"Life is uncertain," folks say. Life is certain, say I, because God is educating us thereby. But this process of education is so far above our sight that it looks often uncertain and utterly lawless; wherefore fools conceive (as does M. Comte) that there is no Living God, because they cannot condense His formulas into their small smelling-bottles. O glorious thought! that we are under a Father's education, and that _He_ has promised to develop us, and to make us go on from strength to strength. _Letters and Memories_. 1868. Sensuality. June 11. What is sensuality? Not the enjoyment of holy glorious matter, but blindness to its meaning. _MS._ 1842. The Journey's End. June 12. Let us live hard, work hard, go a good pace, get to our journey's end as soon as possible--then let the post-horse get his shoulder out of the collar. . . . I have lived long enough to feel, like the old post-horse, very thankful as the end draws near. . . . Long life is the last thing that I desire. It may be that, as one grows older, one acquires more and more the painful consciousness of the difference between what _ought_ to be done and what _can_ be done, and sits down more quietly when one gets the wrong side of fifty, to let others start up to do for us things we cannot do for ourselves. But it is the highest pleasure that a man can have who has (to his own exceeding comfort) turned down the hill at last, to believe that younger spirits will rise up after him, and catch the lamp of Truth, as in the old lamp-bearing race of Greece, out of his hand before it expires, and carry it on to the goal with swifter and more even feet. _Speech at Lotus Club_, _New York_. 1874. Punishment Inevitable. June 13. It is a fact that God does punish here, in this life. He does not, as false preachers say, give over this life to impunity and this world to the devil, and only resume the reigns of moral government and the right of retribution when men die and go into the next world. Here in this life He punishes sin. Slowly but surely God punishes. If any of you doubt my words you have only to commit sin and then see whether your sin will find you out. _Sermons on David_. 1866. The Problem Solved. June l4. After all, the problem of life is not a difficult one, for it solves itself so very soon at best--by death. Do what is right the best way you can, and wait to the end to _know_. _MS. Letter_. But remember that though death may alter our place, it cannot alter our character--though it may alter our circumstances, it cannot alter ourselves. _Discipline and other Sermons_. The Father's Education. June 15.