THERE can be no doubt that while, on the one hand, a person’s theory more or less influences his experience, his experience, on the other hand, largely affects his theory. The two have a mutually interactive relation that makes any consideration of the one incomplete without some reference to the other. The reader of these pages will very naturally and legitimately inquire what the writer’s experience has been, what qualifications he has for offering practical advice on these most practical matters. It is a favorite method with many prominent representatives of the class whose views on this subject of growth in holiness the writer has had to antagonize, when confronted with trains of reasoning they cannot follow and arguments they cannot answer, to fall back upon the easy argumentum ad hominem and retort that, if the “opposer of holiness” — for with this Satanic appellation they habitually dub their adversary — only had a clean heart, if he were sufficiently weaned from his various idols to cut loose from the world and get an advanced experience, he would abandon his speculative objections and find no further difficulty with the theories of the specialists. This reply is of the “cheap and nasty” sort and, in general, serves to reveal the weakness of the cause which adopts it. Yet it has sometimes a slight basis in truth, sufficient to make it worthy of some little attention; that is, there are those who, according to their own subsequent confession, have had at the bottom of their doctrinal doubts or denials a half-hidden, but partly suspected, unwillingness to face obloquy and make a complete consecration to Christ. Their theological mists have rapidly cleared away just as soon as they fell, with profoundest humility, at the Saviour’s feet and were perfectly willing to be accounted fools for his sake. But, because these cases exist, to make such sweeping assertions as some people indulge in and to infer or assert that there cannot be thoroughly honest, unequivocally conscientious, and unmistakably competent differences of opinion on these things, growing, not out of defects of life, but out of sincerest convictions of intellect and soul, is a non sequitur, discreditable alike to the head and the heart of those who are guilty of it.

The writer feels moved to say in self-defense that he is not one of those who are practically ignorant concerning the things of which he has treated and whose evidence can be ruled out of court in this easy and supercilious fashion. He was trained from boyhood in the views from which he now finds himself compelled to dissent, and he has thoroughly passed through the usual round of experiences which are supposed to qualify people for right opinions on this theme. By ancestry, by education, by strong personal predilection, by uncommonly varied opportunities for private intercourse with some of the best saints of Christ’s earthly kingdom, and by close study of all the accessible literature treating on the subject during a period of some thirty years, the writer of these pages has seemed to himself somewhat fitted for such discourse, if not, indeed, rather pointedly and peremptorily bidden by divine Providence to set himself to the task of elucidating this grand theme.

The experience now immediately following has already appeared in print, and is given substantially as found in an article called “Twenty Years,” which was published in 1880 in the Lucknow Witness of India, while the writer was its editor, and, also, in a contribution made in 1888 to Forty Witnesses at the solicitation of its editor, the Rev. S. O. Garrison.

I had the unspeakable benefit of a godly ancestry, reaching back for some centuries. Thomas Mudge, a native of Devonshire, England, was one of the first generation of the Puritan settlers on these shores, coming to the Massachusetts Bay Colony about 1640. His son, John, held various offices in the town of Malden, including that of tithingman; and there is record that the town voted to “John Mudge and others liberty to build a gallery in the meetinghouse,” which shows him to have been active in the affairs of the Church. His son John was for forty years the greatly respected deacon of the south parish in Malden. Enoch Mudge, grandson of the deacon, was among the most prominent of the members of the First Church in Lynn, and none gave Jesse Lee a warmer welcome. He and Benjamin Johnson were the founders of the first Methodist church in Lynn; and Enoch’s name stands first on the record of the first class formed by Lee in Massachusetts. Enoch’s son Enoch has the unique honor of being the first itinerant preacher raised for Methodism on the cold New England soil, and may well be called one of the makers of Methodism in these Eastern States. The fifth son of the elder Enoch was called James. He was for very many years one of the pillars of the first Methodist church in Lynn, a marked man, both in the community and in the Church, for unbending integrity, deep piety, sound sense, enlightened views, progressive spirit, and solid character. Three of his sons became ministers. The eldest of them, James, was a most devoted and useful pastor, a member of the New England Conference, who died in Greenfield, Mass., forty-eight years ago at the age of thirty-four, but whose memory is still very warmly cherished by the few survivors who knew him.

Coming of such stock and being brought up by a most painstaking and judicious mother, who was herself wholly consecrated to God and a friend of Mrs. Phoebe Palmer, what could I be but a very good boy. My conversion, which took place at the age of twelve in a quiet revival in the little village of South Harwich, Mass., September, 1856, was not attended by any violent emotions. It was simply a determination, under the gentle stimulus of the special interest attending the revival, to take up publicly the position, and perform the duties, of an openly avowed Christian believer. Such I became. I joined in full the old Common Street Church, Lynn, Mass., whither I had gone to prepare for college, on my thirteenth birthday, April 5, 1857.

I faithfully attended to all Christian duties, speaking and praying in class and prayer meetings, from which I was never absent, and serving as librarian in the Sunday school. I did not falter for a day, or so much as once think of turning back; and my joy in Jesus steadily increased as I came to know him more. Before long, however, as I continued my school life and church life, I began to find that there were certain things hard to do and for the doing of which I did not seem to possess sufficient strength. I shrank from the cross involved in talking personally about religion with my unconverted classmates, and I fell into the indulgence of a few doubtful practices in reference to which my conscience was not wholly at ease. I found myself slipping into a state of halfway service, a state wherein I was conscious of being only partially consecrated to God, the state wherein, it is to be feared, a very large proportion of the Church continually live.

Happily I took alarm after a little, and, seeing very clearly that there was no permanent peace or power to be had except in being decisively one thing or another, my mind became greatly exercised on the subject of full salvation. From reading a great deal about this and hearing it much spoken of at my home — where the Guide to Holiness was taken and Mrs. Palmer’s books were on the table — as well as elsewhere, I came to have a strong desire for its attainment. So, when I went in August, 1860, to the annual camp meeting at Eastham, on Cape Cod, as I was accustomed to do from year to year, it was with an earnest hope that I might receive this great blessing. But Monday evening, August 13, the last night of the meeting, came without my having reached anything very definite. I had consecrated all to the best of my ability, going away several times into the woods and giving up everything that I could recollect. But this did not seem to be anything of moment. I had no great struggle, such as I had heard others describe; yet it did not seem to me that there was anything withheld from the Lord. I knew not what to do next. I had an indefinite idea that importunate prayer was necessary, and that if I prayed hard enough some marvelous change would come over me. But the simple step of appropriating faith I failed to apprehend.

