<< Numbers 15: The Ribband of Blue >>

 38Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe  of the borders a ribband of blue: 39And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them ; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: 40That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God. 41I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD your God.--NUMBERS XV

It is extremely to be regretted that so many who bear the name Christian have the most inadequate view of religion. To many it is but a name. They call themselves by the name of this or that great body, but ask them what they think of the principles which the name implies, and you find the name, and little besides. Others, again, seem to think that religion is an excellent debating-ground, a favourite battle-field. They will incessantly wrangle and dispute about its everlasting principles, but meditate little upon them, and practise them less. These are like the left-handed men of Benjamin among the Israelites of old, who "could sling stones at a hair-breadth and not miss." They are not of much use except in war. Far more eloquently and convincingly does he speak for his religion, whose life pleads for it; who shows that he derives from it virtue and defence, isolation and strength, light and blessing ; and therefore recommending it in deed, can also recommend it in word. " Ye are our epistles," said the apostle, " seen and read of all men."

Perhaps we cannot give a more comprehensive definition of religion, than to say it is the supply to the soul of all its spiritual wants. It is the soul's home, its food, and its clothing ; and to its latter feature, its being clothing for the soul, we now entreat our attention. " Blessed," it is written, " is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." — Rev. xvi. 15.

That garments, even in the Jewish law, are the corresponding symbols of those principles which clothe the the soul, may be inferred from the laws which we frequently find in relation to them. Unless there was a spiritual sense in them, surely it would not have been worthy of the High and Lofty One who inhabiteth eternity to give directions in relation to what kind of clothes men should wear. There is the direction not to wear garment of woollen and linen together ; again, for a woman not to wear the garment of a man ; again, for a man's garment not to be kept in pledge after the sun has gone down ; and now the law before us, that a fringe should be made to the garment, and on the fringe a ribband of blue. Surely it cannot concern the Infinite Rider of all worlds what kind of trimming His people have to their dress, or colour of ribband they have thereon.

The soul and its concerns are surely the only appropriate objects of a Revelation from the Eternal Father of immortal beings. To teach us how to give the spirit a dress, so that we may be beautiful in the sight of angels, is worthy of Him n clothes Himself with light as with a garment (Ps. civ. 2).

“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou may be rich ; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear." — Rev. iii 18.

The chief use of clothing is defence against the chills and variations of the weather : two subordinate uses are for the promotion of beauty, and for distinction of office.

We can be at no loss to perceive that there lire mental uses corresponding to the above which require for the soul spiritual clothing. The soul has its summer and its winter, and all the varieties of a mental year. There are seasons of hopefulness and brilliancy in which we have all the elasticity and promise of spring ; there are states of peaceful warmth, of continued serene happiness; "the soul's calm sunshine and the heartfelt joy which bespeak the spirit's summer : but there are likewise periods of decreasing warmth, of incipient depressions, and coolnesses to what has formerly yielded the highest pleasure ; until at length we arrive at states of painful chill, and even of intensest cold, the joylessness, the hopelessness, and the sadness, which are the attendants of the winter of the soul.

This depressed condition of the spirits is portrayed with graphic truthfulness by one who said —

" My years are in the yellow leaf.
And all the life of life is gone;
The worm, the canker, and the grief,
Are mine alone.”

And in a sweeter spirit of piety by another poet, —

" O for a closer walk with God,
A sweet and heavenly frame;
A light to shine upon the road
Which leads me to the Lamb.

Where is the blessedness I knew
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul-refreshing view
Of Jesus, and His Word?

What peaceful hours I once enjoyed.
How sweet their memory still;
But they have left an aching void.
The world can never fill.

