Quotations for December, 2024
Sunday, December 1, 2024
Advent I
Commemoration of Charles de Foucauld, Hermit, Servant of the Poor, 1916
We are frequently advised to read the Bible with our own personal needs in mind, and to look for answers to our private questions. That is good, as far as it goes... But better still is the advice to study the Bible objectively, ... without regard, first of all, to our own subjective needs. Let the great passages fix themselves in our memory. Let them stay there permanently, like bright beacons, launching their powerful shafts of light upon life’s problems—our own and everyone’s—as they illumine now one, now another dark area of human life... Following such a method, we discover that the Bible does “speak to our condition” and meet our needs, not just occasionally or when some emergency arises, but continually.
... Frederick C. Grant (1891-1974), How to Read the Bible, London: Thomas Nelson, 1959, p. 8-9 
(see the book; see also Ps. 63:5-7; Deut. 8:3; Ps. 1:2-3; 23; John 3:16; Rom. 8:1-2; Eph. 2:8-9; 2 Tim. 3:14-17; more at Bible, Goodness, Life, Light, Memory, Permanence)
Monday, December 2, 2024
No book in the whole world has faced the fact of sorrow, and the mystery of pain so honestly, and with such steady eyes as the New Testament. It is not for nothing that the Christian symbol is—a Cross; and a most wonderful fact that it was a voice from the agony of crucifixion that has made masses of men entirely sure that God is Love.
... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954), Experience Worketh Hope, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1945, p. 98
(see the book; see also Ps. 22:1; Isa. 53:3-8; Matt. 27:46; John 15:13; Rom. 8:18,22; 2 Cor. 4:17; 1 Pet. 1:6; 2:21,24; 4:1; more at Bible, Book, Cross, Crucifixion, God, Love, Pain, Sorrow)
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
Commemoration of Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, Missionary, 1552
I have put no emphasis on the virgin birth in the course of this chapter. This is not because I do not believe in it, for I do; but because, as I understand it, the account of Christ’s miraculous birth was given in the Gospels for the sake of those who had already come to believe in him and who wished to know the facts, but was never used as a means of evoking faith in those who were not yet convinced on other grounds as to who he was. After all, a virgin birth would be possible without any implications of deity.
... J. N. D. Anderson (1908-1994), Christianity: the Witness of History, Tyndale Press, 1969, p. 59
(see the book; see also Luke 1:26-35; Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:22-23; Luke 1:1-4; 2 Cor. 11:2; more at Apologetics, Belief, Christ, Faith, Knowledge, Miracle)
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
Commemoration of Nicholas Ferrar, Deacon, Founder of the Little Gidding Community, 1637
It is not in the gifts He received but in the virtues He practiced that Christ is our model. That which is asked of you, so that you may resemble Him, is to make the same use as He did of the gifts of God, according to the measure in which you have received them.
... Jean Nicolas Grou (1731-1803), quoted in The Light of Christ, Evelyn Underhill, New York: Longmans, Green, 1949, p. 101
(see the book; see also John 6:32-35; Matt. 11:29; John 13:15; Rom. 15:5-6; Eph. 5:1-2; Phil. 3:10-11; 1 Pet. 2:21; 1 John 2:6; 3:2; more at Christ, Gifts, God, Jesus, Virtue)
Thursday, December 5, 2024
Fear, the apprehension of personal evil, has the same function in the moral world as pain has in the physical. It is a symptom of disease, and is intended to bid us look for the remedy and the Physician. What is an alarm bell for, but to rouse the sleepers, and to hurry them to the refuge? And so this wholesome, manly dread of the certain issue of discord with God is meant to do for us what the angels did for Lot—to lay a mercifully violent hand on the shoulder of the sleeper, and shake him into aroused wakefulness, and hasten him out of Sodom, before the fire bursts through the ground, and is met by the fire from above. The intention of fear is to lead to that which shall annihilate it by taking away its cause.
... Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910), Triumphant Certainties: and Other Sermons, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1905, p. 300
(see the book; see also Luke 1:50; Gen. 19:12-13; Deut. 6:13; Ps. 103:17-18; 111:10; 119:120; Pr. 1:7; Hag. 1:12; 1 John 4:12,18; more at Apprehension, Awakening, Evil, Fear, Morality, Pain, Physician, Refuge)
Friday, December 6, 2024
Feast of Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c.326
The people of God are not merely to mark time, waiting for God to step in and set right all that is wrong. Rather, they are to model the new heaven and new earth, and by so doing awaken longings for what God will someday bring to pass.
