Had the soul of Christ been different, all his external actions, his words and his teachings would not have drawn the faithful band of followers which spread around the globe, it was the spirit within Christ, the heavenly love and light that attracted and kept His followers. Christianity conquered the world by conquering the individual heart; this was no political or societal advance like abolition, that changed the laws but not the hearts; this heavenly dominion over the human heart, the internal inspiration which made them missionaries and martyrs; in persecution and peril, in temptation and conflict enabled them to say, "but none of these things move us." Thus before the holiness of Christ, which was and is the supreme energy of the gospel, the craft of hierarchies, and the force of governments and the massive energy of civilization gave way.

  Faith in Christ, this positive and creative power, puts into the mind, not doubts, but faith, not hardening the shrine of the heart, but consecrating and opening it afresh for worship.

  To individual faithfulness then, to the energy of the private conscience has God committed the real history and progress of mankind.

In our daily life where we walk and move, with capacities common to us all, we drop the seeds from which, if ever, the Paradise of God must grow and blossom upon the earth. He that can be true to his best and secret nature, that can, by faith and patience, conquer the struggling world within, is most likely to send forth a blessed power to vanquish the world without. Mysteries of influence fall from every earnest choice, and will return to us, either in gladness or in weeping, after many days. We cannot allow any quenching of God's spirit without preparing a curse for others as well as for ourselves. "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.'  Taken from a piece by James Martineau.