The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1899-01-19
DO THINGS PLEASANTLY.
Gertleness Should Constantly Beau
tify Every Energy.
/ EssoN TO US PLAIN.

Philosophical Friend in Richmond Dispatch.
"Be each, pray God, a gentleman"
--Thaskeray.
The universal and continuous les
son OF Nature is the doing of things
pleasantly. The Supreme Ruler is
wonderful in counsel and excellent In
working-perfect in His business
methods, but exercising and delight
ing in loving kindness and tender mer
cy. God is Loye. And earthly pow
er doth then show likest Gods when
gentleness beauties energy. The ways
of wisdom are pleasaEtness.
Grace and beauty, which delight the
soul of man, are lavishly spread oyer
all the works and all the operations OF
creation. They intimate the handi-
work and goodness Of Heaven, and
their live loveliness tells Of the present
God, His all pervading love.
The remotest discovery of the tele-
scope finds grace and beauty in the
infinite profound, and the most pow
erfui microscope reveals it in the in
tiniteslmal. The depths of ocean are
adorned with them, and they he con
cealed under their toughest wrappings.
The glory of God is to hide them, the
honor of man to find them out. Man
traces the footsteps and handiwork OF
deity by signs of grace and beauty and
wonderful wisdom. The great globe
we inhabit Is all full of them to entice,
TO awaken, to animate, to quicken ev-
cry part of our being that we may I'M
fold, flower and expand after the divine
nature, and that our earth may open
its mysteries, and at last give up its
dead.
These thoughts are not mere imagi-
nations, fictions, and intellectual amuse-
lnents They are the very eloquence
Of things.
The commonest things of life SO &C
cupy US with their grace and beauty
that we almost forget their purpose
and business. Our bodies are kept
alive and sustained by the services of
the sun. And it is the business centre
of our world and the other glorious
orbs that make their rounds with us.
And yet, to the most of our race it is
only known for its glory ard beauty
and the infinite graces that 1t scatters
ever earth and Heaven. It's benefits
and enlivening influences we take and
enjoy, as a matter OF course, as only
natural. The clouds seem only meant
to show forth the glories of the sun
light and raise grace and beauty to a
heavenly dignity, grandeur and sub
Iimnity. And yet, their splendor is
only natural consequence Or accom-
panlment of their necessary service in
watering and enriching the earth in
supplying us with food and drink.
They are our merchantmen, our water
carriers. They are our street-sweepers
nay, our universal scayengers. They
arc cur dlsiEtectants and general puri-
fers. But how beautifully and grace
fully and lrreslstibly do they perform
their Offices
The common trees and shrubs and
vegetables all wear flowers in their
bonnets, and all wear pretty clothes
Nature has no rough workmen or
slovens In her employ. Her unfalling
uniform is grace and beauty of one
sort Or another. The seasons of the
year differ only in the variety Of their
loneliness. Tne blossoms of the early
spring. the great clusters OF the vine.
! the mature fruit of the autumn and
|. the snow crystals and frosts OF winter
have each grace and beauty OF their
own. All these things are meant for
man to lift his heart and mind heaven
ward to cherish and exalt his soul,
that he may take a high and honora'
BILE view OF everything. The office Of
grace and beauty everywhere, In every
thing, In the general works OF Nature
in the dlvineness Of the human coun-
tenance, In the excellence of manhood
in the gentle loYeliness of womanhood
is in behalf the spirit against the flesh
that that soul may live life Of glory and
honor, and sense be lost in absolute
submission and service that the incOr-
ruptlble may supersede the corrupt
BILE, an l the mortal be swallowed up in
Immortality. And all this is the spirit
OF the Christian faith. Things true
honest and just, pure, lovely, and Of
good report, virtue and praise are to be-
all in all, the study Of the disciple.
The best gifts are to be earnestly Gov
eted. And the child is to strive tor the
Father. The Father is the Heavenly
and Infinite. And the exaltation and
honor of the holiness and divine beauty
of His character Is to be the longing oil
the follower of Christ.
AS grace and beauty are divine
things, so Is everything they are to
rule in the individual and throughout
life. The grace and beauty that awak-
ems or feeds ambition and low passion
is OF the earthly, and is a fraud and a
sham. But real and essential grace
are honorable in everythin In mate
rial things, in immaterial things, IN
mind and matter. in houses, in
furniture, in works OF art, In
thought, in conversation. And the
man is loyal to his Creator, and rell.
glous and doing the will of Heaven
when, while he labors with all the
might and earnestness of bis soul to
accomplish his purposes, he manifests
the divine nature Of his soul by dong
all things pleasantly, gracing his most
painful duties with ragretiul tender
ness-that Is, almost d1vine]v.
How very beautiful is the divine
ideal presented to us:
We shall descend like showers
/ Upon the peaceful earth;