PN 6331 05 Itanflfiti'' Wfy Book ^_ gtttf COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. MRS. BELLE THORNTON DICK Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men Compiled by MRS. BELL£ THORNTON DICK JOHN P. MORTON & COMPANY 19 5 LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY LIBRARY of CONGRESS Two Copies Received DEC 26 1905 Copyright entry CLASS <* XXc. No. COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY Mrs. Belle Thornton Dick. V MISS ZUDIE HARRIS. DEDICATION. This collection of choice and elevated senti- ments is a symphony of thought which gives radiance to life, and appeals to the heart, some- what like the sweet cadences of chiming bells upon a Sabbath morn. It seems fitting that it should be dedicated to one who is a student of harmony; and the com- piler, in behalf of the writers, whose smiling like- nesses look out with approval from these pages, hereby dedicates this work to an esteemed friend, Miss Zudie Harris, who has achieved success as an interpreter of music, and who has accomplished a task which no other woman has accomplished — that of writing and playing a concerto — worthy of the name — with power and effect. Mrs. Belle Thornton Dick. Louisville, Ky., December 25, 1905. CONTENTS PAGE Christmas Greeting i By Rt. Rev. Charges B- Woodcock, D. D. "The Shepherds Abiding in the Field" 3 By Isaac T. Woodson. "The Old Year and the New in the Coliseum of Rome" 4 Written by Col. R. T. Durrett in 1856. 1 ' The Cradle and Christmas " 7 By Dr. E. L. Powell. Mid- Winter 20 By Madison Cawein. A Meditation 21 By Francis R. Beattie, Ph. D., D. D., LL. D. A Summer Sunset 27 By J. Stoddard Johnston. A Christmas Sermon 29 By Rev. T. T. Eaton, D. D. "Lest We Forget" 40 By Rev. S. S. Waltz, D. D. When Christ, the Lord of Glory, Came 44 William F. Wood. Contents PAGE Christmas as an Anniversary .46 By T. H. Christmas, the Height .48 By Bert Finck. A Catch 51 By Madison Cawein. A Picture 53 By Rev. T. M. Hawes. By the Firelight 57 By H. A. Cotter, M. D. Christmas Gifts 59 By W. B. Hardeman. A Japanese Mother 61 By Cai,e Young Rice. The New Year 63 By Isaac T. Woodson. Christ Sent 66 By Bennett H. Young. The Onward Way 71 By Isaac T. Woodson. RT. REV. CHARLES E. WOODCOCK, D. D. Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men T ^* v v* CHRISTMAS GREETING. BY RT. REV. CHARLES E. WOODCOCK, D. D. HE echoes of glad tidings, first proclaimed on the Judean plains, are prolonged in the joyful acclaims of Christmas. The intervening cen- turies have been too short to silence the rapturous song of the angelic host, the wide expanse of heaven too small to dim the glow of that natal morn. As, once more, we hail this festal day, if there be any song in the human heart, it breaks forth in tuneful harmony with the heavenly minstrelsies of old. If there be any gratitude, or worship, or thanksgiving, in the human soul, it will pay its grateful homage at the manger throne. That throne looms up across the ages, the throne of the "King of Kings and. Lord of Lords" ; before it we gather to offer Him our fealty and reaffirm our allegiance. We gaze upon the mystery of the manger — to the eye of sense but a little helpless Babe, to the Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men eye of faith the Incarnate God. The little hand which moves with but a baby's strength and impulse is an insignificant thing to unbelief; to the eye of faith it is the only hand which can stem the tide of sin and death, the Creator of new hopes, the Destroyer of penalties. It is the same hand that later was stretched out "humanly to heal divinely." Truly, He was then, and is now, our Immanuel, "God with us" to bring to us glad tidings of Peace, good will toward men, and redeem us by his own precious blood. So, let the Christmas cheer fill our hearts and souls, and its peace and joy find expression in some true service to God and man, in gratitude for the inestimable gift of the Son of God for our salvation. Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men "THE SHEPHERDS ABIDING IN THE FIELD." BY ISAAC T. WOODSON. Simple and tender were the songs of the Shepherds : Brief and sincere were the prayers they said: Their's was a faith of contemplation, And silence, and worship, of God, overhead. As, day by day, their flocks found kindness, And pasture and shelter, and food in store, These learned to love their gentle masters: They loved ; and sought to know no more. As, day by day, and night by night, These shepherds watched and tended their sheep, They learned that mortals need likewise a shepherd, Who, vigils, eternal, o'er them will keep. Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men EXTRACT FROM A POEM ENTITLED "THE OLD YEAR AND THE NEW IN THE COLISEUM OF ROME." WRITTEN BY COL. R. T. DURRETT IN 1 856.* The noon of night Impends. One moment more must pass, and then The year that wears the diadem will fall, Forever fall, into the changeless past. How pregnant is this moment with rapt thoughts! This moment ! It doth to the future bind The past, and make of them one boundless, vast, Sublime Eternity. It is that link, Without which in duration's endless chain All past, all future and the present time Were disconnected parts confounded worse Than dire confusion's self. In its brief span Swift memory waves her life-restoring wand And calls up from the past immortal things, Whose genesis was long before the date Of the Cloaca Maxima and tomb *During the winter of 1855-6 Col. Durrett was at Rome, Italy, with several American acquaintances also spending the winter there. They all agreed to go to the Coliseum to watch the old year out and the new year in. When this was done each one promised to write what he thought about what he had seen. The poem from which this extract was taken is what Col. Durrett wrote on the occasion. COL. R. T. DURRETT. Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men Of Scipio. Events which filled long times, And great discoveries in the realm of art And science, which the dragging centuries Had scarce made known, now flash like vivid dreams Across the mind. The changeless stars which saw Arcadian shepherds watch their flocks by night Upon yon Palatine, ere Romulus Had founded there the citadel of Rome, Shine o'er us now. And yon same moon, that threw Her mellow beams upon the Pantheon, The shrine of all Rome's Gods and Goddesses, Two thousand years ago, rolls on unchanged Upon the silver chariot of the night. Yon deep blue sky, the pride of tropic climes, Looks on us with the same bright starry eyes That watched the city of the Seven Hills As from the work of Romulus it rose To majesty and grandeur ne'er surpassed. Yon Tiber winds his wonted course along The shores which once were clad with glory's pomp, And bears his waters from the Apennines Into the Midland Sea, just as he did When, centuries ago, iEneas came With all the Gods had spared of fallen Troy And landed on his banks. All else how changed ! The Eternal City wears ephemeral hues, 5 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men The Caesar's palace, once the pride of Rome, Remains a heap of ruins. The classic hills, Upon whose crest the famous city stood, Have crumbled down, and scarcely seem to rise Above the rubbish which two thousand years Have piled around their base. The Forum lies Deep buried 'neath the waste of centuries. War, famine, pestilence, and flood and flame Have swept o'er ancient Rome; and naught remains To tell where glory dwelt, save mighty wrecks Which greet the eye like to immortal deaths. The Gods who erst were worshiped here are gone, And crumbled into dust their gorgeous shrines, And borne away their comely busts of bronze And marble statues, to adorn the halls Of those the sculptors deemed barbarians. Unto the memory of the Christian dead, Whom wild beasts tore and fire consumed to make A holiday for Roman elegance, This vast arena has been set apart And consecrated by his holiness, And prayers ascend now to the Triune God, Where Jove was throned and warrior Gods displayed In men the showman's arts. REV. E. L. POWELL Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men "THE CRADLE AND CHRISTMAS." or "The Reign of the Child." by dr. e. l. powell. Our text is found in the thirty-sixth verse of the ninth chapter of Mark's Gospel: "And He took a child and set him in the midst of them." This is the happy Christmas time, and the child is king. The Babe of Bethlehem has converted the cradle into a throne. No monarch of earth holds such undisputed sway over his subjects as the little sov- ereign of the home. The curly head wears the crown, and tiny hands bear the sceptre. All hail to the king! I sometimes wonder if the after years have brought to us any joy so vivid, so fresh with the dew of Heaven, as that which comes to the child on Christmas Day. Deeper and richer joys, born of deeper and richer experience, we have known; but none so keen, so spontaneous, so completely satis- fying for the moment. It is a long time, my friends, from manhood's prime, with its cares and responsi- bilities, to those opening days of life when Santa Claus was a reality and we dwelt in the fair world of 7 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men imagination and illusion. Well it is for us that the Christmas time should revive these memories. Otherwise, we might become cold and hard and love- less. Otherwise, so absorbed are we in grappling with the stern, hard conditions of life, we might forget that Heaven is real, or that this old world was once touched with a glory never known on land or sea. It is good to feel that glow which comes from the days that are no more, and to bring ourselves under the inspiration of that prayer which can never be answered in literal fashion : "Turn backward, turn backward, O! Time, in