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Monday 31 October 2011

Men have, for the most part, done with lamenting their lost
faith. Sentimental tears over the happy, simple Christendom of
their fathers are a thing of the past. They are proclaiming now
their contempt for Christ's character, and their disgust at the
very name of love. Scorn and hatred, difference and division, must be more than ever our lot, if we would be the followers of Christ in these days. Conventional religion and polite unbelief are gone forever.- John Neville Figgis (1866-1919), The Gospel and Human Needs, London: Longman's, Green & Co., 1911, p. 152

God loves matter. In his original creative acts God
affirmed matter again and again, declaring it good at every
point along the way. We, therefore, should take the material
world quite seriously; it is the "icon" of God, the epiphany of
his glory. We must not dismiss material things as
inconsequential--or worse yet, as genuinely evil. The stuff of
the material world--what Pierre Teilhard de Chardin called
"holy matter"--has been created by God and again he declared it
good, very good (Gen. 1:25,31). The material world is intended
to enhance human life.- Richard J. Foster, Streams of Living Water, Harper San Francisco, 1998, p. 260

I feel it a duty to bear my solemn testimony against the spirit of the day we live in, to warn men against its infection. It is not Atheism I fear so much, in the present times, as Pantheism. It is not the system which says nothing is true, so much as the system which says everything is true. It is not the system which says there is no Savior, so much as the system which says there are many saviors, and many ways to peace! It is the system which is so liberal, that it dares not say anything is false. It is the system which is so charitable, that it will allow everything to be true. It is the system which seems ready to honor others as well as our Lord Jesus Christ, to class them all together, and to think well of all.

It is the system which is so careful about the feelings of others, that we are never to say they are wrong. It is the system which is so liberal that it calls a man a bigot, if he dares to say, "I know my views are right." This is the system, this is the tone of feeling which I fear in this day, and this is the system which I desire emphatically to testify against and denounce. From the liberality which says everybody is right, from the charity which forbids us to say anybody is wrong, from the peace which is bought at the expense of truth – may the good Lord deliver us! ~ J.C. Ryle, Knots Untied, “Only One Way of Salvation” [Cambridge, England: James Clarke & Co., 1977], 30, 31.


The essence of lying is in deception, not in words. A lie may be told by silence, by equivocation, by the accent on a syllable, by a glance of the eye attaching a peculiar significance to a sentence. All these kinds of lies are worse and baser by many degrees than a lie plainly worded. No form of blinded conscience is so far sunk as that which comforts itself for having deceived because the deception was by gesture or silence instead of utterance.-John Ruskin


Men who do not make advances to women are apt to become victims to women who make advances to them.- Walter Bagehot, 1826 - 1877

Sunday 30 October 2011

If you love Christ, never be ashamed to let others see it and know it. Speak for Him. Witness for Him. Live for Him. Work for Him. If He has loved you and washed you from your sins in His own blood, you never need shrink from letting others know that you feel it, and love Him in return.~ J.C., Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, “Do You Love Me?”, [Moscow, ID: Charles Nolan Publishing, 2001], 300, 301.

Suffering is a part of the process by which the children of God are sanctified. They are chastened to wean them from the world, and make them partakers of God's holiness. The Captain of their salvation was made perfect through sufferings, and so are they. There never yet was a great saint who had not either great afflictions or great corruptions. Philip Melancthon said it well: "Where there are no cares, there will generally be no prayers."~ J.C. Ryle,Practical Religion, “Heirs of God”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 418, 419.

A man's women folk, whatever their outward show of respect for his merit and authority, always regard him secretly as an ass, and with something akin to pity. His most gaudy sayings and doings seldom deceive them; they see the actual man within, and know him for a shallow and pathetic fellow. In this fact, perhaps, lies one of the best proofs of feminine intelligence, or, as the common phrase makes it, feminine intuition.- Henry Louis Mencken, 1880 - 1956

If Christ loved the weak believer to the extent of laying down his life for his salvation, how alien to the demands of this love is the refusal on the part of the strong to forego the use of a certain article of food [or anything else] when the religious interests of the one for whom Christ died are thereby imperiled! It is the contrast between what the extreme sacrifice of Christ exemplified and the paltry demand devolving upon us that accentuates the meanness of our attitude when we discard the interests of a weak brother. And since the death of Christ as the price of redemption for all believers is the bond uniting them in fellowship, how contradictory is any behavior that is not patterned after the love which Christ’s death exhibited!-John Murray, Epistle to the Romans, Eerdmans, www.eerdmans.com, 1960, p. 191.

Saturday 29 October 2011

They say to me “Return!” But from the arms of God to whom can I return? … It is now 45 years that I am walking with the God of miracles, and his kindness upon me is like a shadow … Therefore I am not only satisfied to be in prison for the honour of His Holy Name, but am ready to give my life for the sake of Jesus my Lord and enter His kingdom sooner. —Mehdi Dibaj, martyr in Iran. He was a pastor who was jailed by the regime, although he was released & then killed by persons unknown

It is only by believing in God that we can ever criticise the Government. Once abolish God, and the Government becomes God3 . . . Wherever the people do not believe in something beyond the world, they will worship the world. But, above all, they will worship the strongest thing in the world.-G. K. Chesterton, Christendom in Dublin (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1932).

When we grow careless of keeping our souls, then God recovers our taste of good things again by sharp crosses. ~Richard Sibbes

Is it not wonderful news to believe that salvation lies outside ourselves? Martin Luther

For me, constituency and country must come before the baubles of ministerial office. I will keep that faith with my constituents and with a heavy heart, I will vote for the motion and I will take the consequences.- Stewart Jackson MP voting for an EU referendum and so losing his government post. We used to sit next to one another on our local council.

Friday 28 October 2011

Character is the one thing we make in this world and take with us into the next. The circumstances amid which you live determine your reputation; the truth you believe determines your character. Reputation is what you are supposed to be; Character is what you are. Reputation is what you have when you come to a new community; Character is what you have when you go away. Reputation is made in a moment; Character is built in a lifetime. Reputation grows like a mushroom; Character grows like an oak. Your Reputation is learned in an hour; your Character is does not come to light for a year. A single newspaper report gives your Reputation; a life of toil gives you your Character. Reputation makes you rich or makes you poor; Character makes you happy or makes you miserable. Reputation is what men say about you on your tombstone; Character is what angels say about you before the throne of God. Your Character is what God knows you to be. Your Reputation is what men think you are.- William Hershey Davis

Let us never forget that our feelings about Sundays are sure tests of the state of our souls. The person who can find no pleasure in giving God one day in the week, is manifestly unfit for heaven. Heaven itself is nothing but an eternal Sabbath. If we cannot enjoy a few hours in God's service once a week in this world, it is plain that we could not enjoy an eternity in His service in the world to come. Happy are those who walk in the steps of her of whom we read today! They shall find Christ and a blessing while they live, and Christ and glory when they die.~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 2 , [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 120. {Luke 13:10-17}

