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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 ©{jap, 3.3 ©apjjrigiji Ifto, — 
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 UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 
 
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 American Treict Societu 
 
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 Gopqnqht 1888 bq American Tract Societq 
 
American. Trcict Societi^l50 Nassau Street New York 
 
Beauty for ashes, 
 the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for 
 the spirit of heaviness. i sa . i X i, 3 
 
V 
 
 1 he subject of Praise is a 
 popular one. 
 
 Religion seems less un- 
 comfortable to some, 
 when expressed in 
 fc — song than in 
 
 prayer. 
 
 Hence, a common demand of the day is for " praise 
 
 meetings," and joyful tunes. It is not to encourage this demand for what may 
 
 be only an empty garment of praise, that the following pages are presented. 
 
 Thomas Carlyle has, in his "Sartor Resartus " set this word "clothes" 
 before the world in clear light, and in every department of life we recognize 
 the force of our Saviour's own expression, " The life is more than meat " — more 
 than that which goes to make up the outward form, — "the body is more than 
 raiment." The "garment" of praise must be the outgrowth of the inner life. 
 
/according to Isaiah's prophecy, the good tidings which the anointed One 
 came to proclaim would bring the captive out of the prison-house into such 
 safety and joy and freedom that the sackcloth would be exchanged for the 
 festive purple. "To proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the 
 prison to them that are bound ; to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy 
 for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." 
 
 To show the depth of the transformation, the prophet changes the figure 
 at once to one illustrating life and growth, "that they might be called trees of 
 righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." 
 
 Such "good tidings" all may receive who hear the voice of Him who 
 read this prophecy in the synagogue at Capernaum, and added, "This day is 
 this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." 
 
 — ,/v 
 
ORDECAI went out from the presence of the king 
 in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great 
 crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and 
 
 purple. Esther viii. 15. 
 
 The father said unto his servants, Bring forth the best 
 robe and put it on him. Luke xv, 22. 
 
 The oriental custom of expressing changed circumstances 
 by change of raiment must interpret for us the full meaning 
 of the "garment" of praise. 
 The metaphor runs through the Bible, and becomes especially prominent in the 
 Apocalypse. Raiment meant something in those days. " Because I have caused 
 thine iniquity to pass from thee, I will clothe thee with change of raiment." 
 The scribes desired " long robes," only because such robes were the outward sym- 
 bol of the character they sought to assume before the people. 
 
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 /\nd behold, the angel of the Lord came 
 upon him, and a light shined in the prison ; 
 and he smote Peter on the side, and raised 
 him up, saying, Rise up quickly. And his 
 chains fell off from his hands. 
 And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself 
 and bind on thy sandals, and so he did. 
 And he saith unto him, Cast thy gar- 
 ment about thee, and follow me. 
 
 Acts xii, 7, 8. 
 
 ohow 
 forth 
 the praises of him 
 
 who hath called you out of darkness 
 
 into his marvellous light. 
 
 l Peter ii, 9. 
 
*jp will praise thee with my whole heart. 
 
 -••«-.. 
 
 V^ £ 
 
 Psa. cxxxviii, i. 
 
 The praise most acceptable to Gods ear may not always 
 be that borne upward in familiar doxologies from 
 Sabbath to Sabbath. 
 
 It is not enough that the lips of the 
 people should respond " The Lord's 
 name be praised," to the " Praise ye 
 the Lord " of the priest. 
 " The heart must ring thy Christmas 
 
 bells, 
 Thy inward altars raise; 
 Its faith and hope thy 
 
 canticles, 
 x - , - And its obedience, praise." 
 
 V 
 
A, 
 
 .nd I heard a voice from heaven 
 as the voice of many waters, 
 and as the voice of a oreat 
 thunder; 
 And thev sung- as it were 
 
 a new song, 
 and no man could learn 
 that song but they which 
 were redeemed 
 
 from 
 the earth. '"'I 
 
 
 Rev. 
 
 xiv, 2, 3 
 
Ilefe eveFytl^infj t^at l^atl) treaty fipaise tr^e trepd. 
 
