The life of those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High may be called a Hidden Life, because the animating principle, the vital or operative element, is not so much in itself as in another. It is a life grafted into another life. It is the life of the soul, incorporated into the life of Christ; and in such a way, that, while it has a distinct vitality, it has so very much in the sense, in which the branch of a tree may be said to have a distinct vitality from the root.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

The Bucket of the Soul

Prayer without faith is vain. A pious English writer, one who lived as far back as the days of the Puritans, and who uses various homely but instructive illustrations after the manner of those times, calls prayer "the BUCKET of the soul by which it draws water out of the wells of salvation. But without Faith, you may let down this bucket again and again and never bring up one drop of solid comfort." [Symond's Sight and Faith, printed in 1651.] It is faith which fills the bucket. And accordingly, if our faith be weak, we shall find but poor and famishing returns. A full bucket depends on the condition of a strong faith.

— Religious Maxims (1846) XX.
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