anotherDan

George, You're correct! Lincoln's second inaugural address, last lines. Take it away, brother!

My apologies for my tardiness. And I must confess I think I may have blown it by making my last clue part of the lyrics of a song. It was from The Judgment of the Moon and Stars, written by Joni Mitchell, about Beethoven. I do think it has a higher level of literary quality than the vast body of musical lyrics (Dylan excepted, of course!) The song describes the plight of the musician. "...wires and hammers" and "...broken trees and elephant ivories..." refers, as you may have guessed, to the piano. Here's a softball: New Author

The book Peter Pan was on the junk table. 'member Tinkerbell? "I'll never grow up!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal Blaise Pascal.... invented the binary computer, I think, at about age 17 for his dad, who was a tax collector. The progamming language, Pascal, is named after him. Many other accomplishments... he's the father of probability theory. Newton was a good guess. Lewis's Mere Christianity had much of the flavor of the last quote, so also a good guess, but you must have missed the clue that the author wasn't 20th century. Quotes were from one of Pascal's most famous works, the Pensées; the last one I quoted is referred to as "Pascal's Wager." new author!

If nobody gets it after this, I'll switch to another author. The author was truly remarkable from an early age... famous while in his teens... but not for theological reasons. It was only somewhat later in life that he devoted himself fully to the things of God.

Not Einstein, not 20th century

yeah, me too. I bought into a "more abundant" life paradigm.... a mix of Dale Carnegie and E. Stanley Jones. Didn't prepare me for suffering very well... "this stupid life." 'member "Twisted Fairy Tales"? This was Twisted Scripture. Prepared for betrayal, for thilipsis, for tribulation? Nuh uh. Denial of all these was what I was taught. Positive confession. Yeah, like Jesus did that. Or Paul. Or David. Yeah, right.

Thank you, Dooj Walden has been a favorite of mine.

Henry David Thoreau (nice Thomas Paine quote, BTW!)

Dickens

stabbing in the dark.... Gerome?

calvin?

good stuff! I'm less concerned with "what sells" as I am with what connects. A good song is when the author has something meaningful to say, and then says it well. Best wishes on future inspiration!

Erasmus?

I'll say Martin Luther.

penworks, My thoughts are with you as you attend your relative, and the other relatives.

Wesley?

great stuff..... you "guys" rule! Dan <--- didn't catch much

I didn't join before I reached the "maturation of [my] faculties." I started in '73, left in '89. Still trying to reach that maturation point. Then, and not until then, will I consider joining anything.

Good job, bfh. Since I've gone already, I'll let another jump in

cool clues, and I still don't know!

Indeed! Thanks, jeast! From Paul to Timothy, endeavoring to demonstrate himself in a way that God would approve is a living thing -- certainly not academic! Does neognosticism google? (The spell check underlines it.) And, uh, how many manifestations of the Spirit are there?

Roy, It's nice to see you in living color, and to hear your voice! It is true that neither God nor His word are merely black-and-white, and that many have a "tunnel vision" view of God -- if not in black and white, but a cartoon or caricature, nonetheless. As your byline indicates, God has motherly qualities as well as Fatherly. He is described in His word as a sun, a shield, a protective chicken, even! But there are false ideas about God, as well. Satan transforms himself into what would appear to some to be an angel of light. Men worship gods that are not God. They become worthless and destructive, and are destroyed in the process. Anything does not go, if you can catch my drift. With a holy kiss blowing your way, Dan