Quotations for December, 2019
Sunday, December 1, 2019
Advent I
Commemoration of Charles de Foucauld, Hermit, Servant of the Poor, 1916
Faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is to faith what breath is to the body. How a person can live and not breathe is past my comprehension, and how a person can believe and not pray is past my comprehension too.
... J. C. Ryle (1816-1900), A Call to Prayer, published in the 1850’s as a pamphlet, American Tract Society, 1867, sec. II, p. 11 
(see the book; see also Job 21:14-15; Isa. 64:7; Hab. 2:4; Zeph. 1:6; Rom. 1:17; 1 Thes. 5:17; more at Belief, Faith, Life, People, Prayer)
Monday, December 2, 2019
Every Christian, by virtue of membership in the Church, has a vocation to share in the ministry of Christ to the world which has been entrusted to the Church. The vocation is answered in the home and office and factory and field. There it is that the People of God bears its witness to the vocation of the People of God, a people with a people’s diversity and complex vitality, a people comprising a multiplicity of cultures and histories and colours and tongues, a people and not a collection of individuals, a people bound together in allegiance to one King and in obedience to one purpose.
... F. C. Synge, “The Challenge of the Frontiers: Training for Action (Theme Address),” included in Anglican Congress 1963: Report of Proceedings, Eugene Rathbone Fairweather, ed., Editorial Committee, Anglican Congress, 1963, p. 156
(see the book; see also 2 Cor. 3:12; Isa. 42:10; 66:19; Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 4:13; 1 Tim. 3:13; more at Christ, Church, King, Minister, Obedience, People, Purpose, Witness, World)
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
Commemoration of Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, Missionary, 1552
There are many things which a person can do alone, but being a Christian is not one of them. As the Christian life is, above all things, a state of union with Christ, and of union of his followers with one another, love of the brethren is inseparable from love of God. Resentment toward any human being cannot exist in the same heart with love to God. The personal relation to Christ can only be realized when one has “come to himself” as a member of His Body, the Christian fellowship.
... William T. Ham, “Candles of the Lord”, in Spiritual Renewal through Personal Groups, John L. Casteel, ed., NY: Association Press, 1957, p. 169
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 1:9-10; Ps. 133:1; John 13:34-35; 17:23; Acts 4:32; Rom. 12:16; Eph. 4:31-32; 1 Pet. 3:8-9; more at Body of Christ, Christ, Church, Fellowship, Heart, Love)
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Commemoration of Nicholas Ferrar, Deacon, Founder of the Little Gidding Community, 1637
The conduct of disputation by verbal brickbat, by innuendo, and by light-fingered intellectual dexterity, is a mordant reminder of the time when controversies were settled by faggot and sword. The truth is hardly less the loser because the inquisitor has altered his methods. All of us who seek to explore the wide reaches of God’s revelation, and strive to bring the thinking of others under the domination of Christ, do well to seek first to bring our own rhetorical techniques under that same dominion—under the discipline, that is, of love.
... Lester DeKoster (1916-2009)
(see also Col. 4:5-6; Isa. 40:11; Rom. 12:9; Eph. 4:15; 2 Tim. 2:25-26; 4:2; 1 Pet. 1:22; 3:15-16; 1 John 3:18; more at Apologetics, Christ, Discipline, Dispute, Love, Strife, Thought)
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Few realize how much injury the dogma that baptism is necessary for salvation, badly expounded, has entailed. As a consequence, they are less cautious. For, where the opinion has prevailed that all are lost who have not happened to be baptized with water, our condition is worse than that of God’s ancient people—as if the grace of God were now more restricted than under the Law!