All the reasons which made the initiation of physical force evil make the retaliatory use of physical force a moral imperative.- Ayn Rand, 1905 - 1982

The Christian is the most contented man in the world, but he is the least contented with the world. He is like a traveler in an inn, perfectly satisfied with the inn and its accommodation, considering it as an inn, but putting quite out of all consideration the idea of making it his home.-C.H. Spurgeon

Thursday 27 October 2011

The thing that reveals character is involuntary response, not planned response. Your character isn’t manifest by what you prepare to do. It’s manifest by what you’re not prepared for and how you react to that, that involuntary reaction. That shows your character. We can all plan for those spiritual experiences, to some extent. It’s those things that catch us off guard and reveal the real weakness of our hearts that tell us who we really are.- John MacArthur, The Restoration of a Sinning Saint. (http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/2391_The-Restoration-of-a-Sinning-Saint)

he state of things after the judgment is changeless and without end. The misery of the lost, and the blessedness of the saved, are both alike forever. Let no person deceive us on this point. It is clearly revealed in Scripture. The eternity of God, and heaven, and hell, all stand on the same foundation. As surely as God is eternal, so surely is heaven an endless day without night, and hell an endless night without day.~ J.C. Ryle,Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 344. {Matthew 25:31-46}

"The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind." Job 12:10 Every time you draw your breath--you suck in God's mercy!- Thomas Watson

The childish idea that prayer is a handle by which we can
take hold of God and obtain whatever we desire, leads to easy
disillusionment with both what we had thought to be God and
what we had thought to be prayer.- Robert L. Short (1932-2009), The Parables of Peanuts [1968], New York: HarperCollins, 2002, p. 305

There are only two constants in the world: JESUS and CHANGE. -Mark Driscoll

Wednesday 26 October 2011

The Hound of Heaven calls me to enter into a relationship with Him through which I will find that service is freedom, weakness is strength, humility is power, obedience is liberty and losing life is finding new life. Such apparent contradictions turn the world’s wisdom upside down; but whenever, timidly and tentatively, I respond to this call, I find a rightness, a truth, a congruity and a peace which passes understanding.- Mary Frances Wagley

Let us ever bless God that the Gospel sets before us such a Savior, so faithful to the terms of the covenant--so ready to suffer--so willing to be reckoned sin and a curse in our stead. Let us not doubt that He who fulfilled his engagement to suffer, will also fulfill His engagement to save all who come to Him. Let us not only accept Him gladly as our Redeemer and Advocate, but gladly give ourselves, and all we have, to His service. Surely, if Jesus cheerfully died for us, it is a small thing to require Christians to live for Him.~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1985], 215. {Mark 10:28-34}

In the first garden “Not Your will but mine” [by Adam] changed Paradise to desert and brought man from Eden to Gethsemane. Now “Not My will but Yours” [by Jesus Christ] brings anguish to the Man who prays it but transforms the desert into the kingdom and brings man from Gethsemane to the gates of glory.- D.A. Carson, Matthew, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Zondervan, 1984, p. 545,

Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.- Thomas Merton, 1915 - 1968

When ambition ends, happiness begins.- Thomas Merton, 1915 - 1968

Tuesday 25 October 2011

Having cut off the higher aspirations of man, those connected with
the soul, Hobbes and Locke hoped to find a floor beneath him, which
Rousseau removed. Man tumbled down into what I have called the
basement, which now appears bottomless.- Allan Bloom, the Closing of the American Mind, 1987

Information is the greatest weapon we have in the age of the Internet. -"Daniel Clark" (A character in Ted Dekker's _Adam_ [2008], Chapter 8)

We do not have to visit madhouses to find disordered minds; our planet is
the mental institution of the universe. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1794 -- 1832

Insanity is often the logic of an accurate overtaxed mind. -Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1809 -- 1894

Mad, quite mad, for never understood. - ipsedixit

Monday 24 October 2011

There is a double nature in all believers. Converted, renewed, sanctified as they are, they still carry about with them a mass of indwelling corruption, a body of sin. Paul speaks of this when he says, "I find a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind" (Romans 7:21-23). The experience of all true Christians in every age confirms this. They find within, two contrary principles, and a continual strife between the two. To these two principles our Lord alludes when He addresses His half-awakened disciples. He calls the one flesh and the other spirit. He says, "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 365. {Matthew 26:36-46}

God is utterly other than us – other in a way we express with the word holiness. Yes, He dwells within each Christian, but He’s not you. He isn’t the same as you, He isn’t a part of you, and He isn’t a “higher” you. Yes, you’re made in His image, but you’re not Him. You’re not the same as Him, you’re not part of Him, and you aren’t a “splinter” of Him – nor will you ever be. He doesn’t depend on anything else because He is what everything else depends on. He can’t be explained by anything else because He is what everything else must be explained by. Although we can know what He has taught us about Himself, we can never comprehend Him completely because He is greater than our minds. Anything He wills, He can do. He not only holds supreme power but He also uses it. Nothing can defeat Him and nothing can happen contrary to His will. He is also supremely good – light with no darkness. Although evil is real, He detests it and brings it to judgment. He knows everything, He pays attention to everything, and nothing escapes His notice. He’s not just a What and a Who, like me or like you, but one What in three Whos – one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is no one like Him. He is set apart. He is what He is, and there was never a time when He was not.- J. Budziszewski, How to Stay Christian in College by J. Budziszewski copyright 2004, p.33-34.

The only thing a lawyer won't question is the legitimacy of his mother.- W. C. Fields, 1880 - 1946

Learning from experience is a faculty almost never practiced.-Barbara W. Tuchman, 1912 - 1989

Grace is the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God.- John Piper

Sunday 23 October 2011

Without conversion of heart we could not enjoy heaven, if we got there. Heaven is a place where holiness reigns supreme, and sin and the world have no place at all. The company will all be holy; the employments will all be holy; it will be an eternal Sabbath-day. Surely if we go to heaven, we must have a heart in tune and able to enjoy it, or else we shall not be happy. We must have a nature in harmony with the element we live in, and the place where we dwell. Can a fish be happy out of water? We know it cannot. Well, without conversion of heart we could not be happy in heaven.
~ J.C. Ryle,Old Paths, “Conversion”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1999], 328.

If it were really true that living together is a trial of marriage, then divorces would be more common among couples who hadn’t first lived together than among couples who had. Actually, just the opposite is true: Divorces are more common among couples who have lived together first than among couples who haven’t. The reason isn’t hard to find. The very essence of marriage is having a binding commitment. The very essence of living together is having no binding commitment. That’s why living together can’t be a trial for marriage, because in everything that matters, the two conditions are opposites. And that’s why not having a binding commitment is less like training for marriage than like training for divorce.-J. Budziszewski, How to Stay Christian in College by J. Budziszewski copyright 2004, p.99.

