Greg Johnson

@pteranodo.bsky.social

810 Followers 1364 Following

"The Church of the present day has as yet much to learn in the carrying out of the principles underlying this verse." - Revere Franklin Weidner

Black graphic with a portrait of Charles Octavius Booth (1845–1924), identified as Rev. C. O. Boothe, D.D., Author of “Plain Theology,” beside a quote from Plain Theology for Plain People: “This is the standard [love to God and neighbor] which the Lord sets up before those whom he has loved, and for whom he has given himself. It was designed that it should be studied, and that each believer should carefully test himself by it, and never rest satisfied until, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, conformity to it has been attained.”
Black graphic with a portrait of John Calvin (1509–1564) beside a quote from Calvin’s Commentaries: “James then [1:27] teaches us that religion is not to be estimated by the pomp of ceremonies; but that there are important duties to which the servants of God ought to attend. To visit in necessity is to extend a helping hand to alleviate such as are in distress.”
Black graphic with a painting of Jerome (347–420) in his study beside a quote from Letter LXXIX. To Salvina: “His wealth need not stand in the way of the rich man, if he makes a good use of it; and poverty can be no recommendation to the poor if in the midst of squalor and want he fails to keep clear of wrong doing.”
Black graphic with a portrait of Thomas Raffles (1788–1863) beside a quote from Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead: “If on account of the prayers simply, then prayers said gratuitously would be of equal avail; and as, we are told, there is a commemoration of all the faithful in every mass, of course including these whose relations are too poor to pay for them, then whence the necessity of paying at all?”
Black graphic with an image of the title page of The Plain Man’s Pathway to Heaven by Arthur Dent (d. 1607), beside a quote: “In the twenty-second chapter of Exodus, God made this law following: ‘You shall not trouble an widow or fatherless child; if thou vex or trouble such, and so he call and cry unto me, I will surely hear his cry. Then shall my wrath be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless,’ Exodus xxii.”
Black graphic with a portrait of Frank Field Ellinwood (1826–1908) beside a quote from *The Great Conquest*: "The humanitarian relief resulting directly and in-directly from medical missions has many ramifications. The precautionary measures which are being introduced into many lands, as for example, vaccination for small-pox, … sanitary safeguards ... drainage … who can trace, or adequately measure, these manifold and widely extending influences which are now permeating the ignorant and suffering masses of the heathen world? The use of anaesthetics and the safeguards against septic blood-poisoning will soon become the heritage of all nations."
Black graphic with a portrait of Albert Barnes (1798–1870) beside a quote from *Inquiry into the Scriptural Views of Slavery*: "There is almost nothing which is more frequently adverted to in the Bible, than oppression. And yet, the idea of oppression enters into the very conception of slavery, and is imbodied in all the laws that pertain to it. Indeed, if it were the design to originate a system of laws for the very purpose of oppression; if a legislature should wish to frame a series of enactments which should accomplish that in the most effectual manner, the slave laws of this country would be the very ones which would be needed for such a purpose."
Black graphic with a portrait of Martin Luther (1483–1546) beside a quote from Of Luther’s Prayer for a Gracious Rain: “… for seeing that through thy gospel they are unbridled, they think it free for them to live and do what they please; they now fear neither death nor hell, but say, ‘I believe, therefore I shall be saved;’ they become haughty spiteful Mammonists, and accursed covetous cut-throats, that suck out land and people.”
Gerhard—Lutheran scholastic theologian—identifies a contradiction worth sitting with. You wish to be a son of God, yet refuse to own God’s other sons as your brothers. He resolves the question of worthiness neatly: if the person deserves love, love them for that. If they don’t, love them because God—who does deserve everything—commands it. Even loving an enemy demonstrates friendship with God. The logic is airtight. The application is, apparently, optional.
Black graphic with a portrait of William Bengo Collyer (1782–1854) beside a quote from *Lectures on Scripture Facts*: "One should have imagined that the gospel of Jesus could have no enemies. It breathes only peace. It has but one subject — to promote the felicity of mankind. It sweetens every connection of human life. It strengthens the cause of philanthropy."
