"Backsliders Begin with Dusty Bibles"

“We should keep the image of God so constantly before us that we become in our measure conformed unto it. This inner love to the right must be the main spring of Christian integrity in our public walk. The fountain must be filled with love to holiness, and then the streams which issue from it will be pure and gracious. . . . To put away the Scriptures from the mind’s study is the certain way to prevent their influencing the outward conversion. Backsliders begin with dusty Bibles, and go on to filthy garments.” (Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, 1.243)