Revery

“ Are we to be told, that though we [are] to worship no god but the good and true God, yet we are to pay reverence, which is human worship, to wicked men, provided they be great men, and to honour the false servants of the true God, whom they dishonour? Or, that any sort of men can be his servants or deputies in any sense, but a good and sanctified sense? ”

“ You are reverent, we may say to the man who regards philosophic criticism as a dangerous trifling with stupendous truths; you are reverent, but what do you reverence? Have a care lest what you reverence shall turn out to be your own vague and confused notions, and not the real divine Truth at all. Take heed lest your object of worship be only your own little pet infinite, that is sublime to you mainly because it is yours, and that is in truth about as divine and infinite as your hat. ”

“ If we reverence men for their power alone, why do we not reverence the Devil, who has so much more power than men? But if reverence be due only to virtuous qualities and useful actions, it is as ridiculous and superstitious to adore great mischievous men, or unholy men with holy names, as it is to worship a false god, or Satan in the stead of God. ”

“ Reverend and dear Sir, how do you? Are you yet God’s mouth to the people? Surely if the prayers of faith keep me alive, the prayers of faith must open your mouth, and constrain you in preaching to shew forth your glorious Redeemer’s praise. All things are possible with God.
Blest is faith, that trusts his power;
Blest are saints, that wait his hour;
Haste, great Conqueror, bring it near,
Let the wish’d-for thing appear.
But you do not like that I should write about yourself? Will you then permit me to tell you, that in spite of all my corruptions, Jesus still continues to bless unworthy me. ”

“ I desire with my whole heart to bewail my sins as they deserve. But the grace of contrition must be thy gift. Bestow it on me then in thy mercy; I beg it through the merits of thy most precious blood and wounds; and since thou wiliest not the death of a sinner, but that he be converted and live, convert me, my God, and I shall be truly converted. ”

“ Whether you have originated them, which is unlikely, or have accepted somebody else’s ideals, makes no difference. They are your ideals just so far as you accept them. The priest is reverend only so far as you reverence him. If you cease to reverence him, he is no longer reverend for you. You have power to make and unmake priests as easily as you can make and unmake gods. You are the one of whom the poet tells, who stands unmoved, though the universe falls in fragments about you. ”

“ Your humble servant in your commands with all reverence!
Most reverend fathers in Christ, who bear the likeness of the apostles: whereas you have been placed as chief luminaries to enlighten each quarter of the world, and whereas you have been placed in authority to take away the world’s crimes, to deliver souls from Satan’s jaws, and in Christ’s name to help the oppressed, I humbly flee to your protection, most reverend fathers, and fall at your feet. ”

“ We owe adoring reverence to Him everywhere, and we recollect it. Let us reiterate the fact; ours is a hallowed life, for it belongs to a divine Master; it is a reverent life, for that Master in His greatness is to us an abiding Presence. ”

“ Note, What is holy is reverend; the angels have an eye to God's holiness when they cover their faces before him, and nothing is more man's honour than his sanctification. It is in his holy places that God appears most terrible, Ps. lxviii. 35; Lev. x. 3. 2. Because the dictates of religion tend so much to man's happiness. We have reason to praise God that the matter is so well contrived that our reverence of him and obedience to him are as much our interest as they are our duty. (1.) Our reverence of him is so: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. ”

“ This Church has at its head a prophet, seer, and revelator, who gives to man God's holy will. Revelation is the means through which the will of God is declared directly and in fullness to man. These revelations are got through dreams of sleep or in waking visions of the mind, by voices without visional appearance, or by actual manifestations of the Holy Presence before the eye. We believe that God has come in person and spoken to our prophet and revelator. ”

“ The words of a hundred saints echoed in his consciousness—and out of them all came this command:
Make men to know that this which has come to you, will come to them. The few have gone before you, but the many have not ascended so far. ”

“ It is impudence and imposture to demand singular and vast respect to small and common things. Superior virtue and capacity, publick actions and services done to mankind; a generous and benevolent heart, and greatness of mind, are the true objects and sources of reverence. But to claim reverence to prating, to cuts, and colours, and postures, is stupid, ridiculous and saucy. ”

