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

LIFE THOUGHTS. 111
nature. God's works do not come from his hand
like coins from the mint. It seems as if it were a
necessity that each one should be in some sort distinct from every other. No two leaves on the same
tree are precisely alike; no two buds on one bush
have the same unfolding, nor do they seek to have.
What if God should command the flowers to appear before him, and the sunflower should come
bending low with shame because it was not a violet,
and the violet should come striving to lift itself
up to be like a sunflower, and the lily should seek
to gain the bloom of the rose, and the rose the
whiteness of the lily; and so, each one, disdaining
itself, should seek to grow into the likeness of the
other. God would say, "Stop, foolish flowers! I
gave you your own forms, and hues, and odors,
and I wish you to bring what you have received.
O sunflower, come as a sunflower; and you, sweet
violet, come as a violet; and let the rose bring the
rose's bloom, and the lily the lily's whiteness."
Perceiving their folly, and ceasing to long for what
they had not, violet and rose, lily and geranium,
mignonette and anemone, and all the floral train,
would come, each in in its own loveliness, to send
up its fragrance as incense, and all to wreathe themselves in a garland of beauty about the throne of God.
Now, God speaks to you as to the flowers, and