Uncloistered

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  “She gazed ahead through a long reach of future days strung together like pearls in a rosary, every one like the others, and all smooth and flawless and innocent, and her heart went up in thankfulness. Outside was the fervid summer afternoon; the air was filled with the sounds of the busy harvest of men and birds and bees; there were halloos, metallic clatterings, sweet calls, and long hummings. Louisa sat, prayerfully numbering her days, like an uncloistered nun.” A New England Nun By Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852–1930)

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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