// /*f4 eaves? ttl« -on ... . un ruanciseo . . > . . . • . . . • • • ..... I OPYRIG II lion. U>92, BY C. A. Murdoch & Co. • t . It*. 5 3* In publishing this volume, the ladies of the Charming Auxiliary desire to express their appre- ciation of the courtesies extended by Houghton, Mifflin .t- Co. and Roberts Brothers, from whose publications some of the selections have been gU aned. 394857 CONTENTS. A NEW YEAR, Horatio SU bbins, WHAT SHALL I DO WITH LIFE? Charles . i. Murdoch SELECTIONS Robert Browning, [DEALS Thomas Carlyle, GOING UP To .IK 1:1 SALEM, Phillips Brooks . 1 HE ELIXIR Oeorgi Herbert . VERSES FROM "TIIK BUILDERS," //. W. Longft How, HELPFUL THOUGHTS, . . Charles <;. Ames, 1 111: DIGNITY OF LABOR, Thomas 8tarr King, SPIRITUAL LIFE Elizabeth B. Easton, VERSES FROM "THE ETERNAL GOODNES8," /"/in (,. Whitlier, LENTEN MEDITATIONS, . {Selections),. . . a PRAYER Theodori Pa - 1 BR Horatio 8tebbins, RESURRECTION Horatio Stebbins, 1 HOUGHT8 ABOl 1 GOD, . Minot J Savage, WHERE 1- GOD? Minot J. Savage, ORE \ l PRINCIPLES \M> BM \M, DUTIES hums \l>i 1 Inn u u . wil vi DO YOU REALLY RE\ ERE? .... .hums Wartineau, \\ II \ 1 1- PRAYEH .hum ■- Ma 1 in- Page ID 12 1 1 11; La 20 i\ 11 •J 1 26 28 :;n ■ VI :,\ 86 - 19 in III II WHY ART THOU CA8T DOWN, MY SOUL? . . L't r. Jacob Voorsanger, 12 THE RHODORA Ralph Waldo Emerson, 16 HUMAN PROGRESS Tohn Fiske 16 SELECTIONS George 8. Merriam, . 18 TO A WATERFOW1 William Cullen Bryant, - r >o aims Charles .1. Murdoch, . 52 THE RUIN OF THE WORLD, Horatio s/< /,/,;,,*, . . 54 SELECTIONS PROM "ECCE SPIRITUS," . . . . E. F. Hayward, . . 50 GOD SEEN IN His WOKKS, Chas. W. Wendte, . . 58 CRITIC AND POET, . . . \%%\%% $%&* worth \ 60 OUR OWN POETRY l. IP Jackson, . . 62 EXTRACTS, James Hhxxi'II Lmnll. 64 STANZAS TO FREEDOM, . Jam,, B Russell Lowell, (55 IMITATION OF CHRIST, . Thomas d Kempis, . . 66 LIFE Leslit H'. Sprague, . . 68 COUNSEL TO AN UNHAPPY PERSON W. R. Alger 69 REAL GREATNESS, . . . Wm. Ellery Channing, 7i» THE MIND OF CHRIST, . TflOS. L. Eliot, ... 72 DOING AND BEING. . . . /.'"//-A Waldo Emerson, 71 THE REVELATION OF THE SPIRIT Frederic Henry Hedge, 76 THE fools prayer, . . Edward Rowland Sill, 78 SELECTED WORDS, . . . George E Hot 80 UNITY B. F. Mr Daniel, . . 82 UNBROKEN LIVES, . . . Horatio Stebbins, . - 84 MODERN PROGRESS, . . John Ruskin 86 JESU8 THE CARPENTER, Mrs. Edward 1. ASPIRATIONS (Selections) THE FAITH OF ETHICS, . II. | ■, \nett, . . WAITING W. J. Potter, . . . OPPORTUNITY Roderick Stebbins, . CHEERFULNESS Charles A. Murdoch, FOR THOD ART ALL, . . Francis /•'. Ahhot, . OUR FAITH W. C. Gannett, . . PROM AMIEL'S JOURNAL, ( Trans/a/!,.,,), . . . THE MINISTRY OF LABOR, Wm. Ellery Channing. A PRAYER Theodore Parker, . A SIMl'I.K FAITH v. A. Haskell, . . CHRISTMAS HYMN, . . . Frederic Henry Hedge, EXPERIENCE Horatio Stebbins, . THE GOOD SATAN L PI Jackson, . . 90 92 94 96 S.8 1110 Ki2 Hit', 108 110 112 111 116 lis INDEX OF AUTHORS. Abbot, Francis E., p. 100. Alger, William K., p. 69. Ames, Charles G., p. 22. Ainiel, |>. 106. Arnold, Matthew, p. 60. Brooks, Phillips, p, is. Browning, Robert, p. 1 1. Bryant, Win. Cullen, p. 50. Carlyle, Thomas, p. L6. ('banning, William Ellery, pp. To, 108. Easton, Elizabeth B., p. 26. Eliot, George, pp. 80, 90. Eliot, T. L., p. 72. Emerson, Ralph Waldo, pp. 45, 71. Flake, John, p. 16. Gannett, W. ('., pp. 92, 102. Haskell, N. A., p. 112. Hay ward, E. F., p. 56. Hedge, F. H., pp. 76, 11 I. Herbert, George, p. 20. Jackson, A. W., pp. 62, 118. King, Thomas Starr, p. 21. Liddell, Mrs. Edward, p. 88. Longfellow, n. W„ i>. 21. Lowell, J. R., pp. 01, 65. Martineau, J., pp. 40, 11, 91. Me Daniel, 1!. F., p. 82. Merriam, Geo. 8., p. is. Murdock, Charles A., pp. U, 52, 98. Parker, Theodore, pp. 82, 90, 110. Potter, W. J , p. 94. Ruskin, John, p. 86. Savage, M. J., pp. 38, .19. stebbins, Horatio, pp. 10, 34, 36, 54, 84, 116. Stebbins, Roderick, p. 96. Bill, E. R., p. 78. Sprague, Leslie W., p. 68. Voorsanger, Jacob, p. 12. Wrndte, C. W. p. 58. Whlttier, John G., p. 28. Wordsworth, William, p. 6Q. "In THE MIDST OF THE BTREE1 OF II, ANT) <>N EITHER SIDE OF THE RIVER, was THERE Mil. TREE OF LIFE, WHICH MAUI-: TWELVE MANNER "i PRUIT8, wi> YIELDED HER FRUIT EVERT? MONTH! nn THE LEAVES <>F THE TR] i WERE FOR Mil SEALING OF THE NATIONS." — Id Delations, \ xii : -. 1 ■" BPE] D 1 III. SI \l> OF T fGHT < ».\ TO THEIR SHINING GOA] S, — THE -"\\ l.i: -' All ERS BRO \l> ills SEED, THE WHEAT THOU STREVl 'ST BE SOI LB. Em i rson. A NEW YEAR. NOTHING new can be said about a New Year. It is the time to take account of the old. repent of our sins, carry mis- takes to profit and loss, and transform their crudeore to golden wisdom It brings little that is new beside itself, and we only ex- change the irretrievable pasl for the hopeful future, the dead certainty for the living un- certainty. We learn as we go on, how little is secure until it is past and concluded, and that, after all our demonstrable knowledge, exact science, and accurate time-tables, there is a subtle element, swift and penetrating, or mild, slow and pervasive, that eludes our calculations. The conquests of intelligence have not perceptibly reduced the area of the unknown. The guides of life are not demon- strations, but opinions, judgments, probabil- ities and faith. New contingencies arise with new discoveries, ;ind every new fixed fact has a group of new *mfixed circumstances. The future event is as uncertain to-day as it ever was. The only certainty is principle ; as new as to-day, and as old as the universe. On this in all change, all progress centers. The eternal foundations are sentiments : Honor. Shame, Patriotism, Reverence, Love of Beauty, Jus- Goodness, Conscience: these have no times or seasons, and suffer no mutations of uncertainty or doubt. To understand this is the difference between Wisdom and Knowl- edge, between < lhange and Growth. Steadied on this, change passes by us, giving us our dates, while we ourselves are firm, and we use change while change does not use us. The Greek port bad the insight of inspired genius when be said : •• Disgraceful ii is to understand Divinity and dog- matic truths, And yet be ignorant <>f Justice." Horatio Si kbbi \-. « n WHAT SHALL I DO WITH LIFE? WHAT more important question can any soul ask? Here we are in a whirl- ing world, tied to it for a time by the mys- terious something we call life. Whal shall we do? How shall we live? We arc body and soul. We have strong tendencies to mere animal existence — comfort, indul- gence, enjoyment ; but we are also prompted to a higher lift — the spiritual — wherein we forego self, deny the body, and seek good and ( rod. What does our Creator desire of us? — what is our part in the plan and purpose of the universe? Clearly not to suppress our Letter nature and smother the divine spark in striving for what the world can give. If we are satisfied with its prizes, we sell our birthright, we forfeit life's op portunity, we suffer boundless loss, and die with shriveled souls. Shall we, then, give up that which is natural and sick alone the spiritual ? Shall we leave the world, or, it' we stay, count it common and unclean ? Not so. All things are made for man, that by them and through them, with the 12 grace of God, he may work out his destiny and be fitted for higher life. They are given to gratify, but not to satisfy. Man's crowning glory is that he is too greal to in any of the gifts of life; — that a divine discontent scuds him forth seeking ever higher good till he finds his home in the Eternal < lood. Man is on earth to grow. Life is Ins school, and he may learn its lesson it* he will. Progress, is man's distinction, and sluggish e, intent cheats him of it ; hence the trials and failures thai keep him from that which is virtue in the ox are blessings. What, then, shall we do with life — bear it patiently and bravely? Yes, and more. Take it up gladly, as a heritage; enjoy it rationally; trust God, not fearing to use whal He gives, and go forward with all courage. 1 f we live t ruly, we shall counl no duty small and no sacrifice greal ; we shall love strongly, aspire unceasingly, and find life's highesl end in bt ing. C'HARLKS A. Mi KDOCK. SELECTIONS FROM ROBERT BROWNIM,. TAKE all in a word: the truth in God's breasl Lies trace for trace upon ours impressed : Though he is so brighl and we s<> dim, We are made in His image to witness Him. — Christmas Eve. All (hat is, at all, Lasts ever, past recall ; Earth changes, but thy soul and G-od stand sure : What entered into thee, Thai was, is. and shall he : Time's wheel runs hack or stops : Potter and clay endure. Rabbi Ben Ezra. I know thee, who hast kept my path, and made Light tTII [NG useless is. or Low : Each thing in its place is best ; And wliai seems but idle show Strengthens and supports the rest. For tin structure thai we rais< Time i- with materials filled ; Our to-days and yesterdays Are the blocks with which we build. Truly shape and fashion these ; Leave no yawning ga ps between ; Think not, because no man s< Such tbiDgS will remain unseen. In the older days of art Builders wrought with greatesl care Each minute and unseen part ; For the gods see everywhere. Let as do our work as well, Both the unseen and the seen ; Make the bouse, where < rod may dw< 11. Beautiful, entire, and clean. I I. \V. LONOI I ei "\\ . HELPFUL THOUGHTS. NONE of us can live well by an occa- sional pood resolution, any more than a seed can grow into a healthy plant by being used as a common plaything, and only now and then put into the earth for a minute or two. Everything depends on storing up in ourselves, by a habit of well- doing, a great and ever-increasing hind of moral power which shall he available to brace lis against sudden temptation, to help us carry out better purposes, and to hold us steady ami true to the ideal. The harvest of grains and fruits is not more regular or abundant than the yield of human affections, sympathies, fellowships; hut here also there are differences of seasons and of soils. We must improve our spirit- ual husbandry ; we must enrich the ground from which good qualities spring; we must expose our inmost life to the quickening sun. Salvation is right character; right char- acter is salvation. We need no other, as our bodies need nothing better than perfeel 22 health. But right character — is that a small matter and easily gained? Is it not a pro- duct of all the highest and thirst forces of the universe — a result of the long, steady working together of the Divine Spirit and the human spirit ? The life-principles must be deeply set ; there must be the "clean heart," and the "sound mind": there musl be an all-mastering love of good. ; there musl be a well-established and well-admin- red inward government, not dependent c written on the heart — all one thing with the life's love. Is not this what Jesus