He doth not bid us take a taste of all sins and vanities, as Solomon did, to try them: for they are tried already; but that we should set the Word of God always before us like a rule, and believe nothing but that which it teacheth, love nothing but that which it prescribeth, hate nothing but that which it forbideth, do nothing but that which is commandeth, and then we try all things by the Word.

Henry Smith (1560–1591), Puritanischer Prediger

Topics: The Bible & the Word of God, Wisdom & Understanding, Discipleship

Occasions: For Reflection

Henry Smith

Henry Smith war ein englischer Geistlicher und puritanischer Prediger, der Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts an der Kirche St Clement Danes in London wirkte. Bekannt unter dem Beinamen „Silver-tongued Smith“ verband er eine reformatorische Theologie mit bildhafter Sprache und alltagsnaher Anwendung, geriet wegen seiner puritanischen Haltung jedoch zeitweise in Konflikt mit der bischöflichen Kirchenleitung. Für heutige Bibelleser steht er für eine Schriftauslegung, die theologische Tiefe mit prägnanter, lebensnaher Vermittlung verknüpft.

All quotes by Henry Smith (7)

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A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.

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The Bible in the pulpit must never supersede the Bible at home.

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The Bible is almost bursting with good news for bad people.

Corrie ten Boom

I read the Bible the way I harvest my apple tree: I shake it, and what falls down and is ripe, I take. The rest I leave hanging for now.

Martin Luther

The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid.

Martin Luther

The law is divine and holy. Let the law have its glory, but yet no law, be it never so divine and holy, ought to teach me that I am justified, and shall live through it. I grant it may teach me that I ought to love God and my neighbor; also to live in love, soberness, patience, etc., but it ought not to show me how I should be delivered from sin, the devil, death, and hell. Here I must take counsel of the gospel. I must hearken to the gospel, which teaches me, not what I ought to do but what Jesus Christ the Son of God hath done for me: that He suffered and died to deliver me from sin and death. The gospel wills me to receive this, and to believe it. And this is the truth of the gospel. Most necessary it is, therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads continually.

Martin Luther

Jesus was not a theologian. He was God who told stories.

Madeleine L'Engle

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