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God Washes The Eyes By Tears Until They Can Behold The Invisible Land Where Tears Shall Come No More. O Love! O Affliction! Ye Are The Guides That Show Us The Way Through The Great Airy Space Where Our Loved Ones Walked; And, As Hounds Easily Follow The Scent Before The Dew Be Risen, So God Teaches Us, While Yet Our Sorrow Is Wet, To Follow On And Find Our Dear Ones In Heaven.

-Henry Ward Beecher

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God Washes The Eyes

Henry Ward Beecher

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God Washes The Eyes By Tears Until They Can Behold The Invisible Land Where Tears Shall Come No More. O Love! O Affliction! Ye Are The Guides That Show Us The Way Through The Great Airy Space Where Our Loved Ones Walked; And, As Hounds Easily Follow The Scent Before The Dew Be Risen, So God Teaches Us, While Yet Our Sorrow Is Wet, To Follow On And Find Our Dear Ones In Heaven.

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The Babe At First Feeds Upon The Mother's Bosom, But It Is Always On Her Heart.

The Thankful Heart Will Find, In Every Hour, Some Heavenly Blessings.

A Man Has No More Religion Than He Acts Out In His Life.

Despondency Is Ingratitude; Hope Is God's Worship.

When A Man Can Look Upon The Simple Wild-rose, And Feel No Pleasure, His Taste Has Been Corrupted.

No Grace Can Save Any Man Unless He Helps Himself.

Happy Is The Man Who Has That In His Soul Which Acts Upon The Dejected As April Airs Upon Violet Roots. Gifts From The Hand Are Silver And Gold, But The Heart Gives That Which Neither Silver Nor Gold Can Buy. To Be Full Of Goodness, Full Of Cheerfulness, Full Of Sympathy, Full Of Helpful Hope, Causes A Man To Carry Blessings Of Which He Is Himself As Unconscious As A Lamp Is Of Its Own Shining. Such A One Moves On Human Life As Stars Move On Dark Seas To Bewildered Mariners; As The Sun Wheels, Bringing All The Seasons With Him From The South.

A Man That Has Lost Moral Sense Is Like A Man In Battle With Both Of His Legs Shot Off: He Has Nothing To Stand On.

As Plants Take Hold, Not For The Sake Of Staying, But Only That They May Climb Higher, So It Is With Men. By Every Part Of Our Nature We Clasp Things Above Us, One After Another, Not For The Sake Of Remaining Where We Take Hold, But That We May Go Higher.

Men Of Dissolute Lives Have Little Incentive To Look Forward To The Hopes And Glories Of Immortality. A Due Conception Of These Would Be Incompatible With Such A Life.

The Dog Is The God Of Frolic.

Nothing Is Orderly Till Man Takes Hold Of It. Everything In Creation Lies Around Loose.

Undoubtedly We Render Our Consciences Callous By Evil Indulgences; But We Cannot Entirely Subdue That Still, Small Voice.

A Library Is But The Soul's Burial Ground; It Is The Land Of Shadows. Yet One Is Impressed With The Thought, The Labor, And The Struggle, Represented In This Vast Catacomb Of Books. Who Could Dream, By The Placid Waters That Issue From The Level Mouths Of Brooks Into The Lake, All The Plunges, The Whirls, The Divisions, And Foaming Rushes That Had Brought Them Down To The Tranquil Exit? And Who Can Guess Through What Channels Of Disturbance, And Experiences Of Sorrow, The Heart Passed That Has Emptied Into This Dead Sea Of Books?

Men Strengthen Each Other In Their Faults. Those Who Are Alike Associate Together, Repeat The Things Which All Believe, Defend And Stimulate Their Common Faults Of Disposition, And Each One Receives From The Others A Reflection Of His Own Egotism.

Many People Are Afraid To Embrace Religion, For Fear They Shall Not Succeed In Maintaining It.

To The Great Tree-loving Fraternity We Belong. We Love Trees With Universal And Unfeigned Love, And All Things That Do Grow Under Them Or Around Them - The Whole Leaf And Root Tribe.

If You Want Your Neighbor To Know What Christ Will Do For Him, Let The Neighbor See What Christ Has Done For You.

