God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.—Cowper.
In
all thy actions think God sees
thee; and in all His actions labor to see Him; that will make thee fear
Him; this will move thee to love Him; the fear of God is the beginning
of knowledge, and the knowledge of God is the perfection of love.—Quarles.
God should be the object of all our
desires, the end of all our
actions, the principle of all our affections, and the governing power
of our whole souls.—Massillon.
God governs the world, and we have only
to do our duty wisely, and
leave the issue to Him.—John Jay.
They that deny a God destroy man's
nobility; for certainly man is
like the beasts in his body; and if he is not like God in his spirit,
he is an ignoble creature.—Bacon.
God is all love; it is He who made
everything, and He loves
everything that He has made.—Henry Brooke.
Who
guides
below, and rules above,
The great disposer, and the mighty
king;
Than He none greater, next Him none,
That can be, is, or was.—Horace.
How calmly may we commit ourselves to
the hands of Him who bears up
the world,—of Him who has created, and who provides for the joys even
of insects, as carefully as if He were their father.—Richter.
I fear God, and next to God, I chiefly
fear him who fears Him not.—Saadi.
A foe to God was never true friend to
man.—Young.
There never was a man of solid
understanding, whose apprehensions
are sober, and by a pensive inspection advised, but that he hath found
by an irresistible necessity one true God and everlasting being.—Sir Walter Raleigh.
Thou art, O God, the life and light
Of all this wondrous world we see;
Its glow by day, its smile by night,
Are but reflections caught from
Thee!
Where'er we turn thy glories shine,
And all things fair and bright are
thine!—Moore.
The very impossibility in which I find
myself to prove that God is
not, discovers to me His existence.—Bruyère.
We find in God all the excellences of
light, truth, wisdom,
greatness, goodness and life. Light gives joy and gladness; truth gives
satisfaction; wisdom gives learning and instruction; greatness excites
admiration; goodness produces love and gratitude; life gives
immortality and insures enjoyment.—Jones of Nayland.
We have a friend and protector, from
whom, if we do not ourselves
depart from Him, nor power nor spirit can separate us. In His strength
let us proceed on our journey, through the storms, and troubles, and
dangers of the world. However they may rage and swell, though the
mountains shake at the tempests, our rock will not be moved: we have
one friend who will never forsake us; one refuge, where we may rest in
peace and stand in our lot at the end of the days. That same is He who
liveth, and was dead; who is alive forevermore; and hath the keys of
hell and of death.—Bishop Heber.
From God derived, to God by nature
join'd.
We act the dictates of His mighty
mind:
And though the priests are mute and
temples
still,
God never wants a voice to speak
His will.—Rowe.
It
is a most unhappy state to be at a distance with God: man needs no
greater infelicity than to be left to himself.—Feltham.
The man who forgets the wonders and
mercies of the Lord is without
any excuse; for we are continually surrounded with objects which may
serve to bring the power and goodness of God strikingly to mind.—Slade.
"God saw everything that he had made,
and behold it was very good."
* * * Wheresoever I turn my eyes, behold the memorials of His
greatness! of His goodness! * * * What the world contains of
good is from His free and unrequited mercy: what it presents of real
evil arises from ourselves.—Bishop Blomfield.
God is the light which, never seen
itself, makes all things visible,
and clothes itself in colors. Thine eye feels not its ray, but thine
heart feels its warmth.—Richter.
A secret sense of God's goodness is by
no means enough. Men should
make solemn and outward expressions of it, when they receive His
creatures for their support; a service and homage not only due to Him,
but profitable to themselves.—Dean Stanhope.
All is
of God. If He but wave His
hand,
The mists collect, the rains fall
thick and
loud;
Till, with a smile of light on sea
and land,
Lo! He looks back from the
departing cloud.
Angels of life and death alike are
His;
Without His leave they pass no
threshold o'er;
Who, then, would wish or dare,
believing this,
Against His messengers to shut the
door?—Longfellow.
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