your flight; Make me a child again just for to-night." Jesus loved the little children. Concerning them He spoke the immortal words, "Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." The figure of the Master with a little child in His arms is worthy to be immortalized in highest art. The man who does not love the child is fit for treasons, strata- gems, and spoils. It was a child that led Silas Mar- ner out of sullenness into sunny peace. It was a child that completed the work of redemption in the storm-swept soul of Jean Valjean; and in that vision of peace, when the lion and the lamb shall lie 8 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men down together, under the beneficent reign of love, the prophet adds: "A little child shall lead them." EMPHASIS ON CHILDHOOD. The religion of Jesus is unique in the emphasis it places upon childhood. It has been said that other religions ignore or forget the child. Mahomet seems to know nothing about children. In heathen mythology the gods are not born as children; they come upon the stage full grown. Jesus, on the other hand, sets a child in the midst of His disciples, and, with the child as His text, declares that the child-spirit is an indispensable condition of entrance into His country. Not cleverness, not earthly pos- sessions, not worldly greatness, are necessary, but the simplicity and naturalness and upward look of tenderness which are characteristic of the child life and the child spirit. I want you to think to-night of the reasonable- ness of this emphasis which is placed by Jesus upon childhood; and you will observe that Christianity must always remain young, because Christianity has the child at its very heart. It can adapt itself to new conditions, to new circumstances, but it is always young. The Ancient of Days, who leads the Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men mighty host of Christian men and women, is always and everywhere the Babe of Bethlehem. Chris- tianity honors the child as a revelation of the divine nature. One day when Jesus was instructing His disciples He said unto them, "He that receiveth one such child in My name receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me." To receive the child is to receive Christ, and to re- ceive Christ is to receive God. The child is the miniature of the divine; as a drop of dew can mirror the sun, so the child life reflects divine life. The babe in its mother's arms has no conscious sin, and, therefore, no feeling of shame. It could look the tallest angel in the face and reach out its little arms to receive the angelic embrace. As pure as the driven snow, as white as any angel that sings round the throne of God — this is the child nature. I do not deny that there are evil tendencies inher- ited by the child, but they are tendencies which have not become evil. OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM. Monstrous, indeed, is the doctrine of infant de- pravity, in the light of that sublime utterance of Jesus Christ, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." Who can look into the clear, innocent eyes of a babe Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men and not feel the truth of that line of Wordsworth, "Heaven lies around us in our infancy"? Who can doubt but that babyhood brings down to earth some of the blue sky, and comes to us trailing clouds of glory? Concerning an infant, he has sung, "We could not wish her whiter here, who perfumed with pure blossoms the house — a lovely thing to wear upon a mother's bosom." Let us keep in mind the fact that the child nature is a revelation of the divine nature. Stand- ing in the presence of the child, we feel the glow of another world, and the touch of baby fingers calls forth all that is tenderest and purest and noblest in human nature. Music thrills us or soothes us. A great thought challenges us and dominates us, but the child comes into our lives as music, as thought, as sunshine, as the very breath of flowers. The child is the miracle of Eden repeated, a new creation fresh from the hand of God, and no angel in Heaven is cleaner or whiter or purer. With this thought in mind we are prepared to understand somewhat that great utterance of the great Teacher, ' ' Except ye be converted and become as little children ye can not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men SEEK A PURE SELF. But how can we become like little children? We can not recover lost innocence. Gone forever is the tender grace of a day that is dead. The gates of Eden are closed and the naming Angel of Ex- perience stands guard. We can not recover lost purity. Sin has left its indelible imprint upon our nature, and into our experience has come that which is foul and that which is unclean ; and, sometimes, as we think of that bright yesterday, with its white- ness, with its purity, there comes to us a great long- ing, if only it could become real, "Wash me and cleanse me and make me whiter than snow." Cer- tainly we can not become like little children in their credulity, for we must use the minds which God has given us in dealing with the problems which confront us. Nor can we become like children in their helplessness and their dependence, for the trumpet has sounded and the battle is on, and strong arms and steady nerves and manly courage are indispensable in winning the victory. How shall we become like little children? Is there any other way than the putting forth of honest and earnest endeavor to recover, in some fashion, this divine image which is inherent in the child nature, Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men and which we still possess, although dishonored and effaced and blurred? A very pathetic story is told by the biographer of Emerson, to the effect that, on one occasion, he was observed by his daughter gazing in reverie out upon his garden, and his daughter said to him: "Father, what are you looking for?" and he made answer in simple and yet pathetic fashion: "I am looking for myself." The old self that could flash and flame, the splendid self, with its keen intuitions, with its marvelous wisdom, was gone, and the feeble old man was looking for that lost self. What is religion but the earnest endeavor on the part of a man who has lost the divine image or has allowed that image to become effaced, and is seeking to recover it? We are looking for that self which in the child is clean and pure and white, and which must be re- covered in the man with the added elements of character and experience. CHILDHOOD POSSIBILITIES. Furthermore, Christianity honors childhood be- cause of its possibilities. The child is life in the bud, life unfolding; life with all of its vast possi- bilities. Interested friends gazed upon the tiny form Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men of the infant, John the Baptist, and wonderingly inquired, What manner of child shall this be? and so, all parents, as they receive this great gift from the loving God, dream of the future of this wonder- ful creature in their arms. "By what astrology of fear and hope dare I to cast thy horoscope?" So thought a young mother of the Southland as she rocked the cradle in which slept her first-born. With the flowers about her and the birds singing in her ears and in her heart, she dreamed of a splen- did future for this child of divine love. The years come and go; the child grows to young manhood; is sent to college and to a university, and there forms the accursed appetite for strong drink. One day, frenzied and mad, under the spell of the awful demon, he slew a man; he was tried; he was sen- tenced; he was executed. It was too much for the brain of this mother. She became insane, and she sat all day long by the empty cradle rocking it and crooning a lullaby in ears that heard not. Empty was the cradle and dark was her soul. Oh, the future of the child ! Shall he be a Nero, the nightmare of history, or a Paul, the humble disciple of the Christ? What manner of child shall this be? This is an age of the child. It is the age of the kindergarten; it is the age of juvenile courts; it is 14 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men the age of newsboys' homes and houses of reform; it is the age of legal protection for childhood ; it is an age when child-life is being more scientifically studied than ever before in all the history of the world. Christianity is responsible for this change. The child is the citizen and Christian of to-morrow. As the child is, so the coming age will be. Shall it help to bring in the glories seen by prophet and seer, or shall the old world move onward unto night ? Awful is the responsibility which rests upon those who are entrusted with child-life. May God give them the grace to discharge that responsibility in his fear and in the light of possibilities of childhood. Mrs. Browning sung long ago a song that stirred the heart of America — the Cry of the Children : ' ' Do you not hear the children weeping, Oh, my brothers, ere the sorrow comes with years ? They lean their young heads against their mothers, But this can not stop their tears." When we think of the child laboring, whether in the factory, or in the cotton fields of the South, we feel like echoing that other line in her poem: "The sob of the child in the silence Curses deeper than the strong man in his wrath." Woe be unto the man who builds up his fortune on the blood and happiness of childhood — whose 15 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men gold is piled up at the expense of buried innocence. In our Declaration of Independence, we are fond of descanting upon the inalienable rights of man. The child has inalienable rights: the right to parental love, the right to legal protection, the right to sing as the bird, the right to be happy, the right to lay hold of opportunities provided for him for his free and spontaneous and full development. To rob the child of those rights is to dishonor the character of our liberties, as well as to call down upon us the curse of Jesus Christ. It were better for such a man that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were buried in the depths of the sea ! Christianity has to a large extent emancipated childhood. The old Roman and Greek poets do not even so much as mention mother. Such an affec- tionate character as Horace makes no reference to childhood. Evidently, childhood under the Greek and Roman civilization was dishonored or ignored or largely subordinated ; but, to-day, the child looms up large and splendid against the horizon; for the child is the future church — the child is the future nation. REVEALS DIVINE FATHERHOOD. In concluding this sermon, I want to speak of the child as a revelation of the divine fatherhood. 