Black graphic with a portrait of Thomas M'Crie (1772–1835) beside a quote from *History of the Progress and Suppression of the Reformation in Spain*: "Oppressed and worn out with a mode of living so different from what he had been used to, he [Constantine Ponce] was heard to exclaim, 'O my God, were there no Scythians, or cannibals, or pagans still more savage, that thou hast permitted me to fall into the hands of these baptized fiends?'"
Black graphic with a portrait of Samuel Colcord Bartlett (1817–1898) beside a quote from *Divine Forces of the Gospel*: "And of at least the average tendencies of unsanctified commerce, the world has had some evidence in the East India Company's relation to [Indian] idolatry, in the African slave trade, in American debauchery of the Indian tribes, in the opium war with China, and in the white man's hellish pollution, that fought fifty years with the missionary for the Pacific Islands."
Black graphic with a portrait of Samuel Hopkins (1721–1803), wearing a red cap, beside a quote from A Discourse Upon the Slave Trade: “What, then, must they think of Christianity?”
meon—co-founder of the Church Missionary Society—sets a trap for anyone who claims to admire Christ’s love for sinners. Fine, he says: follow the example. Render good for evil to those who’ve harmed you. Feed your enemies. This is what proves discipleship, not the admiration itself. One observes that internet preachers and their preferred leaders tend to admire this love considerably more than they practice rendering good for evil toward anyone in particular.
Black graphic with an image of the title page of *Christ All and in All, or Severall significant Similitudes by which the Lord Jesus Christ is described in the holy Scriptures*, by Ralph Robinson (1614–1655), beside a quote: "Rich men have a capacity of doing that good, which Men of meaner condition want. They may relieve Prisoners, clothe the Naked, feed the Hungry, ransom Captives— which other men cannot do. Now it's a Mercy to be put into a capacity of doing good he would, though it be put a temporal good."
Black graphic with a portrait of Eliphalet Nott (1816–1900) beside a quote from *Discourse. Job, xxix, 11, 12*: "Would you accompany me, I could conduct you within this city and its suburbs, to scenes of poverty and wretchedness, the sight of which only would chill your blood. — Yes, I could show you in kitchens, cold and damp, or in half covered cottages, into which the snow descends, and through which howls the wintry blast, large families, destitute of fuel; destitute of food; and almost destitute of clothes and covering. Great God! unless it be thy sovereignty, to mitigate their sorrows!"
Black graphic with a portrait of Jeremiah Burroughs (1599–1646) beside a quote from *Saint's Happiness*: "Oh then, how fearful will their case he against whom the Judge may thus proceed in sentence, 'Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:' for I had meat, and by force you took it from me: I had drink, and you spoiled me of it: I had a house, and you thrust me out of doors: I had clothes, and you pulled them from my back: I wased in health, and you made me sick: I was at liberty, and you imprisoned me!"
Black graphic with a portrait of Henry Louis Baugher (1804–1868) beside a quote from *Annotations on the Gospel according to Luke*: "'Send Lazarus'. It is noticeable that he [the rich man] still imagines himself able to direct Lazarus, whom he had all his life lightly esteemed, Even so does he afterwards despise Moses also (ver. 30). Only his external condition, what surrounds him, is altered, but not his individuality. [quoting van Oost]"
Black graphic with a portrait of Alexander Maclaren (1826–1910) beside a quote from *The Epistle to the Colossians*: "A superior's injustice does not warrant an inferior's breach of moral law, though it may excuse it. ... Herein lies the condemnation of all the crimes which enslaved nations and classes have done, of many a deed which has been honoured and sung, of the sanguinary cruelties of servile revolts, as well as of the questionable means to which labour often resorts in modern industrial warfare."
Black graphic with a portrait of Alexander Balmain Bruce (1831–1899) beside a quote from *Parabolic Teaching of Christ*: "If kindness to the poor have such value in the sight of God, it must be because God Himself is a Being who delights in loving-kindness. In teaching a morality of love Jesus virtually teaches a theology of grace."
Black graphic with a portrait of Andrew Martin Fairbairn (1838–1912) beside a quote from *The City of God*: "Christ has made man conscious that he was the brother of man the wide world over, conscious, too, that he was the son of God."
