baptist-ministers

"The , no less than the severest utilitarian, rejoices in every contribution of science to the arts, but he does not admit that the whole value of science is to be measured by any present applications. He puts in a demurrer to the conclusion that those portions of it are useless of which we do not see the utility. The use may be beyond our present sphere of vision, or, if coming within our cognizance, it may not admit of comparison with any standard of measure. Unlike the precious gem, which has an exchangeable but no intrinsic value, science bears no price in the market. It transcends all ideas of comparison and exchange. Its high utility lies in the breadth and dignity and sublime grandeur which it gives to the human mind."

"There are in astronomy refinements of method, both practical and theoretical, which can be appreciated only by rare gifts and profound study. But the elementary methods are quite within the reach of ordinary minds. The , which it was difficult to discover, may be very easily understood and its results readily traced. It might require a Newton or a La Place to unveil the mechanism of the heavens, but when that is once done every beholder may watch the wonderful evolutions."

"Dr. Caswell’s predilection was for and astronomy. During the period of twenty-eight and a half years (from December, 1831, to May, 1860) he made, with few interruptions, a regular series of meteorological observations at the same spot on . These observations, precise as regards temperature and pressure, and including also much information on winds, clouds, moisture, rain, storms, the , &c, have been published in detail in Vol. XII of the "Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge," and fill 179 quarto pages. Dr. Caswell continued his observations in meteorology with unabated zeal to the end of 1876, covering, in all, the long period of forty-five years."

"A pedophile is a person with a sexual attraction to or predisposition toward children. That’s not Slade Wilson. If it was, I’d have written the character as a man struggling with those kinds of impulses. I didn’t write him that way because that’s not who the character is. Slade couldn’t stand Terra. He was only using her to help him kill the Titans. Which does not excuse his heinous behavior nor does it, I suppose, fully exempt him from the label. But labeling him a pedophile diminishes a very serious global threat to children by applying the term generically and often disparagingly as a dismissive aspersion rather than treat the term and condition with the gravity with which it must be considered."

"Wealth and all its good things becomes with us at last habit. And habit is life."

"Treason is an easy word to speak. A traitor is one who fights and loses. Washington was a traitor to George III. Treason won, and Washington is immortal. Treason is a word that victors hurl at those who fail."

"You look with incredulous contempt or horror upon the worship of many negroes. Perchance the angels have a rather poor opinion of your worship. And it may be that he who knows all things knows that both you and these poor degraded men do really love him, and are trying to worship and serve him amid all your imperfections. Some are unwilling to admit that there has been true conversion, when the "experience" includes seeing visions and hearing voices. Yet John Bunyan, when convicted of sin, heard voices, as he relates in his "Grace Abounding," and Augustine at the time of his conversion saw a beautiful vision, as described in his "Confessions.""

"First and foremost, he needs to be fairly treated. To have the truth [told] about him, the whole truth if practicable, but at all events to nothing but the truth; to have fair opportunities to labor, and to get honest pay for [it, to] have a chance to become educated and to develop whatever there is [in] him, in good and noble directions, in short to have a fair field.Next, and mainly, our colored brethren need the gospel.I shall not draw any terrible picture of their deplorable state, with a good deal of red in the brush, for two reasons—first, they would not be true; and second, there is no need of them. There is enough to rouse any thoughtful man to action in the fact that here in our midst is to be found a nation with in a nation, twice as great in number today as the whole American people were one hundred years ago, when our independence was achieved. They are said to number now not less than seven millions..."

"The only way then to deal with the black man whom we find in America—is to give him his rights, cordially, frankly, fully.The freedman is a man, neither more nor less. And it is not so much as a freedman that we are concerned about him. It is rather as a freeman. Whatever he was, this thing is certain—he is now a freeman, by the highest organic law of our government, by the constitution of the United States, by the separate action of the respective states. His past condition of servitude is not unimportant, as affecting his present state and our present responsibilities. But the momentous question is not what he was, but what he is, and especially what he is going to be. And with that question we have something to do.He is not a babe, to be fondled and petted. He is not a brute, to be trampled and despised. He is not a fiend or a savage to be shunned and dreaded, nor an angel to be admired and flattered. He is simply a man, with the capabilities and duties of any other man, so far as he is competent to discharge them, liable to the same temptations and frailties, heir of the same immortality, and redeemed by the same precious blood..."

