My friends, the chief duty of the ministers of God, is, that they should
help their brethren to the best of their fallible knowledge and feeble
power. When there is a spirit of repentance; when men truly seek the
means of grace; when they have ceased to be insolent and defiant in sin;
when they do intend--were it but ever so faintly--to lead a new
life--then
Our commission is to heal, not harm;
We come not to condemn, but reconcile;
We come not to compel, but call again;
We come not to destroy, but edify;
Nor yet to question things already done;
These are forgiven; matters of the past;
And range with jetsam, and with offal, thrown
Into the blind sea of forgetfulness.
--_F. W. Farrar, D. D._
1364
One ounce of mirth is worth more than ten thousand weight of gloominess.
1365
Man is no match for woman where mischief reigns.
--_Balzac._
1366
Most just it is that he who breweth mischief should have the first
draught of it himself.
--_Jemmat._
1367