Quotations for February, 2026
Sunday, February 1, 2026
Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525
The church has severely under-estimated the fundamental antagonism between Christianity and contemporary neo-pagan values.
... Max Champion, “The Religious Crisis of Western Civilisation”
(more at Church, Enemy, Pagan, Social)
Monday, February 2, 2026
THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE
A life devoted unto God, looking wholly unto Him in all our actions, and doing all things suitably to His glory, is so far from being dull, and uncomfortable, that it creates new comforts in everything that we do.
... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 183 
(see the book; see also Ps. 23:5; 27:4; 42:1-2; 71:21; 84:4; Isa. 51:12-13; Rom. 8:37; 2 Cor. 1:3-5; 2 Cor. 2:14; 7:6-7; more at Comfort, Conversion, Devotion, Dullness, God, Life)
Tuesday, February 3, 2026
Feast of Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary to Denmark and Sweden, 865
I will tell you what to hate. Hate hypocrisy—hate cant—hate intolerance, oppression, injustice—hate Pharisaism. Hate them as Christ hated them, with a deep, living, godlike hatred.
... Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853), Sermons, v. II, Leipzig: Tauchnitz, 1861, p. 253
(see the book; see also Matt. 23:27-28; more at Christ, Hatred, Hypocrisy, Intolerance, Legalism, Pharisaism)
Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Commemoration of Gilbert of Sempringham, Founder of the Gilbertine Order, 1189
The secular university is scandalized by the claims of revelation. Those who have, for whatever historical reasons, become seekers-on-principle, cannot tolerate the allegation that truth is a gift. To have to receive offends those who have determined to take.
... Louis Mackey (1926-2004)
(see also Jas. 1:17; more at Education, Gifts, Historical, Revelation, Truth)
Thursday, February 5, 2026
Commemoration of Martyrs of Japan, 1597
As the wife of a state Supreme Court justice in Arkansas put it, “My husband has been a Methodist all his life, but if it comes to choosing between being a Methodist and an American, he’ll be an American every time.” But this was not the issue, quite. In this case the choice was between being a good Methodist and a good American, and being a tribal religionist. But the theological problem of churches without discipline comes into stark outline in the quotation. Inadequately trained for membership, admitted without preparatory training, without the proper instruments of voluntary discipline, many members have never had the discontinuity between life in Christ and life in the world brought home to them. Here the ordinary members are less at fault than the leadership of the churches, who—though sworn to uphold the form of sound words and doctrine—neglect catechetical instruction and concentrate solely on the acquisition of more new members at any price.
... Franklin H. Littell (1917-2009), From State Church to Pluralism, Chicago: Aldine Publishers, 1962, reprinted by Transaction Publishers, 2007, p. 134
(see the book; see also Matt. 21:23-27; more at Christ, Church, Discipline, Instruction, Life, Neglect, Theology)
Friday, February 6, 2026
Devotional poetry... has to do with devotedness, with trust merged into faith, with love’s steadfastness. It finds men’s worthwhileness deep laid in relationship to God’s worthwhileness, and this devotion is expressed in communication. It finds this world precious insofar as it... symbolizes God’s love and therefore it runs counter to our national sin of distrust in God. (And yet, how can we trust Him without knowing and living unto Him and loving Him?)
... Samuel Bradley
(see also Ps. 66:8-9; more at Devotion, Faith, Love, Nation, Sin, Social, Trust)
Saturday, February 7, 2026
We, and all things, exist in God’s infinitude now; our individuality battens within it; our personality grows strong because of it; and we know, if we know anything, that while the more we approach the good the more we please God, at the same time the more men approach the good the more nobly distinctive, the more beautifully individual, do their characters become.