 A praise of early freshness 
 
 Of carol and of trill, 
 Re-echoing all the music 
 Of valley 
 and 
 of rill. 
 
 ree 
 
 With anthems 
 
 of the flowers, 
 Too delicate and sweet 
 For all their 
 fairy minstrelsy 
 
 Our mortal ears 
 
 P'no, Tb' nC ) s 
 
 Qryd bird s ] ^"V} 
 
 to greet. F . R . havkrgal. 
 
se ye Hup, soq andii]ooi|; 
 
 aise Hinj , all ye stars 
 | light. 
 
 
 4 l 
 
 Xvoll, in your solemn majesty, 
 
 Ye deathless splendors of the skies. 
 
 High altars from which angels see 
 The incense of creation rise." 
 
Kless the Lord, ye his angels, 
 
 that excel in strength, that 
 do his commandments, 
 
 Wind 
 
 ■fulfill «n<l 
 
 his word. 
 
 ell me, was ever a legend heard, 
 X Where the wind commanded to blow 
 
 deferred, 
 
 Or the rain that was bidden to fall, demurred?" 
 
 My lips shall utter praise when thou hast taught me thy statutes. 
 
 Psa. cxix, 171. 
 
ft 
 
 In what a garment of praise 
 has God arrayed the snow ! 
 Prof. Tyndall says of the wonderful formation 
 of ice (flowers), "The ice bears the same relation to 
 glass that an oratorio of Handel does to the cries of the 
 market-place. The ice is music, the glass is noise ; the ice is order, 
 the glass is confusion ; Nature lays her beams in music, and it is the 
 function of science to purify our organs, so as to enable us to hear the strain." 
 
 w 
 

 
 c 
 
 tljat/^xmejYi lj would \l- 
 praise wth e ^o^d 
 
 u 
 
 The 
 
 harmony of 
 
 creation's anthem 
 
 of praise is marred just where it should 
 
 swell into its richest tones, among the many 
 
 stringed instruments of God's providence, "his 
 
 goodness, his wonderful works to the children 
 
 of men." It is man's reluctant will that changes the ex- 
 
 
 wonderful / 
 
 u/orf\S •_ 
 
 * 'o ynhe 
 
 Children 
 
 ultant " Bless the Lord, all His works, in all places of his 
 dominion " into the regretful iament of the Psalmist, " O, that men 
 
 would praise the Lord. 
 

 \ 
 
 spirit, O! my spirit! Is it thou art out of tune? 
 Art thou clinging to December while the earth is in its June ? 
 Hast thou dropped thy part in Nature? Hast thou touched 
 
 another key? 
 Art thou angry that the anthem will not, cannot wait for 
 
 thee ? J. G. Holland. 
 
Oless the Lord, 
 
 O my soul, 
 and all that is within 
 me, bless his 
 holy name. 
 
 Who forgiveth 
 all thine iniquities ; 
 
 who healeth all 
 thy diseases ; 
 who redeemeth thy life 
 from destruction ; 
 who crowneth thee 
 
 with loving kindness 
 and 
 tender mercies. 
 
 Psa. ciii. 
 
u 
 
 I Have no words 
 to bring 
 Worthy of thee, 
 my King; 
 
 O let my whole life be 
 
 One anthem unto thee 
 And let the praise of lips and life 
 Outring all sin and strife." 
 
1 he lilies' robe of praise is wrought 
 Not by the web of anxious thought, 
 
 Nor yet by idle prayer. 
 No miracle their need supplies; 
 No dainty raiment from the 
 skies 
 
 Descends, for them 
 to wear. 
 
 4 
 
 
 Consider 
 
 how they grow ! 
 
 Their outward dress 
 
 Does but express 
 
 The hidden life below. 
 
 
 y 
 
^ 
 
 If, then, 
 
 God SO clothe 
 the grass, 
 how much more 
 
 will he clothe you? 
 
 ■■ 
 
 
 Luke xii, 28. 
 
how earnest thou 
 
 in hither not having 
 
 a wedding garment?" 
 
 Matt, xxii, 12. 
 
 These words would seem to stand alone in 
 all Christ's teaching, if we must think that 
 he meant by the "wedding garment" only 
 an external thing. 
 
