gush of sorrow at any of life's sharp trials and losses?
No; nor are we forbidden to weep, nor would we be human if we did not
weep,-if, at least, the spirit did not quiver when the keen scathing
goes over it. But how shall we weep? O! Thou, who didst suffer in
Gethsemane, thou hast taught us how. By thy sacred sorrow and thy pious
obedience thou has taught us; by thy great agony and thy sublime
victory thou has taught us. We must refer all to God. We must earnestly,
sincerely say, "Thy will be done." Then our prayers will be the source
of our strength. Then our sorrowing will bring us comfort. "They will
be done;" repeat this, feel this, realize its meaning and its relations,
and you shall be able to say, with a rooted calmness, "The cup which my
Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?"

"The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" Who
shall be able to say this as Jesus said it? They who struggle as he
struggled,-who obey as he obeyed,-who trust as he trusted. There are
those upon earth who have been able to say it. It has made them stronger
and happier. There are those in heaven who have been able to say it.
They have gone up from earthly communions to the communion on high. Do
you not see them there, walking so serenely by the still waters, with
palms about their brows? Serenely-for in their faces nothing is left of
their conflict but its triumph; nothing of their swollen agony but the
massy enduring strength it has imparted. They have ceased from their
trials, but first they learned how to endure them. They submitted, but
they were not overwhelmed. When sorrow came, each pious soul struggled,
but trusted; and so was able to meet the last struggle,-was able to say
as the shadow of death fell upon it, "The cup which my Father hath given
me, shall I not drink it?" They were resigned. Behold-theirs is the
victory!

THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN

"And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in
the midst of them." Matthew xviii.2.

Everything has its mission. I speak not now of the office which each
part of the great universe discharges. I speak not of the relation
between these parts,--that beautiful ordinance by which the whole is
linked together in one common life, by which the greatest is dependent
upon the least, and the least shares in the benefactions of the
greatest. In this sense, everything has, strictly, its mission. But I
speak of the influence, the in