It is not the distance of the earth from the sun, nor the
sun's withdrawing itself, that makes a dark and gloomy day; but
the interposition of clouds and vaporous exhalations. Neither
is thy soul beyond the reach of the promise, nor does God
withdraw Himself; but the vapours of thy carnal, unbelieving
heart do cloud thee.-John Owen (1616-1683), Works of John Owen, v. VIII,
London: Johnson & Hunter, 1851, Sermon IV, p. 237-238

A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world. Everyone you meet is your mirror.- Ken Keyes

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.-C.H. Spurgeon

Saturday 22 October 2011

O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed; give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that both, our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that, by thee, we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen. - Book of Common Prayer

Why is it that men fret so when God sends them things entirely contrary to their desire, except that they do not acknowledge that God does everything by reason, & that He has just cause? For if we had well-imprinted on our hearts “All that God does is founded in good reason” it is certain that we would be ashamed to chase so against Him when, I say, we know that He has just occasion to dispose thus of things, as we see. Now, therefore, it is especially said that Job attributed to God nothing without reason, that is to say, that he did not imagine that God did anything which was not just & equitable… The Holy Spirit wished to tell us that, if we wish to render glory to God & bless His name properly, we must be persuaded that God does nothing without reason. So then, let us not attribute to Him either cruelty or ignorance, as if He did things in spite & unadvisedly, but let us acknowledge that He proceeds in everything & through everything with
admirable justice, with goodness & infinite wisdom, so that there is only entire uprightness or equity in all that He does… If we are afflicted we must not think that it happens without reason, but God has just cause to do it. And whenever we are tried & anguished let us run back to Him, let us pray to Him that He will give us grace to acknowledge that nothing happens to us in this world except as He disposes; indeed, & to be certain that He disposes in such manner that everything always comes back to our salvation… There is nothing better than to be entirely subject to the majesty of God & to recognize that if He let us do according to our own desires there would be only confusion; but when He governs us according to His will, it is for our profit & salvation.— John Calvin, Sermons from Job, The LORD gave; the LORD has taken away

To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top. Here's where things grow.- Robert M. Pirsig

Sanity is not truth. Sanity is conformity to what is socially expected. Truth is sometimes in conformity, sometimes not.- Robert M. Pirsig

We must not stop with the cultivation of a tough mind. The gospel also demands a tender heart, - Martin Luther King, Jr, 1929 - 1968

Friday 21 October 2011

'. . . every developed and maturing people ought to have its politics derived from its firm principles which do not float in the air as so many abstractions but which have deep roots in the soil of national life. Our thinking mind, after all, is not some kind of hutch with drawers and cubbyholes in which we have a separate compartment for politics and another for social affairs and a third for spiritual questions. Everything in our minds is interconnected, and our deepest life-principle is nothing but the root from which the fullness of our thoughts shoot up, to spread themselves over the many areas of life. Your political ideas are connected with your social insights; your social insights with your thoughts on marriage and family; those thoughts with your views about the church; your views about the church with your spiritual convictions; and your spiritual convictions with the relation of your heart to God.' --- Abraham Kuyper Ons Program (1879)

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "The best day on which the sun has risen is Friday. On that day Adam was created, he was admitted to Jannah, and he was expelled therefrom.''- Abu Hurraira hadith (It seems Islam has nothing better to celebrate than creation.)

I have learned by mournful experience that the last thing a man finds out and understands, is his own state in the sight of God. Well says the Holy Spirit, that we are all by nature "blind," and "deaf," and "dumb," and "asleep," and "beside ourselves," and "dead!" Nothing, nothing will ever convince man of his sin but the power of the Holy Spirit. Show him hell, and he will not flee from it; show him heaven, and he will not seek it; silence him with warnings, and yet he will not stir; prick his conscience, and yet he will remain hard. Power from on high must come down and do the work. To show man the sinner which he really is - is the special work of the Holy Spirit of God.~ J.C. Ryle,Old Paths, “Our Sins”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1999], 154, 155.

In love, unlike most other passions, the recollection of what you have had and lost is always better than what you can hope for in the future..-Stendhal, 1783 - 1842

Life is the only real counselor; wisdom unfiltered through personal experience does not become a part of the moral tissue.- Edith Wharton, 1862 - 1937

Thursday 20 October 2011

If you are going through hell, keep going.- Winston Churchill

Solitude has but one disadvantage; it is apt to give one too high an opinion of one's self. In the world we are sure to be often reminded of every known or supposed defect we may have.- Lord Byron, 1788 - 1824

Let all our employment be to know GOD; the more one knows
Him, the more one desires to know Him. And as knowledge is
commonly the measure of love, the deeper and more extensive our
knowledge shall be, the greater will be our love; and if our
love of GOD were great, we should love Him equally in pains and
pleasures.-Brother Lawrence (c.1605-1691), The Practice of the Presence of God, New York, Revell, 1895, p. 44

Setting aside the scandal caused by His Messianic claims
and His reputation as a political firebrand, only two
accusations of personal depravity seem to have been brought
against Jesus of Nazareth. First, that He was a Sabbath-
breaker. Secondly, that He was "a gluttonous man and a
winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners"--or (to draw
aside the veil of Elizabethan English that makes it all sound
so much more respectable) that He ate too heartily, drank too
freely, and kept very disreputable company, including grafters
of the lowest type and ladies who were no better than they
should be. For nineteen and a half centuries, the Christian
Churches have laboured, not without success, to remove this
unfortunate impression made by their Lord and Master. They have
hustled the Magdalens from the Communion-table, founded Total
Abstinence Societies in the name of Him who made the water
wine, and added improvements of their own, such as various bans
and anathemas upon dancing and theatre-going. They have
transferred the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, and, feeling
that the original commandment "Thou shalt not work" was rather
half-hearted, have added to it a new commandment, "Thou shalt
not play. - Dorothy Leigh Sayers (1893-1957), Unpopular Opinions, London: Gollancz, 1946, New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1947, p. 3

Does a man really and sincerely boast in the cross of Christ? That is the grand question. If he does, he is my brother - we are traveling on the same road; we are journeying towards a home where Christ is all, and everything outward in religion will be forgotten. But if he does not boast in the cross of Christ, I cannot feel comfort about him. Union on outward points only, is union only for a time - union about the cross is union for eternity. Error on outward points is only a skin deep disease - error about the cross is disease at the heart. Union about outward points is a mere man-made union - union about the cross of Christ can only be produced by the Holy Spirit.~ J.C. Ryle,Old Paths, “The Cross of Christ”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1999], 259.

