And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: that disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest.
But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door and brought in Peter.
John 18:15-16
Love does the work of all other graces without any instrument but its own immediate virtue. For as the love to sin makes a man sin against all his own reason, and all the discourses of wisdom, and all the advices of his friends, and without temptation, and without opportunity, so does the love of God; it makes a man chaste without the laborious arts of fasting and exterior disciplines, temperate in the midst of feasts, and is active enough to choose it without any intermedial appetites, and reaches at glory through the very heart of grace, without any other arms but those of love.
Jeremy Taylor: Holy Living.
Give peace, that is, continue and preserve it; give peace, that is, give us hearts worthy of it, and thankful for it. In our time, that is, all our time: for there is more besides a fair morning required to make a fair day.
Thomas Fuller: Good Thoughts in Bad Times.
In suffering and tribulation there are really certain situations in which, humanly speaking, the thought of God and that he is nevertheless love, makes the suffering far more exhausting . . . For either one suffers at the thought that God the all-powerful, who could so easily help, leaves one helpless, or else one suffers because one's reason is crucified by the thought that God is love all the same and that what happens to one is for one's good . . . The further effort which the idea of God demands of us is to have to understand that suffering must not only be borne but that it is good, a gift of the God of love.
Søren Kierkegaard: Journals.
He who did not suffer as the man suffers upon whom hardships and adversity suddenly fall but who has before him every instant the possibility that everything nevertheless might be redressed—for He knew that it was inevitable; He who knew that with every new sacrifice He made in behalf of the truth He was hastening His persecution and destruction, so that He had control of His fate, could ensure for Himself the splendour of royal power and the devout admiration of the race if He would let go of the truth, but knew also with even greater certainty that He would ensure His destruction, if (oh, eternally certain way to destruction!) He were in any respect to desert the truth—how did he manage to live without anxiety for the next day? . . . He had Eternity with Him in the day that is called to-day, hence the next day had no power over Him, it had no existence for Him. It had no power over Him before it came, and when it came, and was the day that is called to-day it had no power over Him than that which was the Father's will, to which He had consented with eternal freedom, and to which He obediently bowed.
Søren Kierkegaard: Christian Discourses.
Some men the fiend will deceive in this manner full wonderfully. He will enflame their brains to maintain God's law, and to destroy sin in all other men. He will never tempt them with a thing that is openly evil. All men will they reprove of their faults right as though they had a cure of their souls: and yet they think that they dare not else for God but tell them their faults that they see. And they say that they be stirred thereto by the fire of charity, and of God's love in their hearts; and truly they lie, for it is with the fire of hell, welling up in their brains and in their imagination.
The Cloud of Unknowing.
When the devil leaves any one he watches his time for return, and having taken it, he leads him into a second sin . . . Something like this took place in Judas, who after his repentance did not preserve his own heart, but received that more abundant sorrow supplied to him by the devil, who sought to swallow him up . . . But had he desired and looked for place and time for repentance, he would perhaps have found him who has said, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Or perhaps he desired to die before his Master on his way to death, and to meet him with a disembodied spirit that by confession and deprecation he might obtain mercy; and did not see that it is not fitting that a servant of God should dismiss himself from life, but should wait God's sentence.
Origen, quoted by St. Thomas Aquinas: Catena Aurea.
In the midst of my morning prayers I had a good meditation, which since I have forgotten. Thus much I remember of it—that it was pious in itself, but not proper for that time; for it took much from my devotion, and added nothing to my instruction; and my soul, not able to intend two things at once, abated of its fervency in praying. Thus snatching at two employments, I held neither well.
Thomas Fuller: Good Thoughts in Bad Times.
How easy is pen and paper piety, for one to write religiously? I will not say it costeth nothing, but it is far cheaper to work one's head than one's heart to goodness. Some, perchance, may guess me to be good by my writings, and so I shall deceive my reader. But if I do not desire to be good, I most of all deceive myself. I can make an hundred meditations sooner than subdue the least sin in my soul.
