True Love

Love rules the court, the onnip, ih; grove, And man below and suint aboye; For love Is heaven and heaven is love. 8iu Wai.tki; scott, Amibiiition and ïo-ve appear ■■o be two minster passilons of mankind. Hut few ambitiions are worntey, and coinp,i]'a;tiivc:y íew loves are true. Vulgar 3a ve, l'iike vulga.r ain.biiti.on, may degnade ïts p'os&essor ajid ruin otters, but true ?ove ennolbles Mm who feels It, a,nid' exaits Sta object bey oud all eC'se. La'tely ow c-orttentiion that fc:ue l'ovc iii Une product of later times, and was unkiwwn to tibe anaiients, has been called in quiestiSon by one or two superficial critics. Thie Bible and Hwiiaoe have been, quiated to dLïprove our stialtememt. In regard the Scr.iipitnires, tlhie condáltiions of ;ife were sucli in Biibïioal times that lts. existence was impossilbie. Womeai were eittuer suaves 0:r eeini-slsaves, comstant;y dui subjection ftpam theilr birtth. to theiir death to aiue man oi" another. Sotomcm's eong is very beaiutïiul as tho pir'Oid'UctiiOin of am anctent Eastern po&t. But tae Bioyiai? lovr, whose liarem comtaiiued a tíliousand vomea obtaiiiied by poiweir, coulld aever iiave fenio-wm tlh sentdiment in its pucity, Irü'wevei' much he may have ïancied a, niev beaiuity, oi" liiovvever impassloinied may bave beea hls lay. Much as lee!n saAd of Jaoo-b's serviing seven years RacnieC, bat tihat was a oo,inmO'n mode in tbose days of obtainöing a wlíe wten a man was tiO'O1 poor to bay ome, a;ndl it is sti.1 diaae in ma-ny parts oiï toe wor:d. Jaooib's afíection, wliách carne jiearer to mioidei n love tJian any of wliich we h,ave read, did nolb prevent him from taküng as many oifchier wo'men as were Oifered hiim. avthoiagh he preferred Eaolueil to ber sare-eyed Bister and to tibe fema-le slaves whlo were há concubines. Seemg thiat shie was quickwïtted, ''beautifu:, and well iavoved," liis p-reference is aoit eurprising, nor that the seven years "seemed tio hian 1ut a few days ar the love hO had to her," tor these were years of courtship betwee!n a patiënt ehepherd and a pretty sihiephendees. Ia the pastoral age thiey tooik no note of time. Jaco'b's g-nand-iatiher had jus compveted a oaatu'i'y, anid his wii'e and half aister was niaarly as o'ld when Isaac was bo!rn to -ubem. We sotoer "svestiei'-'Tieirs must mot take the ta".:es oi the eiast too literally. The whole account is deeply tiinged witilii the exaggerations anJ marve'ls of ihe Arabia, Niighti. Sarah is the Jewish Helen with whom ail whio seie1 her are smit)teji. By coCIoision she passend as AlK-aham's sdlter. The kirng oí Egypt tates tb%i very matujred beauty iato his hiairem, and "the Lord plagued Phainaioh and his house wiith great prjagues because oí Sarah, Abraham's -wife." Twenty-Sour years ;iater, when she was extremeiy old, aad at "jeast foirty years p-ast thie period o{ chi'-Ü-beiaring, her hustoand was iniO'rmd that she woa'Jd become a miofcheir. She is very earcastic over it, regar ding it as a phjysica"i impossïbility, nevertbelees it ca.me t pass wtthdn a year. But, in the meantime, her beaiuty attracts the üotice of tlhie kiing of Genar, who also; sfezes hier, and takes the venerable princess Urito his harem. God visits him in a dream and tells hiim all about' hie mistlake. Besides whioh, the fertile laidies of tihe ooart were suddeialy afËicbed with bamesiiaess, but as eoon as Abililech restoTed her, things went on as usual. If thei purity oi love is to ba proved in Scriptura! times, it must ber oia more coherent testimonj than all thiis. The cOTirse o{ Nlatture proceeds irrespective of humian moaiaUty or immorallty, but the saered writers had very eonfused nottons o-í moral and physical causes and sequ enees, and ohen mixed them inoongruoueiy. The odes of Horaoe are nexfc cited to refute ue. "Well, all who have really read Horace know that he fo-1lowed the inidesciribaible and abevmir nafote custom of the Bomans1 of hiB day, just as they eopöed the Greeks, aind that it was a matter o'f indifference to him whether the object of his nifectijon were a girt or a boy. This custom was lawful, was indulged in openiy, aind nelther honorable men or virtuouis women appear to have disappnoved of it. But euch people must not be quoted ais kmowing anytiliing of love. The men were too sensiua":. anxl the wonnen were too serA'ï.e to comp.rehenid the pure passion of to-iday, and tihie pretbiest phrases that ever were penned canniot conceal tihe vdle immoralities and -innatural lusts which they have enshrined. Wben our o-bjectotrs nest do us the honor to cniticise, we