Quotations for October, 2023
Sunday, October 1, 2023
Commemoration of Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, Apostle of the Franks, 533
Commemoration of Thérèse of Lisieux, Carmelite Nun, Spiritual Writer, 1897
We have the evidence of the dichotomy that runs through our culture. We all engage in purposeful activity, and we judge ourselves and others in terms of success in achieving the purposes that we set before ourselves. Yet we accept as the final product of this purposeful activity a picture of the world from which purpose has been eliminated. Purpose is a meaningful concept in relation to our own consciousness of ourselves, but it is allowed no place in our understanding of the world of facts.
... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), Foolishness to the Greeks: the Gospel and Western culture, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1986, p. 77-78 
(see the book; see also John 5:17; Ps. 75:3; Rom. 9:22-24; 2 Cor. 5:21; Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3; Rev. 4:11; more at Culture, Purpose, Success, Truth, Understanding, World)
Monday, October 2, 2023
Lord, before I commit a sin, it seems to me so shallow, that I may wade through it dry-shod from any guiltiness: but when I have committed it, it often seems so deep that I cannot escape without drowning.
... Thomas Fuller (1608-1661), Good Thoughts in Bad Times [1645], Chicago: United Society of Christian Endeavor, Boston, 1898, “Personal Meditations”, VII
(see the book; see also Rom. 8:6-8; Ps. 25:11; 51:2; 130:1-5; Hos. 8:7; Mark 7:21-23; John 3:19-20; Gal. 6:7-8; 2 Thess. 2:11-12; 1 John 1:8; more at Conscience, Guilt, Sin)
Tuesday, October 3, 2023
Commemoration of William Morris, Artist, Writer, 1896
Commemoration of George Kennedy Bell, Bishop of Chichester, Ecumenist, Peacemaker, 1958
Wherever riches have increased, the essence of religion ... has decreased in the same proportion. Therefore I do not see how it is possible, in the nature of things, for any revival of religion to continue long. For religion must necessarily produce both industry and frugality, and these cannot but produce riches. But as riches increase, so will pride, anger, and love of the world in all its branches.
... John Wesley (1703-1791), The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, v. X, New York: J. & J. Harper, 1827, p. 150
(see the book; see also Luke 12:15-20; Ps. 37:16-17; Matt. 19:23-26; Mark 4:18-19; 10:17-27; Luke 6:24-25; 18:18-27; 1 Tim. 6:17-19; Jas. 5:1-5; 1 John 3:17; more at Industry, Pride, Religion, Sin, Virtue, Wealth, World)
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Feast of Francis of Assisi, Friar, Deacon, Founder of the Friars Minor, 1226
Love God, and do as you like, say the Free Spirits. Yes; but as long as you like anything contrary to God’s will, you do not love Him.
... Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?), quoted in Light, Life and Love: Selections from the German Mystics of the Middle Ages, William R. Inge, ed., p. xxx
(see the book; see also 1 John 2:15-17; Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:13; John 15:19; Rom. 12:2; Col. 3:2; Jas. 4:4; 1 John 3:17; 4:20-21; 5:1; more at God, Love, Will of God)
Thursday, October 5, 2023
We can talk about love all we want, but loving those who are unlovely is how we learn about love. Jesus gave Peter some excellent teaching about betrayal and arrogance, but Peter didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about until he actually betrayed Jesus. Peter’s failure was the primary cause of his understanding and maturity.
... Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), Messy Spirituality [2002], Zondervan, 2007, p. 91
(see the book; see also Mark 14:29-30,66-72; Pr. 12:19; Matt. 5:43-47; 26:33-34,69-75; Luke 22:33-34,55-62; John 13:37-38; 18:15-18,25-27; more at Arrogance, Betrayal, Failure, Jesus, Love, Understanding)
Friday, October 6, 2023
Feast of William Tyndale, Translator of the Scriptures, Martyr, 1536
Beware of thy good intent, good mind, good affection, or zeal, as they call it. Peter of a good mind, and of a good affection or zeal, chid Christ, Matt. 16, because that he said he must go to Jerusalem, and there be slain: but Christ called him Satan for his labour, a name that belongeth to the devil, and said, “That he perceived not godly things, but worldly.” Of a good intent, and of a fervent affection to Christ, the sons of Zebedee would have had fire to come down from heaven to consume the Samaritans, Luke 9; but Christ rebuked them, saying that they wist not of what spirit they were: that is, that they understood not how that they were altogether worldly and fleshly-minded... It is another thing then, to do of a good mind, and to do of knowledge. Labour for knowledge; that thou mayest know God’s will, and what he would have thee to do. Our mind, intent, and affection or zeal, are blind; and all that we do of them, is damned of God: and for that cause hath God made a testament between him and us, wherein is contained both what he would have us to do, and what he would have us to ask of him. See therefore that thou do nothing to please God withal, but that he commandeth; neither ask any thing of him, but that he hath promised thee.
