Of all the spirits, I believe the spirit of judging is the worst, and it has had the rule of read more

Of all the spirits, I believe the spirit of judging is the worst, and it has had the rule of me, I cannot tell you how dreadfully and how long... This, I find has more hindered my progress in love and gentleness than all things else. I never knew what the words, "Judge not that ye be not judged," meant before; now they seem to me some of the most awful, necessary, and beautiful in the whole Word of God.

Forgiveness is a rebirth of hope, a reorganization of thought, and a reconstruction of dreams. Once forgiving begins, dreams can read more

Forgiveness is a rebirth of hope, a reorganization of thought, and a reconstruction of dreams. Once forgiving begins, dreams can be rebuilt. When forgiving is complete, meaning has been extracted from the worst of experiences and used to create a new set of moral rules and a new interpretation of life's events.

Christ says that not alone in the Church is there forgiveness of sins, but that where two or three are read more

Christ says that not alone in the Church is there forgiveness of sins, but that where two or three are gathered together in His name they shall have the right to promise to each other comfort and the forgiveness of sins.

Commemoration of Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, spritual writer, 1893 We feel that other churches must accept, as read more

Commemoration of Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, spritual writer, 1893 We feel that other churches must accept, as the pre-conditions of fellowship, such changes as will bring them into conformity with ourselves in matters which we regard as essential, and that a failure to insist on this will involve compromise in regard to what is essential to the Church's being. But for precisely the same reason, we cannot admit a demand from others for any changes in ourselves which would seem to imply a denial that we already possess the esse of the Church.

[If] there be any difference among professed believers as to the sense of Scripture, it is their duty to tolerate read more

[If] there be any difference among professed believers as to the sense of Scripture, it is their duty to tolerate such difference in each other, until God shall have revealed the truth to all.

Feast of Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c.326 (1) God's children ought to walk in constant amazement of read more

Feast of Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c.326 (1) God's children ought to walk in constant amazement of spirit as to God, His nature, and works. (2) The glorifying of God is the great work of God's children. (3) Delightful privacy with God argues strong affection. (4) Frequent prayer an argument of much of God's Spirit; true prayer is the pouring out of the heart to God; God's children are most in private with God; the prayers of God's people most respect spiritual mercies; God's people wait for and rest in God's answer. (5) God's people are sensible of their unworthiness. (6) God Himself is regarded as the portion of His people. (7) Ready obedience to God. (8) The patience of God's children under God's hand. (9) The mournful confession of God's people. (10) God's people long after God in an open profession of His ordinances. (11) Their hearts are ready and prepared. (12) God's people's sense of their own insufficiencies.

Continuing a series on God and the human condition: That Jones shall worship the "god within him" turns out read more

Continuing a series on God and the human condition: That Jones shall worship the "god within him" turns out ultimately to mean that Jones shall worship Jones. Let Jones worship the sun or moon -- anything rather than the Inner Light; let Jones worship cats or crocodiles, if he can find any in his street, but not the god within. Christianity came into the world firstly in order to assert with violence that a man had not only to look inwards, but to look outwards, to behold with astonishment and enthusiasm a divine company and a divine captain. The only fun of being a Christian was that a man was not left alone with the Inner Light, but definitely recognized an outer light, fair as the sun, clear as the moon, terrible as an army with banners.

Commemoration of Samuel & Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformers, 1913 & 1936 Evil can be interpreted as guilt only read more

Commemoration of Samuel & Henrietta Barnett, Social Reformers, 1913 & 1936 Evil can be interpreted as guilt only where human existence is understood as personal, and that means where the existence of man is understood to be in responsibility to the Divine Thou. This is the depth of human distress, that we are separated from God, that our communion with Him is destroyed, that man has emancipated himself (has taken himself out of the hand of God) and has become independent, his own master.

The religious desire and effort of the soul to relate itself and all its interest to God and his will, read more

The religious desire and effort of the soul to relate itself and all its interest to God and his will, is prayer in the deepest sense. This is essential prayer: uttered or unexpressed, it is equally prayer. It is the soul's desire after God going forth in a manifestation, ... the soul striving after God. This is a prayer that may exist without ceasing, consisting, as it does, not in doing or saying this or that, but in temper and attitude of the spirit.