The Sweetwater enterprise. (Sweetwater, Tenn.) 1869-187?, 1870-07-07
BEAUTY.

A Literary Address deliusreG 10 the
graduating Class Of Bohiuar Female
academy, Madisonpille, Tenn, June
l7th, 1870, By Reu. j. II. Martin.
CONCLUDED.
We behold Beauty in the exercise of
the social affections, in the sweet endear-
monts of domestic life, in homes of purity,
peace and love, in the order, harmony and
joy of a wcll-regulated household. The
family should be little Eden, minia-
ture Paradise, bower Of peace, place of
happiness, scene of social beauty, lowell
ness and felicity.
We discover beauty in virtue, rectitude
and moral worth, in character marked
by integrity, justice, temperance, kind
ness and other commendable qualities.
1t is said of a certain Jewish youth, that
Jesus loved him. There was something
amiable, beautiful and pleasing, even to
the eye, of spotless purity, in the virtuous
dispositions and upright conduct of that
young man, although he was deficient in
true piety, and therefore, lacked perfec-
tiOn. There is beauty in the moral char
acter, virtues and depOrtmont of fSocrates,
although he were heathen, aud destitute
of the knowledge and happiness required
by Christianity. .s.
But Beauty in its highest, sweetest and
most engaging form, isfound in the sphere
of Religion. Here leaving the natural,
the sensuous and the merely intellectual,
We pass into the world of the supernatural,
the spiritual, the heavenly and divine.
And to him who has the true insight, the
vision and the faculty divine, not of poe
try, but of Religion, the power Of spiritu.
al discernment, Beauty, in her most en-
chanting shape, appears in every direction
and presents her celestial image at every
turn. She beams upon him in prayer,
when he reads the Scriptures, when he
contemplates the character and works Of
God, when he beholds the face of Jesus,
when he walks about Zion and surveys
her walls, palaces, towers and bulwarks,
when he views the individual Saint and
the collective body of Christ's followers
that constitute the church, when by faith
he rises to heaven. and gazes upon the
glOrics and delights of the celestial coun-
try. The religious mind enjoys aperpet-
ual feast of spiritual excellence and beau
ty. 1t beholds the loveliness of infinite
perfection in God. tsees the beau ideal
of beauty in Jesus Christ, who is depicted
in Scripture as incomparably excellent
aud glorious, fairer than angels, men and
all other objects of creation, the chief
among ten thousand, altogether lovely,
This beauty is reflected in some degree by
every true disciple, who resembles his di-
vine master, and is lovely in proportion
as he is Christ-like. A frequent express
ion of one eminent for piety and usefulness
was, '0h the ineffable beauty and love-
illness of holy life." Spiritual beauty
is seen in the divine organization of the
church. In the Old Testament, zion is
extolcd for her attractions. She is call
ed the perfection of beauty, the joy of tho
whole earth. And these descriptive APP
pcllations are ftly applied to the church
or kingdom of Christ, which, to spiritual
mind, is the most beautiful thing under
heaven. ..-..-,,
The moral lovliness of truth and righte-
BUSINESS, purity and goodness, is called iu
the Bible, "The Beauty of Holiness" This
is beauty of the highest order, surprising
all other kinds, composed of the purest
and nOblest elements, most attractive and
adorning, most sweet and engaging, most
pleasing and delightful, most worthy to be
admired, sought after and possessed
In imagination, the believer mounts from
earth to Heaven, scars beyond the skies
and obtains views of celestial glory and
beauty. He sees the splendors of the New
Jerusalem; its foundations garnished with
all manner of precious stones; its walls of
jasper; its gates of pearl; its streets of
gold; its throne arched with rainbow,
like unto an emerald, and before the throne
a sea of glass, like upto crystal He be-
holds the dazzling forms of Angels, the
elders with their golden crowns, the viz
gins with their harps of gold, and tho in
Vulnerable company of the redeemed
clothed with white robes and palms in
their hands. .a....
,:!FGuidcd by prophecy, the Christian looks
forward into futurity and forcsees mil
lenium of knowledge, righteousness, love
and peace on earth-a prospect of moral
beauty and glory. Gazing beyond the day
of judgment and the end of this world, he
contemplates the lovely vision of a reno
waited unNersc-both physical and moral,
the beauty and grandeur of new heavens
and new earth, wherein dwelleth rishte-
nousness; the scene of renewed and holy
creation, from which sin and death, and
everything that is evil, hurtful and hide
Gus, shall be excluded, and where the true,
the beautiful and the good, with supreme
and undisputed sway, shall reign forever
more. ~
Let us next consider Beauty as source
of pleasure to the mind. 1t is an exciting
IL