For them, and for parents of all ranks,
the wisest plan, I believe, is to make no far-fetched plans for their
children's future, certainly no ambitious intrigues for their marriage:
but simply to educate them--that is, to bring out in them, day by day,
all that is purest and best, wisest and ablest, and leave the rest to
God; sure that if they are worth anything, their Father in heaven will
find them work to do, and a place at His table, in this life and in the
life to come.
Yes, my dear friends, this is the true philosophy, the philosophy which
Christ preaches to us all--to old and young, rich and poor, ploughman and
scholar, maid, wife, and widow, all alike.
Fret not. Plot not. Look not too far ahead.
Fret not--lest you lose temper, and be moved to do evil. Plot not--lest
you lose faith in God, and be moved to be dishonest. Look not too far
ahead--So far only, as to keep yourselves out of open and certain danger-
-lest you see what is coming before you are ready for the sight. If we
foresaw the troubles which may be coming, perhaps it would break our
hearts; and if we foresaw the happiness which is coming, perhaps it would
turn our heads.
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