The Rev. Charles Nichols, a good Congregational brother from Boston and long known as a successful evangelist, in a private conversation made the matter plain, clearing up every difficulty and showing how I needed just to take God at his word, without waiting for feeling or any other evidence of the work performed than the plain declaration of the Lord, who cannot lie. This sufficed to break the last link that bound me to the old life. Silently and alone, as I bowed in prayer under the oak trees, I firmly made up my mind to believe God and determined that for the future, relying entirely upon his strength, I would bear every cross and be a whole-souled Christian. In a prayer meeting in the tent, between nine and ten that night, I made open avowal that the blessing I had sought was now obtained, having been claimed by simple faith. I felt no sudden, overpowering, bliss; but a deep, sweet peace, as of the conflict over and the harbor gained, gently stole over my soul. It was certainly a memorable hour, a turning point in my life, from which dates a decided change in my experience. I returned to school a different individual. There was no more shirking of duty. I implicitly obeyed whatever I felt to be the orders of God. I bore clear and frequent testimony to the full salvation with which God had so wonderfully enriched my soul. At college (Middletown, Conn.), whither I went in 1861, I took a leading part in aggressive religious work and in promoting the highest type of spirituality.

My steps have been forward from that day in August, 1860, to this. Each year, without exception, has been an improvement upon its predecessors. There has never been anything that could be called a period of lapse or backsliding. Nevertheless, after a time, both while in college and subsequently, I gradually became aware that the work performed upon me at the time above described was not so deep and thorough as I had supposed. I was conscious of feelings which looked so suspiciously like ambition, pride, discontent, and selfishness that I could not feel perfectly at ease about the matter. The theory in which I, had been trained taught that all these things had been entirely removed at the time of the blessing, and that what I felt now were only infirmities, mistakes, and temptations. I tried to think them so; but when I was most candid and thoroughly honest with myself the explanation failed to fully satisfy me. In short, I grew more and more convinced as the years went on that in my case, at least (and, it seemed to me, also in the case of all others I met), after the special blessing there was need of further consecrations from time to time, deepening, extending, and perfecting the work. In other words, I felt and saw that the sanctification wrought at conversion and at the subsequent epoch was, in both cases, entire up to the light then given, and no further. Absolutely perfect light was not given either at one time or at the other; and, hence, as the light subsequently increased, a subsequent corresponding work in the heart remained to be done.

It is on these lines that my experience has steadily and gloriously progressed for the last twenty-five years. There has been no year when it has not gone forward; but there have been some years of unusually marked advance, some seasons of very rich revelation of God’s presence and power. One such year was that in which I went as a missionary to India — 1873 — laying upon the altar all the fond ambitions, dreams, and hopes of life, all the delights of home and friends and native land, in a far more thorough way than ever before — a way not possible to me before, because the actual pinch and stress of the practical test had not previously been brought within my reach. Another such season came during my last full year in India — 1882 — when, owing to some very bitter trials, a fuller disclosure was made to me than ever before as to certain remains of the self-life needing further attention. Sunday, July 9, 1882, alone in my room at Shahjehanpoor, God gave me such a baptism of love as I shall never forget to all eternity. The scene is almost as vividly before me today as then. On my knees for hours, with tears and strong cryings, in deep penitence for the past, in deeper determination for the future, God revealed to me a height of privilege, in the way of constant, smiling good nature and triumphant repose, which I had not before been possessing. I comprehended with great completeness that, no matter what might come, there was always a way in which everybody could be sincerely loved, and so the bird-song need never fora moment cease in my happy heart. The availableness of God and the loveableness of man were manifested to me in a way indescribable, and the effect upon my life ever since has been very marked. Again, in 1887 I had a very wonderful development of faith, making the unseen things far more real than ever before. There was an intensity and fullness of spiritual life not previously known, a settling down more thoroughly into Christ and a putting him on more completely, a greater oneness of will with God, and a more exact conformity to his image in little things, as well as more simplicity and humility.

But I did not then, even as I do not now, reckon all these graces to be absolutely perfected in me, with the self-life absolutely dead, no minutest trace or smallest particle of it any more visible to the all-penetrating gaze of the great Searcher of hearts. My previous experiences forbade me so to think. Because I had found, however positively all appeared well, that when increasingly keen and unexpected tests were from time to time brought to bear, a little of self always showed its head, calling for further purification, further repression. Hence, I inferred it would probably always be so, as long, at least, as I remained on the earth. I was able to say at that time, as I believe I can say now, that to me but one thing seemed desirable or valuable in heaven or earth, and that was the will of God. And everything which comes to me I welcome as God’s will for me. So far as I am in any way conscious, my whole being, without the slightest reservation or hesitation, goes out after him and abides in him. Loving only what God loves and willing only what God wills, I find no room for disappointment, but only for delight and thanksgiving, in all he sends me. Surely this is the land of Beulah, if not something more. It is, indeed, heaven begun below. "For to me to live is Christ.”

To render a little more complete this chapter of personal experience I append a tract, which I first wrote in August, 1890, as an article for The Christian Advocate. It was then reprinted, at the demand of many who found a blessing in it, by the Willard Tract Repository, Boston, where it can be obtained.

THIRTY YEARS WITH JESUS.

It was in August, 1860, that I took Christ for my complete Saviour, freely surrendering to him my whole heart; and so, although there had been a Christian life of the usual mixed, unsatisfactory character for four years previously, it is only these thirty years now finished that can really be called with full appropriateness a walk with Jesus. It has occurred to me that this would be a fitting time to set down some reflections resulting from this experience of nearly one third of a century. It would certainly be a pity if concentration of thought and variety of observation during so long a period could yield nothing that would be of benefit to other wayfarers on the journey of life.

