The Fruit of the Spirit.

CHAPTER I.

Introductory.

'AND who are wise, and who are beautiful?

They only who have learned at Jesus' feet,
And in their lives show that they well have learned.
All other wisdom's vain-all other grace

Will perish, not survive the grave. Seek thou
That wisdom, and that beauty make thy crown
Of light, and loveliness, and grace.'

A TREE is known by its fruits; a flower by its perfume; a scene by its associations; and each becomes welcome and dear to the vision in proportion to the delicacies it yields, and the sweet memories it offers us. Though the tree may be rude and unsightly, still it may have received and may yield the ingrafted fruit; though the flower be simple and lowly, still it may shed a

sweet odor that will win and attract even the high minded and the careless; and though the landscape be wild and desolate, still innocent childhood may have trodden there, and left prints and marks of beauty where the spirit first received its holy and heavenly aspirations. So with the christian graces enshrined in the human heart; they give beauty and loveliness not of earth, and light and joy where the world would put but darkness and sorrow. It gives new charms to the gentle and spirit-stirring graces of christianity, to compare them with the graces of heathenism; for while the first are but the dreams and visions of the poet, visiting him but in Elysium fields, amid nodding flowers and gentle breezes, when above him are unclouded skies, but forsake him when he would mingle with the cares and turmoil of the world; the other, though their course is ever heavenward, and their eye ever raised above, are still the sweetest and most welcome in the daily cares and duties of life; and when temptations assail, or friends forsake us, or sickness prostrates, they are near to comfort and support.

When we search for the beauty and perfection of the heathen graces, we find them ideal; give them the soul and spirit of christianity and how lovely, how much to be desired above gold, they become. Among the ancients, according to one

writer, to the Graces were committed the ministries by which everything beautiful and agreeable came; and through whom alone man became wise and glorious. Another conceived them as forming a numerous troop of goddesses, whose office it was to make happy the days of the immortals. According to another, they were an emblem of the disposition to please, and to render social intercourse agreeable by gaiety and politeness. They not only improved corporeal charms, but had an influence also upon music, eloquence, poetry and other arts, and the execution of acts of benevolence and kindness were likewise superintended by them. They are frequently represented as beautiful young virgins, commonly grouped, and holding each other by the hand. All these powers are truly possessed by the christian graces, and when they have touched the heart, their influence is seen, as though by magic, lighting up the dullest eye and giving joy to the gloomiest countenance. It is indeed through them that man becomes wise in that which is good, and glorious as an image and follower of the blessed Savior. They do make happy the mortal existence, and by living in the exercise of their requirements, a foretaste of the joys and blessedness of immortality will be their bestowment. They impart those kindly and tender feelings that will make us strive to please

and make happy those around us, and give a liveliness and joy to the social circle. They are the sure source of the only true politeness; and as the language of gentility is given to a sweet flower, because it pleases and charms all by its variety of forms and colors, so should true grace and gentility be recognized as springing from the sweet root of piety, whose fruits are of the form and variety to win the heart, and temper and subdue the mental appetite. They improve corporeal charms, and give comeliness and beauty their sweetest expressions; and even where beauty dwelleth not, we will often feel her presence, and look on the kindling eye of love, the glowing cheek of modesty and candor, the brow of honesty and benevolence, and feel she has left her spirit, though her form be far from our vision, -so lovely is holiness. To music they give the softest and sweetest tones, wafting us on the wings of melody to the spirit-land, where dwell the holy and heavenly choir-the band that we shall join when our earthly pilgrimage is ended, and where we shall chant the praises of our Father forever. To eloquence they give the lip of truth, the eye of love, and soul of heaven-born glorious freedom-the power to draw the wayward and fix there the deepest and best impressions. They give to poetry the most thrilling strains that touch and vibrate on the electric

6