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

18 LIFE TtHOUGHTS.
the true thinker is but a short-hand writer endeavoring to report the discourse of God. Shall a child on
the banks of the Amazon fear lest he should drink up
the stream?
THERE are apartments in the soul which have a
glorious out-look; from whose windows you can see
across the river of death, and into the shining city
beyond; but how often are these neglected for the
lower ones, which have earthward-looking windows. There is the apartment of Veneration. Its
ceilings are frescoed with angels, and all exquisite
carvings adorn its walls; but spiders have covered
the angel ceiling, and dust has settled on the delicate mouldings. The man does not abide there.
The door of Conscience is rusted so it cannot be
opened. Hope has but one downward-looking window, and Faith and Worship are cold and cheerless.
All these are shut up in most soul-houses. In lower
apartments you shall hear, in some riot and wassail,
-for the passions never keep Lent, but are always
holding Carnival, — and in others sighs and lamentations of wounded hopes, and in others the groanings
of disappointed ambition, and in others bickerings
and strifes, while in others there are sleep and stupidity.
Ah! most men live in these wretched apartments,