The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-06-14
Annie's Sermon to the Minister


Annie's Sermon to the Minister
Very dear and good she looked as rode
by and saw her sitting there, with Trip
the dog at her feet so drew. my horse
in and stopped to speak to her.
She was one of my pets and l was the
minister
care you resting, Annie?" said I,
as she smiled at me from beneath her big
parasol.
"Yes, sir" she said. my feet are
very tired, but m not tired at all. :"
Your feet are tired, but you are not {?
Well we'll That's a new idea to me
child. So your feet and hands are not
a part of the real you p
" No, sir, please, don't think they
are. 1 tell my feet and hands what to
do, and they do it, for they are only my
servants (mamma says to mind what |
say"
Isn't your body part ofyou, Annie?"
l said, smiling in the dear little face
again.
7" No, sir-not the real me. My body
will be put in the ground when I die,
but l shall be in heaven, sir, i love
God"
"Then you don't care so much about
your body as your soul, my child ?" l
said.
"Well, sir, care a great deal, be-
cause my body holds my soul (mamma
says, Just as I care for the pretty case
where keep my garnet ring
But the ring is the real thing, after
all, and the case is Of much less value"
Yes, sir yet the case makes the ring
look more, and like to have it neat and
pretty"
So you like to have your clothes neat
and pretty, l suppose, Annie, but you
never forget that your body is only the
casket to hold your soul ? l wish all the
little girls remembered that. Some OF
them care great deal more about the
ribbons and laces they wear than about
the ornament of meek and quiet spirit,
I'm afraid"
think that's lovely verse, said
Annie. 1t always makes me so happy
ust to think about it.
Then you understand it, my child =?
Tell me what it means to have meek
and quiet spirit ?"
To be meek means to be gentle
when people are rough to you, Just as
Jesus was when the soldiers and the
people were cruel to him. Don't you
remember, he was just as lovely as
ever?"
And what is it to have quiet spirit,
Annie p said l.
"To have quiet spirit, I suppose,
is to takejust what God sends If he lets
the sun shine so I can go out to play, it's
all right and if he makes it rain so
can't, it's all right and if I'm sick, it :
all right; and if I'm well, it's all right,
too.
Is it easy to feel So my child p said
!, wonderingly, longing to have more OF
the same childlike trust myself, as
looked at the sweet, contented child
face.
ooh, yes, sir; it's easy ever since !
knew how much God loves me. If you
think he doesn't care about you, it's SO
different !"
But you think God can't hurt any
one whom he loves, child p
ooh, no, sir-any more than you or
could and great deal less, too, for God
10 Always loving anu SOOu.
" But does he never make any mis-
takes, Annie p said 1, wishing to hear
what answer she would give
l shall never forget the look of won
der upon the dear little face, as she an
swered, He wouldn't be God, sir, if he
ever did wrong or made any mistakes"
| babe her good-bye and rode along
the road carpeted with white daisies and
golden buttercups, with Armies simple,
earnest words ringing in my ears all the
way:
God wouldn't be God, if he ever did
wrong or made any mistakes. = Well
Spring.
One of His Jewels.