Quotes on Belief

It is in the light of our beliefs about the ultimate nature of reality that we formulate our conception of right and wrong; and it is in the light of our conceptions of right and wrong that we frame our conduct, not only in the relations of private live, but also in the sphere of politics and economics.

To believe means to endure tension questions unsolved.

Before, as I walked about on my hunting, or for viewing the country, the anguish of my soul at my condition would break out upon me on a sudden, and my very heart would die within me to think of the woods, the mountains, the deserts I was in; and how I was a prisoner locked up with the eternal bars and bolts of the ocean, in an uninhabited wilderness, without redemption.
But I began to exercise myself with new thoughts. I daily read the Word of God, and applied all the comforts of it to my present state. One morning, being very sad, I opened the Bible on these words, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee!" Immediately it occurred to me that these words were to me. Why else should they be directed in such a manner, just at the moment when I was mourning over my condition, as one forsaken of God and Man? "Well then," said I, "If God does not forsake me, of what ill consequence can it be, or what matters it that the world should all forsake me, seeing, on the other hand, if I had all the world and should lose the favour and blessing of God, there would be no comparison in the loss?"
I never opened my Bible or shut it, but my very soul within me blessed God for directing my friend in England, without any order of mine, to pack it among my goods, and for assisting me afterwards to save it out of the wreck of the ship.

Whereof one day, when I was in meeting of God’s people, full of sadness and terror (for my fears again were strong upon me) and as I was now thinking, my soul was never the better, but my case most sad and fearful, these words did with great power suddenly break in on me: my grace is sufficient for thee, my grace is sufficient for thee, my grace is sufficient for thee, three times together and oh, methought that every word was a mighty word unto me, as "my" and "grace" and "sufficient" and "for thee". They were then and sometimes still are far bigger than others be.

Holy scripture is a sweet scented herb and the more you rub it the more it emits its fragrance.

I stand with the Quaker, John Woolman in believing that there is more light waiting to break out of His word.

The words of St Paul are not dead words; they are living creatures and have hands and feet.

"In the beginning of the year 1653, I was at the plough in the East part of Old England near the place where my outward being was and as I walked after the plough I was filled with the love and presence of the living God, which did ravish my heart when I felt it, for it did increase and abound in me like a living stream, so did the life and love of God run through me like precious ointment giving a pleasant smell which made me to stand still. And as I stood a little still, with my heart and mind stayed upon the Lord, the word of the Lord came to me in a still small voice, which I did hear perfectly saying to me in the secret of my heart and conscience, "I have ordained thee a prophet unto the nations" and at the hearing of the word of the Lord I was put to a stand, seeing that I was but a child for such a weighty matter." But since disobedience was out of the question, Marmaduke Stevenson put aside his plough

Christ is the stooping down of God, the arm of God on which we can lean; the heart of God of which we can feel the sympathy; the eye of God of which we can bear the glance; the voice of God which is music, melody and peace.

Christ is the stooping down of God, the arm of God on which we can lean; the heart of God of which we can feel the sympathy; the eye of God of which we can bear the glance; the voice of God which is music, melody and peace.

Christ is the stooping down of God, the arm of God on which we can lean; the heart of God of which we can feel the sympathy; the eye of God of which we can bear the glance; the voice of God which is music, melody and peace.

... For from the hour of my birth, to my death on the cross; I was not without suffering or grief. I suffered great want of things temporal. I often heard many complaints. . . etc.
Thomas A Kempis: Imitation of Christ Book 4 (13) page 230

Not the historical Jesus but the spirit which goes forth from him and in the spirits of men strives for new influence and rule, is that which overcomes the world.

Schweitzer also asserts: To me, however, Jesus remains what he was. Not for a single minute have I had to struggle for my conviction that in Him is the supreme spiritual and religious authority.
Albert Schweitzer: The Quest of the Historical Jesus page 401

To one of his officers on his island prison, Napoleon said: " I am a great failure; but Jesus the carpenter of Nazareth is a world conqueror.

If Jesus Christ is a man -
And only a man - I say
That of all mankind I will cleave to him
and to Him I will cvleave alway

If Jesus Christ is a God -
And the only God - I swear
I will follow Him through heaven and hell,
The earth the sea and the air.

Christianity is eternity in the midst of time.
Harnack

Christianity is not primarily demand but fulfilment.

O perfect love, out passing sight,
O love beyond our ken,
Come down through all the world tonight
And heal the hearts of men.
Laurence Housman

The people thronged to Bethlehem
The people came
They came to laugh to talk to stare,
They came to sign the census there;
The people came
I too have come to Bethlehem,
I too have come;
I came a Saviour to adore
Of grace and love he has great store:
I, too, have come.

When God gave music to the world it was not in some theory of counterpoint and harmony; he dressed a song in feathers and sat it on a tree.
When God gave love to the world it was not in some thesis on the emotions; he implanted it in a mother’s heart.
When God gave himself to the world it was not in some new piece of theology. He wrapped a babe in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.
‘Let us go, even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass.’

The ultimate criterion to distinguish a false or moribund church from a true and living church is the power of Jesus Christ himself. John Mackay God’s Order Page 160

‘Sire, it is in truth the lot of the Church of God, in whose name I speak, to suffer blows and not to return them. Yet I also take leave to remind you that she is an anvil which has employed many hammers.’

Addressed by Beza to the King of Navarre after the massacre of Vassey.

The Church is the fellowship of the dead to themselves and alive for Christ.

Wherever we see the word of God sincerely preached and heard, wherever we see the sacraments administered according to the institution of Christ, there we cannot have any doubt that the Church of God has some existence, since his promise cannot fail, ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst.’
Calvin: Institution IV 1.9 L Newbiggin: The Household of God page 49

The Church is her true self only when she exists for humanity.

St. Augustine, somewhere, has a phrase about the church of his day, as, like a frost bound tree, seeming dead, but waiting for the summer. Sacred Trinity had every sign of being dead but waiting for nothing.

The Church is nothing but a section of humanity in which Christ has really taken form.

… In Him
The Holy Ghost
Is a poor little bird
In a cage
Who never sings
And never opens his wings,
Yet never, never
Desires to be gone away.

When Portuguese traders, following the trail of the great explorer, Vasco da Gama, settled on the south coast of China, they built a massive cathedral on a hillcrest overlooking the harbour. But a violent typhoon proved too severe, and three centuries ago the great building fell, all except the front wall. The ponderous façade has stood as an enduring monument while high on its triangular top, clean cut against the sky and defying rain, lightning and typhoon is a great bronze cross. When Sir John Bowring, then governor of Hong Kong visited Macao in 1825 he was so impressed with the scene that he wrote the hymn beginning
In the cross of Christ I glory
Towering o’er the wrecks of time
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.
The buildings of the ancient cathedral are forgotten but the cross they reared in memory of the crucified remains. China has seen stupendous changes. Old institutions have crumbled and dynasties disappeared. But the cross still stands.
S. W. Zwemer: from World Christian Digest April 1952