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

LIFE THOUGHTS. 51
0 garden of the Lord! whose seeds dropped down
from heaven, and to whom angels bear watering
dews night by night! 0 flowers and plants of
righteousness! 0 sweet and holy fruits! we walk
among you, and gazf with loving eyes, and rest
under your odorous shadows; nor will we, with sacrilegious hand, tear you, that we may search the
secret of your roots, nor spoil you, that we may
know how such wondrous grace and goodness are
evolved within you!
THE voyage of life should be right across the
ocean, whose waters never shrink, and where the
keel never rubs the bottom. But men are afraid to
venture, and hang upon the coast, and explore lagoons, or swing at anchor in wind-sheltered bays.
Some men put their keel into riches, some into sensuous pleasure, some into friendship, and all these
are shallow for any thing that draws as deep as the
human soul does. God's work in each age, indicated by the great movements of his providence, is
the only thing deep enough for the heart. We
ought to begin life as at the source of a river, growing deeper every league to the sea; whereas, in fact,
thousands are like men who enter the mouths of
rivers and sail upwards, finding less and less water