In the first place, I may say that those distant beginnings have a different look, after the lapse of these years, from what they had at the time. The state on which, after special instruction, resolute consecration, and a definite forth-putting of faith, I entered at the Eastham Camp Meeting in 1860 I called Christian perfection, entire sanctification, and the being cleansed from all sin. I have long ago ceased to apply to it these terms. There doubtless is a certain sense in which they can be taken that makes them after a fashion appropriate; but since there exists a far deeper or broader sense, equally legitimate and scriptural, if not, indeed, much more so, the impropriety of their indiscriminate and unexplained use would seem to be sufficiently evident. I abandoned them in obedience to such wise counsels and examples as are found in Paul’s words (taken from the Revised Version) — 2 Cor. vi, 3: “Giving no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our ministration be not blamed;” 1 Cor. x, 32: “Give no occasion of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the Church of God;” 1 Cor. viii, 9: “Take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling-block to the ‘weak;" 2 Cor.-xi.12 “That I may cut off occasion from them which desire an occasion;” 1 Cor. x, 23: “ All things are lawful; but all things are not expedient.” And again: ‘‘All things are lawful; but all things edify not.” Also, in Wesley’s words: “Give no offense which can possibly be avoided. ... Be particularly careful in speaking of yourself. You may not, indeed, deny the work of God; but speak of it when you are called thereto in. the most inoffensive manner possible. Avoid all magnificent, pompous words; indeed, you need give it no general name — neither perfection, sanctification, the second blessing, nor the having attained. Rather speak of the particulars which God has wrought for you.”

What, then, did happen to me thirty years ago that it should be made so important an epoch from which to date a higher life? It was, as nearly as I can make out, simply that apprehension of Jesus to be my all-sufficient empowerer for every occasion which naturally comes upon a consecration greatly increased in thoroughness and, indeed, made complete up to the measure of light at that time vouchsafed. It marked, accordingly, a new beginning in the religious life and opened the way at once for an indefinite, but rapid, increase in knowledge and faith, in self-crucifixion, and in the acquisition of divine love. It put an end to the old haltings, and set the soul forward on a keen hunt for the best things made possible by atoning blood. It was not the end of sanctification, as at that time I ignorantly supposed; neither was it, of course, precisely the beginning; but it was an immensely important stage in the process, since it settled the point that all known duty was to be promptly done and all known sin resolutely refrained from.

This being the case, it may fairly be inquired in what direction have been the main subsequent developments of these thirty years. For one thing, self has steadily decreased and Christ has increased. By self here I mean, of course, not the natural, innocent, necessary self which constitutes one’s individuality and which will remain in substance, however high the state of grace attained, but the abnormal, unnatural, obtrusive self which clamors proudly, impatiently for attention, and whose presence is proof positive that the disorder introduced among the powers by the fall has not yet been wholly rectified. This self, whose existence is universally recognized in such terms as “self- will” and “selfishness,” must die by crucifixion. The process is necessarily somewhat slow, but the results are proportionately precious and enduring. For as the old man goes out the new man, Christ Jesus, enters, until, in the fullest and most exact sense, Christ himself is in spirit reproduced and he lives again in the person of his perfectly faithful follower. How glorious the goal — Christliness; which is, of course, a thoroughly perfected holiness and the highest sinlessness.

Another thing which has been noticed in the progress of the years may be called the growing domination of faith. By faith here is intended, not the mere taking of God at his word, which is a rudimental thing where there would not seem to be much room for growth, but that action of the faith faculty by which the unseen is clearly perceived, the eternal is made vividly real, the divine is readily recognized, and God is energetically apprehended. This is the faith which easily overcomes the world and quenches the fiery darts of the wicked one; the faith which fills everything with God, beholds him everywhere, and welcomes him in all events. Such a faith makes each occurrence providential and renders disappointment impossible. It creates such a measure of unworldliness and heavenly-mindedness, gives so keen a joy and so profound a peace, that the soul is ushered into a state but little short of heaven itself.

As to love, this has more and more completely taken possession, extending its sphere year by year, almost month by month. There have been times when it has received great accessions of power, and has seemed to almost cry out for new worlds to conquer, new affronts or neglects to deluge with its tide of affection. At other periods it has been more quiet, as holding itself in reserve for its opportunity. It has banished all fear that has any element of torment, and so, according to John, has perhaps a right to style itself perfect. But, since the treasure is held in an “earthen vessel” and its manifestations must be guided by a fallible judgment, there can be no guarantee that it shall always appear perfect to those who observe its workings.

Thirty years! How little of them, of what they brought and what they taught, can be chronicled in a single column of print! Mingled thankfulness and humiliation attend the retrospect. While there is thankfulness very deep and great for the patient goodness of God, there is humiliation correspondingly profound that no better use has been made of it. A constant and an undeviating endeavor has resulted in steady heavenward advance; but it would seem as if, with such advantages, the advance should have been far swifter and more extensive. For as much of ripeness in the grace divine as has been reached we would unfeignedly give the entire glory to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. For such deficiencies and frailties as still remain — tarrying, alas! far beyond the time when they might and should have been done away — we ask and receive the pardoning mercy of the triune God.

The questions given below I prepared at the close of 1893. They were printed in the first number of The Christian Advocate for 1894, and in response to a widespread desire were issued in tract form by the Tract Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They are inserted here as a kind of additional personal testimony; for they were written out of the author’s heart, are the result of much meditation, and express, at least, his strong desires. They show the directions in which he is growing, the special points of spiritual progress to which he is paying constant attention, and in which, by the blessing of God, he is steadily making gains.

QUESTIONS FOR SELF-EXAMINATION.

Am I at all below any former spiritual position, or is there a steady upgrade maintained?

Have I found out the weakest points in my character, and am I taking the utmost pains to overcome my special besetments?

Do I pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, and rejoice evermore?

Have I peace at all times, by all means?

Is there constant victory over temptation and cloudless communion with God?

Am I growing in humility and in the submission of my will to the will of others?

Am I improving in patience, serenity, equanimity, and continual good nature?

Is there intense longing in my heart for the utmost likeness to Christ and the swiftest progress in divine things?