... Philip Yancey (b. 1949), Disappointment with God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud, p. 36
(see the book; see also Matt. 5:13-16; Rom. 15:13; 1 Cor. 4:20; 11:1; Eph. 4:1; Phil. 2:14-16; Col. 1:13-14,27; 1 Thess. 2:11-12; 1 Tim. 4:12; Tit. 1:2; 2:7-8; Heb. 4:6; 1 Pet. 2:21; Rev. 5:9-10; more at Awakening, Earth, God, Heaven, People)
Saturday, December 7, 2024
Feast of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Teacher, 397
How pleasant it is to begin the day with hymns and canticles, with the Beatitudes which you read in the Gospel! How propitious that the words of Christ should bless you, and while you repeat the Lord’s benedictions, you should become eager for the acquirement of one or another virtue, so that even in your own self you may recognize the power of the Divine benediction.
... St. Ambrose of Milan (Aurelius Ambrosius) (339-397), The Life and Times of St. Ambrose, v. II, Frederick Homes Dudden, The Clarendon Press, 1935, p. 443
(see the book; see also Ps. 119:148; 1:2; 133:1; Matt. 5:3-12,48; 1 Cor. 14:1; Gal. 5:22-23; 1 Pet. 1:15-16; more at Blessing, Christ, Day, Grace, Power, Virtue)
Sunday, December 8, 2024
Advent II
Many a congregation when it assembles in church must look to the angels like a muddy puddly shore at low tide; littered with every kind of rubbish and odds and ends—a distressing sort of spectacle. And then the tide of worship comes in, and it’s all gone: the dead sea-urchins and jelly-fish, the paper and the empty tins and the nameless bits of rubbish. The cleansing sea flows over the whole lot. So we are released from a narrow, selfish outlook on the universe by a common act of worship. Our little human affairs are reduced to their proper proportion when seen over against the spaceless Majesty and Beauty of God.
... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), Collected Papers of Evelyn Underhill, Longmans, Green and Co., 1946, p. 89
(see the book; see also 1 Tim. 2:8; Ps. 51:17; 147:11; Isa. 26:8-9; 58:6-8; John 4:23-24; 1 Pet. 2:9; more at Church, Congregation, Glory of God, Selfish, Worship)
Monday, December 9, 2024
The power of the Church is not a parade of flawless people, but of a flawless Christ who embraces our flaws. The Church is not made up of the whole people, rather of the broken people who find wholeness in a Christ who was broken for us.
... Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), The Door, Issues 139-150, Youth Specialties, 1995, p. 36
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 11:23-24; Isa. 53:5; Rom. 6:17-19; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; 12:2; Eph. 2:1-3; 4:17-19; 5:8-10; Col. 3:5-7; Tit. 3:3-7; 1 Pet. 4:1-6; more at Christ, Church, People, Power, Sin)
Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Commemoration of Thomas Merton, Monk, Spiritual Writer, 1968
To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence: for God is love. Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name.
... Thomas Merton (1915-1968), Seeds of Contemplation, London: Hollis & Carter, 1949, New Directions. 1949, p. 46
(see the book; see also 1 John 4:8; Ex. 34:6-7; Ps. 86:5,15; 2 Cor. 13:11; Eph. 2:4-5; 1 John 1:5; more at Existence, God, Love, Truth)
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
I do not know a warning that I judge more necessary to be given to those who are called this day, than to charge them not to trade too much with their natural gifts, and abilities, and learning. These are talents in their kind; but it is the Spirit must manage all that learning they have, or it will prejudice them, and you also. I have known some good men have been so addicted to their study, that they have thought the last day of the week sufficient to prepare for their ministry, though they employ all the rest of the week in other studies. But your business is to trade with your spiritual abilities...A man may preach a very good sermon, who is otherwise himself; but he will never make a good minister of Jesus Christ, whose heart and mind [are] not always in the work. Spiritual gifts will require continual ruminating on the things of the Gospel in our minds.
