Year: 1862

staunch old John Knox was proof
against her Establishments; but hers was
the beauty of the kindIed tiger or the
stealthy serpent. Herod so won upon
the people by his presence and oratory
that they said, cit is the voice of q god
and not man. and Byron had fine
features and head that statuaries love
to copy. We hear nothing of the
beauty of Hannah and Dereas. And
there were those who said of the apos-
| tie that his bodily presence was weak,
and his speech acantemp ptihle nsols
jfsh goodness, devotion To
lcharity to our fellow men, are aiHzgs
beautiful; and with this beauty the
righteous are adorned. Some; of these
characters of grace and love1iness are,
in my minds eye as | write. One OF
them is an unmarried female, the heart.
less and hippaut call the class to which
she belongs old maids.


She was not young twenty years ago


when saw her first, time has aged her
harshly since then. She never was
handsome, and she. is plain even to
homeliness now. But her life has been
given to sweet charities and kindly. off
ces. She is the friend and benefaetor
of the whole neighborhood in which
she lives. She visits the sick, instructs
the ignorant, comforts the sorrowful,
and relieves the necessities of the poor.


When her own resources fail, she in
forms the rich where: they can hestow
their charities, Or acts as the almoner
of their bounty. The humble path in
which she has walked is fairly lustraus
with her good works. She lives in the
affections of all who know her, and
when she departs to her rest and reward,
hundreds will rise up to call her blessed,
and cherish the memory of her virtues.
Without being at all aware of it herself,
she is far more beautiful than the
stately and graceful palm-tree to which
the Arab poet compares his lady love.
| am sure, my reader, that you keep in
your heart and memory the portraits of
these symmetrical and mature Chris
trians, and that they are to you perpetual
joy and inspiration. Itmay be a mother s
likeness that you enshrine with tender
and filial piety. That mother is ad !,
vanced in life and the infrmities Of age
are pressing solely upon her. The
roses have faded from her cheeks. her
L eye is dim, and her brow, once SO smooth
and fair, is furrowed with many wrink-
les. Those who knew her long ago will
lament the decay of SO much loneliness;
but to you she never seemed so beautiful
as now. How much we need in the
family, In the church, and in the world,
these palm-tres christians-men and
women whose lives constantly point US
toward heaven, and are perpetual pro-
test against whatever is sensual and
groveling. There are professors of re-
lIgion who remind US of the stunted
pines and dwarf oaks that grow on a
thin and sandy soil. Others are like
lowlived and creeping vines, that have
no ambition to lift themselves above the
surface of the earth.


Some who make show of standing
up have no more atrength or stamina
than brook willows or mullen stocks.
They are tossed to and fro by every
gust of temptation, or break under the
first burden that is laid upon them
These starveling and unstable Chris
tians misrepresent the Gospel, and
bring the way Of truth into disrepute.
But those who serve the Lord in the
beauty Of holiness cannot fail to be
useful. They are "the light of the
world, ia dew from the Lord s'the
horsemen of Israel and the chario is
thereof To abide in Christ and bring
forth much fruit, is the privilege of all
who are called to be saints The right
eous shall flourish like the palm tree.
Oh that these trees of rightee usness
planted by the rivers of water, may in
crease thousand fold, till their fruit
shall shake like Lebanon