be a man of God,
who can pluck the heart from one's bosom, and turn it round and round.
I had thought I could never have another moment's happiness, if my
neighbor, Hans Gottlieb, should be magistrate: and with that verse of
yours, it has been with me as when one calms the blood with a magic
spell."

"Well, my good friend, I am rejoiced to hear it: believe me, every one
has in himself alone a whole host to govern. What can so strongly
urge men to wish to govern others? What can it profit you to be local
magistrate, when to accomplish your object you must perhaps do something
wrong? What were the fame, not only of a village, but even of the whole
world, if you could have no self-respect? Let it suffice for you to
perform your daily duties with uprightness; let your joys be centred in
your wife and children, and you will be happy. What need you more? Think
not that honor and station would make you happy. Rejoice, and again I
say, rejoice: 'A contented spirit is a continual feast.' I often whisper
this to myself, when I feel disposed to give way to dejection: and
although misery be not our fault, yet lack of endurance and of patience
in misery is undoubtedly our fault."

"I would my wife were here too, that she also might hear this; I grudge
myself the hearing of it all alone; I cannot remember it all properly,
and yet I should like to tell it to her word for word. Who would have
thought that, by standing upon a load of wood, one could get a peep into
heaven!"

Gellert in silence bowed his head; and afterwards he said: "Yes, rejoice
in your deed, as I do in your gift. Your wood is sacrificial-wood. In
olden time--and it was right in principle, because man could not yet
offer prayer and thanks in spirit--it was a custom and ordinance to
bring something from one's possessions, as a proof of devotion: this was
a sacrifice. And the more important the gift to be given, or the request
to be granted, the more costly was the sacrifice. Our God will have no
victims; but whatsoever you do unto one of the least of His, you do unto
Him. Such are our sacrifices. My dear friend, from my heart I thank
you; for you have done me a kindness, in that you have given me a real,
undeniable proof, that my words have penetrated your heart, and that I
do not live on for nothing: and treasure it up in your heart, that you
have caused real joy to one who is often, very often, weighed down with
heaviness and sorrow. You have not only kindled brig