Christ Is Risen! There Is Life, Therefore, After Death! His Resurrection Is The Symbol And Pledge Of Universal Resurrection!

Some Men Are, In Regard To Ridicule, Like Tin-roofed Buildings In Regard To Hail: All That Hits Them Bounds Rattling Off; Not A Stone Goes Through.

No Matter What Looms Ahead, If You Can Eat Today, Enjoy Today, Mix Good Cheer With Friends Today Enjoy It And Bless God For It.

Not Thine The Sorrow, But Ours, Sainted Soul! Thou Hast Indeed Entered Into The Promised Land, While We Are Yet On The March. To Us Remain The Rocking Of The Deep, The Storm Upon The Land, Days Of Duty And Nights Of Watching; But Thou Are Sphered High Above All Darkness And Fear, Beyond All Sorrow And Weariness. Rest, Oh, Weary Heart!

No One Can Deal With The Hearts Of Men Unless He Has The Sympathy Which Is Given By Love.

It Takes Longer For Man To Find Out Man Than Any Other Creature That Is Made.

The Pie Should Be Eaten "while It Is Yet Florescent, White Or Creamy Yellow, With The Merest Drip Of Candied Juice Along The Edges, (as If The Flavor Were So Good To Itself That Its Own Lips Watered!) Of A Mild And Modest Warmth, The Sugar Suggesting Jelly, Yet Not Jellied, The Morsels Of Apple Neither Dissolved Nor Yet In Original Substance, But Hanging As It Were In A Trance Between The Spirit And The Flesh Of Applehood...then, O Blessed Man, Favored By All The Divinities! Eat, Give Thanks, And Go Forth, 'in Apple-pie Order!'"

The Commerce Of The World Is Conducted By The Strong, And Usually It Operates Against The Weak.

I Can Forgive, But I Cannot Forget, Is Only Another Way Of Saying, I Will Not Forgive. Forgiveness Ought To Be Like A Cancelled Note - Torn In Two, And Burned Up, So That It Never Can Be Shown Against One.

The Meanest, Most Contemptible Kind Of Praise Is That Which First Speaks Well Of A Man, And Then Qualifies It With A But.

Nothing Can Be Further Apart Than True Humility And Servility.

It Is One Of The Worst Effects Of Prosperity To Make A Man A Vortex Instead Of A Fountain; So That, Instead Of Throwing Out, He Learns Only To Draw In.

Astronomers Have Built Telescopes Which Can Show Myriads Of Stars Unseen Before; But When A Man Looks Through A Tear In His Own Eye, That Is A Lens Which Opens Reaches Into The Unknown, And Reveals Orbs Which No Telescope, However Skilfully Constructed, Could Do.

Nowhere Else Can One Find So Miscellaneous, So Various, An Amount Of Knowledge As Is Contained In A Good Newspaper.

Sorrows Are Gardeners: They Plant Flowers Along Waste Places, And Teach Vines To Cover Barren Heaps.

Flowers Have An Expression Of Countenance As Much As Men Or Animals. Some Seem To Smile; Some Have A Sad Expression; Some Are Pensive And Diffident; Others Are Plain, Honest And Upright, Like The Broad Faced Sunflower And The Hollyhock.

A Mother Is As Different From Anything Else That God Ever Thought Of, As Can Possibly Be. She Is A Distinct And Individual Creation.

All The Sobriety Which' Religion Needs Or Requires Is That Which Real Earnestness Produces.

Amid The Discords Of This Life, It Is Blessed To Think Of Heaven, Where God Draws After Him An Everlasting Train Of Music; For All Thoughts Are Harmonious And All Feelings Vocal, And So There Is Round About His Feet Eternal Melody.

You Never Know Till You Try To Reach Them How Accessible Men Are; But You Must Approach Each Man By The Right Door.

Books Are The True Metempsychosis,--they Are The Symbol And Presage Of Immortality. The Dead Men Are Scattered, And None Shall Find Them. Behold They Are Here! They Do But Sleep.

Blessed Be The Man Whose Work Drives Him. Something Must Drive Men; And If It Is Wholesome Industry, They Have No Time For A Thousand Torments And Temptations.

It Is Not In The Nature Of True Greatness To Be Exclusive And Arrogant.

