Quotations for March, 2018
Thursday, March 1, 2018
Feast of David, Bishop of Menevia, Patron of Wales, c.601
As we groan, so also does the Holy Spirit groan with us, putting a meaning into our aspirations which they would not have of themselves.
... William Sanday (1843-1920) & Arthur C. Headlam (1862-1947), A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1896, 10th ed., New York: Scribners, 1905, p. 213 
(see the book; see also Rom. 8:26; Ps. 6:9; 42:1-2; 69:3; 102:19-20; Luke 22:44; 2 Cor. 5:4; more at Holy Spirit, Intercession)
Friday, March 2, 2018
Feast of Chad, Abbot of Lastingham, Bishop of Lichfield, Missionary, 672
Our fear of congregationalism is, I shrink from saying it, only another name for our fear of independence. We think it quite impossible that a native [Anglican] Church should be able to exist without the paternal care of an English overseer. If it were financially independent, it might be tempted to dispense with his services, and then, we are persuaded, it would at once fall into every error of doctrine and practice.
... Roland Allen (1869-1947), Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or ours?, London: World Dominion Press, 1927, reprinted, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1962, p. 60
(see the book; see also 2 Cor. 11:8-14; 12:14-18; Phil. 4:14-16; Col. 1:22-23; more at Error, Fear, Independence, Mission, Temptation)
Saturday, March 3, 2018
The Christian cell in a factory or a professional circle, funding its own activities, deciding its own pattern of work, studying the Bible and perhaps celebrating the Lord’s supper as an entity on its own, comes very much closer to Independency as Robert Browne saw it than the unholy isolationism of a prosperous suburban church, with 200 members who scarcely know each other by sight. If a sizable proportion of the Free Church ministry were enabled to become itinerant once again—not necessarily itinerant in the geographical sense, but itinerant in the complex mazes of contemporary society, fathers in God to Christian organisms evolved by the lay men and women who spend their lives in these mazes—new heart would be put into both ministry and laity, and incidentally, new impetus given to the search for Christian unity.
... Christopher Driver (1932-1997), A Future for the Free Churches?, London: SCM Press, 1962, p. 118
(see the book; see also Acts 8:4; Matt. 5:13; 10:23; 18:20; Acts 11:19; 14:5-6; more at Church, Communion, Father, Minister, Social, Unity)
Sunday, March 4, 2018
Commemoration of Felix, Bishop, Apostle to the East Angles, 647
God does not lead all His servants by one road, nor in one way, nor at one time; for God is in all things; and that man is not serving God aright, who can only serve Him in his own self-chosen way.
... Johannes Tauler (ca. 1300-1361), The Inner Way, Sermon XVI
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 12:12,18-20,27; Matt. 5:6; Luke 10:41-42; 1 Cor. 14:1; more at Authenticity, God, Leader, Man, Road, Self, Service, Way)
Monday, March 5, 2018
Does not the public repudiation of the whole Christian scheme of life in a large part of what was once known as Christendom force to the front the question whether the path of wisdom is not rather to attempt to work out a Christian doctrine of modern society and to order our national life in accordance with it?Those who would give a quick, easy or confident answer to this question have failed to understand it. It cannot even be seriously considered without a profound awareness of the extent to which Christian ideas have lost their hold over, or faded from the consciousness of, large sections of the population; of the far-reaching changes that would be called for in the structure, institutions and activities of existing society, which is in many of its features a complete denial of the Christian understanding of the meaning and end of man’s existence; and of the stupendous and costly spiritual, moral and intellectual effort that any genuine attempt to order national life in accordance with the Christian understanding of life would demand.
... J. H. Oldham (1874-1969), from a letter to The Times printed October 5, 1938, quoted in The Idea of a Christian Society, T. S. Eliot, London: Faber, 1939, reprint, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1960, p. 68
(see the book; see also 2 Peter 2:20-21; Matt. 12:31-32; 13:22; Mark 4:18-19; Luke 8:14; 11:24-26; 18:24; Heb. 6:4-6; 10:26-29; more at Authenticity, Existence, Failure, Life, Man, Meaning, Nation, Question, Social, Understanding)
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Seeing, then, it is no longer the fisherman, the son of Zebedee, but He who knoweth “the deep things of God”, the Holy Spirit, I mean, that striketh this lyre, let us hearken accordingly. For he will say nothing to us as a man, but what he saith, he will say from the depths of the Spirit.
