Raleigh: denying Him by works

Saturday, April 24, 2010
    Commemoration of Mellitus, First Bishop of London, 624
Meditation:
    Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist--he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
    —1 John 2:22-23 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We profess that we know God, but by works we deny Him; for beatitude doth not consist in the knowledge of divine things, but in a divine life, for the devils know them better than man.
    ... Walter Raleigh (1552?-1618), The Works of Sir Walter Ralegh, Kt., v. II, Oxford: The University press, 1829, p. 32 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make my life a testimony to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Ryle: all is in vain without prayer

Friday, April 23, 2010
    Feast of George, Martyr, Patron of England, c.304
    Commemoration of Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1988
Meditation:
    For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: rebellion and treachery against the LORD, turning our backs on our God, fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived.
    —Isaiah 59:12-13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Not praying is a clear proof that a person is not yet a true Christian. They cannot really feel their sins. They cannot love God. They cannot feel themselves a debtor to Christ. They cannot long after holiness. They cannot desire heaven. They have yet to be born again. They have yet to be made a new creature. They may boast confidently of election, grace, faith, hope and knowledge, and deceive ignorant people. But you may rest assured it is all vain talk if they do not pray.
    ... J. C. Ryle (1816-1900), A Call to Prayer, published in the 1850’s as a pamphlet, p. 1 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You hear the prayers of Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Westcott: the end for man

Thursday, April 22, 2010
Meditation:
    In [Christ Jesus] and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
    —Ephesians 3:12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We see in the risen Christ the end for which man was made, and the assurance that the end is within reach.
    ... Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901), The Revelation of the Risen Lord, London: Macmillan, 1881, p. xiv (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we will go where You have gone. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Anselm: ask and receive

Wednesday, April 21, 2010
    Feast of Anselm, Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1109
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
    —John 16:23-24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    My God and my Lord, my hope and the joy of my heart, speak unto my soul and tell me whether this is the joy of which thou tellest us through thy Son: Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full (John 16:24). For I have found a joy that is full, and more than full. For when heart, and mind, and soul, and all the man, are full of that joy, joy beyond measure will still remain. Hence, not all of that joy shall enter into those who rejoice; but they who rejoice shall wholly enter into that joy.
    ... St. Anselm (1033-1109), Discourse on the Existence of God, Chicago: The Opencourt Publishing Co, 1903, p. 33 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I receive Your grace in joy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Augustine: foolish talk

Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Meditation:
    He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity. The proud and arrogant man—“Mocker” is his name; he behaves with overweening pride.
    —Proverbs 21:23-24
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    For when they find one belonging to the Christian body falling into error on a subject with which they themselves are thoroughly conversant, and when they see him moreover enforcing his groundless opinion by the authority of our Sacred Book, how are they likely to put trust in these Books about the resurrection of the dead, and the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, having already come to regard then as fallacious about those things they had themselves learned from observation, or from unquestionable evidences? And indeed it were not easy to tell what trouble and sorrow some rash and presumptuous men bring upon their prudent brethren, who, when they are charged with a perverse and false opinion by those who do not accept the authority of our Books, attempt to put forward these same Holy Books in defense of that which they have lightly and. falsely asserted, sometimes even quoting from memory what they think will suit their purposes, and putting forth many words without well understanding either what they say, or what they are talking about.
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), On Genesis [415], tr. John Hammond Taylor, Newman Press, 1982, I.xix, p. 43 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, banish all arrogance from me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Augustine: our testimony to the Scriptures

Monday, April 19, 2010
    Commemoration of Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1012
Meditation:
    I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. The wise man has eyes in his head, while the fool walks in the darkness; but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both.
    —Ecclesiastes 2:13-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It often happens that one who is not a Christian hath some knowledge, derived from the evidence of his senses, about the earth, about the heavens, about the elements of this world, about the movements and revolutions, or about the size and distance of the stars, about certain eclipses of the sun and moon, about the course of the years and the seasons, about the nature of animals, plants, and minerals... Now it is an unseemly and mischievous thing, and greatly to be avoided, that a Christian man speaking on such matters, as if according to the authority of the Christian Scriptures, should talk so foolishly that the unbeliever on hearing him and observing the extravagance of his error, should hardly be able to refrain from laughter. And the great mischief is not so much that the man himself is laughed at for his errors, but that our authors are believed, by many people without the Church, to have taught such things, and so are condemned as unlearned and cast aside, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we are so much concerned. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), On Genesis [415], tr. John Hammond Taylor, Newman Press, 1982, I.xix, p. 42-43 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the wisdom to speak with humility. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Perrin: the unconqerable soul

Sunday, April 18, 2010
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
    —John 8:35-36 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Yet still, over all these limitations and humiliations, I felt astonishingly and profoundly free; I felt a flame, a secret little life of liberty beating away inside me, a liberty I could never lose. They could keep me locked up; they could take me to a Concentration Camp to-morrow, but they could never touch the sanctuary where my soul watched, where I was alone master. They might deceive me, abuse me, weaken me; they might get words out of me when my mind staggered from their cruelty, words which they could take as an admission; they could kill me. But they could never force my will, for it could never belong to them; it was between myself and God, and no one else could ever touch it.
    ... Henri Perrin (1914-1954), Priest-Workman in Germany, London: Sheed & Ward, 1947, p. 181-182 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have granted freedom to Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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