Cecil: the astonishing testament

Saturday, January 16, 2016
Meditation:
    Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
    —James 4:13-15 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Providence is a greater mystery than Religion. The state of the world is more humiliating to our reason, than the doctrines of the Gospel. A reflecting Christian sees more to excite his astonishment and to exercise his faith in the state of things between Temple Bar [in Dublin] and St. Paul’s [in London], than in what he reads from Genesis to Revelation.
    ... Richard Cecil (1748-1810), The Works of the Rev. Richard Cecil, v. III, Boston: Crocker and Brewster, 1825, p. 405 (see the book)
    See also Jas. 4:13-15; Pr. 27:1; Isa. 56:10-12; Luke 12:16-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Grant me faith in You, Lord, for I have none in the world. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah

Rhymes: service and the church

Friday, January 15, 2016
Meditation:
    For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
    —2 Corinthians 4:5 (KJV)
Quotation:
    The laity living in the world as an integral part of it is the primary body through which the reality of the phrase “the Church is service” has to be manifested in all spheres of secular life: the Church has to show in her own life and attitude towards others the evidences of the redemptive order which is in Christ an operative fact: Christ the Lord is also Christ the servant: the Church which is the lord of all life is also the servant of all life, and the lordship is shown only through the service. The world wants to see redemption: it is not interested in being talked to about it. A church which is not outward looking... has ceased to be a church as the Body of Christ and has instead become a club for the benefit of its members.
    ... Douglas Rhymes (1914-1996), “The Place of the Laity in the Parish”, in Layman’s Church, ed. John A. T. Robinson, London: Lutterworth Press, 1963, p. 28 (see the book)
    See also 2 Cor. 4:5; Matt. 20:25-27; Luke 22:25-26; John 17:11; 1 Cor. 9:23; 2 Tim. 2:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a willing spirit, and show me how I must serve. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah

Adler: affirming vs. believing

Thursday, January 14, 2016
    Commemoration of Richard Meux Benson, Founder of the Society of St John the Evangelist, 1915
Meditation:
    And because of his words many more became believers.
    —John 4:41 (NIV)
Quotation:
    After a trip to Mexico [in 1984]... I fell ill... The illness was protracted... I suffered a mild depression... When [an Episcopal priest] prayed for my recovery, I choked up and wept. The only prayer I knew word for word was the Pater Noster. On that day and in the days after it, I found myself repeating the Lord’s Prayer, again and again, and meaning every word of it. Quite suddenly, when I was awake one night, a light dawned on me, and I realized what had happened... After many years of affirming God’s existence and trying to give adequate reasons for that affirmation, I found myself believing in God.
    ... Mortimer J. Adler (1902-2001), quoted in Philosophers Who Believe, Kelly James Clark, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1993, p. 215-216 (see the book)
    See also John 4:41; Matt. 4:4; 6:9-13; 7:28-29; Luke 4:32; John 6:63; 7:46; Acts 8:12; 15:3; Rom. 10:14-15,17; 1 Cor. 2:4-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You manifest Yourself to Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah

Gwatkin: the witnesses to living power

Wednesday, January 13, 2016
    Feast of Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, Teacher, 367
    Commemoration of Kentigern (Mungo), Missionary Bishop in Strathclyde & Cumbria, 603
Meditation:
    For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying,
    “I will tell of your name to my brothers;
    in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
    —Hebrews 2:10-12 (ESV)
Quotation:
    No wonder if the Christians made an impression out of all proportion to their numbers. Conviction in the midst of waverers, fiery energy in a world of disillusion, purity in an age of easy morals, firm brotherhood in a loose society, heroic courage in a time of persecution, formed a problem that could not be set aside, however polite society might affect to ignore it: and the religion of the future turned on the answer to it. Would the world be able to explain it better than the Christians, who said it was the living power of the risen Saviour?
    ... Henry M. Gwatkin (1844-1916), Early Church History to A.D. 312, v. I, London: Macmillan, 1912, p. 234 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 2:10-12; Ps. 22:22; Acts 3:15; 1 Cor. 1:18; 4:10; 15:56-58; Heb. 12:2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are risen in power over the world. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah

Irving: the basis of assurance

Tuesday, January 12, 2016
    Feast of Aelred of Hexham, Abbot of Rievaulx, 1167
    Commemoration of Benedict Biscop, Abbot of Wearmouth, Scholar, 689
Meditation:
Forever, O LORD, your word
    is firmly fixed in the heavens.
Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
    you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
By your appointment they stand this day,
    for all things are your servants.
    —Psalm 119:89-91 (ESV)
Quotation:
    God’s unchangeableness is the very foundation of desire, and hope, and activity, in things religious as in things natural. The uniformity of nature’s operations in the one, and the constancy of God’s promises in the other, give aim and calculation and certainty to events.
    ... Edward Irving (1792-1834), “The Reasonableness and Rule of Prayer” in The Collected Writings of Edward Irving, v. III, London: Alexander Strahan, 1865, p. 4 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 119:89-91; Num. 23:19-20; Mal. 3:6; Heb. 6:17-20; 13:8; Jas. 1:17
Quiet time reflection:
    You are the foundation, Lord, of all I can know. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah

Baillie: open to Thee

Monday, January 11, 2016
    Commemoration of Mary Slessor, Missionary in West Africa, 1915
Meditation:
    Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.
    —Colossians 4:2-4 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Give me an open ear, O God, that I may hear Thy voice calling me to high endeavor.
    Give me an open mind, O God, a mind ready to receive and to welcome such new light of knowledge as it is Thy will to reveal to me.
    Give me open eyes, O God, eyes quick to discover Thine indwelling in the world which Thou hast made.
    Give me open hands, O God, hands ready to share with all who are in want the blessings with which Thou hast enriched my life.
    ... John Baillie (1886-1960) & Donald M. Baillie (1887-1954), A Diary of Private Prayer, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1939, p. 63 (see the book)
    See also Col. 4:2-4; Matt. 13:16; Luke 10:23-24; 2 Cor. 4:6; Eph. 1:18-19; 2:10; Phil. 3:8-9
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may I ever share in Your mercy. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah

Carlyle: the terms of the call

Sunday, January 10, 2016
Meditation:
    And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
    —Acts 16:9-10 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Supply-and-demand,—alas! For what noble work was there ever yet any audible demand in that poor sense? The man of Macedonia, speaking in vision to the Apostle Paul, “Come over and help us,” did not specify what rate of wages he would give.
    ... Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), Past and Present, London: Chapman and Hall, 1843, p. 160 (see the book)
    See also Acts 16:9-10; 20:34; 1 Cor. 9:12,16; 2 Cor. 12:13-14; 1 Thess. 2:6-9; 2 Thess. 3:7-9
Quiet time reflection:
    May I give the Gospel as freely as I received it. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt    Jonah