Many Thoughts of Many Minds Part 9

All the glory and beauty of Christ are manifested within, and there He delights to dwell; His visits there are frequent, His condescension amazing, His conversation sweet, His comforts refreshing; and the peace that He brings pa.s.seth all understanding.--THOMAS a KEMPIS.

From first to last Jesus is the same; always the same, majestic and simple, infinitely severe and infinitely gentle.--NAPOLEON I.

He, the Holiest among the mighty, and the Mightiest among the holy, has lifted with His pierced hands empires off their hinges, has turned the stream of centuries out of its channel, and still governs the ages.--RICHTER.

In His death He is a sacrifice, satisfying for our sins; in the resurrection, a conqueror; in the ascension, a king; in the intercession, a high priest.--LUTHER.

Jesus Christ was more than man.--NAPOLEON I.

The sages and heroes of history are receding from us, and history contracts the record of their deeds into a narrower and narrower page.

But time has no power over the name and deeds and words of Jesus Christ.--CHANNING.

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I myself have founded empires; but upon what do these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love; and to this very day millions would die for Him.--NAPOLEON I.

If the life and death of Socrates were those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus were those of a G.o.d.--ROUSSEAU.

Those who have minutely studied the character of the Saviour will find it difficult to determine whether there is most to admire or to imitate in it--there is so much of both.

CHRISTIANITY.--A Christian is G.o.d Almighty's gentleman.--HARE.

The real security of Christianity is to be found in its benevolent morality, in its exquisite adaptation to the human heart, in the facility with which its scheme accommodates itself to the capacity of every human intellect, in the consolation which it bears to every house of mourning, in the light with which it brightens the great mystery of the grave.--MACAULAY.

It is the truth divine, speaking to our whole being: occupying, calling into action, and satisfying man's every faculty, supplying the minutest wants of his being, and speaking in one and the same moment to his reason, his conscience and his heart. It is the light of reason, the life of the heart, and the strength of the will.--PIERRE.

Since its introduction, human nature has made great progress, and society experienced great changes; and in this advanced condition of the world, Christianity, instead of losing its application and importance, is found to be more and more congenial and adapted to man's nature and wants. Men have outgrown the other inst.i.tutions of that period when Christianity appeared, its philosophy, its modes of warfare, its policy, its public and private economy; but Christianity has never shrunk as intellect has opened, but has always kept in advance of men's faculties, and unfolded n.o.bler views in proportion as they have ascended. The highest powers and affections which our nature has developed, find more than adequate objects in this religion.

Christianity is indeed peculiarly fitted to the more improved stages of society, to the more delicate sensibilities of refined minds, and especially to that dissatisfaction with the present state, which always grows with the growth of our moral powers and affections.

--CHANNING.

It is a refiner as well as a purifier of the heart; it imparts correctness of perception, delicacy of sentiment, and all those nicer shades of thought and feeling which const.i.tute elegance of mind.

--MRS. JOHN SANFORD.

I desire no other evidence of the truth of Christianity than the Lord's Prayer.--MADAME DE STAEL.

Had it been published by a voice from heaven, that twelve poor men, taken out of boats and creeks, without any help of learning, should conquer the world to the cross, it might have been thought an illusion against all reason of men; yet we know it was undertaken and accomplished by them.--STEPHEN CHARNOCK.

A few persons of an odious and despised country could not have filled the world with believers, had they not shown undoubted credentials from the divine person who sent them on such a message.--ADDISON.

COMPANY.--Nature has left every man a capacity of being agreeable, though not of shining in company; and there are a hundred men sufficiently qualified for both who, by a very few faults, that they might correct in half an hour, are not so much as tolerable.--SWIFT.

It is certain that either wise bearing or ignorant carriage is caught as men take diseases one of another; therefore, let men take heed of their company.--SHAKESPEARE.

The most agreeable of all companions is a simple, frank man, without any high pretensions to an oppressive greatness; one who loves life, and understands the use of it; obliging alike at all hours; above all, of a golden temper and steadfast as an anchor. For such an one we gladly exchange the greatest genius, the most brilliant wit, the profoundest thinker.--LESSING.

No man can possibly improve in any company for which he has not respect enough to be under some degree of restraint.--CHESTERFIELD.

A companion is but another self; wherefore it is an argument that a man is wicked if he keep company with the wicked.--ST. CLEMENT.

Let them have ever so learned lectures of breeding, that which will most influence their carriage will be the company they converse with, and the fashion of those about them.--LOCKE.

CONCEIT.--Be not wise in your own conceits.--ROMANS 12:16.

Conceit is the most contemptible and one of the most odious qualities in the world. It is vanity driven from all other shifts, and forced to appeal to itself for admiration.--HAZLITT.

The certain way to be cheated is to fancy one's self more cunning than others.--CHARRON.

Conceit is to nature what paint is to beauty; it is not only needless, but impairs what it would improve.--POPE.

Be very slow to believe that you are wiser than all others; it is a fatal but common error. Where one has been saved by a true estimation of another's weakness, thousands have been destroyed by a false appreciation of their own strength.--COLTON.

We go and fancy that everybody is thinking of us. But he is not; he is like us--he is thinking of himself.--CHARLES READE.

Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him.--PROVERBS 26:12.

A man who is proud of small things shows that small things are great to him.--MADAME DE GIRARDIN.

Self-made men are most always apt to be a little too proud of the job.--H.W. SHAW.

Nature has sometimes made a fool, but a c.o.xcomb is always of a man's own making.--ADDISON.

He who gives himself airs of importance exhibits the credentials of impotence.--LAVATER.

The more any one speaks of himself, the less he likes to hear another talked of.--LAVATER.

CONDUCT.--I will govern my life, and my thoughts, as if the whole world were to see the one, and to read the other; for what does it signify to make anything a secret to my neighbor, when to G.o.d (who is the searcher of our hearts) all our privacies are open?--SENECA.

The integrity of men is to be measured by their conduct, not by their professions.--JUNIUS.

Have more than thou showest, Speak less than thou knowest, Lend less than thou owest, Learn more than thou trowest, Set less than thou throwest.

--SHAKESPEARE.

A man, like a watch, is to be valued for his manner of going.--WILLIAM PENN.

I would, G.o.d knows, in a poor woodman's hut Have spent my peaceful days, and shared my crust With her who would have cheer'd me, rather far Than on this throne; but being what I am, I'll be it n.o.bly.

--JOANNA BAILLIE.

Only add Deeds to thy knowledge answerable, add faith, Add virtue, patience, temperance, add love, By name to come call'd charity, the soul Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loath To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess A Paradise within thee, happier far.

--MILTON.

Take heed lest pa.s.sion sway Thy judgment to do aught which else free-will Would not admit.

--MILTON.

CONFIDENCE.--Whatever distrust we may have of the sincerity of those who converse with us, we always believe they will tell us more truth than they do to others.--LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.

Never put much confidence in such as put no confidence in others.--HARE.