“ The sentiment of reverence, awe of the Divine,—a conviction of the reality of God and an invisible world,—and the beginning of that great experiment by which man learns practically that God is his father. ”

“ The reverence to be shown in prayer.—When we have any request to make of powerful persons, we proffer it humbly and reverently; with how much greater humility and devotion, then, should we offer our supplications unto God, the Lord of all. We should realize, too, that we are not heard for our much speaking, but for the purity and the contrition of our hearts. ”

“ Happy are those sinners who by the sincerity and fervor of their repentance will have at the last day their Judge, Redeemer, and God, for their advocate and patron! The first and most important grace which the Church teaches us in her litany most earnestly to ask of God is, that He vouchsafe, in his mercy, to bring us to this true penance.
Mercy is the property and the favorite attribute of our divine Redeemer; and tinder is not so soon kindled by fire when applied to it, as the divine mercy blots out all sin when it is implored with a heart full of confusion and truly penitent. ”

“ Tells to all he meets, his crosse:
He that sinnes, hath he no losse?
He that findes a silver vein,
Thinks on it, and thinks again:
Brings thy Saviours death no gain?
Who in heart not ever kneels,
Neither sinne nor Saviour feels. ”

“ The Credents had first of all to make their confession in these words : " We confess our sins before God and you, and before the ordinances of Holy Church, that we may receive pardon and penance for all sins in thought and word and deed, and for all offences in the sight of the Father, the Son and the honoured Holy Spirit and of the honoured holy Apostles, by prayer and faith and by the salvation of all the loyal glorious Christians and blessed ancestors asleep and the brethren here present, and before you, holy Lord, that you may pardon all that in which we have sinned. ”

“ Reader, hast thou repented of thy sin? for often hast thou sinned after the similitude of thy ancestor's transgression. Hast thou sought and found redemption in the blood of the Lamb? Art thou saved from a disposition which led thy first parents to transgress? Art thou living a life of dependence on thy Creator, and of faith and loving obedience to him who died for thee? Wilt thou live under the curse, and die eternally? ”

“ Baptize the people, if they will repent, after you have taught them to believe in me, their eternal King and great High Priest, who rose from the dead, and ascended up on high in your presence, to reign in heaven, and eventually upon the earth. ”

“ But blessed be God, who hath given me the victory over sin, and over death, through our Lord Jesus Christ.—Surely God’s mercies are unbounded: they extend to the chief of sinners: for since the grace of God hath reached me, what room is there for the vilest sinner to despair of pardon? ”

“ Came ye for this end, that ye might tell us, or came ye to pay your vows unto God? And they say: To pay our vows unto God. The elders and the chief priests and the Levites say unto them: If ye came to pay your vows unto God, to what purpose is this idle tale which ye have babbled before all the people? Phinees the priest and Addas the teacher and Aggaeus the Levite say unto the rulers of the synagogue and priests and Levites: If these words which ye have spoken and seen be sin, lo, we are before you: do unto us as seemeth good in your eyes. ”

“ He replied with a contemptuous smile, 'No, every man is safe in his own religion.' I asked him, 'What sinners must do to obtain pardon?' 'Repent,' said he. I asked, 'Would repentance satisfy a creditor or a judge?' 'Why, is it not said in the gospel,' rejoined he, 'that we must repent?' I replied, 'It cannot be proved from the gospel that repentance alone is sufficient, or good works, or both.' 'Where then is the glory of salvation?' he said ”

“ HOLY, sacred, devoted or set apart for religious worship or observance; a term characteristic of the attributes of perfection and sinlessness of the Persons of the Trinity, as the objects of human worship and reverence, and hence transferred to those human persons who, either by their devotion to a spiritual ascetic life or by their approximation to moral perfection, are considered worthy of reverence. ”

