Though he were innocence itself, and knew no sin, yet there was no sin that he knew not, for, all our sins were his. He was not only made man, and by taking (by admitting, though not by committing) our sins, as well as our nature, sinful man; but he was made sin for our sakes.
John Donne: Sermons.
What is Christ's joy in us, but that He deigns to rejoice on our account? And what is our joy, which He says shall be full, but to have fellowship with Him? He had perfect joy on our account, when He rejoiced in the foreknowing, and predestinating us; but that joy was not in us, because then we did not exist: it began to be in us, when He called us. And this joy we rightly call our own, this joy wherewith we shall be blessed; which is begun in the faith of them who are born again, and shall be fulfilled in the reward of them who rise again.
St. Augustine, quoted in Aquinas, Catena Aurea.
The ten Commandments, when written by God on the tables of stone and given to man, did not then first begin to belong to man; they had their existence in man, were born with him, they lay as a seed and power of goodness, hidden in the form and make of his soul and altogether inseperable from it, before they were shown to man on tables of stone. And when they were shown to man on tables of stone, they were only outward imitations of that which was inwardly in man, though not legible because of that impurity of flesh and blood in which they were drowned and swallowed up.
William Law: The Spirit of Love.
Abba John used to say, "We relinquish a light burden when we condemn ourselves, but we take upon ourselves a heavy burden when we justify ourselves."
The Paradise of the Fathers.
Lord, before I commit a sin, it seems to me so shallow that I may wade through it dry-shod from any guiltiness; but when I have committed it, it often seems so deep that I cannot escape without drowning.
Thomas Fuller: Good Thoughts in Bad Times.
Nor do all these, youth out of infancy, or age out of youth, arise so, as a phoenix out of the ashes of another phoenix formerly dead, but as a wasp, or a serpent out of carrion, or as a snake out of dung; our youth is worse than our infancy, and our age worse than our youths; our youth is hungry and thirsty after those sins which our infancy knew not, and our age is sorry and angry that it cannot pursue those sins which our youth did.
John Donne: Sermons.
Many things seem to be good and yet are not, because they be not done with a good mind and intention; and therefore our Saviour saith in the Gospel, If thy eye has naught, all thy body shall be dark. For when the intention is wicked, all the work with followeth is naught, although it seemed to be never so good.
St. Gregory the Great: Dialogues.
[Of the Cross] Its breadth lies in the transverse beam on which the hands of the Crucified are extended; and signifies good works in all the breadth of love: its length extends from the transverse beam to the ground, and is that whereto the back and feet are affixed; and signifies perseverance through the whole length of time to the end: its height is in the summit, which rises upwards above the transverse beam; and signifies the supernal goal, to which all works have reference, since all things that are done well and perseveringly, in respect of their breadth and length, are to be done also with due regard to the exalted character of the divine rewards: its depth is found in the part that is fixed into the ground; for there it is both concealed and invisible, and yet from thence spring up all those parts that are outstanding and evident to the senses; just as all that is good in us proceeds from the depths of the grace of God, which is beyond the reach of human comprehension and judgement.
St. Augustine: On I John.
It is well worth observing that our Saviour's greatest trials were near the end of His process or life—that He then experienced the sharpest part of our redemption. This might sufficiently show us that our first awakenings have carried us but a little way; that we should not then begin to be self-assured of our own salvation, but remember that we stand at a great distance from and in great ignorance of our severest trials.
William Law: Christian Regeneration.
So new, so unheard of, so unexpected in this world is the power of God unto salvation, that it can appear among us, be received and understood by us, only as a contradiction. The Gospel does not expound of recommend itself. It does not negotiate or plead, threaten, or make promises. It withdraws itself always when it is not listened to for its own sake.
Karl Barth: The Epistle to the Romans.
What is God's forgiving sinful man? It is nothing else in its whole nature but God's making him righteous again. There is no other forgiveness of sin but being made free from it. Therefore, the compassionate love of God that forgives sin, is no other than God's love of His own righteousness, for the sake of which and through the love of which He makes man righteous again.
William Law: Letters.
God and the worshipper are adapted to one another, happily, blissfully, as never were lovers adapter to one another. It is now the only wish of the worshipper to become weaker and weaker, for with that the more worship; the only need worship feels is that God may become stronger and stronger.
Søren Kierkegaard: Christian Discourses.
God knew every good work that thou shouldst do, every good thought that thou shouldest think to thy end, before thy beginning, for he of his own goodness imprinted this degree of goodness in thee; but yet assure thyself, that he loves thee in another manner, and another measure, then, when thou comest really to do those good works, than before, or when thou didst only conceive a purpose of doing them: he calls them good when he sees them.
