of spiritual gravitation that he is drawn to it. But two hard
lessons await him. One is, that to reach that goal he must trust himself
to a higher Power, his own effort and purpose being to obey that Power.
The other is, that the goal is not for one alone, but for all; and he can
reach it only as he shares the common lot, making himself partner in the
vicissitudes of his comrades, rejoicing with them that rejoice and
weeping with them that weep. On our long voyage the stars by which we
steer must be Duty and Love. The stars guide us, the winds and currents
bear us, to the port of perfect good. The instinct of our journey's end
we call Hope; the instinct by which we cleave to our true course, even
when wholly doubtful of its end, and though false lights beckon us
alluringly,--that instinct we call Faith.

Open your eyes upon the world on such a morning as this. Forget your own
cares long enough to really see, but for a moment, yonder spray of roses
waving in the breeze. Watch the play of light and shade in the
flickering leaves overhead. Listen to the chorus of voices from bird,
insect, and wind. The wine of gladness! Nature pours it in a sparkling
flood, unceasing by day and night, for every one who will drink.

Nature pours the wine of gladness, but only from the mingling of human
hearts comes the oil of tenderness. From sorrow it gets its sacred
fragrance, from mutual service it draws its healing power, from the
bitterness of parting it wins the sweetness of an inexpressible hope.

It was under the stroke of a great bereavement, the death of his child,
that Emerson, in the "Threnody," gave utterance to highest consolation
soaring out of sorrow's darkness. It was under the shadow of that loss
that he heard the voice,--

"Saying, What is excellent,
As God lives, is permanent;
Hearts are dust, hearts' loves remain,
Heart's love will meet thee again."

It is the same voice that speaks through all the ages. It speaks through
Isaiah, "to give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." It speaks in Paul, when
in one sentence he gives the relation with God and his fellows into which
man may come when out of darkness is born light. "Blessed be God, even
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God
of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be
able to comfort them which are in any trouble b