Never does a man know the force that is in him till some mighty affliction or grief has humanized the soul.

The humblest occupation has in it materials of discipline for the highest heaven.

Never does a man know the force that is in him till some mighty affliction or grief has humanized the soul.

That prayer which does not succeed in moderating our wishes--in changing the passionate desire into still submission, the anxious, tumultuous expectation into silent surrender--is no true prayer, and proves that we have not the spirit of true prayer.

In these two things the greatness of man consists, to have God dwelling in us as to impart His character to us, and to have Him dwelling in us, that we recognize His presence, and know that we are His, and He is ours. The one is salvation; the other, the assurance of it.

A life of prayer is a life whose litanies are ever fresh acts of self-devoting love.

It is not the number of books you read; nor the variety of sermons which you hear; nor the amount of religious conversation in which you mix: but it is the frequency and the earnestness with which you meditate on these things, till the truth which may be in them becomes your own, and part of your own being, that ensures your spiritual growth.