A LITTLE SERMON.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VII, Issue 11, 14 March 1891, Page 14

A LITTLE SERMON.

Life bears us on like the stream of a mighty river. Our boat at first glides down the narrow channel, through the playful murmuring of the little brook and the winding of its grassy border. The trees shed their blossoms over our young heads ; the flowers on the brink seem to offer themselves to our young hands, we are happy in hope, and we grasp eagerly at the beauties around us; but the stream hurries on, and still our hands are empty. Our course in youth and manhood is along a wider and deeper flood, amid objects more striking and magnificent. We are animated by the moving picture of enjoyment and industry passing before us; we are excited by some short lived disappointment. The stream bears us on, and our joys and our griefs arealike left behind us. We may be shipwrecked but we cannot be delayed. Whether rough or smooth, the river hastens towards its home, till the roar of the ocean is in our ears, and the tossing of its waves is beneath our feet, and the land lessens from our eyes, and the floods are lifted up around us, and we take leave of earth and its inhabitants. Of our farther voyage there is no witness save the Infinite and Eternal.

Bishop Heber.