Connecticut western news., 1892-01-28


 twenty martyrs pass triumphantly through the fire. If you are not faithful in an insignificant position in life you would not be faithful in a grand mission. If you cannot stand the bite of midge, how could you endure the breath of a basilisk2
 GOD IS GLoRIFIED IN ALL GOOD WORK.
 Do not think that any work God gives you to do in the world is on too small a scale for you to do. The whole universe is not ashamed to take care of one little flower. I say: What are you doing down here in the grass, you poor little flowerl Are you not afraid nights2 You will be neglected, you will die of thirst, you will not be fed. Poor little flowerv No" says a star, "Tll watch over it tonight" No" says cloud, "In give it drink No says the sun, I'll warm it in my bosom" Then l see the pulleys going and the clouds are drawing water, and l say, What are you doing there, o cloudsf'. And they reply, We are giving drink to that flower"
 Then the wind rises, and comes bending down the wheat and sound ing its psalm through the forest, and I cry, "Whither away on such swift wing, O windf" And it replies, We are going to cool the cheek of that flower" And then I bow down and say, Will God take care of the grass of the field7" and a flower at my foot responds, Yes; he clothes the lilies of the field, and never yet has forgotten me, poor little flower" Oh, when see the great heavens bending themselves to what seems insignificant ministra- ion, when find out that God does not forget Gny blossom of the spring or any snowflake of the winter, I come to the conclusion that we can afford to attend to the minute things in life, and that what we do we ought to do well, since there is as much perfection in the construction of a spiders eye as in the conforlna- ton of flaming galaXies.
 Plato had a fable which I have now nearly forgotten, but it ran something like this: He said spirits of the other world came back to this world to find body and find a sphere of work. One spirit came and took the body of king, and did his work. Another spirit came and took the body of a poet, and did his work. After awhile Ulysses came, and he said. Why, all the fine bodies are taken, and all the grand work is taken. There is nothing left for me-" And some one. replied, ''Ah 1! the best one has been left for you. '" Ulysses said, Whats thatr And the reply was, '%he body of a com mon man, doing a common work, and for common reward" A good fable for the world, and just as good a fable for the church. Whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do. let us do 1t to the glory of God.
 Again, we need to bring the rei- zion of Christ into our commonest trials. For severe losses, for bereave- ment, for trouble that shocks like an earthquake and that blasts like a storm we prescribe religious consola- tion but, business man, for the small annoyances of last week how much of the grace of God did you applyi "Oh, you say, these trials are too small for such application. My brother, they are shaping your char acter, they are souring your temper, they are wearing out your patience and they are making you less and less of a man.
 go into sculptor's studio and see him shaping a statue. He has chisel in one hand and mallet in the other, and he gives a very gentle stroke--click, click, click! I say, Why don't you strike harderl" "Ohm he replies, that would shat ter the statue. I cant do it that way. must do it this way" So he works on, and after awhile the fea- lures come out and everybody that enters the studio is charmed and fas- cinated Well. God has your soul under process of development, and it is the little annoyances and veXa- tions of life that are chiseling out your immortal nature. It is click, click, click! I wonder why some great providence does not come and with one stroke prepare you for heaven. An. no. God says that is not the way.
 And so he keeps on by strokes of little annoyances little sorrows, little vexations, until at last you shall be glad spectacle for angels and for men. You know that large fortune may be spent in small change, and a vast amount of moral character may go away in small depletion. It is the little troubles of life that are having more effect upon you than great ones. A swarm of locusts will kill a grain field sooner than the incursion of three or four cattle. You say. Since lost my child, since Host my property, l have been different i man"
 But you do not recognize the archi- lecture of little annoyances that are hewing, digging, cutting, shaping, splitting and interjoining your moral qualities. Rats may sink ship. One lucifer match may send destruction through a block of storehouses. Catherine de Medicis got her death from smelling a poisonous rose. Co lumbus. by stopping and asking for a piece of bread and drink of water at a Franciscan convent, was led to the discovery of the new world. And there is an intimate connection be 1 tween trifes and immensities, be tween nothings and everythings. NO SIN TOO SMALL TO BE AVOIDED. ! Now. be careful to let none of those