That is
where the first garden was. It is where the second must be. And that
second when complete will be heaven. This is the capacity for Beauty
that God has given to the human soul, and this the Beauty placed within
the reach of us all. We may all be beautiful. Though our forms may be
uncomely and our features not the prettiest, our spirits may be
beautiful. And this inward beauty always shines through. A beautiful
heart will flash out in the eye. A lovely soul will glow in the face. A
sweet spirit will tune the voice and wreathe the countenance in charms.
Oh, there is a power in interior Beauty that melts the hardest hearts! I
see it in a mother's love; I see it in a sister's tenderness; I see it
in the widow's mite of charity; in the wife's bosom of burning
truthfulness; in the devotion of the saint; in the strong purpose, the
noble resolve, the dauntless ambition for good. I see it in the
affectionate home, the congenial companionship, in the trusting heart of
friendship, and most of all in the Christian spirit and life. How this
beauty wins us, charms us, ravishes our souls. Our hardness all melts
before it. Could Washington come here, and we all stand up in his
presence, how we should forget the Beauty or ugliness of our forms, and
all be moved by the grand and eternal Beauty of his spirit! Could
Josephine, the empress of the French, stand in our presence, how the
plumes of our vanity would come down and the lightness of our frivolity
depart before the charms of her wisdom and virtue! Could the matchless
Mrs. Hemans rise before us in her peerless Beauty of soul, how little
should we prize the fleeting Beauty of these mortal bodies, and how
ashamed should we be of our foolish pride and thoughtlessness! Could we
invite before us the departed Channing, Mayo, Weare, and gaze for one
little moment at the effulgence of virtue and goodness that made them
the charmed centers of their wide circles of influence and usefulness,
how mean should we feel that we ever thought so much of our pretty forms
and faces, and so little of that Beauty which is a fadeless power and a
glorious life in the soul! It was not Beauty of person that made these
men and women so glorious in their day, and so grand in the memories of
the generations that follow them. It was Beauty of soul. So all about us
we have men and women who are living charms in their families and in
their circles of associations; but it is not their Beauty of person that
mak