‘Our acts our angels are, for good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.’
“The great mistake is, that salvation from sin is made so easy; is considered so cheap a thing, that few pay any attention to it. Make men understand that their eternal destiny is of their own making—with the help of God always—that no mediation, intercession of others can possibly change their evil nature, or do away with the fearful consequences of the violation of God’s law. I would not smooth over anything. I would show them that the most difficult thing in life is to be good, and yet that every difficulty can be overcome and the way become delightfully pleasant if the mind and strength of the heart and soul are inclined to it. When a man has wasted his life, sucked the sweets from every flower to gratify his pampered appetite, and the fires of his passions have gone out, he becomes devout, builds a church, endows a hospital, says his prayers, and is cock sure of heaven, as if the eyes of justice were blind and the record of his misspent life could be erased by a few donations of money or the mumbling of a few prayers!
“Away with all such cant and hypocrisy! Money can do a great deal on earth, for all on it, even immortal men are purchasable, but it would be blasphemy to think that the justice of Heaven could be thwarted by bribes, or the records of wrong-doing be washed away by a few tardy tears.
‘Yet here’s a spot,
Out damned spot! Out I say,
What! will these hands never be clean!
Here’s the smell of blood still;
All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.’
“It is not by any creed or prayer, or ordinance, or mediation that a man is to be saved, but by noble thinking, and brave doing every moment of his life. He may get all the information and assistance he can, but he alone can and must do the work.