“Oh, cry for personal holiness, constant nearness to God by the blood of the Lamb. Be filled with His Spirit, or all success in the ministry will only be to your everlasting confusion. You know how I have always insisted on this with you. It is because I feel the need thereof myself. Take heed, dear friend. Do not think any sin trivial. Remember, it will have everlasting consequences. Be as holy as God is holy, pure as Christ is pure, perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. Oh, how much more useful might we be if we were only free from pride, self-conceit, personal vanity, or some secret sin that our heart knows. Oh, hateful sins that destroy our peace and ruin souls.”

Murray McCheyne

(from a letter he wrote to a Pastor friend in 1840)