means by "the Kingdom of God within you " ? < 'll \ RLES < •. Am ES. THE DIGNITY OF LABOR. FOR thousands of years society has been struggling against ;i prejudice that labor upon matter, except in the most refined and artistic ways, is degrading. According to the highest aristocratic prejudices, even the sculptor's and the professional architect's employment is demeaning in comparison with the ineffable honor of plenty of inher- ited money, having nothing to do, and doing it. But all lower methods of handling mat- ter, working it into useful forms and putting ideas into it. are accounted incompatible with pretensions to -position — utterly under ban. To be a soldier, an orator, a poet. — to be able to express skill and genius in de- struction, or thought, power, and sentiment in breath and words, is consistent with some claim to social standing, high and secure; but to express conceptions in machinery that create wealth and happiness, to utter talent and genius through new combinations of matter and force, puts the ungenteel stamp upon the hrow of the body and spirit. How to throw hack this scorn of creative toil ; how to prove, in behalf of labor, that 24 direct dealing with matter is not degrading, and that the mechanical departments of work and service are of worthy rank, and are not to 1"' abased before haughty inso- lence, and arc not railed upon to defend themselves, either, — how to do this and make the protective argument felt as an impeachment of those who arraign toil, has ager aim of those whose Fympathy with tli-' race is wid< -t and most penetrating. Bui the ign answer in behalf n\ labor is this : < rod is the great artificer. The mastery of the earth is the chief com- mand and trust which the Almighty has committed to mortals hi It is this command which ennobles labor, and places the mechanic arts, through which al<- He tlx- mastery <>f the earth is gained, in their central position as expressions of hu- man power and symbols of human duty. THOM \» Si \ 1:1: Kim.. if SPIRITUAL LIFE. WE find the need of the uplifting influ- ence of Liberal Christian thought, especially in one element — the apathetic and indifferent. I am no pessimist, bu1 1 cannot shut my eyes to the vast sea of ma- terialism which surges up around me at times. 1 am constantly brought in contact not <»nly with a class of women to whom the weekly matinee is as much a neces- sity as is the diani to the toper, not only with the still higher class whose minds are completely absorbed in housekeeping and social visiting, but with a still higher and fully as large a class of women whose high- est concern is the intellectual, the literary life; keenly alive on intellectual subjects, reading with avidity every new hook, devot- ing themselves to literary clubs and study classes, they seem utterly indifferent to the highest spiritual and religious themes ; their own lives are good and pure, and they perhaps discuss moral questions as abstrad propositions; hut no sense of personal re- sponsibility for the spiritual advancement of the world has ever yet dawned upon them. 26 It is against this great wall of indifference that we ought to place ourselves to-day. Let us cherish positive convictions in spir- itual things : let us by every possible mean- persuade other- that their i- a vast world of spiritual life above the merely intellectual, and that only -,. far a- the intellectual is pervaded by the apirii it i- of real value. Elizabeth B. Ea.si ox. I from a Rep « FROM "THE ETERNAL GOODNESS." WHO fathoms the Eternal Thoughl ? Who talks of scheme and plan ? The Lord is God ! He needeth not The poor device of man. More than your schoolmen teach, within Myself, alas ! I know ; Too dark ye cannot paint the sin, Too small the merit show. 1 see the wrong thai round me lies, 1 feel the guihVwithin ; 1 hear, with groan and travail-cries. The world confess its sin. Yet, in the maddening maze of things, And tossed by storm and Hood. To one fixed stake my spirit clings; I know that < rod IS good ! The wrong that pains my soul below I dare not throne above : I know not of His hate. — I know I li- goodness and His love. 28 I dimly guess from blessings known ( >f greater out of sight, And, with the chastened Psalmist, own Hi- judgments, too, are right. I know not what the future hath < If marvel or surprise, Assured alone that life and death His mercy underlii -. And so, beside the Silent Sea I wait the muffled oar ; No harm from 1 1 im can come to me On ocean or on sh< >re. I know not ulnae His islands lift Their fronded palm- in air; I only know I cannot drifl Beyond 1 1 is love and care. And Thou, < i Lord ! by wl are seen Thy creatures as they be, j\\> me if too close I lean M y human hear! on Thee I John < •. VVhittiku. • ■ T LENTEN MEDITATIONS. IIY right hand hath holder) me up, and Thy gentleness hath made me great. — Psalms : xviii, 35. For Thon lovest all the things thai arc and abhorrest nothing which Thou hast made; for never wonldst Thon have made any thing, it' Thon hadst hated it. But Thon sparest all; for they are Thine. () Lord, Thou lover of souls. — Wisdom of Solomon : xi, 24, '2(>. I will strengthen thee: yea. L will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the righl hand of My righteousness. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy righl hand, saying unto thee, fear not, I will help thee. — Isaiah : xli, 10, 13. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. ■ — Romans: xv, 1. Who can have compassion on the igno- rant, and on them that are out of the way : for that he himself also is compassed with infirmities. — Hebrews: v. 2. Judge not, and ye -hail not be judged ; condemn not, and ye shall not be con- demned : forgive, and ye -hall be forgiven. — Luke : vi. .".7. The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, Lr< ■ n 1 1 < • . and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and '_ r '""l fruits. — Jam s: iii. 17. The fruit of the Spirit is' love, joy, peace, _ suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. —Galatians: v. 22, l>:;. $ Learn to measure your strength by your gent 1« ness, your knowledge by your patience with the ignorant, your faith by your sym- pathy for those who are "oul of the way." your purity by your tenderness for the sinful ami fallen. It i- the only t«'-t by which, in your relations with others, you may know whether you have caught something of His infinite love whose gentleness hath made you irreat. — ('muni l/- i A PRAYER. [ii was tin' habit of a devoted parishioner of Th lore Parker to take dow d in short-hand his memorable prayers, so tender and devout, and after his death they were pub- lished in a little volume dedicated to bis wife. The fol- lowing is from one of them I OTHOU Infinite Power, whom men call by varying names, hut whose gran- deur and whose love no name expresses and no words can tell; Thou Creative Cause of all, Conserving Providence to each, we flee unto Thee, and would seek for a moment to be conscious of the sunlight of Thy presence, that we may lift up our souls unto Thee, and fill ourselves with exceeding comfort and surpassing strength. Father, we thank Thee that while heaven and the heaven of heav- ens cannot contain Thine all-transcendent being, yet Thou livest and movest and workest in all things that arc, causing, guiding and blessing all and each. We thank Thee that we know that Thou art our Father and our Mother, and tenderly watchesl over us in manifold and scent ways, bringing good out of evil, and better thence again, leading forward Thy child from babyhood to manhood, and the human 32 race from its wild estate to far transcending nobleness of soul. Father, within our soul may there be such an earnesl and strong love of the qualities of Thy being that we shall keep every law which Thou has writ on our sense or in our soul, and do justly, and love mercy, and walk manfully with Thee, doing our duty with nobleness of endeavor, and bearing such cross as time and chance, happening to all, may lay on us. So may Thv king- dom come, and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Theodi >i:i: Park i:i:. ¥ EASTER. THERE is much said about the essential things in Christianity — and to a one- sided mind it seems thai now this and now t Ii.it contains the whole idea, purpose and aim of Jesus. Many attempts to find the characteristic quality of our religion betray a suspicion that it would be a discredit to it if it should be found to be like anything else. I- - it not better to think of Jesus and ITi> truth, as the purest form of all that the greatest and best have thought, all that the noblesl and loveliest have felt? Chris- tianity as it exists in the common opinion and life of Christendom is, doubtless, a religion : but as it was in the mind, heart and life of Jesus, it is Religion. The uni- versal and human quality is the glory of it, and that which raises Jesus above the level of the mere teacher, and make- Him the practical and ideal Deliverer of the world. If we have this conception of Him and His truth, we shall go to Him for the impulse, and power, and elevation of human life, rather than to trace the lines of a religious system. i The most profound and authoritative ac- count of His purpose and aim is in His own words: "I aro conic that they may have life, and may have it abundantly." This is Resurrection : an enlarged capacity of mora I ami spiritual life; as it i- also the test of any genuine likeness to Him. This test would bisect the sects, exclude many stout believers, give heretics a place in the eternal kingdom, and make Christianity as wide as the world. Then we shall be able to recon- cile intellectual difficulties, by acknowledg- ing tl neness of all excellence and the oneness of the religious life. It' the Resur- recl ion is the increase of spirit mil life in us, then no good man can fall out of the Christian ranks, inasmuch as the Resur- rection and t he life are iii 1 Mm. Horatio Sti bbins. « RESURRECTION. T1IK life of the soul is associated with the life of the body. Their mutual rela- tion and dependence are well recognized, though not fully understood. We say, as is the mind, so is the body : and again, as is the body, s<> is the mind. In this gen- eral way, we assume in our common thought and speech the co-relation of our material spiritual natures. It is very natural that from tins associa- tion and mutual dependence of body and soul, men, having no other experience of the soul's being, there should grow up an opinion that both have equally a future upon another theater. Thus, savage tribes bury weapon- and food in the grave thai the hunter or warrior may be well equipped for nobler enterprise of chase or battle. The questions : " How are the dead raised ? and with what manner of body do they come?" arise in the difficulty we encoun- ter in conceiving the