Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1876-10-11
Measuring Life.

Had we not better live, friends, so that
we are prepared 10 live upwardly and on
wardly forever Now. You are marking
plans for your mercantile life; but heaven
has no commercial life in it such MS YOU
deal with, gentlemen. You are governing
your lives To meet financial necessity. Well
and good but heaven has no financial
crisis in it so far as we Know YOU are
your lives TO acquire such and such
property-heaven gives no deeds. and has
no mortgages, and does not count things by
dollars as You count them. You came into
the world naked, and You viii go out Of the
world naked. You are planning to have so
much pleasure aud admiration, but | sus-
pect the admiration Of heaven will not be
given to the beauty of the skin nor the SYM
metry of the bodily form, but rather TO the
immortal soul. Well, what shall we do
feel like shaping my plans here, so as to
have them run in parallel lines with the
plans which ! shall have 10 take up here
after. feel more and more like giving up
some Of my plans, simply because see
that they can not run across the grave;
feel like dropping some intentions. simply
because see | cannot bridge over time with
them ! feel like limiting my ambitions.
ambitions. feel like giving up some Joys,
because ! see there is no room for such JOYS
to be had on'this side of the eternal life.
feel more and more, not in any sickly, not
in any grave and sober, not in any specially
high-ilowu, spirtuaistic fashion, but in a
candid, earnest and reasonable way, like
shaping my plans so that there will never
come any interruption to them. feel like
shaping my design so that the last story
build on earth will just fit on TO the first
story which shall build in heaven. sus
poet that all other plans will fall into ruin at
death. suspect that all other designs will
crumble in fragments and tumble into the
grave, and lie there with my Aeshly body
forever | suspect that only the thing.
which are pure enough to live with God vii
live forever. The things that are pure
enough to be framed into pictures for heaven
will be the things that are TO be preserved and
stand the test of time. | think that one-hali
the wisdom that comes from living, is tc
know what to cut off from you. As it take.
twenty years for the horticulmrist to know
just how to prune young trees, so it takes a
man about twenty years TO know Just where
10 prune his habits of living, his many am
billions, to curail the Coing-forth Of hi,
aHcctlons aud TO put limit. so TO speak, on
his plan of life. Now, friends, how many OF
you are ready to contract your lives You
are all ready to enlarge them, to push them
out; you are willing to make great men and
women of yourselves how many of you are
willing to lower yourselves, to bring your
selves nearer to the center of humanity, the
center Of lowliness, the centerof contentmeni
in humble things How many Of you mer
are willing to be lowered in the scale OF
earthly reputation ? trust none of you are
willing to be lowered in the scale Of spiritua
expansion but how many of you have sc
much of the man in you-or rather so mucl
of the God in you-that what man Judge,
You by has very little to do with YOU, anC
that by cutting off from you those thing'
you will become more strong and speud
idly-balanced man than you are to-day
- (,0i,lfp BuIe