Smith: straight from the Father

Saturday, November 12, 2011
Meditation:
    [Daniel] said: “Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.”
    —Daniel 2:20-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To the children of God everything comes directly from their Father’s hand, no matter who or what may have been the apparent agents. There are no “second causes” for them.
    ... Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911), Christian’s Secret of a Holy Life, Boston: Willard Tract Repository, 1875, p. 84 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the source for all goodness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: Christianity is Christ

Friday, November 11, 2011
    Feast of Martin, Monk, Bishop of Tours, 397
Meditation:
    May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
    —Galatians 6:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Our religion is not a system of ideas about Christ. It is Christ.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), The Light of the World, and Other Sermons, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1904, p. 23 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    By Your Spirit, we praise You, Lord Jesus. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Phillips: tragic idealist?

Thursday, November 10, 2011
    Feast of Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, 461
Meditation:
    Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”
    They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life."
    “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
    Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”
    —Luke 9:18-20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is easy to criticise the many failings of the Church; it is all too easy to criticise the lives of those who profess and call themselves Christians; but I should say that it is almost impossible to read the Gospels thoroughly with adult, serious attention and then dismiss the central Figure as a mere human prophet or a tragic idealist. The reaction to such a study may indeed prove to be conversion or open hostility, but it would at least mean the end of childish and ill-informed attacks upon what is supposed to be the Christian religion.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), New Testament Christianity, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1956, chapt. i, p. 12 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, help Your church to show forth the truth of Christ. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Erasmus: food for the soul

Wednesday, November 9, 2011
    Commemoration of Margery Kempe, Mystic, after 1433
Meditation:
    Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.
    —Colossians 4:15-16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Let [the student of Scripture] approach the New Testament, not with an unholy curiosity, but with reverence; bearing in mind that his first and only aim and object should be that he may catch and be changed into the spirit of what he there learns. It is the food of the soul; and to be of use, must not rest only in the memory or sink into the stomach, but must pierce through the very depths of the heart and mind.
    ... Desiderius Erasmus (1466?-1536), quoted from the introduction to his Greek New Testament, in “The Reformers of 1498”, ch. VI, by Frederic Seebohm, The Fortnightly Review, v. VI, George Henry Lewes, ed., London: Chapman and Hall, 1866, p. 185 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a spirit to receive Your holy word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Calvin: the honor of beauty

Tuesday, November 8, 2011
    Feast of Saints & Martyrs of England
Meditation:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they display knowledge.
    —Psalm 19:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is no small honour that God for our sake has so magnificently adorned the world, in order that we may not only be spectators of this beauteous theatre, but also enjoy the multiplied abundance and variety of good things which are presented to us in it. Our gratitude in yielding to God the praise which is his due, is regarded by him as a singular recompense.
    ... John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on the Book of Psalms, v. IV, Ediburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1847, p. 169 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I thank You for the great abundance of Your world. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Fenelon: a right spirit

Monday, November 7, 2011
    Feast of Willibrord of York, Archbishop of Utrecht, Apostle of Frisia, 739
Meditation:
    Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
    —1 Corinthians 1:20-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is a great difference between a lofty spirit and a right spirit. A lofty spirit excites admiration by its profoundness; but only a right spirit achieves salvation and happiness by its stability and integrity.
    Do not conform your ideas to those of the world. Scorn the “intellectual” as much as the world esteems it. What men consider intellectual is a certain facility to produce brilliant thoughts. Nothing is more vain. We make an idol of our intellect as a woman who believes herself beautiful worships her face. We take pride in our own thoughts. We must reject not only human cleverness, but also human prudence, which seems so important and so profitable. Then we may enter—like little children, with candor and innocence of worldly ways—into the simplicity of faith; and with humility and a horror of sin we may enter into the holy passion of the cross.
    ... François Fénelon (1651-1715), paraphrased, Selections from the Writings of Fenelon, Boston: Hilliard, Gray, Little, and Wilkins, 1829, p. 246-247 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I lean not on my own understanding, but seek to know Your mind. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Temple: worship

Sunday, November 6, 2011
    Feast of William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1944
Meditation:
    I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
    —Psalm 122:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, [and] to devote the will to the purpose of God.
    ... William Temple (1881-1944), The Hope of a New World, London: Macmillan, 1941, p. 30 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have united Your people in Your praise and worship. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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