trust that they ■wïll íifst prepare themselves by some elemieinstiary acquaintance with the subject. Chancer, in the Glerk's Tale, gives ■the story of the piatilent "Grisüdu," who suftered every cruel indignity at her husband's hands and uever once compïained nor resented it. This was mue.h esteemed. Abjeet BUbmission, howeve", is not love. Xo womau aould veally love a man who treated her so í&u'.ly. Yot many poetH have held up tihla GriseMte, -is a patbena ol wtfely virtue and conjugal iove. The Patiënt Countess, in Per,-,v's Ileliques, is a BOimewhati similar but, better examp'lie. The iirst rtanza anticipantes its mo : "Impatlence chaunaoth smoke to name Kntjelousie is heil ; Som e wives hy patlence Imve reduc'i! III husbnnds to live well; As did the liutie ofaii curie. Ol'whom I now shnll teil." The aiiciant bailad of Sir Caulhie iviuci líoved "faire Christa belle, that .laidy txrighlt," thie diaughfcer oí a 'bonnye ki.uge in Irelland ierr over the sea,' is a beauttiud, tale of unhappy iove wlbh a tragic onding. Yet we see Inom the fixst that it was chiefiliy "the lust of the eye." They had no otfoer reason to iove, for they kuew little o E eaoh ether. The bailad of "The Nutbrown vMaid," gives us a nearer glimpse oí tli'i true p-assion. Yetevem she seems to tuave been a re'jatLoin of the Patiemt GrisaMa. Mön, liio'wever, ]i)ke wonnen to ïearn thiat the most esteemed among them were those who wotulld flatter and pet notwLthstamclinp; their infide:ities, their coaTsemefife of mind and manners, their neg'.bot, aand general bad oonduct. Tlms pretty f ooils without mucih Kensibillity have always been admired, wbJÜe wcwneii of semse and leanüng and selï-respect hiave been Bhunned. B'Oth sdides, however, are becoming wilseir. Men are nat 80 ready to marry a dMl-íace as tluey were, and wiomen beg-ila to ïook lor men witi twatofl and sound hiearts. Increase of eantiiion will pixduce increase of domestif. haippmiess, amd -villa inake ;ess wort for the divorce courts. For 1b is mot posaibie for fcwo to run together unr.ess well suiJtedto each other. They oa.nnot even pull comfoctabCy tha-ough life in harmess together an"ess they are uraamiimous. There a.re so mamy temdenoiles to friction in manted life that it i3 crtain to prove urihappy umiiess. misery be insured agalnst beforehanid. jSTothing but mutual leve caá preserve tihem {rom thfe, a Iove based on pïofouad knowletöige of each other, profound respect, mutual admiración, and general agreemnent, wluoh al together produce an il-resfetalíle attraction. P'hysicaJ bftaiity n?ay play a part, but menta] and nwral beauty willl always prove more piowerful and more endui'img, for whüe the first is lading the others are rïpemiing into fuller perfection. True lo'vc. cara only bs expriienced by tfae highest naitu::-es, beoause the miO'ral qualjiltiLes required for it are indispeoisa:ble. They must be true, chaste, fuil of honor and {ildelity, tender, genOrous, aiud filrm &s adamant. The faise, the sensual, the diisho-norable arad faitihiese, the hard, the mean, and the filcklie. carn never acqulre the happiniess oi possessing it. lts heaveoly delfehitis are for reveremt dispositioes. It "liove is heaven and heaven is 3ove," then to love truly is the most peTfect rnoral and spirjjMial education. tS'eHfiBlhnesii has no place ín it. Selfal'niegiatdjcm iis lts Jlower and root. In order to obtaia th,is Bupreme ielicity of iiie, wo m.ust avaiid' all tihat will iower our moral tone, and must cherlsh whatever will advance it. They are foo:s aoid egodsts wko despise ;cve. Love i3 the highest form of aOtmiism. and is, tihereiore, the most perfect gaodiuess. ■Wliooovr lives for or to serve anather witibout lookimg lor fee ■or reward, lives a liife of love. NatTire is Uo ve ; by Sier lawa each lives ior others ; "all the flowers kiss one another." Heaven is ;ve. God Is 3o!ve. Amd marriage rnight, and shcuid be, the most perfect means of human happiness couid w only pui'ir fy and etherealize it wLth th& spirit of tme love. The nofolesfc and wisest mi-nds have already olbitained It, and 'liien true mabliity and true honesty becomo ïess rare, true loive will be m'Oire general. But wblle marriage continúes to be based upooi unwort'hy considerations, inspireii by recklessness, ignorance, lust, seliis'hness, or weak ambdtiom, imsteaid of true iove, Ib wilia b-o like that house which was buüt upcm t'he sajuds ; "And the rains descended and the fioods came, and Mie wiiuds bliew, and ïeiafc upcm that üouse ; aad it feil ; and greaib was tJie f ali of it."