‘Did I not do the best I then knew how?’

SAY not, the struggle nought availeth,

The labour and the wounds are vain,

DO NOT hope you are to gain the victory in a day.

IT IS the one inspiring element of Christianity that it throws us in boundless hope upon the future, and forbids us to dwell in the poisonous shadows of the past.

God does not require from you to be sinless when you come before Him, but He does require you to be unceasing in your perseverance. 

FALLEN threads I will not search for – I will weave.

THE most cowardly of all temptations is that of discouragement.

Listen to the leadings of grace, then say and do nothing but what the Holy Spirit shall put in your heart.

No fasting, for instance, will make the soul pure, but a noble attachment will keep all baser feelings in check and ennoble them. 

 It is by adding to our good purposes and nourishing the affections which are rightly placed, that we shall be able to combat the bad ones.