... St. John Chrysostom (345?-407), The Homilies of S. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John, v. I, Oxford: Parker, 1848, p. 3
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 2:9-10; Job 12:22; Ps. 42:7; 92:5-7; Dan. 2:22; Rom. 11:33-36; more at God, Holy Spirit, Teach)
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Feast of Perpetua, Felicity & their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203
What, after all, are the world’s deepest problems? They are what they always have been, the individual’s problems—the meaning of life and death, the mastery of self, the quest for value and worth-whileness and freedom within, the transcending of loneliness, the longing for love and a sense of significance, and for peace. Society’s problems are deep, but the individual’s problems go deeper; Solzhenitsyn, Dostoyevsky, or Shakespeare will show us that, if we hesitate to take it from the Bible.
... James I. Packer (1926-2020), “Jesus Christ the Lord”, in The Lord Christ [1980], John Stott, ed., vol. 1 of Obeying Christ in a Changing World, John Stott, gen. ed., 3 vol., London: Fountain, 1977, p. 56
(see the book; see also 2 Cor. 13:5; Ps. 26:2; 139:23-24; Lam. 3:4; Hag. 1:5; John 15:15,19; 1 Cor. 11:28-31; Gal. 6:4; 1 John 3:19-21; more at Apologetics, Bible, Death, Life, Longing, Love, Meaning, Peace, Quest)
Thursday, March 8, 2018
Commemoration of Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy, Priest, Poet, 1929
Thou who art Lord of all the tender pities,Mercy Incarnate, human and divine,How could we write Thy Name upon these citiesWherein Thy children live like herded swine?
Would not those eyes that saw their angels gazingInto the brightness of the Father’s faceTurn on this slum, with Love and Fury blazing,Shriveling our souls with shame of such a place?
“Where are My children, those the Father gave you?What have you done with babes that bore My Name?Was it for this I suffered so to save you?Must I for ever burn for you in shame?”
... G. A. Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929), The Wicket Gate, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1923, p. 90
(see the book; see also Matt. 5:7; Job 31:16-22; Ps. 37:26; 122:9; Pr. 14:21; 19:17; Mic. 6:8; Matt. 6:1-4; 25:31-46; Jas. 2:13; more at Angel, Authenticity, Child, City, Father, Love, Mercy, Pity, Salvation, Shame)
Friday, March 9, 2018
We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to a high and reverend esteem of the Holy Scripture, and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man’s salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the word of God; yet, notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.
... The Westminster Confession of Faith [1646], Introduction & Notes by John Macpherson, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1881, chapter 1, article V
(see the book; see also 1 John 2:20; Isa. 59:21; John 16:13,14; 1 Cor. 2:10-12; 1 Tim. 3:15; 1 John 2:27; more at Bible, Church, Heart, Holy Spirit, Inspiration, Salvation, Scripture, Witness)
Saturday, March 10, 2018
We believe that the Word contained in these books [viz., the Bible] has proceeded from God, and receives its authority from Him alone, and not from men. And inasmuch as it is the rule of all truth, containing all that is necessary for the service of God and for our salvation, it is not lawful for men, nor even for angels, to add to it, to take away from it, or to change it. Whence it follows that no authority, whether of antiquity, or custom, or numbers, or human wisdom, or judgments, or proclamations, or edicts, or decrees, or councils, or visions, or miracles, should be opposed to these Holy Scriptures, but on the contrary, all things should be examined, regulated, and reformed according to them.
