Nor was it only from the millions of slaves that chains had been removed; the whole nation had been in bondage; free speech had been suppressed.
Matthew SimpsonThere is a contest old as Eden, which still goes on - the conflict between right and wrong, between error and truth. In this conflict every human being has a part.
Matthew SimpsonTaking it in its wider and generic application, I understand faith to be the supplement of sense; or, to change the phrase, all knowledge which comes not to us through our senses we gain by faith in others.
Matthew SimpsonAngels are spirits, flames of fire; they are higher than man, they have wider connections.
Matthew SimpsonHis throne is the pulpit. He stands in Christ's stead. His message is the Word of God. Around him are immortal souls. The Savior, unseen, is beside him. The Holy Spirit broods over the congregation. Angels gaze upon the scene, and heaven and hell await the issue. What associations and what vast responsibility!
Matthew SimpsonIf I know that I shall be as an angel, and more; if I shall behold all God has made; if he shall own me for his son and exalt me to honor in his presence, I shall not fear to die, nor shall I dread the grave where Christ once lay.
Matthew SimpsonThe realm of immediate or personal knowledge is a narrow circle in which these bodies move; the realm of knowledge derived through faith is as wide as the universe, and old as eternity.
Matthew SimpsonGlory to God in highest heaven, Who unto man His Son hath given; While angels sing with tender mirth, A glad new year to all the earth. Martin Luther If this is to be a Happy New Year, a year of usefulness, a year in which we shall live to make this earth better, it is because God will direct our pathway. How important then, to feel our dependence upon Him!
Matthew SimpsonIf you live for any joy on earth, you may be forsaken; but, oh, live for Jesus, and he will never forsake you!
Matthew SimpsonIf an honest man is the noblest work of God, then Mr. Lincoln's title to high nobility is clear and unquestioned.
Matthew SimpsonPassing into practical life, illustrations of this fact are found everywhere; the distant, or the unseen, steadies and strengthens us against the rapid whirl of things around us.
Matthew SimpsonIf you live for pleasure, your ability to enjoy it may pass away and your senses grow dim.
Matthew SimpsonAnother principle is, the deepest affections of our hearts gather around some human form in which are incarnated the living thoughts and ideas of the passing age.
Matthew SimpsonWe shall see our friends again. We can lay them in the grave; we know they are safe with God.
Matthew SimpsonIt is a principle of our nature that feelings once excited turn readily from the object by which they are excited to some other object which may for the time being take possession of the mind.
Matthew SimpsonHuman nature is the same now as when Adam hid from the presence of God; the consciousness of wrong makes us unwilling to meet those whom we have offended.
Matthew SimpsonMr. Lincoln's elevation shows that in America every station in life may be honorable; that there is no barrier against the humblest; but that merit, wherever it exists, has the opportunity to be known.
Matthew SimpsonNapoleon was probably the equal at least of Washington in intellect, his superior in education. Both of them were successful in serving the state.
Matthew SimpsonIf we look at the realm of knowledge, how exceedingly small and limited is that part acquired through our own senses; how wide is that we gain from other sources.
Matthew SimpsonWe know the past and its great events, the present in its multitudinous complications, chiefly through faith in the testimony of others.
Matthew SimpsonIf you live for your children, they may be smitten down and leave you desolate, or, what is far worse, they may desert you and leave you worse than childless in a cold and unfeeling world.
Matthew SimpsonNot in purity or in holiness merely, for in Paradise man was holy, and he shall be holy when redeemed through the sacrifice of Christ and made an heir of heaven.
Matthew Simpson