Have I an enthusiasm for religion, a passion for doing good, an unappeasable thirst for the improvement of personal character?

Is there steady growth in the promptness and heartiness of my obedience to the divine commands?

Am I conforming myself more and more closely day by day to those special indications of God’s will which he makes to me by his providence?

Is the divine will, come in whatever shape it may, inexpressibly sweet and delightful to me, because of the great love embodied in it?

Does each hour open out as a page of deepening interest in the book of life, because I am studying how to walk with God in all the smallest, as well as the largest, transactions of the day, seeking guidance and finding communion from moment to moment?

Am I so suffused with God, so deeply in love with his blessed will, so filled with a sense of its transcendent excellence, that no suffering in its service is counted worth a thought?

Do I turn to good account, as the best helps to growth in grace, the ill usage, the affronts, the losses, the trials, and the troubles of life?

Is it the uppermost desire of my heart to show to the world the worth of its Redeemer, and is no opportunity for praising Jesus left unimproved?

Have I adopted as my specialty absolute devotion to God, so that I talk more with him than with anyone else, think more of him than of anyone else, and care more for his favor than for that of all the world beside?

Is my religion a winsome one, my character luscious and fragrant, so that all who have dealings with me are compelled to acknowledge the presence of a more than earthly influence, and all observers are profoundly impressed with the beauty of Jesus shining forth in me?

Do I rob God of nothing, refuse him nothing, require of him nothing?

Am I kindly and thoughtful for the comfort of others, willing to serve, slow to push personal claims, quick to sympathize and help?

Is each day begun with a fresh surrender of self to God, a rededication of all to the master, and a careful planning how to make the hours full of loving service, rendered in his name?

Do I constantly realize the divine Presence, so that it pervadesand permeates all thoughts and feelings, all words and deeds?

Do I appropriate the promises and put to the proof my full rights of partnership with Jesus?

Am I perfectly indifferent to all except God’s will, thoroughly content with what he sends me, pleased with all he does, and pleasing to him in all I do?

Have I firmly resolved that my ideal of a perfect Christian, if not completely realized in the year just ahead, shall at least be more nearly reached than ever before?

HONEY FROM MANY HIVES.

How can we better conclude this little book, which, we trust, above all things else will lead many people to personal growth in holiness, than by bringing together from many sources a variety of spiritual counsels which we have ourselves found very helpful in promoting the religious life? They are drawn from a wide range of reading. They are the fruit, also, of no little thought and prayer. We cannot give in many cases the name of the particular author who first suggested or embodied the truths here presented; and we have in nearly all the cases so altered them, that they might be shaped more to our liking, that it would scarcely be fair to credit them in their present form to their original sources. We must content ourselves, then, with mentioning the principal books from which the sentences about to be submitted or the thoughts leading to them have chiefly come. They are in the main the books of the ages, that will never wear out: Fénelon’s works, especially his Christian Counsel and Spiritual Letters; Francis of Sale’s works, especially his Introduction to a Devout Life and Practical Piety; Thomas â Kempis’s Imitation of Christ; Scupoli’s Spiritual Combat ; Rodriguez’s Christian Perfection; Jeremy Taylor’s Holy Living; Rutherford’s Letters; John Wesley’s Sermons and Letters; Faber’s works, both in prose and poetry; Dr. T. C. Upham’s works — Principles of the Interior or Hidden Life, The Life of Faith, Divine Union, Life of Madame Guyon, and Life of Catharine Adorna; and Dean Goulburn’s Thoughts on Personal Religion and The Pursuit of Holiness. Whoever will give his nights and days to the study of these volumes, reading and rereading, marking, copying, digesting, and adapting to present needs, as has been our personal habit for a very long time, will feel amply repaid and can hardly fail to show very manifest effects in the expansion of his own soul. Without further preface, except a most earnest prayer that the reader, both from this chapter and from the whole book of which it is a part, may gather great stores of abiding good, we submit for his edification and delectation a small selection from a large harvest of most nourishing grain.


Deal directly with God, receiving all from him, giving all to him, doing all for him, talking over all with him.

Diligently deny self; for just in proportion as the self-life within us decreases the Christ-life within us increases. Almost every event of every day will afford some scope for self-renunciation.

Destroy disappointment by restricting desire to that blessed will of God which can never fail to be accomplished. Be entirely and sublimely indifferent to all else.

See some good in everyone, and so have a pleasant word of praise for all, to be uttered whenever a suitable opening is found.

Be a servant to all for the Saviour’s sake, and despise not chances to give cups of cold water.

Look to it that the standard of your personal perfection — of what it is possible for you to become in point of likeness to Jesus — is constantly advancing, and let there be a progressive realization of the ever progressing ideal.

Bear without repining; do without delaying; be without boasting.

Religion must be a business. Every true Christian does what he ought, whether he likes it or not, just as a genuine business man does what he can or what he finds profitable, not simply what he likes.

Yield readily in matters of mere personal preference, but stand firm as a rock if it be clearly a question of principle.

Every act, however minute, is either a duty or a sin. Nothing is morally indifferent. Therefore cultivate carefully the power of spiritual discernment, and daily decrease the gap between the ideal and the real in this particular.

Be ingenious in making excuses for others, cultivating kind thoughts about them, and giving them credit for the best motives; but call yourself to a strict account for all departures from the perfect way, remembering that where so much is given much will be required.

Give at least as much thought to the positive as to the negative side of the Christian life; to the acquisition of virtue as to the deliverance from vice; to being filled with the Spirit as to being freed from sin. The former is the quickest path to the latter.

Never take offense; it is a greater sin than to give it, and is a clear manifestation of pride. Be not suspicious or sensitive. Keep always in good humor, believing that you are loved and honored as much as you deserve.

Put more and more love into the little things done for God, since this will please him better than the doing of greater things without fervor or somewhat grudgingly.

When you cannot honestly respect or esteem people get a great pity for them, and so let love creep in under the wings of heavenly compassion.

Not to be vexed with one’s self or anxious about spiritual progress or troubled at occasional defeats, and yet to be unweariedly pressing on, with a cheerful, immovable determination to gain the loftiest heights, is true wisdom.

