I’ve found another good source of translations for the early church fathers: the Patristics project. In general, I’d ignore their blog and look instead at the source. They have collected Ignatious’ letters — this one is to the Ephesians. The Calvinist in me notes (as Calvin did) that Predestination was doctrine before Augustine and it […]
When I was young, I found proverbs hard, harsh, unloving. I thought that one’s motivation for good would cover much and you would be able to walk without care or craft. This is a fundamental error. Yes, we cannot save ourselves: that is the completed work of Christ. But no, we are in this world, […]
If the Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of any age, then those of the ages before and to come are ignored. To our peril. Prophets at Home “Hal O’ the Draft”–Puck of Pook’s Hill Prophets have honour all over the Earth, Except in the village where they were born, Where such as knew them boys […]
We do not need the law of Moses or the teachings of Christ to damn us. The standards of our nation and the judgements of God made clear in nature are enough. We all know we have done wrong, and the wise man will humble himself before God. The first passage for the day is […]
More Eliot. More of the first quartet: Burnt Norton. The term twittering has more meaning in these days, as it is now branded, monetized, and used for virtue signaling and to engender the spirals of hate. But the poet says this is without meaning. The poet says it is not the twittering: it is the […]
The problem in these days is two fold. The first is that being a shepherd requires that you stand up to the spirits of this age, and that opposition is not what the world wants. The world wants us tamed, but our God is one who will not be so made by any king: the […]
It is late spring in NZ, and we are starting to have pwe are starting to have bush fires where we have not cleared the scrub and allowed grazing animals to ensure pastoral health. (Gorse is a weed, but apparently not a noxious one: it does not take much for it to be tiner-dry). But […]
Today, in NZ, is Labour Day. It is a public holiday — celebrating the limitation of work to a reasonable and sustainable number of hours a day. Something, now, more honoured in the breach of the spirit of this law than in its observance. The stores and shops will be open today. There will be […]
Over the last two weeks we have been visiting and being visited by our parent’s generation: now in their ninth decade. They are all still striving forward. And they are aware that the time is short. Donne knew this. Holy Sonnet 6 This is my play’s last scene; here heavens appoint My pilgrimage’s last mile; […]
Look not at the circumstances of the day. There are those who counsel despair, quoting the voice of the people or the new laws that have been reformed to make evil good and good evil. Look instead to God. He will not be mocked, and he will have recompense. Jeremiah 14:7-10 7 “Although our iniquities […]
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