"And in the emergency we welcome cordially the liberal aid of our Northern brethren, who have done, especially in the important matter of education institutions, a work which in our crippled condition it would have been impossible for the South to have undertaken, or to carry through. Let us each do all we can in this great enterprise."

"Our fathers, in New England, in the Middle Colonies, and in the South, brought African slaves to America for reasons of their own, which it is impossible to justify, and useless now to censure. The God of our fathers has set them free by overruling a vast amount of human selfishness and passion in long-continued political and military conflict. Let the dead past bury its dead. Forgetting the things which are behind, let us reach forth to those things which are before."

"Lastly, I would just call for a national day of prayer to promote healing for the families of the victims of violence in Newtown and the many other cities and towns which have experienced mass shootings and other forms of violence. With continued prayer and an equally-determined commitment to action for needed anti-violence reforms, let us resolve to work toward a new era in which every American child and every adult are protected from the ravages of brutality, safe and secure in our homes and schools and communities."

"Our father must be turning in his grave."

"In the lawsuit, I've been accused of requiting and sequestering these items, but the reality is that my daddy's bible and Nobel Prize are hidden in plain sight. They know where they are, but perhaps God put them beyond their reach so that they don't misplace what has been bestowed and entrusted to us as custodians."

"Once again, we face the reality that no one is safe, not even our children at their places of learning. The soul-shattering feelings of anger and despair we feel, along with a sense of hopelessness leave us wondering if our society is irrevocably infected with violence."

"When I saw the funeral scene, I just broke down. I ran out of the cabin into the woods, and for nearly 2-1/2 hours, I just cried: "Why, God, did You take him?""

"She sparked a prairie fire that continues to blaze brightly in the hearts of freedom-loving people in all nations; and the non-violent revolution she set in motion continues to reverberate in nation after nation as an inspiration to human liberation movements everywhere. Rosa Parks provided us with a beautiful example of the power of one. How one courageous person can make a great difference in advancing human freedom. She showed us the power of humility and disciplined nonviolence in winning hearts and minds to support our freedom struggle; and she set for the entire world a vibrant example of African American womanhood fully engaged in the work of building a more just and decent society."

"It is past time for New Hampshire to join the rest of America."

"She created the idea of a day “on,” as opposed to a day “off.” She wanted it to become a holiday of community service so that people felt connected to his work and understood that the struggle continues. She believed that sacrifice is not something that is unrewarding. And ultimately, she wanted his legacy to expand into the realm of human rights. The journey began with civil rights for African Americans, but that was only just the beginning."

"Many people don’t know that my mother was the driving force that kept my father’s legacy at the forefront of American consciousness. Dr. King was a great man, a scholar, philosopher, theologian, orator—a leader with character and integrity. But in 1968 there was no guarantee that he would be in the annals of history the way that he is today had it not been for her solidifying his legacy."

"It's very difficult standing here blessed as her one and only sister. Yolanda, from your one and only, I thank you for being a sister and for being a friend."

"It is terribly inhumane to block pathways out of poverty because you didn’t need those pathways."

"What we must not do is surrender to despair and hopelessness and the cynical assumption that there is nothing we can do. What we must do is turn our anger and outrage into a positive force for reforms that can help prevent future tragedies."

"Our country has experienced many divisive dark days, but God’s hand has guided us through it all."

"There is no form of protest against racism that is acceptable to racists."

"The mind and heart reel at the thought of the sheer evil and brutality that makes such horrific tragedies possible as the killings in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Having lost a father and grandmother to gun violence, it is a familiar feeling to me, and I embrace the families of the victims in my heart and prayers. It is painful beyond measure to lose a loving father and grandmother to violence. But to lose a beloved child and the adults who were dedicated to educating the children to sudden, senseless violence in the midst of the holiday season must be a feeling that is beyond comprehension."

"What, we wonder, can be done to prevent such unpredictable outbreaks of violence? No, we can’t always pinpoint when a specific individual will erupt in a spree of deadly violence. But it is just possible that we can begin to create a less violent society, a society in which nonviolent conflict reconciliation is a more widely-held value, a society in which individuals with serious mental health problems are more likely to be identified and more likely to receive needed treatment and care."

"In addition to promoting awareness of nonviolence, it’s just possible – indeed it is absolutely critical – that we work with undaunted determination to create a sane firearms policy that makes it harder for disturbed individuals to secure weapons of mass murder. We can no longer afford to shirk this urgent responsibility."

