Excerpt from Two Discourses, Occasioned by the Decease of the Hon. Daniel P. King: Preached at Danvers, July 28, 1850 It is not possible to say more of any life than this. "It has accomplished the work God gave it to do." You can place before yourself no higher aim than this - to finish the work God trusts to your fidelity. And I have taken these words this morning, that we may ponder upon, and view more clearly, this high aim and bright Ideal of Life. If we can impress it upon ourselves, and by communion with its truth, rouse our aspirations and brace our energies for a nobler and stronger course; if thoughts of Christ or of any true friends - God's generous blessings to our hearts - shall move us to press forward more urgently on the Christian's immortal race, then this will indeed be a sacred, life-giving occasion. God grant it may; for our work is vast, our power great, our influence wide, and our calling high. God grant it may; for though at every time earth needs the constant tribute of her children, there yet come hours when, above all, a voice from Heaven and earth tells us we must be faithful; shows us our work, entreats us to perform it. When we have, for a time, forgotten the deep earnestness of life; when we have become neglectful of real sincerity, and suffered custom to dim our purity and hide the light within; when the good, who have spoken many words of love and truth and freedom, when the honest, who have been strong in principle, when these pass from our sight and can only be heard and seen by the purified sense and earnest spirit, then above all, we need to brace our energies and lift our prayers for a truer life. And this is such an hour. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.