Taylor: the Witness

Saturday, August 13, 2022
    Feast of Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Down & Connor, Priest, Teacher, 1667
    Commemoration of Florence Nightingale, Social Reformer, 1910
    Commemoration of Octavia Hill, Worker for the Poor, 1912
Meditation:
    Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
    —1 Corinthians 4:5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    He that remembers that God stands a witness and a judge beholding every secrecy, besides his impiety must have put on impudence, if he be not much restrained in his temptation to sin.
    ... 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. 25 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 4:5; Ps. 139:7-8; Matt. 10:26; Mark 4:22
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, never let me forget Your presence. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Underhill: words a medium for God

Friday, August 12, 2022
Meditation:
    All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
    —Luke 4:22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Words are merely carriers of the secret, supernatural communications, the light and call of God. That is why spiritual books bear such different meanings for different types and qualities of soul, why each time we read them they give us something fresh, as we can bear it.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), The Light of Christ, New York: Longmans, Green, 1949, p. 56 (see the book)
    See also Luke 4:22; Matt. 7:28-29; Luke 21:15; 1 Cor. 14:9; Heb. 4:12-13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, let fresh truths break out before me as I read Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Newman: denial of Providence

Thursday, August 11, 2022
    Feast of Clare of Assisi, Founder of the Order of Minoresses (Poor Clares), 1253
    Commemoration of John Henry Newman, Priest, Teacher, Tractarian, 1890
Meditation:
    In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
    —2 Timothy 2:20-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Men do not like to hear of the interposition of Providence in the affairs of the world; and they invidiously ascribe ability and skill to His agents, to escape the thought of an Infinite Wisdom and an Almighty power. They will be unjust to their brethren, lest they must be just to Him.
    ... John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), Sermons, Bearing on Subjects of the Day, London: J. G. F. & J. Rivington, 1844, p. 347 (see the book)
    See also 2 Tim. 2:20-21; Isa. 29:16; 64:8; Rom. 9:21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we are Your instruments. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Owen: the goodness of God

Wednesday, August 10, 2022
    Feast of Lawrence, Deacon at Rome, Martyr, 258
Meditation:
    Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
    —1 John 3:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is no property of God more celebrated in the Scripture than this of his goodness, and his giving out of the fruits of it to all his creatures. And he is so only good, that there is nothing so in any sense but by a participation of it, and a likeness unto him therein. They, therefore, who are like unto God, and they only, are useful in this world.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), V.1 in A Discourse Concerning Holy Spirit, bk. I-V [1674], in Works of John Owen, v. III, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 583 (see the book)
    See also 1 John 3:2; Ps. 136:1; 2 Cor. 3:18; 2 Tim. 2:20-21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I long to see You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: coming out of his sins

Tuesday, August 9, 2022
    Feast of Mary Sumner, Founder of the Mothers’ Union, 1921
Meditation:
    Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
    “No one, sir,” she said.
    “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
    —John 8:10-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I believe that no man is ever condemned for any sin except one—that he will not leave his sins and come out of them, and be the child of him who is his father.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “Justice”, in Unspoken Sermons, Third Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1889, p. 154-155 (see the book)
    See also John 8:3-11; Neh. 9:28; Pr. 28:13; Luke 5:32; John 5:14; Rom. 5:20-21; 1 Pet. 4:3-5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I abandon my sins. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: shadows of glory

Monday, August 8, 2022
    Feast of Dominic, Priest, Founder of the Order of Preachers, 1221
Meditation:
    No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
    —Revelation 22:3-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The faint, far-off results of those energies which God’s creative rapture implanted in matter when He made the worlds are what we now call physical pleasures; and even thus filtered, they are too much for our present management. What would it be to taste at the fountain-head that stream of which even these lower reaches prove so intoxicating? Yet that, I believe, is what lies before us... As St. Augustine said, the rapture of the saved soul will “flow over” into the glorified body. In the light of our present specialized and depraved appetites, we cannot imagine this [torrent of pleasure], and I warn everyone most seriously not to try. But it must be mentioned, to drive out thoughts even more misleading—thoughts that what is saved is a mere ghost, or that the risen body lives in numb insensibility. The body was made for the Lord, and these dismal fancies are wide of the mark.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), The Weight of Glory, and other addresses, Macmillan Co., 1949, p. 14 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 22:1-5; Ps. 8:3-8; Isa. 60:1-3; Col. 3:4; Heb. 1:3; 2:10
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have promised us glory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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John of Damascus: Let us rise in early morning

Sunday, August 7, 2022
    Commemoration of John Mason Neale, Priest, Poet, 1866
Meditation:
    We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
    —Romans 8:22-23 (NIV)
Quotation:
Let us rise in early morning,
    And, instead of ointments, bring
Hymns of praises to our Master,
    And His Resurrection sing:
We shall see the Sun of Justice
    Risen with healing on His wing.

Thy unbounded loving-kindness,
    They that groaned in Hades’ chain,
Prisoners, from afar beholding,
    Hasten to the light again;
And to that eternal Pascha
    Wove the dance and raised the strain.

Go ye forth, His Saints, to meet Him!
    Go with lamps in every hand!
From the sepulchre He riseth:
    Ready for the Bridegroom stand:
And the Pascha of salvation
    Hail, with His triumphant band.
    ... John of Damascus (c.676-749) & John Mason Neale (1818-1866), Hymns of the Eastern Church, London: J. T. Hayes, 1870, p. 100 (see the book)
    See also Rom. 8:22-23; Ps. 5:3; 59:16; Ps. 90:14; Rom. 6:9-10; 2 Cor. 13:4; Rev. 1:17-18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people join the celebration of Your victory.

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