Every sermon must have a solid rest in Scripture, and the pointedness which comes of a clear subject, and the conviction which belongs to well-thought argument, and the warmth that proceeds from earnest appeal.
Phillips Brooks (Clergyman, 1835 – 1893)
Self-confidence is either a petty pride in our own narrowness, or a realization of our duty and privilege as one of God’s children.
Phillips Brooks (Clergyman, 1835 – 1893)
The danger is that we may fail to perceive life’s greatest meaning, fall short of its highest good, miss its deepest and most abiding happiness, be unable to render the most needed service, be unconscious of life ablaze with the light of the Presence of God – and be content to have it so – that is the danger. That some day we may wake up and find that always we have been busy with the husks and trappings of life – and have really missed life itself.
Phillips Brooks (Clergyman, 1835 – 1893)
Let every man and woman count himself immortal. Let him catch the revelation of Jesus in his resurrection. Let him say not merely, “Christ is risen,” but “I shall rise.”
Phillips Brooks (Clergyman, 1835 – 1893)
The man who goes through life with an uncertain doctrine not knowing what he believes, what a poor, powerless creature he is! He goes around through the world as a man goes down through the street with a poor, wounded arm, forever dodging people he meets on the street for fear they may touch him.
Phillips Brooks (Clergyman, 1835 – 1893)
Very strange is this quality of our human nature which decrees that unless we feel a future before us we do not live completely in the present.
Phillips Brooks (Clergyman, 1835 – 1893)
There are no times in life when opportunity, the chance to be and do, gathers so richly about the soul as when it has to suffer. Then everything depends on whether the man turns to the lower or the higher helps. If he resorts to mere expedients and tricks the opportunity is lost. He comes out harder, poorer, smaller for his pain. But, if he turns to God, the hour of suffering is the turning hour of his life.
Phillips Brooks (Clergyman, 1835 – 1893)
You may look through the streets of heaven, asking each how they came to be there, and you will look in vain everywhere for a person who is morally and spiritually strong, whose strength did not come to him in struggle. There is no exception anywhere. Every true strength is gained in struggle.
Phillips Brooks (Clergyman, 1835 – 1893)
The man, who has begun to live more seriously within, begins to live more simply without.
Phillips Brooks (Clergyman, 1835 – 1893)
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.
Phillips Brooks (Clergyman, 1835 – 1893)