16 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men "Unto us a son is born, unto us a child is given." This is the refrain through the ages of that splendid anthem that the angels sung long ago on the plains of Judea. Through the child we come to know the father. The human relationship of the child and father enables us to understand the character of the relationship which exists between God and his chil- dren. Our God is no Jove whose brow is clothed with thunder, no Moloch who needs to be placated with human sacrifice. Our God is a loving, tender, compassionate, heavenly Father, and Jesus has given to us the very sweetest words in all literature when he taught his disciples to pray, "Our Father who art in heaven." That was a new revelation. That was a revolutionary doctrine. Never before had the great word been spoken with the emphasis and accent given by Jesus Christ. Whereas in the Old Testament the word father occurs perhaps twice, in the New Testament it occurs no less than 200 times. Jesus has associated, in his teaching, with his fatherhood all that is beautiful in nature and in life, and elevated it up to such an entrance as to-day makes it impossible for us to accept any hard the- ology that would exalt his sovereignty at the expense of his love. God is our father. This is the image of the child Jesus. When the years press heavily 17 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men upon us and the form becomes bowed, and intima- tions and suggestions of various sorts remind us that the day is drawing to a close, and that the shadows of the last night are gathering, wonderful is the pro- vision of divine grace in the particular that we be- come children again. Paul, the rugged, virile apos- tle, when in a tender mood, trying to make his peo- ple understand the goodness and graciousness of God, uses the language of the nursery, and we hear him exclaim: "Abba, Father!" or "Papa, papa!" We are children again. GRIP OUR HANDS. The story is told of an old Scotchman that when he was dying — a man who had never worn his heart upon his sleeve — that he said in his wanderings, re- curring again to his Scotch dialect, ' ' I am gaen doon ; hae a grup o' my hand." So, in that last hour, when the grand rush of darkness shall come in upon our souls, we shall reach up our hands, not to some abstract principle called sweetness and light, but we shall reach up our hands through the darkness to the hands of a Father, and we shall say, "Father, we are going down; have a grip of our hands." May this Christmas time bring gladness to all the children in this city we love, and, if you can make 18 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men bright one life, the life of a child, regard the oppor- tunity as a very angel of God to be seized and wel- comed with eagerness and enthusiasm. Let us make the bridge between babyhood and manhood just as long as possible, for soon enough we shall exchange the flowers and the crown for the sword and the spear. I wish you, my friends, a merry, merry Christ- mas and a happy, happy New Year; and the secret of it shall be for you and for me that we love and honor the children. 19 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men MID-WINTER. BY MADISON CAWEIN. All day the clouds hung ashen with the cold ; And through the snow the muffled waters fell ; The day seemed drowned in grief too deep to tell, Like some old hermit whose last bead is told. At eve the wind woke, and the snow-clouds rolled Aside to leave the fierce sky visible ; Harsh as an iron landscape of wan hell The dark hills hung framed in with gloomy gold. And then, towards night, the wind seemed some one at My window wailing: now a little child Crying outside the door; and now the long Howl of some starved beast down the flue. I sat And knew 'twas Winter with his madman song Of miseries, whereon he stared and smiled. REV. FRANCIS R. BEATTIE. Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men A MEDITATION. For the New Year. by francis r. beattie, ph. d., d. d., ll. d. The fires of the Old Year have died out, and the ashes lie cold upon the hearth. Out of these ashes rise the fires of the New Year. As we muse and meditate, the fires begin to burn. We muse upon the flight of time, and meditate on our own fast passing days. Oh! Time, thou subtle thing, which ever puzzles the philosopher, thou shoreless sea which bears us on to the eternity to which thee, thyself, dost belong! We can not know thee as thou art, and yet with thee we ever have to do. The cycle of another of thy years has rolled around, and we have been carried with it ! Oh ! Time, whence art thou, and whither goest thou? And oh, Life, how strange thou art! How much of mystery there is about thee! Wherein is thy deep meaning? To live is to think, to feel, to speak, to act. It is to hope and fear, to love and hate, to toil and rest, to serve and suffer. Oh ! who can fathom the mysteries which are hidden 21 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men in the secret places of every life, all along the way, till it goes hence! And oh! the tragedy of life. How, in its fabric, joy and sorrow, mirth and tears, burden and blessing, meeting and parting, delight and anguish, success and failure, are all so strangely woven together, as the warp and woof of the web of each life ! Through the past year, what has life been to us and ours? An ode divine, with its metre far from perfect, yet with the pathos of true poetry pulsing through it all? A penitential psalm; often sung in broken accents, yet ever set to the key- note of deep contrition for our faults and failures? An anthem of praise; set perchance many a time in the minor key, yet always with the music of grateful joy running through it all? A hymn of humble trust; though with the faith often weak and trembling, yet never utterly failing to cling to the promises of God as the future is faced? Then what is life to be and bring to us in the coming year? Well it is that the future is hidden from us by the veil of to-morrow. May it bring much of brightness and blessing, though there may be some heartaches and perhaps a few tears. Is life during the coming year to be barren or Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men fruitful, useless or useful, a burden or a blessing, full of gladness or touched with sadness? Is life to be like an empty vessel, driven rudderless, and buffeted mercilessly upon the rough sea of cruel circumstance? Or shall it not rather be like a richly freighted ship, guided securely on its stress- ful voyage by a pilot who never loses a ship — for even the winds and the sea obey him? Life is well worth living. It may be filled with gladness and laden with blessing. Yes, life may have music and sunshine in it, even though it has its trials and its tears; for the trials may but put a deeper pathos into the music, and the sunshine may stretch the rainbow across the fast falling tears. Look up and be of good cheer. The sun does shine overhead, even though the mists hang heavy over the vales of earth. Then, may your life be, through the coming year, like the joyous lark soaring high in early morning to greet the bright- ness of the rising sun with its cheerful song. Then, too, will all the nooks and corners of life be filled with a fragrance as of many flowers, and all its activities make music as of many waters. Beware lest life become luxurious and sensuous. Such a life puts no bit into the mouth of the appe- 23 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men tites. It throws the reins loose upon the neck of the passions. It never puts the brakes upon self- indulgence. It tarries long at the table laden with delicacies. It lies long upon the couch of ease. It loves to make a grand display; and it clothes itself in purple and fine linen every day. Let yonder epicure warn us. He finds that richer viands, sweeter delicacies, grander displays, and keener delights are ever needed by him to sustain the pleasure, or produce the delight. Then, in the end, the senses grow dull, the fountain of delight runs dry, another very capacity for joy dies out, never to return. The life once turned to pleasure has turned to pain, so that its once merry music has become as a funeral dirge, which is ready to die away as a sigh in the silence of the tomb. And, like sleepless sentinels on the outposts of life, let us stand guard against the selfish life. Believe it, the less you think of self in a selfish way the more others will think of you, another nearer you will come to be like Him who came not to be ministered to but to minister. Forget not that in the true life, to give out is to grow rich, and to withhold is to become poor. The selfish life is cold and repellant; the unselfish life is warm and attractive. The one is as a winter 24 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men blast, the other as a summer breeze. The one is like a refrigerator, the other like a radiator. The one affects only what is in it, the other blesses all that is about it. The one sings a sweet song to woo us to her side, the other utters notes so harsh that we hurry from her presence. Get up on the highlands of life and look out upon its larger landscapes from lofty places. Then will you breathe the purer air of unselfishness, and see your own life and the lives of others in their proper perspective. Have planted deep down in the subsoil of your soul the wholesome plants of the unselfish life. Then water and cherish them, cultivate the soil about them, and, if need be, prune them, and, in due time, you may be sure that you will see the beautiful bloom and gather the savory fruit. Lay hold anew of this temper of life with the opening of the year. Then life will be a psalm and a song, a sermon and a homily, making glad and doing good on every hand. Such a life will be the rich and happy life, the wholesome and expanding life, the useful and beautiful life, the steady another balanced life, the fragrant another fruitful life. From early morning till its evening hour, it is all sunshine and blessing. 