Whoever preaches with love preaches sufficiently against heresy, though he may never utter a controversial word.

Whoever preaches with love preaches sufficiently against heresy, though he may never utter a controversial word.

Commemoration of Thomas Bray, Priest, Founder of SPCK, 1730 It is sufficient to know in the general that our read more

Commemoration of Thomas Bray, Priest, Founder of SPCK, 1730 It is sufficient to know in the general that our employment [in Paradise] shall be our unspeakable pleasure and every way suitable to the glory and happiness of that state, and as much above the noblest and most delightful employments of this world as the perfection of our bodies and the power of our souls shall then be above what they now are in this world. For there is no doubt that he who made us and endued our souls with a desire of immortality and so large a capacity of happiness, does understand very well by what ways and means to make us happy, and hath in readiness proper exercises and employments for that state, and every way more fitted to make us happy than any condition or employment in this world is suitable to a temporal happiness.

Whoever strives to withdraw from obedience, withdraws from grace.

Whoever strives to withdraw from obedience, withdraws from grace.

Commemoration of Martyrs of Papua New Guinea, 1942 I have quitted all forms of devotion and set prayers but read more

Commemoration of Martyrs of Papua New Guinea, 1942 I have quitted all forms of devotion and set prayers but those to which my state obliges me. And I make it my business only to persevere in His holy presence, wherein I keep myself by a simple attention and a general fond regard to God, which I may call an actual presence of God -- or, to speak better, an habitual, silent, and secret conversation of the soul with God, which often causes in me joys and raptures inwardly, and sometimes also outwardly, so great, that I am forced to use means to moderate them, and to prevent their appearance to others.

I never heard a passion so confused,
So strange, outrageous, and so variable
As the dog Jew read more

I never heard a passion so confused,
So strange, outrageous, and so variable
As the dog Jew did utter in the streets:
'My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!
Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats!'

The mark of modern unbelieving man as a whole is that he has felt astonishingly much at home in his read more

The mark of modern unbelieving man as a whole is that he has felt astonishingly much at home in his earthly surroundings. He has taken a cheerful view of the prospects of the race and of the future of human history, staying his soul upon the promise of further "evolution" of the human individual, the continuous upward progress of civilization, or perhaps the confident expectation of a completely revolutionized order of society -- a communist Utopia beyond the class struggle or something else of that same general kind. Where such hopes remain unchastened by the cold touch of reality, there is little prospect of the Christian Gospel recommending itself to men's minds, and any wordy defense of it is likely to be quite useless.

Feast of Paulinus, Bishop of York, Missionary, 644 The common custom is, when the physician has given over read more

Feast of Paulinus, Bishop of York, Missionary, 644 The common custom is, when the physician has given over his patient, then and not till then to send for the minister, not so much to inquire into the man's condition and to give him suitable advice as to minister comfort and to speak peace to him at a venture. But let me tell you that herein you put an extremely difficult task upon us, in expecting that we should pour wine and oil into the wound before it be searched, and speak smooth and comfortable things to a man that is but just brought to a sense of the long course of a lewd and wicked life impenitently continued in. Alas! what comfort can we give to men in such a case? We are loth to drive them to despair; and yet we must not destroy them by presumption; pity and good nature do strongly tempt us to make the best of their case and to give them all the little hopes which with any kind of reason we can --and God knows it is but very little that we can give to such persons upon good ground, for it all depends upon the degree and sincerity of their repentance, which God only knows, and we can but guess at.

This last section of Psalm 22 [i.e., verses 27-31] reminds us of Hebrews 12:2: "Looking unto Jesus the author and read more

This last section of Psalm 22 [i.e., verses 27-31] reminds us of Hebrews 12:2: "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." The "joy" that was set before Jesus was, we feel, knowing of the riches which would come to his brethren out of his death. In short, we are his joy, set before him when on the cross. As we have seen, only as the circle of the love of Jesus becomes world wide and as big as history will it be complete.

What use is it to us to hear it said of a man that he has thrown off the yoke, read more

What use is it to us to hear it said of a man that he has thrown off the yoke, that he does not believe there is a God to watch over his actions, that he reckons himself the sole master of his behavior, and that he does not intend to give an account of it to anyone but himself? Does he think that in that way he will have straightway persuaded us to have complete confidence in him, to look to him for consolation, for advice, and for help, in the vicissitudes of life? Do such men think that they have delighted us by telling us that they hold our souls to be nothing but a little wind and smoke -- and by saying it in conceited and complacent tones? Is that a thing to say blithely? Is it not rather a thing to say sadly -- as if it were the saddest thing in the world?