THINGS THOUGHTFUL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11609, 29 January 1916, Page 8

THINGS THOUGHTFUL.

FULLNESS OP LIFE. Pray for and' -work for fullness of 4 life above everything: full, red blood; in the hod'y; full honesty and truth in ; the mind : and the fullness of a grateful; love for tho Saviour in your heart,-**' Phillips Brooks. LIFE'S TROUBLES. Sometimes I compare the troubles "wo, liavo to undergo in the course of a ( year to a great bundle of faggots, fai" 7 too large for us to lift. But God j does not require us to carry the whole , .at onoe. He mercifully unties' the' | bundle, and gives us first one stick,, I which we are able to carry to-day,' and then another, which ire are abl© to} carry to-morrow, and' so on.—John/ Newton. ' 1 * EIG-H AOTTOK We forget that action is for the most part determined 1 by a proportion between 1 Eternal audi tho changing conditions of a complex» life. We cannot appeal' to past to relieve us from the responsibility of. unwearied study of the moral history,, and of the present stat© and of tfi» possibilities of ourselves and of our i'ellowmen.—Westcoti. - A FIELI> OF BATTLE. We are here on earth mot to contemplate but to transform created tiling?; to fotmd. as far as in us lies, the image of the "Kingdom of God" on earth' —not. to admire earth's contrasts. , Egotism' nearly always lurks beneath' contemplation. Our -world is not a spectacle; it is a field) of battle, upon which all who in their hearts love justice, beauty, and holiness, are bound—* whether as leaders or con- 11 querors or martyrs—to play their part. —Miazzini. THE ROSES AND THE THORNS. ' Clouds and sunshine, sorrow and joy come to each one of use, and if we grasp the thorns tightly, as -we are apt to d'o, we deserve the sore bruises we invariably get. And it sometimes happens that "we leave a beautiful rose on one side because wo are frightened; at its stem of bristling thorns. It only needed a very little courage to pluck that rose, and the danger was or the smallest. So that the queen of the garden may teach us from her most sacred lore we must approach humbly and gratefully, and) nvittu true dteaire to learn her hidden \ x secrete.—Emily Rzdgway. WHAT WE WANT. What we' want to make us true men, over and above that which we bring into the world with us, is some sortlof Godgiven instinc,t ; motive, and new principle of life in us, which shall make us not only see the right and the true and the noble, but lone it, and give up our wills and hearts to it. apd find" in the confession of our weakness a strength, in the subjection of our own wills a freedom, in the utter carelessness about self a self-respect, such as we have never known before.— Charles Kingsley. A GREAT AET. Manners are an art. Some are perfect, 6ome commendable, some faulty; but there are none that t axe of no moment. How comes it that we have no preoepfcs by which to judge_ them, or, at least, no rule whereby to judge them as we judge sculpture and music? A scifcnce of manners would be more important to tho virtue, and happiness of men than one would suppose. If virtue leads to good manners, bo do they in their turn lead to virtue. Manners" , are an essential part of'>thics.—Jou- . berfcs.

GIVING ADVICE. Giving advice is. a very difficult matter; and when one has looked round the world for a time, and seen bow the most cleverly designed enterprises fail, and how the most absurd often turn out well, one becomes chary of/ giving anyone advice. There is, bottom, & certain restraint in him who asks for counsel, and an overwhelming inihim who gi^- —i it. One should only adviserxWrtrmatters in which one is prepared to cooperate.—Goethe. 1 TOAT WE SHALL BE. ('lt doth not yet appear what we sh'al!' be." . . You have seen the blushing morning and the golden erven ing; > you have seen the soft beauty of the moon and the glory of the sun; but you have seen nothing like what you shall be. You have seen our wintry trees change and change, under vernal influence, until they become pictures of beauty, and you have seen glory enwrapped in dark clouds; and immense as is the distinction between leafless trees and blooming trees, or between leaden clouds and those of a golden sunset, the distinction is yet greater between what you are now and ■what you shall be.—Pulsford.