Insist on turning everything into a means of spiritual improvement, a help to religious growth, so that even afflictions shall bring us nearer God and thus be subjects for thanksgiving.

Secure a constant sense of the divine presence, a recollectedness that is unbroken; for only when the mind is thus stayed on God can we be kept in perfect peace.

To please God a little more perfectly is great gain, and well repays any amount of effort — however large.

As to God, faith; as to men, love. If this be fully gained all is gained.

Everything which befalls us comes from God for our good.

All disquiet and disturbance spring from self and displease God.

Bodily stillness, a calm exterior, have an appreciable influence in helping the inward rest.

Tranquillity is the daughter of the love of God and of the resignation of our own will.

What to others would seem unprofitable niceties become essential points to the soul that is eagerly bent on the utmost destruction of self.

If we were faultless we should not be so much annoyed by the defects of those with whom we associate. The trouble is that the defects of our neighbors interfere with our own.

It is possible to get a fuller taste of Christ and heaven in every common meal than most people get in the sacrament.

We do not really lose time, provided the apparent loss was inevitable and we bear it with gentleness and patience. The same remark applies to the loss of money.

When our will is in a state of simple expectation, fully prepared for anything that God chooses to send, it may be said to be lost in the divine will, as starlight is lost in sunlight.

When our will goes forth as promptly and powerfully in directions uncongenial to the natural feelings as in those congenial, then it may be regarded as in perfect union with God’s will.

Every moment as it meets us is a true and unalterable expression of God’s wonderful good pleasure concerning us.

The absence of self-centered or unsanctioned desire is the essential characteristic of the state of divine union.

Lack of faith to receive from God the power which we absolutely need, and which he freely, continually offers us, lies at the root of every failure in right living.

To do all things from a single desire to please God, out of love to him, and because it is his will is, indeed, great perfection and brings unspeakable bliss.

Impatience, even though it be but slight, always involves willfulness and a lack of perfect submission to the providential hindrances against which we run.

The availableness of God and the lovableness of men are two things which very few of us sufficiently appreciate.

To have always humble thoughts of ourselves, more kindly thoughts of our fellow-men, and more trustful, loving thoughts of God must be our steadfast aim.

Our life will be made doubly sublime if we do all as Jesus would do, in his spirit, and, also, as unto Jesus, finding his representatives to be ministered unto in all around us.

To do his will, to love his law, to believe his word, to speak his praise, to think his thoughts, and to do all this habitually, will soon make us very much like him.

It richly pays to give up the good things of life in order to have the best things, the things of the upper kingdom.

To our own interest, repose, reputation, or even life, the honor of Christ must be always preferred.

An extension of the scope of God’s will to the more minute matters of momentary occurrence, and increasingly exact conformity to that will in them, furnish a magnificent and practically inexhaustible field for progress.

That soul which desires only the will of God is freed from bondage to the fears and desires of this world, and dwells in perfect peace, in every state content, though surrounded by uncertainties.

Finding our own pleasure in the will of God is much better than simply yielding our own pleasure to the will of God.

It is not possible to have unbounded confidence in God, with all its unbounded delights, until we have an unbounded abandonment of self.

Be insatiate after Christlikeness. What else is there in heaven or earth so worthy of effort?

The only thing anywhere desirable or valuable is God’s will.

He is truly rich, both in feeling and in fact, who realizes all that is meant by full partnership with God Almighty.

“Take time to be holy” is good advice. And it is pleasant, also, to think how much time that cannot be used for anything else with true profit, as, oftentimes, when lying wakeful on our beds or being whirled along in railway carriages, can be turned to excellent account by letting the soul stream up to God in prayer and praise.

If our intention is perfectly pure we have no need to concern ourselves about results, for God is pledged to see to them.

If we love God for himself, and not for his gifts, we shall love him equally under all circumstances, even when the gifts are taken away; for he does not change.

Have we love enough for God’s will and for Christlikeness to choose suffering because it will bring out the latter and exemplify the former?

To promptly identify every event with God’s will and our will with every event shows that we are truly far along in the divine life.

To a heart filled with God the world, including all its treasures and pleasures, is a very small thing indeed.

He who loves much, prays much; he who prays much, labors.

Expression intensifies feeling and exercises faith ; therefore, talk more and sing more about Jesus.

It is a good plan to take some single great text or truth and see how perfectly one can embody it for a single day.

It is well to pick out a few of the very finest, richest hymns and repeat them daily, sucking from them new sweetness and strength with each repetition.

If Christ’s presence makes our paradise and where he is is heaven, then we are independent of earthly circumstances; for we may always have him in our heart.

Wishing that we were better is a very poor substitute for willing to be better; the latter alone is allowable. Not more desire, but more determination, is necessary to carry us far on and up in divine things.

When one is conscious of perfect freedom from all envy and jealousy and discontent at seeing others of inferior ability preferred before us in public favor or pecuniary emolument, then the bird in the heart sings sweetly and a greater victory has been gained than the mightiest conqueror on earth can boast of.

To put and keep the world, our particular world, completely under our feet is an attainment of great magnitude, an evidence of conquering faith.

To die to the desire of great usefulness is something to which God often calls his chosen ones.

Just to win God’s constant smile and worthily represent the Master is ambition enough for the best and sufficiently exhausts all energy.

Inordinate and self-centered desires furnish the groundwork for all our temptations.

Obedience, love, and faith are different sides of the same prism, each helping the other, each transformable into the other.

A vivid sense of the intimate nearness of the Saviour, a complete and permanent realization of his actual presence, as one to be spoken to and walked with, may be so cultivated and acquired as to become a tremendous power in shaping and forming the whole life.

With the trains as they go, with the hours as they strike, with the horses as they pass, we may connect holy thoughts and be reminded of the ever-present Father.

It is never well to try to trust, but it is always well to try to know; confidence in God will spring from right knowledge of him.

There is a closer walk with God possible to me to-day than there was yesterday; and my closest possible is different from that of my neighbor's.

The best map of Beulah land is found in the twenty-third psalm, the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, and the First Epistle of John.