Black graphic with a portrait of William Knibb (1803–1845) beside a quote from his *Memoir*: "When [Knibb was] making some statements as to the almost universal neglect of the education of the negroes, and adducing some proofs of the gross injustice and the revolting harshness with which they were treated, a person from the lower end of the chapel cried out, at the utmost stretch of his voice, 'That's a lie! ... I am,' said he, 'regularly ordained clergyman of the church of Scotland. ...I read in my bible,' he rejoined, holding it in his hand, 'Servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh ...' 'The de'il can quote scripture as well as you,' was the instant united reply, in true northern brogue, and with a volume of deafening sound that made you, as you hard it, start almost from your seat."
Black graphic with a portrait of Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834–1892) beside a quote from *The Monster Dragged to Light*: "And Whitefield, in accepting slaves for his orphanage in Georgia, never raised or dreamed of raising the question as to whether slavery was in itself sinful. Perhaps advancing light will show that many of the habits and customs of our present civilization are essentially bad and our grandsons will wonder how we could have acted as we did."
ISAAC BIRD (1793-1876) The Savior's injunction “‘Charity begins at home’. But is this the charity of the bible? This saying is often repeated, and not unfrequently with as much confidence as if they had been the words of an apostle; but certainly it must have had its origin from some other quarter."
Black graphic with a portrait of James Hamilton (1814–1867) beside a quote from *Mercifulness*: "... blessed are the merciful. Blessed are those who have got eyes open to discern this misery, and ears to hear its cry. And blessed those whom the love of Christ and concern for souls together, move to some endeavour."
Black graphic with an engraved portrait of William Whately (1583–1639) beside a quote from The Poore Mans Advocate: “Many think themselves sound, if they purpose to cast off every known evil deed, though they settle not in themselves, a like firm determination to perform every known duty. But herein they beguile themselves. He casts not from him all his transgressions, nor hath respect to all Gods commandments, that casts not from him faults of omission, and endeavoureth not to put in practise affirmative precepts.”
Black graphic with a portrait of Martin Luther (1483–1546) beside a quote from The Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude Explained: “To what end, then, are we to live a chastely holy life? In order that we may be saved thereby? No! but in order that we may be useful to our neighbor.”
W* GOUCH. WILLIAM GOUGE (1578-1653) Commentary on the Whole Epistle to the Hebrews "That these duties may be performed according to the extent of the persons whom they concern, we must take notice that as all sorts and conditions of men, great and mean, rich and poor, young and old, so also both sexes, male and female, are comprised under this relative sons; for that is the nature of relatives, to comprise both under one, as under this title men, indefinitely used, women also are comprised, and under brethren sisters also. To manifest this, the other relative daughters are oft expressed, as, 'Ye shall be my sons and daughters,' 2 Cor. vi. 18."
Black graphic with an image of the title page notation “Carefully perused and enlarged by Mr John Downame, Bachelor in Divinity” beside a quote from A Guide to Godlynesse or a Treatise of a Christian Life by John Downame (1571–1652): “So the Lord professeth, that he would not be pleased with thousands of Rams, or ten thousand rivers of oil, no, not with the first born of their body, for the sin of their souls, unless also they would do justly, and love mercy.”
Black graphic with a Byzantine icon portrait of Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444) beside a quote from Sermon CXII: “And the wise Paul also has somewhere written, ‘and communication forget not: for with such sacrifices God is content.’ For He loveth not the incense of the legal worship, but requireth rather the pleasantness of the sweet spiritual savour. But the sweet spiritual savour unto God is to shew pity unto men, and to maintain love towards them.”
Black graphic with an engraved portrait of Edward Stillingfleet (1635–1699) beside a quote from Sermon XIX. Of Protestant Charity: “And there is no duty more unquestionable, more safe, more advantageous, to himself as well as to others, than to do good, ie., to be kind and obliging to all, to forgive injuries, to reconcile enemies, to redeem captives, to visit the distressed, and according to our abilities and opportunities to relieve those that are in wants and necessities.”
Quote graphic with black background. A black-and-white photographic portrait of an elderly man with a long white beard appears at upper left, with a caption below reading “Rev. Joseph Angus, D.D.” Bold white text below reads “JOSEPH ANGUS (1816–1902)” followed by the italicized source title “The Bible hand-book.” To the right, the quote reads: “Looking, therefore, simply at the extent of the Divine command, and contrasting with it the endlessly diversified forms of human character, we affirm that men do not anywhere love their neighbors as themselves. Everywhere, and by every one, the law is broken; and so far the whole world is declared guilty before God.”
