“God works in a mysterious way in grace as well as in nature, concealing His operations under an imperceptible succession of events, and thus keeps us always in the darkness of faith.”

—  François Fénelon

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 280.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "God works in a mysterious way in grace as well as in nature, concealing His operations under an imperceptible successio…" by François Fénelon?
François Fénelon photo
François Fénelon 43
Catholic bishop 1651–1715

Related quotes

“The grandest operations, both in nature and in grace, are the most silent and imperceptible.”

Richard Cecil (clergyman) (1748–1810) British Evangelical Anglican priest and social reformer

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 318.
Context: The grandest operations, both in nature and in grace, are the most silent and imperceptible. The shallow brook babbles or. its passage, and is heard by every one; but the coming on of the seasons is silent and unseen. The storm rages and alarms; but its fury is soon exhausted, and its effects are partial and soon remedied; but the dew, though gentle and unheard, is immense in quantity, and the very life of large portions of the earth. And these are pictures of the operations of grace in the church and in the soul.

“We have a certainty about God and his ways that leads us to replace the mystery of faith with manageable spiritual formulas.”

Skye Jethani

The Divine Commodity: Discovering A Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity (2009, Zondervan)

“Whoever believes in a God at all, believes in an infinite mystery; and if the existence of God is such an infinite mystery, we can very well expect and afford to have many of His ways mysterious to us.”

Ichabod Spencer (1798–1854) American minister

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 421.

John Ruskin photo

“The infinity of God is not mysterious, it is only unfathomable; not concealed, but incomprehensible; it is a clear infinity, the darkness of the pure unsearchable sea.”

John Ruskin book Modern Painters

Volume II, part III, chapter V (1846).
Modern Painters (1843-1860)

Albert Pike photo

“All the great and beneficent operations of Nature are produced by slow and often imperceptible degrees. The work of destruction and devastation only is violent and rapid.”

Albert Pike book Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry

Source: Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871), Ch. XIX : Grand Pontiff, p. 317

Cecil Frances Alexander photo

“O, lonely tomb in Moab's land,
O, dark Bethpeor's hill,
Speak to these curious hearts of ours,
And teach them to be still!
God hath His mysteries of grace —

Ways that we cannot tell;
He hides them deep, like the secret sleep,

Of him He loved so well.”

Cecil Frances Alexander (1818–1895) British hymn-writer and poet

Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 280.

Julian of Norwich photo

“Here may we see that we have verily of Nature to hate sin, and we have verily of Grace to hate sin. For Nature is all good and fair in itself, and Grace was sent out to save Nature and destroy sin, and bring again fair nature to the blessed point from whence it came: that is God; with more nobleness and worship by the virtuous working of Grace. For it shall be seen afore God by all His Holy in joy without end that Nature hath been assayed in the fire of tribulation and therein hath been found no flaw, no fault. Thus are Nature and Grace of one accord: for Grace is God, as Nature is God: He is two in manner of working and one in love; and neither of these worketh without other: they be not disparted.”

Julian of Norwich (1342–1416) English theologian and anchoress

Summations, Chapter 63

“Here then we see God’s way of success in our work, whatever it may be – a trinity of prayer, faith and patience.”

James O. Fraser (1886–1938) missionary to China, inventor of Tibeto-Burman Nosu alphabet

16 January 1916 Source: Geraldine Taylor. Behind the Ranges: The Life-changing Story of J.O. Fraser. Singapore: OMF International (IHQ) Ltd., 1998, 151.

Karl Barth photo

“At bottom, knowledge of God in faith is always this indirect knowledge of God, knowledge of God in His works, and in these particular works in the determining and using of certain creaturely realities to bear witness to the divine objectivity. What distinguishes faith from unbelief, erroneous faith and superstition is that it is content with this indirect knowledge of God.”

Karl Barth book Church Dogmatics

2:1
Church Dogmatics (1932–1968)

James MacDonald photo

“Doubt is a lack of confidence or assurance that God will keep his promises. Faith is an active confidence that God’s promises are always true.”

James MacDonald (1960) American pastor

Source: Always True (Moody, 2011), p. 56

Related topics