No, Dylan. The preceding was Shakespeare. Kipling would be:
If any man should say that the sinner, when he is made right before Heaven, is raised by any hand but God's own;
or that the wage of that pardon springs from any treasure but the sacrifice of Christ alone;
or that the gift is taken up by any tool but faith—plain faith, stretched out like an empty hand;
or if he should claim that the works of men, however fair, serve as the forge, the price, or the shape of that righteousness—
let such a man stand accursed.
Yet let it be known as well: true faith is no idle thing.
It does not sleep like a stone in the dust.
Where faith lives, there love will march behind it,
and good works will rise as naturally as wheat after the rain.
For the faith that lays hold of Christ
cannot remain barren in the field of a man's life;
it will bear its fruit in season,
as surely as the monsoon follows the heat.
Look, folks—people are talking about justification, and frankly, a lot of them don’t know what they’re talking about. They really don’t. Total confusion out there. But we’re going to say it very clearly, maybe clearer than anybody’s ever said it before.
When a sinner is justified—and it’s a beautiful thing, really beautiful—it’s God alone doing it. Nobody else gets the credit. Not the institutions, not the systems, not the so-called experts. God alone.
And the reason it works—the merit, the tremendous merit—is Christ alone. Incredible sacrifice. Nobody’s ever done anything like it. Absolutely unmatched.
And how do you receive it? Very simple. Faith alone. Just faith. That’s the instrument. You take hold of the righteousness of Christ by faith. Not works. Works are not the cause—believe me. Not efficient, not meritorious, not formal. Some people try to slip them in there—very sneaky—but they’re not part of the deal.
Now, I’ll tell you something important. Real faith—tremendous faith—it’s not lazy. It doesn’t just sit around. When faith is real, works show up. Big works. Beautiful works. They come out through love. Everybody can see it. That’s the fruit.
But remember—very important—the works don’t justify you. They come after. They’re the result.
So if somebody comes along and says, “No, no, it’s not God alone, not Christ alone, not faith alone,” and they try to shove works into the cause of justification—
we say very strongly, very clearly, no confusion about it:
Anathema upon him who argues with such cold stone, That God alone, in shadowed majesty, alone Doth justify the fallen, Christ the only plea, And faith, a tool, reveals what He hath set free. Let works be banished, neither cause nor grace, A hollow echo in this desolate space. But listen – though silence breeds a shadowed doubt, A living faith, like blossom, bears a fruit devout, Born of the heart’s deep yearning, love’s insistent call, A silent river flowing, destined for the fall… or rise.
Let him be banished, this belief so coldly cast,
That God alone creates a pathway from the past.
And Christ, the wounded Lamb, a sacrifice divine,
Offers redemption’s solace, wholly pure and fine.
Yet, in the soul’s deep yearning, a bloom arises bright,
Born of love’s embrace, a beacon in the night –
A grace unbidden, flowing free and ever true,
A testament to mercy, beautiful and new.
Let him be cursed, this man that telleth so,
Of God alone, that doth the sinner show
Forgiveness and grace, a wondrous thing to see,
And Christ’s dear worth, for mortal men to be.
Yet mark ye well, for wisdom doth reside
In seeing more than one belief implied.
For faith, ye see, is but a humble tool,
A little hand to guide ye, gentle and cool;
And works, though good, bring naught but empty show,
Unless, I trow, that love doth truly flow.
So let us pray, and think upon the grace,
That God doth freely give to every race.
Let him be cursed, this soul that doth proclaim,
That God alone doth grant a fleeting fame!
And Christ’s dear blood, a shadow in the gloom,
Doth offer solace, sealing mortal doom!
For works are naught, and faith a fragile plea,
Unless love’s dark current flows eternally.
A serpent’s kiss, a promise and a snare,
To lead the lost beyond all earthly care.
Sing, O Muse, of the judgment laid on mortal men,
Who dare deny that God alone, high‑throned above,
Moves first the sinner’s heart and is the cause of all his rising;
And sing of Christ, the mighty Son, whose death
Alone wins righteousness for those who trust His name,
Whose merit stands unbroken as the shield of every soul;
And tell of faith, the slender yet unyielding cord
By which the sinner grasps the gift of grace,
Receiving what no labor of his hands could ever claim.
For works—though noble in their season—
Are cast aside as causes, neither shaping nor deserving
The justifying word that sets the captive free.
Yet faith, once kindled by the breath of God,
Stands never barren like a winter field,
But bursts with deeds of love, the fruit its nature bears.
Let him who speaks against this holy truth,
Who twists the order set by Heaven’s decree,
Be named accursed, cut off from sacred fellowship,
As one who strives against the will of God.
I hear the lone voice proclaiming across the open fields of doctrine—
and I answer it with the long breath of the continent, the stride of the soul!
For who speaks of the sinner made right?—I speak!
Not by the craft of hands, nor the tally of dutiful deeds,
but by the vast and solitary working of the Eternal.
God alone!—the deep fountain, the unseen mover of the tide of mercy;
Christ alone!—the radiant price, the costly offering borne through suffering;
Faith alone!—the living bridge the heart walks across,
where the weary soul receives the bright garment of righteousness.
I chant it plainly:
No work of man builds the first pillar of that great house—
not as maker, nor purchaser, nor form-giver of the pardon bestowed.