Quote graphic with black background. A color portrait painting of a man in black clerical robes and black hat appears at upper left. Bold white text below reads “MARTIN LUTHER (1483–1546)” followed by the bold italicized source title “Fourth Sunday After Trinity.” To the right, the quote reads: “Therefore let everyone who goes to the sacrament and pretends to be a Christian take heed to himself that he deceive not himself. For one can now well see what a scraping, grabbing and scratching there is even among those who want to be Christians, from the lowest to the highest stage of society. It is a sin and a shame to hear it.”
Quote graphic with black background. A formal engraved portrait of a seated man in dark coat and white cravat appears at upper left. Bold white text below reads “WILLIAM KNIBB (1803–1845)” followed by the italicized source title “Memoir.” To the right, the quote reads: “I call upon you by the tender sympathies of your nature — I call upon you by that manly feeling which Britons have ever expressed — I call upon you by the love of liberty which now animates every breast, to leave no method untried till colonial slavery shall have passed away, and become a tale of yesterday.”
Alt text: Quote graphic with black background. A thumbnail image of an aged title page appears at upper left, reading “Three Treatises. 1. The Conversion of Nineveh: opening the doctrine and practise of Prayer and Fasting, as also of Faith and Repentance. 2. Gods Trumpet sounding the Alarme, and summoning all persons to repent, and turne unto God. 3. A Soveraigne preservative against all distrustfull thoughts and cares touching temporall things. Opened and expounded in sundry Sermons, by William Attersoll, Minister of the Word, at Isfield in Sussex.” Bold white text below reads “WILLIAM ATTERSOLL (d. 1640)” followed by the italicized source title “A commentary upon Philemon.” To the right, the quote reads: “If we should see a poor Cripple halting, and scarcely able to draw his legs after him, and another, instead of reaching him a staff to stay him, or his hand to help him, would cut his sinews in sunder, or smite his Hamstrings, that he should be able to go no further, would not all men condemn him of cruelty and inhumanity? In like manner, when we behold our poor Brother in great necessity, having much ado to maintain himself, and sustain his life, if we thrust him down altogether, how dwelleth the love of God in us?”
Quote graphic with black background. A thumbnail image of an aged title page appears at upper left, reading “Discourses on Several Subjects by William Wishart, D.D., Principal of the College of Edinburgh. London: Printed by W. Strahan; And sold by A. Millar in the Strand, and Bell, Hamilton and Balfour at Edinburgh. MDCCLIII.” Bold white text below reads “WILLIAM WISHART (SECONDUS) (1691/2–1753)” followed by the italicized source title “For the Benefit of the Charity-School in Crutched-Fryars.” To the right, the quote reads: “Is the end of Christianity Universal Love? How amiable and engaging,
Quote graphic with black background. A pencil sketch portrait of a man with tousled hair appears at upper left, with a handwritten signature below reading “A. Judson.” Bold white text below reads “ADONIRAM JUDSON (1788–1850)” followed by the italicized source title “A memoir of the life and labors.” To the right, the quote reads: “They had never before supposed their language capable of being represented by signs, like other languages; and they felt themselves, from being a tribe of crushed, down-trodden slaves, suddenly elevated into a nation, with every facility for possessing a national literature. This had a tendency to check their roving propensities … Churches sprang up, dotting the wilderness like so many lighted tapers …”
Alt text: Quote graphic with black background. A black-and-white portrait of a man in clerical dress and white wig appears at upper left. Bold white text below reads “BENJAMIN GROSVENOR (1676–1758)” followed by the italicized source title “Health. An essay on its nature, value, uncertainty, preservation and best improvement.” To the right, the quote reads: “The Enquiry that is made after this sort of Charity [visiting the sick] at the Judgment-Day, demonstrates how great a Place it holds in our practical Religion, and those Words, Sick and in Prison, and you visited me, or visited me not, shew what an Influence it has upon our Sentence, either of Absolution or Condemnation.”
