Campus CrossWalk Magazine: 2007 Summer Issue -- Quotation Library: Grace

“Grace is what God gives us when we don't deserve and mercy is when God doesn't give us what we do deserve.” ~ Anonymous.
“It is graceful in a man to think and to speak with propriety, to act with deliberation, and in every occurrence of life to find out and persevere in the truth.” ~ Cicero, Roman philosopher, statesman and orator (106 BC - 43 BC).
“The law detects, grace alone conquers sin.” ~ St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
“For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.” ~ St Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354-430).
“To be able to live peaceably with hard and perverse persons, or with the disorderly, or with such as go contrary to us, is a great grace.” ~ Thomas À Kempis (C. 1380-1471)
“A man must completely despair of himself in order to become fit to obtain the grace of Christ.” ~ Martin Luther (1483-1546).
“Grace is given to heal the spiritually sick, not to decorate spiritual heroes” ~ Martin Luther (1483-1546).
“The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes…”
~ William Shakespeare (1564-1616), The Merchant of Venice.
(1596-98), Portia speaks to Shylock in Act IV, Scene I.
“Grace is but glory begun, and glory is but grace perfected.”
~ Jonathan Edwards, preacher, theologian, missionary (1703-1758).
“Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed!” ~ John Newton (1725-1807)
"If in one hand the preacher of the gospel carry the sword of the Spirit, it is only to slay the sin; while he holds forth the olive branch in the other, as the token of peace and life to the sinner." ~ John Angell James (1785-1859), An Earnest Ministry, 1847 (p. 25).
“A state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of growth in grace and a thankful heart.” ~ Charles G. Finney (1792-1875).
“When it was demanded of Moses to prove whether or not he was sent by God, he took the wonder-working rod in his hand and achieved marvels. But they were all miracles of judgment, not of mercy. Moses, the type of the law, has his credentials in judgment. How different from Jesus. He is full of grace and truth, and the seals of his ministry must be acts of mercy and kindness. He turns not the water into blood, but water into wine. He slays not their fish, but multiplies a few small fish and feeds thousands with them. He does not smite their wheat with hail, but he multiplies their bread and gives them many blessings. He sends no boils, but he heals their sicknesses. Instead of striking the first-born dead, he heals the dying and rescues from the grasp of death some who had even gone down to the grave.” ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), commenting on John 1:17.
"Be not proud of race, face, place, or grace." ~ Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall not be a miracle, But you yourself shall be the miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself: At the richness of life which has come in you by the grace of God.” ~ Phillips Brooks, minister (1835 - 1893) Sermons. Going Up to Heaven.
“Grace is free sovereign favor to the ill-deserving.” ~ Benjamin B. Warfield (1851-1921).
“[On] seeing evildoers taken to the place of execution, he was wont to exclaim: ‘There but for the grace of God goes John Bradford.’” ~ John Bradford, The Writings of John Bradford, 1853.
“Half of the secular unrest and dismal, profane sadness of modern society comes from the vain ideas that every man is bound to be a critic for life.” ~ Henry Van Dyke, author (1852-1933).
“Gratitude is born in hearts that take time to count up past mercies.” ~ Charles E. Jefferson (1860 - 1937).
“Like produces like. Grace makes you gracious, the Giver makes you give.” ~ E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973)
“A true Christian is a man who never for a moment forgets what God has done for him in Christ, and whose whole comportment and whole activity have their root in the sentiment of gratitude.” ~ John Baillie (1886-1960), Scottish theologian, minister.
“Grace must find expression in life, otherwise it is not grace.” ~ Karl Barth, Swiss theologian (1886-1968).
“God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that can be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish one from the other” ~ Reinhold Niebuhr, American theologian (1892-1971).
"Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner... Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves." ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The Cost of Discipleship (1937).
“We cannot seek grace through gadgets.” ~ J. B. Priestly.
“In life as in dance: Grace glides on blistered feet” ~ Alice Abrams.
“I do not at all understand the mystery of grace -- only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.” ~ Anne Lamott.