Zeal for Church Purity – Charles Spurgeon

WHEN the body gets a piece of rotten bone into it, it never rests, until, with pain, it casts out the dead thing: and so with the church; the church may be increased by dead members, but when she begins to get vigorous and full of life, her first effort is, with much pain, perhaps with much marring of her present beauty, to cause the dead substance to come forth; and if this should be the case, though we shall pity those who are cast forth, yet for our own health’s sake, we may thank God and take courage.