soul's detachment from the body. It is uot easy for men to discern or believe that which transcends their ex- perience. The development of Christian history, in gracious adaptation to human weakness, lias r ghized the resurrection of the body- its coming forth from the grave to join its departed ghost. Thai there has been, and i- now, it may be, such a doctrine or idea of Resurrection is altogether natural, and not strange. As we become spiritually-minded, we re- gard the body as the instrument and ser- vant of the soul : or more nobly, the Temple of God: — ami Resurrection as the growth and development of the spirit. It is the process of spiritual being and life by which we rise out of our dead past into a living present, and the soul sloughs its old ignor- ance and -in-, and come- forth in the fresh- ness and beauty of new Lifeand new vision. It -tand- for the unfolding of our spiritual nature, the coming forth of our better affec- tions, the bloom of pure feeling, and the rising up of righteous will. It forever has the present and the f iture for it- field, and i- the pledge of Immortality in such body .1- God -ha 1 1 provide. The Resurred ion i- not ;in outward tact, hut an inward prOC Horatio Si kiwi ns. 394857 THOUGHTS ABOUT GOD. FRIENDS, let us think of God as life, as spirit, as Friend, as Father, as the Eter- nal Presence that we cannot escape, who be- sets us behind and before, who lavs His hand upon us, who is nearer to as than our heart's l» at. nearer than the wish that rushes out to greet Him, nearer than the hope that reaches up its hand for guidance and for help the Internal, never faraway from them that seek Him. With life a school, we ourselves finite children learning to live in an infinite uni- verse, God at the same time love and law, watching over us. waiting for us, bearing us up in His arms, it seems to me utterly rational for us not only to believe in God, but to trust in Him utterly. And since God, the invisible life, power, soul of all. is the one spring and source of all, since all that is grand in human nature and in human life, since all that is sublime or beautiful in nature, since these are only broken, partial expressions, manifestations of the invisihh — in worshiping these we are worshiping God. We are on the lower - stairs, perhaps ; but it is a stairway by which we climb through darkness to God. So any soul that is capable of falling on its knees in the presenceof anything felt to 1"' greater, nobler, better than itself is a worshiper of God, and has within itself the promise and potency of eternal advance. Minoi J. Savage. > WHERE IS GOD? tlir fishes OI I ! where is the sea '.' " cried. As they -warn the crystal clearm ss through : " We 've heard from of old the ocean's tide, And we Long to look on the waters blue. The wiseon< — peak of tin- in finite sea ; ( >h ! who can tell us if such there I"- '.' " The lark flew up in the morning bright, And sung and balanced on sunny wings ; And t ii i- was its 3ong : " I see the light, I look o'er a \\ i >rld i if bea ul iful thin) But, flying and singing everywhere, I M vain I have Bea rched to find I he air." M i N" i .1. s \ \ \.. i . SELECTIONS FROM MART1NEAU. Great Principles wn Small Duties. A SOUL occupied with great ideas besl performs small duties; the divinesl views of life penetrate most clearly into the meanest emergencies. . . . Nothing less than the majesty of God, and the powers of the world to come, can maintain the peace and sanctity of our homes, the order and serenity of our minds, the spirit of patience and tender mercy in our hearts. Then only shall we wisely economize moments when we anticipate for ourselves an eter- nitv. . . . Then will even the meresl drudgery of duty cease to humble us. when we transfigure it by the glory of our own spirit. What Do You Really Revere? Whoever can so look into my heart as to tell whether there is anything which I revere, and if there I.e. what thing it is; he may read me through and through, and there is no darkness wherein I may hide myself. 40 This is the master-key to the whole moral nature: what does a man secretly admire and worship? What haunts him with the deepest wonder? Whal fills him with most earnest aspiration ? What should we over- hear in the soliloquies of his unguarded mind ? This it is which, in the truth of things, constitutes his religion; this, which determines his precise place in the scale of spiritual ranks ; this, which allies him to hell or heaven : this, which makes him the outcast or the accepted of the moral senti- ment- of the Holiest. What N Prayer? Prayer is the soul'- act in laving itself consciously open at the feet of God; it is the gush of tenderness with which the spirit pours forth its burning emotions of venera- tion and love : it is the joy, or the agony, or I he shame of placing the mind, as it is, in contact with the greal parenl mind, that its sins may become clearer, its wants i ■>■ craving, thai it- life may he quickened, and -yinpit hie- refreshed. JaMEH M \ i: i i \ i \i . WHY ART THOU CAST DOWN, MY SOUL? [Seele was Betruebst d/u cool, And court the flower thai cheapens his array. Rhodora ! if the -.iL r '- ask thee why This charm is wasted on the marsh and sky. Dear, tell them thai if eyes were made for seeing, Then beauty is it- own excuse for being. Why thou ucit there, rival of the rose ! I never thoughl to ask ; I never knew , Bui iu my simple ignorance Bupp< »se The selfsame Power thai brougb.1 me there broughl you. I ; \ i ni Waldo Kmekson. i ■ HUMAN PROGRESS. THE virtues of forbearance and self-con- trol arc still in a very rudimentary state, and of mutual helpfulness there is far too little among men. Nevertheless, in all these respects sonic improvement has been made, along with the diminution of warfare, and by the time warfare has not merely ceased from the earth, but has come to be the dimly re- membered phantom of the remote past, the development of the sympathetic side of human nature will doubtless become pro- digious. The manifestation of selfish and hateful feelings will be more and more stern- ly repressed by public opinion, and such feel- ings will become weakened by disuse, while the sympathetic feelings will increase in strength as the sphere for their exercise is enlarged. And thus at length we see what human progress means. It means throwing off the brute-inheritance, — gradually throw- ing it off through ages of struggle that are by and by to make struggle needless. Man is slowly passing from a primitive social state, in which he was little better than a 46 brute, toward an ultimate social state, in which his character shall have become so transformed thai aothing of the brute can be detected in it. The ape and the tiger in human nature will become extinct. The- ology has had much to say about original sin. This original sin is neither more oor - than the brute inheritance which every man carries with him. ami the process of evolution is an advance toward true salva- tion. Fresh value is thus added to human life. The modern prophet, employing the methods of science, may again proclaim thai the Kingdom of Heaven is at band. Work ye, therefore, early and late, to prepare its eomii - John Fiske. SELECTIONS. THE extension of our own personality by sympathy is just another word for pro- gress, such as is possible to us in this world, such as we hope for in another and brighter sphere. Self-sacrifice is properly the choice of the highest, ac< panied, necessarily, by a sac- rifice of the lower. There is no liner chemistry than thai by which the element of suffering is so com- pounded with spiritual forces that it issues to the world as gentleness and strength. Enjoying each other's good is heaven 1m ■gun. Love is of no value without a larger power of living in the experience of others. Every effort made turns into pure strength Every-day life must be lived on the level of cheerful contentment. The life of the soul is the love that we give. 48 To be faithful in darkness — that is the supreme test to which the human spirit is subjected. There comes a time when neither Hope nor Fear are necessary to a pious man : hut he loves righteousness for righteousness' sake, and love is all in all. It is not joy at escape from future perdition that he now - : it is a present rapture of piety, and ^nation, and Lov< — a presenl that fill- eternity. It asks nothing, it fears nothing; it l«»v<-~. .- 1 t i 1 it has no petition to make. God - back His little child that lias no W-.w, and is all trust. Geo. S. M erri \ m. < • TO A WATERFOWL. WHITHER, midst falling dew, While glow (lie heavens with the last steps of day, Far, through their rosy depths, dosl thou pursue Thy solitary way ? Vainly the fowler's eye Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, As, darkly painted on the crimson sky. Thy figure tloats along. Seek'st thou the plashy brink Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide, Or where the rocking billows rise and sink On the chafed ocean side ? There is a Power whose care Teaches thy way along that pathless coast, — The desert and illimitable air, — Lone wandering, but not lost. All day thy wings have fanned, At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere, Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land, Though the dark night is near. 50 And soon that toil shall end ; Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest, And scream among thy fellows: reeds shall bend, Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest. Thou 'rt gone; the abyss of heaven Hath swallowed up thy form; yet. on my heart 1 >eeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given, And .-hall not soon depart ; I Ee who, from zone to zone. Guides through the boundless sky thy cer- tain flight, In the long way that I must tread alone Will lead my steps aright. William |,| ;, n' petition-! How conscious the nearness and reliance, how certain the peace! W hat men have known of God is not in the hook-, but in the Foul. What J< bus knew of God is not in the gospel statement. ii"f did lie ever intend that it should he. It was in Him : and we see it. feel it, know it wherever and whenever we meet Him. 1 [e was able to proclaim the living Fa- therhood by reason of the living Sonship in Himself, which it was His object to develop oul of the universal human possi- hility. I']. I'. I I \ \ u \ i; h. GOD SEEN IN HIS WORKS. ONE of the first impressions which an observation of the course of nature makes upon the thinking mind is its mar- velous and perfect order, an order which includes all, ascends by regular gradations from the least to the greatest, and is so ar- ranged that each and all may come to the consummation of their being. It is this recognition of a universal order which con- stitutes the incentive and charm of the sci- entific study of nature. The mere desire to know more about nature, would not have sufficed to produce the great scientific move- ment which has characterized the last three centuries. Hut when the investigators came to see that the facts of substance and the processes of nature were unified by an ill 1- pervading law; that one thought, one order, one harmony prevailed through all, then arose the eras of a Copernicus, a Newton, a Humboldt, and a Darwin, who approached t he problems of the universe with a new con- ception of their nature and interdependence. They applied themselves with equal devo- tion to the smallest and least, of created 53 tilings as to the 1 1 i ir 1 1 * - 1 , sublimest pheno- mena of nature, recognizing that all alike — tin- pebble lying on the beach and the planet that swings in mid-heaven, the wind-flower in the crannied wall and the snow-peaks of Hermon, the minutest of infusoria and the '■ Lord Christ's heart" — are an integral part of the world order, a necessary Hide in the chain of being thai stretches from atom to angel, an eloquent witness to the unity of life, thought and purpose which pervades the creation. What name shall we give this world spirit which pervade.