"On January 20, as we observed my father's eighty fifth birthday and the King holiday, my brothers Dexter Scott King and Martin Luther King III notified me that they want to sell our father's most prized possessions; his personal traveling bible and Nobel Peace Prize awarded fifty years ago this year. The same bible that President Barack Obama was inaugurated on for his second term in office, in which he signed afterwards."

"I stand before you as a child of the most high God and citizen of his kingdom, a daughter of the greatest movement of nonviolent social change in our world, a steward of the King legacy and an aggrieved, yet hopeful sister."

"Sometimes a person has to point fingers, disclose double standards, call a spade a spade.'"

"I join with people of all races worldwide in mourning the death of this great lion of African liberation, but celebrating his magnificent life of service to the cause of freedom, human rights and justice for all humanity. Nelson Mandela’s life and leadership exemplified the highest courage, dignity and dedication to human liberation. His name will always resonate in my heart, as it does in the hearts of millions of people all over the world. His death marks the end of an era, when leaders of unsurpassed courage and integrity walked among us."

"It was her primary goal to institutionalize his work, and she was the architect of the King legacy as we know it today. The King Center was a way for her to codify the methodology and ideology of the movement and give it longevity. Even with respect to the holiday in January, she worked to define it beyond memorializing him."

"Farewell, sir. You did, indeed, fight the good fight and get into a lot of good trouble. You served God and humanity well. Thank you. Take your rest."

"Let me first say that there are ongoing legal proceedings, so I am limited in my ability to speak about those issues. But I’m fully aware that there is a tendency in all of us, as a society, to romanticize people and their families, especially when their work is bigger than themselves. At the risk of sounding cliché, you can’t have rainbows without rain, or roses without thorns. It’s unrealistic for people to have great expectations of us and not allow for basic human normalcy. Our conflicts are reflective of our humanity. We are a family like all others and subject to the same struggles and unfortunate consequences with which all God’s people contend."

"I'll do whatever I can, and leave the rest to God."

"There is no teaching on the horrors and myriad of monstrous manifestations of white supremacy and racism that will be palatable to white supremacists and racists."

"It is, deep in my soul, difficult to place what my father described as precious heirlooms under the custody of the government, even if only for a season. Yet, I recognize that justice and righteousness are not always aligned, and there is often a disconnect between God's law and man's law."

"The most intimidating part for me has to do with the whole legacy, and knowing it is a legacy in line with the Christian tradition. I think about Abraham and his son Isaac, and it's kind of frightening."

"Doubts about the fundamentals of the gospel exist in certain churches, I am told, to a large extent. My dear friends, where there is a warm-hearted church, you do not hear of them. I never saw a fly light on a red-hot plate."

"I think I speak not too strongly when I say that a church in the land without the Spirit of God is rather a curse than a blessing. If you have not the Spirit of God, Christian worker, remember you stand in somebody else's way; you are a tree bearing no fruit, standing where another fruitful tree might grow."

"The greatest, strongest, mightiest plea for the church of God in the world is the existence of the Spirit of God in its midst, and the works of the Spirit of God are the true evidences of Christianity. They say miracles are withdrawn, but the Holy Spirit is the standing miracle of the church of God to-day."

"When men's hearts are melted under the preaching of the word, or by sickness, or the loss of friends, believers should be very eager to stamp the truth upon the prepared mind. Such opportunities are to be seized with holy eagerness."

"I believe that when Paul plants and Apollos waters, God gives the increase; and I have no patience with those who throw the blame on God when it belongs to themselves."

"Jesus was a great worker, and His disciples must not be afraid of hard work."

"God works, and therefore we work; God is with- us, and therefore we are with God, and stand on His side."

"My trust is not that I am holy, but that, being unholy, Christ died for me. My rest is here, not in what I am or shall be or feel or know, but in what Christ is and must be,— in what Christ did and is still doing as He stands before yonder throne of glory."

"Can you by humble faith look to Jesus and say: "My substitute, my refuge, ray shield; Thou art my rock, my trust; in Thee do I confide? "Then, beloved, to you I have nothing to say, except this: " Never be afraid when you see God's power; for now that you are forgiven and accepted, now that by faith you have fled to Christ for refuge, the power of God need no more terrify you than the shield and sword of the warrior need terrify his wife and child.""

"If you tell your troubles to God, you put them into the grave; they will never rise again when you have committed them to Him. If you roll your burden anywhere else, it will roll back again like the stone of Sisyphus."

"God looketh upon any thing we say, or any thing we do, and if He seeth Christ in it, He accepteth it; but if there be no Christ, He putteth it away as a foul thing."