Wednesday 19 October 2011

People who have no fear of God soon have no fear of man, and no respect for human laws and authority. -Charles Colson (1931- )

Let us often ask ourselves whether we are doing good or harm in the world. We cannot live to ourselves, if we are Christians. The eyes of many will always be upon us. Men will judge by what they see, far more than by what they hear. If they see the Christian contradicting by his practice what he professes to believe, they are justly stumbled and offended. For the world's sake, as well as for our own, let us labor to be eminently holy. Let us endeavor to make our religion beautiful in the eyes of men, and to adorn the doctrine of Christ in all things.~ J.C. Ryle,Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 2 , [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 221. {Luke 17:1-4}

Feelings change. You can’t promise to have a feeling. So if love is a feeling, the marriage vow makes no sense at all. But the vow does make sense because love is not a feeling. What is it, then? Love is a commitment of the will to the true good of another person. Of course, people who love each other usually do have strong feelings too, but you can have those feelings without having love. Love, let me repeat, is a commitment of the will to the true good of another person.- J. Budziszewski, How to Stay Christian in College by J. Budziszewski copyright 2004, p.98.

Violent persecution focuses the mind on the fact that the kingdom of this world is an enemy to the kingdom of God. When there hasn’t been any persecution for a long time – as in our part of the world – many Christians start expecting the world to be a friend. They slip into seeking the world’s approval instead of God’s.- J. Budziszewski, How to Stay Christian in College by J. Budziszewski copyright 2004, p.26-27

Thinking you know the truth isn’t arrogant or intolerant; arrogance comes from having the wrong convictions about how to treat people who don’t share it with you.-J. Budziszewski, How to Stay Christian in College by J. Budziszewski copyright 2004, p.94-95.

Tuesday 18 October 2011

It matters nothing who says a thing in religion, whether an ancient father, or a modern Bishop, or a learned divine. Is it in the Bible? Can it be proved by the Bible? If not, it is not to be believed. It matters nothing how beautiful and clever sermons or religious books may appear. Are they in the smallest degree contrary to Scripture? If they are, they are rubbish and poison, and guides of no value. What says the Scripture? This is the only rule, measure, and gauge of religious truth. "To the law and to the testimony," says Isaiah, "if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." (Isaiah 8:20)~ J.C. Ryle,Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 1, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 371, 372. {Luke 10:25-28}

Occasional retirement, self-inquiry, meditation, and secret communion with God, are absolutely essential to spiritual health. The man who neglects them is in great danger of a fall. To be always preaching, teaching, speaking, writing, and working public works, is, unquestionably, a sign of zeal. But it is not always a sign of zeal according to knowledge. It often leads to adverse consequences. We must make time occasionally for sitting down and calmly looking within, and examining how matters stand between our own selves and Christ. The omission of the practice is the true account of many a backsliding which shocks the Church, and gives occasion to the world to blaspheme.~ J.C. Ryle,Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 1, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 297. {Luke 9:7-11}

Satan can use your non-Christian friends in [many] ways to get to you. God wants you to rub off on them, but the Enemy wants them to rub off on you. So remember: You can have friends outside the faith, but for your deepest comrades you should look to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Hang out with the holy. Get in with the godly. Spend time with the saved. Know who your real family is – the one where the Father is God.-J. Budziszewski
Copied from How to Stay Christian in College by J. Budziszewski copyright 2004, p.75.

The finest gifts are given, not after waiting until need has to ask, but by the man whose eye sees and whose heart feels and whose hand is stretched out even before any request is made. It was while we were yet enemies that Christ died for us. God hears our prayers even before we speak them. And we should be to our fellow men even as God has been to us.= William Barclay

Chastity is a requisite of Christian singleness. Furthermore, chastity is possible. There will always be somebody to suggest that such thinking is legalistic, unreasonable, and unlikely to succeed. My reply can only be: “When it’s bigger than I am, so is God.” - Rosalie De Rosset

Monday 17 October 2011

Coveting is nothing more or less than an attempt to improve upon God. The covetous man moans and groans because he believes that he has been treated unfairly. When all the goodies were passed out, he got nothing but crumbs... The covetous man doubts God’s wisdom, God’s goodness, God’s justice, God’s timing and ultimately God’s love. Coveting is a terrible sin because it is a surreptitious attack on God Himself. Those who covet are saying, “God, you haven’t taken care of me.” They are blaming God for His failure to meet their needs.- Ray Pritchard, Keep Believing Ministries, The Sin No One Will Admit, http://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/1992-08-16-The-Sin-No-One-Will-Admit.

The very centre of a saving faith is the belief not merely
in God, but in God as a Father; not merely in Christ, but in
Christ as the Son of God; in Him, not as a creature, but as God
the Creator, born of God. My prime object is by the clear
assertions of prophets and evangelists to refute the insanity
and ignorance of men who use the unity of God (in itself a
pious and profitable confession) as a cloak for their denial
either that in Christ God was born, or [also] that He is very
God.- St. Hilary (ca. 300-367?), On the Trinity, in A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, second series, v. IX, Philip Schaff & Henry Wace, ed., New York: Christian Literature Company, 1902, p. 45

We have adopted the convenient theory that the Bible is a Book to be explained, whereas first and foremost it is a Book to be believed. There is a world of difference between knowing the Word of God and knowing the God of the Word -Leonard Ravenhill

The best gift a father can give to his son is the gift of himself- his time. For material things mean little, if there is not someone to share them with.= C. Neil Strait

True compassion is when you are the one who bears the burden and pays the price.- J. Budziszewski, Copied from How to Stay Christian in College by J. Budziszewski copyright 2004, p.115. Used by permission of NavPress (Think Books) - www.navpress.com.

Sunday 16 October 2011

The world's opposition is strong and subtle. And behind
these things stands the devil, bent on 'taking men alive' and
keeping them prisoner. For the devil hates the gospel and uses
all his strength and cunning to obstruct its progress, now by
perverting it in the mouths of those who preach it, now by
frightening them into silence through persecution or ridicule,
now by persuading them to advance beyond it into some fancy
novelty, now by making them so busy with defending the gospel
that they have no time to proclaim it.- John R. W. Stott (b. 1921), Guard the Gospel; the Message of 2 Timothy, Downers Grove, Ill., Inter Varsity Press, 1973, p. 126

The true cure for self-righteousness is self-knowledge. Once let the eyes of our understanding be opened by the Spirit, and we shall talk no more of our own goodness. Once let us see what there is in our own hearts, and what the holy law of God requires, and self-conceit will die. We shall lay our hand on our mouths, and cry with the leper, "Unclean, unclean." (Lev. 13:45)~ J.C. RyleExpository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 2 , [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 260. {Luke 18:9-14}