... William Tyndale (1492?-1536), “Parable of the Wicked Mammon” [1527], in Doctrinal Treatises and Introductions, Cambridge: The University Press, 1848, p. 105
(see the book; see also Matt. 16:21-23; Mark 8:31-33; Luke 9:52-56; Rom. 8:5-8; 12:2; 1 Cor. 2:14-16; Phil. 3:18-19; Col. 3:2-4; more at Christ, Goodness, Knowledge, Will of God, Work, Worldly, Zeal)
Saturday, October 7, 2023
The offering of ourselves can only be the offering of our lived experience, because this alone is who we are. And who we are—not who we want to be—is the only offering we have to give. We give God therefore not just our strengths but also our weaknesses, not just our giftedness but also our brokenness. Our duplicity, our lust, our narcissism, our sloth—all are laid on the altar of sacrifice.
... Richard J. Foster (b. 1942), Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home, HarperCollins, 1992, p. 31
(see the book; see also Ps. 139:1,23; 1 Chr. 28:9; Pr. 17:3; Jer. 17:9-10; John 8:32; Rom. 8:27; 12:1; 1 Cor. 2:9-10; Heb. 4:13; more at Altar, Giving, God, Life, Offering, Sacrifice)
Sunday, October 8, 2023
It is the custom of unbelievers to speak as if the air of Palestine were then surcharged with belief in the supernatural, miracles were everywhere. Thus they would explain away the significance of the popular belief that our Lord wrought signs and wonders. But in so doing they set themselves a worse problem than they evade. If miracles were so very common, it would be as easy to believe that Jesus wrought them as that He worked at His father’s bench, but also it would be as inconclusive. And how then are we to explain the astonishment which all the evangelists so constantly record? On any conceivable theory, these writers shared the beliefs of that age. And so did the readers who accepted their assurance that all were amazed, and that His report “went out straightway everywhere into all the region of Galilee.” These are emphatic words, and both the author and his readers must have considered a miracle to be more surprising than modern critics believe they did.Yet we do not read that any one was converted by this miracle. All were amazed, but wonder is not self-surrender. They were content to let their excitement die out—as every violent emotion must—without any change of life, any permanent devotion to the new Teacher and His doctrine.
... G. A. Chadwick (1840-1923), The Gospel According to St. Mark, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1891, p. 33
(see the book; see also Matt. 13:57-58; 9:32-33; 15:31; Mark 1:23-28; 6:2-6; Luke 4:33-36; John 4:48; 6:36; 12:37; 1 Cor. 1:22-24; more at Apologetics, Belief, Conversion, Devotion, Jesus, Miracle, Wonder)
Monday, October 9, 2023
Commemoration of Denys, Bishop of Paris, & his Companions, Martyrs, 258
Commemoration of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, Philosopher, Scientist, 1253
Rational conviction, even when it can be had, is very different from commitment... Commitment to Christ is a matter for the entire person, not for his mind alone; and intellectual conviction (if, indeed, it can be had at all without the whole person being involved) is not the whole business. But the whole business, precisely because it concerns the whole person, can never be achieved in defiance of the intellect. Reason, though not the whole, is part of personal response.
