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Hannah Whitall Smith

Hannah Whitall Smith, 1832-1911

Hannah Whitall Smith was a speaker and author in the Holiness movement in the United States and the Higher Life movement in the United Kingdom. She was also active in the Women's suffrage movement and the Temperance movement, helping found the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.

Hannah was no stranger to the difficulties of life. Although she had seven children in all, only three survived to adulthood.


“To be one of God's lilies means an interior abandonment of the rarest kind. It means that we are to be infinitely passive, and yet infinitely active also; passive as regards self and its workings, active as regards attention and response to God. It is very hard to explain this so as to be understood But it means that we must lay down all the activity of the creature, as such, and must let only the activities of God work in us, and through us, and by us. Self must step aside, to let God work.”
Hannah Whitall Smith
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“Comfort & peace never come from anything we know about ourselves, but only & always from what we know about Him.”
Hannah Whitall Smith
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“Nothing else is needed to quiet all your fears, but just this, that GOD IS.”
Hannah Whitall Smith
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“put together all the tenderest love you know of, multiply it by infinity and you will begin to see glimpses of the love and grace of God.”
Hannah Whitall Smith
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“It is a law of the spiritual life that every act of trust makes the next act less difficult. Trusting becomes like breathing, the natural unconciousness of the redeemed soul.”
Hannah Whitall Smith
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“Most Christians are like a man who was toiling along the road, bending under a heavy burden, when a wagon overtook him. The driver kindly offered to help him on his journey. He joyfully accepted the offer but, when he was seated, continued to bend beneath his burden, which he still kept on his shoulders. "Why do you not lay down your burden?" asked the kind-hearted driver. "Oh!" replied the man, "I feel that it is almost too much to ask you to carry me, and I could not think of letting you carry my burden too." And so Christian who have given themselves into the care and keeping of the Lord Jesus still continue to bend beneath the weight of their burdens and often go weary and heavy-laden throughout the whole length of their journey.”
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“To be a mother is the greatest vocation in the world. No being has a position of such great power and influence. She holds in her hands the destiny of nations, for to her is necessarily committed the making of the nation’s citizens.”
Hannah Whitall Smith
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