In this wintry state, storms of distressing fears and darkening doubts will rash upon the soul. Strong delusions, that we may believe a lie, will, like fierce tempests, howl about us. Cold, harassing, cheerless frames of mind, dispiriting anxieties, filling us with discomfort and dread; bitter self-accusations urged upon us, perhaps, by ''spiritual wickednesses in high places," pitiless hail-storms which come upon us again and again, all teach us how real it is that the soul has its winter as well as the summer. In relation to these spiritual seasons it is written, “And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem ; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea : in summer and in winter shall it be."— Zech. xiv. 8.

Thrice happy are they who remember, the living waters of the Divine Word will be a comfort and a blessing in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, in summer and in winter ; but they should also bear in mind, that to be a protection in all seasons, the Divine Mercy has provided us with spiritual clothing.

The DOCTRINES of religion when intelligently adopted, and adapted to our particular states, serve this important purpose. And when those doctrines are, as they ought to be, full, comprehensive, and complete, applying themselves to all the departments of human affection, thought and life, they make a complete dress. Hence it is said in Isaiah, '' I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God ; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." — lxi.10.

The doctrines which teach the true character of the Lord, His infinite and unchanging Love, His unerring and all-comprehensive Wisdom, His omnipotent and ever-orderly Power, these form the clothing for the head. The doctrines which teach and impel us to our duty to our neighbour, form the clothing to the breast : while those which teach that our religion shoidd be operative, and descend to inspire and sanctify every word and every deed of life, these are the remainder of the spirit's dress, even to the ''shoes upon the feet."

With this view of the spiritual dross of the Christian, we shall see the fullest significance in many interesting portions of the sacred Scriptures. When the prodigal son returned, we are informed, "The father said unto his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him ; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet,'' — Luke xv. 22, where it is manifest that the clothing of a newly-penitent spirit with those sacred truths which will form its best robe, that assurance of everlasting love which conjoins it to its Lord as a golden marriage ring, and those true principles of virtuous practice which are the only bases of real religion, are the shoes upon the feet.

A most important lesson is afforded to us by the Divine Word in Matthew. It is said of those who came in to partake of the wedding feast of the King of Heaven, " And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment : and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants. Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer dark-ness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." — xxii. 11 — 13. No one can imagine that there was any sin in a particular earthly dress not being had by those who enter the Lord's kingdom. But in a spiritual point of view, nothing can exceed the value of the intimation it contains. The kingdom of heaven, in fact everything heavenly, is the result of a marriage. Wisdom sweetly blends with love to form the heavenly state. It is not a kingdom of faith alone, but of faith united to charity. No cold knowledge is tolerated there, but must be conjoined with affection for what is known. All is union in an angelic mind. All heaven is united to its Divine Head the Lord Jesus Christ. The marriage order reigns complete, and joy is the result. " Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken ; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate ; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah : for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married." — Isa. lxii. 4.

Not to have on a wedding garment then, is not to have a doctrine which unfolds this glorious union of truth and love in religion, and in heaven. It is to be practically among those who say, and do not. It is to make a parade of our piety and profession it may be, but to neglect that, without which piety is nothing, faith is nothing, doctrine is nothing, name is nothing; that pure and holy love, which worketh, which hopeth, which believeth, which beareth all thing; which in sight of all Christian virtues is deserving of the apostolic declaration. “ And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three ; but the greatest of these is charity." — 1 Corinthians xiii. 13. When we have taken for our religion only that which relates to belief, and not that which concerns love and conduct, the heart unchecked and unchanged will be the home of selfishness and impurity ; and the time will come, either in this world or in the next, when there will issue from the unregenerate heart those virulent evils, which will paralyse every power of good, will bind the hand and foot and plunge the spirit into the darkest abysses of folly.