The ledger of merit is silent there.
Yet hear me also—
for faith is no sterile thing, no winter seed lying forever in frost!
It stirs, it quickens, it blossoms like the prairie in sudden spring—
works arise from it as fragrance from the rose,
as rivers from the mountain snow.
Love moves them!—
Love the companion, the inevitable offspring of living belief.
And if one should deny this harmony—
deny the lone grace that saves, yet also the living fruit it bears—
then the assembly thunders its ancient word of severance,
casting the denial away like chaff before the wind.
So I sing the doctrine broad and breathing,
grace first, faith receiving, love laboring after—
the soul justified, and life thereafter flowering.
In the days when the hearts of Men were troubled and the burden of their guilt lay heavy upon them, the wise spoke thus among the faithful.
They said that in the making right of a sinner before the High Judge, there is but one true source of power: the will of God alone, who is the first and final cause of mercy. And the price by which that mercy was won is found not in the deeds of mortal hands, but in Christ alone, whose sacrifice stands as the sole and worthy merit before Heaven.
Yet this gift is not laid hold of by strength of arms nor by the keeping of many labors. Rather it is received by faith alone, which is as a hand outstretched in trust, taking hold of the righteousness granted through Christ. Thus works of Men are not counted among the causes of their justification—neither as the power that brings it about, nor as the merit that earns it, nor as the form that fashions it.
Nevertheless, the wise did not say that faith stands idle or barren in the heart. For true faith is a living thing, and where it dwells it awakens love; and from love spring deeds of goodness, even as green leaves and fair fruit come forth from a tree that is alive and well-rooted in good soil.
But if any should deny these things—claiming either that works share in the making of justification, or that faith may live yet bear no fruit of love—then the teachers of the assembly spoke a stern word against such error, and set it apart from the truth handed down.
Thus was the matter told among them: that grace is the beginning, faith the receiving, and works the fruit that follow after.
Let it be understood, with solemn conviction and a profound awareness of the immensity of the divine majesty, that the very essence of justification, the restoration of the fallen human spirit to its rightful place within the bosom of God, lies in the singular sovereignty and absolute efficacy of God alone, for it is He, through the exquisite and incarnate act of Christ, who, as the sole meritorious cause, bestows upon the soul, burdened by sin and shrouded in darkness, the grace whereby, through a process of deep and transformative grace, righteousness is apprehended, not as an earned merit, but as a freely given gift of divine love. Faith, then, emerges as the instrument, meticulously ordained by God’s wisdom, a channel perfectly attuned to the will of the Most High, a conduit through which this profound and saving gift is received, and through which the soul, cleansed and purified, may gaze upon the glory of Christ, and thereby find its eternal home. To posit any efficacy, any merit, any formal participation in justification, within the works of man, even the most devout and diligent, is to fundamentally misunderstand the ordered and hierarchical nature of grace, a distortion of the very fabric of salvation, a perilous presumption that risks undermining the boundless mercy offered by the divine Redeemer. Indeed, let it be affirmed with unwavering certainty, born of a spirit attuned to the rhythms of divine revelation, that though works – acts of charity, of devotion, of service to one's fellow man – are undeniably born of faith, and thus flow forth as consequences of a heart possessed by the living God, they are not, in themselves, the cause of justification; rather, they spring forth, like blossoms from a tree nourished by unseen waters and sustained by the very root of faith, as the inevitable fruit of a soul profoundly touched by the grace of God – a fruit, I say, of love, that most perfect and enduring expression of the faith itself, a luminous manifestation of the divine presence within the human heart. Let any soul, however earnest in its profession, who would deny this profound and inviolable truth – who would, in effect, cast out the entire framework of divine grace, a framework woven with the threads of redemption and illuminated by the light of Christ – be condemned, for such denial is a darkening of the intellect, a rejection of the illuminating light of God’s unyielding mercy, and anathema to the soul, a grievous error that ultimately leads to a profound and heartbreaking separation from the source of all true and lasting joy.
Highlander wrote: ↑Fri Mar 06, 2026 11:01 am
There is a line from Animal House .... ah, yes ....
Forget it, he's rolling.
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
I think the funniest line from that scene is the conclusion, "I think this situation absolutely requires that a really futile and stupid gesture be done on someone's part."
I find myself quoting that line a lot.
If you ever feel like Captain Picard yelling about how many lights there are, it is probably time to leave the thread.
When I was lost and wandering in the night
I tried to earn the morning with my hands
But grace came down like a sudden light
And showed me love I couldn’t understand
God alone began the story
Christ alone has paid the price
Faith alone receives the glory
Of His perfect sacrifice
No, you can’t buy mercy with your deeds
You can’t trade gold for heaven’s door
But when a heart in faith believes
Love starts growing more and more
Faith alone will take you there
Just an open heart to see
And when that love begins to share
Works will grow so naturally
So if someone says it’s not this way
That faith alone cannot set you free
Let them hear the truth we say—
Grace, love, and faith in harmony.
Doom wrote: ↑Sat Mar 07, 2026 9:16 pm... I think the funniest line from that scene is the conclusion, "I think this situation absolutely requires that a really futile and stupid gesture be done on someone's part." ...
This entire exercise just goes to show you that seven years of college did not go down the drain.