Everyone Has Influence, For Good Or Bad, Upon Others.

Prayer Covers The Whole Of Man's Life. There Is No Thought, Feeling, Yearning, Or Desire, However Low, Trifling, Or Vulgar We May Deem It, Which If It Affects Our Real Interest Or Happiness, We May Not Lay Before God And Be Sure Of Sympathy.

Love Is Ownership. We Own Whom We Love. The Universe Is God's Because He Loves.

Hope Is Sweet-minded And Sweet-eyed. It Draws Pictures; It Weaves Fancies; It Fills The Future With Delight.

Every Tomorrow Has Two Handles. We Can Take Hold Of It With The Handle Of Anxiety Or The Handle Of Faith.

The Worst Prison Is Not Of Stone. It Is Of A Throbbing Heart, Outraged By An Infamous Life.

Next To The Pastoral Came The Agricultural Life. When You Add To That The Manufacturing Phase Of Development, Society Begins To Fill Out, And Needs But Wings To Fly, And Commerce Is Its Wings.

It Is Not Merely Cruelty That Leads Men To Love War, It Is Excitement.

We Are But A Point, A Single Comma, And God Is The Literature Of Eternity.

The Ignorant Classes Are The Dangerous Classes.

The Advertisements In A Newspaper Are More Full Knowledge In Respect To What Is Going On In A State Or Community Than The Editorial Columns Are.

Now, Men Think, With Regard To Their Conduct, That, If They Were To Lift Themselves Up Gigantically And Commit Some Crashing Sin, They Should Never Be Able To Hold Up Their Heads; But They Will Harbor In Their Souls Little Sins, Which Are Piercing And Eating Them Away To Inevitable Ruin.

Men Go Shopping Just As Men Go Out Fishing Or Hunting, To See How Large A Fish May Be Caught With The Smallest Hook.

In Friendship Your Heart Is Like A Bell Struck Every Time Your Friend Is In Trouble.

The Soul Is A Temple; And God Is Silently Building It By Night And By Day. Precious Thoughts Are Building It; Disinterested Love Is Building It; All-penetrating Faith Is Building It.

A Grindstone That Had Not Grit In It, How Long Would It Take To Sharpen An Ax? And Affairs That Had Not Grit In Them, How Long Would They Take To Make A Man?

Cant Is The Twin Sister Of Hypocrisy.

No Man Can Tell If He Is Rich Or Poor By Turning To His Ledger. It Is The Heart That Makes A Man Rich. He Is Rich According To What He Is, Not According To What He Has.

There Is An Equator That Runs Just Under The Nose: All That Live Below The Equator Are Animals; All That Live Above It Are Men.

Weak Minds May Be Injured By Novel-reading; But Sensible People Find Both Amusement And Instruction Therein.

A Man's Character Is The Reality Of Himself; His Reputation, The Opinion Others Have Formed About Him; Character Resides In Him, Reputation In Other People; That Is The Substance, This Is The Shadow.

We Let Our Blessings Get Mouldy, And Then Call Them Curses.

Difficulties Are God's Errands; And When We Are Sent Upon Them, We Should Esteem It A Proof Of God's Confidence.

The Reason That Men Are So Slow To Confess Their Vices Is Because They Have Not Yet Abandoned Them.

Living Is Death; Dying Is Life. We Are Not What We Appear To Be. On This Side Of The Grave We Are Exiles, On That Citizens; On This Side Orphans, On That Children.

Good Nature Is Worth More Than Knowledge, More Than Money, More Than Honor, To The Persons Who Possess It.

Beauty May Be Said To Be God's Trademark In Creation.

A Man In The Right, With God On His Side, Is In The Majority, Though He Be Alone, For God Is Multitudinous Above All Populations Of The Earth.

Some People Are Proud Of Their Humility.

The Elms Of New England! They Are As Much A Part Of Her Beauty As The Columns Of The Parthenon Were The Glory Of Its Architecture.

Any Law That Takes Hold Of A Mans Daily Life Cannot Prevail In A Community, Unless The Vast Majority Of The Community Are Actively In Favor Of It. The Laws That Are The Most Operative Are The Laws Which Protect Life.

