Samuel Logan Brengle

“ Tears flooded his eyes, as, falling at the Englishman's feet and embracing his knees, he cried, 'O sir, let me be your slave for ever. Take me to the ends of the earth. Let me serve you till I die!
Love had won his heart, and now love constrained him, and he felt there could be no joy like serving such a master.
We see many illustrations of this bondage of love in our daily life. Surely it is the glory and joy of the true wife. She would rather suffer hardship and poverty in a Kansas dugout, with the husband she loves, than live in a palace surrounded by every luxury with any other. ”

“ The common, everyday, abiding experience is a lowly, patient, loving life in Christ -- This may be ours unbrokenly, and it should be.
'If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature,' or creation, wrote Paul. He breathes the atmosphere of Heaven, while plodding the dusty roads of earth with his toiling fellow-men. He diffuses peace, he promotes joy, he kindles love, he quiets fear, he comforts mourners, he heals the broken heart.
In him Christ sees 'the travail of His soul,' and is satisfied. ”

“ Old age comes on with its grey hairs, failing strength, dimness of sight, dullness of hearing, tottering step, shortness of breath, and general weakness and decay. The friends of youth die, and a new, strange, pushing generation that knows not the old man, comes elbowing him aside and taking his place. Under some blessed outpouring of the Spirit the work of God revives, vile sinners are saved, Zion puts on her beautiful garments, reforms of all kind advance, the desert blossoms as the rose, the waste place becomes a fruitful field, and the millennium seems just at hand ”

“ In the ladder up and the ladder down in the universe, the rungs are in the same side pieces. The self-propagating power of sin and the self-propagating power of Holiness are one law. The law of judicial blindness is one with that law by which the pure in heart see God.'
There is but one law that can save me from 'the law of sin and death,' that is 'the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.' If I refuse to submit to that law, I abide eternally under the law of sin and death and endure eternally its dread penalties. ”

“ Solomon said: 'Only by pride cometh contention.' At the heart of every quarrel, in the confusion of every brawl, and in the hate and fury of every war, pride will be found -- pride of opinion, of wit or wisdom, of physical strength, of position, of reputation, or of power. Truly humble men never begin strife. They speak softly; they are willing to make concessions; they are 'swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath '; they 'seek peace, and pursue it.' As far as in them lies, they live peaceably with all men. ”

“ Oh, how invaluable is such an experience to a soul, especially in a time of fierce temptation! It sweeps away for ever the intellectual and moral and spiritual fogs and uncertainties that becloud the mind and heart. It fixes a man's theology. It settles for him the fact that he himself is a living soul, morally and spiritually responsible to God. He feels the breath of eternity in him.
Wrapt in that wondrous fellowship he knows there is a Heaven; and to lose God, he knows, would be Hell. ”

“ Paul said: “The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Men could whip, and stone, and imprison his body, and cut off his head, but his soul was free. It was enslaved and driven by no unholy or inordinate ambition, by no lust for gold, by no desire for power or fame, by no fear of man, by no shame of worldly censure or adverse public opinion. He had power over the world, and this same power is the birthright of every converted man, and the present possession of every one who is wholly sanctified by the baptism with the Holy Ghost. ”

“ For those who love and follow Jesus, 'the best is yet to be.' Paul said that he forgot the things behind and, looking forward, he pressed like an eager racer toward the things that are before.
Those who keep looking backward instead of forward are likely to stumble and miss the joys that spring up round about them. It is not well to be comparing the present with the past, but we should each moment seek to exercise full and glad faith in our Lord for the present and the future. He has a portion of joy for us now. ”

“ A man can go either way as he chooses; so with the roadway of life. The man who chooses the things God chooses, loves the things God loves, and hates the things God hates, and who, with obedient faith, takes up his cross and follows Jesus, will go to the heights of God's holiness and happiness and Heaven; but the man who goes the other way will land in the dark, bottomless abysses of Hell. Every man chooses his own way. ”

“ The fear of want in old age, the natural desire to provide for his children and loved ones, may silently, secretly lead him into the deadly embrace of this serpent -- like sin; may cause shipwreck of his honor, his faith, his 'first love,' his simplicity in Christ, his unselfish devotion to the interests of the Lord and the souls of his fellow-men, and thus may bring about his final rejection in that day when the secrets of men's hearts shall be revealed and their works made manifest by fire.
How may men avoid this deadly, secret, subtle sin? ”

“ The memory of that vision was imperishable, though the vision passed. The veil was withdrawn, and for one awful, rapturous moment the eyes of the soul saw the face of God, and the spirit of a man had unutterable fellowship with its Father.
The man who has had such an experience will be changed, will be different from his former self, and different from all other men who have had no such experience. ”

“ And this desire for God's glory makes peacemakers of men. They love their fellows because they are dear to the heart of God. A tender feeling of sympathy, and love, and brotherhood steals into their hearts, takes captive all their affections, fills them with love of God's will, banishes hatred, disarms suspicion, and establishes within them God's Kingdom of 'righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.'
It is this spirit that has made our Slum Officers mightier than police officials in the dark alleys and fetid cellars and garrets of London and New York. ”

“ Unbelief quenches the spirit of intercession. Only as the eye of faith sees our Father God upon the Throne guaranteeing to us rights and privileges by the blood of His Son, and inviting us to come without fear, and make our wants known, does prayer rise from the commonplace to the sublime; does it cease to be a feeble, timid cry, and become a mighty spiritual force, moving God Himself in the interests which it seeks.
Men, wise with the wisdom of this world, but poor and naked and blind and foolish in matters of faith, ask: “Will God change His plans at the request of man?” ”

“ He holds on firmly to some thread of life Which conscious of, he must not enter yet The spiritual life around the earthly life: The law of that is known to him as this, His heart and brain move there, his feet stay here, And oft the man's soul springs into his face As if he saw again and heard again His Sage that bade him 'Rise,' and he did rise. He knows God's secret while he holds the thread of life, Indeed the especial marking of the man Is prone submission to the heavenly will. ”

“ Such has always been the effect of the doctrine when proclaimed in power and pity and love with the fire-touched lips of holy men and women. But let men in their folly imagine themselves wiser and more pitiful and just than God, and so begin to tone down this doctrine, then conviction for sin ceases, the instantaneous and powerful conversion of souls is laughed at, the supernatural element in religion is called fanaticism, the Holy Ghost is forgotten, and the work of God comes to a standstill. ”

“ We live in an age when the brotherhood of man is much spoken about, both in exhortation and in literature; but there can be no brotherhood where there is no fatherhood. Brothers must have a common father; and brothers who disown or neglect their father, have not the spirit which will make it possible long to live at peace with, or show goodwill towards each other. We shall have peace on earth and good will among men, and we shall have it universally, when everywhere men recognize God's Fatherhood and give God the glory which is His due. ”