Thomas Fuller: Good Thoughts in Bad Times.
Repentance is but a kind of table-talk, till we see so much of the deformity of our inward nature as to be in some degree frightened and terrified at the sight of it . . . A plausible form of an outward life, that has only learned rules and modes of religion by use and custom, often keeps the soul for some time at ease, though all its inward root and ground of sin has never been shaken or molested, though it has never tasted of the bitter waters of repentance and has only known the want of a Saviour by hearsay. But things cannot pass thus: sooner or later repentance must have a broken and a contrite heart; we must with our blessed lord go over the brook Cedron, and with Him sweat great drops of sorrow before He can say for us, as He said for Himself: "It is finished."
William Law: Christian Regeneration.
This is the light of bare reason or the reasoning faculty of the mind has no contrariety to the vices of the heart; it neither kills them nor is killed by them. As pride, vanity, hypocrisy, envy or malice don't take away from the mind its geometrical skill, so a man may be most mathematical in his demonstrations of the religion of reason when he has extinguished every good sentiment of his heart, and be the most zealous for its excellency and sufficiency when he has his passions in the most disordered state.
William Law: A Demonstration.
The word 'humanity' means unredeemed men and women; the word 'history' implies limitation and corruption; the pronoun 'I' spells judgement. Neither forwards nor backwards can we escape from this narrow gorge. There is therefore no alternative for us but to remain under the indictment; and only he who remains here without making any attempt to escape, even by spinning sophistries of human logic is able to praise God in His faithfulness.
Karl Barth: The Epistle to the Romans.
Since all sickness and corruption did fall to the flesh when the soul fell from this work, therefore shall all health come to the flesh when the soul by the grace of Jesu—the which is the chief worker—riseth to the same work again. And this shalt thou hope only to have by the mercy of Jesu and thy lovely consent. And therefore I pray thee with Solomon here in this passage that thou stand stoutly in this work, ever more bearing up unto him thy lovely consent in gladness of love.
The Epistle of Privy Counsel.
As I do no good action here, merely for the interpretation of good men, though that be one good and justifiable reason of my good actions: so I must do nothing for my salvation hereafter, merely for the love I bear to mine own soul, though that also be one good and justifiable reason of that action; but the primary reason in both, as well as the actions that establish a good name, as the actions that establish eternal life, must be the glory of God.
John Donne: Sermons.
Do not build towers without a foundation, for our Lord does not care so much for the importance of our works as for the love with which they are done. When we do all we can, His Majesty will enable us to do more every day.
St. Teresa of Avila: The Interior Castle.
Thou canst not stand still, because thou livest in the perpetual workings of temporal and eternal nature; if thou workest not with the good, the evil that is in nature carries thee along with it: thou hast the height and depth of eternity in thee, and therefore be doing what thou wilt, either in the closet, the field, the shop or the church, thou art sowing that which grows, and must be reaped in eternity. Nothing of thine can vanish away, but every thought, motion, and desire of thy heart has its effect either in the height of Heaven or the depth of hell: and as time is upon the wing, to put an end to the strife of good and evil, and bring about the last great separation of all things into their eternal state, with such speed art thou making haste either to be wholly an angel, or wholly a devil.
William Law: An Appeal.
In the beginning truly of my conversion and singular purpose, I thought I would be like the little bird that for love of her lover longs, but in her longing she is gladdened when he comes that she loves. And joying she sings, and singing she longs, but in sweetness and heat. It is said the nightingale to song and melody all night is given, that she may please him to whom she is joined. How muckle more with greatest sweetness to Christ my Jesu should I sing, that is spouse of my soul by all this present life, that is night in regard of clearness to come.
Richard Rolle: Fire of Love.
Happy then that soul, who in the lucid intervals of a wounded conscience can praise God for the same. Music is sweetest near, or over rivers, where the echo thereof is best resounded by the water. Praise for pensiveness, thanks for tears, and blessing God over the floods of affliction, makes the most melodious music in the ear of heaven.
Thomas Fuller: A Wounded Conscience.
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