xxi. BEAUTY FOR ASHES. 379 



its power and grace, and producing greater and nobler 

 results. And at that season we are specially invited to 

 share in the blessings of His grace, and to rejoice in the 

 triumph of His righteous cause over the evils of the 

 world. Whether we are then sitting beside the cold 

 ashes of some once bright glowing hope or dream 

 of love ; whether we are bearing upon our head and 

 heart the ashes of mourning for some beloved one, 

 whose hand will never more clasp ours, whose face will 

 never more smile in tenderness upon us ; whether we 

 are looking back upon the ashes of a wasted life that in 

 its burning has shed light upon no noble or useful work ; 

 whatever may be the nature of the ashes beside which 

 we stand at the close of the year, and feel how much 

 meaning lies in the little mournful monosyllable, "gone," 

 the holy child Jesus can give us beauty for them, beauty 

 from them; can give us back far more than we have 

 lost, can restore in a higher form what is gone. From the 

 ashes of our sins and the ashes of our sorrows, He can 

 give us a beauty of hope and a beauty of holiness which 

 will be a true gladness in our hearts. The narrowing 

 and descent of our life into these ashes is, through re- 

 pentance and faith, for the broadening and brightening 

 of it into glimpses and foretastes of the larger and 

 grander life beyond. 



