a strong-willed man to bow down to a weak-willed man. It
is hard for an elephant to say his prayers to an ant.--SERMON: 'The
Reward of Loving.'

When Peter heard the cock crow, it was not the tail-feathers that crew.
The crowing came from the inside of the cock. Religion is something more
than the outward observances of the church.--SERMON: 'The Battle of
Benevolence.'

I have heard men, in family prayer, confess their wickedness, and pray
that God would forgive them the sins that they got from Adam; but I do
not know that I ever heard a father in family prayer confess that he had
a bad temper. I never heard a mother confess in family prayer that she
was irritable and snappish. I never heard persons bewail those sins
which are the engineers and artificers of the moral condition of the
family. The angels would not know what to do with a prayer that began,
"Lord, thou knowest that I am a scold."--SERMON: 'Peaceableness.'

Getting up early is venerable. Since there has been a literature or a
history, the habit of early rising has been recommended for health, for
pleasure, and for business. The ancients are held up to us for examples.
But they lived so far to the east, and so near the sun, that it was much
easier for them than for us. People in Europe always get up several
hours before we do; people in Asia several hours before Europeans do;
and we suppose, as men go toward the sun, it gets easier and easier,
until, somewhere in the Orient, probably they step out of bed
involuntarily, or, like a flower blossoming, they find their bed-clothes
gently opening and turning back, by the mere attraction of light.--'EYES
AND EARS.'

There are some men who never wake up enough to swear a good oath. The
man who sees the point of a joke the day after it is uttered,--because
_he_ never is known to act hastily, is he to take credit for
that?--SERMON: 'Conscience.'

If you will only make your ideal mean enough, you can every one of you
feel that you are heroic.--SERMON: 'The Use of Ideals.'

There is nothing more common than for men to hang one motive outside
where it can be seen, and keep the others in the background to turn the
machinery.--SERMON: 'Paul and Demetrius.'

Suppose I should go to God and say, "Lord, be pleased to give me salad,"
he would point to the garden and say, "There is the place to
get salad; and if you are too lazy to work for it, you may go
without."--LECTURE-ROOM TALKS: 'Answers to Prayer.'

God did no