The renewal of our natures is a work of great importance. It is not to be done in a day. read more

The renewal of our natures is a work of great importance. It is not to be done in a day. We have not only a new house to build up, but an old one to pull down.

Feast of Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, Teacher, 367 Commemoration of Kentigern (Mungo), Missionary Bishop in Strathclyde & Cumbria, 603 read more

Feast of Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, Teacher, 367 Commemoration of Kentigern (Mungo), Missionary Bishop in Strathclyde & Cumbria, 603 It is one thing to fear God as threatening, with a holy reverence, and another to be afraid of the evil threatened.

Feast of Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary to Denmark and Sweden, 865 The Church is an organism that grows read more

Feast of Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary to Denmark and Sweden, 865 The Church is an organism that grows best in an alien society.

It is to no purpose to boast of Christ, if we have not an evidence of His graces in our read more

It is to no purpose to boast of Christ, if we have not an evidence of His graces in our hearts and lives. But unto whom He is the hope of future glory, unto them He is the life of present grace.

Devotion is not a passing emotion: it is a fixed, enduring habit of mind permeating the whole life and shaping read more

Devotion is not a passing emotion: it is a fixed, enduring habit of mind permeating the whole life and shaping every action. It rests upon a conviction that God is the Sole Source of Holiness, and that our part is to lean upon Him and be absolutely guided and governed by Him; and it necessitates an abiding hold on Him, a perpetual habit of listening for His Voice within the heart, as of readiness to obey the dictates of that Voice.

The Hebrew will turn Christian; he grows kind.

The Hebrew will turn Christian; he grows kind.

One takes a risk when one invites the Lord Whether to dine, or talk the afternoon Away, for always the read more

One takes a risk when one invites the Lord Whether to dine, or talk the afternoon Away, for always the unexpected soon Turns up: a woman breaks her precious nard, A sinner does the task you should assume, A leper who is cleansed must show his proof: Suddenly you see your very roof remove And a cripple clutters up your living-room. There's no telling what to expect when Christ Walks in the door. The table set for four Must often be enlarged, and decorum Thrown to the winds. It's His voice that calls them, And it's no use to bolt and bar the door: His kingdom knows no bounds of roof, of wall or floor.

Behind the words of Jesus and the memories about him, there shines forth a self-authenticating portrait of a real person read more

Behind the words of Jesus and the memories about him, there shines forth a self-authenticating portrait of a real person in all his human uniqueness, an impression which is accessible alike to the layman and to the expert, to believer and non-believer. No reader of the gospel story can fail to be impressed by Jesus' humble submission to the will of his God on the one hand, and his mastery of all situations on the other; by his penetrating discernment of human motives and his authoritative demand of radical obedience on the one hand, and his gracious, forgiving acceptance of sinners on the other. There is nothing, either in the Messianic hopes of pre-Christian Judaism or in the later Messianic beliefs of the early Christian Church to account for this portrait. It is characterized by an originality and freshness which is beyond the power of invention. (Continued tomorrow).

Consider yourself as always wrong, as having gone aside, and lost your right path, when any delight, desire, or trouble, read more

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].