... C. F. D. Moule (1908-2007), The Phenomenon of the New Testament, v. I, London: SCM, 1967, p. 5-6
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 2:14; John 3:3-6; Acts 8:13,18-21; 17:18-21,32; Rom. 8:5-8; 11:33-36; 1 Cor. 1:25; Col. 2:2-3; more at Christ, Commitment, Conversion, Conviction, Mind, People, Reason)
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Feast of Paulinus, Bishop of York, Missionary, 644
The primary cause of these [denominational] divisions is the institutionalism and organizationalism of the churches and missions, which instead of helping the life of the believers in them, smothers or drives it out. This gradually produces mere dead institutions instead of the living Ekklesia.Christians who really have life in Christ cannot exist within such a corpse and usually will finally come out of it. But, sad to say, in most cases those who leave dead institutions simply set out to build another “better” institution or embrace other rituals and ceremonies, thus repeating the same error. Instead of turning to Christ Himself as their center, they again seek to find fellowship and spiritual security on the very same basis that failed. [Continued tomorrow]
... Kokichi Kurosaki (1886-1970), One Body in Christ, Kobe, Japan: Eternal Life Press, 1954, ch. 5
(see the book; see also 2 Cor. 3:5-6; John 1:4; 4:21-24; 6:36; 17:22-23; Rom. 7:6; Gal. 3:10-12,21; more at Christ, Church, Error, Failure, Fellowship, Life, Mission, Security)
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Commemoration of Ethelburga, Abbess of Barking, 675
[Continued from yesterday]Even the Bible itself is interpreted and understood in various ways and often becomes the cause of sectarianism. In the same way, dogmas and creeds cannot bring Christian unity, because human minds are not so uniformly created that they can unite in a single dogma or creed. Even our understanding of Christ Himself cannot be the basis of unity, because He is too big to be understood fully by any one person or group. Our limited understandings do not always coincide. One emphasizes this point about Christ, another that, and this again becomes the cause of division.Only as we take our fellowship with Christ as the center of Christian faith, will all Christians realize their oneness... Is not our fellowship, however varied, with the same Lord? Is not the same Savior our one Head?
... Kokichi Kurosaki (1886-1970), One Body in Christ, Kobe, Japan: Eternal Life Press, 1954, ch. 5
(see the book; see also Col. 1:18; John 6:63; 17:22-23; 20:28; Rom. 10:9; 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 8:5-6; 12:13; Eph. 4:4-6; Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 3:15; 1 John 4:2-3; more at Bible, Christ, Church, Creed, Dogma, Fellowship, Savior, Unity)
Thursday, October 12, 2023
Commemoration of Wilfrid, Abbot of Ripon, Bishop of York, Missionary, 709
Commemoration of Elizabeth Fry, Prison Reformer, 1845
The eternal law of righteousness ordains that he who will not submit to God’s sweet rule shall suffer the bitter tyranny of self: but he who wears the easy yoke and light burden of love will escape the intolerable weight of his own self-will.
... Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), On Loving God, CCEL, ch. 13
(see the book; see also Ps. 19:9-10; 119:103-104; Pr. 3:11-17; Mic. 6:8; Matt. 11:28-30; 23:4; Acts 15:10; Rom. 2:8; 6:2-4,11; Gal. 2:19-20; 5:1; 1 John 5:3-4; more at Burden, God, Law, Righteousness, Rule, Self, Submission, Suffer, Tyranny)
Friday, October 13, 2023
Feast of Edward the Confessor, 1066
Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement. He is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realizing that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor—that is the only way out of our ‘hole.’ This process of surrender—this movement full speed astern—is what Christians call repentance.
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Mere Christianity, New York: MacMillan, 1952, reprint, HarperCollins, 2001, p. 44
(see the book; see also Col. 1:21-22; Matt. 4:17; John 15:23-24; Acts 17:30; Rom. 2:6; 5:8-10; 8:7; 2 Cor. 5:18-19; 7:8-11; Jas. 4:4; Rev. 2:5; 3:2-3; more at Life, Man, Repentance, Salvation, Wrong)
Saturday, October 14, 2023
Prayer concerns three, not two but three. God to whom we pray, the man on the contested earth who prays, and the evil one against whom we pray. And the purpose of the prayer is not to persuade or influence God, but to join forces with Him against the enemy. Not towards God, but with God against Satan—that is the main thing to keep in mind in prayer.