We may be enthusiastic without being fanatical, full of divine fire, but free from wildfire.

A feeling of absolute self-insufficiency is the only thing to make available the all-sufficiency of Christ.

There is no place where so much hard work can be put in with such small visible results as in the perfecting of character; therefore, have patience, my soul.

A man may be really a great deal better without appearing very much so to the ordinary or average observer.

An increasing unworldliness, an unostentatious putting away of self in little things, a more nearly unbroken serenity, a steadier self- control, a firmer patience, a profounder humility are marks of spiritual progress which do not make much show.

The margin is, in most cases, comparatively small within which the changes in our character must take place as the years go on.

It is better not even to use words, as we often carelessly do, which imply a choice on our part aside from the divine will.

Incense must be continually burning unto God on the unseen altar of our heart. That which is consumed in the fire must be our own will.

To the hungry soul everything is sweet; so when we are hungry for God his coming to us is precious, by whatever avenue he approaches.

If we recognize in the unwelcome visitor who interrupts our plan for the morning or afternoon a messenger from the Father to whom all our time and strength belong, we shall save ourselves much friction, preserve our peace of mind, and accomplish far more in the end.

Resolute, even violent, self-denial is generally called for, and that repeatedly, before the self-life is really killed.

To love to be unknown is not necessary, provided we heartily love God’s will, even when it means obscurity.

Daily we may get dearer to Christ and have a deeper delight in doing duty.

The death of desire is the destruction of disappointment.

Recollecting the divine presence and recognizing the divine will make up a large part of the divine life.

The ancient Jewish saying, that no man can see God and live, has a Christian application in the truth that the more we see God the more self will die.

Cloudless communion and complete content in Christ are every believer’s blood-bought birthright.

Let the Lord be your leader, your law, your light, your love.

He who is full of faith will be full of feeling and fruit.

We are responsible for fighting well, not for conquering; hence, we never need fail.

Our real end in the spiritual life must not be self-improvement, but the displacement of self by God.

Since nothing is troublesome that we do willingly, our troubles must depart when our wills are fully in line with God’s.

If we are really the Lord’s and have given up calling our souls our own we can accept our necessary insignificance joyfully, for it is wholly God’s affair what becomes of us and whether or not we are useful or important,

To get out of self into God, or to have God fully occupy us, displacing self, is the whole of religion.

Do not speak of godsends, lest you thus in speech prove infidel to the glorious fact that everything which comes to us is from God.

No one can greatly resemble Jesus who does not live for the whole world.

Make full use of God’s strength each moment by self-distrusting, all-confiding, unreserved reliance upon him.

There is greater merit in obeying man for God’s sake than in obeying God himself directly; so, too, in conferring kindness upon men for Christ’s sake.

It is doubt of God’s goodness, wisdom, or power that disturbs our peace; when we fully believe that he knows what is good for us better than we do, loves us more tenderly than we do ourselves, and is amply able to carry out his purposes concerning us, in spite of men or devils, we shall have most blissful rest all the time.

The soul that has ceased to find its happiness in any earthly attachments is for the first time truly free.

How glorious to be able to triumph in the triumph of our enemies, if we have them, just as much as in the triumph of our friends, because in both cases equally we consider that the will of the Lord is done! What can harm or disturb such a saint?

There is need of care that we do not take satisfaction in our virtues or count them as really our own.

Ever victorious, in truth, is the soul that can sincerely say,

'It is enough, whate’er befall,
To know that Christ is all in all.'

To profoundly adore all of God’s unknown and uncomprehended purposes, simply because they are his, is a mark of perfect resignation.

“The soil for the harvest of pain is brought down from the peaks of pride by the torrents of desire.” —George Macdonald.

Since fear is faithlessness and wishing is foolishness, as well as discontent, it is our business to have done with both.

One can do nothing, as well as something, in the name of God; there is a religious resting, no less than a religious working.

A perfect trust in God is tested most when all goes well, for then we are very apt to find ourselves trusting in his gifts, if not in ourselves.

Only he has a right to be happy in this sad world whose faith in God is such that the eternal glory which these afflictions are producing is vividly present to him.

No evil is permitted by our kind Father to befall us except for the production of a greater good.

He who belongs to God has no other responsibility but to know and do his will.

A virtue is really acquired when we perform its acts easily and gladly; it is perfectly acquired when we perform its acts with perfect ease and gladness, that is, with a promptness and heartiness that cannot be increased.

He who seeks only the will of God finds a special delight in suffering, since then his delight cannot be in the thing itself, but in the loving will behind it. The clear, pure water can be seen in a glass dish much better than in a gold one, for then nothing obstructs the view of the water.

The one thing needful is a heart stayed wholly on God. As in physical exercises, so in spiritual, to act slowly, so as to put greater precision and force into the action, is often well; we must avoid slovenliness and slackness in our dealings with God.

Instead of merely making the best of it, we should count it to be really the best.

The laughter of the soul at the music of the divine will is very pleasing unto God.

The constant sunshine of the Saviour’s presence makes all our graces grow apace.

What freedom is in the thought that we have none to please but Jesus, and what calmness it gives!

The fountain, not the force pump, should be the model for the Christian’s thankfulness.

If sacred melodies and sweet heart harmonies are sounding within we shall care but little for the turmoil without.

When obedience is kept at the extreme verge of light, then, and only then, can God say to us, “ This is my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.”

We need to walk softly before God, so as not by the clatter of our shoes to miss a single word of his precious communications.

A hasty word, an ungentle expression, a cynical, scornful tone, grieve the Spirit.

It is our privilege to meet every enemy with a shout of faith and of victory, counting him a foe already conquered in Jesus Christ, our Leader.

We need a more interior spirit and a greater intensity of love, rather than larger outward activities.

They have a blessed hiding place in God who belong to the secret society of the Holy Ghost.

They who seek Jesus instead of joy, the Blesser instead of the blessing, take the quickest and surest way to get all they want.

Only as we are keenly tested by tribulation can we really know that we are wholly consecrated to God.

God’s assisting blows — in other words, his afflictive providences — are indispensable to our complete separation from creature trust.

