Page:Three Thousand Selected Quotations from Brilliant Writers.djvu/565

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SORROW.
557

I really believe if, instead of shutting ourselves into our sorrows and keeping all the light of heaven out of our souls, we opened them to receive Him, Christ would so come to us that the season of our deepest grief and anguish would become one of the richest and most precious of our whole lives.

A. H. K..

Sorrows humanize our race;
Tears are the showers that fertilize this world.


There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues.


Since Thou on earth hast wept,
     And sorrowed oft alone,
If I must weep with Thee,
     My Lord, Thy will be done!


As the Christian's sorrows multiply, his patience grows, until, with sweet, unruffled quiet, he can confront the ills of life, and, though inwardly wincing, can calmly pursue his way to the restful grave, while his old, harsh voice is softly cadenced into sweetest melody, like the faint notes of an angel's whispered song. As patience deepens, charity and sympathy increase.


Earth may embitter, not remove.
     The love divinely given;
And e'en that mortal grief shall prove
The immortality of love,
     And lead us nearer heaven.