With these views of doctrines forming the clothing of the soul, we see at once the importance of those allusions to garments which are so frequently met with in the Old as well as the New Testament. When the prophet predicts the advent of the Lord into the world, and thus opening to mankind the glorious doctrines of Christianity, instead of the miserable shreds of Jewish tradition, he says, ''Awake, awake; put on thy strength of Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city : for henceforth there shall no more come into thee uncircumcised and the unclean." — Is. lii. 1. Again, in that well known prophecy which begins " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted ;" the prophet continues to unfold the gracious purpose of Jehovah in the flesh ; '' To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness ; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." — Is. lxi. 3. Here the doctrine of the love of God manifest in the flesh, is manifestly and righteously called "a garment of praise." What could more powerfully induce the soul to clothe itself with praise than the perception that our Saviour is our Heavenly Father, that the High and Lofty One who inhabiteth eternity had for our sakes condescended to appear in the extreme of His vast domains, the skin of the universe as it were, and by assuming and maintaining a connexion with the outer universe, He became First and Last in Himself, and from Himself fills, sustains, and succours all.

When the Lord Jesus said, " Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments ; and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment," He is evidently describing the condition of those who not their profession of the Christian doctrine with impurity of life; they had not defiled their garments now, and in eternity their views would be still purer, they should walk with Him in white. Doctrines in harmony with purest truth, are white raiment wherewith we may he clothed.

The New Dispensation of religion which in the fulness of time would be introduced from heaven among men, is represented as coming down " as a bride adorned for her husband." And, by this language, we are assured, no doubt, not only that this church would regard the Lord Jesus Christ, the Divine Lamb, as the only object of her supreme love, her husband, but that her doctrines would be beyond all precedent, beautiful. She would be adorned for her husband. Such a glorious system would she have of celestial truth, — such disclosures of heavenly order, — such discoveries of the divine laws as existent in the soul ; in the regenerate life ; in the heavenly world ; in the spiritual sense of the Holy Word : in fact, on all subjects of Divine Wisdom, that to the truly devout and thoughtful spirit, she would truly be " adorned as a bride for her husband."

There is an interesting intimation of the character of the heavenly clothing in Psalm xlv., " The king's daughter is all glorious within : her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework (verses 18, 14), where the character of true celestial doctrine is declared to be the gold of love, wrought into system, — love wrought out. The king's daughter, all such as, animated by pure affections for truth derived from the King of kings, are desirous of graces of the heart and mind, which are worth more than the wealth of kingdoms. They become glorious within, and all their views of doctrine are love as it were speaking, and declaring its true nature. With them, God is love, heaven is love, love is the fulfilling of the law, love keeps the commandments, the Word truly understood, is the revelation of love. Their whole doctrine, like the street of the holy city, is of pure gold, formed by the spiritual embroidery of an intellect which spiritually discerns the harmonious relations of everlasting things. The Word supplies the raw material, line upon line, and precept upon precept. The rational powers weave them into a beautiful system, and prepares them to be worn. And when the judgment, under the impulse of a humble determination to live for heaven, adapts these doctrines to its own especial states and requirements, the Christian is equipped in the garments of salvation. ''He is glorious within, and his clothing is of wrought gold."

And here, we would strongly guard against one of the most of the most dangerous delusions which has crept into nominal Christianity; the idea that we are saved by the infinite purity of Christ's righteousness being imparted to us, and not by actual, practical righteousness . It is true, our righteousness is derived from the Lord, " their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.'' — Isa. liv. 17. But no righteousness will be imputed to us, which has not been imparted to us. His spirit will be imputed to us, so far as we receive it, but no farther. God, is a God of truth, and never imputes to any one, what he does not possess. “He that doeth righteousness, is righteous." — 1 John iii. 7. The merit of divine righteousness in salvation, is as incommunicable as the merit of creation. The robe of the Saviour's perfections, has a name on it, which no man knows but He Himself (Rev. xix. 16). And, yet, numbers neglect to acquire the white robe, or the wrought gold, of imparted truth and love, under the vain idea that the personal perfections of our Lord, will be imputed to them. Our food is from Him, but if instead of eating that which He now provides, we were to attempt to live by imputing that which He ate in the days of His flesh, we should die of starvation. So, if instead of receiving, and applying to ourselves the living streams of His righteousness by earnest prayer and earnest practice, we expect His merits to be imputed to us, as righteousness, so that although we are really wicked, we shall be accounted good ; although really polluted, we shall be accounted clean ; we shall be naked and helpless, in the day when He makes up his jewels. No doubt, the Lord lived on earth for our sakes, suffered for our sakes, died for our sakes, rose again for our sakes, made His Humanity righteousness embodied, for our sakes. " For their sakes, I sanctify myself," He said, "that they may be sanctified by the truth."-— John xvii. 19. All was done for us to enable us to be sanctified, but not to be put down to our account. When our account is made up, we shall find the rule to be, " They that have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.'' — John V. 29. He comes quickly to give to every man as his work shall be (Rev. xxii. 12). Blessed shall we be if we watch and keep our garments, made white by His truth, and thus are ready to follow our Divine Leader in the realms of peace, adoring in humble love, those infinite perfections which make His face to shine like the sun, and His raiment white as the light (Matt. xvii. 2).

