CQOD: 12/13/06 -- Johnson: the purpose of affliction

Christian Quotation of the Day

December 13, 2006

Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304
Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784

Meditation:
    Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
    -- 2 Timothy 3:12 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    It is by affliction chiefly that the heart of man is purified, and that the thoughts are fixed on a better state. Prosperity has power to intoxicate the imagination, to fix the mind upon the present scene, to produce confidence and elation, and to make him who enjoys affluence and honors forget the hand by which they were bestowed. It is seldom that we are otherwise than by affliction awakened to a sense of our imbecility, or taught to know how little all our acquisitions can conduce to safety or quiet, and how justly we may inscribe to the superintendence of a higher power those blessings which in the wantonness of success we considered as the attainments of our policy and courage.
    ... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me patience in trouble and a quiet heart, anxious only to please You.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2004
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

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