The national Republican., 1869-06-19
SUNDAY READING.
THE ASPEN.

passed was ordered 10 DOW lts mead. AL,
with the exception Of the aspen, obeyed the
tree was judged, and sentcnced to trembic
and bend at every footstep and every zephyr
forever. -
Bend low thy heads, ystrees,
For Christ 10 on His way
To Calvary to-day.
Bend low, the moment seize
When He 10 passing by,
Bend low and sigh.
Sigh soft, and bend thy crest,
On calvary 70 dc. ....
Ye oak, In beauty drest,
Absss Thy loity crown,
Ye oak, bend down.
Ye grsesfui willow, weepi
The Master gs,seth ont
Let thy fair tresses sweep
The path which He win pass
~ . In verdant grass. 4
Aspen, bend thy proud head
Tho Master comes to-day;
Hasten to worship pay.
Bend leaves to rivers bed,
Let every upper spray
Lie low to-day.
But Aspen listened not.
The Holy Christ passed BY
On Calvary to die.
Proud aspen, all thy lot
Is now TO bend thy leaves
To ev'ry breeze.
Ttemblei ye aspen, quakei
It was foretold that day
That till the suns last ray
Should fade, thou shouldst ever shake,
Thy leaves should quivering shine
TIL lies decline.
The SOUL ALosE.-Though God formed
US 10 be social beings, and though we are
surrounded on earth with an innumerablo
company having like faculties, wants, and
passions, yet each stands In Its own identity;
as solitary, In one sense, In all his great re-
lations to God, as though there were no other
human being on the earth. For good or for
| evil we may help TO make others like our
| selves, but we can mover put of our own
characters, or assume TO stand In nnother's
stead. The web Of human influences Is most
curiously tangled and intertwined, but God
searches II out and assigns responsibility
where 1t belongs, and we shall be account
able, at last, for what we Individually are.
The soul is alone In Its joys-whether we
speak Of common earthly Joys, the hopes,
the pleasures, the antcipatlons OF our human
state, or those higher and purer Joys which
come from hidden communion with God,
and heart consciously and thoroughly con-
formed to his blessed will. Others may have
| similar Joys, but they are not ours. From
| generation to generation, In long procession,
come those who share the same general lot
In life with ourselves, and partake Of plea
sures kindred to our own. But theirs are to
be confouuded with ours. They cannot all
| be melted down into one common mass, and
taken as a whole; they belong, and must
forever belong, to the experience ofindiyidual
| hearts.
The soul is alone In Its sorrows. "Every
heart knoweth Its own bitterness, and a
stranger intermcddleth not Herewith" The
sorrows that come from the discipline of an
| earthly life, the losses, calamities, bereeve-
| ments Of our human state, or those deeper,
more subtle sorrows, the anguish OF the
spirit for sin, the fears and apprehensions
which haunt it; all these are, In their very
nature, individual, and can never be trans
| ferred.
In the great cxigencles of our future
being, the soul must be alone. When we
come TO pass through the valley of the
shadow Of death, though our friends may
all be gathered around US, they cannot at
tend us beyond the confines OF this world
Wherever that mysterious journey may be,
/ we must enter upon II as solitary as though
there were no multitude Of beings like us,
| either on this, or OIL the other side Of the
| grave.
And when, in the great day; we shall stand
before the Omniscient Judge, 1t will be i'm
possible for us to lose ourselves In the crowd.
Much as we are fond of laying blame upon
others here for our conduct, we shall lind
then that we have character Of our own
for which We are responsible; that all things
will be sorted out Alright, and we shall have
our own exact measure Of accountability.
| We shall stand there as individual souls, to
be tried for the things done here In the body.
Rel. Telescope.
PRTY AND WoRK.-In all vegetable and
animal life the relation between inward
vitality and Its outward manifestation, is
both inseparable and manifest.
| One cnuse of failure In Christian life
arises from the tendency on the part Of some
to engage In outward Christian work, while
they overlook the secret culture OF the
heart. would not say one word against
zeal In Christian work; zeal Is good, but zeal
with knowledge Is better. Outward activity
must be based upon inward progress. Work
and prayer, labor aud worship, 90 together.
1t Is the tendency in certain periods OF the
church to place much stress upon the out,
ward activity of the Christlan life, and the
be ceaseless running hither and thither
and proclaiming the good news upon The
house-tops; and that Is right, provided the
inward progress Of the soul In holy dlsposl
tlons keep pace with the outward work
This matter ought to be considered care
fully there Is deep philosophy in 1t. NJ
man can have true soul-prosperity who en-
cages so constantly In Christian work as Il
have no time for heart culture by means o.
meditation, prayer, and the reading OF God'i
: Word. Healthy work springs from the In
ner life of devotion. Sensational work is O
light that burns brightly and beautifully fol
time, but soon yanishes away. Talking
religion Is good II 1t grows out Of praying
and reading religion.
A community Is now and then startled b,
the sudden fall Of minister, but that fai
was the result Of q secret separation between
outward work and heart culture which ha,
been growing for years. SLOW often has |
/ happened that young persons lose In few
( years the zeal that marked earlier religion
: llfel Why is this Why do those VIII,
, learn to write or to read only little, AM
with difficulty, forget and forsake tho ar
altogether Because II was difficult, ant
, the result was unsatisfactory. And SO, IL
} the freshness Of newborn Christian love
well-meant but unsuccessful effort Is pu
forth, and the worker loses heart and hope
I and well for him II he do not begin to doub
the reality Of that religion which he has un
. happily learned to think Of most in its az
gressivc aspects on the kingdom of evil out
] side Of himself" Inward plety gives ylgo
Q to outward work, and II 10 extremely dan
} gerous to iorego secret communion witt
God because the hands are SO full of outwar
labor. That Is process which, unless al
! rested by our kind Father, will end in spirit
ual death.-Rel. Herald.
THE BEST PREACHSG.-The Rev. MI
Spurgeon, Of London, said recently In tn
introduction Of his sermon: "It has bee
sometimes debated whether practical, eS
D perimental, or doctrinal preaching was tn
best kind and most useful. He should nc
I enter into the discussion of the question, bu
D he might say that In exclusively doctrine
= preachers he had observed tendency TO dii
b. pute and quarrel in experimental preacher
J., tendency to dlsparage and judge others
+ whilst those who had been practical had d.
o generated into legality, and the grace Of Go
y had evnporated. The very best preachin
q was that which had most OF Jesus Christ
d 1t, for it gathered up the excellences of IL
d three classes he had mentioned into one pc
= son, since for practice Christ was the way, fC