We are, then, to speak to the Israelites, who are typified by those of our text, the spiritual Israelites who are as our Lord said, Israelites indeed, and say first that they clothe themselves with genuine doctrines of divine truth, with the garments of salvation, and next, that they especially make them fringes in the borders of their garments. After we have meditated upon the doctrines of religion, and seen their fitness to our own states of mind and heart, thus clothed ourselves in them ; the next part of our duty is to bring them into life. This is a most important point. Many there are, who put on religion as a dress for the head, and even also for the breast, but do not bring it down to the feet. But we are to make a border for our garments, and the border must be a fringe. The distinctive feature of a fringe is, that the material of which it is composed is divided into small portions, firmly limited at the upper part, but hanging with separate forms of beauty at the lower. The idea suggested by this is, that religion must be employed in all the small affairs of daily life, as well as on great occasions, the lowest part of our spiritual dress must be a fringe. Our Lord declared the same important truth when He said, " He that is truthful in that which is least, is faithful also in much : and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much." — Luke xvi. 10.

This practical admonition is of the very highest consequence. One of the most serious errors of life is that our religion is only to be brought out on grand occasions, as some think, or on Sundays, as others practically shew, they suppose. The only way in which we make the truths of religion really ours, is to infuse their spirit and tone into all our little acts in our daily conduct Life is made up of little things. One circumstance follows another, one act comes after another, each one small of itself but the whole forming the tissue of our entire outward existence. Our whole journey is made step by step. There are no great swoops made. By little and little, we drive out our evils ; and by little and little, we introduce the principles of wisdom and goodness into the whole texture of our conduct By this, we must not be misunderstood to mean, that we are not to subject the whole man to the government of heavenly laws, but only that we are to do it in each circumstance as it comes to hand, and to do it now, not to wait for great occasions. Let the border of your garment be a fringe.

Many, very many, have no objection to the head or the breast being in the church, but the feet they imagine may be quite otherwise engaged. But the true disciple of our Saviour adopts the language of the Psalmist, "Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem." — Ps. cxxii. 2. He is particularly watchful over his feet, or his daily practice. If in his moments of weakness he wavers, he looks up to the Saviour, the Source of strength, and prays, “Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not” Ps. xvii. 5. Often will he have to confess, " But as for me, mj feet were almost gone ; my steps had well big slipped” — P8.1xxiii. 2. Yet will he find invisible hands have borne him up, for his ever-watchful Father has given his angels charge concerning him, lest he dash his feet against a stone ( Ps. xci. 11, 12). And again, and again will be find occasion gratefully to exclaim, " bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard : who holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved” — Ps. lxvi. 8, 9. If, like Peter, at first, he thinks it quite beneath bis Master's dignity to purify the lower concerns of life, and declares, Thou shalt never wash my feet ; when he is better informed, and hears the Saviour's words, " If I wash thee not, thou hast no part in Me," he, with an entire spirit of self-devotion exclaims, " Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands, and my head." — John xiii. 9.