... Samuel Dickey Gordon (1859-1936), Quiet Talks on Prayer, Fleming H. Revell Co., 1904, p. 120
(see the book; see also Eph. 6:11-12; Ps. 68:1; Matt. 17:20-21; 2 Cor. 2:10-11; Eph. 4:26-27; 1 Thess. 5:17; Jas. 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8-9; more at Enemy, Evil, God, Man, Prayer, Purpose, Satan)
Sunday, October 15, 2023
Feast of Teresa of Avila, Mystic, Teacher, 1582
The life of prayer is just love to God and the custom of being ever with Him.
... Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Santa Teresa, an Appreciation, Alexander Whyte, ed., London: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1897, p. 75
(see the book; see also 1 Thess. 5:17-18; 1 Sam. 12:23; Ps. 55:16-17; 109:4; Mark 6:46; Luke 6:12; 18:1; Rom. 12:2; Eph. 6:18; Phil. 4:6; Col. 4:2; more at God, Life, Love, Prayer)
Monday, October 16, 2023
Commemoration of the Oxford Martyrs, Hugh Latimer, Nicolas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer, bishops and martyrs, 1555
The New Testament is indeed a book full of hope, but we may search it in vain for any vague humanist optimism. The second coming of Christ, the second irruption of eternity into time, will be immediate, violent and conclusive. The human experiment is to end, illusion will give way to reality, the temporary disappear before the permanent, and the king will be seen for who he is. The thief in the night, the lightning flash, the sound of the last trumpet, the voice of God’s archangel—these may all be picture-language, but they are pictures of something sudden, catastrophic, and decisive. By no stretch of the imagination do they describe a gradual process.
... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Good News: Thoughts on God and Man, New York: Macmillan, 1963, p. 158-159
(see the book; see also Luke 17:24; Dan. 7:13-14; Matt. 24:30-31; 1 Cor. 15:51-52; Phil. 3:20-21; 1 Thess. 4:16-17; 5:1-2; 2 Pet. 3:10; 1 John 3:2; Rev. 8:6-7; 16:18; more at Bible, Christ, Eternity, God, Hope, King, Optimism, Permanence, Time)
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Feast of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr, c.107
Like stones of God’s Temple, ready for a building of God the Father, you are being hoisted up by Jesus Christ, as with a crane (that’s the cross!), while the rope you use is the Holy Spirit. Your faith is what lifts you up, while love is the way you ascend to God.
... Ignatius of Antioch (ca. 35-98?), Letter to the Ephesians [ca. 108?], par. 9
(see the book; see also 1 Pet. 2:4-5; 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:19-22; Heb. 3:6; Rev. 3:12; more at Builder, Christ, Cross, Faith, Father, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Love, Temple)
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Feast of Luke the Evangelist
If you believe what you like in the gospel, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.
... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Reply to Faustus the Manichaean, tr., R. Stothert, in A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, v. IV, Philip Schaff, ed., Buffalo: Christian Literature Company, 1887, XVII.3, p. 235
(see the book; see also Gal. 1:6-9; Deut. 4:2; 12:32; Matt. 24:24; Phil. 3:1; 1 Tim. 4:1,16; 2 Tim. 4:3-4; Tit. 1:9; 2:1; 2 Pet. 2:1-3; 1 John 2:26; 4:1; 2 John 1:7-10; Jude 1:3-4; Rev. 22:18-19; more at Authenticity, Belief, Gospel, Self)
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Feast of Henry Martyn, Translator of the Scriptures, Missionary in India & Persia, 1812
Let the seeking man reach a place where life and lips join to say continually, “Be thou exalted,” and a thousand minor problems will be solved at once. His Christian life ceases to be the complicated thing it had been before and becomes the very essence of simplicity.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948], Christian Publications, 1982, p. 97
(see the book; see also Ps. 108:5; 8:1; 19:7; 21:13; 57:5,11; 116:6; 119:130; Matt. 11:25; 18:2-3; 2 Cor. 1:12; 3:18; 1 Pet. 2:2-3; more at Knowing God, Life, Man, Praise, Simplicity)
Friday, October 20, 2023
There is no need for peculiar conditions in order to grow in the spiritual life, for the pressure of God’s Spirit is present everywhere and at all times. Our environment itself, our home and our job, is the medium through which we experience His moulding action and His besetting love. It is not Christian to try to get out of our frame, or to separate our outward life from our life of prayer, since both are the creation of one Charity. The third-rate little town in the hills, with its limited social contacts and monotonous manual work, reproves us when we begin to fuss about our opportunities and our scope. And this quality of quietness, ordinariness, simplicity, with which the saving action of God enters history, endures from the beginning to the end.
... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), The School of Charity, New York: Longmans, Green, 1934, reprinted, Morehouse Publishing, 1991, p. 46
(see the book; see also 1 Thess. 4:11-12; Ps. 19:7; 119:130; Matt. 11:25; 18:2-3; John 1:46; 2 Cor. 5:9; Phil. 4:11-13; 1 Tim. 6:6-8; Heb. 13:5; 1 Pet. 2:1-3; more at Action, Charity, God, Growth, Historical, Love, Opportunity, Prayer, Spiritual life)
Saturday, October 21, 2023
We fear heaven as our ancestors feared hell. The notion seems quaint, cowardly, an escape from this world’s problems. What inversion of values, I wonder, has led us to commend a belief in annihilation as brave and dismiss a hope for blissful eternity as cowardly?
... Philip Yancey (b. 1949), Soul Survivor, New York: Doubleday, 2001, p. 221
(see the book; see also 1 John 2:24-25; Ps. 133:3; Matt. 25:46; John 3:16; 5:24-25; 6:40; 14:2-3; 1 Cor. 1:26-29; 15:53-54; 2 Cor. 5:1; Col. 1:27; 2 Tim. 1:8-10; Tit. 3:4-7; 1 Pet. 1:3-5,21; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1-4; more at Belief, Eternity, Fear, Heaven, Hell, Hope, World)
Sunday, October 22, 2023
People spend every night for a month dancing, and no one will complain of being the worse; but if they keep the one watch of Christmas Eve, we shall hear of endless colds and maladies the next day! Is it not as plain as possible that the world is an unjust judge; indulgent and kindly to its own children, harsh and uncharitable to the children of God?We cannot stand well with the world save by renouncing His approval.
... François de Sales (1567-1622), Introduction to the Devout Life [1609], London: Rivingtons, 1876, IV.i, p. 291-292
(see the book; see also Jas. 4:4; Matt. 5:11-12; 10:22; Mark 13:13; Luke 6:22; John 7:7; 15:18-19; 2 Cor. 4:2; Heb. 12:2; 1 John 2:15-16; more at Christmas, Complaint, Judgment, People, Renunciation, World)
Monday, October 23, 2023
The whole of the Old Testament faith is in a God who saves his people in history. It is a real material salvation he brings, yet more than that. It is wholeness of life for man individually and in community which contains a spiritual dimension as well. All this is implied in the Old Testament’s use of the word shalom—peace; not merely an absence of war, but well-being on every level. [Continued tomorrow]
... Michael Sadgrove (b. 1950) & N. T. Wright (b. 1948), “Jesus Christ the Only Saviour”, 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. 66
(see the book; see also Jer. 29:4-7; Ps. 29:11; 85:8; 122:6-8; Isa. 2:4; 45:7; Jas. 3:18; more at Bible, Faith, God, Historical, Peace, Salvation)
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
[Continued from yesterday]Thus the Exodus is accompanied by the law and the sacrifices, pointers to that right relationship with God which was intended to characterize the (politically liberated) people of God. And the return from exile is to be achieved in the context of the work of the Servant who will deal not only with outward enslavement but with the sin of the people. There are no half measures in the Old Testament doctrine of salvation.
... Michael Sadgrove (b. 1950) & N. T. Wright (b. 1948), “Jesus Christ the Only Saviour”, 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. 66
(see the book; see also Jer. 29:10-14; Lev. 26:6; Ex. 20:2; 29:46; Ps. 62:1-2; 95:1; 114:1-2; Isa. 1:18; 51:11; 53:4-5; 56:1; Jer. 32:42-44; Matt. 1:21; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; 1 John 2:2; more at Bible, Exile, God, Law, Sacrifice, Salvation)
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Commemoration of Crispin & Crispinian, Martyrs at Rome, c.285
If your church cannot accept the wreckage of broken homes and shattered dreams, it is not the place where Jesus lives. Your church should be the greatest garbage dump in town—a place where the broken, oppressed, misplaced, abandoned, and unloved peoples can come and find a ”family” where they are accepted and loved... as is.
