Matthew Simpson

Taking it in its wider and generic application, I understand faith to be the supplement of sense; or, to change the phrase, all knowledge which comes not to us through our senses we gain by faith in others.

Angels are spirits, flames of fire; they are higher than man, they have wider connections.

Not in purity or in holiness merely, for in Paradise man was holy, and he shall be holy when redeemed through the sacrifice of Christ and made an heir of heaven.

If, then, faith widens the connections, it elevates the man.

The temptations to wrong are many; they spring out of a corrupt nature.

Human nature is the same now as when Adam hid from the presence of God; the consciousness of wrong makes us unwilling to meet those whom we have offended.

It is a principle of our nature that feelings once excited turn readily from the object by which they are excited to some other object which may for the time being take possession of the mind.

The realm of immediate or personal knowledge is a narrow circle in which these bodies move; the realm of knowledge derived through faith is as wide as the universe, and old as eternity.

If we look at the realm of knowledge, how exceedingly small and limited is that part acquired through our own senses; how wide is that we gain from other sources.

Napoleon was probably the equal at least of Washington in intellect, his superior in education. Both of them were successful in serving the state.

If, then, knowledge be power, how much more power to we gain through the agency of faith, and what elevation must it give to human character.

If an honest man is the noblest work of God, then Mr. Lincoln's title to high nobility is clear and unquestioned.