Quotes Dec 15

Prayer the church's banquet, angel's age,
God's breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth
Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tow'r,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six-days world transposing in an hour,
A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;
Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,
Exalted manna, gladness of the best,
Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,
The milky way, the bird of Paradise,
Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood,
The land of spices; something understood.
GEORGE HERBERT , Prayer

“A second referendum would be a losers’ vote. It would be the political class saying to voters: ‘You gave the wrong answer, you idiots, and now you must get it right.’ It wouldn’t be a democratic act — it would be an attempt to thwart a democratic act.” -Brendan O’Neill on Sky

"Maintaining a certain level of comfort is the agenda of an enormous amount of American evangelicalism but…. It needs to be said loud and clear that in the kingdom of God there ‘ain't no comfort zone and never will be." ~ J.I. Packer

“ Calvin’s attachment to Christmas ran deeper than mere preservation of tradition. For the Frenchman, Christmas and Easter formed the two most holy days of the year, and he set aside his regular practice of preaching through the books of the Bible, known as lectio continua, to hold sermons on the Nativity and the Passion of Christ. Some of Calvin’s most moving words from the pulpit flowed from his preaching at Christmas.“