Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert

“ Spiritual pride is the worst of all pride, if it is not the worst snare of the devil. The heart is peculiarly deceitful on just this one thing.
—Ichabod Spencer. If thou desire the love of God and man, be humble; for the proud heart as it loves none but itself, so it is beloved of none but itself. The voice of humility is God's music, and the silence of humility is God's rhetoric. Humility enforces where neither virtue nor strength can prevail, nor reason. ”

“ When we destroy an old prejudice, we have need of a new virtue.
—Madame de Staël.
PRIDE.
Pride is the master sin of the devil.
—E. H. Chapin. Pride is not the heritage of man; humility should dwell with frailty, and atone for ignorance, error, and imperfection.
—Sydney Smith. There is no passion that steals into the heart more imperceptibly and covers itself under more disguises than pride.
—Addison. It is with men as with wheat; the light heads are erect even in the presence of Omnipotence, but the full heads bow in reverence before Him. ”

“ As in poetry, so in prayer, the whole subject matter should be furnished by the heart, and the understanding should be allowed only to shape and arrange the effusions of the heart in the manner best adapted to answer the end designed. From the fullness of a heart overflowing with holy affections, as from a copious fountain, we should pour forth a torrent of pious, humble, and ardently affectionate feelings; while our understandings only shape the channel and teach the gushing streams of devotion where to flow, and when to stop. ”

“ There it is—in such patient silence—that we accumulate the inward power which we distribute and spend in action; that the soul acquires a greater and more vigorous being, and gathers up its collective forces to bear down upon the piece-meal difficulties of life and scatter them to dust; there alone can we enter into that spirit of self-abandonment by which we take up the cross of duty, however heavy, with feet however worn and bleeding. ”

“ Blessed Jesus, I am but a lamb, and often fear I shall never be any thing better, but perish as I am. Lord, take me in the arms of Thy power and lay me on the bosom of Thy love; though I am so poor and inconsiderable a creature I will hope in Thy pastoral power and love, that I shall not only continue, but grow, and that Thou wilt one day rejoice in me as one of the flock which Thou hast purchased with Thy own blood. ”

“ The piety that keeps the Sabbath with a great zeal of devotion, yet fails to keep its possessor honest on Monday, is not the kind that is stamped in the mint of heaven.
—Herrick Johnson. What smoky prayers!—one earnest petition, and then a thousand wandering thoughts! What smoky faith!—a joyful sight of the Saviour's sufficiency, and then a long season of inward complacency occasioned by that sight! Self-righteous efforts to extirpate self- righteousness, and most legal endeavors to elaborate faith! ”

“ PATIENCE.
The disciples of a patient Saviour should be patient themselves.
—C. H. Spurgeon. Dispose thyself to patience rather than to comfort, and to the bearing of the cross rather than to gladness.
—Thomas à Kempis. Patience is enduring love; experience is perfecting love; and hope is exulting love.
—Alexander Dickson. Patience is the ballast of the soul that will keep it from rolling and tumbling in the greatest storms.
—Bishop Hopkins. A true Christian man is distinguished from other men, not so much by his beneficent works, as by his patience. ”

“ The object of preaching is, constantly to remind mankind of what mankind are constantly forgetting; not to supply the defects of human intelligence, but to fortify the feebleness of human resolutions; to recall mankind from the by-paths where they turn, into that broad path of salvation which all know, but few tread.
—Sydney Smith. It is easier to declaim like an orator against a thousand sins in others than to mortify one sin in ourselves; to be more industrious in our pulpits than in our closets; to preach twenty sermons to our people than one to our own hearts. ”

“ Patience! why, it is the soul of peace; of all the virtues it is nearest kin to heaven; it makes men look like gods. The best of men that ever wore earth about Him was a Sufferer,—a soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit ”

“ Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of all things, Judge of all men: We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, by thought, word, and deed against Thy Divine Majesty, provoking most justly Thy wrath and indignation against us. ”

“ Tell men that God is love; that right is right, and wrong, wrong; let them cease to admire philanthropy, and begin to love men; cease to pant for heaven, and begin to love God; then the spirit of liberty begins. ”

“ But even genuine argument for the truth is not preaching the gospel, neither is he whose unbelief is thus assailed likely to be brought thereby into any mood but one unfit for receiving it. Argument should be kept to books; preachers ought to have nothing to do with it,—at all events in the pulpit. There let them hold forth light, and let him, who will, receive it, and him who will not, forbear. God only can convince. ”

“ There is not such a mighty difference as some men imagine between the poor and the rich; in pomp, show, and opinion, there is a great deal, but little as to the pleasures and satisfactions of life. They enjoy the same earth and air and heavens; hunger and thirst make the poor man's meat and drink as pleasant and relishing as all the varieties which cover the rich man's table; and the labor of a poor man is more healthful, and many times more pleasant, too, than the ease and softness of the rich. ”

“ The best and sweetest flowers of paradise God gives to His people when they are upon their knees. Prayer is the gate of heaven.
—Thomas Brooks.
We lay it down as an elemental principle of religion, that no large growth in holiness was ever gained by one who did not take time to be often and long alone with God. No otherwise can the great central idea of God enter into a man's life, and dwell there supreme. ”

“ With a bold front and piercing eye, they are repelled by no obstacles, and entertain not the slightest doubt as to a final triumph; days and nights, like their fortune, health, and every thing dear in existence, they consecrate to the success of their particular enterprise. As with hooks of steel, they grapple the most stubborn difficulties, and relax neither hand nor foot so long as there remains one vital energy in their will. ”