-, unities and quickens all, and in forming the Lowesl orders of life on this planet already had in full view the highest and most perfeel types of being ? We have no better name for it than our fathers'. It is God, whose goodness is over all His work-. No other explanation can we offer of the cause and constitute f things than to ascribe the life, order, beauty and harmony of the universe to a Bupreme, self-conscious and creative source, the Great Being of whom, through wh ami to whom are all things. The < Ireation is i hue an eter mil and in iji -tie revelation of < rod. I'll \-. W. W l \ h l E. CRITIC AND POET. < >ne harvest from thy field Homeward brought the oxen strong; A second crop I nine acres yield, Which I gather in a song. Emerson. THE grand power of poetry is its inter- pretative power : by which I mean nol ;i power of drawing out in black and white an explanation of the mystery "I' the uni- verse, In it the power of so dealing with things as to awaken in us a wonderfully lull, new. and intimate sense of them and of our re- lations with them. When this sense is awakened in lib, as to objects without us. we feel ourselves to be in contact with the essential nature of those objects; to be no longer bewildered and oppressed by them, bul to have their secret and to be in harmony with them ; and this feeling calms and sat- isfies u> as no other can. Poetry, indeed, interprets in another way besides this ; hut one of it~ t wo ways of interpreting, of exer- cising it> highest power, is by awaking this sense in us. The interpretations of science do not give us this intimate sense of objects a~ the interpretations of poetry give it: it i- Shakspeare, with his no " daffodils That come before the swallow dares, and take The \\ imls of March a\- i t li beauty," and Keats, with his •• moving waters at their priest-like task Of cold ablution round Earth's human shores." Ma nil EW A RNOLD. $ For I have learned T< i rely on Nature ; not as in the hour Of thoughtless youth, but hearing often- times The still, sad music of humanity, Xor harsh nor grating, though of ample power To chasten and subdue. And I have fell A presence thai disturbs me with the joy < >f elevated thoughts : a sense sublime < >f something t'ar more deeply interfused, Whose dwelling is the li'-rlit of setting suns, And the round ocean a nd t he 1 i ving a ir, And t he blue sky, and in 1 he mind of man ; A motive and a spirit t hal impels All thinking things, all objects of all thought, And rolls through all things. SVollDHW ni: i ii. 61 OUR OWN POETRY. TAXING humanity in the large, he is our best poel who opens our eyes t<> see our own poetry. Poetry, the poetic, we are con- stantly seeking afar. To our imagination it is a glamour over the hamlet of the Swise ; it floats above the gondolas of Venice: it clothes the cedars of Lebanon ; it ripples in the currents of the Arno ; it glows in the Alpine sunrise ; al Naples it sparkles on the wave. Strange fact, however, that those dwelling in these favored spots do not feel its trances. The home in Bethany is an idyllic picture ; 1 fear the inmates did not always appreciate the idyl. I doubt of Mary's constancy at the feet of Jesus ; Mar- tha, cumbered and worried, I doubt no1 sometimes scolded, and that Lazarus gave her reason. And he, good brother in the main, after hard work may have sat down to dinners that did not suit him. and grum- bled in plain Hebrew over them. Thebeauty you sec hovering over them, in the work and worry of life, they lost, or perhaps were look- ing afar to find. The gay pictures of lords and Ladies, the tales of knightly tourna- 62 mentj the deeds of chivalry, to our eyes are overhung with glamour, too. But those Lords and Indies experienced no end of < n- nui. Those tournaments were often scenes of brutal Bghting or its vulgar pantomime. Very uncomely things look comely, and even beautiful, at a distance. A buzzard -niliiiLr in the air is fair to look upon ; but, say what you will, it is only a buzzard. < >ur poetry is not far, but near. < >nr lives. Mr. Emerson tells us, "nre embosomed in beauty." There is sunshine on our hills: the gleam is on our sea : flowers fair as ever Eden bore are in our valleys. Our wives are beautiful ; our sons are brave ;our daugh- - lively : mothers look with wonder upon therapl earnestness in the faces of Raphael's cherubs, and were quite astounded were I hey told thai it mighl have been copied from the !';iees of the cheruhs ill their hollies. Here are heroisms fair as chivalry could boasl : Belf-surrenders, consecrated affec- tions, virtue.- thai should extort ;in angel's praise ;i re ;i II righl before you. For you waits the beauty. Over you hangs not the glamour, hut t he rea lily. Your home may be the idyl. It all depends on \\ hel her you have the eye to si A NV j ^ CKKON , EXTRACTS. GREAT Truths are portions of the soul of man ; Great Souls arc portions of Eternity ; Each drop of blood thai e'er through true hearl ran With lofty message, ran for thee and me. /.'- Noble! and the nobleness that lies In other men, sleeping, but never dead, Will rise in majesty to meet thine own. We see hut half the eaus s of our deeds, Seeking them wholly, in the outer life, And heedless of the encircling spirit-world, Which, though unseen, is felt, and sows in us All germs of pure and world-wide purposes. From one stage of our being to the next We pass unconscious o'er a slender bridge, The momentary work of unseen hand.-, Which crumbles down behind us. We call our sorrows Destiny, hut oughl Rather to name our high successes so. • I \ mes Russell Lowell. 64 STANZAS TO FREEDOM. IS true Freedom but to break Fetters for our own dear sake. And, with leathern hearts, forgel That we owe mankind a debl '.' No ! true freedom is to share All the chains our brothers wear, Ami. with heart ami hand, to he Earnesl 1" make others free ! They a re sla ves who far to speak For the fallen and the weak : They are slaves who will not choose i [atred, Ecoffing, ami abuse, Ral her than in silence shrink From the truth they needs musl think They are slaves who dare not he Tn the right with two or three. New occasions teach new dul i< Time makes ancienl good uncouth ; They must upward si ill. ami onward, Who would keep abreasl of t ruth. Jamks Hi -i i.i Lowell. • . FROM THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. TV KX thyself to the invisible. He to whom the Eternal WorJ speaketh, i~ delivered from many an opinion. lie is truly greal who hath great love. Ami he is truly learned who doth the will of God iiinl forsaketh his own will. Who hath ;i greater combat than he thai Laboreth t<> overcome himself ? Do what lieth in thy p iwer,and God will assisl thy good will. If every year we would root out one vice. we should soon become perfecl men. It hurteth thee not to submit to nil men: hut it hurtoth thee most of all to prefer thyself even to one. Occasions do not make a man frail, hut they shew what he is. lie doeth well that rather serveth the common weal t han his own will. I'lessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace. Oil He doeth much that loveth much. Endeavor to be patient in bearing with the defects and infirmities of others, of what sort soever they be: for that thyself also hast many tailings which must be borne with by others. We know not oftentimes what we are able to do, but temptation shews us what we are. Whence shall thy patience attain her crown it' no adversity befall thee? By two wings a man is lifted up from thing- earthly, namely : by Simplicity and Purity. hi much patience shall thy peace be. Let the love of pure truth draw thee t<> read. Enquire nol who spoke this or that, but mark what is spoken. It" thou canst nol make thyself such an one a- thou wouldst, how cansl thou expecl to have another in all things to thy liking ? heal not roughly with him thai is tempted, hut give him comfort, as thou wouldsl w to be done to t hysel l. THOMAH \ K i;\i PIS. LIFE. Thoughts on Readino "David Grieve." HOW' pathetic is life! How sad seems the past! Whal tender misery is there in the thought of things which have been and were dear: and are no more, and are the dearer for nol being! How (he hopes, and loves, and joys, that were of yore, come back to ns bringing regret with them! And yet there should be no regret. It is not the thing but the lesson that counts in the sum of being. Not the love, but the having loved; nol the hope, but the hoping; not the joy, hut the joyousness that is the vital thing. Love, hope, joy — these are of worth as they make as. If they have made us, that is all we need ask. Then there should he no re- gret. Then- is pathos, heeause these greal things have passed and have not left us great. I (ESLIE W. Sl'RAGUE. 68 COUNSEL TO AN UNHAPPY PERSON. YOU must learn to be more tolerant and forbearing with yourself. You need to be as patient, soft, considerate, forgiving, magnanimous and loving with yourself as you would desire to be with another. You are your own divinely given friend, a com- panion forever inseparable. So quarrel, no divorce, no fate, can ever possibly sunder this union. Why not, then, make it a calm and happy co-operation of yourself with yourself to outgrow faults, to perfecl merits. to be full of resignation and aspiring repose in fulfillment of duty ? Do not blame your self cruelly, nor think of escaping from your- Belf; hut pardon your failures, and quietly keep trying ti 1 you succeed in gaining that full Bel f- possession in equilibrium which is :it once happiness and religion. W i i.i.i \ m [toi n-i.vi i.i.i: A i.<. 