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

176 LIFE THOUGHTS.
ONE should go to sleep at night as homesick passengers do, saying, "Perhaps in the morning we
shall see the shore." To us who are Christians, it
is not a solemn, but a delightful thought, that perhaps nothing but the opaque, bodily eye prevents
us from beholding the gate which is open just before
us, and nothing but the dull ear prevents us from
hearing the ringing of those bells of joy which welcome us to the heavenly land. That we are so near
death, is too good to be believed.
GOD does not refuse to make himself known to
man. He only will not do it by the symbolism of
matter. He comes to us at once by the most natural course. We are in a transient state; our bodies
are accidental, and God comes to us by that which
is higher and truer - the intuitions of the soul.
MEN'S graces must get the better of their faults
as a farmer's crops do of the weeds - by growth.
When the corn is low, the farmer uses the plough
to root up the weeds; but when it is high, and shakes
its palm-like leaves in the wind, he says, " Let the
corn take care of them," for the dense shadow of
growing corn is as fatal to weeds as the edge of the
sickle.