Notable Quotables

"In short, I will preach it, teach it, write it, but I will constrain no man by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion. Take myself as an example. I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God''s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything."

Martin Luther, The Second Sermon, March 10, 1522, Monday after Invocavit

"Nunc scripsi totum pro Christo da mihi potum"

("Now that I have written so much for Christ, give me a drink")

Reputedly used by medieval copyists to mark the end of a day's work

"A good preacher should have these properties and virtues:
first, to teach systematically;
secondly, he should have a ready wit;
thirdly, he should be eloquent;
fourthly, he should have a good voice;
fifthly, a good memory;
sixthly, he should know when to make an end;
seventhly, he should be sure of his doctrine;
eightly, he should venture and engage body and blood, wealth and honour, in the word;
ninethly, he should suffer himself to be mocked and jeered of everyone."

Martin Luther, Table Talk, #400

"That the average library of the Christian layman and of the minister of the Gospel is poor beyond words, is a lamentable fact. Many of the books are of such inferior authorship as to unfit them for even storage in any home of people either intelligent or hoping to be intelligent. Such books have drifted in because they are radiant with glaring and realistic pictures, or are bound in captivating sheep or calf, or are presented by well meaning friends, or have been bought in lot at auction under the hallucination of cheapness, or because of some other apology for the existence of the trash. If two thirds of the shelves of the typical domestic library were emptied of their burden, and choice books put in their stead, there would be reformation in intelligence and throughout the civilized world. A poor book is dear, and a good one cheap, at any cost."

John Fletcher Hurst

Justification is freedom from the penalty of sin,
Sanctification is freedom from the practice of sin,
Glorification is freedom from the presence of sin.

Attribution Uncertain

In order to be able to expound the Scriptures, and as an aid to your pulpit studies, you will need to be familiar with the commentators: a glorious army, let me tell you, whose acquaintance will be your delight and profit. Of course, you are not such wiseacres as to think or say that you can expound Scripture without assistance from the works of divines and learned men who have labored before you in the field of exposition. If you are of that opinion, pray remain so, for you are not worth the trouble of conversion, and like a little coterie who think with you, would resent the attempt as an insult to your infallibility. It seems odd, that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he has revealed to others.

C. H. Spurgeon

 "The greatest surprise in life to me is the brevity of life."

Billy Graham, at age 78, addressing students at Liberty University

For a man solemnly to undertake the interpretation of any portion of Scripture without invocation of God, to be taught and instructed by his Spirit, is a high provocation of him; nor shall I expect the discovery of truth from any one who thus proudly engages in a work so much above his ability.

John Owen, Pneumatology: Or a Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit

…outside of the Bible, reading Christian biography will do more to stimulate evangelism than anything else. It would be a good idea to follow a varied and regular plan of reading in this area.

Robert E. Coleman, Master Plan of Evangelism

A man loses contact with reality if he is not surrounded by his books.

François Mitterand, The Times (London), May 10, 1982