25 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men Above all, in character be strong and true, candid and upright, sincere and unselfish. Be like the rugged oak, in the fibre of your inflexible integ- rity ; be like the stately palm in the noble dignity of your bearing among men. Be like the shapely linden, in the beauty and fragrance of your daily conduct. Be like the bending willow, in the love and sympathy of your soul. Then will you be as trees which the Lord hath planted. 2( COL. J. STODDARD JOHNSTON. Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men A SUMMER SUNSET. BY J. STODDARD JOHNSTON. It was the last of all the summer days. The glowing sun was lost behind a cloud Which stretched along the west horizon, Deep blue in darkness, while the sky above And all around was clear, save here and there Were slowly drifting clouds of lesser size, As sloops and schooners, while at intervals A man-of-war ploughed stately through the deep. The greater cloud, athwart the western sky, Which hid the sun and seemed a mountain range, With wooded slopes and rugged peaks of stone, Soon startled into life and was ablaze In parts where lately all was dark and blue. Along its rugged crest, from north to south, It suddenly appeared as silver-bound, And brighter grew, until a golden glow Succeeded to the silvern sheen ; and then, Turret and dome and every crag and peak Shone forth as if illumined for a feast, While, still, the great cloud's base was darker grown, Making the sun's reflected glow more bright 27 Beautiful Tkoidgkts of Noble Men By contrast with the screen which hid his face, As when, by night, the pyrotechnic fires Shine all the brighter for night's inky pall. Then, as if to burst the bonds which held him, The sun shot up his banded rays to heaven, As 'twere a halo from his dying face, Or as the last fond look of Summer's day. And all the lesser clouds that roamed the sky Paused in their flight and gave his image back, As if in adoration at his death. 'Twas but a moment's pause, in splendor robed, When all was changed from gold to purple tint, And twilight, with a gentle breeze, set in. The clouds resumed their march in sober gray And the new moon, whose pale and crescent face Had not till then been scarcely visible, Shone forth as sole refulgence of the sun Where late all else was lit with golden light. The day was gone, the summer's glow was fled, And night was ushered in through Autumn's gate. 28 DR. T. T. EATON. Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men A CHRISTMAS SERMON. BY REV. T. T. EATON, D. D. Matt. 1:21. "Thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." When God was about to give Abraham the child of promise, he said, ''Thou shall call his name Isaac," or "one who laughs," indicating that his birth would cause great joy. Again, when Eliza- beth and Zachariah were old and stricken in years, an angel announced to Zachariah, "Thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son and thou shall call his name John," which means the gift of God. And now the angel comes to Joseph and foretells the birth of him "of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write," saying, "Thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." The name Jesus had been common among the Jews ever since the time of their great general, for Joshua and Jesus are the same. Since the time of our Saviour, this name, from the very reverence men feel for it, has not been used as an appellation, and you now know of no one named Jesus, though Isaac and John and James and Thomas, and other Scripture names, abound. This 29 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men name Jesus is above every name, and mankind by- common consent have placed it above every other. Here, the appellation is descriptive of the character. Jesus means Saviour, and was bestowed upon the incarnate Son of God "because he shall save his people from their sins." He came "to seek and to save that which was lost." He said of himself, "I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." His forerunner announced him as the "Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world." As he hung upon the cross his enemies cried out, "He saved others," thus acknowledging that his mission was salvation. His Apostles went out to tell mankind of a Saviour whom God had provided, and said, "Him had God exalted to be a prince and a Saviour to give repent- ance and remission of sins." Of all the many names given to Christ in the Scriptures, this of Jesus comes closest to our hearts. There is no loftier experience for a human soul in this world than to realize that Jesus is indeed his Saviour, and in the world to come the noblest strain in all the glad song of redemption will be, "Unto him that hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and made us kings and priests unto God, to him be glory and domination forever." 30 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men "He shall save." This is the most distinctive mark of the Christian religion, because it points out a personal Saviour. Christianity is personal in the sense that every man must accept it for himself, and it is also personal in that its doctrines and precepts all gather about a person — Jesus. il He shall save his people from their sins." Chris- tianity never saved a soul, but Christ saves. The Buddhist, the Brahmin, the Confucianist, and the Mohammedan think they will be saved because of their faithful adherence to their respective systems and observance of their requirements. But no man is saved because he believes the Bible and seeks to do what the Bible teaches; but simply because of a personal relation established by the Holy Spirit between his soul and Jesus Christ. Christianity, as a system, has wrought wonders in the world — indeed like the sun it came into the world heralded by its own rays; but, as a system, it never saved a soul, nor does it pretend to save men. There are not wanting men, however, who claim that performance of certain duties does bring salvation ; but those who thus think, miss the mean- ing of our holy religion, and put it merely on a level with the many other religions with which it finds itself in conflict in the world. 31 rifl Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men Jesus says to the twelve, "If ye believe in God believe also in Me." "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by Me." "If ye love Me, keep my command- ments." "I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered; and men gather him and cast him into the fire and they are burned. If ye abide in Me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you." "These things have I spoken unto you that in Me ye might have peace." In his sacerdotal prayer the Saviour said, "I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given Me." His command is, "Follow Me." "He that believeth in Me, though he were dead yet shall he live." "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." You will notice all through these Scriptures that belief in Christianity, important as that is, is not what is enjoined, but belief in Christ. It is true that no man who rejects Christianity as a sys- tem will exercise faith in a personal Jesus, but it 32 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men is also true that a man may, as thousands do, believe in the Christian religion and yet be "in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." The man who is united to Christ by a living faith is not going to quibble at miracles, or at Providence, or any of the great doctrines of the Christian sys- tem. The Apostles clearly understood the personal relation that all his people must sustain to Jesus, for they speak of being "one with him," "joint heirs with him" to the heavenly inheritance adopted into God's family. Now, a man does not become a member of your family by wearing the family coat of arms and accepting the family beliefs. No more can one become a member of God's family by accepting the truths of Chris- tianity and wearing the external signs of the house- hold of faith. It is written of the early disciples that "daily in the temple and in every house they ceased not to preach' ' — theology ? doctrines ? Christianity ? nay — but ' ' Jesus Christ. ' ' ' ' Philip went down to Samaria, and preached Christ unto them." Saul went to Damascus with authority from the chief priests to bind all that called on Christ's name. Peter preached Christ to the congregation gathered in Cornelius' house, and said, "To him gave