... Lily Dougall (1858-1923), The Undiscovered Country, in Immortality: an essay in discovery, co-ordinating scientific, psychical, and Biblical research, Burnett Hillman Streeter, Arthur Clutton-Brock, Cyril William Emmet, James Arthur Hadfield, & Lily Dougall, Macmillan, 1917, p. 370
(see the book; see also Ps. 1:1-3; more at Existence, God, Goodness, Knowledge, Providence, Strength)
Sunday, February 8, 2026
Consider yourself as always wrong, as having gone aside, and lost your right path, when any delight, desire, or trouble, is suffered to live in you, that cannot be made a part of this prayer of the heart to God. For nothing so infallibly shows us the true state of our heart, as that which gives us either delight or trouble; for as our delight and trouble is, so is the state of our heart: if therefore you are carried away with any trouble or delight, that has not an immediate relation to your progress in the divine life, you may be assured your heart is not in its right state of prayer to God... [Continued tomorrow]
... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749], London: E. Justins for Ogles, Duncan, and Cochran, 1816, p. 159
(see the book; see also Matt. 12:35; 1 Cor. 13:1; Gal. 5:22,23; Heb. 9:11-14; more at God, Heart, Prayer, Progress, Trouble, Truth)
Monday, February 9, 2026
[Continued from yesterday]The way to be a man of prayer, and be governed by its spirit, is not to get a book full of prayers; but the best help you can have from a book, is to read one full of such truths, instructions, and awakening informations, as force you to see and know who, and what, and where you are; that God is your all; and that all is misery, but a heart and life devoted to him. This is the best outward prayer-book you can have, as it will turn you to an inward book, and spirit of prayer in your heart, which is a continual longing desire of the heart after God, his divine life, and Holy Spirit. When, for the sake of this inward prayer, you retire at any time of the day, never begin till you know and feel, why and wherefore you are going to pray; and let this why and wherefore, form and direct everything that comes from you, whether it be in thought or in word. [Continued tomorrow]
... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749], London: E. Justins for Ogles, Duncan, and Cochran, 1816, p. 160
(see the book; more at Book, Devotion, Heart, Holy Spirit, Instruction, Life, Prayer, Truth)
Tuesday, February 10, 2026
Commemoration of Scholastica, Abbess of Plombariola, c.543
[Continued from yesterday]No vice can harbor in you, no infirmity take any root, no good desire can languish, when once your heart is in this method of prayer; never beginning to pray, till you first see how matters stand with you; asking your heart what it wants, and having nothing in your prayers, but what the known state of your heart puts you upon demanding, saying, or offering, unto God. A quarter of an hour of this prayer, brings you out of your closet a new man; your heart feels the good of it; and every return of such a prayer, gives new life and growth to all your virtues, with more certainty, than the dew refreshes the herbs of the field: whereas, overlooking this true prayer of your own heart, and only at certain times taking a prayer that you find in a book, you have nothing to wonder at, if you are every day praying, and yet every day sinking farther and farther under all your infirmities. [Continued tomorrow]
... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749], London: E. Justins for Ogles, Duncan, and Cochran, 1816, p. 161
(see the book; more at Book, Growth, Heart, Life, Man, Prayer, Weakness)
Wednesday, February 11, 2026
[Continued from yesterday]For your heart is your life, and your life can only be altered by that which is the real working of your heart. And if your prayer is only a form of words, made by the skill of other people, such a prayer can no more change you into a good man, than an actor upon the stage, who speaks kingly language, is thereby made to be a king: whereas one thought, or word, or look, towards God, proceeding from your own heart, can never be without its proper fruit, or fail of being a real good to your soul. Again, another great and infallible benefit of this kind of prayer is this; it is the only way to be delivered from the deceitfulness of your own hearts. [Continued tomorrow]
... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749], London: E. Justins for Ogles, Duncan, and Cochran, 1816, p. 161-162
(see the book; more at Deliverance, Goodness, Heart, Life, Prayer)
Thursday, February 12, 2026
Commemoration of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (Nicolas Herman), spiritual writer, 1691
[Continued from yesterday]Our hearts deceive us, because we leave them to themselves, are absent from them, taken up in outward things, in outward rules and forms of living and praying. But this kind of praying, which takes all its thoughts and words only from the state of our hearts, makes it impossible for us to be strangers to ourselves. The strength of every sin, the power of every evil temper, the most secret workings of our hearts, the weakness of any or all our virtues, is with a noonday clearness forced to be seen, as soon as the heart is made our prayer-book, and we pray nothing, but according to what we read, and find there.
... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749], London: E. Justins for Ogles, Duncan, and Cochran, 1816, p. 162
(see the book; more at Evil, Heart, Power, Prayer, Sin, Strength, Virtue, Weakness)
Friday, February 13, 2026
[He said:] That all possible kinds of mortification, if they were void of the love of God, could not efface a single sin. That we ought, without anxiety, to expect the pardon of our sins from the blood of Jesus Christ, only endeavoring to love Him with all our hearts. That GOD seemed to have granted the greatest favors to the greatest sinners, as more signal monuments of His mercy.
... Brother Lawrence (c.1605-1691), The Practice of the Presence of God, New York, Revell, 1895, Second Conversation, p. 12-13
(see the book; see also Isa. 55:7; Matt. 10:37-38; Luke 7:41-47; John 21:15-17; Gal. 5:6; 1 Tim. 1:15; 1 John 4:19; more at Anxiety, Blood, Endeavor, Forgiveness, Jesus, Love, Mercy, Sin, Sinner)
Saturday, February 14, 2026
Feast of Cyril & Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869 & 885
Commemoration of Valentine, Martyr at Rome, c.269
If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning—just as, if there were no light in the universe, and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know that it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Mere Christianity, New York: MacMillan, 1952, reprint, HarperCollins, 2001, p. 39
(see the book; see also Matt. 13:14-15; more at Apologetics, Darkness, Knowledge, Light, Meaning, Universe)
Sunday, February 15, 2026
Commemoration of Thomas Bray, Priest, Founder of SPCK, 1730
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.How then is it possible that Methodism, that is, a religion of the heart, though it flourishes now as the green bay tree, should continue in this state? For the Methodists in every place grow diligent and frugal: consequently, they increase in goods. Hence, they proportionately increase in pride, in anger, in the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life. So, although the form of religion remains, the spirit is swiftly vanishing away.Is there no way to prevent ... this continual decay of pure religion?
... 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 Mark 10:25; Eccl. 5:10; more at Diligence, Pride, Religion, Sin, Spirit, Wealth, Worldly)
Monday, February 16, 2026
There are more readers of the English Bible in this country than in any other, and the time seemed to me to have come for a frank and direct translation of the Greek New Testament into our modern spoken American English. We take great pains to provide Asiatica and Africana with special versions, so that they may read the Bible each in his own tongue wherein he was born; and why not do as much for our own young people, and our fellow citizens generally?
... Edgar J. Goodspeed (1871-1962), How Came the Bible?, New York: Abingdon, 1940, p. 127-128
(see the book; see also Acts 2:5-8; more at Attitudes, Bible, Gospel, Nation, People)
Tuesday, February 17, 2026
Feast of Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr, 1977
God has no grandchildren.