“ Outward reverence at all times, Lord, is easy; but inward reverence, inward attentiveness and solemnity of spirit it is hard always to keep. I may not wound my flock by outward carelessness, indifference, haste, negligence, or any other visible fault; but how much may I lose them, if I do not inwardly worship Thee and heartily pray for them, if my spirit is backward and remiss, or hurrying to many unprofitable thoughts, or thinking of the opinions of men! ”

“ Behold, O Lord, with sincere humility, I am prostrate at the feet of thy majesty, knowing and acknowledging my unworthiness, and confessing that though I should prepare for a thousand years, I should still be infinitely unworthy to approach this divine sacrament. For thou here present art the Lord, I am thy servant; thou art the Creator, I the work of thy hand ”

“ The ministers of the grace of God have, by the Holy Spirit, spoken of repentance; and the Lord of all things has himself declared with an oath regarding it, “As I live, saith the Lord, I desire not the death of the sinner, but rather his repentance;” ”

“ And even in the handling of sacred things generally, in the way of theological discussion, a want of reverence has very often been shown. It becomes us all most carefully to beware of abusing the gracious condescension which God has shown in His revelation, and in the use which He designs us to make of it. ”

“ All your topics of communication cheer me. I truly rejoice with you in the erection of the church. It was a noble emprise, characteristic of my endeared friend, and peculiarly owned and blessed of his God; of its extent of good, eternity will alone unfold. Your account also of your dear children was read by me with much interest, and with real gratitude. How faithful is God. In the spirit of the Levite you have thrown up your inheritance among your brethren. ”

“ We ought to give reverence to the fathers of our flesh, who begot us, and were the instruments of our being; much more ought we to obey and be in subjection to the Father of our spirits, who made us and is the author of our being. ”

“ How the repentance is described which is the condition of these promises. (1.) It begins in serious consideration, v. 1. "Thou shalt call to mind that which thou hadst forgotten or not regarded." Note, Consideration is the first step towards conversion. Isa. xlvi. 8, Bring to mind, O you transgressors. The prodigal son came to himself first, and then to his father. That which they should call to mind is the blessing and the curse. ”

“ Reverend."
"Did anybody knock him down for you?"
"Oh, no."
"Is he livin'?"
"Yes, I suppose so." [109]
"Do you want him knocked down?"
"Why, Mr. Reverend! Just now you were talking of the doctrine of gentleness, and now you speak of knocking some one down. How can you be so changeable." ”

“ If I’m to tell the boy he is ruined to-day, and to-morrow to announce to him that he is a lord—if I’m to threaten him now with poverty, and the morning after I’m to send him to Halle, or Hell, or wherever it is—I’ll soon be out of my mind myself through bare confusion. ”

“ Let us all in purity and in contrition give thanks unto the Lord, and offer up our prayers and supplications unto Him. With reverence stand and behold the things which are about to be performed,—the awful sacraments which are about to be consecrated,—for the priest hath drawn near to pray that through him peace may be multiplied unto you. ”

“ It seems that you got round him—that you found his weak side, young rogue! You had been talking to him of piety and repentance, and wanting to get to heaven. But I’ll give you a word of advice, my man, better than twenty sermons. You see I’m thriving and prosperous enough, and well respected, though I should not say so, and I never wronged a man in my life. ”

“ Let the Priests of the Raven of dawn no longer, in deadly black, with hoarse note curse the sons of joy! Nor his accepted brethren—whom, tyrant, he calls free—lay the bound or build the roof! Nor pale Religion's lechery call that Virginity that wishes but acts not!
For everything that lives is Holy! ”

“ Holy hands and without wrath and doubting imply the affections and reverence of the heart:—having no malice or bitter passions toward fellow worshippers.—We are directed, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, in this manner, Let us have grace whereby we may serve God, with reverence and godly fear. ”

“ If in this and in other matters your Reverence and the Reverend Brethren of the Consistory, who have special superintendence over us here, deem it necessary to administer to us any correction, instruction or good advice, it will be agreeable to us and we shall thank your Reverence therefor; since we must all have no other object than the glory of God in the building up of his kingdom and the salvation of many souls. I keep myself as far as practicable within the pale of my calling, wherein I find myself sufficiently occupied. ”