Mirthfulness Is In The Mind, And You Cannot Get It Out. It Is The Blessed Spirit That God Has Set In The Mind To Dust It, To Enliven Its Dark Places, And To Drive Asceticism, Like A Foul Fiend, Out At The Back Door. It Is Just As Good, In Its Place, As Conscience Or Veneration. Praying Can No More Be Made A Substitute For Smiling Than Smiling Can For Praying.

He That Would Look With Contempt On The Pursuits Of The Farmer, Is Not Worthy The Name Of A Man.

What A Mother Sings To The Cradle Goes All The Way Down To The Coffin.

Nature Holds An Immense Uncollected Debt Over Every Man's Head.

Conscience Is The Frame Of Character, And Love Is The Covering For It.

Mountains Of Gold Would Not Seduce Some Men, Yet Flattery Would Break Them Down.

We Have The Promises Of God As Thick As Daisies In Summer Meadows, That Death, Which Men Most Fear, Shall Be To Us The Most Blessed Of Experiences, If We Trust In Him. Death Is Unclasping; Joy, Breaking Out In The Desert; The Heart, Come To Its Blossoming Time! Do We Call It Dying When The Bud Bursts Into Flower?

The True Secret Of Giving Advice Is, After You Have Honestly Given It, To Be Perfectly Indifferent Whether It Is Taken Or Not, And Never Persist In Trying To Set People Right.

No Man Rides So High And In Such Good Company As The Man That Allies Himself To A Truth.

If A Boy Is Not Trained To Endure And To Bear Trouble, He Will Grow Up A Girl; And A Boy That Is A Girl Has All A Girl's Weakness Without Any Of Her Regal Qualities. A Woman Made Out Of A Woman Is God's Noblest Work; A Woman Made Out Of A Man Is His Meanest.

Some Men Are Like Pyramids, Which Are Very Broad Where They Touch The Ground, But Grow Narrow As They Reach The Sky.

Thou Shalt Love The Lord Thy God With All Thy Heart, And With All Thy Soul, And With All Thy Mind." I Found The Following Quote By Goethe That Can Serve As A Commentary On These Words. "we Are Shaped And Fashioned By What We Love." "the Most Important Thing A Father Can Do For His Children Is To Love Their Mother.

The Grossest, The Cruelest, The Most Selfish, The Most Easily Pervertible And Perverted Thing In This World, Is Government.

All Men Are Tempted. There Is No Man That Lives That Can't Be Broken Down, Provided It Is The Right Temptation, Put In The Right Spot.

If Christ Is The Wisdom Of God And The Power Of God In The Experience Of Those Who Trust And Love Him, There Needs No Further Argument Of His Divinity.

What Could Make Me Love My Fellow Christian Better Than To See That God Loves Us All As We Were All One Soul?

If We Are Like Christ, We Shall Seek, Not To Absorb, But To Reflect The Light Which Falls Upon Others, And Thus We Shall Become Pure And Spotless.

It Is Not When The Cable Lies Coiled Up On The Deck That You Know How Strong Or How Weak It Is; It Is When It Is Put To The Test.

Theology Is But Our Ideas Of Truth Classified And Arranged.

There Are Joys Which Long To Be Ours.

Every Charitable Act Is A Stepping Stone Toward Heaven.

I Have Great Hope Of A Wicked Man, Slender Hope Of A Mean One. A Wicked Man May Be Converted And Become A Prominent Saint. A Mean Man Ought To Be Converted Six Or Seven Times, One Right After The Other, To Give Him A Fair Start And Put Him On An Equality With A Bold, Wicked Man.

Whatever Is Almost True Is Quite False, And Among The Most Dangerous Of Errors, Because Being So Near Truth, It Is More Likely To Lead Astray.

Oftentimes Great And Open Temptations Are The Most Harmless Because They Come With Banners Flying And Bands Playing And All The Munitions Of War In Full View, So That We Know We Are In The Midst Of Enemies That Mean Us Damage, And We Get Ready To Meet And Resist Them. Our Peculiar Dangers Are Those That Surprise Us And Work Treachery In Our Fort.

Every Young Man Would Do Well To Remember That All Successful Business Stands On The Foundation Of Morality.

A Man Who Does Not Love Praise Is Not A Full Man.