all the 33 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men prophets witness that through his name, whoso- ever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." Paul told the people of Antioch in Pisidia, ' ' Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through His name is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins." The same Apostle answered the Philippian jailer's question, "What must I do to be saved?" with "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house." Again at Athens, the center of the world's philoso- phy, and the seat of the world's learning, Paul did not labor to show the fallacy of their belief, or that Christianity was better than their religion, but he preached "Jesus and the resurrection." And in writing to Rome, the seat of the world's power and the center of its wealth, the great Apostle tells them, "We are buried with Christ by baptism." Do not misunderstand me and suppose that I would under-rate the importance of sound doctrine. I know how vital God's truth is. But I would impress upon you the great fact that Jesus is the personal Saviour of all the redeemed. "He shall save his people from their sins." Christianity never saved a man, but Christ has saved millions. "He shall save his people from their sins," not from trouble or pain, or sickness or sorrow. He 34 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men has promised to sustain them in every trial, and given them the pledge that all things shall work together for their good. It may seem strange to you that pious people should be allowed to suffer. Look about you and see the distress into which many of God's people are plunged; while many who are wicked seem to flourish and prosper — and you wonder, as did the Psalmist. The Bible nowhere promises that piety will make men rich or powerful, or free them from infirmity and disease. It is true that piety does conduce to long life. The average life of ministers of the gospel is greater than that of any other class of men. It is true that vice shortens life, and the Scriptures declare "the wicked shall not live out half their days," but health and power and wealth are by no means necessary accompaniments of piety. If you violate the laws of health, your religion will not save you from the effects of your imprudence. If I put my hand in the fire, all the piety possible would not prevent my getting burned. So, for wealth and power there are certain principles that govern these things to which, if a man will conform, he will attain success, though he be a sinner, and from which, if he deviate, he will fail, though he be a saint. There is a Providence 35 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men in the affairs of men. God will allow no man to lose because of what he does for Christ's sake-^will bless him in all sorrow and trial and sanctify every affliction to his spiritual good. But being a Chris- tian does not secure worldly prosperity — and with good reason, too, for if it did, men would seek to become Christians from unworthy motives. If to become a child of God made a man rich, or gave him social position, we would have ten hypocrites in the church where now we have one. "He shall save his people from their sins" — yes, from their sins, not from sorrow, not from suf- fering, pain, and woe, but from sin. Nothing should distress us but sin ; and if we rose to the height of faith, where it is our privilege to stand, we would be grieved at nothing but sin. What we call trouble, if it contain no sin, is really blessing, and should make us happy instead of miserable. It is sin that destroys men's souls; sin that alienates from God; sin that crucifies Jesus. Trouble and sickness might have been banished from the world without the death of Christ; all the consequences of our deeds might have been visited upon us in eternity — but God saw that was not best, and he sent shadow into the world along with sunshine, till shadows vanish in eternal day. 36 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men Jesus saves from sin, is a truth needing sorely to be impressed on men's minds. Men desire a Saviour who will save from punishment hereafter; and so they think they do not need salvation till death; for then they expect the punishment to begin. They do not desire to be saved from sin. They love sin, and think it a great hardship to be required to abstain from its corruption. Their diseased moral nature feeds on rottenness, and has no taste for the bread of life. Men do not want to be cured, but simply want to be made com- fortable and to feel safe for the hereafter. Now, the Bible offers no such Saviour as that. Jesus saves from sin, and till men desire to be free from sin, Christ has nothing to offer. To make the wicked comfortable was no part of our Lord's mission; nay, it is written plainly "there is no peace to the wicked." Ah, my friends, it is sin that dims your vision and dulls your hearing, sin that drives you from God, sin that is destroying your soul and dragging you into the bottomless pit — will you not come to this Jesus who saves from sin? It is a present salvation you need; not one at death; and a salvation from sin, rather than from punishment. He saves his people from their sins; and this not simply when they repent and trust him, but 37 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men all along the line of their lives. We need Jesus every day to save us from our sins. We are prone to wander from him and to stain our souls with guilt ; and we need a daily application of the aton- ing blood for our cleansing. We are regenerated but once, but we are prone to sin ever; when we think we stand firmly is the very time we fall most grievously. Oh, brethren, let us pray God ceaselessly to keep us from sin, to guide us in holiness here, and to crown us in glory hereafter. Let us have Jesus ever with us, and let us live him, act him, talk him; let us be full of Christ, as was Paul, who in twelve verses refers to him thirteen times — let him indeed be our life, for our lives should be "hid with Christ in God." Let us humble our hearts before him, cherish love for his people, manifest devotion to him by keeping all his commandments, and long to be with him. All that intellect can admire, reason approve, and heart love, is found in Jesus. All the rays of the light of God's wisdom and of the warmth of his love are by Jesus, as a lens, gathered to a focus, making Calvary the brightest and the hottest place to be found: the brightest, for the light streaming from the Cross illumines the darkest recesses of earth and dazzles the seraphim with its brilliance, and 38 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men the hottest, both with God's wrath and with his love; with his wrath, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!" — with his love, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." Here the hardest hearts have been melted, and here the darkest should have been illuminated. "Sweetest note in seraph song, Sweetest sound on mortal tongue, Sweetest carol ever sung, Jesus — Jesus flows along." 39 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men "LEST WE FORGET." BY REV. S. S. WALTZ, D. D. The holly and the evergreen mean far more than a mere decoration. They tell again the story that never grows old. Lest we forget the fountain from which flows life's purest joys, Christmas comes once a year. Amidst a world of worry and its warring discords, we might almost lose the keynote of the angel's song, if again and again we did not hear the sweet refrain, "Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men." Every Christmastide memory carries us back to the cradle in the manger, the shepherds and the wise men, the star and the heaven-born song. Thus again, through all our life until the eternal Christ- mas dawns, there comes a new life to our love, a new thrill to our hope, and a new song in our hearts. The brightest fires of life, sometimes burning low, are new enkindled then. The holiest memories of my life cluster round the Christmas tree in my childhood's home. We've scattered far and wide, and voices that sang with us the carols then and there, are silent here and now. For a day, Christmas memories carry me back to childhood's paradise; 40 REV. S. S. WALTZ. Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men and, lo, I return to my own dear home to-day with a younger, kinder, happier heart. Father, mother, brother, sister, home and wife, earth's holiest words, have a higher, deeper meaning when again we remember how Jesus was born and lived and loved in a human home. Lest we forget that our mission in this world is, not to be ministered unto, but to minister, Christ- mas reminds us of the sublimely unselfish life. When the Christ-child was born, the world's heart was cold and selfish. Men and women wept over their own sorrows, but not another's. Then a new spring of life and love was opened in the human heart. Touched by his magic hand, a new chord was placed in each human breast. It echoed the notes of joy or sorrow that sounded in another's heart. Not a child of need or pain but is my kin, when I remem- ber Him who all his life went about doing good. Since He taught me to pray "Our Father," I am my brother's keeper. Since He said each spar- row is His care, birds and beasts have kinder care from men. Far up in the cold northland, in each Christian farmer's yard is a pole erected, to the top of which is bound a large full sheaf of grain. Why is this? Oh, they say, that is for the birds, the little wild birds ; they must have a merry Christ- 41 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men mas too, you know. And so it is, the whole world of God's creatures grows kinder, better, happier, because Christmas