... The French Confession of Faith [1559], in Bibliotheca Symbolica Ecclesiae Universalis: The evangelical Protestant creeds, vol. 3, Philip Schaff, New York: Harper, 1919, art. V
(see the book; see also John 3:30-31; Deut. 4:2; 12:32; Pr. 30:6; Matt. 15:9; John 3:26-29; 5:33-34; 15:15; 20:30-31; Acts 5:28-29; 20:27; 1 Cor. 11:2,23; Gal. 1:8; 1 Tim. 1:15; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 1 Pet. 1:11-12; 2 Pet. 1:20-21; Rev. 22:18-19; more at Bible, God, Inspiration, Reform, Salvation, Scripture, Truth)
Sunday, March 11, 2018
It is absolutely wrong and forbidden, either to narrow inspiration to certain parts only of Holy Scripture, or to admit that the sacred writer has erred. For the system of those who, in order to rid themselves of these difficulties, do not hesitate to concede that divine inspiration regards the things of faith and morals, and nothing beyond, because (as they wrongly think) in a question of the truth or falsehood of a passage, we should consider not so much what God has said as the reason and purpose which He had in mind in saying it—this system cannot be tolerated. For all the books which the Church receives as sacred and canonical, are written wholly and entirely, with all their parts, at the dictation of the Holy Ghost; and so far is it from being possible that any error can co-exist with inspiration, that inspiration not only is essentially incompatible with error, but excludes and rejects it as absolutely and necessarily as it is impossible that God Himself, the supreme Truth, can utter that which is not true.
... Leo XIII (1813-1903), Providentissimus Deus, “On the Study of Holy Scripture” [1893], par. 20
(see the book; see also Ps. 119:160; 19:9; 119:86; Pr. 30:5; John 17:17; 2 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 6:18; more at Bible, Church, Error, God, Holy Spirit, Inspiration, Question, Scripture, Truth)
Monday, March 12, 2018
In holy Scripture is fully contained what we ought to do, and what to eschew; what to believe, what to love, and what to look for at God’s hands at length. In these Books we shall find the Father from whom, the Son by whom, and the Holy Ghost in whom all things have their being and keeping up, and these three persons to be but one God, and one substance... Read [Holy Scripture] humbly with a meek and lowly heart, to the intent you may glorify God, and not your self, with the knowledge of it: and read it not without daily praying to God, that he would direct your reading to good effect: and take upon you to expound it no further than you can plainly understand it. For, as Saint Augustine saith, ‘the knowledge of holy Scripture is a great, large, and a high place, but the door is very low, so that the high and arrogant man cannot run in; but he must stoop low, and humble himself, that shall enter into it...’ The humble man may search any truth boldly in the Scripture, without any danger of error. [Continued tomorrow]
... “A Fruitful exhortation to the reading of holy Scripture” [1562], from Certain sermons, or, Homilies appointed to be read in churches, Church of England, London: Prayer-Book and Homily Society, 1852, pp. 2,6
(see the book; see also Eph. 5:15-17; Matt. 26:53-56; Acts 8:27-35; Rom. 3:1-2; 15:4; 1 Tim. 4:16; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; more at Arrogance, Belief, Bible, Father, God, Holy Spirit, Humility, Love, Meekness, Scripture, Son)
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
[Continued from yesterday]Scripture in some places is easy, and in some places hard to be understood. This have I said as touching the fear to read, through ignorance of the person.And concerning the hardness of Scripture; he that is so weak that he is not able to brook strong meat, yet he may suck the sweet and tender milk, and defer the rest until he wax stronger, and come to more knowledge. For God receiveth the learned and unlearned, and casteth away none, but [does not discriminate]. And the Scripture is full, as well of low valleys, plain ways, and easy for every man to use and to walk in: as also of high hills and mountains, which few men can climb unto.
