Little Trust, Little Love

"Little  love, little trust,"  says Archbishop Leighton. The converse of this is equally true. If there be but little trust, there will be but little love. If we believe the words of  our heavenly Father with the whole heart, it will be certain that we shall love him with the whole heart.

— Religious Maxims (1846) LVI.

Solitude

He, that is united to God, loves solitude. But it is solitude in the relative rather than the absolute sense. True, he is secluded from men; but while he is shut out from the world, he is shut up in God; and in the absence of human society, has the far better society of the Infinite Mind.

— Religious Maxims (1846) LV.

A Spirit of Entire Obedience

A spirit of entire obedience is one of the important characteristics of a sanctified state. Not obedience merely, but entire obedience. He who obeys in some things, but is fretful and rebellious in others, has not the reality; and it can hardly be said that he has even the appearance of holiness.

— Religious Maxims (1846) LIV.

Renouncing the Pleasure of the World

All persons are willing to be justified, because all are willing to be saved. But all are not willing to be sanctified, because all are not willing to renounce the pleasures of the world.

— Religious Maxims (1846) LIII.

Aiming at Sanctification in an Unsanctified Manner

Persons sometimes miss the blessing of sanctification by aiming at it, not being aware of the artifices of the adversary, in what may perhaps be called an unsanctified manner. We are not to desire sanctification, which is probably the case with some, merely because it is an elevated and honorable state of soul, and in point of rank far above any other moral condition, but because it is the only true and worthy consummation of our moral and religious existence, and especially because it is the will of our heavenly Father.

— Religious Maxims (1846) LII.

The Holy Heart Finds It Difficult to Turn from God

In a state of mere justification, it is often and perhaps generally the case, that it requires a great mental effort to turn our thoughts and affections from worldly objects, and to fix them, promptly and firmly, upon God. In a state of sanctification, it is the revise of this. To a holy heart the difficult and painful effort is to turn away its thoughts and affections from the supreme object of its love, and to fix them, even when duty authorizes it, upon objects of an inferior nature.

— Religious Maxims (1846) LI.

Sensitiveness to Sin

The man, who is troubled at great sins, particularly such as involve a degree of notoriety, but finds himself slightly affected and troubled in the commission of small or hidden ones, has but little claim to the grace of sanctification. One of the surest marks of sanctification is  an increased sensitiveness to sin in all its degrees. The slightest sin is a source of unspeakable misery to the sanctified heart; and gives the soul no rest, till it is washed out in overflowing tears of penitence.

— Religious Maxims L.

Sanctification and Conscience

It  is quite possible for a man to possess evidence of sanctification, who is temporarily destitute of joyful and rapturous emotions. But  it is not possible for a man to possess such evidence, who is destitute of a living, operative, and effective conscience. On no part of our nature does sanctification work greater effects than on the conscience.  It  may be said to give to it an intensity and multiplicity of existence; so that like the flaming sword of the cherubims, it turns every way and guards the tree of life.

— Religious Maxims XLIX.

Strong Emotions or Right Emotions?

Many persons seem to be more solicitous for strong emotions than for right emotions. It would perhaps be a fair representation of their state to say the burden of their prayer is, that their souls might be like "the chariots of Amminadib," or that, like Paul, they may be caught up into the third heavens. They seem desirous, perhaps almost unconsciously to themselves, to experience or to do some great as well as some good thing. Would it not be better for them in a more chastened and humble temper of mind, to make it the burden and emphasis of their supplication, that they may be meek, forbearing, and forgiving; that they may have a willingness to wash the disciples' feet, and have great love even for their enemies; in a word, that they may bear the image of Christ, who came, not with observation, but was "meek and lowly of heart?"

— Religious Maxims XLVIII.

Serving in the Wrong Spirit

It is not by the mere number of our words and actions, that we can most effectually serve the cause of God and glorify his name.  It  is the temper in which they are done, rather than the mere multiplication of them, which gives them power. It was the remark of a good man, who had much experience as a minister of the gospel, that "we mar the work of God, by doing it in our own spirit."

— Religious Maxims XLVII.