1:1:. REAL GREATNESS. REAL greatness has nothing to do with a man's sphere. It does not lie in the magnitude of his outward agency, in the ex- tent of the effects which he products. The greatest men may do comparatively little abroad. Perhaps the greatest in our city al this moment are buried in obscurity. Gran- deur of character lies wholly in force of soul ; that is, in the force of thought, moral prin- ciple, and love, and (his may be found in ( he humblest condition of life. A man brought up to an obscure trade, and hemmed in by the wants of a growing family, may, in his narrow sphere, perceive more clearly, dis- criminate more keenly, weigh evidence more wisely, seize on the right means more deci- sively, and have mote presence of mind in difficulty, than another who lias accumu- lated vasl stores of knowledge by laborious study; and he has more of intellectual gn at- ness. .Many a man, who has gone hut a few miles from home, understands human na- ture better, detect- motives and weighs character more sagaciously, than another who has traveled over the known world, and 70 made a name by his reports of different coun- tries. It is force of thought which measures intellectual, and so it is force of principle which measures moral, greatness, that high- i -• of human endowments, the brightest manifestation of the Divinity. The greatest man is he who chooses the right with in- vincible resolution, who resists the sorest temptations from within and without, who bears the heaviest burdens cheerfully, who i- calmest in storms, most fearless under menace and frowns, and whose reliance on truth, on virtue, on God, is most unfaltering. A man is greal as a man. be he where or what he may. The •_ ramleur of his nature turn- to insignificance all outward distinc- tions. His p »wers of intellect, of conscience, of love, of knowing God, of perceiving the beautiful, of acting on his own mind, on outward nature, and on his fellow creature- — these are glorious prerogativi 3. The distinctions of society vanish before the lighl of these truths. William Ellkui Channing. 71 I HE MIND OF CHRIST. T<> have the mind of Christ is the only way of surely learning the intenl of God in this life He has given you. Go to Jesus in His filial experience of the Father, in His self-sacrificing love of sinners, in His daunt- less war on evil; go in His way of prayer and watching, and work, and yon will learn the secret of 1 1 is trusl and hope. With Him, ask. and yon shall receive the Father's face; seek, and you shall find a Life Work: knock. and there shall be opened to yon all myste- ries of Spirit. I state such a plan of salva- tion, not as a narrow dogma, hut as an all- inclusive and life-giving principle. I say, especially to young men and women, take Jesus thus for your inspiration, and His mo- tive as your motive: and the grasp of His strong hand will lift you above temptation. a hove doubt, and at last make your being an- swer assert this is to forgel the gift of God, and whal it is that keeps the human heart from dying out, and all the powers from perishing through utter corruption. It is not our laws and courts, not well- balanced constitutions and social devices, nut science and steam and electro- magnet- ism, that have brought us thus far, and made the world what it is : lint beneath all these, and a hove them all, a divine impulse, never wanting to the race of men ; a divine Spirit forever haunting them with those two radical and universal ideas, — truth and duty, without whose penetrating and crea- tive power, not one -tone would ever have been laid upon another of all our cities, no tree ever Celled, no human implement fash- ioned for its work. And. if God should now withdraw His Spirit, this proud civil- ization, this shining and sounding culture, with its traffic and its arts, its stately con- ventions ami fair humanities, would dis- solve: the wild beasts that are raired in these human frames, now awed and tamed by the presence of that Spirit, would creep forth, and rend, and devour, and the civil- i. ed earth revert to chaos and night. The individual no more Than society can dispense with the Holy Ghost. He needs its promptings, and he needs its peace: he need- it- strength, and he needs its conso- lation. No earthly power can avert calamity and sharp distress, the loss of his beloved, the wreck of his hope. The Holy Spirit is the only comforter thai can reach him in those deeps and make the nighl seem Light about him. Bui suppose this earthly world could traversed, and this mortal life lived, without the gift of the Holy Spirit, how will it lie when the gulf yawns toward which we are drifting ? No earthly power can bridge thai gulf or ferry as over it. [f ever We fi.-e ; I '_: ; I 1 1 1 to COnSCiOUS life, it will be by do na1 ive power, bul by the operation of the Spirit of God ; and unless the Spirit dwell in ns, Buperstition may have an idol, conscience a law, philosophy a name; bu1 the hea it ha- no God. I'm DER1C III \i:i 1 1 i i«.i . 77 THE FOOL'S PRAYER. TIIK roya] feasl was done; the King Soughl out some new spoil to banish care, Ami to his jester cried : " Sir Fool, Kneel down and make for us a prayer!" The jester dotted his cap and bells, And stood the mocking court before; They could not see the bitter smile Behind the painted grin he wore. lie bowed his head, and benl his knee rpon the monarch's silken stool ; His pleading voice arose: "OLord, lie merciful to me. a fool ! '• No pity, Lord, could change the hearl From red with wrong to white as wool ; The rod must heal the sin : hut Lord, Be merciful to me. ;l fool ! " 'T is not by guili the onward sweep Of truth and right, <> Lord, we stay; T is by oui- follies thai so long We hold the earth from heaven away. ;- •• These clumsy feet, still in the mire, Go crushing blossoms withoul < ncl : These hard, well-meaning hands we thrust Among the heart-strings of a friend. "The ill-timed truth we might have kept — Who knows how sharp it pierced and -• ung ".' The word we had not Bense to say — Who knows how grandly it had rung ? "Our fault- no tenderness should ask. The chastening stripes must cleanse tin 'in all : I'. \\ for niir blunders — oh, in shame Before the eyes of heaven we fall. I'. ait li bea i'- ii" ha Isa m for mistakes : Men crown the knave, and scourge the too] Thai did his will: bul Thou, <> Lord. Be merciful to me, ;i fool ! The room was hushed : in silence rose The King, and sought bis gardens cool, And walked apart, and murmured low . " Be merciful to me, a fool ! " la>\\ \ i:ii Rowland Si i.i. WORDS FROM GEORGE ELIOT. BY desiring what is perfectly good, even when we don'1 quite know what it is, and cannot do what we would, we are part of the divine power againsl evil — widening the skirts of life, ami making the struggle with i lark ncs- narrower. — Middlemarch. Nay, never falter: no greal di't-d is done By falterers who ask for certainty. No good is certain, hut the steadfast mind — The undivided will to seek the good. — Spanish Gypsy. There is no sort of wrong deed of which a man can bear the punishment alone. Men's lives are as thoroughly blended with each other as the air they breathe; evil spreads a> necessarily as disease. — Admit Bede. It's plain enough you gel into the wrong road T this life it' you run after this and that only for tin' sake o' making things easy and plea-ant to yourself. A ]>i^ may poke his nose into the trough and think o' nothing outside it : hut. if you've '_ r ot a man's heart and soul in you, you can't be easy a-making BO your own bed, an" leaving the rest to lie on the -tone-. — . Idam Bt a A wise man, more than two thousand years aL r <>. when he was asked what would mosl tend to lessen injustice in the world, said, that ••(•very bystander should feci as indignant at a wrong as it' he himself were the sufferer. " — Addr ss 1 1 Workingmen. The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are no1 so ill with you and meas they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life and resl in un- visited graves. — MidclL march. < > may I join the choir invisible Of those immortal dead who live again In minds made better by their presence ; live In pulses st irred to generosity In deeds of daring rectitude — in scorn I r miserable aims thai end wil h self In thoughts sublime thai pierce the night like stars, And with their mild persistence urge man's -< ;ileh I ■ ies. — Poems. 81 UNITY. THE intellectual and religious life are not complete, they do not rise to their highest power, they do nol take on their finest quality, until they come to liar ny and unity. When a man's intellectual Life is of the nineteenth century, and his reli- gious life is of th<' sixteenth; when Ins science is of this age, and his theology thai (if (he Middle Ages, there is a dislocation somewhere in his mental method. Unity of thoughl and lite is impossible with him until he brings up. his theology into line with his science, — yes, more, puts his the- ology in the front, as the pioneer of his think- ing and action throughout. The painful exhibitions of theological lameness and partial paralysis, now so com- mon, are witnesses of this dislocation. We i he melancholy ?pi etaele of men. other- wise strong and wise, twisting and turning in mental attitude- al once grotesque and painful, in order to keep some sort of living connection between their scientific knowl- edge and their religious beliefs. But it is all in vain unless the connection is an or- 82 ganic one,— a real, honest, thorough intel- lectual unity. No! to fall into intellectual arrest, one must keep right <>n with the age in which he Lives. My scientific friend, do not stop with the evolution of the physical. The psychical is higher. It reflects more clearly the Divine Thought. It energizes, directs and moulds the physical, h is creative. The physical is that which is creat< d. And you,my theological friend, whocling so strongly to the thoughl of the past, be- lieve in the present, immanenl < rod. You cannol make your thought of Him too large. Y"it think Hi- love is conditioned, and Hi- children those only whom man elects by creed and sign. Rather be afraid of ex- cluding anything or any one. For it is not. as was once written, "A fearful thing to fall into the hands of t he living < rod " ; but, were it possible, it would be a fearful thing to fall out of the hand- of the living God. Because I [e lives, you and I live. Because He i- t hi l-'.ii her, you and I are spiritual beings, able to think these greal thoughts, to feel t hesi holy impulses, and to aspire to com pli ter life in Him. i'.. r. Mi Danii i . UNBROKEN LIVES. THERE are some who hold their onward, upward way with steady increasing power, as if they had a specia] talent for ex- cellence and a genius for virtue. There is no "great mistake " in their lives, no "un- pardonable sin," no "fall": — resolution transforms inclination, and hindrance is changed to moral power. These are the line spirits that do no wrong, and win their vic- tories not over their dead selves, hut by the love of eternal beauty as it dwells in God. They are not covered with dust and lt f i 1 1 1 « - of conflict with earthly temptations, hut their wings are clean and strong, beating tiie pure air where the joy of life is the liv- ing, and the heart is blessed in the being. These are the great soul- which no earthly station can glorify or humiliate. Hut with most of us it is not so :- reso- lution i- ;l reed often hrokell. and We need New Years' days, and Old Years' nights in which to repent of our past and plume the wings of purpose. For most of us, sooner or later, there is a realm of moral anguish, deliverance from which is only through -i penitence and suffering. In most men there must be a tragedy of the soul, and the •• majesty of righteousness " must be burned into us. The youth -owing wild oats has come to no place of experience yet : — his purgatorial fires are under the burning sun of the mid-day of life, as he bends to the harvest of folly. It has been said that we dig our graves in our youth : but a Badder thing is a low- toned, dull maturity that has no resurrec- tion power, and hold.