... “A Fruitful exhortation to the reading of holy Scripture” [1562], from Certain sermons, or, Homilies appointed to be read in churches, Church of England, London: Prayer-Book and Homily Society, 1852, p. 6-7
(see the book; see also 2 Pet. 3:15-16; Luke 24:45; Gal. 3:8; Heb. 4:12; 2 Pet. 1:19-21; more at Bible, God, Ignorance, Knowledge, Scripture, Strength, Weakness)
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
We are to believe and follow Christ in all things, including his words about Scripture. And this means that Scripture is to be for us what it was to him: the unique, authoritative, and inerrant Word of God, and not merely a human testimony to Christ, however carefully guided and preserved by God. If the Bible is less than this to us, we are not fully Christ’s disciples.
... James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000), “The Preacher & God’s Word”, in Foundation of Biblical Authority, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978, p. 142-143, fn.
(see the book; see also Matt. 5:17-18; 7:12; 22:37-40; Mark 7:12-13; Luke 4:4; 16:29-31; more at Bible, Christ, Disciple, God, Guidance, Scripture)
Thursday, March 15, 2018
A loving Personality dominates the Bible, walking among the trees of the garden and breathing fragrance over every scene. Always a living Person is present, speaking, pleading, loving, working, and manifesting himself whenever and wherever his people have the receptivity necessary to receive the manifestation.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948], Christian Publications, 1982, p. 48
(see the book; see also Luke 5:1-3; Gen. 3:8; Luke 24:30-32,36; John 4:6-10; 11:35; 20:14-17,19-20; Heb. 2:17; 4:15; more at Bible, Life, Love, People, Presence of God, Work)
Friday, March 16, 2018
The term “baptism in (or of) the Spirit” conjures up the idea of a separate initiatory experience which every Christian ought to enjoy, whereas evangelicalism is noted for its stress upon a “conversion” experience which marks the beginning of the believer’s relationship to his Lord. Too often, alas, conversion has been the end as well as the beginning, with the result that some Christians have looked back, with mingled delight and wistfulness to a past event that now seems to have diminished relevance to daily living. We can fully understand, then, the appeal of a movement which promises a new dimension of Christian living, there in the New Testament, and now available in everyday experience.
... George Carey (b. 1935), “Christian Beginning”, in The Lord Christ [1980], John Stott, ed., vol. 1 of Obeying Christ in a Changing World, John Stott, gen. ed., 3 vol., London: Fountain, 1977, p. 131
(see the book; see also Mark 1:7-8; Isa. 44:3; Eze. 36:25-27; Joel 2:28; Acts 1:5; 2:4,17; 11:15-16; 1 Cor. 12:13; Tit. 3:5; more at Baptism, Conversion, Experience, Holy Spirit, Past, Promise)
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Feast of Patrick, Bishop of Armagh, Missionary, Patron of Ireland, c.460
God could, if I may so say, more easily have made a new world of innocent creatures, and have governed them by the old covenant, than have established this new one for the salvation of poor sinners; but then, where had been the glory of forgiveness? It could never have been known that there was forgiveness with Him. The old covenant could not have been preserved and sinners pardoned. Wherefore, God chose to leave the covenant than sinners unrelieved, than grace unexalted and pardon unexercised...Will we continue on the old bottom of the first covenant? All that we can do therein is but to set thorns and briars in the way of God, to secure ourselves from His coming against us and upon us with His indignation and fury. Our sins are so, and our righteousness is no better. And what will be the issue? Both they and we shall be trodden down, consumed, and burnt up. What way, then, what remedy is left unto us? Only this of laying hold on the arm and strength of God in that covenant wherein forgiveness of sin is provided.
... John Owen (1616-1683), An Exposition upon Psalm CXXX [1668], in Works of John Owen, v. VI, New York: R. Carter & Bros., 1851, p. 475
(see the book; see also Ps. 32:1-2; 51:7-9; 130:4; Isa. 27:2-5; Rom. 4:6-8; 1 John 2:1-2; more at Choices, Forgiveness, God, Salvation, Sin, Sinner)
Sunday, March 18, 2018
[The] denominational divisions which accentuate the problem are ... perpetrating an image of a divided Christ to the community in which we live. Such an image is at variance with the unity of the body into which we were all baptized. The same arguments that Paul used to deal with the factions and personality cults of the Corinthian church are applicable [here and now]. We can not hide behind some concept of “spiritual unity” which has little or no embodiment in structure or institution; for, not only does it drive an unnatural and unbiblical wedge between the physical and the spiritual, it is also nonsense to the world to which we are called to be in mission, and thereby denies the very basis of the unity for which Christ prayed.
