Taylor: the high priest in the temple

Saturday, March 11, 2017
Meditation:
    For this reason [Jesus] had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
    —Hebrews 2:17-18
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    The temple itself is the heart of man, Christ is the high priest, who from thence sends up the incense of prayers, and joins them to His own intercession, and presents all together to His Father; and the Holy Ghost by His dwelling there hath also consecrated it into a temple; and God dwells in our hearts by faith, and Christ by His Spirit, and the Spirit by His purities: so that we are also cabinets of the mysterious Trinity, and what is this short of heaven itself, but as infancy is short of manhood?... The same state of life it is, but not the same age. It is heaven in a looking glass, dark but yet true, representing the beauties of the soul, and the grace of God, and the images of His eternal glory, by the reality of a special presence.
    ... Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), Holy Living [1650], in The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., v. III, London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1847, p. 24 (see the book)
    See also Heb. 2:17-18; Matt. 28:19-20; 1 Cor. 3:16; 13:12; 2 Cor. 6:16; 1 Pet. 2:4-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are always present. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Taylor: present in hearts

Friday, March 10, 2017
Meditation:
    What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
    —1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (KJV)
Quotation:
    God is especially present in the hearts of His people, by His Holy Spirit; and indeed the hearts of holy men are temples in the truth of things, and in type and shadow they are heaven itself. For God reigns in the hearts of His servants; there is His Kingdom. The power of grace hath subdued all His enemies; there is His power. They serve Him night and day, and give Him thanks and praise; that is His glory. This is the religion and worship of God in the temple. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), Holy Living [1650], in The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., v. III, London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1847, p. 24 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 6:19-20; Ps. 91:1-2; 141:1-2; Eph. 2:21-22; Heb. 7:26-28; 9:24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we who were Your enemies praise and serve You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gwatkin: selfishness forgotten

Thursday, March 9, 2017
Meditation:
    God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
    —1 Corinthians 1:28-29 (ESV)
Quotation:
    In the whole range of history there is no more striking contrast than that of the Apostolic churches with the heathenism around them. They had shortcomings enough, it is true, and divisions and scandals not a few, for even apostolic times were no golden age of purity and primitive simplicity. Yet we can see that their fullness of life, and hope, and promise for the future was a new sort of power in the world. Within their own limits they had solved almost by the way the social problem which baffled Rome, and baffles Europe still. They had lifted woman to her rightful place, restored the dignity of labour, abolished beggary, and drawn the sting of slavery. The secret of the revolution is that the selfishness of race and class were forgotten in the Supper of the Lord, and a new basis for society found in love of the visible image of God in men for whom Christ died.
    ... Henry M. Gwatkin (1844-1916), Early Church History to A.D. 312, v. I, London: Macmillan, 1912, p. 73 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 1:28-29; Matt. 22:19-21; Mark 12:15-17; Luke 20:24-25; John 1:18; James 3:17; 1 John 4:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You show me Yourself in the poor. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Studdert Kennedy: certainty

Wednesday, March 8, 2017
    Commemoration of Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy, Priest, Poet, 1929
Meditation:
    He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?
    —Luke 6:39 (ESV)
Quotation:
    Religion leaves a million questions unanswered and apparently unanswerable. Its purpose and object is not to make a man certain and cocksure about everything but to make him certain about those things of which he must be certain if he is to live a human life at all. Religion does not relieve us from the duty of thought; it makes it possible for a man to begin thinking. It does not put an end to research and enquiry, it gives a basis from which real research is made possible and fruitful of results; a basis without which thinking only means wandering round in circles, and getting nowhere in the end, and research means battering at a brass door that bruises our knuckles, and does not yield by the millionth part of an inch.
    ... G. A. Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929), The Wicket Gate, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1923, p. 33-34 (see the book)
    See also Luke 6:39; Isa. 9:16; Matt. 15:14; 23:16-26; John 8:31-32; 16:13; 1 Tim. 6:3-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the source for all truth. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Broadbent: sectarianism

Tuesday, March 7, 2017
    Feast of Perpetua, Felicity & their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203
Meditation:
    Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”
    —Matthew 16:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Sectarianism is limitation. Some truth taught in Scripture, some part of the Divine revelation, is apprehended, and the heart responds to it and accepts it. As it is dwelt upon, expounded, defended; its power and beauty increasingly influence those affected by it. Another side of truth, another view of revelation, also contained in Scripture, seems to weaken, even to contradict, the truth that has been found to be so effectual. and in jealous fear for the doctrine accepted and taught the balancing truth is minimized, explained away, and even denied. So on a portion of revelation, on a part of the Word, a sect is founded, good and useful because it preaches and practices Divine truth, but limited and unbalanced because it does not see all truth, nor frankly accept the whole of Scripture. Its members are not only deprived of the full use of all Scripture, but are cut off from the fellowship of many saints, who are less limited than they, or limited i n another direction.
    ... E. H. Broadbent (1861-1945), The Pilgrim Church, London: Pickering & Inglis, 1931, p. 197 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 16:17; Matt. 11:25; Luke 10:21; John 6:45; 1 Cor. 2:9-12; 10:31-32; 2 Tim. 3:16; 1 John 4:15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that I shall be open to all the truth of Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Steinmann: the civilized desert

Monday, March 6, 2017
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
    —Matthew 5:15-16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Nothing could better illustrate this authentic spirit of Christian monasticism, stemming from Johannite monasticism, than one of its most recent examples, Father de Foucauld. If he went out to the Ahaggar plateau, it was not only to find but also to proclaim God, thereby teaching the gospel in a way which desert people could understand. After his death, the example set by this hermit was followed by others who, far from settling in the desert places of the Sahara, set out to mingle with the peopled deserts of the great cities, there to preach the gospel by their example and their very presence.
    ... Jean Steinmann (1911-1963), Saint John the Baptist, New York: Harper, 1958, p. 164 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 5:15-16; Pr. 4:18; Isa. 45:14; Zech. 8:23; Acts 17:22-23; Gal. 1:21-24; Phil. 2:14-16; 1 Pet. 2:12
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, are there people around me who need to be shown who God is? CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Carnell: general wisdom

Sunday, March 5, 2017
Meditation:
    Your Father in heaven] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
    —Matthew 5:45b (NIV)
Quotation:
    General wisdom is not a threat to the gospel, because everything good traces to God. God is merciful and kind; he bestows truth, as well as rain and sunshine, upon the just and the unjust. Christ is the “true light that enlightens every man.” This bestowal should inspire feelings of joy, not resentment, in the heart of a Christian. Aristotle said many wise things about logic, Confucius many wise things about morals. When a Christian attacks general wisdom in the name of the gospel, the natural man will attack the gospel in the name of general wisdom.
    ... Edward John Carnell (1919-1967), The Case for Orthodox Theology, Philadelphia: Westminister, 1959, p. 128 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 5:44-45; 1 Kings 3:7-9; Ps. 145:9; Pr. 1:20-33; 8; 9; Matt. 11:18-19; Luke 2:52; John 1:9; Acts 14:17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have scattered Your light where You will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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