Johnson: withholding the Bible is a crime

Saturday, July 13, 2019
Meditation:
    [Paul:] “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.”
    —Acts 17:29,30 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday]
    Christianity is the highest perfection of humanity; and as no man is good but as he wishes the good of others, so no man can be good in the highest degree, who wishes not to others the largest measures of the greatest good. To omit for a year, or for a day, the most efficacious method of advancing Christianity [i.e., the Bible], in compliance with any purposes that terminate this side of the grave, is a crime [the like] of which I know not that the world has yet had an example.
    ... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., v. I [1791], James Boswell, New York: Derby & Jackson, 1858, letter, 1766, p. 419 (see the book)
    See also Acts 17:29-30; 4:20; 26:16-18; Rom. 10:12-15; 1 Cor. 1:18-24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may Your word be published to the nations. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Johnson: the duty of Bible circulation

Friday, July 12, 2019
Meditation:
    Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.”
    —Acts 10:34,35 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I did not expect to hear that it could be, in an assembly convened for the propagation of Christian knowledge, a question whether any nation uninstructed in religion should receive instruction; or whether that, instruction should be imparted to them by a translation of the holy-books into their own language. If obedience to the will of God be necessary to happiness, and knowledge of his will be necessary to obedience, I know not how he that withholds this knowledge, or delays it, can be said to love his neighbour as himself. He, that voluntarily continues ignorance, is guilty of all the crimes which ignorance produces; as to him that should extinguish the tapers of a light-house, might justly be imputed the calamities of shipwrecks. [Continued tomorrow]
    ... Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., v. I [1791], James Boswell, New York: Derby & Jackson, 1858, p. 419 (see the book)
    See also Acts 10:34-35,47-48; 11:18; Rom. 1:14-15; 10:17; 1 Cor. 9:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, use me in the cause of Your Gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Ryle: to be prayerless

Thursday, July 11, 2019
    Feast of Benedict of Nursia, Father of Western Monasticism, c.550
Meditation:
    The shepherds are senseless and do not inquire of the LORD; so they do not prosper and all their flock is scattered.
    —Jeremiah 10:21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To be prayerless is to be without God, without Christ, without grace, without hope, and without heaven.
    ... J. C. Ryle (1816-1900), A Call to Prayer, published in the 1850’s as a pamphlet, American Tract Society, 1867, sec. I, p. 6 (see the book)
    See also Jer. 10:21; Ps. 10:4; Jer. 8:9; Isa. 43:22-24; 64:6-7; Zeph. 2:3; John 10:12-13; Rom. 3:10-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, teach us to pray in accordance with Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Calvin: taking care of His own

Wednesday, July 10, 2019
Meditation:
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made,
    their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
    —Psalm 33:6 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Nobody seriously believes the universe was made by God without being persuaded that He takes care of His works.
    ... John Calvin (1509-1564), The Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. I [1559], tr. John Allen, Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1921, I.xvi.1, p. 183 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 33:6,13; 104:27-28; 145:15-16; Jer. 10:12; Matt. 6:26; Luke 12:6-7
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You take care of those I love, Your creatures. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Baillie: praying for the heart

Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Meditation:
    Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden.
    —Galatians 6:1-5 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Give me a stout heart to bear my own burdens. Give me a willing heart to bear the burdens of others. Give me a believing heart to cast all burdens upon Thee, O Lord.
    ... John Baillie (1886-1960) & Donald M. Baillie (1887-1954), A Diary of Private Prayer, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1939, p. 113 (see the book)
    See also Gal. 6:1-5; Ps. 55:22; Matt. 11:29; Acts 5:29; Rom. 15:1; Eph. 3:12; Heb. 4:16; 1 Pet. 2:24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, only You can make me able to bear my burdens. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Martin: Gospel and action

Monday, July 8, 2019
Meditation:
    Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him—to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
    —Romans 16:25-27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Happily for us, the fundamental Christian message concerns not what we ought to do, but what God has done and what God is willing to do. In fellowship with Him and with others who are likewise trying to be like Him, we can be lifted up above our native possibilities.
    ... Hugh Martin (1890-1964)
    See also Rom. 16:25-27; Ps. 66:5; Matt. 13:45-46; Rom. 1:16-17
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, all grace originates with You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Book of Common Prayer: nothing good without Thee

Sunday, July 7, 2019
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)
    See also Isa. 12:2; Gen. 6:5; Ps. 51:5; Isa. 64:6; Matt. 15:17-20; Mark 7:18-23; Rom. 7:18-21; Eph. 2:1-5; 1 Pet. 4:1-2
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your grace has conquered my stubborn heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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