- on to lite from mere animal instincts. The only thing that can help us is a new resolve by which the breath of heaven may till our >ails. and bring us out of the wretched doldrums of a soul de layed in the senses, into the wide sea and free wind- of new life. If we can carry our self-reproach, accepting willingly it> bur- den, knowing that we are not estranged from the love ami forgiveness of G-od, there i-.i greal hope for us all. II' we can endure without complaint, and say unto God, Lei the blow < savage nations." Well : when you have moved your sav- age, dressed him, fed him with white bread, and shown him how to set a limb, — given him every advantage of civilization, taught him the delights of horse-racing, of assem- blies in the night instead of the daw of -dy and burdensome dress, of chagrined contcn! i on for place, or power, or wealth, and all the endless occupation without purpose, and idleness without rest, of our vulgar world. — what nexl ? These are not enjoy- ments, it seems to me, that we need be ambitious to communicate. All real and wholesome enjoyments to man have been just as possible to him since first he was made, as they are now ; and they are chiefly in peace. To watch the corn grow, and the blossoms set ; to draw hard breath over ploughshare or spade; to read, to think, to love, to pray. The world's prosperity or adversity depends upon our '•\ ing and teaching t hese /< w thin • I "ii \ RUSKIN. JESUS THE CARPENTER. ISN'T this Joseph's son ? "— ay, it is He; Joseph the carpenter -same trade as n u — J thought as I'd find it — I knew it was here Bu1 my sight's getting queer. I don't know right where as His shed must ha' stood — But often, as I've been a-planing my wood, I've took off my hat. j nst with thinking of He At the same work as me. Hewarn't that set up that He couldn't stoop down And work in the country for folks in the town ; And I'll warrant He fell a hit pride, like I've done At a g I job begun. The parson he knows that I'll not make too free; lint on Sunday I feels a- pleased as can be, When I wears my clean -mock, and sits in a pew, And ha- thoughts a few - I think of as how not the parson hissen, As is teacher and father and shepherd o' men, Not he knows as much of the Lord in that shed, Where He earned I lis own bread. And when I goes home to my missus, says she, •• Arc you wanting your key ? " For she knows my queer ways, and my love for the sheil, I We've been forty years wed). So I comes right away by mysen, with the hook. And 1 turns the old |iaMt I'd think I'll as lief, with your li ave, let it go; It do -''in that nice when I fall on it b u d d e n — I ' nexpected, yc I. now ! I.I'. I l:\-l l: T'S IN i: M I- -. EDW IRD LlDDI w ASPIRATIONS. HAT Christ is to us may we be to those around us. Inon. What is a Christian ? A man or woman who wants to be what Christ was. and do what He did. Anon. May I reach That purer heaven, be to other souls The cup of strength in some great agony. Enkindle generous ardor, i'wd pure love. Be the sweet presence of a good diffused. And in diffusion ever more intense! So shall I join the choir invisible Whose music is the gladness of the world. George Eliot. Let us have a church that dares imitate the heroism of Jesus; seek inspiration as He sought it : judge the past a- I le ; act on the present like Him: pray as He prayed: work as He wrought: live as He lived. 90 Let our doctrines and our forms fit the sou], as the limbs fit the body, growing out of it, growing with it. Let us have a church for the whole man, truth for the mind, good works for the hands, love for the heart; and for the sou] that aspiring after perfection, that unfaltering faith in God which, like lightning in the clouds, shines brightest when elsewhere it is most dark. Theodore Parker, It is surprising how practical duty en- riches the fancy and the heart, and deepens the affections: Indeed, no one can have a t rue idea of righl until he does it ; any genuine reverence for it till he has done it often and with cosl : any peace ineffable in it till he does it always and with alacrity. Does any one complain that t be besl afFec tion- are transient visitors with him, and the Heavenly Spiril a stranger to his hearl '.' Ah. lei him not go fort h on any si rained H ing of thoughl in distant quesl of them : bnt rather stay at home, and set his house in the true order of conscience : and of their own accord the divinesl guests will enter. .1. m u:l [NBAUi THE FAITH OF ETHICS. Ethics thought out is religious thought : Ethic* felt out is religious feeling : Ethics firnl out is religious life. WHERE docs the boundary line fall ? Where does " morality " end and " re- ligion " begin? Is it not all a question of horizon? To answer this question, will you not look, first, at the mystic element in ev- ery simplest Ought, and then at the mystic (dement in our deeper, more complex, sprit- nal experiences? The Ought: in the mystic element in every simplest perception of the Ought I fee] a •■faith;' the Faith of Ethics. I am not wise to know, perhaps none is. the source and nature of this familiar obliga- tion. But whatever he its origin, here it is in us, a mystic obligation, a thing that haunts us with hints and vanishes of power supreme and absolute. It commands, and. what is more, its command eiders into al- rnosl every deed concerning which we con- sciously deliberate. Is there a deed un- daunted by this omnipresenl imp a little Ought? I am debating alone with myself, whether I will go into some new business, or remain in sonic old business which affects the community thus: and so: the Ought is there with me, — it is the other debater. A hundred men are concerned in a deed: the Ought is in them all, determining the precise relation of each one to that deed. It is no more an Ought because, instead of two, a hundred are involved. There is no little and big in Ollghl any more than there is little and big iii gravitation. Sow, tell me, if you can : this faith in an infinite element entering into the smallesl duty, this faith thai a law of right which presides at the birth of the world is holding and playing and presiding between the mixed motives in a little child's breast, — tell me. if you can, which is it, a faith of " moralitv " or a faith of "religion"? [f anv faith can be a "religious" faith, this belongs to thai order. I ),„•- jt , M ,i come to t his, the refrain I wish you would carry with you, to think over, and see if it he qoI true — Ethics thought mil is religious thought : Ethicsfelt out it r< ligi << f, , ling : Ethici 1 1 it ii mil is ii ligiovs lit\ . w. < '. Gannki I . WAITING. " It is a long time thai I have been waiting for myself." — Harjati. WK often have to wait a very long time for (nil-selves; but if we patiently wait and faithfully wait, and keep our trust and hope in the coming, and do well our own part toward the coming, the trusted self will Surely come at last. The waiting ideal is perhaps mental, per- haps moral. Whether a man possess one talent or ten, the law for Use and increase is the same. There is the same slow process of unfolding, the same liableness to disap- pointed hopes, the same subjection to hin- dering conditions, the same waiting expect aney thai the heart's deepest and most con- secrated purpose shall yel emerge from all impediments, Tree and triumphant. When we see through what incalculably long pro- cesses of preparation the material world, with its va-t variety of creations, was passing, to make ready for the advent of man on this planet, we may say, indeed, and say it with all reverence, that even Infinite Being waited long for Himself ; waited long and wrought 94 patiently for the coming of a finite form so adzed that His own attributes and pur- p ise might be self- manifest therein. And we are offspring of that Being; and sHe worketh and waiteth for Himself, reach- eth not IIi> sublimest formsof revelation a1 once, but weareth by degrees the garment of glory by which He is seen, so must we work and wait fur the highest revelation of our- selves, expecting to sec our cherished hope often deferred, but never to see ii conquered; doing our best with present conditions and opportunities, but — or therefore, we might rather say, — looking confidently to the future to bring us to something better than any past or present has ever afforded. Jn one form or another, it i- the Lot of every human be- ing to wail for himself. Our duty is here, at the post of present responsibility, of pres- ent joy, Borrow, temptation <>r trial; and here, with various degrei - of faithfulness or unfaithfulness, we are doing, or neglecting i" 'I", t he requirement of t he hour. Bui whether doing or neglecting to do, there is ii" one of us whose heart's ideal is nol yon- der, away ahead of us, awaiting our tardy W. .1. Pol i BE. OPPORTUNITY. WE generally think of opportunity as fa- vorable chance. Has it ever occurred to you that it is none the less opportunity when the chance is calle 1 unfavorable? There are limitations of constitution, of temperament and of talents, of which, in some degree, we all are conscious. Circum- stances are oppressive; in some respects, our hit is a hard one. But shall we not call these also opportunities, opportunities for overcom- ing obstacles ? We speak of resignation: it is a great vir- tue: but fortitude is better. Resignation sometimes covers a weakness which is re- signed, simply because it is weak. Forti- tude has the character of resignation, and strength besides. To accept our lot, and not to be exhausted in merely accepting it, is true fortitude. Who can tell where recovery may not