He must be in that interior love of what they teach, which makes obedience to the letter spontaneous, and not constrained.

The outward act must be the simple effect of a living cause." "Ah, my friend!" sighed Mr.Markland.

"It may be a true saying, but who can hear it ?" "We have wandered far in the wrong direction--are still moving with a swift velocity that cannot be checked without painfully jarring the whole machinery of life; but all this progress is toward misery, not happiness, and, as wise men, it behooves us stop, at no matter what cost of present pain, and begin retracing the steps that have led only to discontent and disappointment.

It is all in vain that we fondly imagine that the good we seek lies only a little way in advance--that the Elysian fields will, in the end, be reached.

If we are descending instead of ascending, how are we ever to gain the mountain top?
If we turn our backs upon the Holy City, and move on with rapid footsteps, is there any hope that we shall ever pass through its gates of pearl or walk its golden streets?
To the selfish natural mind, it is a 'hard saying' as you intimate, for obedience to the commandments requires the denial and rejection of self; and such a rejection seems like an extinguishment of the very life.