There is always danger that we become contented with our routine, and indisposed to go beyond it.... But, besides this monotonous round... there should always be something larger going on. "You have gone around this mountain long enough: turn northward."

As a rule, lukewarmness of spirit is so decent and well-behaved, that it chloroforms its victim and kills him without a scream of terror. This is what makes it so awfully fatal. While open sin slays its hundreds, nice, respectable lukewarmness slays its tens of thousands.

The most triumphant word anyone can say at the end of his life is, "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." And it is the only way to receive the approving verdict, "Well done, good and faithful servant... enter thou into the joy of thy lord."

If in our hearts the great master purpose is to live for Christ only, we will grow continually away from all that is worldly and unworthy, toward things which are spiritual and Divine. Paul describes himself as "...stretching forward to the things which are before."

Here he lies an infant in your arms. He is at your mercy.... You can lead him in the paths of virtue to a generous Christian manhood, or you can neglect him and allow him to go to shame and ruin. Let this thought be impressed deeply upon your consciousness.

Her quest was not yet over. For we now see four great barriers her faith had yet to surmount; namely, divine silence, human coldness, class, and humiliation. If we look at these in detail, we find that they illustrate the vital issues in many lives today.

To be the voice of one crying in the wilderness in this way... is to abandon all human planning and direction.... It is to forsake that peculiar fleshly confidence that comes from human reasoning and second-guessing God.

Snip! Snip! The proud vine is pulled off the wall. There, I have cut it down and it won't bother our raspberries again! you say. You must not know brambles. Cutting it down is not enough—we must now get out our shovels and dig out the root or it will grow back.