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LECTURE IV.

DUTY.

And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her.-LUKE 10: 41, 42.

It is a peculiarity of the Gospels, that they present us, at a single stroke, with complete delineations of character. A writer of fiction would have wrought out these personalities with elaborate description. A mere historian would have drawn formal portraits. But the individuals of the New Testament look out upon us from the living page with all the vividness of reality. Though we get, perhaps, but a mere glimpse of them, they are stamped

in full relief upon our conceptions. One expression, or act, exposes their spiritual attitude, and reveals them to us far better than any extrinsic representation. Even of the Master himself, we have no labored description. His moral lineaments are not concentrated for us in any graphic summary; we must collect them from fragments, each illus trating the spirit that was in him, and the whole unconsciously forming the symmetry of that character which is the exhaustless study and model of mankind. How little, in the way of formal description, is said of Peter; yet how prominently does Peter stand out from the canvass! How distinct has the scepticism of Thomas rendered our conception of him! And how fearfully have a few glances of the artless pen opened before us the dark and lacerated soul of the apostate and traitor!

One of the finest of these momentary yet complete delineations is the representation of the two sisters mentioned in our text - Mary and Martha. They occupy but a brief space

in the record, yet how familiar to us the moral features of both, how distinct the peculiarity of each! The serene and lofty spirit of Mary, the anxious and busy mind of Martha. The one living in the excitement of action; the other in the repose of thought. The one doing; the other aspiring. The one waiting upon the Master with officious hospitality; the other sitting in teachable reverence at his feet. In the season of affliction, both felt the keenness of bereavement; yet the one kept her eyes and her ears open to the ordinary communications of the world, the other shrouded her grief more closely about the heart, and "sat still in the house." In the day of deliverance, both were filled with thankfulness; but the one expressed her gratitude in the bustling service of a feast, the other in the silent fragrance of the ointment. In short, both were possessed of excellences, for both were the friends of Jesus; but each represented a peculiar order of virtues. The one manifested that practical disposition which mingles intensely

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with the realities of life, and readily lays hold of them. She who is endowed with such a disposition will worthily discharge important duties. She will be characterized by tact and shrewdness, and a notable industry. She will ardently apply herself to the work that calls for her. She will fulfil her relations with an affectionate solicitude. She will animate all things about her. She will live a life of good service, enriched with the savor of many virtues, and she will be missed and mourned when she is dead.

The other sister exhibited the reflective order of mind. Such an one always cherishes an ideal higher than any attainment. She performs all duties no less than the other; but she goes about them with a clear vision, and a sanctified will. They do not press upon her, and distract her. They do not encroach upon one another. They open before her in a beautiful order, and each in its season. But after all, her practical labors do not chiefly attract us, because she is herself so excellent. We

unseen.

do not so much notice her action, as feel her influence. Her affections are noiseless because of their depth. Her charities wander abroad She performs unremarked agencies. She is a watcher and consoler. She refreshes all the relations of life by a gentle inspiration, like the south wind upon the clover. Yet her heart may have been steeped in the bitterness of grief; and for the sacrifice of duty, or the crisis of sorrow, she is brave even to martyrdom. In fact she is one of those whose most spontaneous affinities are spiritual; and who constantly imbibe a diviner life from the recesses of their own souls. She is more than she does. In her is the silent expression of an inexhaustible grace. She controls the issues of life, because she often retreats from them, and sits at Jesus' feet. While she lives, her presence glides among us, and makes us better; and when she dies, we feel almost ready to say that she has not gone but returned to heaven.

This analysis of character enables me to

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