come to such a spirit ? It will come, if it is within human or divine power. There are sonic things that even God can not do, bul He gives great compensations. David was stronger with a pebble from the brook than 9(i if lie had fought in armor. Jesus with a crown of thorns was a greater king than if He had worn the royal purple. The consciousness of power comes from conquering obstacles. Hindrances are. after all, our opportunities. God must regard our struggle, and that He has a purpose in it all we arc forced to believe, from the way He treats us, and gives us all, at some time, a battle to right. The idea of our life here is that it is an experience. There is no perfection hut character, and that is the perfection of beauty out of winch God shines. Roderick Stkbbi n s. CHEERFULNESS. THERE seem to be few people who are not willing to be cheerful, though there are those who apparently are not able. It is a matter of disposition rather than cir- cumstances; for we meet sunny spirits thai no adversity can eclipse, while others are unhappy in the midst of everything calcu- lated to make them otherwise. There is a kind of cheerfulness that is wholly a matter of temperament, and tor which the possessor has every reason to lie thankful, hut no rea- son whatever to he 'proud. It may murk a small or light nature: for the great soul commonly has a touch of sadness. But it is a comfortable and desirable quality, and when not indulged in inordinately or inop- portunely, gives a greal charm to its pos- sessor. But what sli;ill one do who is not blessed with ;i happy disposition, who is disposed to look on the dark side of things, and finds .in uncomfortable affinity with sadness? Let him first comfort himself with the thought that the best cheerfulness is not inher- ited but achieved, and then seek it> source. 98 If it is not in his blood, Lei him find a reason for it in his principles and convictions, and build it into his character. Dn happiness is discord, and harmony must be reached if comforl and cheerfulness are desired. Often its source is physical : the body must be considered, and the life be brought into har- mony with the laws that underlie health. Bui above this suffering body, is the con- trolling will, with unknown capacity, and a spirit that touches the Divine. These may give us cheer, however trying our conditions. This truer cheerfulness is allied to courage and faith, and comes from strength that - on the Eternal ; when it becomesa set- tled habit, it is one oflife's richesl blessings. If we believe truly in < rod and 1 lis goodness, we must be cheerful; for His wisdom, power, and love are omnipotent. If trials and suf- fering come to ns. we can endure them. If sent by Him, they are surely for our good; and if they ar<- not His will, we can do His will in bearing them well. Ili- strength support e us, if w- once bring our will into harmony with lli-: and, resting in His love, we can rise to the heighl of habitual cheer fnl ii' ( II \ RI.EH A . M I R l"" K . ■ FOR THOU ART ALL. ART Thou tlie Life ? To Tine, then, do I owe each beal mid breath, And wait Thy ordering of my hour of death in peace or strife. Art Thou the Light '. ; To Thee, then, in the sunshii r the cloud, Or in my chamber lone or in the crowd, I lift my sight. Art Thou the Truth? To Thee, then, loved and era veil and sought of yore, I consecrate my manhood o'er and o'er As erst my youth. Art Thou the Strung? To Thee, then, though the air be thick with night, i trust the seeming unprotected Right, And leave the Wrong. Art Thou the Wise ? To Thee, then. Would I bring each useless care, 100 And bid my soul unsay her idle prayer, And hush her cries. Art Thou the Good ? To Thee, then, with a thirsting heart T turn. And at thv fountain stand, and hold niv urn. As aye 1 stood. Forgive the call ! 1 cannot shut Thee from my sense or soul, I cannol lose me in the boundless whole. For Thou art All. Francis E. A.bbot. ioj OUR FAITH. TIM'] principles of Freedom, Fellowship and Character in Religion, arc infinite- ly greater than any Qnitarianism; we are their babies, they arc not ours; they give birth to us, not we to them. And ours is Imt one voice in the nursery chorus that to- day is trying to prattle t lie great accents. But let us try to sum up the higher mean- ings, higher unities of faith to which, as it seems to me, we and all our comrades on the march are tending. And if I call these the Higher Unitarianism, what I mean is the hope thai Qnitarianism means this to-day, not the foolish thought that faiths like these are only truly named, or even are best named, when named for us. 1 think, then, that the Higher Qnitarianism means, or yet will mean, — 1. A Tin ism which sees haw as Love and hove as haw ; which knows no miracle hut the infinite miracle of nature, heget ting end- less awe and endless joy in man: which knows that in the dialed of Beaven are no Mich words as "accident " or "tragedy," but L02 that what we misname thus is really good- ness on tin- way to vision. ■_'. It means, or yet will mean, a thought of Religion which shall trace its sources to actual experiences experienced in the con- sciousness : i" gradual dawns of thought, feeling, motive and ideal there : to sudden shinings sometimes their; to things that happen in us as really — no more really, but as really as things happen to ourbodies on the street. A religion which shall care little to argue arguments for God or the whys and wherefores of prayer, hut shall wake up to the consciousness, " That was prayer! I did it! And the unknown Face and Force there in the darkness within me was the — i 1!" •".. It means a Christianity which shall identity itself with the Holy Spirit mani- fested anywhere and everywhere; a Chris- tianity which shall stand for the life of "Christ," — not Christ the man who once exemplified the life, nor ( Ihrisi the date, hut the impulse " Christ," the movement "Christ," the spirit "Christ," forever and forever shaping history ; now flowering in ol ca i p nter-. a nd naming new spring 'll- ill the tree f |i|r. I)l|t llCVer I .. LTU 1 1 . ioa ;iiid never ended, and never confined to any holy May-hour of history. I. It shall mean, does mean already, a Bible which shall go on compiling itself in- side the churches, as inside the world's heart and memory : freshening old reverences with tender new ones, welcoming and can- onizing new ideas of truth or life wherever nobly rendered into the perpetuating word. 5. It will mean a thought of Immortality which shall watch, with eyes undimnied by (ears, for any star of sign and beckoning that may break the skies. — skies amid which we breathe and have our being; but which shall he not one whit afraid to own that to know of the future we must wait our turn ; cherishing, meanwhile, that sense of death- lessness which comes whenever we realize ourselves for moments as beings who do not obey, hut are. the moral law : the sense of deathlessness which makes our Easter ques- tions all begin in awe and end in smiles. 6. Finally, it is yet to mean a thoughl of Brotherhood; a recognition that we all are members of each other in a sense so real that no parable can hint it, and no science vet describe it ; a recognition that this trus- teeship for ea h other applies not only tothe I'm outermost we call our " property," but, as really, to tin- innermost we call our " fac- ulty"; a brotherhood which shall lie a realizing that we only attain true self-hood by unselfing processes. — and that whatever unrims us into oneness with our fellows in this world, sharing their aches, their pover- ties, their disinheritance from life's good things, that this unrims us also into oneness with that which we call, not fellow-man, hut ' God," so that love to man is love to God, and only in proportiou to such love we live. I- not this, or something nobler yet, the Unitarianism of our hope? Are not these the higher unities toward which we. and a far larger h ist who never bore and never will bear our name, are rising? The unity of God and Nature; the unity of Religion with Human Nature; the unity of Chris- tianity with all movements of the Holy Spirit everywhere ; the unity of the bible with Literal ure ; the unity of Life hereafter with Life here and now : the unity of Self with other-. These, it seems to me, are the great faiths to which the principles of Free- dom, Fellowship and Character in Religion are leading. w. c ganni ii. FROM AMI I IS JOURNAL. WE arc too busy, too encumbered, too much occupied, too active! We read too much! The one thing needful is to throw offal] one's load of cares, of preOCCU- pations, of pedantry, and to become again young, simple, childlike, living happily and gracefully in the present hour. We must know how to put occupation aside, which does not mean thai we must be idle. In an inaction, which is meditative and attentive. the wrinkles of the soul are moved away, and the soul itself spreads, unfolds and Springs afresh, and. 'like the trodden grass of the roadside, or the bruised leaf of the I d nt . repairs its injuries, becomes new, spontaneous, true, and original. Reverie, like the rain of night, restores color and force to thoughts which have been blanched and wearied by the heat of the day. With gentle, fertilizing power, it awakens in us a thousand sleeping germs, and, as though in play, gathers round us materials for the fu- ture, and images for the use of talent. Reverie is th( Sunday of thought; and who knows which is the more important and 106 fruitful for man, the laborious tension of the week, or the life-giving repose of the Sabbath? The fldnerie, ><> exquisitely glo- rified and sung by Topffler, is not only deli- cious, but useful, it is like a bath which gives vigor and suppleness to the whole being, to the mind as to the body ; it is the sign and festival of liberty, a joyous and wholesome bouquet, the bouquet of the but- terfly wandering from flower to flower over the hills and in the Held-. And remember, the soul, too, is a butterfly. Translated by Mrs. Humphrey Ward. 107 THE MINISTRY OF LABOR- 1HAVE faith in Labor, and I sec the good- ness of God in placing us in ;i world where labor alone can keep us alive. I would not change, if I could, our subjection to physical laws, our exposure to hunger and cold, and the necessity of constant con- flicts with the material world. I would not. it* I could, so temper the elements, that they should infuse into us only grateful sen- sations, that they should make vegetation so exuberant as to anticipate every want, and the minerals so ductile as to oiler no resistance to our strength and skill. Such a world would make a contemptible race. Man owes his growth, his energy, chiefly to that striving of the will, that conflict with difficulty, which we call effort. Easy, pleasant work does not make robusl minds, dor- not give men a consciousness of their powers, doc- not train them to endurance, to pel's verance. to steady force of will, that force without which all other acquisitions avail nothing. .Manual labor is a school in which men are placed to -jet energy of pur- p ise and character, n vastly more important in. endowment than all the Learning of all other .