... John Owen (1616-1683), An Ordination Sermon (Sermon IV) [1678], in Works of John Owen, v. IX, New York: R. Carter, 1851, pp. 448, 451
(see the book; see also 1 Tim. 4:13-15; Ps. 19:14; 119:11; Matt. 25:14-30; Rom. 12:4-8; Eph. 4:8-13; more at Gifts, Gospel, Heart, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Mind, Minister, Preach, Sermon, Talent, Work)
Thursday, December 12, 2024
The Holy Spirit teaches us in Scripture, that our mind is smitten with so much blindness, that the affections of our heart are so depraved and perverted, that our whole nature is so vitiated, that we can do nothing but sin, until he forms a new will within us.
... John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles [1551], tr. J. Owen, Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1855, p. xvii
(see the book; see also 2 Cor. 5:17; Ps. 14:2-3; Rom. 3:10-18,23; 7:18; 8:13-14; Eph. 2:1-5; Tit. 3:3-7; 1 Pet. 4:1-2; more at Blindness, Depravity, Heart, Holy Spirit, Mind, Sanctification, Scripture, Sin)
Friday, December 13, 2024
Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304
Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784
One of them having objected to the “observance of days, and months, and years,” Johnson answered, “The church does not superstitiously observe days, merely as days, but as memorials of important facts. Christmas might be kept as well upon one day of the year as another; but there should be a stated day for commemorating the birth of our Saviour, because there is danger that what may be done on any day, will be neglected.”
... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., v. II [1791], James Boswell, London: National illustrated library, 1851, p. 293
(see the book; see also Rom. 14:5-8; Ex. 12:14; Isa. 58:5; Zech. 7:5-6; 1 Cor. 6:19-20; 2 Cor. 5:15; Phil. 1:21; Col. 2:16-17; 1 Thess. 5:10; more at Christmas, Church, Day, Neglect, Savior)
Saturday, December 14, 2024
Feast of John of the Cross, Mystic, Poet, Teacher, 1591
One of the greatest favors bestowed on the soul transiently in this life is to enable it to see so distinctly and to feel so profoundly that it cannot comprehend God at all. These souls are herein somewhat like the saints in heaven, where they who know Him most perfectly perceive most clearly that He is infinitely incomprehensible; for those who have the less clear vision do not perceive so clearly as do these others how greatly He transcends their vision.
... St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), The Spiritual Canticle, VII.9
(see the book; see also Isa. 55:8-9; Matt. 10:24; John 8:23; Eph. 1:20-21; Phil. 2:9-11; more at God, Greatness, Knowing God, Saint, Sight, Vision)
Sunday, December 15, 2024
Advent III
The Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child... The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the incarnation.
... James I. Packer (1926-2020), Knowing God, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1973, p. 46
(see the book; see also Luke 2:27-32; Isa. 53:2; Matt. 1:25; 9:10; Luke 2:6-7,16-18,36-38,52; 4:1-2; 24:41-42; John 1:14; Heb. 2:14-18; 1 John 1:1-2; more at Child, Helplessness, Incarnation, Teach, Truth)
Monday, December 16, 2024
How proper it is that Christmas should follow Advent. For him who looks toward the future, the manger is situated on Golgotha, and the cross has already been raised in Bethlehem.
... Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961), Markings, tr. Leif Sjöberg & W. H. Auden, (q.v.), New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964 (post.), p. 198
(see the book; see also Luke 2:34-35; Isa. 9:6; 53:2-5; John 1;14; Rom. 8:3-4; Eph. 5:1-2; Phil. 2:5-8; Heb. 10:5-7; more at Christmas, Cross, Golgotha)
Tuesday, December 17, 2024
Commemoration of Dorothy Sayers, Teacher and Spiritual Writer, 1957
Commemoration of Eglantyne Jebb, Social Reformer, Founder of ‘Save the Children’, 1928
It is worse than useless for Christians to talk about the importance of Christian morality, unless they are prepared to take their stand upon the fundamentals of Christian theology. It is a lie to say that dogma does not matter; it matters enormously. It is fatal to let people suppose that Christianity is only a mode of feeling; it is vitally necessary to insist that it is first and foremost a rational explanation of the universe.
