Page:The Mothers of England.djvu/104

Rh by whom they are surrounded, and perhaps even the nearest and the dearest, are not all they desire, it is the noblest exercise of love to forgive, and the next to endeavor to improve. If also, in the exercise of affection, they meet sometimes with but little or no return, they accept the rebuke as from a Father, who, in chastening those whom he loves, has appointed such means for leading them into closer self-examination, into stricter watchfulness, and more faithful endeavors, in order that no fault indulged, no opportunity neglected, and no faculty unemployed, may stand in the way of rendering the service he has enjoined, as a duty we owe one toward another, more acceptable in his sight.

Such then is the effect of an early and consistent exercise of the spirit of love, extending in the first place to all beneath the paternal roof, and afterward throughout the varied intercourse we hold with society—a spirit which, where it is rightly exercised has no tendency to blind us to the faults of others, or to lead us to undervalue those proofs of affection which are really directed to ourselves; but which creates around us a kind of genial atmosphere, too clear and bright for the weeds which grow around our path to remain undiscovered; yet, at the same time so pure, healthy, and invigorating, as to stimulate to eager cultivation of the flowers, secure in the confidence that they will abundantly repay our care.

Nor should we forget, in the contemplation of this subject especially, that beautiful harmony in the order of Providence, by which all that is best adapted to produce good to others, is in reality most conducive to our own happiness. Had we been created only to feel happy in the exercise of those passions which dissever families, and break asunder the bonds of society, how different would have been our situation on earth! But in the benign commandment of the Savior to his disciples that they should love one another, in making this love even the test of their fellowship with him, we recognise at once a principle, which, above all others, has power to bless and to bind on earth, while it constitutes a passport to the blessedness and the union of heaven.

Next in degree to the exercise of the afflictions, as a