Men are rather reasoning than reasonable animals, for the most part governed by the impulse of passion.- Alexander Hamilton, 1757 - 1804

In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.- Alexander Hamilton, 1757 - 1804

Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint.- Alexander Hamilton, 1757 - 1804

Saturday 15 October 2011

The hatred we bear our enemies injures their happiness less than our own.- John Petit-Senn, 1792 - 1870

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner- Nelson Mandela

Earthly possessions dazzle our eyes and delude us into thinking that they can provide security and freedom from anxiety. Yet all the time they are the very source of anxiety. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1906 - 1945

Disregard the study of God and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life, blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you.- J. I. Packer

The Lord's Supper was ordained for a continual remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ's death, until He comes again. The benefits it confers are spiritual, not physical. Its effects must be looked for in our inward man. It was intended to remind us, by the visible, tangible emblems of bread and wine, that the offering of Christ's body and blood for us on the cross, is the only atonement for sin, and the life of a believer's soul. It was meant to help our poor weak faith to closer fellowship with our crucified Savior, and to assist us in spiritually feeding on Christ's body and blood.
It is an ordinance for redeemed sinners, and not for unfallen angels. By receiving it we publicly declare our sense of guilt, and need of a Savior - our trust in Jesus, and our love to Him - our desire to live upon Him, and our hope to live with Him. Using it in this spirit, we shall find our repentance deepened, our faith increased, our hope brightened, our love enlarged, our besetting sins weakened and our graces strengthened. It will draw us nearer to Christ.~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 358, 359

Friday 14 October 2011

". . . every developed and maturing people ought to have its politics derived from its firm principles which do not float in the air as so many abstractions but which have deep roots in the soil of national life. Our thinking mind, after all, is not some kind of hutch with drawers and cubbyholes in which we have a separate compartment for politics and another for social affairs and a third for spiritual questions. Everything in our minds is interconnected, and our deepest life-principle is nothing but the root from which the fullness of our thoughts shoot up, to spread themselves over the many areas of life. Your political ideas are connected with your social insights; your social insights with your thoughts on marriage and family; those thoughts with your views about the church; your views
about the church with your spiritual convictions; and your spiritual convictions with the relation of your heart to God." -- Abraham Kuyper, Ons Program (1879)

An unthankful and complaining spirit is an abiding sin against God, and a cause of almost continual unhappiness; and yet how common such a spirit is. How prone we seem to be to forget the good that life knows, and remember and brood over its evil – to forget its joys, and think only of its sorrows – to forget thankfulness, and remember only to complain.= John Broadus, Christian Joy.

Let us strive to know more and more, every year we live, our need of a mediator between ourselves and God. Let us seek more and more to realize that without a mediator our thoughts of God can never be comfortable, and the more clearly we see God the more uncomfortable we must feel. Above all, let us be thankful that we have in Jesus the very Mediator whose help our souls require, and that through Him we may draw near to God with boldness, and cast fear away. Out of Christ, God is a consuming fire. In Christ, He is a reconciled Father. Without Christ, the strictest moralist may well tremble, as he looks forward to his end. Through Christ, the chief of sinners may approach God with confidence, and feel perfect peace.~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 1, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 133, 134.

On the one hand, in matters of the spirit, nothing fails like success. On the other hand, in matters of the spirit, nothing succeeds like failure.-Os Guinness (b. 1941), Dining with the Devil, Grand Rapids, Mich. Hourglass Books, 1993, p. 89

How good bad music and bad reasons sound when we march against an enemy.
- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, 1844 - 1900
And in your muddy souls you can’t see that the one perfectly divine thing, the
one glimpse of God’s paradise on earth, is to fight a losing battle – and not
lose it. ~ Mr. Desmond in “Time’s Abstract and Brief Chronicle” (Plays of G.K.
Chesterton).

Think-
Of stepping on shore and finding it Heaven;
Of taking hold of a hand and finding it God's hand;
Of breathing a new air and finding it celestial air;
Of feeling invigorated and finding it immortality;
Of passing from storm and tempest to an unbroken calm;
Of waking up, and finding it Home!
Robert E. Selle

Is it not lamentable that men will never thank God for the countless blessings
He confers upon them, and then remember Him only to complain of the evils which
they have brought upon themselves, and which are never half so great as their
misconduct deserves?-John Broadus, Christian Joy.
Christ is the Master; the Scriptures are only the servant.
The true way to test all the Books is to see whether they work
the will of Christ or not. No Book which does not preach Christ
can be apostolic, though Peter or Paul were its author. And no
Book which does preach Christ can fail to be apostolic,
although Judas, Ananias, Pilate, or Herod were its author.- Martin Luther (1483-1546), quoted in The Religions of Authority and the Religion of the Spirit, Auguste Sabatier, London: Williams & Norgate, 1904, p. 158

We may settle it in our minds, that there will be an entire change of opinion one day as to the necessity of decided Christianity. At present, we must all be aware, the vast majority of professing Christians care nothing at all about it. They have no sense of sin. They have no love towards Christ. They know nothing of being born again. Repentance, faith, grace and holiness, are mere words and names to them. They are subjects which they either dislike, or about which they feel no concern. But all this state of things shall one day come to an end. Knowledge, conviction, the value of the soul, the need of a Savior, shall all burst on men's minds one day like a flash of lightning. But alas! it will be too late. It will be too late to be buying oil, when the Lord returns. The mistakes that are not found out until that day are irretrievable.~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986],

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Time bears away all things, even the mind. --Virgil (70-19 BC) _Eclogues_ Book
IX, Line 51

Leave the past to the mercy of God, the present to the love of God, and the
future to the providence of God.

Speak ill of no one, speak all the good known of everyone.

Above all, grieve not the Spirit. Quench not the Spirit. Vex not the Spirit.
Drive Him not to a distance, by tampering with small bad habits and little sins.
Little jarrings between husbands and wives make unhappy homes, and petty
inconsistencies, known and allowed, will bring in a strangeness between you and
the Spirit. Hear the conclusion of the whole matter. The man who walks with God
in Christ most closely will generally be kept in the greatest peace. The
believer who follows the Lord most fully will ordinarily enjoy the most assured
hope, and have the clearest persuasion of his own salvation.~ J.C.
Ryle. Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, “Assurance”,
[Moscow, ID: Charles Nolan Publishing, 2001], 150.

