Commemoration of Clement, Bishop of Rome, Martyr, c.100 One can believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ and feel no personal loyalty to Him at all -- indeed, pay no attention whatever to His commandments and His will for one's life. One can believe intellectually in the efficacy of prayer and never do any praying.
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The chief pang of most trials is not so much the actual suffering itself as our own spirit of resistance read more
The chief pang of most trials is not so much the actual suffering itself as our own spirit of resistance to it.
Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the Church, 1564 In that obedience which we have shown to be due read more
Commemoration of John Calvin, renewer of the Church, 1564 In that obedience which we have shown to be due the authority of rulers, we are always to make this exception, indeed, to observe it as primary, that such obedience is never to lead us away from obedience to him, to whose decrees all their commands ought to yield, to whose majesty their scepters ought to be submitted. And how absurd would it be that in satisfying men you should incur the displeasure of him for whose sake you obey men themselves! The Lord, therefore, is the King of Kings, who, when he has opened his sacred mouth, must alone be heard, before all and above all men; next to him we are subject to those men who are in authority over us, but only in him. If they command anything against him, let it go unesteemed.
What are our lame praises in comparison with His love? Nothing, and less than nothing; but love will stammer rather read more
What are our lame praises in comparison with His love? Nothing, and less than nothing; but love will stammer rather than be dumb.
Commemoration of Martin Luther, Teacher, Reformer, 1546 It must have been a most blessed discovery, that of an old read more
Commemoration of Martin Luther, Teacher, Reformer, 1546 It must have been a most blessed discovery, that of an old Latin Bible which he found in the Erfurt Library about this time. He had never seen the Book before. It taught him another lesson than that of fasts and vigils... Luther learned now that a man was saved not by singing masses, but by the infinite grace of God: a more credible hypothesis. He gradually got himself founded, as on the rock. No wonder he should venerate the Bible, which had brought this blessed help to him. He prized it as the Word of the Highest must be prized by such a man. He determined to hold by that, as through life and to death he firmly did.
Among our own people also the church sorely needs clergy in close touch with the ordinary life of the laity, read more
Among our own people also the church sorely needs clergy in close touch with the ordinary life of the laity, living the life of ordinary men, sharing their difficulties and understanding their trials by close personal experience. Stipendiary clergy cut off by training and life from that common experience are constantly struggling to get close to the laity by wearing lay clothing, sharing in lay amusements, and organizing lay clubs; but they never quite succeed. To get close to men, it is necessary really to share their experience, and to share their experience is to share it by being in it, not merely to come as near to it as possible without being in it.
Feast of Matthias the Apostle Life is not long enough for a religion of inferences; we shall never have read more
Feast of Matthias the Apostle Life is not long enough for a religion of inferences; we shall never have done beginning, if we determine to begin with proof. We shall ever be laying our foundations; we shall turn theology into evidences, and divines into textuaries... Life is for action. If we insist on proofs for everything, we shall never come to action: to act you must assume, and that assumption is faith.
Feast of Peter & Paul, Apostles The unbelieving mind would not be convinced by any proof, and the worshiping read more
Feast of Peter & Paul, Apostles The unbelieving mind would not be convinced by any proof, and the worshiping heart needs none.
The symbol of the New Testament and the Christian Church is a cross, which stands for a love faithful despite read more
The symbol of the New Testament and the Christian Church is a cross, which stands for a love faithful despite physical agony and rejection by the world. No amount of air-conditioning and pew-cusioning in the suburban church can cover over the hard truth that the Christian life... is a narrow way of suffering; that discipleship is costly: that, for the faithful, there is always a cross to be carried. No one can understand Christianity to its depths who comes to it to enjoy it as a pleasant weekend diversion.
A Christian marriage is [not] one with no problems or even a marriage with fewer problems. (It may well mean read more
A Christian marriage is [not] one with no problems or even a marriage with fewer problems. (It may well mean more problems.) But it does mean a life in which two people are able to accept each other and love each other in the midst of problems and fears. It means a marriage in which selfish people can accept selfish people without constantly trying to change them -- and even accept themselves, because they realize personally that they have been accepted by Christ.
