Year: 1861

NhJ OHNh NbA Hh'N N''


beholding him, loved him" There are


men one cannot help loving and admiring


though they lack great many things


things very "needful" to make them per-


feet men. Now | put it to good consci-


entious, Christian men and women, wheth-


er they do not take more pleasure in the


society of warm hearted, generous, chiv-


alrous we'll fed men of the world, than in


the sobriety of that class Of Christians oi


whom the deacon | have mentioned as a


type. / know they do, and they cannot


help it. There Is more of that which be


longs to first class Christian character il


the former than the latter, and if were


called upon to test the two men by com.


manding them respectively to sell what


they had and give to the poor, I should


be disappointed were the deacon to be-


have the best. A character which reli-


gion does not tfructify-does not soften


enlarge, purify and enrich it's not ben
Gifted by religion--or rather, has not


possessed itself of religion. God loves
that which is beautiful and attractive in
character, just as much as we do, and it
makes no difference where he sees it.


He does not dislike the amiable traits of
sinner because he is a sinner, nor does


He admire those traits of a Christian all
of which we feel to be contemplate, sim
lply because they belong to a Christian


A Christian sucked dry of his humanity
is iuiceless and favorless as a sucked
orange, and l believe that God regards
him in the same light that we do. He
will save such doubt not, for their faith +;
and, in the coming world, they will learn
what they do not know here; but the
question whether they are as we'll worth
saving as some Of their neighbors, may,
think, be legitimately entertained. In
saying this, l mean to be neither light or
irreverant. 1 mean simply to indicate
that some men are worth great deal
more, to themselves and to their fellows
than others.


So, when l look abroad upon the world,
and see men shaving their heads, and
wearing nasty hair-shirts, and shutting
themselves up in cells, and living lives of
celibacy, and when l see women retiring
from the world which they were sent to
adorn populate and bless, and Shakers
driving round in square wagons and stu
diously ugly garments, and Christians
who should know better, abandoning all
the bright and cheerful things of life, and
feeling that there is merit in modification,
| cannot but feel but that God looks
down upon it all with sadness and pity.
After doing everything in his power to
make his children happy-after filling
the world with good things for their use,
and giving them abundant facilities for
enjoying them-after endowing beauty
and a sense of that which is beautiful
must be sad to BIN to see them wander
ing about in strange disguise, hunging to
their half rebellious hearts the awful mis-
take that, however they may suffer, they
are gaining favor thereby in the sight of
their Maker. Of course l believe in
self-denial, and in the nobility of self-de-
nial, for the good of others but l be-
leve that all selfdenial that partakes of
the character of penance, in whatever
form and under whatever circumstances
it may develop itself, is always thing
of mischief, anb always a thing of error
that has its basis in the miserable theory,
that there is something in the passions
and appetites with which God has con-
stituted man that is essentially bad-a
theory as impious as it is injurious-as
fatal to all just conceptions of the Divine
Being, and of mans relations to him, as
to all human happiness.


Everything which is truly admirable
is good, and is desirable in the degree by
which it is admirable. A beautiful face
and form are admirable and just as good
as they are admirable-just as good in
their element of beauty. They are good
for that quality, and in that quality which
eXcites our admiration. A beautiful bon
net, beautiful dress, beautiful brooch, |
or necklace, all are admirable, and good
because they are admirable, and good be-
cause everything admirable is necessarily
good. A family over which the father
presides with tender dignity, and in which
the mother moves with loves divinest,
ministry-when faces Of innocent chill
1ren are shining, while their voices make
music sweeter than the morning songs of
Dirds-is admirable, and il is good in all
hose respects which make it admirable.
well dressed man or woman is admir-
lble, and that thing is good in itself which