Few men would dare to read their own autobiography if all their deeds were recorded in it; few can look back upon their entire career without a blush.
Living animals are too eccentric in their movements, and the law of gravitation usually draws me from my seat upon them to a lower level; therefore, I am not an inveterate lover of horseback.
The exercise of benevolence is joy to loving hearts: the more pain it costs, the more joy it is. Kind actions make us happy, and in such joy we find communion with the great heart of Jesus.
Time was when they that feared the Lord spake often to one another; I am afraid that now they more often speak one against another.
Dear friends, we may well sing to our Beloved when it is near the time of our departure. It draws near, and as it approaches, we must not dread it, but rather thank God for it.
One word from the Lord is like a piece of gold to a believer, who is like a jeweler, shaping and hammering out the promise for a number of weeks.
We object not to the narration of the deeds of our unregenerate condition, but to the mode in which it is too often done. Let sin have its monument, but let it be a heap of stones cast by the hands of execration - not a mausoleum erected by the hands of affection.
We do not pray to God to instruct Him as to what He should do; neither for a moment must we presume to dictate the method of the divine working.
He incurs a fearful amount of guilt who in the least promotes the aim of the Evil One by trampling upon a tender conscience in a child.
May we do good everywhere as we have opportunity, and results will not be wanting!
We cannot have communion with Christ till we are in union with Him; and we cannot have communion with the Church till we are in vital union with it.
As a child, when asked what I would be, I usually said I was going to be a huntsman. A fine profession, truly!
We have communion with Christ in His thoughts, views, and purposes; for His thoughts are our thoughts according to our capacity and sanctity. Believers take the same view of matters as Jesus does; that which pleases Him pleases them, and that which grieves His grieves them also.
I do not think I should care to go on worshipping a Madonna even if she did wink. One cannot make much out of a wink. We want something more than that from the object of our adoration.
Occasionally, some brother sings very earnestly through his nose, often disturbing those around him, but it does not matter how the voice sounds to the ears of man. What is important is how the heart sounds to the ears of God.
Oh, this base heart of ours! Hath it not enough tinder in it to set on fire the course of nature? If a spark do but fall into it, any one of our members left to itself would dishonour Christ, deny the Lord that bought us, and turn back into perdition.
This thing comes to me, not by the hearing of the ear, but by my own personal experience: I know of a surety that Jesus manifests Himself unto His people as He doth not unto the world.
To feel not only submitted but willing to be anything or nothing as the Lord wills it - this is, in truth, to sing a song to our Well Beloved.
Alas! You complain that your soul is out of tune. Then ask the Master to tune the heart-strings.
I do not doubt that we would become more useful if we praised God more, and others would join us, for they would see that God has blessed us.