Quote graphic with black background. A thumbnail image of the title page of “The Two Sons of Oil; or, The Faithful Witness for Magistracy and Ministry upon a Scriptural Basis” by Rev. Samuel B. Wylie, A.M. appears at upper left. Bold white text below reads “SAMUEL BROWN WYLIE (1773–1852)” and “The Two Sons of Oil.” To the right, the quote reads: “Of this barbarous traffic, the judicatories of our church have given their pointed disapprobation, and all approving of, or engaging in it, are excluded her communion.”
Black graphic with an image of the title page of Discourses and Sayings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Illustrated in a Series of Expositions by John Brown, D.D., beside a quote from Expository Discourses on the First Epistle of Peter: “Good offices reluctantly rendered lose more than half their value. It is only when they really embody love that they are acceptable to God; and it is only in the degree in which they appear to embody love, that they are gratifying to their objects.”
Black graphic with a portrait of Henry Eyster Jacobs (1844–1932) beside a quote from A History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States: “It is yet a doubtful matter whether our German Evangelical Church will stand or fall; and it is improbable, if it were to fall, whether it could be revived. The means to build churches, support ministers, build and sustain schools are altogether inadequate for needy immigrants and a people scarcely recovered from long servitude. What wonder if our weak powers are altogether incommensurable with our godly desires!”
Black graphic with an image of the title page of Essay on the Extent of the Death of Christ, from the Treatise on the Divine Will by Edward Polhill, beside a quote from Speculum theologiæ in Christo: “Inhumanity is now double, treble, to what it was before our Saviour took an humane Nature, to read us a Lecture of Love and Goodness in: the old Commandment of Love is now a new one, urged upon us by a new Motive, The incomparable Love of God in his giving his Son for us.”
Black graphic with an engraved portrait of Wolfgang Musculus (1497–1563) beside a quote from Common Places: “[Usurers say,] ‘I do the same trade myself as often as I have need, I do give the like and take the like again of others.’ I answer, it is a most wicked matter to abuse the words of Christ, which be of that nature that they ought not to maintain the covetousness of men, but all brotherly charity.”
Black graphic with a portrait of William Tyndale (1494–1536) beside a quote from A Mirror to Know Thyself: “If thou ask me, what his commandments are, as touching the bestowing of thy goods? I answer, his commandments are, that thou bestow them in the works of mercy, and that shall he lay to thy charge at the day of judgment. He shall ask you, whether you have fed the hungry, and given drink to the thirsty, and not whether you have builded abbeys and chauntries.”
Black graphic with a portrait of Andrew Murray (1828–1917) beside a quote from Money: Thoughts for God’s Stewards: “How little we would have expected that the simple gift of these poor people [Macedonian church] would become the text of such high and holy and heart-searching teaching. How much we need to pray that the Holy Spirit may so master our purses and our possessions, that the grace of our giving shall, in some truly recognizable degree, be the reflection of our Lord’s.”
Black graphic with a portrait of Alexander Maclaren (1826–1910) beside a quote from Exposition of Acts: “I speak now of a bond of brotherhood. That sends our thoughts out over the whole world. There is such a bond. Jesus Christ by His Incarnation has taken the nature of every man upon Himself, and has brought all men into one.”
Black graphic with a portrait of George Smalridge (1663–1719) beside a quote from Sermon XXVI: What Analogy is There Betwixt Acts of Charity and Sacrifices: “… and by dispensing our riches to those whom he has commissioned to be his receivers, we plainly show, that we do not look upon them to be so properly our own, as his; as being not the purchase of our own industry, but the fruits of his mercy; not owing to fortune and chance, but to his blessing and providence: in grateful acknowledgment of which, we pay a kind of continual tribute out of them …”
Black graphic with a photograph of Henry Augustus Boardman (1808–1880) beside a quote from Moral Courage: “The paths [John Howard] trod are still radiant with celestial light; and you may follow him to-day on his mission of mercy, from city to city, and from province to province, through Western and through Eastern Europe, from the balmy South to the frozen North, until you find him in a remote city of Russia, lying down to die, the victim of a malignant disease contracted in a visit of humanity to a suffering stranger.”
