“Prayer is not designed to inform God, but to give man a sight of his misery; to humble man’s heart, to excite his desire, to inflame his faith, to animate his hope, to raise his soul from earth to heaven.”

We communicate happiness to others not often by great acts of devotion and self-sacrifice, but by the absence of fault-finding and censure, by being ready to sympathize with their notions and feelings, instead of forcing them to sympathize with ours.

Woe to that man who runs when God has not sent him; and woe to him who refuses to run, or who ceases to run, when God has sent him.

All abuse and waste of God’s creatures are spoil and robbery on the property of the Creator.

Verse 11. (They presented unto Him gifts). The people of the east never approach the presence of kings and great personages, without a present in their hands.

It is the grace of God, that shows and condemns the sin that humbles us.

This is the case with thousands: they appear desirous of knowing the truth, but have not patience to wait in a proper way to receive an answer to their question.

To suppose more than one supreme Source of infinite wisdom, power, and all perfections, is to assert that there is no supreme Being in existence.

Remember that the word of God is not sent to particular persons, as if by name; and do not think you have no part in it, because you are not named there.

There is no such thing as chance or accident; the words merely signify our ignorance of some real and immediate cause.

Deeply consider that it is your duty and interest to read the Holy Scriptures.

I have lived to know that the secret of happiness is never to allow your energies to stagnate.

Now it would be as absurd to deny the existence of God, because we cannot see him, as it would be to deny the existence of the air or wind, because we cannot see it.

It is to be regretted that few persons who have arrived at any degree of eminence or fame, have written Memorials of themselves, at least such as have embraced their private as well as their public life.

Pride works frequently under a dense mask, and will often assume the garb of humility.

Let it ever be remembered that genuine faith in Christ will ever be productive of good works; for this faith worketh by love, as the apostle says, and love to God always produces obedience to his holy laws.

Multitudes of words are neither an argument of clear ideas in the writer, nor a proper means of conveying clear notions to the reader.