In this passage exception may fairly be taken to one short sentence, that in which he says: "The law ought to forbid it, because conscience does not permit it."
On the last morning of his life he wrote these words:—"I have named none to their disadvantage. I thank God He hath supported me wonderfully."
The colon and the dash are used together where the quotation is introduced by formal words such as the following:—"He spoke these words," "he spoke as follows," "he made this speech." But, in the first sentence quoted above, the introductory words are grammatically incomplete without the quotation, which forms the object of the verb "says"; the colon accordingly is the strongest point that can be used. Sometimes the connexion between the introductory words and the quotation may be so close, or the quotation itself may be so short, as to make the comma sufficient.
He kept repeating to us, "The world has sadly changed."
Short phrases quoted in the course of the sentence need not have any point before them.
It was a usual saying of his own, that he had "no genius for friendship."
XXVIII. The colon may be placed after such words and phrases as the following, when used in marking a new stage in an argument:—Again, further, to proceed, to sum up, to resume.
To sum up: If you will conform to the conditions I have mentioned, I will sign the agreement.
But to bring this sermon to its proper conclusion: If Astrea, or Justice, never finally took her leave of the world till the day that, &c.
After these words, we have a choice of the comma, the colon, and the full stop. The comma will generally be used if the argument be contained in a single sentence; the full stop, if the argument be of very considerable length.