Death is but a passage. It is not a house, it is only a vestibule. The grave has a door on its inner side. Alexander MacLaren More Quotes by Alexander MacLaren More Quotes From Alexander MacLaren All that this world knows of living lies in giving - and more giving; He that keeps, be sure he loses -Friendship grows by what it uses. Alexander MacLaren usegivinglying I am satisfied, for I awake in Thy likeness. Alexander MacLaren awakesatisfied The true confidence which is faith in Christ, and the true diffidence which is utter distrust of myself--are identical. Alexander MacLaren diffidencedistrustchrist He that has no present Christ has a future, dark, chaotic, heaving with its destructive ocean; and over it there goes forever--black-pinioned winging its solitary and hopeless flight, the raven of his anxious thoughts, and finds no place to rest, and comes back again to the desolate ark with its foreboding croak of evil in the present and evil in the future. Alexander MacLaren anxious-thoughtsoceandark Christ's voice sounds now for each of us in loving invitation; and dead in sin and hardness of heart though we be, we can listen and live. Christ Himself, my brother, sows the seed now. Do you take care that it falls not on, but in, your souls. Alexander MacLaren brotherheartfall Heaven is endless longing, accompanied with an endless fruition-a longing which is blessedness, a longing which is life. Alexander MacLaren longingfruitionheaven Faith is the sight of the inward eye. Alexander MacLaren eyefaithsight The more we work the more we need to pray. In this day of activity there is great danger, not of doing too much, but of praying too little for so much work. Alexander MacLaren too-muchlittlesneeds In making our decisions, we must use the brains that God has given us. But we must also use our hearts which He also gave us. A man who has not learned to say, No -who is not resolved that he will take God's way, in spite of every dog that can bay or bark at him, in spite of every silvery choice that woos him aside-will be a weak and a wretched man till he dies. Alexander MacLaren goddogheart Embrace in one act the two truths-thine own sin, and God's infinite mercy in Jesus Christ. Alexander MacLaren sintwojesus Surely Scripture is right when it makes the sin of sins that unbelief, which is at bottom nothing else than a refusal to take the cup of salvation. Surely no sharper grief can be inflicted upon the Spirit of God than when we leave His gifts neglected and unappropriated. Alexander MacLaren scripturecupsgrief And so, in calm expectation of a blessed future and a finished work which will explain the past, in honest submission of out way to God, in supreme delight in Him who is the gladness of our joy, the secret of tranquillity will be ours. Alexander MacLaren blessedexpectationspast The sum of the whole matter is this: He who is one in will and heart with God is a Christian. He who loves God is one in will and heart with Him. He who trusts Christ loves God. That is Christianity in its ultimate purpose and result. That is Christianity in its means and working forces. That is Christianity in its starting point and foundation. Alexander MacLaren christianheartmean Unless we are wedded to Jesus Christ by the simple act of trust in His mercy and His power, Christ is nothing to us. Alexander MacLaren simplejesuschrist As in mysterious and transcendent union the Divine takes into itself the human in the person of Jesus, and eternity is blended with time; we, trusting Him, and yielding our hearts to Him, receive into our poor lives an incorruptible seed, and for us the soul-satisfying realities that abide forever mingle with and are reached through the shadows that pass away. Alexander MacLaren heartrealityjesus Oh, remember that as certain as the historical fact, He died on Calvary; so certain is the prophetic fact, He shall reign, and you and I will stand there. I durst not touch that subject. Take it into your own hearts, and think about it, a kingdom, a judgment-seat, a crown, a gathered universe; separation, decision, execution of the sentence. Alexander MacLaren decisionheartthinking It is not the thinker who is the true king of men, as we sometimes hear it proudly said. We need one who will not only show, but be the Truth; who will not only point, but open and be the Way; who will not only communicate thought, but give, because He is the Life. Not the rabbi's pulpit, nor the teacher's desk, still less the gilded chairs of earthly monarchs, least of all the' tents of conquerors, are the throne of the true king. He rules from the cross. Alexander MacLaren kingsteachermen In heaven after ages of ages of growing glory, we shall have to say, as each new wave of the shoreless, sunlit sea bears us onward, It doth not yet appear what we shall be. Alexander MacLaren ageseaheaven Ah, there is nothing more beautiful than the difference between the thought about sinful creatures which is natural to a holy being, and the thought about sinful creatures which is natural to a self-righteous being. The one is all contempt; the other, all pity. Alexander MacLaren differencesselfbeautiful Unbelief is criminal because it is a moral act, an act of the whole nature.-Belief or unbelief is a test of a man's whole spiritual condition, because it is the whole being, affections, will, conscience, as well as the understanding, which are concerned in it. Alexander MacLaren understandingspiritualmen