This religion of daily life is the grand necessity of the world. Without that, our sabbath worship is but an organized hypocrisy. We should pray, that we may be able to practise, not to substitute prayer for practice. Beautiful as is the devout worship of the sanctuary, sweet as is devotional piety, and soul-exalting as are hymns of gratitude ; they are only the unsubstantial beauty of a dream, unless they are brought down to give direction, purity, and strength to daily life. Let there then be a fringe for the borders of your garments, throughout all your generations.

It is for want of this descent of religion into daily life, that its blessings are often very faintly felt. The sweetness of the knowledge of the Lord is only experienced when religion has become a living hourly series of virtues with us. It is said of the disciples who were going to Emmaus, though the Lord walked with them, and they felt the holy glow of his presence when he talked with them on the way, He only became known to them in " the breaking of the bread." It is so with His disciples in all ages. So long as the " bread of life'' is received in a mass, and remains thus, the blessing of conjunction with the Divine Being is unknown. He is with then, but as a stranger. But let them break the bread ; let them at home and abroad, in the counting house and on change, in the workshop and at market, in their pleasures and in all their family duties break the bread of heaven, and apply it to every work and word, and they will then know the Lord. " Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord : his going forth is prepared as the morning, and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain upon the earth.

O then let our religion not be like a Sunday dress, put on only for parade on state occasions, and put off when the occasion has passed by, but like a simple daily robe whose usefulness is seen of all, and whose fringe goes all round the hem of our garment, so that it extends over the whole circle of our outward life.

We are, however, not only commanded to have a fringe to our garments, but to have upon the fringe a ribband of blue. And this leads us to consider the correspondence of colours. Natural colours, we know originate in natural light. They are the separation of the beauties which are bound up in the sunbeam, and their reflection to the human eye. There is a trinity of fundamental colours, red, blue, and yellow. From the blending of these in varied proportions all others are made. Blue and yellow form green.

Bearing in mind that the Lord is the Sun of the eternal world, and that essential truth shines as a spiritual light from Him, the three essential colours into which light divides itself will represent the three essential features of divine truth, in its application to man. There are truths of love, which apply to our affections, truths of faith which apply to thoughts, and truths of life. Red, the colour of fire, is the symbol of the truths of love, the fire of the soul. Blue, the colour of the azure depths

of the sky, is symbolic of the deep things of the spirit of God, on which faith delights to gaze. Yellow, is the hue of truth which applies to outward life, and in combination with blue it makes green, which corresponds to truth in the letter of the Word, made simple to the common eye of mankind.

Blue gives a sense of clearness and depth, in which it surpasses all other hues. When we gaze into the blue depths of the sky, far above the changes of the clouds, their tranquil grandeur, arching in peaceful majesty far over the turmoils of the world, strikingly images those depths of heavenly wisdom from which the good man draws strength and peace.

" Though round his breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on his head."

Blue, then is the colour which represents the spirit of the Holy Word, the depths of heavenly wisdom.

There is, however, cold blue, as it has more of white in it, and warm blue, as it derives a certain hue from red. There has also been some difficulty in determining the exact shade meant by Techeleth, the Hebrew name for this colour. But from a full consideration of the subject we are satisfied it was the name for blue tinged with red, from violet to purple. And this very strikingly brings out the divine lesson by correspondence. While the blue indicates that in our demeanour in life we should be correct, in harmony with the spirit of truth, the red hue indicates that all our truth ought to be softened, and warmed by love. " Speak the truth in love,” said the apostle, and to remind them of this duty, God commanded the ribband of warm blue to be worn upon the fringe of their garments, by the sons of Israel.

Truth without love is cold, hard and unpitying, and therefore repulsive. Truth with anger is scalding hot, and like medicine, impossible to be taken, useless or injurious ; but truth coming from a loving heart, firm, but gentle, and sweet like the warm sunbeam, is welcome to all.

