Extemporaneous musings, occasionally poetic, about life in its richly varied dimensions, especially as relates to history, theology, law, literature, science, by one who is an attorney, ordained minister, historian, writer, and African American.
Monday, January 11, 2016
the pilgrim's progress, excerpt...
"When Christ said, 'Do you know all these things?" and the disciples answered, 'Yes", he added, 'Blessed are ye if you do them.' He that doth not lay the blessing in the knowing of them, but in the doing of them. For there is a knowledge that is not attended with doing: 'He that knoweth his Master's will and doeth it not.' A man may know like an angel, and yet be no Christian... Indeed, to know is a thing that pleases talkers and boasters; but to do is that which pleases God. Not that the heart can be good without knowledge, for without that the heart is naught. There are, therefore, two sorts of knowledge, knowledge that restest in the bare speculation of things, and knowledge that accompanied with the grace of faith and love, which puts a man upon doing even the will of God from the heart: the first of these will serve the talker; but without the other, the true Christian is not content. 'Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.' (Psalm 119:34)."
p. 69-70, THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS (1692, 2004)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pilgrim%27s_Progress