Volitional experience is better than emotional experience; that is, willing is more reliable than feeling, as a test of consecration.

Both despondency and anxiety are sinful, for they are signs of deficient trust and faith.

Everything should be done in peace, as if we were in prayer; for when can we be rightly in an unprayerful spirit?

Everything that we see should lead us to some thought of God; no habit will do more to increase our holiness.

The most beautiful thing in the world is a soul full of the love of God, serving Jesus purely and men unselfishly.

If anyone were suddenly to ask us if what we are doing is for God could we answer promptly and honestly with a glad and hearty “Yes?”

Do we take as much pains with what we do in private, when only God sees, as with what we do in public before witnesses?

When we cannot justify people’s actions we can often excuse their intentions, and so think pretty well of them after all. Yet, of course, if people are constantly blundering we cannot choose them for agents in responsible positions; to mean well and to do well are different things.

He who loves others as he loves himself or his child will be very slow to believe evil of them, and will only do it under the absolute compulsion of unquestionable facts.

Never let the mind dwell on things unpleasant, unless there is a prospect of thus making them better. Turn from annoyances to God.

As bread must be eaten with every meal, so Christ, who is the Bread of life, must be taken into association with every act.

Hurry and worry and flurry are never right; work done quietly and well will be done in time.

Avoid, if possible, all contradiction, and beware of disputation. Express your opinion with calmness; then leave it, not minding if others do not agree. But cultivate, of course, an inquiring turn of mind, and be always seeking for light from any that can give it.

It is very common to have too great an attachment to our own opinion; love of it and pride in it are generally the last things parted with.

The will of God is to be discerned, not by impressions only or mainly, but by Scripture, reason, providence, and the advice of judicious friends, united with, and acting as a check upon, such impressions as may be made directly upon our minds by the Holy Spirit.

The absolute will of God is frequently to be known only by the event which is its effect; beforehand, we do what seems to us, all things considered, to be right.

Perfection is not a garment that we can find ready-made, so that we may at once put it on; we have to construct it for ourselves day by day.

It is always in order to ask, with reference to a person who has a high reputation for goodness, ‘‘To what extent has he been tried, has he held office, has he been put where he was obliged to come into collision with the strong wills of other men?”

Be very guarded in letting your mind dwell on what other people say or think of you; there is danger in it to our simplicity and humility and quietness of spirit.

Our exterior defects, which give trouble to others, should be reformed even more diligently than those which, being interior, only give trouble to ourselves.

Imitate the bee, rather than the beetle; the former lights upon the flowers, the latter upon the dirt.

It is commonly a sure sign of a person’s being far from perfection that he thinks he has reached it; he has probably not yet begun to learn what it is. The more a man travels the more plainly he sees that he has advanced but little; the more he knows the more he sees how much he has still to acquire. It is only the ignoramus or the idiot who is sure that he knows it all.

“In every sin we commit there are two things: the one is, the motion, or exterior act; the other, the irregularity of the will, by which we transgress what the commandments of God prescribe. God is the cause and author of the first; man only is the cause and author of the second.” — Rodriguez.

We must not stop to attack temptations directly, but simply look away to Jesus and pass straight on about our work. The little dogs who snarl at us will bark the more fiercely if we stop to drive them off.

We should always smile, because we have Jesus with us and no one can take him away.

Very few people ever have occasion to repent of being too merciful and charitable in their judgments.

Even the ungodly will sometimes give thanks for blessings; but only those who are very good will praise God for afflictions.

We must have conformity to the will of God, not only in our own sufferings, but in the sufferings of others and in public calamities.

If we would only cut off the one item of unprofitable conversation we should have leisure enough for devotional pursuits; and if we omit, also, useless reading of the daily papers we shall have time in plenty for some real improvement of our mind.

He loves the Lord too little who loves anything with him which he loves not for him.

Patience is a twin sister of humility, because he who is properly humble and thoroughly conversant with his own faults will regard himself as deserving all the mortifications which come to him, and will not be disposed to resent them.

He who is humble and rates his merits low will, also, be easily thankful for every favor; and he who is always thankful will be always happy.

He has the prime element of true greatness who is strongly exercised to deserve glory, but is careless as to its reception from men.

We are permitted to desire the esteem of men only when the desire is prompted purely by love for the glory of God and the edification of others.

We may rightly undertake great things for God; but it is easy to let a little fondness for human praise and personal credit step in.

All healthy Christians, subsequent to conversion, steadily approximate to complete accord with the divine nature.

No one can grow into holiness; he must be born into it. But every child of God, being, by the fact of his new birth, in holiness, has it for his life task to grow continually therein.

To assert that the outward life is in no way different, whatever be the advance in inward holiness, or that there can be a holiness of heart which does not affect the practical life, is to foster a very dangerous error.

Since God is in every place, why should we not be reverent in our deportment everywhere, and not simply in church?

Since God is in all his creatures, we should be careful how we treat them, abusing none.

Every time you hear the clock strike utter a short ejaculation of praise or prayer.

We are fully as much in peril when alone as when in company; for the most dangerous enemy any man can have is self.

We cannot do God a greater wrong than to doubt his love.

A continual “Amen” in our hearts, a constant “Yes” to God, are a sweet privilege and a clear duty.

Since apparent ills are often real blessings, it is sometimes difficult to show proper sympathy with those who are suffering, without being untrue to our faith in God.

Our habitual demeanor should be so cheerful as to make it very manifest to all beholders that, with us, God’s yoke is easy and his burden light.

We must think less of the duty to be fulfilled than of how we can keep close to God while fulfilling it; our hearts should be more engrossed with him than our hands with his work.

We cannot set aside discipline, but we may throw away all its healing grace; we cannot avoid suffering, but we may easily lose the discipline which God meant it to work for us.

The hearing of evil speech, without remonstrance or defense of the absent or a determined effort to change the conversation, is clearly a sin and puts us on a level with the evil speaker. The receiver is as bad as the thief.

It is better to do too much against self than too little; give the benefit of the doubt on that side.

We can best imitate our Lord Jesus Christ in his humiliation.

The only thing that really belongs to us is our will, and this God gave us that we might return it to him without reservation.

