I was looking through a circular from Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service the other day. There were some interesting and profitable titles listed, and the advertisement for one of the books has particularly lingered in my mind because of its beautiful phrasing of the book's purpose. Rev. Philip Graham Ryken, senior minister at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, asks What Is A True Calvinist?, a survey described as a practical introduction.



But how simply and nobly stated is Dr. Ryken's purpose, and how surely it should be the aim of all our study and reading: to encourage a God-centered mind, a penitent spirit, a grateful heart, a submissive will, a holy life, and a glorious purpose.

The Cross has dissolved hatred towards Man, has brought reconciliation, has made the earth heaven, has mingled men with the angels, has conquered the bastion of death, has neutralised the strength of the devil, has dismissed the power of sin, has rid the earth of error, has restored the truth, has driven away the demons, has torn down pagan temples, has upset sacrificial altars, has dispelled the smell of burnt offerings, has planted virtue, has founded churches.



The Cross is the Will of the Father, the Glory of the Son, the Joy of the Spirit.



The Cross is brighter than the Sun and more joyous than its rays.



The Cross has torn up our debts, has rendered useless the prison of death.



The Cross is proof of the Love of God, the unshaken wall, the unconquered weapon, the security of the rich, the richness of the poor, the weapon of the threatened, the rebuke of the passions, the kingdom of virtue, the wonderful and strange sign.



The Cross has opened Paradise, has admitted the thief and has guided the human race from impending disaster to the Kingdom of God.



St. John Chrysostom, Encomium on the Holy Cross.



The memorial of the Doctor of Preachers and Doctor of the Eucharist is tomorrow. And the great feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is Sunday, 14 September.

Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City, under fire from supporters of freedom for the indulgent depiction of Fidel Castro in its advertisements, will alter the context in which the racist and murderous thug is shown.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,



Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.



Romans 8:38-39



Listening last night to the fine series by Dr. James Montgomery Boice on the great questions of Romans 8: 31-35, and so the sublime assurance in these two verses has been with me through the day. And a good day for it to be so.



President Bush quoted this text two years ago in his address at the National Cathedral.

A fragment -- not shored against my ruin -- of the phrase was in the entry and a further reference in the comments box bekews, and because. I didn't know it. I liked it. Here it is, with thanks for the path to both Berek and Steve Master, and joined in respect to Caputo, whom I met when I was bq's age. And now bq sage.



...his ineffable, effable, efanineffable, deep and inscrutable, singular name.



TS Eliot, The Naming of Cats

Villanova and Temple haven't met on the football field since 1980, and renewal of the rivalry in their game tomorrow has several things to recommend it, not least that it'll be played in the new Lincoln Financial Field.



A bit warm for football still, of course, and Saturday in Philadelphia will be a day of brilliant sunshine and cloudless skies. Not yet autumn's crispness, but seats close to midfield. I'm looking forward to it.



UPDATE: Villanova Upsets I-A Opponent Temple In OT, 23-20