... Dorothy Leigh Sayers (1893-1957), Christian Letters to a Post-Christian World, Eerdmans, 1969, p. 31
(see the book; see also 1 Tim. 4:16; John 7:16-17; Acts 2:42; Rom. 6:17; Col. 2:8; 1 Tim. 4:6; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 4:3; Tit. 1:9; more at Apologetics, Dogma, Morality, Reason, Theology, Thought)
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
And do these objectors mean to say that, because God has redeemed us from the curse of the law, therefore we owe him nothing, we have no duty now to him? Has not redemption rather made us doubly debtors? We owe him more than ever: we owe his holy law more than ever; more honor, more obedience. Duty has been doubled, not canceled, by our being delivered from the law; and he who says that duty has ceased, because deliverance has come, knows nothing of duty, or law, or deliverance.
... Horatius Bonar (1808-1889), God’s Way of Holiness, London: J. Nisbet, 1864, p. 67
(see the book; see also Rom. 8:11-14; 6:1-4; 7:6; 12:1-2; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 4:17,22-24; 5:8-10; Phil. 2:3-7; Col. 1:10-12; 3:9-10; 1 Pet. 4:1-2; 2 Pet. 1:4-9; 1 John 2:6; more at Debt, Deliverance, Duty, Law, Legalism, Obedience, Redemption)
Thursday, December 19, 2024
When the eyes of the soul looking out meet the eyes of God looking in, heaven has begun right here on this earth.
... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948], Christian Publications, 1982, p. 86
(see the book; see also 2 Cor. 4:6; Ps. 119:18; Isa. 32:3-4; Eph. 1:18-19; 5:8-10; Rev. 3:20; more at God, Heaven, Knowing God, Sight, Soul)
Friday, December 20, 2024
When the song of the angels is stilled,When the star in the sky is gone,When the kings and princes are home,When the shepherds are back with their flock,The work of Christmas begins:To find the lost,To heal the broken,To feed the hungry,To release the prisoner,To rebuild the nations,To bring peace among people,To make music in the heart.
... Howard Thurman (1899-1981), The Mood of Christmas, Friends United Press, 1985, p. 23
(see the book; see also Luke 4:17-21; Isa. 61:1-3; Matt. 2:12; Luke 2:20; 19:10; John 3:34; Rev. 22:1-2; more at Angel, Christmas, King, Music, Peace, Song, Star, Work)
Saturday, December 21, 2024
I do not wish to imply that God the Son could not, absolutely speaking, have become incarnate by a non-virginal conception, any more than I should wish to deny that God might, absolutely speaking, have redeemed mankind without becoming incarnate at all; it is always unwise to place limits to the power of God. What we can see is that both an incarnation and a virginal conception were thoroughly appropriate to the needs and circumstances of the case and were more “natural,” in the sense of more appropriate, than the alternatives... In practice, denial of the virginal conception or inability to see its relevance almost always goes with an inadequate understanding of the Incarnation and of the Christian religion in general.
... E. L. Mascall (1905-1993), The Secularization of Christianity, London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1966, p. 270-271 fn
(see the book; see also Matt. 1:18-25; Gen. 3:15; Isa. 7:14; Luke 1:31-35; John 1:14; Rom. 1:16; Gal. 4:4-5; Heb. 2:14-17; 10:5; 1 John 4:2-3; 2 John 1:7; more at Christmas, God, Incarnation, Understanding)
Sunday, December 22, 2024
Advent IV
By far the most significant event in the whole course of human history will be celebrated, with or without understanding, at the end of this season of Advent... What we are in fact celebrating is the awe-inspiring humility of God, and no amount of familiarity with the trappings of Christmas should ever blind us to its quiet but explosive significance... God’s insertion of himself into human history came about with an almost frightening quietness and humility... As millions will testify, he will come once again with the same silence and the same devastating humility into any heart which is ready to receive him.
... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Good News: Thoughts on God and Man, New York: Macmillan, 1963, p. 157, 162-164
(see the book; see also Luke 2:51; Isa. 8:13-15; 53:7; Matt. 21:42-44; Mark 6:3; Luke 2:10-11,29-35; Rom. 9:30-32; 1 Pet. 2:21,23; more at Christmas, God, Heart, Historical, Humility, Ignorance, Silence)
Monday, December 23, 2024
Rejoice, then, dearly-beloved, for the angel said—“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.” And what was that joy? That a Saviour was born who would deliver us from all our miseries, and free us from sin. The Son of God is given us, that great joy may be with us, and glory to God on high, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. Let us endeavour to insure that this Infant which is born to us may accord us that good-will, that peace, and that joy, which lasts for ever and ever, Amen.
