TJ In 1876 Leslie Stephen and his sister-in-law, Lady Eitchie (Miss Thackeray), were staying at a neighbouring farmhouse, and Euskin saw a good deal of them. He liked Stephen, in spite of differences of opinion and temperament, and mentions talk with him as one of the agreeable things at Brantwood ; but Stephen on his side "could not be at ease with Euskin." Between Lady Eitchie and Euskin there was fuller sympathy, as is seen in her description of their meeting : —
" Mrs. Severn sat in her place behind a silver urn, while the master of the house, with his back to the window, was dispensing such cheer, spiritual and temporal, as those who have been his guests will best realize, — fine wheaten bread and Scotch cakes in many a crisp circlet and crescent, and trout from the lake, and strawberries such as grow only on the Brantwood slopes. Were these cups of tea only, or cups of fancy, feeling, inspiration? And as we crunched and quaffed we listened to a certain strain not easily to be described, changing from its graver first notes to the sweetest and most charming of vibrations. . . . The text was that strawberries should be ripe and sweet, and we munched and
1 Life and Letters of Brooke Foss JVestcott, ii. 33.
358 THE ONE THING NEEDFUL
marked it then and there; that there should be a standard of fitness applied to every detail of life, and this standard, with a certain gracious malice, wit, hospitality, and remorselessness, he began to apply to one thing and another, to one person and another, to dress, to food, to books. . . . Listening back to the echoes of a lifetime we can most of us still hear some strains very clear, very real and distinct, out of all the confusion of past noise and chatter ; and the writer (nor is she alone in this) must ever count the music of Brantwood oratory among such strains. Music, oratory — I know not what to call that wondrous gift which subjugates all who come within its reach."
God uses us to help each other so, Lending our minds out.1
5. That there may be gifts without love to use them aright — this is St. Paul's warning, and this warning must be declared afresh in every age. If love is the one source of all that is best in human character, we need not wonder any more why St. Paul should be careful to compare or contrast it with faith and hope, and declare that it is the greatest. For indeed love is the atmosphere in which alone the light of faith and hope can burn. Love creates character, and character, in return, makes lovely and makes lovable. There is a witchery and a glamour which attend intellectual gifts in life, winning admiration and popularity, and even the semblance of affection. But when Death has come in to place the object of these at a distance from earth and time, it is to something far other than "cleverness" that Memory turns instinctively to brood over and cherish. Not the gifts, but the graces, then; not the cleverness, not the accomplishments or learning, not the wit and humour, but the touches of human sympathy and tenderness : the self-denial, the patience and forbearance, the nobility of aim, the steadfastness of purpose, the fact that the atmosphere of life and society was higher, nobler, purer., where such an one moved and spoke — just all those things which St. Paul found to have their source and spring in love.
U My opinion of Lord Althorp is extremely high. In fact, his character is the only stay of the Ministry. I doubt whether any person has ever lived in England who, with no eloquence, no brilliant talents, no profound information, with nothing in short but plain good sense and an excellent heart, possessed so much
1 S. T. Cook, The Life of Ruskin, ii. 291.
i CORINTHIANS xm. i 359
influence both in and out of Parliament. His temper is an absolute miracle. He has been worse used than any Minister ever was in debate ; and he has never said one thing inconsistent, I do not say with gentlemanlike courtesy, but with real benevolence. Lord North, perhaps, was his equal in suavity and good-nature; but Lord North was not a man of strict principles. His administration was not only an administration hostile to liberty, but it was supported by vile and corrupt means, — by direct bribery, I fear, in many cases. Lord Althorp has the temper of Lord North with the principles of Eomilly. If he had the oratorical powers of either of those men, he might do any- thing. But his understanding, though just, is slow, and his elocution painfully defective. It is, however, only justice to him to say that he has done more service to the Keform Bill even as a debater than all the other Ministers together, Stanley excepted.1
II.
The Discoveey of Love.
1. What is the origin of love ? Turn to the Eevised Version of the Epistles of John and you will find there these words : " We love because he first loved us." "We love" — not, "We love him." This is the way the old version has it, and it is wrong. "We love because he first loved us." Look at that word " because." There is the cause. " Because he first loved us." The effect follows that we love Him — we love all men. Our heart is slowly changed. Because He loved us, we love. Con- template the love of Christ, and you will love Him. Stand before that, and you will be changed into the same image, from tender- ness to tenderness. There is no other way. You cannot love to order. You can only look at the lovely object, and fall in love with it ; you cannot command yourself to do it. And so look at the great sacrifice of Christ, as He laid down His life all through life, and at His death upon the Cross of Calvary ; and you must love Him. Love begets love. It is a process of induction. You put a piece of iron in the mere presence of an electrified body, and that piece of iron for a time becomes electrified. It becomes a temporary magnet in the presence of a permanent magnet, and as long as you leave the two side by side, they are both magnets.