“For they the mind of Christ discern
Who lean, like John, upon His breast.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 399
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 362.
“For they the mind of Christ discern
Who lean, like John, upon His breast.”
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 399
“The last business of Christ's life was the saving of a poor penitent thief.”
Dwight L. Moody (1837–1899) American evangelist and publisher
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 73.
“Welcome, welcome, cross of Christ, if Christ be with it.”
Samuel Rutherford (1600–1661) Scottish Reformed theologian
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 171.
Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher
Voltaire's account of his conversations with Andrew Pit
The History of the Quakers (1762)
Context: I opened with that which good Catholics have more than once made to Huguenots. "My dear sir," said I, "were you ever baptized?" "No, friend," replied the Quaker, "nor any of my brethren." "Zounds!" said I to him, "you are not Christians then!" "Friend," replied the old man, in a soft tone of voice, "do not swear; we are Christians, but we do not think that sprinkling a few drops of water on a child's head makes him a Christian." "My God!" exclaimed I, shocked at his impiety, "have you then forgotten that Christ was baptized by St. John?" "Friend," replied the mild Quaker, "once again, do not swear. Christ was baptized by John, but He Himself never baptized any one; now we profess ourselves disciples of Christ, and not of John." "Mercy on us," cried I, "what a fine subject you would be for the holy inquisitor! In the name of God, my good old man, let me baptize you."
“The cross is suffering with Christ.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi
Source: Discipleship (1937), Discipleship and the Cross, p. 86.
Context: The cross is not random suffering, but necessary suffering. The cross is not suffering that stems from natural existence; it is the suffering that comes from being Christian. … A Christianity that no longer took discipleship seriously remade the gospel into only the solace of cheap grace. Moreover, it drew no line between natural and Christian existence. Such a Christianity had to understand the cross as one's daily misfortune, as the predicament and anxiety of our daily life. Here it has been forgotten that the cross also means being rejected, that the cross includes the shame of suffering. Being shunned, despised, and deserted by people, as in the psalmists unending lament, is an essential feature of the suffering of the cross, which cannot be comprehended by a Christianity that is unable to differentiate between a citizen's ordinary existence and a Christian existence. The cross is suffering with Christ.
Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) English clergyman, historian and novelist
Source: Attributed, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 171.
John Calvin (1509–1564) French Protestant reformer
Page 48.
Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life (1551)
“Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self.”
Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) Catholic saint and founder of the Franciscan Order