Jewel,' he said, 'what lies before us? Horrible thoughts arise in my heart. If we had died before today we should have been happy.

I could well believe that it is God's intention, since we have refused milder remedies, to compel [Christians] into unity, by persecution even. Satan is without doubt nothing else than a hammer in the hand of a benevolent and severe God.

The central Christian belief is that Christ's death has somehow put us right with God and given us a fresh start.

Our prayers for others flow more easily than those for ourselves. This shows we are made to live by charity.

We are forbidden to neglect the assembling of ourselves together. Christianity is already institutional in the earliest of its documents. The Church is the Bride of Christ. We are members of one another.

Miracles are for beginners.

Pilate was merciful till it became risky.