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Show ; Short Sermons. . Death the death of those we love-is love-is not only bitter to endure, but also hard to realize. But yesterday they were here by our side, looking Into our eyes,' and now they are so far away that not even Imagination can pierce the indefinite regions, to which they, are gone. We cry to them, and they do not answer; we stretch out our hands and they do not heed. Of all I that love which life gave us, death only leaves us power to pray. When the heart is sick with longing, it is not only faith but nature which cries: "Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them!" Have great, great trust and great gratitude. When we see all we have to be grateful for. it will be too late. Charity should never become a tax. Unless there be in it the sweetness and tenderness of free impulse and human inclination it loses its value and purpose. pur-pose. ' Unworldliness is this to hold things from God in the perpetual conviction that they will not last: to have the world and not to let. the world have I us; to be the world's masters and not j the world's slaves. The sad, discouraged Christian who feels his shortcomings and the degeneracy degen-eracy of the times in which he lives so j overwhelmingly as to take away his peace and joy needs to get out into God's pure air on some errand of mercy. It is said there is nothing, which diffuses dif-fuses itself more quickly in a family than the coolness, indefference and discontent dis-content which manifest themselves in the countenances of one of its members. mem-bers. This thought is not absolutely true. There are some things which communicate themselves with as much rapidity and more force: they are a bright smile, a frank and open manner, man-ner, a cheerful face, a happy heart. Just as a stone, even if you fling it into the air, will fall down to the earth by its own gravitating force, so also a noble nature, in proportion as it is repulsed, in that proportion tends more in its own natural direction. The Sacred Heart of the Babe of Bethlehem has come to the vast central fire of the frozen world, it is to break the bands of the long frost, to loosen the bosom of the earth and to cover it with fruits and flowers. Faber. No peace was ever won from fate by subterfuge. Ruskin. Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile. Shakespeare. Music washes away"from the soul the dust of every-day life. Auerbach. What destiny sends, bear! Whoever perseveres will be crowned. Herder. In a cottage there may be found more real happiness than kings or their families fam-ilies enjoy in palaces. Horace. AVe seldom regret having been too mild, too cautious, or too modest; but we often repent having been too vio-! vio-! lent, too precipitate or too proud. God expects man to co-operate with the graces he gives him. Our Redeemer was born poor. The poor will always be his dearest friends. Read all history; the despotism of kings, the revels oT wealth and luxury wrung from the toil of the poor can never be glorified. The good, the morally mor-ally sublime, those who have blessed the world, live in the memory and love of mankind. Beware of judging hastily; it is better to suspend an opinion than to retract an assertion. God is ever drawing like toward like and making them acquainted. -4 The tale of the divine pity was never yet believed from lips that were not felt to be moved by human pity. . Sorrow is not given to us alone that we may mourn; it is given us that, having felt, suffered, wept, we may be. able to understand, love, bless. Unworldiness is this to hold things from God in the perpetual conviction that they will -not 'last, to have the world and not to let the world have us, to be the world's masters and not the world's slaves. Short is the little that remains to thee of life. Live as on a mountain, for it makes no difference whether a man lives there or here. Be like the promontory against which the waves continually break, but which stands firm and tames the fury of the water round it.. |