(2.) Good Works.—"In like manner, that they adorn themselves ... not with gold or pearls, but with good works" (1 Tim. ii. 9). The wisdom must show itself in outward action. If the fountain be pure, so also must the flowing stream. The hand must follow the heart.
And all this in the way of adornment—the adornment of a good woman; and girls especially will not miss the lesson that broidered hair and golden trinkets are not the only kind of ornaments. Peter speaks of the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price; and Paul points us here, in 1st Timothy, to the beauty and excellency of good works. She who is arrayed in meekness and kind-hearted generosity has no need of flounces and finery. She may even say of all other ornaments, "Unadorned, adorned the most."
(3.) Salvation (Matt. xiii. 46).—Both wisdom and good works must show themselves in religion. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, and the best of good works is to believe on Him whom He hath sent (John vi. 29). Till this is done, we are like the merchant man seeking goodly pearls. He found a great many; for this beautiful world in which we live has many precious secrets to reveal to the earnest seeker. But not until we find salvation through Jesus does the great Eureka, "I have found it," burst from our lips. This is the treasure which all the wealth of the world cannot buy. Not all the thousands of Cleopatra could lay it at her feet. And yet, wonder of wonders, it is given to the penitent soul without money and without price. Jesus says, "Buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayst be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayst be clothed." "He that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat, yea come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." This is true wisdom, and this is the soundest morality, to come and find in the salvation of Jesus the Pearl of Great Price.
Some Other Shells.
I.
Happy sunlight on the sea,
Sparkling diamonds, all for me;
Wavelets chasing for the land,
There to kiss the golden sand.
See! a floating, straying shell,
Run! it has a tale to tell;
Children, with their eager eyes,
Splash the water, seize the prize.
Hold it to the little ear,
List and tell me what you hear..
Music? Yes, for you and me,
That's the music of the sea.
Down below the water blue,
There it lived and there it grew,
Gazing through its watery dome,
Happy in its ocean home.
List'ning there both night and day,
Hearing what the wild waves say,
Watching sea-weed float along,
There it learned the ocean's song.
II.
But the children never still,
See them leap like mountain rill,
Ringing out their laughter sweet,
Sending forth their little fleet.
Full of mirth, but leaving me
Musing by another sea,
Casting with its angry swell
At my feet another shell.
There upon the sand to rest,
With a babe upon her breast,
Came a mother, not a wife,
Tossed upon the sea of life.
As she sat and sat alone,
Did she hear another moan?
Waves that smiled, then swept the deck,
Till they left this shattered wreck?
Yes, while tear-drops rose and fell,
There I heard the murmuring shell;
Strange the tale it brought to me,
Moaning echoes of the sea.
Round and round the eddying world
Had this straying shell been whirled;
Round and round lay blackest night—
Moths see nothing but the light.
Tossed by sin and idle care,
Pain and anguish found her there,
Young and mirthful, fair but frail,
There she learned the ocean's wail.
III.
Hold it to the little ear,
Children, tell me what you hear.
Nothing? No, you cannot know
All this human tide of woe.
Would I be a child again,
Not to know another's pain?
Mourn like some for childhood's hours,
Gathering nought but summer's flowers?
No. I want the power to tell,
Power to hear the murmuring shell,
Power to catch the rising moan,
Power to make its wail my own.
Learning thus to feel with pain,
I shall be a child again,
But a child experience taught,
Child in heart—a man in thought.
Then I'll hear the echoing swell
In the murmur of each shell,
And with touch of friendship warm,
Try to lull the raging storm.
Lulled to rest, its song shall be,
Murmurs of another sea—
Heavenly love shall thrill and dwell
In the murmur of the shell.