... John Huss (1369-1415), Letters of John Huss, written during his exile and imprisonment, Edinburgh: W. Whyte, 1846, p. 53
(see the book; see also Luke 2:8-14; Ps. 85:8-12; 96:11-13; Isa. 9:6-7; Luke 19:38; John 17:4; Rev. 5:13; more at Angel, Christmas, Glory, God, Jesus, Joy, Peace, Savior, Tidings)
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Christmas Eve
What praises shall we voice, what thanks shall we give for the charity of God who so loved us that for us He by whom all time was made became man in time; that He, in His eternity more ancient than the world, became inferior in age to many of His servants in the world; that He who made man became Man; that He was formed in the Mother whom He Himself formed; carried in the hands which He made, nourished at the breasts that He filled; that, in the manger in mute infancy, He without whom all human eloquence is mute wailed?
... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), from Sermon 188, Sermons on the Liturgical Seasons, Sr. Mary Sarah Muldowney, tr., CUA Press, 2008, p. 18-19
(see the book; see also Ps. 66:1-2; Luke 1:28,41-42; Mark 9:35; John 1:3-4,10-11; Col. 1:15-17; Heb. 1:1-2; Rev. 4:11; more at Charity, Incarnation, Love, Man, Mother, Praise, Thanksgiving)
Wednesday, December 25, 2024
CHRISTMAS DAY
Rejoice; for, this day is born for us a Mediator, that man may be reconciled with God, and that this peace may be spread over the earth. Rejoice; for, to us is born a Physician, to make sinners pure from sin, to deliver them from the power of Satan, to redeem them from eternal damnation, to impart to all a heavenly joy, that glory may be to God on high, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. Rejoice; for, to us is born a King, to fill us with joy; a High Priest, to pour on believers the Divine blessing; a Father, to adopt us as his children for all eternity. To us is born a well-beloved Brother, a Master in every kind of knowledge, a veritable Chief, a Judge of most perfect equity, that glory may be to God on high, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. Rejoice, sinners, for He who is born is the Son of God, the High Priest who absolves all that repent, in order that glory may be to God on high, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.
... John Huss (1369-1415), Letters of John Huss, written during his exile and imprisonment, Edinburgh: W. Whyte, 1846, p. 52
(see the book; see also Matt. 1:20-21; Ps. 130:8; Isa. 9:6-7; Eze. 36:25-29; Luke 2:14; John 1:29; Acts 4:12; 5:31; 1 John 3:5; more at Christmas, Eternity, God, Judgment, King, Peace, Physician, Reconciliation, Sinner)
Thursday, December 26, 2024
Feast of Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr
The world would use us just as it did the martyrs, if we loved God as they did.
... Thomas Wilson (1663-1755), Maxims of Piety and of Christianity, London: Macmillan, 1898, p. 90
(see the book; see also Acts 7:55-60; Ps. 2:1-3; John 12:25; Rom. 8:36; more at God, Love, Martyr, World)
Friday, December 27, 2024
Feast of John, Apostle & Evangelist
None but the Lord himself can afford us any help from the awful workings of unbelief, doubtings, carnal fears, murmurings. Thank God one day we will be done forever with “unbelief.”