... Ian P. M. Cundy (1945-2009), “The Church as Community”, in The People of God, Ian Cundy, ed., vol. 2 of Obeying Christ in a Changing World, John Stott, gen. ed., 3 vol., London: Fountain, 1977, p. 30
(see the book; see also Eph. 4:1-6; John 17:20-23; Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 10:17; 12:12-13,20; Eph. 5:30; Col. 3:15; more at Authenticity, Baptism, Body of Christ, Christ, Church, Unity, World)
Monday, March 19, 2018
Feast of Joseph of Nazareth
The power of God is the worship He inspires. That religion is strong which in its ritual and its modes of thought evokes an apprehension of the commanding vision. The worship of God is not a rule of safety: it is an adventure of the spirit, a flight after the unattainable. The death of religion comes with the repression of the high hope of adventure.
... Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), Science and the Modern World, Macmillan Company, 1925, p. 276
(see the book; see also Isa. 49:13; Job 17:9; Ps. 103:2-5; 138:3; Isa. 40:30-31; 2 Cor. 4:16; 12:9-10; more at Death, God, Hope, Inspiration, Power, Religion, Rule, Vision, Worship)
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Feast of Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary, 687
[From our side] our relation to God is unrighteous. Secretly we are ourselves the masters in this relationship. We are not concerned with God, but with our own requirements, to which God must adjust Himself. Our arrogance demands that, in addition to everything else, some super-world should also be known and accessible to us. Our conduct calls for some deeper sanction, some approbation and remuneration from another world. Our well-regulated, pleasurable life longs for some hours of devotion, some prolongation into infinity. And so, when we set God upon the throne of the world, we mean by God ourselves. In “believing” on Him, we justify, enjoy, and adore ourselves.
... Karl Barth (1886-1968), The Epistle to the Romans, translated from the 6th edition by Edwyn C. Hoskyns, London: Oxford University Press, H. Milford, 1933, 6th ed., Oxford University Press US, 1968, p. 44
(see the book; see also Rom. 1:18; Matt. 4:8-10; John 3:3-6,19-21; Acts 24:24-25; Rom. 8:5-8; 1 Tim. 4:1; more at Arrogance, Attitudes, God, Life, Longing, Self-righteousness, World)
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Spirit divine, attend our prayers.And make this house thy home;Descend with all thy gracious powers;O come, great spirit, come!
Come as the light; to us revealOur emptiness and woe;And lead us in the paths of lifeWhere all the righteous go.
Come as the wind: sweep clean awayWhat dead within us lies,And search and freshen all our soulsWith living energies.
Come as the fire: and purge our heartsLike sacrificial flame;Let our whole soul as offering beTo our Redeemer’s name.
Spirit divine, attend our prayers,Make a lost world thy home;Descend with all thy gracious powers:O come, great Spirit, come!
... Andrew Reed (1787-1862), in 1829, included in Memoirs of the Life and Philanthropic Labours of Andrew Reed, D. D., comp. Andrew Reed, Charles Reed, London: Strahan & Co., 1863, p. 332
(see the book; see also Acts 4:31; 2 Chr. 5:14; Ezek. 39:29; Joel 2:28; Rom. 8:9; more at Cleanse, Heart, Holy Spirit, Home, Life, Light, Offering, Prayers, Redemption, Revelation)
Thursday, March 22, 2018
We have to repent of our blindness, our lukewarmness, and our disobedience, and turn back to the central truth of Christ as Lord and Saviour; an ethical system will not save us here, nor a timid sentimentalism, nor an excited emotional return, nor a dilettante mysticism.We have to find that deep contrition which is the condition of His abiding.Repentance is not a mere feeling of sorrow or contrition for an act of wrongdoing. The regret I feel when I act impatiently or speak crossly is not repentance... Repentance is contrition for what we are in our fundamental beings, that we are wrong in our deepest roots because our internal government is by Self and not by God.And it is an activity of the whole person. Unless I will to be different, the mind will not follow.True repentance brings an urge to be different, because of the sense of the incessant movement of what I am, forming, forming, forming what I shall be in the years to come.
