God is a good and gracious Lord; He will be held for God only and alone, and according to the first commandment: “You shalt have none other Gods but me.” He desires nothing of us: no taxes, subsidies, money, or goods. He requires only that He may be our God and Father; and therefore He bestows richly upon us a cup overflowing with all manner of spiritual and temporal gifts.
—Martin Luther, Table Talk, LXXVIII
Almighty and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service; grant we beseech thee, that we may so run to thy heavenly promises, that we fail not finally to attain, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
– Thomas Cranmer, Collect for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity.
His promises are made, may we trust them and pursue them until we pass from this age to the next.
But your graces will also remember that on Christmas morning I put off solving a question I had raised, because there were many people celebrating that day’s feast with us, who usually find explanations of the Word of God rather a bore. But now, I assume, it is only people who want to listen that have come together here. So I am not speaking to hearts that are deaf, or to disdainful minds.
These expectations, though, of yours are like prayers for me. More than that; the games on today have blown many people away from here, for whose salvation I am greatly concerned, and I urge you, brothers, to feel as much concern for them yourselves, and to pray earnestly to God for those who are not yet in earnest about the shows truth puts on, but are still given over to shows put on for the flesh.
- St. Augustine, Sermon 51 – The Harmony Between the Evangelists Mathew and Luke Concerning the Lord’s Genealogy , Section 2
I’ve heard a fair number express exactly the same thing. Funny how human nature stays the same.
Look at the hungry, look at the naked, look at the needy, look at the immigrants, look at the captives; they shall be your porters as you transfer your property to heaven.
- St. Augustine, Sermon 53A – Eight Beatitudes on the Gospel, Section 6
I wept. What beauty, what a sharp scalpel on my heart.