Black graphic with a portrait of Robert Moffat (1795–1883) beside a quote from The Black Man and the War: “The British notion of the aboriginal man as a man with all human rights has been a standing occasion of offence to the Boer ever since the Union Jack has floated in South Africa.”
Black graphic with a portrait of Johannes Gossner (1779–1853) beside a quote from Friday After Epiphany: “… the holy Scriptures call it a divine service to suffer, to praise God or to preach the Gospel, to love our neighbor, to visit the widow and the fatherless in their affliction, to keep ourselves unspotted of the world. By these things we serve God and demonstrate that we are His children.”
Black graphic with a portrait of Augustus Strong (1836–1921) beside a quote from Our Denominational Outlook: “In the saloon that entices to drink; in the crime which that drink causes; and in the lawlessness which lynches the criminal, Christian men should see their Master’s call to stand for the weak against the strong. We have been losing ground because we have been too intent upon our own concerns to care for the interests of our neighbor.”
Black graphic with a portrait of Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834–1892) beside a quote from Love Thy Neighbor: “I think the man who has the time is bound to give nothing at all to societies, but to give all away himself. Be your own society. If there be a society for the sick, then if you have enough money, be your own sick society. If you have the time go and visit the sick yourself, you will know money is well spent then, and you will spare the expense of a secretary.”
Quote card with black background. Left side shows an oil portrait of Thomas M’Crie (1772–1835), a Scottish minister, with the label “THOMAS M’CRIE (1772–1835) SERMON IV” beneath it. Right side displays the quote: “Can they be said to believe that Christ ‘gave himself for them’ and ‘delivered them from the wrath to come,’ and that they are ‘blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in him,’ who will give nothing, or what is to them next to nothing, to relieve their fellow-creatures and fellow-christians from temporal distresses and want?”
Black graphic with a portrait of Albert Barnes (1798–1870) beside a quote from New Testament Notes, Acts: “… humble piety will often do more in the conversion of souls than the most splendid talents. No endowments can be a substitute for this. The real power of a minister is concentrated in this; and without this his ministry will be barrenness and a curse. There is nothing on this earth so mighty as goodness.”
Black graphic with a portrait of George Bourne (1780–1845) beside a quote from Picture of Slavery in the United States: “How dare expositors of the book attempt to persuade persons who hold slaves, that the proceeds of man-stealing are now transformed into honest acquisitions; that incurable injustice on the Windward shore, by a voyage over the ocean, is transmuted into Christian integrity; and that a man who kidnaps a parent is a monster of hell; but if he steals children, he is an heir of heaven?”
Black graphic with a portrait of Edward Reynolds (1599–1676) beside a quote from Vanity of the Creature: “… the way they take to perpetuate the fruits of the earth, is to cast some of it back again into a fruitful soil where the waters come; and then in due time they receive it with increase. So should we do with these worldly blessings; sow them in the bowels and backs of the poor members of Christ; and in the day of harvest we shall find a great increase.”
Black graphic with a portrait of Alexander MacWhorter (1734–1807) beside a quote from Blessedness of the Liberal: “Unlike the churl, who hoards up for himself alone, they [Christians] employ a portion of what the benignity of God hath given them, for the promotion of his glory; for the advancement of the Redeemer’s kingdom; for succouring the distressed; and communicating to the ignorant and perishing a knowledge of the plan of life eternal.”
Black graphic with a portrait of Andrew Thomson (1779–1831) beside a quote from Plead the Cause of the Poor and Needy: “Can any injury, except that of taking away a man’s life, exceed that of taking away a man’s liberty, than that of taking away a man’s liberty, who has never offended us?”
Black graphic with a portrait of Marcus Dods (1834–1909) beside a quote from Expositor’s Bible, Gospel of John: “We are the channels or pipes through which the inexhaustible source of God’s goodness flows to the world; but it is in our power to turn off that flow, and prevent it from reaching those for whom it is intended.”
Hildersham—Puritan minister, expounding Psalm 51—identifies the root cause of reluctance to give to the poor with characteristic precision. It’s a faith problem. If you genuinely believed God’s promises, he says, giving to the poor would present no difficulty whatsoever. One notes that preachers regularly deploy the argument “if you truly believed, you would”—for tithing, for attendance, for various commitments. Curiously rarely for giving to the poor. Hildersham would have found that selective.