Prayer and temptation, the Bible and meditation, make a true minister of the gospel.

I am one of those old-fashioned ministers who believe the whole Bible and everything that it contains.

Let us be very careful that we never exalt any minister, or sermon, or book, or friend above the Word of God.

If a minister wants to be a man among men he need only to stop creating devotion to abstract ideals which every one accepts in theory and denies in practice, and to agonize about their validity and practicability in the social issues which he and others face in our present civilization.

The minister to whom confession is made is the delegate of Christ, Who is the Judge of the living and the dead

The minister to whom confession is made is the delegate of Christ, Who is the Judge of the living and the dead

I’m sick and tired of government ministers in this Labour government who simply blame other people when things go wrong

Change of ministers amounts to nothing. One goes out, another comes in, and still the same measures, vices, and extravagances are pursued. It signifies not who is minister. The defect lies in the system. The foundation and superstructure of the government is bad. Prop it as you please, it continually sinks and ever will

The things of nature are the Lord’s silent ministers, given to us to teach us spiritual truths. They speak to us of the love of God and declare the wisdom of the great Master Artist.

No enterprise can exist for itself alone. It ministers to some great need. It performs some great service, not for itself, but for others; or failing therein, it ceases to be profitable and ceases to exist.

The defence budget is one of the very few elements of public expenditure that can truly be described as essential. This point was well-made by a robust Labour Defence Minister, Denis (Now Lord) Healey, many years ago: ‘Once we have cut expenditure to the extent where our security is imperiled, we have no houses, we have no hospitals, we have no schools. We have a heap of cinders.’

No woman in my time will be prime minister or chancellor or foreign secretary – not the top jobs. Anyway, I wouldn’t want to be prime minister; you have to give yourself 100 percent.

I don’t mind how much my Ministers talk, so long as they do what I say.