Through every rift of discovery some seeming anomaly drops out of the darkness, and falls, as a golden link into the great chain of order.
Edwin Hubbel ChapinRead
Neutral men are the devil's allies.
Interpretation
Indifference or neutrality in moral matters can contribute to evil.
This quote suggests that individuals who choose to remain neutral or indifferent in the face of wrongdoing inadvertently support the perpetuation of evil. By not taking a stand or speaking out against injustice, these 'neutral men' become complicit, acting as allies to those who commit morally reprehensible acts. The implication is that moral courage is essential to combat evil and uphold justice.
In practice
During a discussion on social justice, this quote can emphasize the importance of taking a stand.
Through every rift of discovery some seeming anomaly drops out of the darkness, and falls, as a golden link into the great chain of order.
Revolution does not insure progress. You may overturn thrones, but what proof that anything better will grow upon the soil?
Do not ask if a man has been through college; ask if a college has been through him; if he is a walking university.
Goodness consists not in the outward things we do, but in the inward thing we are.
Tomorrow may never come to us. We do not live in tomorrow. We cannot find it in any of our title-deeds. The man who owns whole blocks of real estate, and great ships on the sea, does not own a single minute of tomorrow. Tomorrow! It is a mysterious possibility, not yet born. It lies under the seal of midnight-behind the veil of glittering constellations.
A true man never frets about his place in the world, but just slides into it by the gravitation of his nature, and swings there as easily as a star.
For sin is just this, what man cannot by its very nature do with his whole being; it is possible to silence the conflict in the soul, but it is not possible to uproot it
The value comes from what is there, but the use comes from what is not there.
Desire nothing for yourself, which you do not desire for others.
And I am sure that I never read any memorable news in a newspaper. If we read of one man robbed, or murdered, or killed by accident, or one house burned, or one vessel wrecked, or one steamboat blown up, or one cow run over on the Western Railroad, or one mad dog killed, or one lot of grasshoppers in the winter, - we need never read of another. One is enough. If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad instances and applications?
The profound thinker always suspects that he is superficial.
In Reformed theology, if God is not sovereign over the entire created order, then he is not sovereign at all. The term sovereignty too easily becomes a chimera. If God is not sovereign, then he is not God.
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