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

100 LIFE THOUGHTS.
fear the voice of thunder, nor the trumpet sounding long and loud.
ONE of the affecting features in a life of vice is
the longing, wistful outlooks given by the wretches
who struggle with unbridled passions, towards virtues which are no longer within their reach. Men
in the tide of vice are sometimes like the poor creatures swept down the stream of mighty rivers, who
see people safe on shore, and trees, and flowers, as
they go quickly past; and all things that are desirable gleam upon them for a moment to heighten
their trouble, and to aggravate their swift-coming
destruction.
TROUBLES are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things. Far up the mountain
side lies a block of granite, and says to itself, " How
happy am I in my serenity - above the winds, above
the trees, almost above the flight of the birds!
Here I rest, age after age, and nothing disturbs
me."
Yet what is it? It is only a bare block of granite, jutting out of the cliff, and its happiness is the
happiness of death.
By and by comes the miner, and with strong and
repeated strokes he drills a hole in its top, and