-1968), during his 1963 Princeton lectures
(see also John 14:7-11; Matt. 3:16-17; 16:14-17; 17:1-5; John 1:14; 5:37-38; Heb. 1:1-2; more at God, Jesus, Religion, Revelation, Son)
Friday, October 22, 2010
Men stand much upon the title of orthodox, by which is usually understood, not believing the doctrine of Christ or His apostles, but such opinions as are in vogue among such a party, such systems of divinity as have been compiled in haste by those whom we have in admiration; and whatever is not consonant to these little bodies of divinity, though possibly it agree well enough with the Word of God, is error and heresy; and whoever maintains it can hardly pass for a Christian among some angry and perverse people. I do not intend to plead for any error, but I would not have Christianity chiefly measured by matters of opinion. I know no such error and heresy as a wicked life... Of the two, I have more hopes of him that denies the divinity of Christ and lives otherwise soberly, and righteously, and godly in the world, than of the man who owns Christ to be the Son of God, and lives like a child of the devil.
... John Tillotson (1630-1694), Works of Dr. John Tillotson, v. IX, London: J. F. Dove, for R. Priestley, 1820, Sermon CCXXVII, p. 343
(see the book; see also John 20:31; 1 Cor. 13:2; Gal. 6:15; more at Belief, Church, Error, Evil, Heresy, Intention, Knowledge, Righteousness)
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Faith is the leading grace in all our spiritual warfare and conflict; but all along while we live, it hath faithful company that adheres to it, and helps it. Love works, and hope works, and all other graces,—self-denial, readiness to the cross,—they all work and help faith. But when we come to die, faith is left alone. Now, try what faith will do...Not to be surprised with any thing is the substance of human wisdom; not to be surprised with death is a great part of the substance of our spiritual wisdom.
... John Owen (1616-1683), Works of John Owen, v. IX, New York: R. Carter, 1851, Sermon XXVII, 1680, p. 340
(see the book; see also Isa. 25:8; 1 Cor. 15:26,31; 1 Tim. 6:12; more at Death, Faith, Grace, Hope, Love, Wisdom)
Sunday, October 24, 2010
I know the power obedience has of making things easy which seem impossible.
... Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), The Interior Castle [1577], tr., E. Allison Peers, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961, p. 33
(see the book; see also Rom. 16:19; Matt. 19:24-26; Luke 1:37; Eph. 2:10; Phil. 2:12; more at Knowledge, Obedience, Power)
Monday, October 25, 2010
Commemoration of Crispin & Crispinian, Martyrs at Rome, c.285
The basic assumption which all expositors seem anxious to secure is certainly right, namely, that the ultimate purpose of a parable is to help and not hinder the apprehension of the truth. But beyond this, we may say that it belongs to the very nature of revelation that the capacity to receive it depends upon the prior surrender and obedience of the will... The disciples had so surrendered to the sovereignty of Jesus and could therefore know. If temporarily parables concealed the truths of the kingdom from the outsider on the intellectual plane, it was only in order that moral conviction might first be secured with a view to intellectual enlightenment afterwards. There are many who, through intellectual pride, would like to have it otherwise, but it cannot be.
... C. E. Graham Swift, The New Bible Commentary, ed. Frances Davidson, Eerdmans., 1963, p. 814-815
(see the book; see also Matt. 11:25-27; 13:10-17; Mark 4:11-36; Luke 8:10; more at Bible, Conviction, Jesus, Knowledge, Morality, Obedience, Pride, Revelation, Truth)
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Feast of Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons, Scholar, 899
Commemoration of Cedd, Founding Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of the East Saxons, 664
Faith is that which, knowing the Lord’s will, goes and does it; or, not knowing it, stands and waits, content in ignorance as in knowledge, because God wills; neither pressing into the hidden future, nor careless of the knowledge which opens the path of action.
... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Temptation in the Wilderness”, in Unspoken Sermons [First Series], London: A. Strahan, 1867, p. 147
(see the book; see also Hos. 12:6; Ps. 37:7; 130:5; Matt. 4:1-11; 21:28-31; Mark 1:11,12; Heb. 11:6,8; more at Faith, God, Ignorance, Knowledge, Will of God)
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Jesus, like all other religious leaders, taught men to pray, that is, He taught them to look away from the world of ordinary sense impressions and to open the heart and spirit to God, yet He is always insistent that religion must be related to life. It is only by contact with God that a better quality of living can be achieved—and Jesus Himself, as the records show, spent many hours in communion with God—yet that new quality of life has to be both demonstrated and tested in the ordinary rough-and-tumble of plain living. It is in ordinary human relationships that the validity of a man’s communion with God is to be proved.
... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), When God was Man, London: Lutterworth Press:, 1954, p. 22
(see the book; see also Mark 1:35; Matt. 6:9-13; Luke 5:16; 11:1-4; 18:1; more at Communion, God, Heart, Jesus, Life, Prayer, Spirit)
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Feast of Simon & Jude, Apostles
The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.
... Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936), What’s Wrong with the World, New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1912, p. 48
(see the book; see also John 3:11-12; Matt. 7:13-14; Luke 6:46-49; 7:30-35; 12:16-21; John 1:11; 5:39-40; 12:37; 1 Cor. 1:18-19; more at Hypocrisy, Ideal, Social)
Friday, October 29, 2010
Commemoration of James Hannington, Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, Martyr in Uganda, 1885
The cross is laid on every Christian. It begins with the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with His death—we give over our lives to death. Since this happens at the beginning of the Christian life, the cross can never be merely a tragic ending to an otherwise happy religious life. When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow Him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time—death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at His call. That is why the rich young man was so loath to follow Jesus, for the cost of his following was the death of his will. In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die, and therefore Jesus Christ and His call are necessarily our death and our life.
... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), The Cost of Discipleship, Simon and Schuster, 1959, p. 89
(see the book; see also Matt. 16:24,25; Luke 14:33; John 5:24-26; Eph. 2:1,5-6; 1 Pet. 2:24; more at Call, Christ, Conversion, Cross, Death, Disciple, Jesus, World)
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Commemoration of Martin Luther, Teacher, Reformer, 1546
The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing, who would ever have been spared?
... Martin Luther (1483-1546), paraphrase from "Sermon on Psalm 110" [1518], WA, 1:696, quoted in Life Together [1954], Dietrich Bonhoeffer & tr. Daniel W. Bloesch & James H. Burtness, Fortress Press, 2004, p. 27
(see the book; see also Ps. 110:2; 23:5; Luke 6:27-29; Rom. 12:14,20; more at Betrayal, Blasphemy, Christ, Church, Enemy, Friend, Kingdom, People, Suffer)
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Reformation Day
Faith is indeed the energy of our whole nature directed to the highest form of being. Faith gives stability to our view of the universe... By faith we are convinced that our impressions of things without are not dreams or delusions, but for us true representations of our environment. By faith we are convinced that the signs of permanence, order, progress, which we observe in nature are true. By faith we are convinced that fellowship is possible with our fellow-men and with God.
... Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901), The Historic Faith, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1883, p. 176
(see the book; see also Matt. 17:20; Mark 9:23-24; Rom. 1:16-17; Eph. 2:8-9; Heb. 10:37-39; 11:1; 1 Pet. 1:7; more at Faith, Fellowship, God, Nature, Permanence, Progress, Truth)
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