“ How different the peace of God from that of the world! It calms the passions, preserves the purity of the conscience, is inseparable from righteousness, unites us to God and strengthens us against temptations. The peace of the soul consists in an absolute resignation to the will of God. ”

“ If there is any thing that can render the soul calm, dissipate its scruples, and dispel its fears, sweeten its sufferings by the anointing of love, impart strength to it in all its actions, and spread abroad the joy of the Holy Spirit in its countenance and words, it is a simple, free, and child-like repose in the arms of God. ”

“ Pride looks back upon its past deeds, and calculating with nicety what it has done, it commits itself to rest; whereas humility looks to that which is before, and discovering how much ground remains to be trodden, it is active and vigilant. ”

“ Prayer was never meant to be a substitute for labor—an easy way of throwing our responsibilities upon God. The old classic story of the teamster whose cart stuck in the mud, and who fell to crying to Hercules for help instead of using effort himself, and was told by the god he invoked to put his own shoulder to the wheel, shows that even a heathen mind could see that faith was never meant to exclude works.
When we pray for any virtue, we should cultivate the virtue as well as pray for it; the form of your prayers should be the rule of your life; every petition to God is a precept to man. ”

“ Think of a woman by the side of a dying sister, or a sick child, or a sorrowing friend, or a broken-hearted and broken-spirited man, without a word of heaven in her mouth—without so much as the ability to whisper "Our Father," or even to point her finger hopefully towards the stars. ”

“ Persons who believe that the whole influence of prayer is simply the effect of their own thoughts upon themselves, never pray. They cannot pray. The mouth may utter right words; the heart is not in them. Some prayers are not prayers, for those who say them do not really wish for the things they mention. But the difficulty with most prayers is that there is no grasp of the idea of God—there is no asking. "Ask, and ye shall receive."
—The Christian Advocate. There is much seeking for God that does not amount to searching for Him with all the heart. There is much praying, and too little prayer. ”

“ There is too reckless a rushing into the presence of God, and too little patient waiting to hear what He will speak. True prayer has to do directly with the infinitely high and holy God; and true prayer ever finds Him, and in finding Him gets all that Divine wisdom and love can bestow upon the seeker, consistently with God's glory and the creature's highest good
—The Christian Intelligencer. ”

“ Ah, what is it we send up thither, where our thoughts are either a dissonance or a sweetness and a grace?
—George MacDonald. Patience and perseverance are never more thoroughly Christian graces than when features of prayer.
—S. Irenæus Prime. Are we to suppose that the only being in the universe who cannot answer prayer is that One who alone has all power at His command? The weak theology that professes to believe that prayer has merely a subjective benefit is infinitely less scientific than the action of the child who confidently appeals to a Father in heaven. ”

“ They are destined for the throne of grace; and while they take a cargo of supplications from us, they come back argosies laden with the riches of Divine grace.
Prayer pulls the rope below, and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly; others give but an occasional pluck at the rope; but he who wins with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously, with all his might. ”

“ To preach practical sermons as they are called, that is, sermons upon virtues and vices, without inculcating those great Scripture truths of redemption, grace, etc., which alone can incite and enable us to forsake sin and follow after righteousness, what is it but to put together the wheels, and set the hands of a watch, forgetting the spring, which is to make them all go?
—Bishop Horne. Avoid all controversy in preaching, talking, or writing; preach nothing down but the devil, and nothing up but Jesus Christ. ”

“ O Lord, we rejoice that we are Thy making, though Thy handiwork is not very clear in our outer man as yet. We bless Thee that we feel Thy hand making us. What if it be in pain? Evermore we hear the voice of the potter above the hum and grind of His wheel. Father, Thou only knowest how we love Thee. ”

“ The Divine Wisdom has given us prayer, not as a means whereby to obtain the good things of earth, but as a means whereby we learn to do without them; not as a means whereby we escape evil, but as a means whereby we become strong to meet it.
—F. W. Robertson. Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer. ”

“ Not without design does God write the music of our lives. Be it ours to learn the time, and not be discouraged at the rests. If we say sadly to ourselves, "There is no music in a rest," let us not forget "there is the making of music in it." The making of music is often a slow and painful process in this life. ”

“ The truth is, no preaching ever had any strong power that was not the preaching of doctrine. The preachers that have moved and held men have always preached doctrine. No exhortation to a good life that does not put behind it some truth as deep as eternity can seize and hold the conscience. ”

“ Our public prayers too often consist almost entirely of passages of Scripture—not always judiciously chosen or well arranged—and common-place phrases, which have been transmitted down for ages, from one generation to another, selected and put together just as we would compose a sermon or essay, while the heart is allowed no share in the performance; so that we may more properly be said to make a prayer than to pray. ”

“ Those who disbelieve in virtue because man has never been found perfect, might as reasonably deny the sun because it is not always noon.
—Guesses at Truth. It is a union with a Higher Good by love, that alone is endless perfection. The only sufficient object for man must be something that adds to and perfects his nature, to which he must be united in love ”

“ Christ commands you to take up His cross and follow Him, not that He may humble you, or lay some penance upon you, but that you may surrender the low self-will and the feeble pride of your sin, and ascend into the sublime patience of heavenly charity.
—Horace Bushnell. It is not necessary for all men to be great in action. The greatest and sublimest power is often simple patience. ”

“ Easiness of desire is a great enemy to the success of a good man's prayer. Our prayers upbraid our spirits when we beg tamely for those things for which we ought to die; which are more precious than imperial sceptres, richer than the spoils of the sea or the treasures of Indian hills.
—Jeremy Taylor. The reason why we obtain no more in prayer, is because we expect no more. God usually answers us according to our own hearts.
—Richard Alleine.
My words fly up, my thoughts remain below ”