Life thoughts, gathered from the extemporaneous discourses of Henry Ward Beecher. By one of his congregation.

88 LIFE THOUGHTS.
how, to the east; a broad river with unconscious
skill finds its way through the lowlands to the
Atlantic. But suppose, while they can thus easily
determine their course, some conservative among
them should exclaim, "This is all folly. If we
would judge rightly, we must be down where the
valleys curve and the rivers run," and, heeding his
advice, they should all descend the mountain.
Would they find their way, down there? Would
not the jungle shut them in, and hide from them
the whole map?
Now, the soul's hours of strong excitement are
its luminous hours — its mountains of vision, from
which it looks over the landscape of life with unobstructed gaze. And the observations it then takes,
and the judgments it forms, as far transcend the
scope and truth of its ordinary sight and reasoning
as the view from the seaward-looking mountain
transcends the view from the pent-up valley.
I AM profoundly affected by the grandeur of
prophecy. God unveils the frescoed wall of the
future, not so much that we may count the figures,
and measure the robes, and analyze the pigments,
but that, gazing upon it, our imaginations may be
enkindled, and hope be inspired, to bear us through