Book of Common Prayer: nothing good without Thee

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Meditation:
    Surely God is my salvation;
    I will trust and not be afraid.
    The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song;
    he has become my salvation.
    —Isaiah 12:2 (NIV)

Quotation:
    O God, the strength of all those who put their trust in thee; mercifully accept our prayers; and because, through the weakness of our mortal nature, we can do no good thing without thee, grant us the help of thy grace, that in keeping thy commandments we may please thee, both in will and deed, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
    ... Collect for the first Sunday after Trinity, in The Book of Common Prayer [1790, U.S.], New York: Protestant Episcopal Press, 1835, p. 100-101 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your grace has conquered my stubborn heart.

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More: for his enemies

Monday, July 6, 2009
    Feast of Thomas More, Scholar & Martyr, &
    John Fisher, Bishop & Martyr, 1535

Meditation:
    [Jesus:] ... But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...
    —Matthew 5:44 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Almighty and most gracious God, have mercy on N and N, and on all that bear evil to me, and wish me harm; and by every such easy, tender, and merciful means as Thine infinite goodness best can devise, vouchsafe to amend and redress them: and make us saved souls together in heaven, where we may ever live and love together with Thee and Thy blessed saints, This grant, O sacred and glorious Trinity, for the bitter passion of our sweet Lord and Saviour Christ. Amen.
    ... Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), Sir Thomas More: a selection from his works, ed. William Joseph Walter, Baltimore: F. Lucas, 1841, p. 305 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, teach us to follow Your example towards those who are spiteful to us.

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Owen: fighting the enemy

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Meditation:
    For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
    —Romans 6:6,7 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Let no man think to kill sin with few, easy, or gentle strokes. He who hath once smitten a serpent, if he follow not on his blow until he be slain, may repent that ever he began the quarrel. And so will he who undertakes to deal with sin, and pursues it not constantly to the death.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), A Discourse Concerning Holy Spirit, bk. I-V [1674], in Works of John Owen, v. III, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 546-547 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, by Your grace, do not let sin conquer me.

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Summer: sending the right message

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Meditation:
    ... if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
    —2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)

Quotation:
    Bless God, America.
    ... Linden Summer

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, heal our nation and all the world.

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Quarles & Lyte: I am His

Friday, July 3, 2009
    Feast of Thomas the Apostle

Meditation:
    In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
    Like clothing you will change them
    and they will be discarded.
    —Psalm 102:25,26 (NIV)

Quotation:
Long did I toil, and knew no earthly rest,
Far did I rove, and found no certain home;
At last I sought them in His sheltering breast,
Who opes His arms and bids the weary come:
With Him I found a home, a rest divine,
And I since then am His, and He is mine.

The good I have is from His stores supplied:
The ill is only what He deems the best.
He for my friend, I’m rich with naught beside;
And poor without Him, though of all possessed.
Changes may come—I take, or I resign
Content, while I am His, and He is mine.

Whate’er may change, in Him no change is seen,
A glorious Sun, that wanes not, nor declines;
Above the clouds and storms He walks serene,
And on His people’s inward darkness shines;
All may depart—I fret not nor repine,
While I my Saviour’s am, while He is mine.

While here, alas! I know but half His love,
But half discern Him, and but half adore;
But when I meet Him in the realms above,
I hope to love him better, praise Him more,
And feel, and tell, amid the choir divine,
How fully I am His, and He is mine.
    ... J. Quarles (1624-1665) & Henry F. Lyte (1793-1847), Miscellaneous Poems, London: Rivingtons, 1868, p. 75 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I wholly love and praise You.

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Law: natural delight in religion

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Meditation:
    In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.
    —1 Corinthians 11:18,19 (NIV)

Quotation:
    When religion is in the hands of the mere natural man, he is always the worse for it; it adds a bad heat to his own dark fire, and helps to inflame his four elements of selfishness, envy, pride, and wrath. And hence it is that worse passions, or a worse degree of them, are to be found in persons of great religious zeal, than in others that made no pretences to it. History also furnishes us with instances of persons of great piety and devotion, who have fallen into great delusions, and deceived both themselves and others. The occasion of their fall was this: ... They considered their whole nature, as the subject of religion, and divine graces; and therefore their religion was according to the workings of their whole nature, and the old man was as busy, and as much delighted in it, as the new.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), Christian Regeneration [1739], in Works of Rev. William Law, v. V, London: G. Moreton, 1893, p. 168 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You must help me to crucify the old man.

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MacDonald: the value of lost things

Wednesday, July 1, 2009
    Commemoration of John & Henry Venn, Priests, Evangelical Divines, 1813, 1873

Meditation:
    [Jesus] said to them, "Do you still not understand?"
    —Mark 8:21 (NIV)

Quotation:
    When I trouble myself over a trifle, even a trifle confessed—the loss of some little article, say—spurring my memory, and hunting the house, not from immediate need, but from dislike of loss; when a book has been borrowed of me and is not returned, and I have forgotten the borrower, and fret over the missing volume, ... is it not time that I lost a few things when I care for them so unreasonably? This losing of things is the mercy of God; it comes to teach us to let them go. Or have I forgotten a thought that came to me, which seemed of the truth? I keep trying and trying to call it back, feeling a poor man until that thought be recovered—to be far more lost, perhaps, in a notebook into which I shall never look again to find it! I forget that it is live things that God cares about.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Cause of Spiritual Stupidity”, in Unspoken Sermons, Second Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1886, p. 53-43 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, detach my allegiance from worthless things.

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