John Donne: Sermons.
It is not always grave suffering that is most likely to help one die to the world. No, that can also give joie de vivre, spiritual joie de vivre. No, the most deadening things of all are worldly hardships, mere trifles.
Søren Kierkegaard: Journals.
The precursor (John the Baptist) confirms Christ as being he who is expected. But . . . that is not a respectful relationship, for in order to confirm something one must oneself be the stronger. It is therefore John the Baptist who sends disciples to Christ in order to ask him whether he is the one who was to come—so that it is Christ who after having answered the disciples ends by confirming John the Baptist, saying he is quite truly the precursor; it is not Christ who confirms himself by the authority of the precursor . . . no, it is he who draws the precursor within the sphere of his authority and by virtue of his authority confirms him as being the genuine precursor. The word of the precursor, that Christ is the expected, is only to be believed after Christ has confirmed the fact that the precursor really is the precursor.
Søren Kierkegaard: Journals.
While Pilate now fainteth in the righteousness that he knoweth and is sure of, and holdeth not on stoutly, as he should, to deliver Christ, God suffereth him still to fall till he come to this point, that he condemneth the innocent to death against his own conscience. Thus goeth it with all those that for the grace of God lent unto them are unthankful and unfaithful in the litte.
Miles Coverdale: Fruitful Lessons on the Passion.
There is nothing which the Lord hates; for He does not hate anything, and yet wish what He hates to exist; nor does He wish anything not to exist, and yet cause the existence of that which He wishes not to exist; nor does that exist which He wishes not to exist. If the Word hates anything, He wishes it not to exist; but nothing exists of which God does not cause the existence; nothing, therefore is hated by God, or by the Word, for both are one, viz. God.
St. Clement: The Paedagogue.
What proportion of relief is due to him, that is thy brother in nature, thy brother in nation, thy brother in religion, if meat and drink, and in that, whatsoever is necessary to his sustenation, be due to thine enemy?
John Donne: Sermons.
Certainly it is heaven upon earth, to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.
Francis Bacon: Essays of Truth.
Our relation to others, even when we name it a relationship of love, is governed by the law that we should render evil for evil. We do not perceive in the other the One—that is, the good which he is not. Rather, we hold him liable for being what he is . . . This making men liable for what they are is to render to them evil for evil . . . It is this failure of apprehension which makes of our whole behaviour and inherent mass of evil. Along this line of evil we all, without exception, move.
Karl Barth: Epistle to the Romans.
If a man be in poverty and suffer need without through lack of worldly goods and therewith he desire with deliberation in his heart within more than he need, that man liveth not in virtuous poverty but in wretched need without reward. For the lust and the will within with full assent thereto sufficeth to the fulfilling of sin and to the love of reward. Wherefore he that would be perfectly poor, he must look that he neither have nor desire more than is needful to his living.
The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ, translated by Nicholas Love.
We have this virtue (patience) in common with God. From him patience begins; from him its glory and dignity take their rise. The origin and greatness of patience proceed from God as its author. Man ought to love the thing which is dear to God; the good which the Divine Majesty loves, it commends.
St. Cyprian: On Patience.
Patience, hard thing! the hard thing but to pray,
But bid for, Patience is! Patience who asks
Wants war, wants wounds; weary his times, his
tasks,
To do without, take losses, and obey.
Rare patience roots in these, and, these away,
Nowhere.
Gerard Hopkins: Poems.
The terror of guilt, or sin, is certainly not at its strongest at first. On the contrary, it is not until some time has passed and there has been some progress in goodness—then, when such a man reads or happens by chance to hear that another man, who was guilty of the same thing, was lost; then terror awakes. At the time of sinning sin has the power of self-preservation in a man, and gives him a certain strength, physical strength, the strength of despair, not to remain with the thought of guilt.
Søren Kierkegaard: Journals.
The free will of man is a true and real birth from the free, eternal, uncreated will of God, which willed to have a creaturely offspring of itself or to see itself in a creaturely state. And therefore the will of man hath the nature of eternity and the nature of omnipotence in it, because it is what it is and hath what it hath as a spark, a ray, a genuine birth of the eternal, free, omnipotent will of God. And therefore, as the will of God is superior to and ruleth over all nature, so the will of man, derived from the will of God, is superior to and ruleth over all his own nature.
William Law: Divine Knowledge.
You do not know who you are, nor do you know whom you love, and above all you have no idea what Our Lord is going to ask of you.
Léon Bloy: Letters to his Fiancée.
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