God causes us to promise in time of peace what He exacts from us in time of war; He enables us to make our abandonments in joy, but He requires the fulfilment of them in the midst of much bitterness.

Oh, that we fully understood how very opposite our self-righteousness is to the designs of God!

Secrets of the incomprehensible wisdom of God, unknown to any besides Himself! Man, sprung up only of a few days, wants to penetrate, and to set bounds to it. Who is it that hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counselor?

The more wants we have, the further we are from God, and the nearer we approach him, the better can we dispense with everything that is not Himself.

To rob God of nothing; to refuse Him nothing; to require of Him nothing; this is great perfection.

The very discovery of these hidden things is in itself a purifying experience! The soul needs to discover what is inside. The self nature needs to see what it really is, and what it is like-right to the very bottom.

Surrender yourselves then to be led and disposed of just as God pleases, with respect both to your outward and inward state.