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Men love excitement, and to be able to say, "Lo, here is Christ! or, lo, there!" and they will eagerly run after the preacher who can best minister to this love of excitement. But religion is an inward principle, a work of personal self-denial and effort. Vegetation as a general rule, is more advanced by the gentle dews and moderate showers than by torrents of rain or the bursting of water-spouts; so is the work of salvation, by the daily dews of Divine grace, more than by extraordinary revivals. Let us not disparage revivals, for some truly deserve the name; but let us be assured that the work of God is not confined to them, and we fear is not often in them at all — that churches may have some piety which have no great annual season of excitement — that the best state of things is, where no communion passes without the adding of faithful souls — that all healthy growth in nature and grace is gradual and from within — and that "the kingdom of God cometh not with observation."

(W. H. Lewis, D. D.)

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KJV: And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

WEB: Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered them, "The Kingdom of God doesn't come with observation;