If you are the master be sometimes blind, if you are the servant be sometimes
deaf.- R. Buckminster Fuller, 1895 - 1983
The fault of the social gospel of modernism is not that it would remedy social ills, but that it would accomplish this in a way which stands diametrically opposed to Christianity. Brushing aside the obvious truth that society can never be better than are the individuals which constitutes it, it would improve the individual by improving society. It would rescue men from sin's consequences such as... poverty and disease, rather than have them redeemed from sin itself by the blood of Christ. It would save the individual by what is termed the regeneration of society, not by the new birth supernaturally wrought by the Holy Spirit. It would by human effort get men out of the slums instead of getting the slums out of men by the grace of God. It neglects the profound truth so well expressed by that great evangelistic preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, 'Take a thief to heaven, and the first thing he will do is pick the pockets of the angels.'- R. B. Kuiper
Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them. ~ Winston Churchill
He who breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.-.- J. R. R. Tolkien, 1892 - 1973

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world..- J. R. R. Tolkien, 1892 - 1973

Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?.- J. R. R. Tolkien, 1892 - 1973

The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.- J. R. R. Tolkien, 1892 - 1973

There are few things better than a good Havana.
When I was young and very poor and smoked a cigar
only when somebody gave me one, I determined that
if ever I had money I would smoke a cigar every
day after luncheon and after dinner. This is the only resolution of my youth that I have
kept. It is the only ambition I have achieved
that has never been embittered by disillusion. W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) _Six Stories Written In The First Person Singular_ [1931], "Virtue"

Monday 10 October 2011

I long for the day when the precepts of the
Christian religion shall be the rule among
all classes of men, in all transactions.
I often hear it said, "Do not bring religion into
politics." This is precisely where it ought to
be brought, and set there in the face of all men
as on a candlestick.
I would have the Cabinet and the members of
Parliament do the work of the nation as before
the Lord, and I would have the nation, either
in making war or peace, consider the matter
by the light of righteousness.
We are to deal with other nations about this or that
upon the principles of the New Testament. -Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) _Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit_, Volume 27 [1881]

Printing money is merely taxation in another
form. Rather than robbing citizens of their
money, government robs their money of its
purchasing power.
Many people assume that if government provides the
funds we can spend our way back to prosperity.
However, it's not money we lack but production.
If the government simply prints money and doles it
out, we will not be able to buy more stuff; we will
simply pay higher prices.
The only way to buy more is to produce more. It is
production that creates purchasing power, not the
printing press!-Peter Schiff (1963- ) _Daily Markets_ [March 28, 2009], "Obama Printing Money To Jumpstart US Economy - Will It Help?"

"To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne!" Revelation 3:21
Jesus Christ is an ENTHRONED King! But, beloved, this is not all; Christ not only sits there Himself--but He has promised that all who overcome, shall sit down with Him upon His throne!Now, I wonder where there is any king but Christ, who allows his subjects to sit upon his throne with him. Alas! this would be treason for a man to attempt it! Oh, what a glorious King is Jesus! Every one of His poor subjects shall sit upon the throne with Him! One would think this very promise would draw the whole world after Christ! Oh! what great offers, and privileges, and honors Christ bestows upon all His poor followers! He not only makes them kings--but He brings them to sit upon His very throne with Him!O believer, you say that it would be an honor indeed, if could you but look into heaven, and merely to see Christ sit upon His throne! But this honor have all His saints; yes, much more--He makes them all kings, and grants to them to sit down with Him upon His throne!- William Dyer, "Christ's Famous Titles"
It is often said that the divided condition of Christendom is an evil, and so it is. But the evil consists in the existence of the errors which cause the divisions and not at all in the recognition of those errors when once they exist. - J. Gresham Machen

[In reading the Old Testament] you have learned that there is balm in Gilead, that there is a great Physician there; He has checked your fearful, mortal malady, and you shall live. You have looked to the brazen serpent, you are healed. You have sprinkled your door post with the blood of God’s atoning Lamb, and the angel of destruction will pass you by. You have fled to the city of refuge, and the destroyer cannot come near you. You have laid your sins by faith on your substitute and He has borne them away into the wilderness. You have bathed in the fountain that was opened in the house of King David for sin and for uncleanness, and the defilement of guilt has been washed away. You have brought to Jesus the writing that bound you as a servant of sin, and He has annulled it by nailing it to His cross.- John Broadus,Christian Joy.

Sunday 9 October 2011

Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are your own fears.= Rudyard Kipling, 1865 - 1936

Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well. - Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha), 563 - 483 BC

We can never attach too much importance to the atoning death of Christ. It is the leading fact in the word of God, on which the eyes of our soul ought to be ever fixed. Without the shedding of his blood, there is no remission of sin. It is the cardinal truth on which the whole system of Christianity hinges. Without it the Gospel is an arch without a key-stone, a fair building without a foundation, a solar system without a sun... This, after all, is the master-truth of Scripture, that “Christ died for our sins.” To this let us daily return. On this let us daily feed our souls. Some, like the Greeks of old, may sneer at the doctrine, and call it “foolishness.” But let us never be ashamed to say with Paul, “Be it far from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Gal. 6:14.)- J.C. Ryle
Commentary, Matthew 26.

Let no man ever persuade you that any religion deserves to be called the Gospel, in which repentance toward God has not a most prominent place. That is no Gospel in which repentance is not a principal thing. It is the Gospel of man - not of God. It comes from earth - not from heaven. It is not the Gospel at all - it is rank antinomianism and nothing else. So long as you hug your sins, and cleave to your sins, and will have your sins - your sins are not forgiven.
So long as you do not repent of sin, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is no Gospel to your soul. Christ is a Savior from sin - not a Savior for man in sin. If a man will have his sins, the day will come when that merciful Savior will say to him, "Depart from Me, you worker of iniquity! Depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matt. 25:41. ~ J.C. Ryle, Old Paths, “Repentance”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1999], 415, 416.

I don't ask God to bless what I do. I pray He will help me
to do what He blesses.. Robert Pierce (1914-1978), founder and president, World Vision

Saturday 8 October 2011

If you print billions of pounds and pump it into the economy, you will get inflation. Even if you call the process something impressive like ‘Quantitative Easing’, the effects will still be the same. http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/

Politicians do not always do what is right and necessary because they do not know what is right and necessary because they are not qualified to know. They are devoid of conscience, deficient in intellect and lacking knowledge. Their objective is power and exercise of power and the retention of power. - http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/

I make my solemn protest against those modern delusions, "that all people shall go to heaven at last—that it matters not how you live—that whether you are holy or unholy it does not matter—that whether you are godless or God-fearing, it is all the same thing, that all at last will get to heaven." I cannot find such teaching in the Bible. I find the Bible contradicting it flatly. However seemingly attractive this new idea may be put forth, and however plausibly it may be defended, it cannot stand the test of the Word of God. No! let God be true, and every man a liar. Heaven is no such place as some seem to fancy. The inhabitants of heaven are no such mixed multitude as many try to believe. They are all of one heart, and one mind. Heaven is the place to which God's people shall go. But for those who are impenitent and unbelieving, and will not come to Christ, for such the Bible says, plainly and unmistakably, there remains nothing but hell.
~ J.C. Ryle, Old Paths, “Repentance”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1999], 416, 417.