... John Calvin (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. II, tr. John Allen, Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1921, IV.xv.20, p. 491-492
(see the book; see also Eph. 1:3-6; Luke 19:10; 23:43; John 17:3; 1 Tim. 1:15-16; Heb. 7:25; 1 Pet. 1:1-2; more at Baptism, Dogma, Grace, Law, Predestination, Salvation)
Friday, December 6, 2019
Feast of Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c.326
Twelve marks of spiritual health [in] our communion with God: (1) God’s children ought to walk in constant amazement of spirit as to God, His nature, and works. (2) The glorifying of God is the great work of God’s children. (3) Delightful privacy with God argues strong affection. (4) Frequent prayer an argument of much of God’s Spirit; True prayer is the pouring out of the heart to God; God’s children are most in private with God; The prayers of God’s people most respect spiritual mercies; God’s people wait for and rest in God’s answer. (5) God’s people are sensible of their unworthiness. (6) God Himself is regarded as the portion of His people. (7) Ready obedience to God. (8) The patience of God’s children under God’s hand. (9) The mournful confession of God’s people. (10) God’s people long after God in an open profession of His ordinances. (11) Their hearts are ready and prepared. (12) God’s people’s sense of their own insufficiencies.
... Roger Williams (1603?-1683), Experiments of Spiritual Life & Health [1652], reprinted, Sidney S. Rider, Providence, 1863, p. 17-31
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 10:31; Deut. 32:9; Ps. 73:26; 86:12; 119:57; Matt. 6:6; Luke 18:13; Acts 4:31; Rom. 1:5; 1 Cor. 6:19-20; 1 Thess. 5:17; Heb. 12:5-6; ; more at Abasement, Communion, Confession, God, Health, Historical, Obedience, Patience, Spiritual life)
Saturday, December 7, 2019
Feast of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Teacher, 397
To the good man to die is gain... The foolish fear death as the greatest of evils, the wise desire it as a rest after labours and the end of ills.
... St. Ambrose of Milan (Aurelius Ambrosius) (339-397), quoted in The Life and Times of St. Ambrose, v. II, Frederick Homes Dudden, The Clarendon Press, 1935, pp. 513, 651
(see the book; see also Rev. 14:13; Isa. 57:2; Rom. 14:8; 2 Cor. 5:1-8; Phil. 1:21; 1 Thess. 5:9-10; Heb. 4:9-11; more at Death, Evil, Fear, Folly, Goodness, Labor, Rest, Wisdom)
Sunday, December 8, 2019
Advent II
The deceit, the lie of the devil consists of this, that he wishes to make man believe that he can live without God’s Word. Thus he dangles before man’s fantasy a kingdom of faith, of power, and of peace, into which only he can enter who consents to the temptations; and he conceals from men that he, as the devil, is the most unfortunate and unhappy of beings, since he is finally and eternally rejected by God.
... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Temptation, London: SCM Press, 1955, p. 25
(see the book; see also Heb. 3:13; Ps. 14:1-3; Isa. 44:20; Obad. 1:3; Luke 4:3-4; John 8:44; Jas. 1:13-14; more at Belief, Devil, Faith, God, Peace, Power, Sin, Temptation, Unfortunate)
Monday, December 9, 2019
We have taught our people to use prayer too much as a means of comfort. Not in the original and heroic sense of uplifting, inspiring, strengthening, but in the more modern and baser sense of soothing sorrow, dulling pain, and drying tears. The comfort of the cushion, not the comfort of the Cross.
... G. A. Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929), The Hardest Part, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1919, p. 111
(see the book; see also Acts 14:21-23; Eze. 14:22-23; Ps. 71:21; John 14:1,18,27; more at Comfort, Cross, Inspiration, Prayer, Strength, Teach)
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Commemoration of Thomas Merton, Monk, Spiritual Writer, 1968
We must remember that our experience of union with God, our feeling of His presence, is altogether accidental and secondary. It is only a side effect of His actual presence in our souls, and gives no sure indication of that presence in any case. For God Himself is above all apprehensions and ideas and sensations, however spiritual, that can ever be experienced by the spirit of man in this life.
... Thomas Merton (1915-1968), No Man is an Island, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1955; reprint, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, p. 225
(see the book; see also John 6:46; Ex. 3:13-14; John 1:18; 4:24; 1 Tim. 6:15-16; 1 John 4:12; more at Experience, God, Knowing God, Spirit, Spiritual life)
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Let no man deceive you with vain words, or with vain hopes, or with false notions of a slight and sudden repentance: as if heaven were a hospital founded on purpose to receive all sick and maimed persons, that when they can live no longer to the lusts of the flesh and the sinful pleasures of this world, can but put up a cold and formal petition to be admitted there.No, no, as sure as God is true, they shall never see the Kingdom of God, who, instead of seeking it in the first place, make it their last refuge and retreat.