comes once a year. Lest we forget that He came to conquer a world of hearts and homes by love, Christmas comes to remind us how every year since the wise men fol- lowed the star to the manger, his glad realm is widening. Hope grows brighter and the victory is nearer. It was the midnight darkness of sin and self when a gleam of light fell on Bethlehem's plain. From sad and anxious hearts in every land the inquiry came: "Watchman, tell us of the night, what its signs of promise are." At Christmas time the answer came: "O'er yon mountain's height, see that glory beaming star." The years of Christ move grandly on. Increas- ing millions join the chorus and sing to heaven and back to earth the triumphant notes, "Higher yet that star ascends." With all its sins and sorrows, the world of human- kind is getting better. Never since the first Christ- mas dawn were so many kind hearts and helping hands at work as to-day. The cry of need, let it come from near or far, meets somewhere in a sym- pathetic heart a quick response. An age of money- making has ushered in a golden age of giving. The 42 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men love of right, oft trampled down, is more alive to- day than in all time's centuries. Old empires of sin and oppression are crumbling, and on their ruins, nations are to be builded that recognize the claims of God and man. Clouds of heathen dark- ness are yielding to the light of heaven's truth. Ignorance is giving way before the march of uni- versal education. Hail ! bells of Christmas morn ! ' ' Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand ; Ring out the darkness of the land, Ring in the Christ that is to be." 43 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men WHEN CHRIST, THE LORD OF GLORY, CAME. BY WILLIAM F. WOOD. Sweet sleeps the royal infant in his humble bed of straw, And bright the glory shining there the awe- struck shepherds saw; And little dreamed the passers-by, who came and went all day, That in that poor but holy bed the Lord of Glory lay. There, shining with a luster-light that mortals may not know, Was born this holy infant in the lily's beauty glow; The grace of whose sweet coming was as manna to the soul, When clouds of sorrow lower and when waves of trouble roll. 44 WM. F. WOOD. Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men Hosanna to the Lord of Life, who gave that babe to win, From sorrow and the blight of death, the world that we are in ; And glory to the Lord of Hosts, whose gift of love doth glow, Whiter than earth's ten thousand fields in their celestial snow. Rejoice, ye sons of men, rejoice, for hope has ban- ished fear — His glory fills the whole round world — redemp- tion draweth near, And brighter yet the stars shall shine, richer the earth shall be, For He has given a love to us vaster than all the sea. The mountains rear their peaks on high, the raging billows roar, And thunders rock the gray old earth and crash from shore to shore; But mightier far than these, the love, purest and last and best, That came when Christ, the infant, clung to Mary's loving breast. 45 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men CHRISTMAS AS AN ANNIVERSARY. BY T. H. Have you ever thought why it is that so impor- tant an event as the birth of Jesus has been per- mitted or contrived to drop entirely out of memory? And why it is the world has now no image of him, either on canvas or in stone? Do you think this is an accident? But what matter for the date? The important thing is not when he came, but that he came. And why? To build again the walls of Eden, torn down by disobedience. To lift the soul, buried in sorrow and in sin. To place a torch within the tomb, and scatter flowers where before was only death and desolation. The serpent had beguiled the woman; her seed must bruise the serpent's head. Moses foresaw a prophet like unto himself; the manger answered to the floating cradle, and the Lamb of God replaced the Paschal Lamb of history. From dark Egypt Moses led his people to the open; from a greater darkness Jesus leads his people to a broader life. Moses gave a law we could not keep. Jesus came to keep it for us. Moses wrote his law on stone, which might be broken but not bent; Jesus writes 46 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men his law upon the human heart, which, though yield- ing often when it should not, still turns toward him, as the needle, sometimes influenced by magnetic rocks, yet in the main points steadily toward its polar star. Moses painted for the world a god of wrath; Jesus, taking up the brush, retouched the portrait, disclosed a Father in the God, and changed the wrath to love. To Gentile and to Jew religion was a puzzle; Jesus came, a child, made clear the wonder, and resolved the puzzle. Moses pressed with crushing weight upon the sinner; Jesus came to lift the burden for him. Moses said, the soul that sin- neth it shall die; Jesus said, the soul that cometh unto me shall live. To the faint and falling, Moses almost closed the door of hope; Jesus came and threw the door wide open . The ' ' shalls ' ' of Moses and " shall nots" frighten and repel ; the invitations of the Christ allure, attract, and woo. For ages God, the terrible, had been unseen; Jesus drew the curtain back, and lo! the Great, the Infinite, the Terrible, was Love. Jesus with the sick, Jesus at the grave, Jesus teaching a poor woman at the well — how beau- tiful! Even though, as God, he is forgotten, his divinity denied, who can help loving him, and how much more the sinner than the saint! This, then, is my Christmas letter. 47 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men CHRISTMAS, THE HEIGHT. BY BERT FINCK. Christmas is the triumph of sentiment — the cor- onation of mystical truth by the angelic court of the human heart, which materialism tries in vain to destroy. For ages and ages the battle has raged — for ages and ages to come it will rage — between the strong forces of romance and song, and the clanking array of the world. Romance and song, or poetry, life, hope, height, simplicity, warred on forever by greed and by fear, doubt, death, artificiality. Singing armies of youth from the highlands of love, in con- flict with the spectres of age below, that hurl up missiles which fall back on themselves; for what comes from love can not be harmed. Years have naught to do with age. Methuselah may have been a boy ; it is only when the heart is crushed out that man is old and broken. Hence this war forever against the heart, by materialism or age, to seize the throne of sentiment and crown selfishness King. 48 BERT FINCK Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men But sentiment triumphs again and again; rep- resented by friendship, self-sacrifice, devotion to duty, that we see day by day, despite the hollow laughter of cynics; by pity and care for the miser- able — not only for human, but for the brute's dis- tress — and by worship of art and the beautiful in nature and in man. But the height of its triumph is Christmas, the coronation of truth — mystical truth. The truth that is too simple to understand ; the truth of childhood that never can die, with its dreams of hope, trust, heroism, compassion, guid- ance, charity, and victory of good over evil. Truth is the playfellow of childhood: sages fall from ex- haustion to the ground in searching for that which the child takes in his arms. Hence Christmas is but for the young — for the young whose eyes may be dim and heads be gray; the old creep away with envy and fear from a glory that they can not under- stand. And ideality, the real, reigns supreme. The air is filled with strains of lyrical weirdness, and golden stories float upon our dreams : once more our thoughts commune with our fancies, as when about the hearth they used to do. Again we see the light of glittering figures; the halo of the Christ- child blinds our eyes, and troops of beings from the land of fairies dance around us with the radiance of 49 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men stars. They come in shapes of friends, almost for- gotten ; they come in shapes of duties, almost dead ; they come in shapes of sparkling inspiration to utter words of greeting and of cheer. They come in shapes of memories, almost stifled, that bring our lost selves back to their ideals ; they come in shapes of mercy and forgiveness and of longing prayers — to rebind broken ties ; they come in shapes of hopes which have almost faded, that frozen love will warm and bloom again. Above them all, we see the star and manger which tell of life and peace and worlds anew; the monarchs of the past kneel down in homage before divine simplicity and man; before wisdom and strength, beauty and riches, represented by a child — no more — a child. Christmas is the triumph of sentiment, the coro- nation of mystical truth, the glorification of child- hood, of song, of the human heart, of the natural above the unreal. Age is a spectre that passes away; youth lives forever — forever. 50 MADISON CAWEIN. Bewitiful Thoughts of Noble Men A CATCH. BY MADISON CAWEIN. When roads are mired with ice and snow, And the air of morn is crisp with rime ; When the holly hangs by the mistletoe, And bells ring in the Christmas time : — It's — Saddle, my Heart, and ride away, To the sweet-faced girl with the eyes of gray ! Who waits with a smile for the gifts you bring- A man's strong love and a wedding-ring — It's — Saddle, my Heart, and ride! When vanes veer North and storm-winds blow, And the sun of noon is a blur o'erhead; When the holly hangs by the mistletoe, And the Christmas service is sung and said: — It's — Come, O my Heart, and wait awhile, Where the organ peals, in the altar aisle, For the gifts that the church now gives to you- A woman's hand and a heart that's true. It's — Come, O my Heart, and wait! 51 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men When rooms gleam warm with the fire's glow, And the sleet raps sharp on the window-pane ; When the holly hangs by the mistletoe, And Christmas revels begin again: — It's — Home, O my Heart, and love, at last! And her happy breast to your own held fast; A song to sing and a tale to tell, A good-night kiss, and all is well. It's — Home, O my Heart, and love! 52 REV. T. M. HAWES. Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men A PICTURE. BY REV. T. M. HAWES. One of the most impressive ways of perceiving the truth is to see it reflected from a picture. The mirror can be so skillfully held up to nature, in this way, that we are often able to see ourselves as in a glass. The value of a picture lies chiefly in its fidelity to truth, and the effect it has upon us de- pends, to no small extent, on how much it suggests of that which pertains to our own lives. What- ever of decided emotion it produces in us is mainly because we connect it with something in our own experience. You may look at a large number of pictures before finding one that brings the truth home to you; but, having found it, you will linger over it long and lovingly, and one such picture is worth a thousand of those that do not touch you. It may, perchance, be a very obscure one and en- tirely unattractive to others, but it is the picture for you, and no matter what others think of it, buy it, if it is for sale and your purse permits. I remember to have had the privilege of viewing a very fine collection of paintings, and, with cata- 53 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men logue in hand, I often visited the gallery to study the pictures. I looked for a long time before find- ing one that reached my heart, and lo ! it was one of the smallest of all, and in a quiet corner, compara- tively unnoticed. What do you think it was? Not a fine mansion; not a beautiful face; not a pictur- esque landscape. Simply a little glimpse of a rough country road and an old tumbled-down rail fence. There were some bleak-looking trees, robbed of their leaves by the early frost and the sighing winds of autumn ; there was an old horse wearily picking his way along the rocky hillside and dragging an old- fashioned buggy, which looked as if it might go to pieces at any moment. Seated in the buggy was an aged man, whose face I could not see because his back was toward me, but I knew it must be a good, kind face, and one familiar to me. What a skillful stroke of the artist to let me imagine the face of the dear old man ! True art never exhausts the subject by realistic details, but ever leaves some- thing for the imagination of the beholder to fill out according to his own fancy. Trying to do too much is nearly always the mark of an amateur, not only in painting, but in other arts. Now this is all there was of the picture, but it was enough, and it was worth all the rest to me, for 54 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men it flooded me with thought and feeling whenever I beheld it. I can not describe the strange charm, the powerful suggestiveness of that simple picture. It seemed to spread out before me the whole pano- rama of life, from boyhood to old age, from spring- time to autumn. It told of a summer that had faded, of a winter near at hand. It told of boyhood days along the country road, when the sun was shining and the birds were singing in the tree-tops; of youthful days when the heart leaped for joy at thoughts of love; of days of manly vigor when the step was firm and the purpose fixed ; and now this trio of horse, and buggy, and man, staggering and creak- ing and bent with age and long service, told that not far ahead was the end of their journey. Surely the old buggy can not stand the rough road much longer, nor the old horse have strength for many more miles of travel, and probably before the leaves put forth again the dear old man will be at rest. In our own lives, and their relations to those we love, are there not to be found the truths suggested by the picture? Have we not played along this road in the happy springtime of boyhood? Are not some of us now in the full-blown summer, which too soon must pass ? Are there not those who, like the dear old man in the picture, seem to be going 55 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men away from us, and we can not stop them? Winter is near at hand, and their forms are too feeble for the rough road and the chilling wind. May we not hope that just beyond the brow of the hill, which forms the horizon in the picture, there is a happy home to which our aged friend is going? And may we not hope that just beyond the horizon, to which some of our loved ones seem so nearly drawn, there is for them, and finally for us, a still happier home, to which we are all going — a Christmas time, indeed, around the hearthstone of our Father's house on high? 56 DR. H. A. COTTELL. Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men BY THE FIRELIGHT. BY H. A. COTTELL, M. D. Before my slowly waning fire I muse alone to-night ; I see the smoldering brands expire In dim and ghostly light; While in each dying ray I see A type of that which burns in me. For I behold life's wasting flame Wax fainter day by day; And all in vain I would reclaim Its old accustomed play; But there is naught that can restore The hopes which fed that flame of yore. The blinding joys of early days In dazzling streamers broke, And young ambition fanned the blaze, But vanished like the smoke; Then love, awhile, within it burned, But, ah, how soon to ashes turned! 57 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men All that I have or hope or prize Fall doomed upon the pyre; Awhile in radiant flames they rise, But perish in the fire; And, sinking down and smoldering slow, Give back a faint and ominous glow. Thou, whose all-quickening breath divine Didst fan to life this fire, O, may it not all vainly shine Ere its last ray expire ! But let its dying luster light And cheer some wanderer lost in night. And, when its ray shall cease to gleam On this benighted plain, O, may some quick celestial beam Rekindle it again! In realms on high its power restore, And make it shine forevermore. 58 HON. W. B. HALDEMAN. Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men CHRISTMAS GIFTS. BY W. B. HALDEMAN. The approach of Christmas, an occasion of good cheer and abundant feasts, is ever marked by a gen- erous throbbing of the heart — awakened to good impulses and pleasing memories. At such times, those who are blessed with the comforts of life should not forget the poor; but should remember that it is written down in the Scriptures that "The Lord loveth a cheerful giver." The stockings of the orphans and the penniless, hanging empty on a Christmas morn, in a Christmas land, while disappointment brings tears to innocent childhood, during a time of general gladness, seem at once a protest against thoughtlessness, a rebuke to selfishness, and an appeal to the higher impulses and sentiments of the human heart. Christmas is not only a festival ; it is not only a time for gift-giving; it is a time for thanks-giving, also ; for it commemorates the birth of the Christ- child, who came into the world as the Saviour of mankind, and who commanded that the Gospel, 59 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men without money and without price, should be preached to the poor, and who proclaimed, "On earth peace, good will to men." In the need of that Gospel all men are poor; and in remembrance of this gracious gift to us — the greatest and most precious of all gifts — we should bestow good gifts upon the poor and needy, not only when Christmas comes, but at all opportune times; giving thanks, always, to the great Giver of all, for the inestimable privileges of education and liberty bestowed upon us in this advanced stage of civilization, and for the blessings of home and fireside and Christianizing influences vouchsafed to us, and to the people of our whole country, in this, the greatest century of the world's history. 60 CALE YOUNG RICE. Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men A JAPANESE MOTHER. (In Time of War.) by cale young rice. The young stork sleeps in the pine-tree tops, Down on the brink of the river. My baby sleeps by the bamboo copse — The bamboo copse where the rice-field stops : The bamboos sigh and shiver. The white fox creeps from his hole in the hill : I must pray to Inari. I hear her calling me low and chill — Low and chill when the wind is still At night, and the skies hang starry. And ever she says, "He's dead — he's dead! Your lord who went to battle ! How shall your baby now be fed — Ukibo fed, with rice and bread — What if I hush his prattle?" 61 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men The red moon rises as I slip back, And the bamboo stems are swaying. Inari was deaf — and yet the lack, The fear and lack are gone — and the rack, I know not why, with praying. For though Inari cared not at all, Some other god was kinder. I wonder why he has heard my call — My giftless call — and what shall befall? Hope has but left me blinder. 