A Man Should Fear When He Only Enjoys What Good He Does Publicly. Is It Not The Publicity Rather Than The Charity He Loves? Is It Not Vanity, Rather Than Benevolence, That Gives Such Charities?

Men Will Let You Abuse Them If Only You Will Make Them Laugh.

All Work And No Plagiarism Makes For Dull Sermons!

The Morbid States Of Health, The Irritableness Of Disposition Arising From Unstrung Nerves, The Impatience, The Crossness, The Fault-finding Of Men, Who, Full Of Morbid Influences, Are Unhappy Themselves, And Throw The Cloud Of Their Troubles Like A Dark Shadow Upon Others, Teach Us What Eminent Duty There Is In Health.

Though A Man Declares Himself An Atheist, It In No Way Alters His Obligations.

Our Flag Means All That Our Fathers Meant In The Revolutionary War. It Means All That The Declaration Of Independence Meant. It Means Justice. It Means Liberty. It Means Happiness.... Every Color Means Liberty. Every Thread Means Liberty. Every Star And Stripe Means Liberty.

Books Are Not Made For Furniture, But There Is Nothing Else That So Beautifully Furnishes A House.

There Is An Ugly Kind Of Forgiveness In This World--a Kind Of Hedgehog Forgiveness, Shot Out Like Quills.

No Church Can Be Prospered In Which All The Ministration Comes From The Pulpit.

The Cynic Puts All Human Actions Into Two Classes - Openly Bad And Secretly Bad.

The Mother's Heart Is The Child's Schoolroom.

Spreading Christianity Abroad Is Sometimes An Excuse For Not Having It At Home.

The Most Dangerous People Are The Ignorant.

God's Sovereignty Is Not In His Right Hand; God's Sovereignty Is Not In His Intellect; God's Sovereignty Is In His Love.

Thinking Cannot Be Clear Until It Has Had Expression-we Must Write, Or Speak, Or Act Our Thoughts, Or They Will Remain In Half Torpid Form. Our Feelings Must Have Expression, Or They Will Be As Clouds, Which, Till They Descend In Rain, Will Never Bring Up Fruit Or Flowers. So It Is With All The Inward Feelings; Expression Gives Them Development-thought Is The Blossom; Language Is The Opening Bud; Action The Fruit Behind It.

I Beseech You To Correct One Fault - Severe Speech Of Others; Never Speak Evil Of Any Man, No Matter What The Facts May Be.

Heaven Answers With Us The Same Purpose That The Tuning-fork Does With Musicians. Our Affections, The Whole Orchestra Of Them, Are Apt To Get Below The Concert-pitch; And We Take Heaven To Tune Our Hearts By.

Music Cleanses The Understanding; Inspires It, And Lifts It Into A Realm Which It Would Not Reach If It Were Left To Itself.

A Man Without A Vote Is In This Land Like A Man Without A Hand.

There Are Not Anywhere Else So Many Ways Of Trickery, So Many False Lights, So Many Veils, So Many Guises, So Many Illusive Deceits, As Are Practiced In Every Man's Conscience In Respect To His Motives, Thoughts, Feelings, Conduct, And Character.

I Will Not Say It Is Not Christian To Make Beads Of Others Faults, And Tell Them Over Every Day; I Say It Is Infernal. If You Want To Know How The Devil Feels, You Do Know, If You Are Such An One.

To The Covetous Man Life Is A Nightmare, And God Lets Him Wrestle With It As Best He May.

A Man's Religion Is Himself. If He Is Right-minded Toward God, He Is Religious; If The Lord Jesus Christ Is His Schoolmaster, Then He Is Christianly Religious.

He Will See Most Without Who Has The Best Eyes Within; And He Who Only Sees With His Bodily Organs Sees But The Surface.

A Good Digestion Is As Truly Obligatory As A Good Conscience; Pure Blood Is As Truly A Part Of Mankind As A Pure Faith; And A Well Ordered Skin Is The First Condition Of That Cleanliness Which Is Next To Godliness.

Nowhere On The Globe Do Men Live So Well As In America, Or Grumble So Much.

