A statesman retiring from public life occupied himself in his latter days with serious thoughts.

The friends who came to visit him, reproached him with being melancholy. "No," he replied; "I am only serious. All around me is serious, and I feel the need that heart and mind should be in unison with my surroundings."

"For," he added, with such solemnity as to impress all present, "God is serious as He watches us. Jesus [pg 174] is serious when He intercedes for us. The Holy Spirit is serious when He guides us. Satan is serious when he tempts us. The wicked in hell are serious now, because they neglected to be so when on earth; all is serious in that world whither we are wending."

Oh, my friends! believe me, it is all true; let us at least at times be serious in our thoughts and in our actions.