... John Tillotson (1630-1694), Works of Dr. John Tillotson, v. III, London: J. F. Dove, for R. Priestley, 1820, Sermon LIV, p. 574
(see the book; see also Matt. 6:33; Eccl. 12:1; Hag. 1:5-6; Luke 8:14; 12:31; John 6:27; Col. 2:8; 1 Tim. 5:5-6; more at Authenticity, Heaven, Kingdom, Refuge, Repentance, Search, Sin, Vanity)
Thursday, December 12, 2019
When an unskillful servant gathers many herbs, flowers, and seeds in a garden, you gather them out that are useful, and cast the rest out of sight. Christ deals so with our performances. All the ingredients of self that are in them on any account He takes away, and adds incense to what remains, and presents it to God. This is the cause that the saints at the last day, when they meet their own duties and performances, they know them not, they are so changed from what they were when they went out of their hand. “Lord, when saw we Thee naked or hungry?” So God accepts a little, and Christ makes our little a great deal.
... John Owen (1616-1683), An Exposition upon Psalm CXXX [1668], in Works of John Owen, v. VI, New York: R. Carter & Bros., 1851, p. 603
(see the book; see also Hos. 11:3-4; Ex. 30:36; Ps. 130:4; Matt. 16:9-10; 25:37-40; Rom. 8:26-27; Heb. 7:23-25; more at Christ, Duty, God, Jesus, Knowledge, Saint, Self)
Friday, December 13, 2019
Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304
Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784
Almighty and most merciful Father, I again appear in Thy presence the wretched misspender of another year which Thy mercy has allowed me. O Lord, let me not sink into total depravity, look down upon me, and rescue me at last from the captivity of sin. Impart to me good resolutions, and give me strength and perseverance to perform them. Take not from me Thy Holy Spirit, but grant that I may redeem the time lost, and that by temperance and diligence, by sincere repentance and faithful obedience, I may finally attain everlasting happiness, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.
... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), Prayers and Meditations, London: Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe, 1806, Jan. 1, 1766, p. 53-54
(see the book; see also Luke 8:11-15; Ps. 19:14; 51:10-12; Rev. 2:5; more at Depravity, Everlasting, Faith, Mercy, Obedience, Perseverance, Prayers, Sin, Strength, Year)
Saturday, December 14, 2019
Feast of John of the Cross, Mystic, Poet, Teacher, 1591
Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart will never be made captive by any earthly thing.
... St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), from “Spiritual Maxims” in The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Cosimo, Inc., 2007, p. 603
(see the book; see also Matt. 6:19-21; Ps. 62:10; 119:36-37; Pr. 23:5; Isa. 33:6; Luke 12:33-34; Rom. 8:6; 2 Cor. 4:18; Col. 3:1-3; 1 John 2:15-17; more at Attitudes, Freedom, God, Heart, Life, Soul, World)
Sunday, December 15, 2019
Advent III
Jesus once declared that God is “kind toward the unthankful and evil” (St. Luke 6:35), and I remember preaching a sermon on this text to a horrified and even astonished congregation who simply refused to believe (so I gathered afterwards) in this astounding liberality of God. That God should be in a state of constant fury with the wicked seemed to them only right and proper, but that God should be kind towards those who were defying or disobeying His laws seemed to them a monstrous injustice. Yet I was but quoting the Son of God Himself, and I only comment here that the terrifying risks that God takes are part of His Nature. We do not need to explain or modify His unremitting love towards mankind.
... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Making Men Whole, London: Highway Press, 1952, p. 27-28
(see the book; see also Luke 6:35; Ps. 145:9; Mic. 6:8; Luke 6:36; John 3:16; Eph. 4:32; 1 Pet. 4:8; more at Disobedience, Evil, God, Grace, Jesus, Kindness, Knowing God, Love)
Monday, December 16, 2019
No one who is fit to live need fear to die. Poor, timorous, faithless souls that we are! How we shall smile at our vain alarms, when the worst has happened! To us here, death is the most terrible word we know. But when we have tasted its reality, it will mean to us birth, deliverance, a new creation of ourselves. It will be what health is to the sick man. It will be what home is to the exile. It will be what the loved one given back is to the bereaved. As we draw near to it, a great solemn gladness should fill our hearts. It is God’s great morning lighting up the sky.
