Oh! that poverty remember, That most low estate remember, And those grievous stripes recall! How His own, when foemen led Him Hands and feet they pierce, and bear Him King o'er heaven and earth and hell. Came the death, His eyelids sealing May thine ears that hear'st it tingle! With heart-seated misery! Heart, and mind, and reins tormenting, With thy very fingers tenting JESU's mortal agony. View the Man of sorrows, view Him, How no torture can subdue Him, Thou the will, the manhood giving, For Thy death one dirge should be! W. R. W. 231 THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. PROBABLY with the majority of Christians the restrictions or the sternness of religion occupy a more prominent place in their thoughts than the beauty of holiness, its outcome-a theme fondly dwelt on throughout Holy Scripture. For the restraint of righteousness of the Mosaic law could not compress the fervour of noble souls within the limits of slavish fear or unloving obedience, even though Judaism contained but the germ of the belief which Christianity embodies, that mankind, as GOD's noblest work, is capable of attaining something of the Divine perfection; therefore to become something like the GOD he adores, is at once the very highest ideal and the only worthy aim of the true follower of CHRIST. The usual way of talking of the world and mankind as utterly base and ignoble, does not proceed from any excess of love and reverence to GOD. The world as GOD made it was beautiful; it represented the Divine idea of perfection, and though that perfection was marred by the sin of Adam, it still represents the Divine goodness: and human nature too, rather than be esteemed the type of whatever is unworthy, "considered as the Divine workmanship, should, methinks, be held as sacred." But if our high origin is insufficient to teach us reverence, there is still another persuasive convincing truth, the knowledge that our humanity is, in the Person of the GOD-man, enthroned far above angels and archangels in the infinite glory of the Highest. This seat of perfect holiness, once immeasurably removed from sinful man, is, since the impassable gulf was bridged over by the Atonement, led up to by a road of conquered sin and purified desire, a via sacra, which it is possible for men to tread. For holiness is not unattainable; it was placed within our reach once and for all when human life received its eternal consecration, and the "manhood was taken into GOD." In no merely poetic figure of speech, but in very real and absolute truth, "the base world since CHRIST hath died ennobled is and glorified;" and though, alas! there are dark spots in it where holiness is impossible, every state is sanctified through Him Who wore flesh for our sake, Who lived as well as died for us. He was a Child, and so the weakness of childhood is blessed, and its sacredness shown in that we know so little of His; born of a Virgin, thus raising woman from her unhonoured position in the person of one, whom with reverent love "all generations shall call blessed." Through Him the courage of manhood is stamped with gentleness to suffer as well as to do, and in that age was not represented in His life, it seems to show that there is no old age, no decay in the spiritual life, but that when the " measure of the stature of the fulness of CHRIST" is reached, it enters into glory. Knowledge is sacred, for the words from His lips compelled the testimony from unwilling auditors, that "never man spake like thi Man:" riches, since it was accounted the crowning act of a righteou man's life to bestow them upon the poor and poverty, in that “H had not where to lay His head." Human authority is honoured, fo: He paid the tribute-money; labour is no longer cursed, for He toiled; nor rest ignoble, for He was weary. Society is good, for He visited; and solitude, because in the hours of His greatest temptation, and His greatest grief He was alone. Friendship is holy, for He loved Lazarus, and Mary, and Martha; even the yearning for one especial friend is sanctified in His love for S. John; and the gracious influence which such an intercourse may possess, in the transforming of the impetuous, angry son of thunder into the gentle, generous Apostle of love. He first manifested His Divine power in averting the cloud from the gaiety of the marriage feast, thereby uniting Himself with the joys of His brethren; He was a Son, and so for ever the love of a son for his mother is the most beautiful of all love. Recognising this all-embracing touch of GOD, we may well believe that Heaven will be no new creation, but a perfect development of a holy life upon earth, where He has placed us to fit (not as we seem so often to think, to unfit,) us for His eternal kingdom. In His house, too, we ought not to have to rend ourselves away from our daily lives as from something impure and unholy, but to carry thither all the memories of the influences around us which during the week have served in any measure to remind us of the goodness and perfection of our King, and to offer them too at His altar with the full meed of praise, “Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory." None can possibly anticipate a joyful eternity with GOD who would fain have Him absent from them in their ordinary lives, their daily employments, or their daily pleasures. It is especially