The Crown of Thorns

Perhaps I may say, without any over-refinement upon my topic, that there are three things in life to which the desires of men especially cling, --three tabernacles which upon the slope of this world they would like to build. I speak now, it is to be remembered, of desires of impulse, not of deliberation, --of desires often felt, if not expressed. And I say, in the first place, that there are certain conditions in life itself that it sometimes appears desirable to retain. Sometimes, from the heart of a man, there breaks forth a sigh for perpetual youth. In the perplexities of mature years, -- in the experience of selfishness, and hollowness, and bitter disappointment; in the surfeit of pleasure; in utter weariness of the world, --he exclaims, "O! give me back that sweet morning of my days, when all my feelings were fresh, and the