... George Spring Merriam (1843-1914), A Living Faith [1876], Boston: Lockwood, Brooks, and Company, 1876, p. 282
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 15:54-57; Rom. 2:7; 8:11; 14:8; Acts 20:24; 21:13; Phil. 2:17; 1 Thess. 5:10; more at Death, Deliverance, Faith, Fear, God, Home, Morning, Vanity)
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Commemoration of Dorothy Sayers, Teacher and Spiritual Writer, 1957
Commemoration of Eglantyne Jebb, Social Reformer, Founder of ‘Save the Children’, 1928
For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is—limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death—He had the honesty and courage to take His own medicine. Whatever game He is playing with His creation, He has kept His own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that He has not exacted from Himself. He has Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it was well worthwhile.
... Dorothy Leigh Sayers (1893-1957), Christian Letters to a Post-Christian World, Eerdmans, 1969, p. 14
(see the book; see also Heb. 2:10-11; Matt. 27:46; Mark 3:31-35; Heb. 2:17-18; 12:1-2; more at Death, Defeat, Despair, Experience, Family, Jesus, Pain, Sorrow, Suffer)
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
The Church is the pilgrim people of God. It is on the move—hastening to the ends of the earth to beseech all men to be reconciled to God, and hastening to the end of time to meet its Lord, who will gather all into one. Therefore, the nature of the Church is never to be fully defined in static terms, but only in terms of that to which it is going. It cannot be understood rightly except in a perspective which is at once missionary and eschatological, and only in that perspective can the deadlock of our present ecumenical debate be resolved.
... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), The Household of God, London, SCM Press, 1953, New York: Friendship Press, 1954, p. 18
(see the book; see also Gen. 12:1-3; Ps. 39:12; Luke 14:26-27; Heb. 11:13,39-40; more at Church, Ecumenical, God, Missionary, People, Pilgrim, Reconciliation, Resolve)
Thursday, December 19, 2019
There is more hid in Christ than we shall ever learn, here or there either; but they that begin first to inquire will soonest be gladdened with revelation; and with them He will be best pleased, for the slowness of His disciples troubled Him of old. To say that we must wait for the other world, to know the mind of Him who came to this world to give Himself to us, seems to me the foolishness of a worldly and lazy spirit. The Son of God is the Teacher of men, giving to them of His Spirit—that Spirit which manifests the deep things of God, being to a man the mind of Christ. The great heresy of the Church of the present day is unbelief in this Spirit.
... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Higher Faith”, in Unspoken Sermons [First Series], London: A. Strahan, 1867, p. 54
(see the book; see also Neh. 8:8; Luke 19:47; John 6:45; 8:2; 16:12-13; 1 Cor. 2:10; Heb. 3:12; Rev. 2:7; more at Christ, Church, God, Heresy, Holy Spirit, Knowing God, Teach, Unbelief)
Friday, December 20, 2019
There must be a constant and increasing appreciation that though sin still remains it does not have the mastery. There is a total difference between surviving sin and reigning sin, the regenerate in conflict with sin and the unregenerate complacent to sin. It is one thing for sin to live in us: it is another for us to live in sin... It is of paramount concern for the Christian and for the interests of his sanctification that he should know that sin does not have the dominion over him, that the forces of redeeming, regenerative, and sanctifying grace have been brought to bear upon him in that which is central in his moral and spiritual being, that he is the habitation of God through the Spirit, and that Christ has been formed in him the hope of glory.
... John Murray (1898-1975), Redemption, Accomplished and Applied, Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1955, p. 145-146
(see the book; see also Rom. 6:15,1-2; Eph. 2:22; Col. 1:27; 2:14; Tit. 2:11-14; more at Christ, Complacency, Glory, Grace, Hope, Morality, Redemption, Regeneration, Sanctification, Sin, Spirit)
Saturday, December 21, 2019
Light shines in the darkness, there we are aware of it. What good is light or learning unless people can enjoy it? In darkness, in suffering, they shall see the light.
... Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?), Works of Meister Eckhart, London: J. M. Watkins, 1924, p. 17
(see the book; see also John 12:35-36; Isa. 9:2; Matt. 4:16; Luke 2:30-32; John 1:4-5; 8:12; 9:4-5; Eph. 5:8; 1 Pet. 2:9; 1 John 1:5-7; more at Awareness, Darkness, Light, People, Sight, Suffer)
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Advent IV
This was the fulness of time, when Christ Jesus did come, that the Messiah should come.It was so to the Jews, and it was so to the Gentiles too...Christ hath excommunicated no nation, no shire, no house, no man; He gives none of His ministers leave to say to any man, thou art not redeemed; He gives no wounded or afflicted conscience leave to say to itself, I am not redeemed.
... John Donne (1573-1631), Works of John Donne, vol. I, London: John W. Parker, 1839, Sermon III, p. 42,53
(see the book; see also Gal. 4:4-5; Eze. 33:11; Matt. 12:18-21; John 3:16-17; 1 Cor. 6:20; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 2:9; more at Christ, Christmas, Conscience, Nation, Redemption, Time)
Monday, December 23, 2019
I have this running quandary about Christmas. I get upset about it, because I feel that we American Christians make too much of it, and too little. Too little of it, because we pile all sorts of other things onto it, including some that have only the feeblest connection with the Event it is supposed to commemorate. If God did become a man, in any real sense, it is the most important thing that ever happened. Surely we, who believe it, could well devote one day a year to uninterrupted contemplation of the fact, and let Saturnalia fall on the winter solstice, where it belongs.On the other hand, we make so much of the actual birth, and forget the things that make it more than just the birth of a baby (though even that is, in Walt Whitman’s phrase, “miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels”*)—more, even, than the birth of the greatest man who ever lived. We forget the promise to Eve of a descendant who will solve the problem of Evil; the promise to Abraham of one by whom all mankind will be blessed; the promise to Moses of a greater prophet than he, to arise from his people; and the promise to David of a Son who would be his Master. We forget about the eternal Purpose behind it all: it’s like telling a story and leaving out the point. Yes, it is true that God gave us His Son, and so maybe we ought also to give gifts—but what, and to whom? It is also true that God gave us Himself, and the only sensible response to that is to give ourselves to Him. There is nothing else that He wants from us, or, if there is something, He can take it. Only I, my ego, my heart, is truly mine to give or to withhold—and is therefore the appropriate gift to Him.* Walt Whitman (1819-1892), Song of Myself, in Leaves of Grass
... Robert MacColl Adams (1913-1985), letter, 1982
(see also Gen. 3:14-15; 12:2,3; Deut. 18:15; 2 Sam. 7:12-15; John 3:16,17; Acts 3:20-26; more at Christmas, Devotion, Evil, Gifts, Heart, Master, Miracle, Promise, Prophet, Worldly)
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Christmas Eve
The soft light from a stable doorLies on the midnight lands;The wise men’s star burns evermore,Over all the desert sands.
Unto all peoples of the earthA little Child brought light,And never in the darkest placeCan it be utter night.
No flickering torch, no wavering fire,But Light—the Life of men.Whatever clouds may veil the sky,Never is night again.
... Lilian Cox, included in Masterpieces of Religious Verse, James Dalton Morrison, ed., New York: Harper & Bros., 1948, p. 229-230
(see the book; see also John 1:4; Matt. 2:1-2,9-11; Luke 2:30-32; John 8:12; more at Christmas, Darkness, Light, Night, Star)
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
CHRISTMAS DAY
GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN
Lo, God, our God has come!To us a Child is born,To us a Son is given;Bless, bless the blessed morn!O happy, lowly lofty birth,Now God, our God, has come to earth!
Rejoice, our God has come!In love and lowliness;The Son of God has comeThe sons of men to bless.God with us now descend to dwell,God in our flesh, Immanuel.
Praise ye the word made flesh!True God, true man is He.Praise ye the Christ of God!To Him all glory be.Praise ye the Lamb that once was slain,Praise ye the king that comes to reign.
... Horatius Bonar (1808-1889), Hymns of Faith and Hope, third series, New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1877, p. 59-60
(see the book; see also Isa. 9:6-7; 7:14; Matt. 1:23; Luke 2:14; Rev. 5:12; more at Blessing, Christ, Christmas, Glory, God, Good will, King, Praise, Son)
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Feast of Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr
Morning has broken like the first morning,Blackbird has spoken like the first bird.Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning!Praise for them, springing fresh from the Word!
