Tell me, oh, tell me, what is it we need? Do we need health, or
genius, or learning, or eloquence, or pleasure, or fame, or power?
Do we need wealth, or rank, or office? Does any one of us need to
be chaplain, or clerk, or representative, or senator, or speaker,
or vice-president? an officer of the army or navy? a member or head
of any department? a foreign minister? a cabinet officer? or even a
successor in the line of presidents of the United States? Is such our
need? Ah, no! we need salvation.
What did I say in the beginning? Did I not say we need elevation? as
men, Americans, and Christians, we need elevation: in our persons and
families, states and churches, we need elevation. Certainly I did thus
speak, and meant all I said.
Oh, my Friends! All the distinctions alluded to such as we know
them here, are comparatively little things. Greater things are in
prospect; but these things, though they seem great, are really little.
Pause, think, recall what life has taught you--what observation
and experience have combined to impress most deeply upon your
consciousness--and begin your review with the sad words, _after all_!
After all, health is a little thing, and genius is a little thing,
and learning, and eloquence, and pleasure, and fame, and power, and
wealth, and rank, and office, all earthly things are little things.
How little satisfaction they yield while they last, and how soon they
pass away!