... Robert MacColl Adams (1913-1985)
(see also Gen. 17:26; more at Church, Culture, God)
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Ash Wednesday
“The Kingdom of Heaven,” said the Lord Christ, “is among you.” But what, precisely, is the Kingdom of Heaven? You cannot point to existing specimens, saying, “Lo, here!” or “Lo, there!” You can only experience it. But what is it like, so that when we experience it we may recognize it? Well, it is a change, like being born again and relearning everything from the start. It is secret, living power—like yeast. It is something that grows, like seed. It is precious like buried treasure, like a rich pearl, and you have to pay for it. It is a sharp cleavage through the rich jumble of things which life presents: like fish and rubbish in a draw-net, like wheat and tares; like wisdom and folly; and it carries with it a kind of menacing finality; it is new, yet in a sense it was always there—like turning out a cupboard and finding there your own childhood as well as your present self; it makes demands, it is like an invitation to a royal banquet—gratifying, but not to be disregarded, and you have to live up to it; where it is equal, it seems unjust; where it is just it is clearly not equal—as with the single pound, the diverse talents, the labourers in the vineyard, you have what you bargained for; it knows no compromise between an uncalculating mercy and a terrible justice—like the unmerciful servant, you get what you give; it is helpless in your hands like the King’s Son, but if you slay it, it will judge you; it was from the foundations of the world; it is to come; it is here and now; it is within you. It is recorded that the multitudes sometimes failed to understand.
... Dorothy Leigh Sayers (1893-1957), The Poetry of Search and the Poetry of Statement, London: Golanz, 1963, p. 281
(see the book; see also Matt. 13:47-48,24-30,33,44-46; 20:1-16; 22:1-14; Mark 4:26-29; Luke 13:20-21; 15:8-10; 16:1-9; John 3:3-8; more at Christ, Experience, Folly, Jesus, Kingdom, Seed, Treasure, Wisdom)
Thursday, February 19, 2026
When the will abandons what is above itself and turns to what is lower, it becomes evil—not because that is evil to which it turns, but because the turning itself is wicked. Therefore it is not an inferior thing which has made the will evil, but it is itself which has become so by wickedly and inordinately desiring an inferior thing.
... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), The City of God, v. I [426], Marcus Dods, ed., as vol. 1 of The Works of Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Edinbugh: T & T Clark, 1871, XII.vi, p. 488-489
(see the book; see also Eccl. 10:3; Matt. 15:11,17-20; Mark 7:15,18-23; Luke 11:38-41; Tit. 1:15; more at Evil, Intention, Sin)
Friday, February 20, 2026
Commemoration of Cecile Isherwood, Founder of the Community of the Resurrection, Grahamstown, South Africa, 1906
If a poet or an artist puts himself into his Productions he is criticised. But that is exactly what God does, he does so in Christ. And precisely that is Christianity. The creation was really only completed when God included himself in it. Before the coming of Christ God was certainly in the creation, but as an invisible sign, like the watermark in paper. But the creation was completed by the Incarnation because God thereby included himself in it.
... Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Journals, ed. Alexander Dru, Oxford University Press, 1959, p. 324
(see the book; see also John 1:32-34; Matt. 3:17; 11:27; 17:5; Mark 1:1,11; Luke 3:22; John 1:14,18,49; 3:16-18; 10:30; 1 John 2:23; 4:9; more at Creation, God, Incarnation, Jesus)
Saturday, February 21, 2026
Sin is a base and ill-natured thing, and renders a man not so apt to be affected with the injuries he hath offered to God, as with the mischief which is likely to fall upon himself.
... John Tillotson (1630-1694), Works of Dr. John Tillotson, v. VII, London: J. F. Dove, for R. Priestley, 1820, Sermon CLX, p. 287
(see the book; see also Matt. 15:10-11; Ps. 32:5; 38:18; 51:3; 52:2-4; Pr. 28:13; Isa. 59:12-15; Matt. 15:18-20; Jas. 3:5-8; more at Complacency, God, Sin)
Sunday, February 22, 2026
My father had never lost his temper with us, never beaten us, but we had for him that feeling often described as fear, which is something quite different and far deeper than alarm. It was that sense which, without irreverence, I have thought to find expressed by the great evangelists when they speak of the fear of God. One does not fear God because He is terrible, but because He is literally the soul of goodness and truth, because to do Him wrong is to do wrong to some mysterious part of oneself, and one does not know exactly what the consequences may be.