... Florence Allshorn (1887-1950), The Notebooks of Florence Allshorn, London: SCM Press, 1957, p. 104
(see the book; see also Rev. 3:15-16; Ps. 34:18; 51:17; Luke 5:31-32; 2 Cor. 7:10; Phil. 3:20; 2 Tim. 2:25-26; 2 Pet. 1:10-11; more at Blindness, Contrition, Disobedience, God, Repentance, Self)
Friday, March 23, 2018
Most evangelicals believe that if a passage of the Bible seems unclear in its meaning, it should be interpreted in the light of Scripture “as a whole.” But what does “Scripture as a whole” mean? In practice, if not theory, it means the working systematic theology of the interpreter, or of his own theological tradition. An evangelical... would not hold to that tradition unless he believed that it did represent the wholeness of the biblical witness. Nevertheless, if this state of affairs has been correctly described, he is now in a serious difficulty. For if the Bible must always accord with a theology that has already been accepted, how can the truth of a biblical passage ever confront him afresh with an unfavorable judgment?
... Tony Thiselton (b. 1937), “Understanding God’s Word Today”, in The Lord Christ [1980], John Stott, ed., vol. 1 of Obeying Christ in a Changing World, John Stott, gen. ed., 3 vol., London: Fountain, 1977, p. 97
(see the book; see also Heb. 6:4-6; Matt. 22:29; Mark 12:10-11; John 5:39-40,46; 7:52; 2 Pet. 3:15-17; more at Belief, Bible, Meaning, Scripture, Theology, Tradition, Truth, Witness)
Saturday, March 24, 2018
Feast of Oscar Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, Martyr, 1980
Commemoration of Paul Couturier, Priest, Ecumenist, 1953
Every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And, taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a Heavenly creature or into a hellish creature; either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is Heaven: that is, it is joy, and peace, and knowledge, and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Mere Christianity, New York: MacMillan, 1952, reprint, HarperCollins, 2001, p. 92
(see the book; see also Heb. 2:1-3; Matt. 23:33; Rom. 2:3; 1 Thess. 5:1-3; Heb. 4:11; 10:28-29; 12:23-25; 1 Pet. 4:17-18; more at Choices, Harmony, Heaven, Joy, Knowledge, Life, Peace)
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Palm Sunday
Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the Virgin Mary
The entrance into Jerusalem [on Palm Sunday] has all the elements of the theatre of the absurd: the poor king; truth comes riding on a donkey; symbolic actions—even parading without a permit! Also, when Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem,” what was involved was direct action, an open confrontation and public demonstration of the incompatibility of evil with the Kingdom of God.
