The
Beatitudes, beautiful in the simplicity and dignity of their language, are among the most consolatory of the many gracious words spoken to mankind by him of whom it was said, "Never man spake like this man.
It
is scarcely extravagant to say that on every first day of January millions of men, women, and children voice the glad greeting of "Happy New Year!" Rarely, if ever, are these words uttered that they do not carry with them a sense of fresh hope, of courage, of joy.
Mankind
has ever been prone to measure duration by events, setting up definite milestones on the banks of the steadily flowing river of time, from which reckoning might be had both forward and backward.
How
familiar to the thought of the world has become the star of Bethlehem! What good it stands for; what blessings it promises! How mankind has come to love the account of the wise men on their journey! And then, there were the shepherds! In all the literature of the ages, nothing has stirred the heart of both youth and adult with holier feelings than has Luke's recounting of their vision.
When
a famous head master of the University School of London, no doubt in a spirit of jocularity, uttered his celebrated interrogatives and answers which, to many, have seemed so obvious as to be trite, "What is mind?
Paul
was speaking from the mount of revelation when he wrote to the Galatians: "But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
The
notion has generally prevailed among men that justice is an abstract quality, cold and inexorable, to be exercised without sympathy or compassion, without mercy or any consideration arising from the possibility of extenuating circumstances.
Writers,
ever since the time when the book of Genesis was penned, have used gardens in simile and metaphor, and have loved to draw many lessons therefrom.
Among
much sound advice given by Joshua to the tribes of Israel, perhaps none is more cogent than that which is found in the twenty-fourth chapter of the book which bears his name.
