A life devoted unto God, looking wholly unto Him in all our
actions, and doing all things suitably to His glory, is so far
from being dull and uncomfortable, that it creates new comforts
in everything that we do.
... William Law (1686-1761)

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As the great test of medical practice is that it heals the
patient, so the great test of preaching is that it converts and
builds up the hearers.
... Herman L. Wayland (1830-1898)

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Jeremiah refutes the popular, modern notion that the end of
religion is an integrated personality, freed of its fears, its
doubts, and its frustrations. Certainly Jeremiah was no
integrated personality. It is doubtful if... he ever knew the
meaning of the word "peace". We have no evidence that his
internal struggle was ever ended, although the passing years no
doubt brought an increasing acceptance of destiny. Jeremiah,
if his "confessions" are any index, needed a course in pastoral
psychiatry in the very worst way... The feeling cannot be
escaped that if Jeremiah had been integrated, it would have
been at the cost of ceasing to be Jeremiah! A man at peace
simply could not be a Jeremiah. Spiritual health is good;
mental assurance is good; but the summons of faith is neither
to an integrated personality nor to the laying-by of all
questions, but to the dedication of personality -- with all its
fears and questions -- to its duty and destiny under God.
... John Bright, The Kingdom of God [1955]

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It is common to hear churchmen speak as though they did not
really regard Christian unity as a serious question this side
of the End. This is a disastrous illusion. Christians cannot
behave as though time were unreal. God gives us time, but not
an infinite amount of time. It is His purpose that the Gospel
should be preached to all nations, and that all men should be
brought into one family in Jesus Christ. His purpose looks to
a real End, and therefore requires of us real decisions. If we
misconstrue His patience, and think that there is an infinity
of time for debate while we perpetuate before the world the
scandal of our dismemberment of the Body of Christ, we deceive
ourselves. In an issue regarding the doing of the will of God
there is no final neutrality.
... Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998),
The Reunion of the Church [1960]

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Newton, Pascal, Bossuet, Racine, Fénelon -- that is to say,
some of the most enlightened men on earth, in the most
philosophical of all ages -- have been believers in Jesus
Christ; and the great Condé, when dying, repeated these noble
words, "Yes, I shall see God as He is, face to face!"
... Luc de Clapier, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747)

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As the wife of a state Supreme Court justice in Arkansas
put it, "My husband has been a Methodist all his life, but if
it comes to choosing between being a Methodist and an American,
he'll be an American every time." But this was not the issue,
quite. In this case the choice was between being a good
Methodist and a good American, and being a tribal religionist.
But the theological problem of churches without discipline
comes into stark outline in the quotation. Inadequately
trained for membership, admitted without preparatory training,
without the proper instruments of voluntary discipline, many
members have never had the discontinuity between life in Christ
and life in the world brought home to them. Here the ordinary
members are less at fault than the leadership of the churches,
who -- though sworn to uphold the form of sound words and
doctrine -- neglect catechetical instruction and concentrate
solely on the acquisition of more new members at any price.
... Franklin H. Littell (1917- ),
From State Church to Pluralism [1962]

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How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the
young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and
tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will
have
been all of these.

George Washington Carver
(1864-1943, American Scientist)

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The mountain remains unmoved at seeming defeat by the mist.

Rabindranath Tagore
((1861-1941) Bengali poet, novelist, composer.)

=====================================
The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the
greatest of things without it.

Carl Jung
(1875-1961, Swiss Psychiatrist)

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Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your
own reputation for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company.

George Washington
(1732-1799, First President of the USA)

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Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know
that everything in this life has a purpose.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
(1926-, Swiss-born American Psychiatrist)

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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are
always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.

Bertrand Russell
(1872-1970, British Philosopher, Mathematician, Essayist)

============================================
Alexander Mclaren said, "You tell me the depth of a christian's compassion, and i will tell

you the measure of his usefulness".
C. H. Spurgeon said, "Winners of souls must first be weepers of souls".


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the
lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny
ripple of hope.

Robert F. Kennedy
(1925-1968, American Attorney General, Senator)

============================================

Each of us comes into life with fists closed, set for
aggressiveness and acquisition. But when we abandon life our hands are
open; there is nothing on earth that we need, nothing the soul can take
with it.

Fulton J. Sheen
(1895-1979)

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Don't be content with doing only your duty. Do more than your
duty. It's the horse that finishes a neck ahead wins the race.

