About the author
Context for this collection
c. 1380–1471 · Christian devotional writer traditionally associated with The Imitation of Christ
Common themes
Gratitude, humility, patience, acceptance of limits, inward peace, spiritual consolation, self-examination and the reception of grace.
Source identified1
“Give thanks unto God for His grace, but for thyself alone confess thy fault.”
The sentence separates gratitude from self-congratulation: what is received as grace is answered with thanks, while personal failure remains something to examine rather than disguise with spiritual pride.
Source note: The Imitation of Christ, Book II, Chapter X, William Benham translation, Project Gutenberg #1653. This is part of a longer argument opposing ingratitude and pride; this collection preserves its Christian theological framework.
Source identified2
“Be thankful, therefore, for the least benefit and thou shalt be worthy to receive greater.”
The devotional instruction treats gratitude as a discipline of scale: small benefits should not disappear merely because larger gifts are desired, since attention to what is received is itself part of humility.
Source note: The Imitation of Christ, Book II, Chapter X, “Of gratitude for the Grace of God,” William Benham translation, Project Gutenberg #1653. The passage is explicitly Christian devotional writing about divine grace rather than a general causal promise that gratitude earns material rewards.
Source identified3
“First keep thyself in peace, and then shalt thou be able to be a peacemaker towards others.”
The devotional instruction makes inward steadiness prior to outward peacemaking: a person who is internally ruled by agitation will struggle to reduce conflict in relationships around them.
Source note: The Imitation of Christ, Chapter III, “Of the good, peaceable man,” William Benham translation, Project Gutenberg #1653. The surrounding passage is explicitly Christian devotional teaching about peace, suspicion, anger and living peaceably with difficult people.
Source identified4
“Those things which a man cannot amend in himself or in others, he ought patiently to bear, until God shall otherwise ordain.”
The devotional advice separates attempted correction from patient endurance: when a fault cannot presently be changed, continued struggle to control it may need to give way to forbearance.
Source note: The Imitation of Christ, Book I, Chapter XVI, “Of bearing with the faults of others,” William Benham translation, Project Gutenberg #1653. The chapter is explicitly Christian devotional teaching and continues by urging patience with others partly because each person also has faults that others must bear.