The loving blue of the eye, which reveals the sweet impulses of a soft and gentle heart, is like the colour of the ribband, before us, it speaks of the purity and the warmth of the spirit within. Let there, then, be upon all your demeanour this colour of heavenly love.

Seen in the view we have now arrived at, this commandment increases in practical importance, the more we contemplate it. Perhaps the neglect of it is the cause of more failures in the delivery of well-meant advice, than any other circumstance. We proceed to correct with the rough, stern hand of truth alone, and we encounter resistance. We are sure we are right, and we proceed to reproach and invective. Quarrels ensue, instead of amendment. We brood over our failure, and wonder at the perversity of mankind, not reflecting that we have not put on the fringe upon our garment, the ribband of heavenly blue.

"O be kind to each other.
The night's coming on ;
When friend and when brother,
Perchance may be gone."

Nothing can be further from the spirit of heaven, than a stern, harsh, vindictive utterance of truth. We should ever remember that we can ourselves only be assisted by one who manifests to us a spirit of kindness in his counsel. To an assailant we close up. We cannot bear our faults to be exposed by one who does it in a spirit of exultation and insolence. But we love the friendly hand which has a brother's touch. We delight to see the dress not starched with prudery, but having upon all its fringe, the ribband of heaven's own blue.

With this blessed tone, how often would homes be happy rhich are fluently torn with dissension, A brother will be gentle from courtesy to others, but is sulky or sharp to his own. A sister, from politeness is be brilliant and fascinating to visitors, but often fails to wear the blue ribband to those of her own fireside. Oh! if the Christian ministry has one object which more than another should be its constant aim, it should be to contribute to the happiness of home, that sacred centre of all that is elevating, strengthening, purifying, and ennobling among men. And nothing will be a truer source of all these blessings than to speak to brothers and sisters, and say, in all your intercourse with each other let the spirit of religion be visible. In each small act of daily intercourse with each other, let there be a fringe from your religion within, and on the fringe let the truth of intelligence be blended with the kindness of real love. You were created to learn to be fellow-angels in the house. You were placed to walk together on your path to heaven, to give an assisting hand when a weak one stumbles, to exhort the slothful, to cheer the weary, to warn against danger's paths and dangerous foes, to encourage the struggling, to rejoice together when you gain a glorious prospect, to animate each other to your daily progress, and often to taste by anticipation the triumph you will have when all the dangers of life are gone by, and heaven is for ever your home. Remember the charge of Joseph to his brethren, " See that ye fall not out by the way." In your acts and your words, let there be seen upon all your fringe, the ribband of heavenly blue.

We come, now, to a still dearer connexion, which would often be more blest if the spirit of this divine command were more faithfully carried out.

In that most sacred of all human ties, the marriage union, it is of the highest importance that the blue ribband should appear in all the demeanour of husband and wife. Yet, sometimes the domestic hearth is less tender and happy than it might be, for want of the gentle amenities of truth spoken in love. When that mysterious sympathy which attracts congenial souls to each other, first induces ardent thoughts in the young lovers, the earnestness of affection presents to both only all that is amiable and agreeable. Each finds a magnifier of the excellencies of the other, and no imperfection can be seen. And, when the hopes of both are crowned by possession, a long vista of happiness is beheld, thronged with an endless succession of joys and blessings. Yet both parties have failings. The perfection fancy has painted, will in many respects, be found to be overdrawn. The bloom of outward beauty will wear off. Possession will deprive many attractions of the exaggerated value for which they were chiefly indebted to passion. Both are probably young, both imperfect, both are human. Hence, there come discoveries of faults and shortcomings which belong to us all, but which had been before unseen. And now is the opportunity for the manifestation of real love, in having patience with the loved one. If they have loved wisely, the virtues of each other, and that mutual adaptation of feeling, taste, and character which has drawn their souls to desire a union impossible with any one else, have been the chief attractions ; and for their sakes, they can well afford to bear with some defects. Instead of being astonished to find that the mere mortals we have married have some of the failings of our fallen race, we should take kindly the opportunities of showing, that ours has not been the selfish passion which desires only its own gratification, but rather the holy affection that, forgetful of self, seeks chiefly the happiness of those we love. To assist, and be assisted, to form angelic characters in each other, here are the chief objects for which marriage has been instituted. And to accomplish these ends, we must have a faithful, but a friendly eye for the imperfections of each other. We should scarcely notice the unpleasant effect of faults in relation to our personal gratification, but be quicksighted to perceive the injury they inflict upon the doer. " Who is so blind as He that is perfect," says the prophet, in reference to that Divine Mercy which sees not our sins so far as they are directed against Him, and condemns them, only as they are fountains of misery to ourselves.

