The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 550

LOVE

5IO This lower form

is,

from

ment

of the mother.

not altogether instinctive as

the blood j

independent of the moral developThis can be seen in girls of inferior moral

in the dove, yet nearly so,

i.e.,

development, who, when they become mothers, fall almost desperately in love with their babes while in others, who stand much ;

higher morally, maternal love

shows that the

much more moderate.

And

this

maternal love lacks a higher springs from nature. And when

irresistible passion of

Like the animal's love

motive.

we

is

see and enjoy the spectacle,

longs, not to the

woman, but

to

it

we

realize that the glory of

Him whose work we

it

be-

admire in the

inclinations of the creature.

Next

to this instinctive love

we

superior; not only in the few, but in

find in the all.

mother something

And we

say this in spite

mothers who are almost entirely devoid of this higher love. Only, it should be remembered, that the human soul contains much that is suppressed which once was active; that in dehumanized women, when only partly reclaimed, of the fact that there are unnatural

this nobler feature often reappears yea, that in the lives of such mothers, amid sin and shame, there are momentary sparks of a higher love which illumine their moral darkness like a flash of ;

lightning.

This higher grade of maternal love bears an entirely different The sight of the sweet and lovely babe may support

character. it,

but can not account for

gin.

Its

sign

For altho much

is:

it,

nor produce

it.

It

has a higher

ori-

a mother carrying her child to holy Baptism.

of this is

play, yet essentially

it is

done out of custom and from love of

dis-

human child is greater Even when the French Revo-

the declaration that a

than young bird or animal's whelp.

had temporarily abolished holy Baptism, it replaced it by The young mother is constrained to see in her child something greater than mere "clods 0/ infajit flesh."' And altho in many mothers it has become almost imperceptible, sunk so low that many have been seen to drag their children into the paths of sin; yet in nobler natures, and under more favorable circumstances, this refreshing parental love has the power to develop the energy of the moral growth of future generations. In understanding the difference between father and mother one will be able to distinguish this lower and higher mother love, even in their finer variations. Of course, the instinctive love is not so lution

a sort of political baptism.

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