I believe that the Bible is to be understood and received in the plain and obvious meaning of its passages; for I cannot persuade myself that a book intended for the instruction and conversion of the whole world should cover its true meaning in any such mystery and doubt that none but critics and philosophers can discover it.

— Daniel Webster (1782–1852), Staatsmann

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

Daniel Webster

Daniel Webster (1782–1852) war ein US-amerikanischer Jurist, Senator und Außenminister, der in Boston und Washington das Verfassungsverständnis der jungen Republik mitprägte. Bekannt wurde er als wortmächtiger Verteidiger des Erhalts der amerikanischen Union, geriet jedoch durch seine Unterstützung des Kompromisses von 1850 samt dem Fugitive Slave Act in scharfe Kritik von Sklavereigegnern. Für Bibelleser ist er durch Zitate präsent, die das Evangelium und biblische Grundwerte als unverzichtbares Fundament für Recht, Freiheit und Staatswesen hervorheben.

All quotes by Daniel Webster (13)

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[The Bible is] shallow enough for a child not to drown, yet deep enough for an elephant to swim.
Augustine of Hippo

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.
John Charles Ryle

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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