sad that any should prefer to ignore His Presence in their pleasures, since at His right hand there is pleasure for evermore, pleasure which no one will ever realise who has wished to keep his earthly joy away from GOD. Surely if our pleasures are so unworthy that they dishonour GOD, the royalty and dignity of our service should prevent our participation in them. "One thing there is that I of the LORD desire, That ever while I on earth shall live I will of the LORD require, And the beauty fair of the LORD of Hosts in the house of His glory see." To dwell in His Temple. This is not only the life of contemplative devotion at which the world scoffs, it is also the life that is lived in such close companionship with GOD, that the majesty of His power becomes merged in the majesty of His love and tenderness, and in spite of the cares of earth and the tumult of the people, dwells secretly in His tabernacle from the strife of tongues. This contemplation of the beauty of the LORD will surely shield loving souls against the alluring attractiveness of evil; it will make them quick to recognise whatsoever things are pure or lovely or of good report, and whatsoever represents in any way the surpassing love of GOD to man. And this is such a wide term that it embraces all the highest possibilities of life; all the treasures of mind and imagination, all the gifts and powers which however much they may be profaned and perverted to evil, do not really belong to it, but are given as adornments direct from heaven, a continual and expressive witness to the inseparable union of goodness and beauty; all the wealth of art, all the light of knowledge, everything in which there is any virtue or any praise. "The beautiful is higher than the good," says Göthe, "for the beautiful includes the good." And this is perfectly true. It is an effort equally vain and unworthy that is continually being made to separate them; they are inseparable. Whatever is good cannot possibly be unlovely, nor what is evil be beautiful. A perception of the beautiful has been justly called the "earnest of our immortality," and not less is it the memorial of our Divine origin; it is a degraded perception which discerns beauty apart from goodness. "He is altogether lovely," tells the mystic canticle; hence His chief attribute is lovely. The effect of even such holiness as sinful man can attain is visible to all. "He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend." The speech of such an one may not be eloquent, may not be amusing, may even be unready; but it will be sincere, it will be pleasant, it will wear that inexpressible grace which cannot be assumed, and cannot be destroyed. In one way it is the art of saying agreeable things, but it is more the art of meaning them. When a weary one is disheartened and hopeless, those lips can speak words with strength to inspire from a heart which has caught something of a CHRIST-like courage; or to one sorrowful and oppressed, having learnt something of CHRIST-like sympathy, those lips may speak words of help and comfort. In the vast world which GOD for His pleasure created, in the mystery of human life, how much there is which is in direct antagonism to the King of beauty. When we think of the power of evil it seems to present an appalling front; of unlovely lives, yet which had such fair beginnings; of evil passions killing all the generous impulses of human souls; of all the riots and violence, all the woe and despair. Well might it overwhelm us but that there is another picture upon which we can gaze. A whole host of men and women absorbed in the contemplation of the unutterable beauty of holiness, and thus reproducing in their own lives some of its marvellous effects; bearing heavy burdens bravely and uncomplainingly, toiling faithfully and well to remove some of the foul blots of evil from the face of God's earth. To endeavour to do this in some degree should be the aim of every one enrolled under the banner of the love of CHRIST. Earth is the road to heaven; not a resting place, yet not a road to be got over as quickly as may be by ourselves with no concern for those that follow us, or that travel with us. It is the dignity of the Christian to help to hasten the arrival of the glorious day when the kingdoms of the world shall have become the kingdoms of the LORD and of His CHRIST. In some sad misconception of GOD there has arisen an idea that pain and misery are the necessary accompaniments of goodness. In the moment of his jealous despondency David thought that the ungodly came in no misfortune like other folk; afterwards when his angry impatience vanished in the peace of the sanctuary, he "understood." From the place of peace, the sanctuary of undisturbed holiness, it is possible to measure things with a truer estimate of worth, to see them from a higher standpoint, and more as GOD sees them. The Master's words to His Disciples, "In the world ye shall have tribulation," seem to imply not so much that it was a necessary part of what they incurred in following Him, as that it was a warning that they must not expect to be exempt from it, as they well might have thought when they realised that they had the Prince of Peace for their Leader, the King of Glory for their King. A visionary idea has given suffering and sorrow a high place in human estimation as being somehow |