Clergy Quotes - Page 8

• Political scientists almost everywhere have promoted the expansion of government power. They have functioned as the clergy of oppression.

  Rudolph Rummel

  Government, Political, Having Fun

  "Rudolph Rummel Talks About the Miracle of Liberty and Peace". The Freeman Interview, fee.org. July 1, 1997.

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• They all attributed the peaceful dominion of religion in their country mainly to the separation of church and state. I do not hesitate to affirm that during my stay in America I did not
  meet a single individual, of the clergy or the laity, who was not of the same opinion on this point.

  Alexis de Tocqueville

  Country, America, Peaceful

  Alexis de Tocqueville, Henry Reeve, Francis Bowen, Patrick Renshaw (1998). “Democracy in America”, p.121, Wordsworth Editions

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• No sovereign, no court, no personal loyalty, no aristocracy, no church, no clergy, no army, no diplomatic service, no country gentlemen, no palaces, no castles, nor manors, nor old country-houses, nor parsonages, nor thatched cottages nor ivied ruins no cathedrals, nor abbeys, nor little Norman churches no great Universities nor public schools -- no Oxford, nor Eton, nor Harrow no literature, no novels, no museums, no pictures, no political society, no sporting class -- no Epsom nor Ascot Some such list as that might be drawn up of the absent things in American life.

  Henry James

  Loyalty, Country, School

  'Hawthorne' (1879)

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• I have always considered a clergyman as the father of a larger family than he is able to maintain.

  Samuel Johnson

  Father, Able, Clergymen

  Samuel Johnson, James Boswell (1825). “The Table Talk of Dr. Johnson: Comprising Opinions and Anecdotes of Life and Literature, Men, Manners, and Morals”, p.212

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• The clergy would have us believe them against our own reason, as the woman would have her husband against his own eyes.

  John Selden

  Husband, Believe, Eye

  John Selden (1847). “The Table-talk of John Selden Esq: With a Biographical Preface and Notes”, p.42

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• What do our clergy lose by reading their sermons? They lose preaching, the preaching of the voice in many cases, the preaching of the eye almost always.

  Augustus William Hare

  Reading, Eye, Voice

  Julius Charles Hare, Augustus William Hare (1848). “Guesses at Truth: Second Series”, p.214

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• Methinks some creeds in vestries and churches do forget the hunter wrapped in furs by the Great Slave Lake, and that the Esquimauxsledges are drawn by dogs, and in the twilight of the northern night the hunter does not give over to follow the seal and walrus on the ice. They are of sick and diseased imaginations who would toll the world's knell so soon. Cannot these sedentary sects do better than prepare the shrouds and write the epitaphs of those other busy living men? The practical faith of all men belies the preacher's consolation.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Dog, Twilight, Writing

  Henry David Thoreau (1906). “The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Journal, ed. by B. Torrey, 1837-1846, 1850-Nov. 3, 1861”

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• And sometimes the clergy are blindsided by that. Other times they realize that ahead of time and say they're not going to use those terms. So it gets complicated for sure.

  Michael Emerson

  Use, Complicated, Sometimes

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• I ask the clergy why don't I see myself represented in leadership? And I'm told, and this happens quite a bit, "We don't think about race when we hire. We just hire the best person for the job."

  Michael Emerson

  Jobs, Thinking, Race

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• I think there are a lot of closet charismatics out there. A lot of [clergy] personally have had their vocations saved because of their experience of Christ and the Holy Spirit through the renewal, but they discovered it wasn't cool [to say so out loud] because it was considered fringe. They got the message from the environment not to talk about it very much. I think the time has come for the closet charismatics to come out.

  Ralph Martin

  Thinking, Messages, Spirit

  Source: www.bostonglobe.com

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• The people of God want pastors, not clergy acting like bureaucrats or government officials.

  Pope Francis

  Government, People, Acting

  "A Big Heart Open to God: An interview with Pope Francis". Interview with Antonio Spadaro, S.J., www.americamagazine.org. September 30, 2013.

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• It is the business of a virtuous clergyman to censure vice in every appearance of it.

  Patrick Henry

  Vices, Appearance, Virtuous

  "Patrick Henry in his speeches and writings and in the words of his contemporaries".

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• But the most dangerous Hypocrite in a Common-Wealth, is one who leaves the Gospel for the sake of the Law: A Man compounded of Law and Gospel, is able to cheat a whole Country with his Religion, and then destroy them under Colour of Law: And here the Clergy are in great Danger of being deceiv'd, and the People of being deceiv'd by the Clergy, until the Monster arrives to such Power and Wealth, that he is out of the reach of both, and can oppress the People without their own blind Assistance.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Country, Hypocrite, Men

  Benjamin Franklin, Ralph Louis Ketcham (2003). “The Political Thought of Benjamin Franklin”, p.5, Hackett Publishing

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• until the theologians and the ordained clergy begin to communicate with ordinary people in the vernacular, in a way that they can understand, I’m going to have to do this sort of thing.

  C. S. Lewis

  People, Ordinary, Way

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• The system of fathers of the world church, the clergy system of the state church, and the pastoral system of the independent churches are all the same in nature. They are all Nicolaitans. In the Bible there are only brothers. There is the gift of a pastor, but no system of pastors. The pastoral system is man's tradition. If the children of God are not willing to return to the position of that in the beginning, no matter what they do, it will not be right.

  Watchman Nee

  Brother, Children, Father

  Watchman Nee (1996). “The Orthodoxy of the Church”, p.38, Living Stream Ministry

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