Continuing a short series on forgiveness: "The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul" (Psa 19:7). Most read more

Continuing a short series on forgiveness: "The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul" (Psa 19:7). Most laws condemn the soul and pronounce sentence. The result of the law of my God is perfect. It condemns but forgives. It restores - more than abundantly - what it takes away.

Commemoration of Felix, Bishop, Apostle to the East Angles, 647 He who forgives not is not forgiven, and the read more

Commemoration of Felix, Bishop, Apostle to the East Angles, 647 He who forgives not is not forgiven, and the prayer of the Pharisee is as the weary beating of the surf of hell, while the cry of a soul out of its fire sets the heart-strings of Love trembling.

Commemoration of Richard Rolle of Hampole, Writer, Hermit, Mystic, 1349 It is of no use to say that Christ, read more

Commemoration of Richard Rolle of Hampole, Writer, Hermit, Mystic, 1349 It is of no use to say that Christ, as exhibited in the Gospels, is not historical, and that we know not how much of what is admirable has been super-added by the tradition of his followers. Who among his disciples or among their proselytes was capable of inventing the sayings of Jesus or of imagining the life and character revealed in the Gospels? Certainly not the fishermen of Galilee; as certainly not St. Paul, whose character and idiosyncrasies were of a totally different sort; still less the early Christian writers, in whom nothing is more evident than that the good which was in them was all derived, as they always professed that it was derived, from the higher source.

Scripture will ultimately suffice for a saving knowledge of God only when its certainty is founded upon the inward persuasion read more

Scripture will ultimately suffice for a saving knowledge of God only when its certainty is founded upon the inward persuasion of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, these human testimonies which exist to confirm it will not be vain if, as secondary aids to our feebleness, they follow that chief and highest testimony. But those who wish to prove to unbelievers that Scripture is the Word of God are acting foolishly, for only by faith can this be known.

We may with complete detachment study and form a judgement upon a religion, but we cannot maintain our detachment if read more

We may with complete detachment study and form a judgement upon a religion, but we cannot maintain our detachment if the subject of our inquiry proves to be God Himself. This is, of course, why many otherwise honest intellectual people will construct a neat by-pass around the claim of Jesus to be God. Being people of insight and imagination, they know perfectly well that once to accept such a claim as fact would mean a readjustment of their own purposes and values and affections which they may have no wish to make. To call Jesus the greatest Figure in History or the finest Moral Teacher the world has ever seen commits no one to anything. But once to allow the startled mind to accept as fact that this man is really focused-God may commit anyone to anything! There is every excuse for blundering in the dark, but in the light there is no cover from reality. It is because we strongly sense this, and not merely because we feel that the evidence is ancient and scanty, that we shrink from committing ourselves to such a far-reaching belief as that Jesus Christ was really God.

Pray with your intelligence. Bring things to God that you have thought out and think them out again with Him. read more

Pray with your intelligence. Bring things to God that you have thought out and think them out again with Him. That is the secret of good judgment. Repeatedly place your pet opinions and prejudices before God. He will surprise you by showing you that the best of them need refining and some the purification of destruction.

Commemoration of John Mason Neale, Priest, Poet, 1866 Continuing a short series of verse on Christ: The day of resurrection! read more

Commemoration of John Mason Neale, Priest, Poet, 1866 Continuing a short series of verse on Christ: The day of resurrection! Earth, tell it out abroad; The passover of gladness, The passover of God. From death to life eternal, From this world to the sky, Our Christ hath brought us over With hymns of victory. Our hearts be pure from evil, That we may see aright The Lord in rays eternal Of resurrection light, And, list'ning to His accents, May hear, so calm and plain His own "All hail!" and, hearing, May raise the victor strain. Now let the heav'ns be joyful, Let earth her song begin, Let the round world keep triumph And all that is therein; Invisible and visible, Their notes let all things blend; For Christ the Lord has risen -- Our Joy that has no end.

Continuing a short series on topics of Christian apologetics: I desire to exercise my faith in the most difficult read more

Continuing a short series on topics of Christian apologetics: I desire to exercise my faith in the most difficult point, for to credit ordinary and visible objects is not faith, but persuasion. Some believe the better for seeing Christ's Sepulchre, and when they have seen the Red Sea, doubt not the miracle. Now contrarily I bless myself, and am thankful that I lived not in the days of miracles, that I never saw Christ nor His Disciples; I would not have been one of those Israelites that passed the Red Sea, nor one of Christ's patients, on whom He wrought His wonders; then had my faith been thrust upon me, nor should I enjoy that greater blessing pronounced to all that believe and saw not.

Feast of Edward the Confessor, 1066 [He said:] That all possible kinds of mortification, if they were void of read more

Feast of Edward the Confessor, 1066 [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.