Our Lord washed His disciples' feet, and said, " As I have washed your feet, so must ye wash one another's feet'' And if to assist each other, to remove imperfections from our conduct, which is spiritually washing one another's feet, is a duty we owe to our ordinary Christian friends, how much more is it a duty to assist in removing the spots which soil the characters of those we have undertaken to love and to cherish. Yet what tender care this duty needs. The true wife, or husband, cannot bear to think that the deeply-prized love of the other is being lost. Noticing a fault rudely, betrays the appearance of dislike, and wounds deeply. Sometimes, self-love will creep in between married partners, and the struggle for power will take the appearance of opposition to faults. Then lacerated feelings are poured forth in bitter expressions. Then, quarrels arise, long animosities are inaugurated, which take from home its sweetness, banish all those tender endearments, those happy confidences, those heartfelt reliances on each other, those fireside pleasures which constitute earth's nearest likeness to heaven. Then oppositions are engendered, recriminations are heard, hateful everywhere, but intolerable from those we love. Distrusts, fears, and anxieties intrude, where only confidence should reign, and and home becomes the saddest abode a misery. All this has happened, will happen, if we are not careful, in our married life especially, to speak the truth in love. There, above all, the blue ribband should be seen upon our garments. Sweetness in our goodness, and tenderness in our truth, should be the incessant law of married partners to each other. A fearfulness of injuring the feelings of the other. A friendly, kindly touch, when any mental sore requires attention. A determination to do nothing, which does not manifest a constant affection. A deference to each other's wishes. A manifest active effort to promote the other's happiness. These are the dispositions which can alone preserve and complete the choicest of all Divine Blessing — genuine conjugial love.

When misunderstanding has been sustained, and bruised, affections manifest how deeply they are hurt, their pain should not be treated lightly. He would be thought cruel who trampled on the inflamed foot of another, yet the anguished heart is sometimes tortured with stinging words of bitterest taunt and reproach, under the delusion that it is necessary to blame where fault has been committed. The first necessity is to bring ourselves into a state of real kindness and affection. Then ascertain if the supposed fault be as real as it appeared. If so, to ask from Him who views us all from kindness, for wisdom, first pure, then peaceable, to speak the truth in love. While our ribband is blue, to take care that it is soft and warm. How desirable this is in our intercourse with others ! In our intercourse with those who are to form with us the happiness of heart and home, it is indispensable.

And, yet it is not at all uncommon for unwise married partners so far to neglect this divine commandment, as to be all smiles to others, and to reserve their coldness for those whom they should most fondly cherish. The husband open, smiling, and sedulously polite to any other lady, will be reserved, negligent, uncourteous, and unkind to the heart which should be to him above all price. The wife, all-radiant, with smiles to others, attentive to their minutest wishes or comforts, will not trouble herself to retain, or regain the affections of that one, on whom all her real happiness depends. The gentle conciliating word, for which her husband's heart, beneath a firm exterior is longing, she will not speak. The one, she won by gentleness, and grace, and all the feminine virtues, she will not preserve by growing in those virtues, but rudely repels. And the heart whose faintest throb she once valued beyond all earthly riches, she rudely throws away.