62 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men THE NEW YEAR. BY ISAAC T. WOODSON. Here's a smile and a tear for the New Year! In what will the New Year differ from the old? There will be sunshine and shadow. There will be songs, and sighs. There will be troth-plighting, and disappointment — Love's young dream, and mourning. There will be blooming health, and beds of affliction. There will be happy child- hood, and the cares of age — buoyant hopes and blighting sorrows. There will be life and death — sin and sorrow; and, sometimes — let us hope — repentance, and joy. Days and weeks will roll rapidly away; and, soon will come again another Christmas and another New Year. Into the dim and misty realms of the past Memory wings its silent, speedy flight, and brings to us who have passed the springtime of our earthly existence, fond recollections of the days of our childhood, when Innocence and Truthfulness, and Health and Gladness, and Faith in the zest of to-day, and the brightness of to-morrow, all went hand in hand. 63 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men How smoothly and peacefully and joyously then glided away the old year into the new ! How swiftly went out old year after old year, until, in the course of time, the new year found us putting away childish things — growing older, more thought- ful, less confident of anticipated goals, less enchanted with the vanishing present, more inquiring as to our future and final destiny ! It was Winter which taught our youthful eyes to perceive that the blossom and fragrance and verdure of the earth is transient and perishable. It was the passing of the years that made it possible for our impulsive hearts to learn that all that colors life with dreamy show and magnificence is subject to change and disso- lution. It is the hoar-frost which reminds us that the spring season of life, the midsummer of our existence, the autumn fullness of our being, must each and all fade away at the approach of Wintry Age. It is Winter which comes upon us unawares, blighting much that was beautiful — and hiding from our sight cherished objects which we shall see no more. And thus the New Year, heralded by chilling blasts, yet coming as a harbinger of good, reminds us of Death and Desolation. To this twofold messenger, we look with both hope and resignation. For, no matter what rude winds may 6 4 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men blow, we must remember that, in the benign reign of the New Year, the sun will still give light and warmth, as of old, — there will be seed-time and harvest again, — the birds will sing and the flowers will bloom, and the pulses of life will beat, as in the old year. Blossom and fruitage, and Love and Joy, will each be with us. Let us trust that God's divine love will protect us, and will shine down upon us from the sun and moon and planets, as of old, and upon generations after us, throughout cycles of time, to us unknown and unknowable, in which humanity will more and more hail the New Year as an era of gladness and of manifold blessings. Not to consider the coming years as full of promise for mankind, even though we may remem- ber the finiteness and incompleteness of human life, is to forget the gradual, but increasing, advance- ment of man in the centuries gone by, in all of the essentials which make for right living and right thinking — the forward march of civilization, and the great fact of Christianity, which is at all times extending its uplifting influence among the people of every land — even unto the remotest isles of every sea. 65 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men CHRIST SENT. BY BENNETT H. YOUNG. As man looks into the heavens he is filled with a profound sense of sublimity and awe. The sun, the moon, the stars, the fading twilight, the gor- geous dawn, the glorious moon, infinite space have no voices to answer his pathetic inquiry as to who inhabits the limitless areas of the great beyond. With terror he listens to the deep-toned thunder and gazes with dread at the flashing lightning. He realizes his own weakness and his absolute inability to either understand or cope with these tremendous agencies of Nature's marvelous forces. But he distinctly feels that in that wonderful land there are instrumentalities which affect his destiny. Without revelation he would worship the sun, the source of heat, power, and life. Without the voice of God he would turn in silent or expressed despair and try to find solace in the moon, heaven's softer and tenderer exponent of creative power, or yet with upturned face he would appeal to the myriad stars, those lesser lights that illumine the firmament which declare Jehovah's glory. These 66 COL. BENNETT H. YOUNG. Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men in all their grandeur, in all their vastness and appalling splendor, send forth no word of explana- tion nor emit a single ray of hope to the being whose very existence teaches immortality, and from whose bosom wells up the cry of exemption from annihilation. Two thousand years ago there came from God a response to these longings of man for a herald from the abode of the sun, moon, and stars. The Babe of Bethlehem, cradled in a manger over whom the brightest of all heaven's messengers stood with fixed intensest glory, and angels sent from the very throne of God Himself in great multitudes revealed to the world that Jehovah had answered the importunate cry of ages, and made response to the entreaties and demands of the soul for some personal manifestation of God's concern for men. The silence of eternity was at last broken. God's love, grace, mercy, pity and compassion overflowed, and down to earth came the gladdest song that ever reached human ear or thrilled human heart. The secrets of the Most High were laid bare, and His immeasurable compassion and tender affection for the creatures made in His own image and likeness were unveiled. 67 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men In the form of the Christ, over whose rude cradle the planets had ceased their revolutions for a while to do honor, there was now the Spirit of the Son of God, who had come from the blessed land where sin and sorrow find no abode, to take man's form and endure man's grief, share man's disappointments and trials, and through the gift of his own life on the accursed cross, by the shed- ding of His own blood to win for all who would believe on His name everlasting life, endless joy and infinite peace, and to clothe man with an immortality like to that of the Creator Himself. So we have the celebration of this, the most wonderful and most amazing of all earth events — Christ-Mass, or Christ Sent — and in which with abounding joy, with supreme gladness, we com- memorate this advent of God in human form amongst men. Heaven, earth, God, angels, men — all join in the grand refrain, and with mingled songs and melodies, the sweetest and strangest ever heard, declare the glory of God, the joy of angels, and the gratitude of men. The wise men, to whom the heavenly secret was revealed and who followed the lead of the faithful guide sent from God, "rejoiced with exceed- ing great joy," and falling down worshiped the 68 Beautiful Tho^lghts of Noble Men infant Son of Man, and bestowed upon Him the richest treasures. To these there was no full revelation of that more glorious hour when, with bowed head and infinite glory of soul, off the cross the Messiah should make the nobler declaration, "It is finished!" and exclaim, "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit," then with divine satisfaction return to that gracious God who had sent Him upon His mission of love and redemp- tion, so wonderful and so benevolent that only God could devise. Christmas — man's anniversary of Heaven's remembrance and help — fills the souls of all who have heard the good news and glad tidings with infinite joy. From the home of the redeemed, where countless throngs around the throne day and night, and from millions on earth, where hearts catch divine impulse of praise and worship in the teachings of the Comforter sent by the Saviour Himself to abide with men forever, there is one song, and only one, a melody with no discordant note, that bespeaks the touch of heavenly attune- ment — the song of Moses and the Lamb. He who had come rejoiced in the title of the Burden Bearer. He had left Heaven to declare God's love for man, inexpressible save by the sacrifice of His 69 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men only begotten Son , to teach the human soul when weary to stay itself on the Divine arm, to show men how to be contented when they are wretched, how to be happy when they are sad, how to be patient when despairing, how to be brave when oppressed, and how to be heroic when hopeless, how to smile when in the face of man's implacable and invincible foe — Death ; and how from the destruction and gloom of the grave to break through its darkness and terror and find eternal light and rest in the radiance and glory of God's changeless abode, Heaven. 70 ISAAC T. WOODSON. Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men THE ONWARD WAY. BY ISAAC T. WOODSON. O, sweet are the gardens of bloom In the dewy and rosy dawn, And sweet are the fleeting joys Of Life in its radiant morn. O, sweet is a lover's dream ; Will its sensuous glamour last? O, sad is the hour when love shall seem A dream of the vanished past. O, sweet are stolen waters, And bitter the waters of Marah. O, sweet is the charm of revelry, And sad is the wail of sorrow. O, sweet is the song of the siren, And weak is the heart of man When honor, the crown of endeavor, Is lost in a moment's span. O, sweet is the voice of Temptation To the ear of Innocence, And sad is the moan of wretchedness When the outcast shall go hence. 71 Beautiful Thoughts of Noble Men O, sweet is the peace of a well-spent life, The calm of a closing day, When a lover of good looks o'er the past And dreams of the onward way. O, swiftly the moments fly, And swiftly the years disappear, Yet sweet is the hope that when we die Our Shepherd will be near. O, who would His presence deny? Oh, who would His coming delay? Full well we know they have little to fear Who fear to go astray. MRS. ETHEL C. STANDIFORD. 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