Love Is The River Of Life In This World. Think Not That Ye Know It Who Stand At The Little Tinkling Rill, The First Small Fountain. Not Until You Have Gone Through The Rocky Gorges, And Not Lost The Stream; Not Until You Nave Gone Through The Meadow, And The Stream Has Widened And Deepened Until Fleets Could Ride On Its Bosom; Not Until Beyond The Meadow You Have Come To The Unfathomable Ocean, And Poured Your Treasures Into Its Depths--not Until Then Can You Know What Love Is.

To Be A Christian Is To Obey Christ No Matter How You Feel.

A Man Has A Right To Picture God According To His Need, Whatever It Be.

The Prouder A Man Is, The More He Thinks He Deserves, And The More He Thinks He Deserves, The Less He Really Does Deserve.

Death? Translated Into The Heavenly Tongue, That Word Means Life!

Intelligence Increases Mere Physical Ability One Half. The Use Of The Head Abridges The Labor Of The Hands.

A Man Who Cannot Get Angry Is Like A Stream That Cannot Overflow, That Is Always Turbid. Sometimes Indignation Is As Good As A Thunderstorm In Summer, Clearing And Cooling The Air.

Many Will Say, "i Can Find God Without The Help Of The Bible, Or Church, Or Minister." Very Well. Do So If You Can. The Ferry Company Would Feel No Jealousy Of A Man Who Should Prefer To Swim To New York. Let Him Do So If He Is Able, And We Will Talk About It On The Other Shore; But Probably Trying To Swim Would Be The Thing That Would Bring Him Quickest To The Boat. So God Would Have No Jealousy Of A Man's Going To Heaven Without The Aid Of The Bible, Or Church, Or Minister; But Let Him Try To Do So, And It Will Be The Surest Way To Bring Him Back To Them For Assistance.

It Is The End Of Art To Inoculate Men With The Love Of Nature.

The Church Is No More Religion Than The Masonry Of The Aqueduct Is The Water That Flows Through It.

When A Man Sells Eleven Ounces For Twelve, He Makes A Compact With The Devil, And Sells Himself For The Value Of An Ounce.

Leaves Die, But Trees Do Not. They Only Undress.

The Poor Man With Industry Is Happier Than The Rich Man In Idleness.

Love Is The Medicine Of All Moral Evil. By It The World Is To Be Cured Of Sin.

God Never Made Anything Else So Beautiful As Man.

We Only See In A Lifetime A Dozen Faces Marked With The Peace Of A Contented Spirit.

Customs Represent The Experience Of Mankind.

Life Would Be A Perpetual Flea Hunt If A Man Were Obliged To Run Down All The Innuendoes, Inveracities, And Insinuations And Misrepresentations Which Are Uttered Against Him.

If You Attempt To Beat A Man Down And To Get His Goods For Less Than A Fair Price, You Are Attempting To Commit Burglary, As Much As Though You Broke Into His Shop To Take The Things Without Paying For Them.

A Church Debt Is The Devil's Salary.

There Is No Faculty Of The Human Soul So Persistent And Universal As That Of Hatred.

The Humblest Individual Exerts Some Influence, Either For Good Or Evil, Upon Others.

Every City Should Make The Common School So Rich, So Large, So Ample, So Beautiful In Its Endowments, And So Fruitful In Its Results, That A Private School Will Not Be Able To Live Under The Drip Of It.

Greatness Lies, Not In Being Strong, But In The Right Using Of Strength; And Strength Is Not Used Rightly When It Serves Only To Carry A Man Above His Fellows For His Own Solitary Glory. He Is The Greatest Whose Strength Carries Up The Most Hearts By The Attraction Of His Own.

A Law Is Valuable Not Because It Is Law, But Because There Is Right In It.

Victories Are Easy And Cheap. The Only Victories Worth Anything Are Those Achieved Through Hard Work And Dedication.

The More Sincere We Are In Our Belief, As A Rule, The Less Demonstrative We Are.

The Divine Mind Does Not Think For Us, Or Inspite Of Us, But Works In Us To Think, And To Will, And To Do.

A Dull Ax Never Loves Grindstones.

Riches Are Not An End Of Life, But An Instrument Of Life.

