ust perform with pleasure; our sacrifices we must make cheerfully,
knowing that he who sacrifices most is noblest; we must forgive with an
understanding of the glory of forgiveness, and use the blessings we
have, realizing how great are small blessings when properly accepted. I
have known men sit to a table comfortably spread with wholesome food and
make themselves and all with them miserable because it lacked something
their pampered palate craved. A true man will _enjoy_ a crust of bread,
and if he has nothing more, count it a God-send that may save his life.
I have seen women embroil a comfortable home with constant disquiet
because it was not so grand as their vanity desired; and others never
tire in their complaints against a very good house because it was
destitute of a convenience or two that some other house had. I have seen
young women completely miserable because some article of dress did not
harmonize with the last fashioned plait, or some of their surroundings
were not quite so beautiful or agreeable as those of some wealthier
friend. Forgetting to use what they had to administer to their
Happiness, they tormented their souls because they had not something
else. All these repinings and complaints come from unchaste spirits.
Wisdom dwells not in such souls. The little we have we should enjoy, and
if we need or wish more we should labor cheerfully to obtain it, and
rejoice in our labor and hope. We should seek to draw Happiness from
every little incident in life, from every thing we have, and every thing
by which we are surrounded. This is the secret of much Happiness. I
believe all desire to be happy. It seems to be the one great wish of the
human soul in which all the others center. But desire is not enough. We
must seek the Happiness we wish; seek it in the wisdom which opens
life's mysteries plainly to our view; which reveals our present and
eternal relations, and points out the ways of pleasantness and peace.
Would we know the _truth_, the gemmy walks of knowledge, the flowery
bowers of inward and joyous life, the teachings of nature, revelation,
the Son and the Father? We must seek, else how shall we find them? These
things do not come of themselves. Our minds do not develop truth as the
forest develops leaves or the prairie flowers, without effort. Truth is
without, and must be sought. Would we find the path of _duty_? We must
seek it in earnest effort to find and enjoy. And we must seek it with a
full de