Anything whereby we may glorify God is a talent. Our gifts, our influence, our money, our knowledge, our health, our strength, our time, our senses, our reason, our intellect, our memory, our affections, our privileges as members of Christ’s Church, our advantages as possessors of the Bible – all, all are talents. Whence came these things? What hand bestowed them? Why are we what we are? Why are we not the worms that crawl on the earth? There is only one answer to these questions. All that we have is a loan from God. We are God’s stewards. We are God’s debtors. Let this thought sink deeply into our hearts.- J.C. Ryle,Commentary, Matthew 25.

Great illnesses seldom attack the body, without a previous train of premonitory symptoms. Great falls seldom happen to a saint, without a previous course of secret backsliding. The church and the world are sometimes shocked by the sudden misconduct of some great professor of religion. Believers are discouraged and stumbled by it. The enemies of God rejoice and blaspheme. But if the truth could be known, the explanation of such cases would generally be found to have been private departure from God. Men fall in private, long before they fall in public. The tree falls with a great crash, but the secret decay which accounts for it, is often not discovered until it is down on the ground.- J.C. Ryle,Commentary, Matthew 26.

Friday 7 October 2011

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.- Steve jobs 2005

Christ is He who has the keys of death and hell. Christ is the anointed Priest, who alone can absolve sinners. Christ is the fountain of living waters, in whom alone we can be cleansed. Christ is the Prince and Savior, who alone can give repentance and remission of sins. In Him all fullness dwells. He is the way, the door, the light, the life, the Shepherd, the altar of refuge. He that has the Son has life--and he that has not the Son has not life. May we all strive to understand this. No doubt men may easily think too little of God the Father, and God the Spirit, but no man ever thought too much of Christ.~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 409.

The plain truth is, that "sincerity and earnestness" are becoming the idol of many Christians in these latter days. People seem to think it matters little what opinions a man holds in religion, so long as he is "earnest and sincere", and you are thought uncharitable if you doubt his soundness in the faith! Against this idolatry of mere "earnestness" I enter my solemn protest. I charge every reader to remember that God's written Word is the only rule of faith, and to believe nothing to be true and soul-saving in religion which cannot be proved by plain texts of Scripture. I entreat him to read the Bible and make it his only test of truth and error, right and wrong.~ J.C. Ryle, The Upper Room, “Our Profession”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1970], 232, 233.

Church greatness consists in being greatly serviceable.- Richard Baxter

Assuredly there is but one way in which to achieve what is
not merely difficult but utterly against human nature: to love
those who hate us, to repay their evil deeds with benefits, to
return blessings for reproaches. It is that we remember not to
consider men's evil intention but to look upon the image of God
in them, which cancels and effaces their transgressions, and
with its beauty and dignity allures us to love and embrace
them.- John Calvin (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. I [1559], tr. John Allen,Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1921, III.vii.6, p. 625

Thursday 6 October 2011

They say there is a young lady in [New Haven] who is
beloved of that Great Being, who made and rules the
world, and that there are certain seasons in which
this Great Being, in some way or other invisible,
comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet
delight; and that she hardly cares for any thing,
except to meditate on him--that she expects after a
while to be received up where he is, to be raised up
out of the world and caught up into heaven; being
assured that he loves her too well to let her remain
at a distance from him always.
There she is to dwell with him, and to be ravished
with his love and delight for ever. Therefore, if
you present all the world before her, with the
richest of its treasures, she disregards it and
cares not for it, and is unmindful of any pain
or affliction.
She has a strange sweetness in her mind, and
singular purity in her affections; is most just and
conscientious in all her conduct; and you could not
persuade her to do any thing wrong or sinful, if
you would give her all the world, lest she should
offend this Great Being.
She is of a wonderful sweetness, calmness, and
universal benevolence of mind; especially after this
Great God has manifested himself to her mind. She
will sometimes go about from place to place, singing
sweetly; and seems to be always full of joy and
pleasure; and no one knows for what.
She loves to be alone, walking in the fields and
groves, and seems to have some one invisible always
conversing with her. -Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) (In Sereno Dwight's _ The Works of President Edwards_ Volume 1, [1830]. Note: The young lady described by Jonathan Edwards was Sarah Pierrepont, who became his wife in 1727.)

The way to Heaven is ascending; we must be content
to travel up hill, though it be hard and tiresome,
and contrary to the natural bias of our flesh. -Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) _The Christian Pilgrim_

The heart is like a viper: hissing, and spitting
poison at God. -Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) _The Freedom Of The Will_ [1754]


Let us rest our souls on the comfortable thought that the mind of Christ is always the same. If we are true believers, let us know that He looks at our graces more than at our faults, that He pities our infirmities, and that He will not deal with us according to our sins. Never had a master such poor, weak servants as believers are to Christ--but never had servants such a compassionate and tender Master as Christ is to believers!
Surely we cannot love Him too well. We may come short in many things. We may fail in knowledge, courage, faith, and patience. We may stumble many times. But one thing let us always do. Let us love the Lord Jesus with heart, soul, mind, and strength. Whatever others do, let us "remain true to Him," and cleave to Him with purpose of heart. Happy is he who can say with Peter, however humbled and ashamed, "Lord, you know that I love you." (John 21:15.)~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 2 , [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1998], 405, 406

Many are willing that Christ should be something, but few will consent that Christ should be everything.- Alexander Moody Stuart

Wednesday 5 October 2011

The fault of the social gospel of modernism is not that it would remedy social ills, but that it would accomplish this in a way which stands diametrically opposed to Christianity. Brushing aside the obvious truth that society can never be better than are the individuals which constitutes it, it would improve the individual by improving society. It would rescue men from sin's consequences such as... poverty and disease, rather than have them redeemed from sin itself by the blood of Christ. It would save the individual by what is termed the regeneration of society, not by the new birth supernaturally wrought by the Holy Spirit. It would by human effort get men out of the slums instead of getting the slums out of men by the grace of God. It neglects the profound truth so well expressed by that great evangelistic preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, 'Take a thief to heaven, and the first thing he will do is pick the pockets of the angels.'- R. B. Kuiper

All that believers have is undoubtedly of grace. Their repentance, faith, and holiness, are all the gift of God. But the degree to which a believer attains in grace, is ever set before us as closely connected with his own diligence in the use of means, and his own faithfulness in living fully up to the light and knowledge which he possesses. Indolence and laziness are always discouraged in God's word. Labor and pains in hearing, reading, and prayer, are always represented as bringing their own reward. "The soul of the diligent shall be made fat." (Prov. 13:4.) "An idle soul shall suffer hunger." (Prov. 19:15.)~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1985], 71.

Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy, cast off that I might be brought in, trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend, surrendered to hell's worst that I might attain heaven's best, stripped that I might be clothed, wounded that I might be healed, athirst that I might drink, tormented that I might be comforted, made a shame that I might inherit glory, entered darkness that I might have eternal light. My Savior wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes, groaned that I might have endless song, endured all pain that I might have unfading health, bore a thorned crown that I might have a glory-diadem, bowed his head that I might uplift mine, experienced reproach that I might receive welcome, closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness, expired that I might for ever live.- The Valley of Vision, ed. Arthur Bennett, 1975, p. 42, by permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.

Let us count it no strange thing, if we have sufferings in this present time. It is a season of probation; we are yet at school. We are learning patience, gentleness, and meekness, which we could hardly learn if we had our good things now. But there is an eternal holiday yet to begin. For this let us wait quietly. It will make amends for all. "Our light affliction which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory." (2 Cor. 4:17.) ~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 161.

The apprenticeship of difficulty is one which the greatest of men have had to serve.- Samuel Smiles, 1812 - 1904

Tuesday 4 October 2011

Straight through all the apparently tangled course of human history runs the accomplishment of God's eternal plan.- J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937), The Christian View of Man, The Macmillan Company, 1937, p. 80

Christianity is a religion built upon facts. Let us never lose sight of this. The first preachers did not go up and down the world, proclaiming an elaborate, artificial system of abstruse doctrines and deep principles. They made it their first business to tell men great plain facts. They went about telling a sin-laden world, that the Son of God had come down to earth, and lived for us, died for us, and risen again. The Gospel, at its first publication, was far more simple than many make it now. It was neither more nor less than the history of Christ.~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 1, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 2.

Divisions in the church always breed atheism in the world. - Thomas Manton

God is perfectly good. All the perfection we can arrive at in this life is sincerity. We may resemble God a little, but not equal him; he is infinitely perfect.- Thomas Watson

This life was not intended to be the place of our perfection, but the preparation for it. - Richard Baxter

Monday 3 October 2011

I have never once feared the devil, but I tremble every time I enter the pulpit. - John Knox

Nothing can altogether overthrow and destroy [the church]. Its members may be persecuted, oppressed, imprisoned, beaten, beheaded, burned; but the true church is never altogether extinguished; it rises again from its afflictions; it lives on through fire and water. When crushed in one land it springs up in another. The Pharaohs, the Herods, the Neros, have labored in vain to put down this church; they slay their thousands, and then pass away and go to their own place. The true Church outlives them all, and sees them buried each in his turn. It is an anvil that has broken many a hammer in this world, and will break many a hammer still; it is a bush which is often burning, and yet is not consumed.- J.C. Ryle

Ah, we poor people, to be so cold and sluggish in the face of the great joy that has clearly been prepared for us! This great benefaction exceeds by far all the other works of creation; and yet our faith in it is found to be so weak, although it is preached and sung to us by angels, who are heavenly theologians and who were so glad for our sake! Their song is very, very beautiful and describes the entire Christian religion. For giving glory to God in the highest heaven is the supreme worship. This they wish and bring to us in the Christ.- Martin Luther

We all know that Prime Ministers are wedded to the truth, but like other married couples they sometimes live apart.- Saki (Hector Hugh Munro), 1870 - 1916

People talk vaguely about the innocence of a little child, but they take mighty good care not to let it out of their sight for twenty minutes.- Saki (Hector Hugh Munro), 1870 - 1916

Sunday 2 October 2011

In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone. - John Kenneth Galbraith, U. S. economist, Guardian (London), July 28, 1989

Donovan stopped and waited until the old man turned
to look at him. . . .
"They should have tried a shaped charge--it would
have directed the blast away from the payload."
Li paused. "You seem to know something about bombs."
"I was in the Marine Corps--in ordnance removal."
"You made bombs?"
"I made them; I took them apart."
"That must have taken a great deal of courage."
"We called it 'controlled insanity.' Some days
required more control, others more insanity."
Li thought for a moment. "Which do you possess more
of now?" -Tim Downs (1954- ) _Plague Maker_ [2006], Chapter 11

"Would you prefer to be thin?"
GKC: "No. My weight gives us a subject with which to start these questions and answer sessions." -'Cleveland Press,' March 3, 1921.

"Could you speak louder please"
GKC: "Good sister, don't worry. You aren't missing a thing." -Chesterton as Seen by His Contemporaries,' by Cyril Clemens.

The historian has a habit of saying of people in the past: “I think they may well be considered worthy of praise, allowing for the ideas of their time.” There will never be really good history until the historian says, “I think they were worthy of praise, allowing for the ideas of my time. ~GKC: ‘Illustrated London News,’ 15 August, 1925.

Saturday 1 October 2011

The smallest things become great when God requires them of us; they are small only in themselves; they are always great when they are done for God, and when they serve to unite us with Him eternally.- Francois Fenelon

If some countries have too much history, we have too much geography. - Mackenzie King, 1874 - 1950

But in each variant of Socialism that appeared from about 1900 onwards the aim of establishing liberty and equality was more and more openly abandoned. The new movements which appeared in the
middle years of the century ... had the conscious aim of perpetuating unfreedom and inequality.
These new movements, of course, grew out of the old ones and tended to keep their names and pay lip-service to their ideology. But the purpose of all of them was to arrest progress and freeze
history at a chosen moment. The familiar pendulum swing was to happen once more, and then stop. As
usual, the High were to be turned out by the Middle, who would then become the High. ... What kind of people would control this world had been equally obvious. The new aristocracy was made
up for the most part of bureaucrats, scientists, technicians, trade-union organizers, publicity
experts, sociologists, teachers, journalists, and professional politicians. These people, whose
origins lay in the salaried middle class and the upper grades of the working class, had been shaped
and brought together by the barren world of monopoly industry and centralized government. As
compared with their opposite numbers in past ages, they were less avaricious, less tempted by
luxury, hungrier for pure power, and, above all, more conscious of what they were doing and more
intent on crushing opposition. -Chapter I, Ignorance is Strength, THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF OLIGARCHICAL COLLECTIVISM by Emmanuel Goldstein (The 'Book within a Book' from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four)
http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/go-goldstein.html

They say crime is illness. Now if that were true, there could be no moral act whatsoever. If man is
not free to choose evil, he is not free to choose good . . . . Everyone must remember the story of
the murderer who said in court: “You can’t blame me, it was my heredity and environment that caused
me to kill” and the judge who replied, “It is my heredity and environment that sentences you to hang
by the neck until dead.” -“The Death of Christian Culture” by Dr. John Senior. Quoted by Ann Barnhardt, "There Must Be A Reckoning (Part 2)" http://barnhardt.biz/index.cfm

We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means
doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case,
the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. - C. S. Lewis