Feast of Peter & Paul, Apostles Kind souls, you wonder why, love you, When you, you wonder why, love read more

Feast of Peter & Paul, Apostles Kind souls, you wonder why, love you, When you, you wonder why, love none. We love, Fool, for the good we do, Not that which unto us is done.

Feast of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr, c.155 There can be no end without means; and God furnishes no read more

Feast of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, Martyr, c.155 There can be no end without means; and God furnishes no means that exempt us from the task and duty of joining our own best endeavors. The original stock, or wild olive tree, of our natural powers, was not given to us to be burnt or blighted, but to be grafted on.

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.

Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525 We distrust the providence of God when, after we have used read more

Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525 We distrust the providence of God when, after we have used all our best endeavors and begged His blessing upon them, we torment ourselves about the wise issue and event of them.

Pentecost Feast of Barnabas the Apostle Let songs of praises fill the sky! Christ, our ascended Lord, Sends down read more

Pentecost Feast of Barnabas the Apostle Let songs of praises fill the sky! Christ, our ascended Lord, Sends down his Spirit from on high, According to his word. The Spirit by his heavenly breath, New life creates within: He quickens sinners from the death Of trespasses and sin. The things of Christ the Spirit takes, And shows them unto men; The fallen soul his temple makes, God's image stamps again Come, Holy Spirit, from above, With thy celestial fire: Come, and with flames of zeal and love Our hearts and tongues inspire.

Faith is the soul's consciousness of its Divine relationship and exalted destiny. It is the recognition by man's higher nature read more

Faith is the soul's consciousness of its Divine relationship and exalted destiny. It is the recognition by man's higher nature of sources of comfort and hope beyond anything that sense-knowledge discloses. It is the consciousness of a Divine Father toward Whom goes out all that is in affection and highest in moral aspiration; it is the premonition of a future life of which the best attainment here is but the twilight promise. In our day, the sudden and vast revelation of material wonders unsteadies and dims for the moment the spiritual sight; but the stars will shine clear again. The truth-seeking spirit and the spirit of faith, instead of being opposed, are in the deepest harmony. The man whose faith is most genuine is most willing to have its assertions tested by the severest scrutiny. And the passion for truth has underlying it a profound conviction that what is real is best; that when we get to the heart of things we shall find there what we most need. Faith is false to itself when it dreads truth, and the desire for truth is prompted by an inner voice of faith.

Feast of Alban, first Martyr of Britain, c.209 Continuing a short series on authenticity: There is one growing read more

Feast of Alban, first Martyr of Britain, c.209 Continuing a short series on authenticity: There is one growing persuasion of the present age which I hope this book may somewhat serve to stem -- not by any argument, but by... a healthy up stirring ... of the imagination and the conscience. In these days, when men are so gladly hearing afresh that "in Him there is no darkness at all"; that God, therefore could not have created any man if He knew that he must live in torture to all eternity; and that His hatred to evil cannot be expressed by injustice, itself the one essence of evil, -- for certainly it would be nothing less than injustice to punish infinitely what was finitely committed, no sinner being capable of understanding the abstract enormity of what he does, -- in these days has a arisen another falsehood, less, yet very perilous: thousands of half-thinkers imagine that, since it is declared with such authority that hell is not everlasting, there is then no hell at all. To such folly, I, for one, have never given enticement or shelter. I see no hope for many, no way for the divine love to reach them, save through a very ghastly hell. Men have got to repent; there is no other escape for them, and no escape from that.

Commemoration of Denys, Bishop of Paris, & his Companions, Martyrs, 258 Commemoration of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, Philosopher, Scientist, read more

Commemoration of Denys, Bishop of Paris, & his Companions, Martyrs, 258 Commemoration of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, Philosopher, Scientist, 1253 Thou knowest how far Thou hast already changed me, who first healed me of the lust of vindicating myself, that so Thou mightest forgive all the rest of my iniquities, and heal all my infirmities, and redeem my life from corruption, and crown me with mercy and pity, and satisfy my desire with good things; who didst curb my pride with Thy fear, and tame my neck to Thy yoke. And now I bear it and it is light unto me, because so hast Thou promised, and hast made it; and verily it was so, and I knew it not, when I feared to take it. ... The Confessions of St. Augustine October 10, 1999 Feast of Paulinus, Bishop of York, Missionary, 644 Wilberforce, Lord Shaftesbury, and many other evangelicals, have been leaders in social reform, but it was not their religion. Their efforts succeeded because they put first things first, and believed firmly in the Word of God, in the conversion of the individual, in prayer, and in using spiritual means for spiritual work.

Feast of Charles Simeon, Pastor, Teacher, 1836 Do not desire crosses, unless you have borne well those laid on read more

Feast of Charles Simeon, Pastor, Teacher, 1836 Do not desire crosses, unless you have borne well those laid on you; it is an abuse to long after martyrdom while unable to bear an insult patiently.