... Joseph C. Aldrich (1941-2009), Lifestyle Evangelism, Multnomah Press, 1981, p. 180
(see the book; see also Mark 2:16-17; Matt. 5:43-44; 9:12-13; 18:11; Luke 4:18-19; 5:31-32; 15:7,10; 18:10-14; 19:10; Acts 17:30; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; 1 Tim. 1:15-16; 2 Pet. 3:9; more at Affliction, Church, Family, Home, Jesus, Life, Love, People)
Thursday, October 26, 2023
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
Every man naturally desires knowledge; but what good is knowledge without fear of God? Indeed a humble rustic who serves God is better than a proud intellectual who neglects his soul to study the course of the stars.
... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.ii.1, p. 31
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 8:1-3; Ps. 25:14; Pr. 1:7; 26:12; Isa. 5:21; Gal. 6:3; 1 Tim. 1:5-7; more at God, Humility, Knowing God, Knowledge, Man, Neglect, Pride, Service, Soul)
Friday, October 27, 2023
God always gave us light in our doubts, when we had no other design but to please Him.
... Brother Lawrence (c.1605-1691), The Practice of the Presence of God, New York, Revell, 1895, Fourth Conversation, p. 16
(see the book; see also Eph. 5:8-10; Matt. 11:2-6; 14:29-31; Mark 9:21-25; John 10:24-26; 14:8-11; 20:25-29; 1 Pet. 2:9; 1 John 1:5-7; more at Doubt, God, Light, Service)
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Feast of Simon & Jude, Apostles
Pardon comes not to the soul alone, or rather, Christ comes not to the soul with pardon only; it is that which He opens the door and enters by, but He comes with a Spirit of life and power.
... John Owen (1616-1683), An Exposition upon Psalm CXXX [1668], in Works of John Owen, v. VI, New York: R. Carter & Bros., 1851, p. 535
(see the book; see also 2 Tim. 1:7; Ps. 130:4; Acts 1:8; 2:38; 10:38; 1 Cor. 2:4-5,12-13; more at Christ, Door, Forgiveness, Life, Power, Soul, Spirit)
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Commemoration of James Hannington, Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, Martyr in Uganda, 1885
As the great test of medical practice is that it heals the patient, so the great test of preaching is that it converts and builds up the hearers.
... Herman L. Wayland (1830-1898)
(see the book; see also Eph. 4:11-12; John 2:23; 8:30; 21:17; Acts 2:40-41; 4:4; 5:14; 8:12; 11:28; 13:48; 14:1; 20:28,32; 1 Cor. 1:17-18; 1 Thess. 2:4; more at Church, Conversion, Strength, Trial)
Monday, October 30, 2023
Commemoration of Martin Luther, Teacher, Reformer, 1546
It is as impossible to separate works from faith as burning and shining from fire. Be on guard against your own false ideas and against the chatterers who think they are clever enough to make judgements about faith and good works but who are in reality the biggest fools. Ask God to work faith in you; otherwise you will remain eternally without faith, no matter what you try to do or fabricate.
... Martin Luther (1483-1546), “Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans”, par. 15
(see the book; see also Rom. 1:16-17; Matt. 7:7-8; John 3:3; Rom. 3:21-22; 8:9-10; 1 Cor. 8:2; 2 Cor. 10:5; Eph. 2:8-9; Col. 2:2-4; 2 Tim. 2:23-24; Tit. 3:9; Jas. 2:20-22; more at Faith, Folly, Good works, Heresy, Judgment)
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Reformation Day
It is generally true that all that is required to make men unmindful of what they owe God for any blessing is that they should receive that blessing often and regularly.
... Richard Whately (1787-1863), New Penny Magazine, v. 1, n. 1, J. Crockford, 1861, p. 50
(see the book; see also Deut. 8:11-17; 6:10-16; Matt. 6:11; Luke 12:15-21; more at Blessing, Gifts, God, Gratitude, Man)
|
Welcome to the CQOD archive. This page contains all the quotations for October, 2023.
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:
|