O married partners, tenants of the same home, who should all in all to each other, for time and eternity, never neglect in your sentiments, your spirit, your acts, and your words to each other, to let there be visible on all the manifestations of character with which your life's dress is fringed, the truth and the love of celestial blue. wife, matron, mother, remember your strength is in tenderness. Never shock the feelings of your husband by harsh, bitter, unwomanly exasperations. Your peculiar province is at home; let it be ever preserved sacred to domestic peace, by a meek and quiet spirit. So will you be your husband's dearest trust, and chief consoler ; your children's constant refuge ; and when you have passed beyond the shades of time, the star of fond remembrance that shines high above the cares of earth, and lures them still to heaven.

O husband, father, on whom the wife's fond heart desires to lean, let no harsh expression drive her thence. A yearning of unspeakable tenderness keeps you within her presence, mentally, wherever you may be from morn to dewy eve. And, when you return, she expects the friendly greeting ; let her not be disappointed. Be assured her love would encircle you, if you were driven from the common ranks of men ; her heart would be the truest pillow for your aching head. Her grace, her happiness, is the worthiest ornament for you now. Your strength is cold, repulsive, and forbidding, until it is combined and chastened by the gentleness and sweetness of your faithful, loving wife. Let her be cheered, then, to see upon the fringe of your garments, the dearness and the warmth of true celestial blue.

It is equally important that the firmness and clearness of truth, blended with the warmth and gentleness of love, should be visible in all our intercourse with our children. Firmness, without gentleness and cheerfulness, is painful and repulsive to children, and they shun the circle of its influence as much as possible. Softness, without firmness, strengthens their hankerings for selfish indulgences, and increases those disorderly demands which at length must be restrained with rigour, a hundred-fold more painful, or they must sink in ruin. Children look for just direction, and their sense of justice leads them readily to acquiesce in what is right when it comes from lips they love. Only let the true blue ribband be seen by your children always, and they will follow where you lead, and your counsel will be laws they win revere in your absence as well as in your presence ; and when the music of your loved voice will be heard by them no more, its recollections within will be prized as the tones and the wisdom of those dearest and best-beloved ones who piloted them safely in the early walks of life, and still have gone before them and are waiting to welcome them on the purer plains of heaven.

This attention to the very externals of the Christian life is fraught with blessing every way. It is only thus, in fact, can obtain strength to be healed of our spiritual diseases, only thus we can exhibit the worth of our principles to others. When the poor woman who had spent her all upon helpless physicians for twelve years came to Jesus, she said within herself, If I but touch the hem of his garment, I shall be made whole, and as soon as she did so, virtue went out, and she was healed.

In the hem of the vesture of Divine Truth, or in other words, in the literal sense of the Word of God, the divine virtue is ever present for the meek and lowly, and when it is touched by trusting love, that virtue will go out.

The prophet Zechariah, speaking of the glorious church of the latter days, the church which is now unfolding itself among us, the New Jerusalem, declares, " Thus saith the- Lord of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of all nations, even shall take hold of skirt of him that is a Jew, saying. We will go with you : for we have heard that God is with you." — viii. 25. It is religion in life that is observed by, and is attractive to good men. When it not only enlightens the head and rules the heart, but comes down to the skirts of the garment, infusing justice, kindness and courtesy into every act, and every word ; then it has eloquence which will inspire many a well-disposed heart to say, " We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with ; Let your good works, and your good words so shine before men, that they may glorify your Father which is in heaven."

While you pay due and supreme attention to the interior principles of love and truth, never forget the fringe. Let your religion come out. Be loving and truthful in little things, your daily duties, and daily expressions manifest in them the spirit of heaven in their entire round, and thus upon the fringe let there be seen THE RIBBAND OF BLUE.

Author: JONATHAN BAYLEY --From The Divine Word Opened (1887)