What They Said

"Happy the man who sees a God employed in all the good and ills that checker life."

"There is an infinite distance between God and His creatures, and it is an act of sheer grace for Him to take notice of earthly things. Christ, as God, is completely self-sufficient in His own eternal blessedness. How great, then, is the glory of His self-humiliation in taking our nature that He might bring us to God! Such humiliation was not forced on Him; He freely chose to do it."

"A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent."

"I have never once feared the devil, but I tremble every time I enter the pulpit."

"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.  If 'Thou shalt not covet' and 'Thou shalt not steal' were not commandments of heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free."

"Many blush to confess their faults, who never blush to commit them."

"However weak our country may be, I hope we shall never sacrifice our liberties!"

"Therefore ought a man to rest wholly upon God, so that he needeth not seek much comfort at the hands of men."

"Upon a life I did not live, upon a death I did not die; anothers life, anothers death, I stake my whole eternity."

"Contentment, then, is the product of a heart resting in God. It is the soul's enjoyment of that peace that passes all understanding. It is the outcome of my will being brought into subjection to the Divine will. It is the blessed assurance that God does all things well, and is, even now, making all things work together for my ultimate good."

"Employ they time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure; and since thou are not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour!"

"Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of."

"Oh!  That I could wear out of my mind every mean and base affection, conquer my natural pride and self conceit, expect no more difference from my fellows than I deserve, acquire that meekness, and humility, which are the sure marks and characters of a great and generous soul, and subdue every unworthy passion and treat all men as I wish to be treated by all."

"The world has lost the power to blush over its vice; the Church has lost her power to weep over it."

"Give me such love for God and men, as well blot out all hatred and bitterness."

"The most vital question to ask about all who claim to be Christian is this: Have they a soul thirst for God? Do they long for this? Is there something about them that tells you that they are always waiting for His next manifestation of Himself? Is their life centred on Him? Can they say with Paul that they forget everything in the past? Do they press forward more and more that they might know Him and that the knowledge might increase, until eventually beyond death and the grave they may bask eternally in 'the sunshine of His face?' That I might know him!"

"When you speak of God or his attributes, let it be seriously and with reverence."

"We have come to a turning point in the road. If we turn to the right mayhap our children and our children's children will go that way; but if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to God and to His Word."

"I believe in God and in His wisdom and benevolence: and I cannot conceive that such a being could make such a species as the human merely to live and die on this earth. 
If I did not believe a future state I should believe in no God.  This universe, this all, would appear with all it's swelling pomp, a boyish firework!"

"If I had not felt certain that every additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I could not have survived my accumulated sufferings."

"I recommend it to my sons, from my own experience in life, to prefer the happiness of independance and a private station to the roubles and vexations of public business; but if either their own inclinations or the necessity of the times should engage them in public affairs, I charge them, on a father's blessing, never to let the motives of private interest or ambition to induce them to betray, nor the terrors of poverty and disgrace, or the fear of danger of death deter them from asserting the liberty of their counrty, and endeavoring to transmit their posterity those sacred rights to which themselves were born."