The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-12-15
SHORT LAY SERMONS AND CRITI-
CIsHIs. SUGGESTED BY SUNDAY -
NEGOTIATIONS AND Old
HEADINGS Fa

HOMER was blind Hannibal had but
one eye Socrates was short-sighted and
pug-nosed; Democritus was withered !;
Seneca was lean and ugly, and many Of
the noblest princes Of the earth were de-
formed and full of bodily imperfections.
But they all had more or less of that
divine spirit in their composition which,
above all things. commands the
homage Of the world. Democritus was
also blind, but, according to Laertius, he
saw more than all Greece besides. 1t is
not our outward eyes that see best, but
the eyes of the soul. The spiritually
purblind are the blindest of ALL None
of the senses will compensate for this
loss of sight. One had better put out
bis natural eyes voluntarily, if thereby
he can the better contemplate, than to have
the slightest film settle upon the eyes Of
his soul.
WAS heavy and sad, but saw beg
gar who was merry and glad my face
was c'ouded, his was full Of sunshine /
was angry that he should ask me for a
penny, he gave God hearty thanks that
he received it |; expostulated with him
for wearing his rags, he confessed that
they were all he had and more than he
: deserved felt an imprecation coming to
my lips, he invoked benizon upon my
head before | could give it utterance. 1
left him to go his way rejoicing he left me
to reflect for long hours on the incident. if
: not to compare notes unfayorably with
beggar.
The just man is impregnable and not
to be overcome. The world NAV con-
tenn him, but his conscience will approve |;
his body may be tortured, but his soul is
free. His pathway in life may be
obstructed; he may be filed with doubt
and perplexity hope may fail and expec-
tation perish, but the sun will break out
Of asudden through the riffs Of the cloud.
Ills soul may say "Rejoce not against
me, o mine enemy for though | fall,
shall rise; though I sit in darkness, the
glistening stars shall shine out with their
light" :.
h The mind that tolls laboriously for six
days should rest on the seventh. The
soul needs Sabbath as well as the body.
Everything, saith Epictetns, hath two ham
dies, one to hold on to, the other to let 90.
The mental toiler should let go the proper
handle on Sunday. He needs no dry and
! knotty dispositions from the pulpit to
awaken the activity Of the mind as in the
case of one whose body only demands a
Sabbath day OF rest. To him the song
Of birds. the plash Of waterfalls, the MUIR
mur of streams in quiet and shady hooks,
the springing up of fresh and full brcezes,
the 0yer-bowering shade. the open sunshine,
the SURPRISING loveliness of landscapes, the
rich and harmonizng union of valley, hill
side and river, and even the deep gloom of
forests, are the true preachers to his body
while his mind enjoys its sabbath of rest.
HORACE says that it is permitted to
fools to be in love with golden letters
'StaM est conpedes licet aaueas anare."
Alas, how many fools are there in our own
time! .those in love with golden letters
All are bent on forging themselves pair,
and the heavier they can make them the
more delighted are they with the CALLING
bands. Solomon was not exempt from
this folly, and how miserably did he clank
the massive golden chainl How much
more sensible was it in Proxiteles to break
his glass when he saw scurvy face in it,
than to forge golden chains for chafed
and fretted ankles. Out of that broken
glass Praxiteles worked. wondrous
beauty in form and feature. He sloughed
off the earthly side Of his nature, and got
at its ETHEREAL essence-the true human face
diuine. And so it might have been with
T Solomon, had he broken his golden
letters, or cast them aside for the liberty
; wherewith the soul is made free-is lifted to
the comprehension Of the god-like in man.
A WRITER in The Enquirer objects to-
fashionable music in churches on the
ground, first, that it is operate, and second,
that it is praising God By proxy two
objections that are manifestly against ma
ture to say nothing Of art. The church is
indebted to the opera for the grandest
music that has ever swept through the
sounding corridors Of time, and praising
God by proxy is as Objectionable when done
by the clergyman in verbal prayer as by the
fashionable singer in vocal praise. We
may not know exactly what the writer
means by fashionable music" but pre-
sumo it to be the prevailing mode of sing
ing in popular church assemblies, where
there is genuine aesthetic taste combined
with cultivated ideas Of spiritual
worship. In fact, we can hardly
imagine how he can mean any
thing else. But the writer should re-
member that what awakens the most ex-
allied idea of praise in one mind, filling it
with awe and admiration, will affect another
and less cultivated mind with emotions of
of an entirely different character. The
one will close his eyes against brilliancy
too strong for his feeble organs, and feel
only pain, where the keener intellect of
the other would gaze with open-eyed
delight. And the ear is cultivated to the
All nf