... Joyce Cary (1888-1957), Except the Lord, London: Michael Joseph, 1953, reprint, New Directions Publishing, 1985, p. 47
(see the book; see also Ps. 19:7-9; Gen. 22:12; Ps. 34:8-9,11-14; 111:10; 112:1; Pr. 1:7; 9:10; Eccl. 12:13; John 14:6; 1 Pet. 2:2-3; more at Evangelization, Father, Fear, God, Goodness, Truth, Weakness, Wrong)
Monday, February 23, 2026
Feast of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr, c.155
Don’t imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call “humble” nowadays: he won’t be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who’s always telling you that, of course, he’s nobody. Probably all you’ll think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him, it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility; he won’t be thinking about himself at all. There I must stop. If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realise that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you’re not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Christian Behavior, London: Geoffrey Bles, Macmillan, 1943, p. 49
(see the book; see also Luke 1:51-53; Pr. 13:10; Matt. 5:6; Mark 12:38-40; more at Envy, Humility, People, Pride, Sin, Thought)
Tuesday, February 24, 2026
They, therefore, who are hasty in their devotions and think a little will do, are strangers both to the nature of devotion and the nature of man; they do not know that they are to learn to pray, and that prayer is to be learnt as they learn other things, by frequency, constancy, and perseverance.
... William Law (1686-1761), Christian Perfection [1726], London: W. Baynes, 1807, p. 283
(see the book; see also Luke 11:1; Ps. 10:17-18; 19:14; Matt. 6:9; Luke 11:5-10; 18:2-7; John 14:13-14; Rom. 8:26-27; Jas. 4:2-3; Jude 1:20; more at Devotion, Man, Obedience, Perseverance, Prayer)
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
The will directs the tongue or the hand to act, and the evil word is spoken or the evil deed done. Every time we sin, it is the whole of us that sins, and not just a part. The body is only the instrument of the mind and the will. All that God made, including the body with all its desires and instincts, is good in itself. But it has to be kept under control and used in the right way.
... Stephen Neill (1900-1984), The Christian Character, London: Lutterworth Press, 1955, p. 83-84
(see the book; see also Matt. 6:22-23; Pr. 17:27; 21:23; 1 Cor. 9:25; Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 5:4; Tit. 1:8; Jas. 1:26; 3:13; 2 Pet. 1:5-6; ; more at Evil, Goodness, Self-control, Sin)
Thursday, February 26, 2026
There are many people like us, who speak to God in prayer, but hardly ever listen to Him, or else listen to Him only vaguely.
... Paul Tournier (1898-1986), The Meaning of Persons, New York: Harper, 1957, p. 168
(see the book; see also Matt. 13:9; Ex. 15:26; Deut. 6:4-5; Ps. 85:8; Hab. 2:1; Heb. 12:25; Rev. 2:7,11,17,29; more at God, Listening, Prayer)
Friday, February 27, 2026
Feast of George Herbert, Priest, Poet, 1633
Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:Such a Way, as gives us breath:Such a Truth, as ends all strife:Such a Life, as killeth death.
Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:Such a Light, as shows a feast:Such a Feast, as mends in length:Such a Strength, as makes his guest.
Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:Such a Joy, as none can move:Such a Love, as none can part:Such a Heart, as joyes in love.
... George Herbert (1593-1633), The Poetical Works of George Herbert, New York: D. Appleton, 1857, p. 199
(see the book; see also John 14:6; 10:10; 1 Cor. 2:9-10; 15:54-57; Eph. 3:20-21; 1 Tim. 1:14; more at Death, Heart, Jesus, Joy, Life, Light, Love, Strength, Truth, Way)
Saturday, February 28, 2026
At the Day of Judgment, we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done.
... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.iii.5, p.35
(see the book; see also Rev. 16:7; Matt. 7:24; 12:50; Luke 6:46-48; 11:28; 12:47-48; John 13:17; Rom. 2:13; Col. 3:17; Jas. 1:22; 4:17; 1 John 2:3; more at Action, Day, Judgment, Obedience)
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