Andrew Carnegie
(1835-1919, American Industrialist, Philanthropist)

============================================
Continue to love each other with true brotherly love. Don't
forget to be kind to strangers, for some who have done this have
entertained angels without realizing it!

Bible, Hebrews 13:1
============================================

Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to
achievement. One fails forward toward success.

Charles F. Kettering
(1876-1958, American Engineer, Inventor)

============================================
The most perfect way of seeking God, and the most suitable
order, is not for us to attempt with bold curiosity to
penetrate to the investigation of His essence, which we ought
more to adore than meticulously to search out, but for us to
contemplate Him in His works, whereby He renders Himself near
and familiar to us, and in some manner communicates Himself.
... John Calvin (1509-1564)

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Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to
delight in whatever sunlight remains to them?

Rose F. Kennedy
(1890-1995, Mother of President John F. Kennedy)

============================================


Be generous! Give to those you love; give to those who love you;
give to the fortunate; give to the unfortunate - yes, give especially
to those you don't want to give. You will receive abundance for your
giving. The more you give, the more you will have!

W. Clement Stone
(1902-, American Businessman, Author)

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As we advanced in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in
fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is
developed.

Vincent van Gogh
(1853-1890, Dutch Painter)

============================================
A human being is happiest and most successful when dedicated to a
cause outside his own individual, selfish satisfaction.

Benjamin Spock
(1903-, American Pediatrician)

============================================
Perfection does not consist in the knowledge of God's
order, but in submission to it. The order of God, the good
pleasure of God, the will of God, the action of God, grace --
all these are one and the same thing in this life. Perfection
is nothing else than the faithful cooperation of the soul with
the work of God. This ultimate purpose of our life grows and
increases in our souls secretly and without our knowledge.
... J. P. de Caussade (1675-1751), Abandonment

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All the gold in the world has no significance. That which is
lasting are the thoughtful acts which we do for our fellow man.

Adolfo Prieto
(1867-1945, Humanitarian)

============================================
I will tell you what to hate: hate hypocrisy, hate cant,
hate intolerance, oppression, injustice; hate pharisaism. Hate
them as Christ hated them, with a deep, living, godlike hatred.
... F. W. Robertson

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Adversity not only draws people together but brings forth that
beautiful inward friendship, just as the cold winter forms ice-figures
on the window panes which the warmth of the sun effaces.

Soren Kierkegaard
============================================
Humiliation is the beginning of sanctification; and as
without this, without holiness, no man shall see God, though he
pore whole nights upon his Bible; so without that, without
humility, no man shall hear God speak to his soul, though he
hear three two-hour sermons every day.
... John Donne (1573-1631)

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Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is?

Frank Scully
============================================
He has great tranquillity of heart who cares neither for
the praises nor the fault-finding of men. He will easily be
content and pacified, whose conscience is pure. You are not
holier if you are praised, nor the more worthless if you are
found fault with. What you are, that you are; neither by word
can you be made greater than what you are in the sight of God.
... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471),
Of the Imitation of Christ [1418]

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Power consists in one's capacity to link his will with the
purpose of others, to lead by reason and a gift of cooperation.

Woodrow T. Wilson
(1856-1924, Twenty-eighth President of the USA)

============================================

All theological language is necessarily analogical, but it
was singularly unfortunate that the Church, in speaking of
punishment for sin, should have chosen the analogy of criminal
law, for the analogy is incompatible with the Christian belief
in God as the creator of Man. Criminal laws are laws, imposed
on men, who are already in existence, with or without their
consent, and, with the possible exception of capital punishment
for murder, there is no logical relation between the nature of
a crime and the penalty inflicted for committing it. If God
created man, then the laws of man's spiritual nature must, like
the laws of his physical nature, be laws -- laws, that is to
say, which he is free to defy but no more free to break than he
can break the law of gravity by jumping out of the window, or
the laws of biochemistry by getting drunk -- and the
consequences of defying them must be as inevitable and as
intrinsically related to their nature as a broken leg or a
hangover. To state spiritual laws in the imperative -- Thou
shalt love God with all thy being, Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself -- is simply a pedagogical technique, as when a
mother says to her small son, "Stay away from the window!"
because the child does not yet know what will happen if he
falls out of it.
... W. H. Auden (1907-1973), A Certain World [1971]

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