The Necklace

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  “SHE WAS one of those pretty, charming young ladies, born, as if through an error of destiny, into a family of clerks. She had no dowry, no hopes, no means of becoming known, appreciated, loved, and married by a man either rich or distinguished; and she allowed herself to marry a petty clerk in the office of the Board of Education. . . .  She had neither frocks nor jewels, nothing. And she loved only those things. She felt that she was made for them. She had such a desire to please, to be sought after, to be clever, and courted.” —THE NECKLACE Guy de Maupassant    France, 1884 (pic by Grok) Read this short story here:  https://americanliterature.com/author/guy-de-maupassant/short-story/the-necklace

What your Preacher produces

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“Easy-going preachers produce easy-going believers. We have more star preachers than scarred preachers, more expositors than exposers, more who are concerned to ‘get it over’ than to ‘pray it through.’ We have more religious educators than soul emancipators. The pulpiteer of our times is expected to enlighten the mind rather than to enliven the conscience. To many, the width of his head matters more than the depth of his heart. So, even with a steel ring of communism around the world, and the sewers of moral filth pouring over it, we find the Church more interested in pie than piety, and the Lord's weakened army 'by schism rent asunder' and by conflicting interpretations oppressed.”

Leonard Ravenhill, quoted in the April/May 2008 Old Paths Newsletter

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