"There are no songs comparable to the songs of Zion; no orations equal to those of the prophets; and no politics like those which the Scriptures teach." John Milton

"IT IS good for us to have trials and troubles at times, for they often remind us that we are on probation and ought not to hope in any worldly thing. It is good for us sometimes to suffer contradiction, to be misjudged by men even though we do well and mean well. These things help us to be humble and shield us from vainglory. When to all outward appearances men give us no credit, when they do not think well of us, then we are more inclined to seek God Who sees our hearts. Therefore, a man ought to root himself so firmly in God that he will not need the consolations of men." Thomas a kempis

“Summing all up in one, only Christ can make any life, young or old, truly beautiful or truly happy. Only he can cure the heart’s restless fever and give quietness and calmness. Only he can purify that sinful fountain within us, our corrupt nature, and make us holy. To have a peaceful and blessed ending to life, we must live it with Christ.”

It is possible to live so as to make old age very sad, and then it is possible to live so as to make it very beautiful

Jacques Ellul comments: You may consider yourself autonomous, but you are incapable of knowing what should be done, incapable of knowing what wisdom is. You are a creature. . . . Our problems do not stem from our failure to stay in our garden. . . . All the evils, and I choose my words carefully, all the evils of the world stem from our taking ourselves to be the Creator.

In his two-volume biography of John Stott, Timothy Dudley-Smith records the words of one of Stott’s study assistants who worked with him closely: Every afternoon at 4.30 pm I bring Uncle John a cup of coffee. As soon as I set the cup on his desk, he almost always says, somewhat playfully, “I’m not worthy,” usually without moving his bowed head from his papers. One afternoon last week I felt that it was particularly silly for him to equate worthiness with a cup of coffee. When he said, “I’m not worthy,” I responded, “Sure you are.” After a few moments he said, “You haven’t got your theology of grace right.” I said back, “It’s only a cup of coffee, Uncle John.” As I went into his kitchen and began putting things away, I heard him mutter, still with his head bowed to his papers, “It’s just the thin end of the wedge.” When we are not grateful for the little things, it is only a very short step to no longer being grateful for anything. When we do not enjoy and savor and love and laugh and delight in the little things, then we are heading toward losing our delight in anything.

“Human beings are supposed to enjoy life to the full because that is their divinely assigned portion, and God calls one into account for failure to enjoy. . . . Enjoyment is not only permitted, it is commanded; it is not only an opportunity, it is a divine imperative.”

“You can stop your heart being corrupted by going to the funeral home and listening to death’s sermon about money. Extra cash? What are you going to do with it? You could always use it to line the walls of your coffin.”