"That's just what I want, mother; to be engaged in some way that God can approve, while I am earning my subsistence by it."
"We must look back a long way, Guy, for our first token. I suppose that when God created man 'in His own image,' the tastes, feelings and perceptions of the creature were in perfect harmony with, if not a reflection of, the mind of the Creator, and we know that he, with all around him, was pronounced 'very good.' Now the dwelling-place of this happy, holy one might have been merely some safe and peaceful spot where communion with his Maker was sufficient to beautify it, even had it been a forest or a plain.
"But we are told that it was 'a garden,' planted by the hand of God Himself, and in which He caused to grow 'every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food.' Whatever would gratify an innate appreciation of the beautiful was as indulgently provided as the useful and necessary food for the body. We cannot doubt that Eden was a scene of loveliness such as our world has never since possessed; and the graceful occupation of 'dressing and keeping' it, involving no toil, simply exercised that degree of refined taste and perfect sense of order and harmony with which its lord would be endowed. These attributes, though sullied by the fall, are not extinct in Adam's children."
"No, that they are not," said Guy; "for you know what beautiful work and richly-blended or contrasted colours the Indian tribes produce, and in some of the ideas and speeches of untutored savages it almost seems as if they thought and spoke in poetry."
"True; and while some among the more favoured races take advantage of circumstances to develop these instinctive perceptions into some practical form, others are content with their power of appreciation, and enjoy sympathetically what genius provides; and mercifully so. It is painful enough to hear bad music, read miserable rhapsodies miscalled poetry, and be called upon to admire daubs that lack all the requirements of true art, the first being a strict adherence to nature; but happily these self-deceivers are not numerous, and usually give up under want of encouragement.
"Thousands who can never be musicians delight in music; they have the internal sense of harmony, but not the voice or touch of skill: thousands who cannot sketch a gate-post, gaze with admiration on a picture which tells its story to their eyes and hearts. Therefore the influence of genius in works of art is a responsibility for which its possessor will be called to solemn account, for it raises a standard beneath which national character will be either elevated or corrupted.
"A gifted man may dedicate his genius to purity and virtue, and so guide public taste and feeling in the right direction; or he may degrade his gifts to the sensuous and profane, and leave the stamp of satanic triumph on his day and generation. To use genius aright, dear Guy, it must be consecrated and directed by the Spirit of Almighty God. In all that is beautiful and sublime, He, the source of beauty, the impersonation of all perfection, is the safe and willing Guide."
"Then, if His glory be our aim, we cannot go too far in the exercise of His own gifts?" said Guy.
"Remembering, of course, to keep within the limits of obedience to His own commands."
"Of course, mother. What makes you say that? Can anything be done for God's glory that disobeys His will?"