Be brief, that the mind may catch thy precepts, and the more easily retain them.
To eat bread is one thing; to love the precepts of Christ and resolve to obey them is quite another.
Was it that you wanted to pull my leg by transporting me to the frozen Himalayan heights of 'mahatmaship' and claiming for yourself absolution from having to follow my precepts?
In our corrupted state, common weaknesses and defects contribute more towards the reconciling us to one another than all the precepts of the philosophers and divines.
Christendom has often achieved apparent success by ignoring the precepts of its founder.
If you try to observe the precepts, that is not true observation of precepts. When you observe the precepts without trying to observe the precepts, that is true observation of the precepts.
A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.
Human laws made to direct the will ought to give precepts, and not counsels.
The whole function of the life of prayer is, then, to enlighten and strengthen our conscience so that it not only knows and perceives the outward, written precepts of the moral and divine laws, but above all lives God's law in concrete reality by perfect and continual union with His will.
In all the antique religions, mythology takes the place of dogma; that is, the sacred lore of priests and people. . . and these stories afford the only explanation that is offered of the precepts of religion and the prescribed rules of ritual.
There is no patent recipe for getting good citizenship. You get it by applying the old, old rules of decent conduct, the rules in accordance with which decent men have had to shape their lives from the beginning. . fundamental precepts, put forth in the Bible and embodied consciously or unconsciously in the code of morals of every great and successful nation from antiquity to modern times.
I highly venerate the Masonic Institution, under the fullest persuasion that, when its principles are acknowledged and its laws and precepts obeyed, it comes nearest to the Christian religion, in its moral effects and influence, of any institution with which I am acquainted.
Moral precepts are constant through the ages and not obedient to circumstances.
To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself.
Avoid the precepts of those thinkers whose reasoning is not confirmed by experience.
You must use the hook of precepts to quickly remove it.
Belief must be something different from a mixture of opinions about God and the world, and of precepts for one life or for two. Piety cannot be an instinct craving for a mess of metaphysical and ethical crumbs.
Like my parents, I have never been a regular church member or churchgoer. It doesn't seem plausible to me that there is the kind of God who watches over human affairs, listens to prayers, and tries to guide people to follow His precepts - there is just too much misery and cruelty for that.
Thankfully, God brought wise Christian friends alongside to help me discover life-transforming precepts in his Word.
Short isolated sentences were the mode in which ancient Wisdom delighted to convey its precepts, for the regulation of life and manners.
