evelop a new one; and the
backslider's terrible lot is to have to retrace with enfeebled feet each
step of the way along which he strayed; to make up inch by inch the
leeway he has lost, carrying with him a dead-weight of acquired
reluctance, and scarce knowing whether to be stimulated or discouraged by
the oppressive memory of the previous fall. Natural Law, p. 346.

October 1st. He who abandons the personal search for truth, under
whatever pretext, abandons truth. The very word truth, by becoming the
limited possession of a guild, ceases to have any meaning; and faith,
which can only be founded on truth, gives way to credulity, resting on
mere opinion. Natural Law, p. 352.

October 2d. It is more necessary for us to be active than to be orthodox.
To be orthodox is what we wish to be, but we can only truly reach it by
being honest, by being original, by seeing with our own eyes, by
believing with our own heart. Natural Law. p. 364.

October 3d. Better a little faith dearly won, better launched alone on
the infinite bewilderment of Truth, than perish on the splendid plenty of
the richest creeds. Such Doubt is no self-willed presumption. Nor, truly
exercised, will it prove itself, as much doubt does, the synonym for
sorrow. Natural Law, p. 365.

October 4th. Christianity removes the attraction of the earth; and this
is one way in which it diminishes men's burden. It makes them citizens of
another world. Pax Vobiscum, p. 47.

October 5th. Then the Christian experiences are our own making? In the
same sense in which grapes are our own making, and no more. All fruits
GROW--whether they grow in the soil or in the soul; whether they are the
fruits of the wild grape or of the True Vine. No man can MAKE things
grow. He can GET THEM TO GROW by arranging all the circumstances and
fulfilling all the conditions. But the growing is done by God. Pax
Vobiscum, p. 56.

October 6th. Men may not know how fruits grow, but they do know that they
cannot grow in five minutes. Some lives have not even a stalk on which
fruits could hang, even if they did grow in five minutes. Some have never
planted one sound seed of Joy in all their lives; and others who may have
planted a germ or two have lived so little in sunshine that they never
could come to maturity. Pax Vobiscum, p. 51.

October 7th. There is no mystery about Happiness whatever. Put in the
right ingredients and it must come out. He that abideth in Him will bring
forth much frui