striped jasper in the processes of intellectual discipline. It is religion, however, that brings out most fully the rich uniqueness of personality. The influence of divine truth on the understanding is sometimes very remarkable; it stimulates and defines the mind in an extraordinary degree, and the intellectually feeble and featureless become capable and engaging. "Conscience is the foundation of individuality," writes one; and the influence of religious thought and motive on conscience is simply profound, imparting to character strength, independence, and a distinctive tone and quality. And so far as individuality is based on the affections, it must be deeply influenced by the religious faith which kindles in the heart such pure enthusiasms. Scepticism, selfishness, and license blur the divine characters of our personality; but under the influence of love and purity those characters shine out delightfully, as does the rich grain of satinwood cleansed from foulness, or the gorgeous veinings of marble and jewel freed from incrustations of mire and dirt. If our individuality is the best thing about us, let us not forget that in fellowship with God the riches of our personality are best ascertained and perfected; in discipleship with Christ our whole being is evoked, rounded, and transfigured. True godliness preserves from that abnormal individuality known as egotism, eccentricity, and monstrousness; it unfolds and fosters all those

subtle traits which are in the grounds of our nature, and which duly revealed render character fresh, lovely, and magnetic.

Never forget that in all our spiritual life individuality should be recognized. We must not perplex and discourage ourselves because our conversion was unlike that of other Christian brethren; if it were genuine, it would necessarily have features of its own. Be sure of the fact, and then be content if the process had its own special complexion. Let us not be troubled if our religious experience does not conform to this type or that. If genuine, it is bound to carry marks of singularity. Our experience will not be a repetition of that of any saint. "I also am a man." The kingdom of God must unfold within us on the lines of our special gifts, affinities, and temperament. Nor let us seek to conform our character in every particular to that of others, even when those others are the best. Birds constantly pick up the notes of alien songsters until their own music is lost in irritating imitations; artists injure their original power by undue deference to popular masters; and sometimes Christian character is warped and unlovely because it has lost its spontaneousness, and is being coerced along lines foreign to the man. Let fir, pine, box, or myrtle realize itself according to its nature; so shall each and all best glorify God, and beautify the place of His sanctuary.

XVII

HARMONIZED INDIVIDUALITY

The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine, and the box-tree together; to beautify the place of My sanctuary, and I will make the place of My feet glorious.Isa. bo: 13.

"Τ

HE fir-tree, the pine, and the box-tree together."

It sometimes appears as though in the nature of things pronounced individuality and social peace were mutually exclusive and destructive; we may have one or the other, but not both. What, then, must be done if this dilemma is real? Must we live aloof? That, indeed, were a sad necessity. The spider is a solitary creature, each individual, as a rule, preferring to live alone, which seems quite congruous with its base nature; the bee, however, is social, it must dwell in the hive, and thus secure for itself and its species the largest advantage. Here the bee represents all noble creatures; for these live truly only when they live in fellowship and sympathy. The essence of sin is to regard self as outside society to live without love, sympathy, or sacrifice. Must we seek to eliminate individuality, or to reduce it to the lowest terms? We have just

reminded ourselves that a true, reasonable, and vigorous individuality, is of fundamental significance and preciousness; we could not diminish personal originality and independence without seriously impoverishing the world. Tyranny, to make itself secure, seeks to suppress genius and individuality; fashion aims to substitute servile imitation for independence of judgment and action; and sloth and cowardice eat away the sense of self-respect and responsibility: but whatever may be the cause, no loss is more fatal to the race than a diminution in the variety and force of human faculty. To cut down the cypress to the level of the box, to trim the box into a resemblance of the myrtle, or to subject the pine to the environment and culture of the olive, would be to spoil and destroy them all. Must we be content, then, to live in a chronic state of anarchy and misery? A favorite position with certain philosophers is that the true state of society is a state of war; and it would appear that they are right, that the final state of the community is perpetual contradiction and strife as each member of it pursues his own selfish, personal ends. But in true religion we find the solution of this problem. Stopford A. Brooke thus finely sets forth the adjustment of personal character with social organization and life: "Christianity is the saving of the individuality of man, and it is the best thing worth saving-not

only for the man himself, but for the whole race. Yes, for the sake of the whole, it is the best thing. The true good of the whole does not consist in the repression but in the strengthening of the individual. The true life of the whole does not consist in the dying of the parts, but in the intensity of the life of each part. Nor is it less true that the Christian declaration of individuality is a stronger basis of union among men for mutual good than the sacrifice or the suicide of individuality. The true basis of union is not the union of dying men in a dying whole, but the union of living men in a living God. The true basis of mutual love is not the union of men who die daily for others who die also, but the union of all men to promote the loving life of all in God. The highest motive for love of our fellow-men, and for universal love, is found in the truth that we all love the same Father, and are all His children. That is the true and unconquerable ground of the brotherhood of humanity; and while it creates infinite self-sacrifice, it retains individual life and the eternal growth of personality." The sense of the loving God, the knowledge that we are His children, and that we may all forevermore live together in Him,— these large, loving, dynamical thoughts soften our harsher will, chasten our selfishness, shame our pride, and strengthen us to dwell together in unity and peace.