It Is Defeat That Turns Bone To Flint; It Is Defeat That Turns Gristle To Muscle; It Is Defeat That Makes Men Invincible. Do Not Then Be Afraid Of Defeat. You Are Never So Near To Victory As When Defeated In A Good Cause.

Pride Slays Thanksgiving, But A Humble Mind Is The Soil Out Of Which Thanks Naturally Grow. A Proud Man Is Seldom A Grateful Man, For He Never Thinks He Gets As Much As He Deserves.

Wherever You Have Seen God Pass, Mark That Spot, And Go And Sit In That Window Again.

Pain Is God's Midwife, That Helps Some Virtue Into Existence.

God Asks No Man Whether He Will Accept Life. That Is Not The Choice. You Must Take It. The Only Choice Is How.

Flowers Are The Sweetest Things God Ever Made And Forgot To Put A Soul Into.

No Man Is Good For Anything Who Has Not Some Particle Of Obstinacy To Use Upon Occasion.

A Man Never Has Good Luck Who Has A Bad Wife.

Ordinarily Rivers Run Small At The Beginning, Grow Broader And Broader As They Proceed, And Become Widest And Deepest At The Point, Where They Enter The Sea. It Is Such Rivers That The Christian's Life Is Like. But The Life Of The Mere Worldly Man Is Like Those Rivers In Southern Africa, Which, Proceeding From Mountain Freshets, Are Broad And Deep At The Beginning, And Grow Narrower And More Shallow As They Advance. They Waster Themselves By Soaking Into The Sands, And At Last They Die Out Entirely. The Farther They Run The Less There Is Of Them.

There Are Some Men's Souls That Are So Thin, So Almost Destitute Of What Is The True Idea Of Soul, That Were Not The Guardian Angels So Keen-sighted, They Would Altogether Overlook Them.

Every Man Should Use His Intellect, Not As He Uses His Lamp In The Study, Only For His Own Seeing, But As The Lighthouse Uses Its Lamps, That Those Afar Off On The Seas May See The Shining, And Learn Their Way.

There Is An Ugly Kind Of Forgiveness In This World,--a Kind Of Hedgehog Forgiveness, Shot Out Like Quills. Men Take One Who Has Offended, And Set Him Down Before The Blowpipe Of Their Indignation, And Scorch Him, And Burn His Fault Into Him; And When They Have Kneaded Him Sufficiently With Their Fiery Fists, Then--they Forgive Him.

What Is The Disposition Which Makes Men Rejoice In Good Bargains? There Are Few People Who Will Not Be Benefited By Pondering Over The Morals Of Shopping.

Maple-trees Are The Cows Of Trees (spring-milked).

You Are Not Called To Be A Canary In A Cage. You Are Called To Be An Eagle, And To Fly Sun To Sun, Over Continents.

I Never Knew How To Worship Until I Knew How To Love.

Wealth In Activity--capital With All Its Friction--is Far Safer Than Invested Wealth Lying Dead.

Vigilance Is Not Only The Price Of Liberty, But Of Success Of Any Sort.

Eternal Vigilance

Love Is God's Loaf; And This Is That Feeding For Which We Are Taught To Pray, "give Us This Day Our Daily Bread."

Unfruitful Emotion Is To Be Suspected. Feeling Acts As An Impulse, As A Spur, As A Spring, And When Feelings Are Excited, And They Put Nothing Forward, They Are Sometimes Even Dangerous To A Man.

We Know Much Of A Writer By His Style. An Open And Imperious Disposition Is Shown In Short Sentences, Direct And Energetic. A Secretive And Proud Mind Is Cold And Obscure In Style. An Affectionate And Imaginative Nature Pours Out Luxuriantly, And Blossoms All Over With Ornament.

The Little Troubles And Worries Of Life May Be As Stumbling Blocks In Our Way, Or We May Make Them Stepping-stones To A Nobler Character And To Heaven. Troubles Are Often The Tools By Which God Fashions Us For Better Things.

You Have Come Into A Hard World. I Know Of Only One Easy Place In It, And That Is The Grave.

Troubles Loom Up Big When They're Ahead, And Joys Seem Always Sweeter When They're Past.

Self-denial Does Not Belong To Religion As Characteristic Of It; It Belongs To Human Life; The Lower Nature Must Always Be Denied When You Are Trying To Rise To A Higher Sphere.