-rh ,ols. They are placed, indeed, un- der hard masters, physical sufferings and wants, tin' power of fearful elements, ami th^ vicissitudes of all human things : but these -teni teachers do a work which no compassionate, indulgent friend could do for us : and true wisdom will bless Provi- dence for their sharp ministry. 1 have great faith in hard work. The material world does much for tip' mind by its beauty and order : hut it does more for our minds by the pains d inflicts ; >>\- it< obstinate resistance, which nothing hut patient toil can over- come : by its vast forces, which nothing hut unremitting skill and effort can turn to our use; by it- perils, which demand continual vigilance ; and by its tendencies to decay. I believe thai difficulties are more importanl to the human mind than what we call as sistances. Work we all must, if we mean to bring out and perfeel our nature Even if we do not work with the hands, we musl undergo equivalent toil in some other direc- tion. No business or Btudy which does nol ■nt obstacles, task ing to the full t he in- tellect and t he will, i- wort liy of ;i man. William Elleio Channino. A PRAYER. OLORD, we thank Thee for Thyself, Father and Mother to the little child and the man full grown. We thank Thee that Thou lovesl Thy savage and Thy civil- ized, and puttesl the arms of motherly kind- ness about Thy saint, and round Thy sin- ner, too. O Thou who art Infinite in power and in wisdom, we bless Thee that we are sure not less of Thine infinite justice and Thy perfect love. Yea, we thank Thee that out of these perfections Thou hast made alike the world of matter and of man, providing a glorious destination for every living thing which Thou broughtest forth. We remember before Thee our daily lives, and we pray Thee thai in us there may be such knowledge of Thy true perfection, such a feeling of our nature's nobleness, that we shall love Thee with all our understanding, with all our heir! and soul. We remember the various toils Thou givest us, the joys we rejoice in, the sins we have often committed, and we pray Thee that there may he such Strength of piety within us, that il shall bring all our powers to serve Thee in a per- 110 feci concord of harmonious life. In youth may no sins of passion destroy or disturb the soul, but may we use our members for their most noble work ; and in manhood's more dangerous hour, may no ambition lead US astray from the true path of duty and of joy. Wherever Thou castest the linesof our lots, there may we serve Thee daily with a life which is a constant communion with Thyself. So day by day may we transfigure ourselves into nobler images of Thy spirit, walk ever in the light of Thy countenance, and pass from the glory of a manly prayer io the grander glory of a manly life, upright before Thee ami downright before men, and erveThee in the flesh till all our days are holy days, and every work, acl and thought becomes a sacrament as uplifting as our prayer. So may Thv kingdom come, and Thy will be done on earth as it is in lea vni. 'in eodork Park er. m \ SIMPI I FAITH. Tl I K disciples of Jesus knew llim only as a man, who had tramped with them over the hills of Galilee, and through its villages; who had talked with them, eaten with them, slept with them : \\ ho charmed them by the purity of His love and the simplicity of His faith ; who talked with the poor villagers of a higher and better lit'', and of that love which makes all hearts one; who nursed their sick hack to health ; who gave Hi- whole life to doing good. They knew Him as one of t he no hies t, kindest-hearted of men. whom they loved as few men can love. What did they know of theology? They simply knew that their love for that man was so intense thai they would gladly go through the length and breadth of the land to tell the world how good and true He was, and how sweet and beautiful love like His would make this world. The world around them was full of suffer- ing and misery. Hatred, strife and cruelty were on every hand. They had learned that love of man for man would set free the ii.' slave banish poverty, and equalize the con- ditions of men. So. like their Master, they went forth to preach the power of love to redeem the world from sin and suffering. And. like Him, they gave their lives to banish from the hearts of men the demons of lu~!. of greed, of selfishness. Christianity, pure and simple, is that religion of love and good-will taught and exemplified by Jesus and His disciples. '1'ln' Unitarian Church stands for the ra tional faith. Tt disassociates it-elf entirely from the intricate theology and elaborate inonial constructed by the Church in the mental and spiritual darkness of the early ages, and. without professions of any kind, commits itself unreservedly to this religion of love and good-will among men, know ing that the love of man for man alone ean make possible the Letter industrial, social, and moral conditions of the future, ■iily care i< to bring into the hearts of men the spiril of truth and of love, and, like Jesus, we leave tie- spirit to create its own institutions, construcl it- own forms, and determine its own met hod-. V. \. II \-K I 1. 1.. ] I.". CHRISTMAS HYMN. COME sing the olden song once more! The Christmas carol sing ; With solemn joy from shore to shore, Lei earth her tributes bring. Though nigh two thousand years have sped, The tale is ever fresh, — Of woman Worn, in humble shed, The word of God made flesh. With guiding star and angels' song Heaven greets the waiting earth, And sages conic and shepherds throng To view the wondrous birth. There see fulfilled those prophet- dreams, That Hebrew vision old : From Bethlehem's stall a glory streams That makes the future gold. A golden future, — health and peace To all beneath the sun ; A time when wars and wrong- shall cease And heaven and earth he one. in Be this, our trust, through long delay With no weak doubts defiled, And be in all our hearts to-day New born the eternal Child ! F. II. Hedgk. n , EXPERIENCE. 1AM the truth." We cannol Beparate truth from human beings as we can when we are dealing with things. In the one case, the truth is found by experiment; in the other, by experience. There is a great gulf fixed between the two forms of words from the same root. Experimenl means test, and test involves a suspicion as to how the result will turn out. Experience means a knowledge of humanity, gained chiefly by a knowledge of ourselves. It comes by as- suming something -that is beyond experi- ment, that flees all attempt at test or dis- covery. The truth of human beings is the beings themselves, and experience brings out the truth. When .lesus says : " I am the truth." He did not mean that lie had made a discovery— that He had found some- thing by experiment, — but that lie had experienced the life of (iod in His own soul, not by trying it to see if it would work, bul by trusting the eternal things of His own being, and trusting (iod, completely. Ex- perience comes of faith.. Experiment comes of want of faith. All high and pure human llii relations scorn experiment. Think of a man experimenting with his family ! Think of Jesus experimenting with God to find the truth of His own sou] ! The idea that the methods of the laboratory are to be ap- plied to human nature and to God is wry captivating to some minds, hut it is very misleading, and it ends in turning society into a well-managed dove-cote, or a farm for gazelle-eyed cattle and sleek racers, where man. as a well-bred, scientifically cultured animal, would till the world with the excellency <>f his power, and take a short • •tit to the kingdom of God! Not so does man become the truth — notsodoes he live on every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of ' rod. (experience ! Man's thought, hope, feel- joy and pain distilled through the sands of God's wisdom. Experience! in- definable substance, mysterious thing, ex- tract of existence, compound of earth and heaven. Experience! knowledge of hu- manity, won from our own hearts in their relation with our fellow-men and with God. Experience ! costly jewel, precious treasure: the Eternal Beauty reflected in the soul! I Ion ATM) Stkbhins. THE GOOD SATAN, SATAN and the Devil, as originally con- ceived, are different beings. The Devil is the prince of Evil, — Evil is his good. Satan is the genius of trial, the attorney- general of tlic world. His office is not to harm men, but to test them and provethem. In the book of Job he comes among the si>ns of God, and rightly, for he is one of them : he is in a service of the Lord's ap- pointing. Good Satan, heavenly Satan, we may call him. We may suppose the conception of him to have arisen from experience of that principle in the nature of things by which we are con- stantly being tested. We complain of this, but wherefore? We ourselves test our ships, bridges, cannon, muskets, — playing the very Satan to them ; and to analogous end why should not we lie tested ? and why not think kindly of the Satan that tests US? What shall prevent the weakling's being assigned the tasks of strength ? Why, sim- ply the tests that prove him to he a weak- ling. How shall the strong know thiii- plaee and the great tasks they are fitted for? lis Simply through the tests that prove their strength. In either case the rude-handed but wise and well-meaning Satan is entitled not to our reproaches, but our gratitude. .lu-t self-estimates are very important. Why do I not give up and say 1 am good for nothing ? Because in ten thousand tests I have learned better. Why do \ not arro- gate to myself all moral qualities at the highest, — Paul's faith and Cromwell's forti- tude ? Because Satan, through long and severe tuition, has taught me the contrary. To the discipline of character the tests have value not to be overstated. Have I some strong appetite or unruly passion? Do I love money too well or pleasure too much ? There is my weak place. Satan's ass tults admonish meto brace up this weak spot, and so prepare for the inevitable and otherwise perilous extremity. So, by endless illustration, it may be shown that Satan is our friend. The tests We COUld not L r <'t on without ; and. had we clearer knowledge, we Bhould, no doubt, see that the way to heaven is over tie' hilly and laborious turnpike of Satan's preparing. \ . W. Jackson. II!) UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. K JAN 3 i . MAR 3 1986 L9-25m-8,'46 (9852) 444 UN1V -'tA " AT LOS ANGELES t inn a n\r 3 1158 01073 8523 6014