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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.
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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.
[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.
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 or 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 shouldest 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.
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 little.
Miles Coverdale: Fruitful Lessons on the Passion.
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