Sweet the new rain’s fall sunlit from heaven,Like the first dewfall on the first grass.Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden,Spring in completeness where His feet pass.
Mine is the sunlight! Mine is the morningBorn of the one light Eden saw play!Praise with elation, praise ev’ry morning,God’s re-creation of the new day!
... Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965), The New Book of Days, H. Z. Walck, 1961, p. 105
(see the book; see also Ps. 5:3; 119:147; Mark 1:35; 2 Pet. 1:19; more at Day, Eden, Grass, Heaven, Light, Morning, Praise, Rain, Worship)
Friday, December 27, 2019
Feast of John, Apostle & Evangelist
This is true Christian resignation to God, which requires no more to the support of it, than such a plain assurance of the goodness of God, as Abraham had of His veracity. And if you ask yourself what greater reason Abraham had to depend upon the Divine veracity, than you have to depend upon the Divine goodness, you will find that none can be given.
... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 449
(see the book; see also Heb. 11:17-19; Gen. 12:1-3; 15:6; John 8:56; Col. 1:10-12; 1 Pet. 1:6-7; more at Dependence, Faith, God, Goodness, Resignation, Truth)
Saturday, December 28, 2019
Feast of the Holy Innocents
Though Christ a thousand timesIn Bethlehem be born,If he’s not born in theeThy soul is still forlorn.
The cross on GolgothaWill never save thy soul;The cross in thine own heartAlone can make thee whole.
... Anonymous, 3rd century, from the German of Angelus Silesius, included in Masterpieces of Religious Verse, James Dalton Morrison, ed., New York: Harper & Bros., 1948, p. 148
(see the book; see also Gal. 2:20; Matt. 2:4-6; Mark 8:34; Rom. 6:4-6; Gal. 5:24; 6:14; Col. 2:11-14; more at Christmas, Cross, Heart, Salvation, Soul)
Sunday, December 29, 2019
Feast of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1170
The nature of Christ’s salvation is woefully misrepresented by the present-day “evangelist.” He announces a Saviour from hell rather than a Saviour from sin. And that is why so many are fatally deceived, for there are multitudes who wish to escape the Lake of fire who have no desire to be delivered from their carnality and worldliness.
... A. W. Pink (1886-1952), Studies in the Scriptures, volume 9, p. 9-10
(see the book; see also Matt. 1:20-21; Ps. 130:7-8; Matt. 9:12; Luke 5:31; John 1:29; Acts 5:31; 1 John 1:7; 2:1-2; 3:5; Rev. 1:4-6; more at Deliverance, Evangelization, Hell, Mission, Salvation, Savior, Sin)
Monday, December 30, 2019
I am born for God only. Christ is nearer to me than father, or mother, or sister,—a near relation, a more affectionate friend; and I rejoice to follow Him, and to love Him. Blessed Jesus! thou art all I want—a forerunner to me in all I ever shall go through, as a Christian, a minister, or a missionary.
... Henry Martyn (1781-1812), Life and letters of the Rev. Henry Martyn, B.D., with John Sargent, London: Seeley, Jackson & Halliday, 1862, p. 140
(see the book; see also Matt. 12:46-50; John 14:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:29; 1 Cor. 9:24-25; 2 Tim. 1:12; Heb. 2:10,18; 7:25-26; 12:1-2; Jude 1:24-25; more at Affection, Christ, Friend, God, Jesus, Minister, Missionary)
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Commemoration of John Wycliffe, Reformer, 1384
In order to the existence of such a ministry in the Church, there is requisite an authority received from God, and consequently power and knowledge imparted from God for the exercise of such ministry; and where a man possesses these, although the bishop has not laid hands upon him according to his traditions, God has Himself appointed him.
... John Wycliffe (1320?-1384), from a late sermon
(see also 2 Cor. 11:5-6; Rom. 1:1; Gen. 14:18-20; John 15:16; 1 Tim. 4:16; 2 Tim. 2:15; more at Church, God, Knowledge, Minister, Power, Tradition)
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