The Newtown bee., 1892-05-06
THE SECULAR PULPIT.
The Sermon.

The Sermon.
 The text, beloved, is taken to-day from the Book of Nature and reads, "Rejoice with the earth in newness of life." The good people of this earth of ours have been rejoicing of late in the Easter seas on. The Easter lilies have swung their chalices of perfume upon the air, the Easter carols have filled the churches with melody as the children have sung them and Easter salutation of "All Hail'' and Easter thought of the risen Lord have all conspired to soften our hearts in this glad Spring time. So, to-day, let us turn to dear old Mother Earth (that friend who is always appreciative and al- ways loving), that we may hear her mes- sage, "Reioice with me in the new life" :" It is a wonderful transition which sun- shine and shower make upon the cold, dead sod. Who would think, walking over the March blown meadows, that there was any hope or chance of life in the brown fields. Everything seems dead. The life is frozen out of all the ld5U OuulLutI , StdlhS UI uOWCIS dAu UlItH stand as grim sentinels guarding the graves of the blossoms. But now the sunbeams are calling, "Come forth' and the rain drops are echoing Awake" and, beneath the brown sod, there is nest ling and a stirring and soon emerald green will crown the landscape and the whole world will be glad in the new life.
 But, beloved, what does all this mean to you? Have you the Spring biliousness so in your bones that you are more irrit- able, more selfish than ever before? Are you so weak with the longing for Spring bitters that your own life is more bitter than ever? Listen, then, to the voice of Dame Nature. Rejoice in a newness of life, even as the earth rejoices. Fill your lungs with the warm air and your nos trils with the Spring perfume. Go out and, figuratively if not literally, kiss the sod. Watch the springing grass, the swelling bud and catch an impulse to life from them all.
 Let them also warm up your heart into newness of life. There are old affections almost buried beneath the mould of years. Let them spring again and make glad the hearts of those who once were your dearest friends. There are ties of kindred almost forgotten, ties of Christ ian love grown to be very, very slen- der because of lack of cultivation. Let the warm blood of love flow through all of these veins in your life. Live newly frinnI nd at thp hnna ties be all fresh and joyous. Go remind the wife of the days of the honeymoon and the children of their most glad festal day. Why should we not in the Spring time drop off the old dead leaves of strife and hatred and envy and cover the fields of our lives with the green grass of liv- ing love? Surely! surely! this is the Spring time we all need.
 We are laborers together with God.- [St. Paul.
 If a straw can be made the instrument of happiness, he is wise man who does not despise it.-[Dryden.
 It is observed of gold, by an old epi- grammist, that to have it is to be in fear and to want it is to be in sorrow.
 Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.- [T. Smiles.
 AS you learn, teach; as you get, give; as you receive, distribute.-[Spurgeon.
 Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy.-[Em- erson.
 Gods promises were never intended to be thrown aside as waste paper. He in- tended that they should be used.-[Spur- geon.
 He who has no mind to trade with the devilsshould be so wise as to keep away from his shop.-[S
 Knowledge is proud that he knows so much; wisdom is humble that he knows no more.-[Cowper.
 As diseords resolve themselves into the sweetest harmonies, as. the impetuous roar of dashing music gives to the silence during the pauses of magical charm, so we see ill the actual experiences of hu- man life that those sorrows which are hardest to bear carry with them wings of joy; so that, though the soul may fly in clouded atmosphere, it flies singing, and rises higher and higher toward the cloudless land. Therefore, suffering in all the higher forms in this life is joy as well as suffering.
 St. Augustine expressed the wish that he might live and die either preachingor praying.
 The son of Confucius complained that while he applied himself diligently to every kind of study, still he did not get on well. ssOmit some of your pursuits,' said his father, 'sand you will get on bet ter It is the single, well defined path, steadily held to, that reaches the goal. The drill must needs be held to single point if one would cleave the rock.