Nature Would Be Scarcely Worth A Puff Of The Empty Wind If It Were Not That All Nature Is But A Temple, Of Which God Is The Brightness And The Glory.

All Things In The Natural World Symbolize God, Yet None Of Them Speak Of Him But In Broken And Imperfect Words.

We Pray For Those Who Have Ceased To Pray. We Pray For Those That Need Prayer More Than Ever, That Have Fewer And Fewer Seasons Even Of Thought, That Grow Hard With Years, That Are Less And Less Troubled By Sin, And That Are More And More Irreverent Of Religion. We Pray For The Children Of Christian Parents Who Sometimes Weep At The Memory Of Father And Mother, But Who Never Have Thought Of God.

The Sun Does Not Shine For A Few Trees, And Flowers, But For The Wide World's Joy. The Lonely Pine On The Mountain-top Waves Its Sombre Boughs And Cries, 'thou Art My Sun.' And The Little Meadow Violet Lifts Its Cup Of Blue, And Whispers With Its Perfumed Breath, 'thou Art My Sun.' And The Grain In A Thousand Fields Rustles In The Wind, And Makes Answer, 'thou Art My Sun.' So God Sits Effulgent In Heaven, Not For A Favored Few, But For The Universe Of Life; And There Is No Creature So Poor Or So Low That He May Not Look Up With Childish Confidence And Say, 'my Father, Thou Art Mine.

Doctrine Is Nothing But The Skin Of Truth Set Up And Stuffed.

There Is No Such Thing As White Lies; A Lie Is As Black As A Coalpit, And Twice As Foul.

Truthfulness Is Godliness.

The Conditions Of City Life May Be Made Healthy, So Far As The Physical Constitution Is Concerned; But There Is Connected With The Business Of The City So Much Competition, So Much Rivalry, So Much Necessity For Industry, That I Think It Is A Perpetual, Chronic, Wholesale Violation Of Natural Law. There Are Ten Men That Can Succeed In The Country, Where There Is One That Can Succeed In The City.

Christianity Works While Infidelity Talks. She Feeds The Hungry, Clothes The Naked, Visits And Cheers The Sick, And Seeks The Lost, While Infidelity Abuses Her And Babbles Nonsense And Profanity. 'by Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them.'

Greatness Lies Not In Being Strong, But In The Right Use Of Strength.

Prayer Is Often An Argument Of Laziness: "lord, My Temper Gives Me A Vast Deal Of Inconvenience, And It Would Be A Great Task For Me To Correct It; And Wilt Thou Be Pleased To Correct It For Me, That I May Get Along Easier?" If Prayer Was Answered Under Such Circumstances, Independent Of Action Of Natural Laws, It Would Be Paying A Premium On Indolence.

No Matter Who Reigns, The Merchant Reigns.

A Cunning Man Overreaches No One Half As Much As Himself.

Socially We Are Woven Into The Fabric Of Society, Where Every Man Is Like One Thread In A Piece Of Cloth. No Single Thread Has A Right To Say, "i Will Stay Here No Longer," And Draw Out. No Man Has A Right To Make A Hole In The Well-woven Fabric Of Society.

Grim Care, Moroseness, Anxiety-all This Rust Of Life Ought To Be Scoured Off By The Oil Of Mirth. Mirth Is God's Medicine.

God Made Every Man To Have Power To Be Mightier Than The Events Round About Him; To Hold By His Firm Will The Reigns By Which All Things Are Guided.

You May Say, "i Wish To Send This Ball So As To Kill The Lion Crouching Yonder, Ready To Spring Upon Me. My Wishes Are All Right, And I Hope Providence Will Direct The Ball." Providence Won't. You Must Do It; And If You Do Not, You Are A Dead Man.

There Is No Liberty To Men Who Know Not How To Govern Themselves.

I Don't Like These Cold, Precise, Perfect People, Who, In Order Not To Speak Wrong, Never Speak At All, And In Order Not To Do Wrong, Never Do Anything.

Like A Bird She Seems To Wear Gay Plumage Unconsciously, As If It Grew Upon Her.

No Man Can Tell Another His Faults So As To Benefit Him, Unless He Loves Him.

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