Here is a great quote about hymnody from the master poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson: “A Good hymn is the most difficult thing in the world to write.” [Hallam Tennyson, Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1905), 754].
These words of Eberhard Bethge, the biographer of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, are an important reminder of the need to remember the past:
“Commemoration renders life human; forgetfulness makes it inhuman. …even when remembrance carries grief and shame, it fills the future with perspectives. And the denial of the past furthers the affairs of death, precisely because it focuses exclusively on the present.”[1]
Here is a great quote by Free St. George’s on the importance of doctrine: “Monday Quote: James Orr: We all have theology.”
“To see Him, the King, in his beauty, is a ravishing sight, and which fills [the soul] with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Sounds like Jonathan Edwards, right? Or another one of the divines from his affective stream of piety?
No. It is from the much-maligned John Gill (d.1771). See his Body of Divinity, p.777.
There is much more in Gill than dry-as-dust theology—there is life and power and joy in Christ. While I do not deny there are some theological problems with his Calvinism, at its heart it was drawn from the same well as Edwards’.
Someone needs to compare the theology of Edwards and Gill. I am amazed that no one ever has.
Found this great quote on friendship from C.S. Lewis on the blog of Jayme Thompson:
“Friendship is the greatest of worldly goods. Certainly to me it is the chief happiness of life. If I had to give a piece of advice to a young man about a place to live, I think I should say, “Sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends.” I know I am very fortunate in that respect.” [The Letters of C.S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves (29 December 1935)].
I have always loved the poetry of John Donne. I recently found this poem that I do not recall ever reading.
It was posted by Bruce Keisling, Librarian of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, on the website/blog of Third Avenue Baptist Church, Louisville (http://www.thirdavenue.org/), a church I deeply love and admire.
XV
Wilt thou love God, as he thee? Then digest,
My soul, this wholesome meditation,
How God the Spirit, by angels waited on
In heaven, doth make his Temple in thy breast.
The Father having begot a Son most blest,
And still begetting, (for he ne’er be gone)
Hath deigned to choose thee by adoption,
Co-heir t’ his glory, and Sabbath’ endless rest.
And as a robbed man, which by search doth find
His stol’n stuff sold, must lose or buy’t again:
The Son of glory came down, and was slain,
Us whom he’d made, and Satan stol’n, to unbind.
’Twas much that man was made like God before,
But, that God should be made like man, much more.
The doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Christ is being challenged today by some Evangelicals. They are far are not only from Scriptural truth but also our Evangelical heritage rooted in that truth.
Here is Thomas Chalmers, from his introduction to Abraham Booth’s The Reign of Grace from its Rise to its Consummation (1768):
“Had we fulfilled the law of God, heaven would have been ours, and it would have been given to us because of our righteousness. We have broken that law, and yet heaven may be ours, not because of our righteousness, but still because of a righteousness; and the honor of God is deeply involved in the question, What and whose righteousness this is? It is not the righteousness of man, but the righteousness of Christ reckoned unto man. The whole distinction between a covenant that is now exploded, and the covenant that is now in force, hinges upon this alternative. If we make a confidence of the former plea, we shall perish; and if of the latter, we shall have everlasting life.
“The merit of His well-beloved Son is to Him the incense of a sweet-smelling savor, so that the guiltiest creature who takes shelter there, has posted himself on the very avenue, along which there ever rolls the tide of divine complacency. We should invest ourselves then with this merit, and wrap ourselves firmly in it, as in a covering. We should put on Christ, who is offered to us without money and without price. We should present ourselves before God, with His invitation as our alone warrant, and the truth of His promises, which are yea and amen in Christ Jesus, as our alone confidence. His place in the new covenant is to declare our forgiveness, through the blood of a satisfying atonement. Our place in the covenant, is to give credit to that declaration.”
Reader: is what is delineated in the second paragraph a reality in your life?
A gem from the 18th century Baptist minister Oliver Hart (1723-1795), who pastored First Baptist Church, Charleston, from 1750 to 1780:
“I apprehend the spirituality of worship…consists in communion with God, through Christ, by the operations of the Holy Ghost. I am sensible there are many who discard the doctrine of divine influences, as enthusiastical [i.e. fanatical]; but I look upon it as the quintessence of religion, without which there can be no spiritual, acceptable worship at all.”
[A Gospel Church portrayed and her Costly Service pointed out (Trenton, 1791), 37-38].
Here are three great quotes from Thomas Chalmers, whose life was recently remembered by Darrin Brooker.
The second one applies to my penultimate post on Holland. The third could well form the three headings of a talk. I would love to see what a Spurgeon would have done with three such headings!
HT: Darrin Brooker: Thomas Chalmers ; Ian Clary: Thomas Chalmers.
My friend Crawford Gribben, at his blog Anablepo , has drawn attention to a series of sayings of Thomas Manton (1620-1677) in a one-page broadsheet, Words of Peace, or Dr Mantons Last Sayings (London, 1677). Here are two excellent ones—the first one applies to some Christian bloggers I have occasionally read! And the second, well the second has a large application in our day, when, like the Athenians, so many love to entertain only the latest novelty:
For other sayings from the list, see the blog of Ian Clary: Anablepo - Gems from Thomas Manton.