... David Kirk (1935-2007), Quotations from Chairman Jesus, Springfield, Ill.: Templegate Publishers, 1969, p. 61
(see the book; see also Luke 9:51-52; Matt. 21:1-9; Luke 12:49-50; 19:37-40; Acts 20:22-24; 21:11-14; 1 Pet. 4:1; more at Action, Easter, Evil, God, Jerusalem, Jesus, King, Kingdom, Palm Sunday)
Monday, March 26, 2018
Feast of Harriet Monsell of Clewer, Religious, 1883
Almighty and everlasting God, Who hast preserved me by Thy fatherly care through all the years of my past life, and now permittest me again to commemorate the sufferings and merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; grant me so to partake of this holy rite, that the disquiet of my mind may be appeased, that my faith may be increased, my hope strengthened, and my life regulated by Thy Will. Make me truly thankful for that portion of health which Thy mercy has restored, and enable me to use the remains of life to Thy glory and my own salvation. Take not from me, O Lord, Thy Holy Spirit. Extinguish in my mind all sinful and inordinate desires. Let me resolve to do that which is right, and let me by Thy help keep my resolutions. Let me, if it is best for me, at last know peace and comfort; but whatever state of life Thou shalt appoint me, let me end it by a happy death, and enjoy eternal happiness in Thy presence, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), Prayers and Meditations, London: Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe, 1806, April 15, 1770, p. 79-80
(see the book; see also John 20:19-22; Ps. 51:10-11; John 3:16; Rom. 12:2; Tit. 3:4-6; more at Death, Everlasting, Faith, God, Happiness, Hope, Life, Mind, Prayers, Will of God)
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
[Jesus] frequently made claims which would have sounded outrageous and blasphemous to Jewish ears even from the lips of the greatest of prophets. He said that he was in existence before Abraham and that he was “lord” of the sabbath; he claimed to forgive sins; he continually identified himself, in his work, his person and his glory, with the one he termed his heavenly Father; he accepted men’s worship; and he said that he was to be the judge of men at the last day, and that their eternal destiny would depend on their attitude to him. Then he died. It seems inescapable, therefore, that his resurrection must be interpreted as God’s decisive vindication of these claims, while the alternative—the finality of the cross—would necessarily have implied the repudiation of his presumptuous and even blasphemous assertions.
... J. N. D. Anderson (1908-1994), Christianity: the Witness of History, Tyndale Press, 1969, p. 87
(see the book; see also Luke 6:5; Isa. 53:2-11; John 3:13; 5:18-20; 6:51; 8:58; more at Cross, Death, Easter, Father, Judgment, Resurrection, Sabbath, Worship)
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Come all crosses, welcome, welcome! so I may get my heartful of my Lord Jesus.
... Samuel Rutherford (1600-1664), Letters of Samuel Rutherford, Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co., 1848, letter, Feb. 20, 1637, p. 191
(see the book; see also Matt. 10:37-38; 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23-24; 14:29; 2 Cor. 12:7-10; Phil. 1:29-30; more at Cross, Heart, Jesus, Weakness)
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Maundy Thursday
Commemoration of Jack Winslow, Missionary, Evangelist, 1974
We usually think of Jesus in the upper room as calmly and patiently preparing his disciples for their coming crisis; only in the garden are we shown his deep anguish over what lies ahead for himself. But if this verse (“They hated me without a cause.” Ps. 69:4) occurred to Jesus as describing his enemies, surely he was also identifying with the rest of [Psalm 69] with its vivid description of overwhelming troubles and importune cries to God for deliverance. What in the upper room was still under the surface was openly expressed in the garden.
... John R. Cogdell, “The humanity of Jesus Christ, as revealed in certain Psalms”, section V
(see the book; see also Ps. 69:1-4; Matt. 26:18,38-39; Mark 14:32-34; Luke 22:42-43; John 15:23-25; 1 Pet. 2:22-23; more at Calm, Deliverance, Easter, Enemy, Jesus, Patience)
Friday, March 30, 2018
Good Friday
Faith is the acknowledgment of the entire absence of all goodness in us, and the recognition of the cross as the substitute for all the want on our part... The whole work is His, not ours, from first to last.
... Horatius Bonar (1808-1889), The Everlasting Righteousness, London: James Nisbet and Co., 1873, p. 116-117
(see the book; see also Rom. 1:16-17; Ps. 148:13; Rom. 3:23; 2 Cor. 4:15; 1 John 1:8; more at Cross, Faith, God, Goodness, Work)
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Holy Saturday
Commemoration of John Donne, Priest, Poet, 1631
When Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross, it was not the blood of a martyr; or the blood of one man for another; it was the life of God poured out to redeem the world.
... Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
(see the book; see also 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Isa. 53:4-7; Matt. 20:26-28; 26:28; Acts 20:28; Col. 1:13-14; Heb. 9:12-14; 1 Pet. 2:22-24; 3:18; 1 John 2:2; Rev. 5:9; more at Blood, Christ, Cross, God, Gospel, Jesus, Martyr, Redemption)
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