Many are willing to serve God if they can do it in their own way, rather than his; we mar the work of God by doing it in our own spirit.

There is such a thing as being too eager, even for good things; too much troubled, even at our failures in duty. God is not honored by our hurry and worry, or by our despondency and discouragement. Calmness and cheerfulness are always in order.

Whatever hinders our progress toward perfection must be resolutely sacrificed.

We must learn to expect but little from men, and yet not fail in proper honor for them and love to them.

A state of holy indifference, which is not inactivity or stupidity, is much further along than holy resignation.

Our business is to concur with God; his, alone to originate.

Beware of prematurely concluding that the process of inward crucifixion is absolutely complete, the abandonment to God without the slightest reservation.

To always submit our will to that of others in matters indifferent is good for us, but not good for them.

Sometimes it is a duty to submit to be thought in the wrong; but more commonly we should justify ourselves in some simple, quiet way, for our reputation is too precious a thing, too essential to our usefulness, to be injured without good cause or necessity.

It is well usually to be silent concerning the wrongs and slights and contempts we meet with; brooding over them or seeking comfort for them from others is a weakness.

If men dislike us let us make sure it is for our adherence to principle, and not for our bad tempers and our selfishness and pride. Clubs and stones under a tree may be a proof that it contains chestnuts, or it may be a sign that hornets live there.

It is folly to measure our piety by the apparent success of our efforts in doing good to men.

Joys have been well classified as unnatural, natural, and supernatural. The second are often mistaken for the third; the third may be with us, though the second have departed.

Patient waiting is more difficult than active service, and is often more fruitful of abiding good.

The reality of God’s guidance, which we have asked for expectantly and taken all available means to secure, must not be called in question because the results are not what we had hoped or expected, but seem to human wisdom more like failure than success.

If God had wished us to decide differently he could easily have brought to our notice the thoughts and considerations which would have so influenced us.

The Lord has promised that we shall know his will, not that we shall understand his way.

Communion with Jesus over common things gives a reality and gladness to everyday life that nothing else can.

A close, continual walk with God is the secret of present blessing and the condition of truest usefulness.

We may be so full of love that injury and reproach shall be answered by a sweetness that is without effort.

Seeing plainly the truth, that nothing can touch us except with the Father’s knowledge and permission, has been well called “the only clew to a completely restful life.”

Not many sufficiently realize that he who frets at events frets at God.

To reverence ourselves is more difficult and more important than to reverence the world.

Impatience always involves a want of submission and a want of love.

We must not allow our piety or devotion to be inconvenient to others if we can possibly help it.

If we would even retain what we have we must continually aim at getting more.

Virtues, like languages, are acquired with much labor, and quickly lost by idleness or disuse.

Thinking much and talking often about eternity, heaven, Jesus, will wonderfully quicken our zeal.

Faith is the faculty of spiritual touch — the faculty by which we realize unseen things; it is an openness of soul toward God.

Very rarely, indeed, is any action done from a single motive.

Nothing that concerns the happiness of any of God’s creatures is small or insignificant in his sight.

The following are selected from Spurgeon’s Salt Cellars — a large collection of proverbs and mottoes:

A true believer loves not the world, and yet he loves all the world.

Be not idle in the means, nor make an idol of the means.

Beware of hidings
Of heavenly tidings.

Clocks need weights, and men need troubles.

Even in light matters get light from heaven.

Even in small things there is a great providence.

Faith makes all things possible, and love makes them easy.

God conceals his purposes, that we may live on his promises.

He who is only half God’s is wholly the devil's.

He will never go to heaven who is content | to go alone, nor he who is not willing to go | alone if need be.

He that wills to serve God for naught will find that he does not serve God for naught.

Hem your blessings with praise, lest they unravel.

In God’s works we see his hand, but in his word his face.

If you have to swim the depth is of no consequence.

If God’s mercies are not loadstones they will be millstones.

It is easier to build temples than to be temples.

Joys are our wings; sorrows are our spurs.

Live to God’s glory, and you shall live in God’s glory.

Not a leaf moves on the trees
Unless the Lord himself doth please.

One hour’s cold will drive out seven years’ heat.

Our love to God arises out of our want, his love to us out of his fullness.

Please God in all you do and be pleased with all he does.

Prayer should be pillared on promises and pinnacled with praises.

Sanctified affliction is spiritual promotion.

The loss of gold is great, the loss of health is more; But the loss of Christ is such a loss as no man can restore.

The minister’s life is the life of his ministry. To be much like Christ, be much with Christ.

When Christians are rusty
They are apt to turn crusty.

When we are in Satan’s hand, he is in God’s hand.

We must be self-searchers, but not self-seekers.

You cannot wrestle with God and wrangle with your neighbor.

Answer him not, lest he grow more hot;
Answer him well, lest his pride should swell.

Bashful dogs get little meat,
Bravely take thy proper seat.

Birds can sing on a bare bough.
O believer, canst not thou?

Better suffer a great wrong than do a little one,

For every evil beneath the sun
There is some remedy or none.
If there be one resolve to find it;
If not, submit and never mind it.

He is a stupid who loses patience with a stupid.

He who receives a good turn should never forget it; he who does one should never mention it.

Help those who help themselves, and those who cannot.

If the sun shines on me, what matters the moon?

If you cannot have the best make the best of what you have.

If cold, don’t scold; if warm, don’t storm; if wet, don’t fret; if dry, don’t cry.

It takes four living men to carry one dead man out of the house.

Live in to-day, but not for to-day.

Newspapers are the Bibles of worldlings.

Respect yourself, or no one else will respect you.

Take the world as it is, and try to make it what it ought to be.

The better thou be, the more careful must thou be.

The best of men are but men at the best.

The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.

To follow crowds but death I deem;
The live fish swims against the stream.

Whichever way the wind doth blow,
Some heart is glad to have it so;
Then blow it east or blow it west,
The wind that blows — that wind is best.

Who has no foes has earned no friends.

Wise men change their minds; fools have none to change.

You must put up with a great deal if you would put down a great deal.

Zeal is like a fire — it needs both feeding and watching.

THE END.

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