Image via author, unnamed lake, Wallowa Mountains, Oregon

Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910), an English non-conformist minister who was born in Scotland.

“Love is the foundation of all obedience.”

“You have nothing to do but to receive the things that are freely given to you of God—the forgiveness, the cleansing, the life, that come from Christ by faith.”

“God the Eternal Object. To find Him in everything, and everything in Him, is to be at rest.”

“Lord, I cannot walk in the narrow path. Do Thou Thyself come to me and fill my heart and keep my feet.”

“Body and mind need repose; the soul needs quiet communion with God. No vigorous physical, intellectual, or religious life will long be kept up, if that need be disregarded.”

“Faith does not grasp a doctrine, but a heart. The trust which Christ requires is the bond that unites souls with Him; and the very life of it is entire committal of myself to Him in all my relations and for all my needs, and absolute utter confidence in Him as all sufficient for everything that I can require.”

“While the agent of renovation is the Divine Spirit, and the condition of renovation is our cleaving to Christ, the medium of renovation and the weapon which the transforming grace employs is “the word of the truth of the gospel,” whereby we are sanctified.”

“There is nothing more impotent than words which lie dormant in our brains and have no influence on our lives.”