Year: 1861

Everything which is truly admirable is


good, and good and desirable in The degree


by which it is admirable A beautiful face


and form are admirable, and Just as good


as they are admirable-ust as good in their


element of beauty They are good for


that quality, and in that quality, which


eXcites our admiration A beautiful bonnet,


beautiful dress, beautiful brooch or


necklace, are all admirable, and good


because they are admirable, or good because


everything admirable is necessarily good


A family over which the father presdes with


tender dignity and in which the mother
moves with loves diyinest ministry-where


the faces Of innocent children are shining


while their voices make music sweeter than


the morning songs Of birds-is admirable,


and it is good in all those respects which


make it admirable A well dressed man or


woman is admirable, and that thing is good
in itself which makes them so. A man
who carries his heart in his hand, who deals


both justly and generously by men, who


bears a sunny face aud pleasant words into
society, whose cultured mind enriches freely


all with whom it is brought into relation.


who has abundant charity for the weak and
errng, and who takes life and what it brings


him couicntedly, is an admirable man, and
good in all the points which make him ad.
mirable. A house that presents q harmo.
nious and handsome exterior to the eve of
the passenger, and whose interior combines
equal convenience and elegance, is admira.
bic, and, by that token, good


Now these very simple propositions have
their correlatives, which it is not necessary
to set down in order any further than fair
ly to Illustrate my point. Things that are
not admirable are not good. If the dress
of Shaker is not admirable, it is not good
If that sort of life which is led in clois
ter, by monks and nuns, is not admirable,
il is not coed If man who processes to
be a christian lives q life ont of which is
shut all with which an unsophistcated hu-
manity sympOthizes, life barren of attrac.
tive fruit-a life bare in all its surroundings
"a life with no genial flow & exprcSSion-a
life of niggardy negatives rather than Of
generous poSitiyes-then that life is not ad-
mirable, & fit be not admirable, it cannot be
good in those respects A man may carry r
long with such life as this a spoiiess con.
science a strict devotion to apprehend du.
ty, these may be admirable aud G jod, but
the other characteristics cannot be either
and however much God may approve his
honest heart and honest endeavSr, He can
not admire the style of manhood in which
they have their dull and difficult illustra-
tion. The idea that wish definitely to
convey is this; that on the basis of right
heart, God would have US build up bright
generous, genial, expressive christian char
acter. and use gratefully and gladly all
those things which He has prepared to
make life cheerful and admirable | be- |
lieVe a saint ought to have a better tailor
than sinner, and be in all manly ways a
better fellow. believe true christian
should be in everything that constitutes
and belongs to man the most admirable !
man in the world.


1 have an idea thaSeGod looks with the
same kind Of contempt on the prominent |
of certain styles of christian |
men and women that men of the world do. |
There is nothing admirable in cant and |
whine, and uaSal psalm-singng, and men
whose hearts are liyers and whose blood is
bile and | cuunot believe that He blameS
people for not admring them, and not be-
ing attracted to them. | do not believe |
that an admirable christian life is repusive
to the men of the world. l believe that
the human mind recognizes a
Il rounded, chastened, rich and outspoken |
character, whether it belong o
manhood or womanhood, it admires it,, and |
feels attracted to it by the degree in which
il admires it. believe, moreover, that
the christianity which discards as vanities
those things which God has provided for
the pleasure Of His children, and morlifes
the love o! beauty, and adopts the theory
hat God is pleased with penancc, and de-
grades, abuses and tradnces the body to
win greater sanctty Of soul, and finds
sin in every sweet Of sense, is bastard |
God is not the God Of the
dead, but of the living.