"How sadly possible it is to delight in the rest of faith while forgetful to fight the good fight; to dwell upon the cleansing and the purity effected by faith, but to have little thought for the poor souls struggling in the mire of sin."

"I almost wish I had a hundred bodies; they should all be devoted to my Savior in the missionary cause."

"I am in great straits for funds. I am happy about it. The Lord may take away all our troublesome people through it and give us true-hearted ones instead."

"I believe we are all in danger of accumulating – it may be from thoughtlessness, or from pressure of occupation – things which would be useful to others, while not needed by ourselves, and the retention of which entails loss of blessing."

"I besought Him to give me some work for Him, as an outlet for love and gratitude; some self-denying service, no matter what it might be, however trying or however trivial"

"I could not think that GOD was poor, that He was short of resources, or unwilling to supply any want of whatever work was really His. It seemed to me that if there were lack of funds to carry on work, then to that degree, in that special development, or at that time, it could not be the work of GOD."

"I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done."

"I have never passed a more anxious or trying month in my life, but I never felt God so present with me."

"I . . . know how much easier it is to lean on an arm of flesh than on the Lord; but I have learned too how much less safe it is."

"I said, ‘You are now placed in a position to help the Chinese as you have never been before. They see that your being a foreigner is now no protection, but increases your danger. Let them see that you are rejoicing in God . . . that you do not need any other protection and that you do not go away, although you might; that you put your trust in God, and are prepared either to suffer or be delivered as He sees best, will learn that there is something in the Gospel worth risking life for.’ What was the result? In almost every place where there were native Christians they grew (in spiritual maturity) as never before."

"I wish sometimes that I had twenty bodies, that at twenty places at once I might publish the saving name of Jesus."

"If God try our faith it is to show His faithfulness, and we shall lose the blessing by appeals etc."

"If I am guided by God, in going out, He will open the way and provide the means."

"If I had a thousand pounds, China should have it. If I had a thousand lives, China should have them. No! not China, but Christ. Can we do too much for Him?"

"If there was more true abiding in Christ, there would be less selfish abiding at home."

"If this is a real work for God it is a real conflict with Satan."

"If we are faithful to GOD in little things, we shall gain experience and strength that will be helpful to us in the more serious trials of life."

"If we could offer to the ungodly a worldly plan which would ensure their prospering in all that they undertake, how eagerly they would embrace it! And yet when GOD Himself reveals an effectual plan to His people how few avail themselves of it!."

"If you want blessing, make room for it."

"It is not lost time to wait upon God!"

"It needs the presence of special difficulties to manifest to all the workings of God’s mighty power, and for such difficulties we may and should be grateful, and not cast down."

"It was no vain or unintelligent act when, knowing the land, its people and climate, I laid my dear wife and the darling children with myself on the altar for this service."

"It will not do to say that you have no special call to go to China. With these facts before you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the gospel to every creature, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home."

"Let but faithful labourers be found, who will prove faithful to God, and there is no reason to fear that God will not prove faithful to them."

"Let there be no reservation; give yourselves up fully and wholly to Him whose you are and whom you wish to serve in this work; and then there can be no disappointment."

"Let us give up our work, our thoughts, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into His hand, and then, when we have given all over to Him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled about, or to make trouble about."

"Many there are who fail to see that there can be but one lord, and that those who do not make GOD Lord of all do not make Him Lord at all."

"My work is a very peculiar [unique] one; in many respects it has, and can have no precedent. It may be called an experiment; to a certain extent it is so. And by God’s help it shall be, as it is being, faithfully made."

"Nearness to GOD calls for tenderness of conscience, thoughtfulness in service, and implicit obedience."

"Not infrequently our GOD brings His people into difficulties on purpose that they may come to know Him as they could not otherwise do."

"One difficulty follows another very fast – but God reigns, not chance."

"Our eyes must be upon the Lord, not upon His people. His means – not ours, not theirs, but His means are large; and to a faithful steward He will prove a faithful master."

"Power with God will be the gauge of real power with men."

"“Pray for those you send, shield them by prayer."

"Real trust in God cannot be confounded."

"Satan may build a hedge about us and fence us in and hinder our movements, but he cannot roof us in and prevent our looking up."

"Self-denial surely means somethings far greater than some slight and insignificant lessening of our self-indulgences!"

"Some are jealous of being successors of the Apostles. I would rather be a successor of the Samaritan woman, who, while the Apostles went for meat and forgot souls, forgot her water pot in her zeal to spread the good tidings."

"The Apostolic plan was not to raise ways and means, but to go and do the work."

"The highest service demands the greatest sacrifice, but it secures the fullest blessing and the greatest fruitfulness."

"The missionaries should be men of apostolic zeal, patience, endurance, willing to be all things to all men. May the Lord raise up suitable instruments, and fit me for this work."

"The more we rest on this fact, – that we do not know the way we are going, but that we have a GUIDE who does know; that we do not know how to accomplish our service, but that He never leaves us to devise our own service; – the more restful does our life become."

"The sin of neglected communion may be forgiven, and yet the effect remains permanently."

"The use of means ought not to lessen our faith in GOD; and our faith in GOD ought not to hinder our using whatever means He has given us for the accomplishment of His own purposes."

"The work . . . is steadily growing and spreading – especially in that most important department, native help. . . . The future hope of China doubtless lies in them. I look on all us foreign missionaries as platform work round a rising building; the sooner it can be dispensed with the better; or rather, the sooner it can be transferred to other places, to serve the same temporary purpose, the better for the work sufficiently forward to dispense with it, and the better for the places yet to be evangelized."