... A. W. Pink (1886-1952), in a letter, 1935
(see also John 7:5; Mark 9:23,24; 1 Cor. 1:22-24; more at Doubt, Faith, Fear, God, Unbelief)
Saturday, December 28, 2024
Feast of the Holy Innocents
If we allow the consideration of heathen morality and heathen religion to absolve us from the duty of preaching the gospel we are really deposing Christ from His throne in our own souls. If we admit that men can do very well without Christ, we accept the Saviour only as a luxury for ourselves. If they can do very well without Christ, then so could we. This is to turn our backs upon the Christ of the gospels and the Christ of Acts and to turn our faces towards law, morality, philosophy, natural religion.We look at the moral teaching of some of the heathen nations and we find it higher than we had expected... Or we look at morality in Christian lands, and we begin to wonder whether our practice is really much higher than theirs, and we say, “They are very well as they are. Leave them alone.”When we so speak and think we are treating the question of the salvation of men exactly as we should have treated it had Christ never appeared in the world at all. It is an essentially pre-Christian attitude, and implies that the Son of God has not been delivered for our salvation. It suggests that the one and only way of salvation known to me is to keep the commandments. That was indeed true before the coming of the Son of God, before the Passion, before the Resurrection, before Pentecost; but after Pentecost that is no longer true. After Pentecost, the answer to any man who inquires the way of salvation is no longer “Keep the law,” but “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
... Roland Allen (1869-1947), Pentecost and the World, London: Oxford University Press, 1917, included in The Ministry of the Spirit, David M. Paton, ed., London: World Dominion Press, 1960, p. 37
(see the book; see also John 6:28-29; Ps. 89:26-27; Jer. 31:33-34; Acts 2:36,38; 4:12; Eph. 1:19-23; Phil. 2:9-11; Col. 1:15-19; Heb. 1:4; more at Apologetics, Attitudes, Christ, Duty, Gospel, Heathen, Morality, Pentecost, Philosophy, Religion, Resurrection, Salvation)
Sunday, December 29, 2024
Feast of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1170
We must face the recognition that what the early Christians saw in Jesus Christ, and what we must accept if we look at him rather than at our imaginations about him, was not a person characterized by universal benignity, loving God and man. His love of God and his love of neighbour are two distinct virtues that have no common quality but only a common source. Love of God is adoration of the only true good; it is gratitude to the bestower of all gifts; it is joy in holiness; it is “consent to Being.” But the love of man is pitiful rather than adoring; it is giving and forgiving rather than grateful. It suffers for and in their viciousness and profaneness; it does not consent to accept them as they are, but calls them to repentance. The love of God is nonpossessive Eros; the love of man pure Agape; the love of God is passion; the love of man, compassion. There is duality here, but not of like-minded interest in two great values, God and man. It is rather the duality of the Son of Man and Son of God, who loves God as man should love Him, and loves man as only God can love, with powerful pity for those who are foundering.
... H. Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962), Christ and Culture, New York: Harper, 1951, reprint, Harper & Row, 1956, p. 18-19
(see the book; see also Matt. 9:35-36; 22:37-40; Mark 6:34; John 3:16; more at Christ, Forgiveness, God, Gratitude, Holiness, Jesus, Joy, Love, Man, Pity, Repentance, Suffer)
Monday, December 30, 2024
The man of strength and power is to forgive and pray for his enemies, and the innocent sufferer who is chained in prison must, with Paul and Silas, at midnight sing praises to God. For God is to be glorified, holiness is to be practised, and the spirit of Religion is to be the common spirit of every Christian in every state and condition of life.
... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 156-157
(see the book; see also Acts 16:25; Ps. 86:12; Matt. 5:44-45; Luke 6:27-28; more at Enemy, Forgiveness, God, Innocence, Praise, Prayer, Prison, Strength)
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
Commemoration of John Wycliffe, Reformer, 1384
The Holy Ghost descended upon the heathen, as he did upon the apostles in Jerusalem; and Christ were so merciful to send the Holy Ghost to the heathen men, and he made them partakers of his blessed word; why should it then be taken from us [by Church rules forbidding English Bibles] in this land that be Christian men? Consider you whether it is not all one to deny Christ’s words for heresy, and Christ for an heretic? for if my word be a lie, then I am a liar that speaketh the word; therefore if my words be heresy, then am I a heretic that speaketh the word; therefore it is all one to condemn the word of God in any language for heresy, and God for an heretic that spake the word; for he and his word is all one, and they may not be separated... How may any antichrist for dread of God take it away from us that be Christian men, and thus suffer the people to die for hunger in heresy and blasphemy of man’s law that corrupteth and slayeth the soul?
... John Wycliffe (1320?-1384), Wyckett, in Tracts and Treatises of John de Wycliffe, Robert Vaughan, ed., London: Blackburn and Pardon, 1845, p. 275-276
(see the book; see also Jer. 8:8; Ps. 19:9; Matt. 15:1-6; Luke 8:21; 11:28; John 5:39-40; Acts 2:4; 10:45; Rom. 3:1-2; 10:17; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Heb. 4:12; 2 Pet. 1:19-21; 1 John 2:27; more at Christ, Condemnation, God, Heresy, Holy Spirit, Scripture, Suffer)
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Bookworms
Spotlights
Publications:
Jonah: a miracle play
Ruth: a play
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Arab Vision
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Oratorium
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