The period which marked the enormous statistical success of the revival churches was also the period which saw membership standards decline almost to the vanishing point. Today the [various denominations] don't even have enough authority to keep their members out of mob violence, let alone hold them to difficult standards of theological or ethical or moral excellence.
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Feast of John Keble, Priest, Poet, Tractarian, 1866 Sun of my soul, Thou Savior dear, It is not night read more
Feast of John Keble, Priest, Poet, Tractarian, 1866 Sun of my soul, Thou Savior dear, It is not night if Thou be near; O may no earth-born cloud arise To hide Thee from thy servant's eyes.
You are Christians of the best edition, all picked and culled.
You are Christians of the best edition, all picked and culled.
God has set in the midst of you, as the ever present witness and figure of heaven, His holy House read more
God has set in the midst of you, as the ever present witness and figure of heaven, His holy House of Prayer. There it stands, built for no earthly purpose, different in shape, and in all things belonging to it, from earthly habitations; speaking only of heaven, and heavenly uses, and heavenly gifts, and heavenly blessings; the gate of heaven when we are brought into it as little children to Christ; the gate of heaven, if so God grant us, when we are brought to it, and pass through it the last time on our way to our grave beside it. And here we meet our God.
The love I bear Christ is but a faint and feeble spark, but it is an emanation from himself: He read more
The love I bear Christ is but a faint and feeble spark, but it is an emanation from himself: He kindled it and he keeps it alive; and because it is his work, I trust many waters shall not quench it.
Feast of William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1944 The principle of sacrifice is that we choose read more
Feast of William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1944 The principle of sacrifice is that we choose to do or to suffer what apart from our love we should not choose to do or to suffer.
Feast of Columba, Abbot of Iona, Missionary, 597 Commemoration of Ephrem of Syria, Deacon, Hymnographer, Teacher, 373 Although read more
Feast of Columba, Abbot of Iona, Missionary, 597 Commemoration of Ephrem of Syria, Deacon, Hymnographer, Teacher, 373 Although it is indisputable that our Lord founded a church, it is an unproved assumption that the church is an aggregation of visible and organized societies. The theory upon which the public worship of the primitive churches proceeded was that each community was complete in itself, and that, in every act of public worship, every element of the community was present.
Feast of Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, Teacher, 604 All that which our blessed Saviour wrought in his read more
Feast of Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, Teacher, 604 All that which our blessed Saviour wrought in his mortal body, he did it for our example and instruction, to the end that, following his steps, according to our poor ability, we might without offense pass over this present life.
Every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, read more
Every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And, taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a Heaven creature or into a hellish creature -- either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is Heaven: that is, it is joy, and peace, and knowledge, and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.
Commemoration of Charles de Foucauld, Hermit, Servant of the Poor, 1916 If faith is the gaze of the heart read more
Commemoration of Charles de Foucauld, Hermit, Servant of the Poor, 1916 If faith is the gaze of the heart at God, and if this gaze is but the raising of the inward eyes to meet the all-seeing eyes of God, then it follows that it is one of the easiest things possible to do.
