Evil has no substance of its own, but is only the defect, excess, perversion, or corruption of that which has substance.

Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning.

It is not God's way that great blessings should descend without the sacrifice first of great sufferings. If the truth is to be spread to any wide extent among the people, how can we dream, how can we hope, that trial and trouble shall not accompany its going forth.

The heart is commonly reached, not through the reason, but through the imagination, by means of direct impressions, by the testimony of facts and events, by history, by description. Persons influence us, voices melt us, looks subdue us, deeds inflame us. Many a man will live and die upon a dogma; no man will be a martyr for a conclusion.

Faith ... acts promptly and boldly on the occasion, on slender evidence.

Faith ventures and hazards . . . counting the costs and delighting in the sacrifice.

Great things are done by devotion to one idea.