 Surely the King himself has not "respect 
 unto the man with goodly apparel." 
 Fitness for the feast must go deeper than dress. 
 
1 he King's daughter is all glorious within ; her 
 clothing is of wrought gold. p sa . xiv, 13. 
 
 "And to her was granted that she should be 
 arrayed in fine linen, clean and white ; for the fine 
 linen is the righteousness of the 
 saints." R ev . xix. 8. 
 
 7 
 
 \ 
 
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 < !>af WE sKouldt b 
 
 P 
 
 ratse 
 
 e fo fne 
 of his Gloru 
 
 This letter to the Ephesians. — 
 Is it not at once a new book of 
 Genesis, and a continuous Psalm of 
 praise? God's new creation! The crown 
 of all his works! His eternal purpose "before 
 the foundation of the world," that we should be holy and without 
 blame before Him, — then the revelation of that purpose to us, and its accom- 
 plishment in us, "according to the working of his mighty power," that, "in the 
 ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness 
 toward us ! " 
 
 What more beautiful garment of praise could we "put on" than this 
 "new man created in righteousness and true holiness!" 
 
JT inish then thy new creation, 
 Pure, unspotted may we be, 
 Let us see our whole salvation 
 Perfectly secured by thee. 
 Changed from glory unto glory, 
 Till in Heaven we take our place, 
 Till we cast our crowns before Him, 
 Lost in wonder, love and praise." 
 
 | S ^EAirWK G^mh Jesus, unto 
 
 qood uuorks. 
 
j *f 1 erein is my Father glorified, 
 ">^i* that ye bear much fruit. 
 
 »' 
 
 
 My Father 
 
 is the husbandman 
 
 John xv, 8. 
 
 ■V*^ 
 
J\ very great multitude spread their 
 garments in the way, others cut down 
 branches from the trees, and strewed 
 v them in the way. And the multitude 
 that went before and that followed 
 
 Then do we go to meet Christ with 
 boughs of olive, when we exercise the 
 works of mercy and of charity ; and with 
 branches of palm when we bear away 
 the victory against temptation, and we 
 strew our garments under the feet of 
 Christ, when we lay down our lives for Christ. 
 
 BONAVENTURA. 
 
/\nd Job arose, and rent his mantle, and 
 shaved his head, and fell upon the ground, and 
 said. "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken 
 away; blessed be the name of the Lord." job i. 20, 21 
 
 
 Not with the voice 
 Of song, high-sounding cymbals, and the harp 
 Did Job bless God, but with rent robe and face"** 
 Low in the dust. The music of the world 
 May jar the wounded, stricken heart ; but in 
 The soul the melody of praise has touched 
 A richer, minor chord. 
 
 I " 
 
*Tt 
 
 What child his filial heart in words can loose, 
 If he behold his tender father raise 
 
 The hand that chastens sorely? Can he choose 
 But sob in silence with an upward 
 gaze ? 
 
 And my great Father thinking fit 
 to bruise, 
 Discerns in speechless tears 
 both prayer and praise. 
 
 Mrs. Browning. 
 

 V_Jur puny walls to thee we raise, 
 Our poor reed-music sounds thy 
 praise ; 
 Forgive, O Lord, our 
 
 childish ways ! 
 
 X 
 
 Y f* \ 
 
 Suffice it now. 
 
 In time to be 
 Shall holier altars rise to thee — 
 
 Thy Church, our broad humanity ! 
 
 White flowers of love its walls shall climb, 
 Soft bells of peace shall ring its chime, 
 
 Its days shall all be holy time. 
 
A 
 
 sweeter sone 
 
 shall then be heard, — 
 The music of the world's accord " 
 Confessing Christ, 
 
 the Inward Word ! 
 
 That song shall swell from shore 
 to shore, 
 One hope, one faith, one love, restore 
 The seamless robe that Jesus wore. 
 
 T\ 
 
 Whittibr. 
 
r\nd every creature which is in heaven, 
 
 and on the earth, and under the earth, 
 
 and such as are in the sea, 
 and all that are in them, heard I saying 
 " Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, 
 be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, 
 and unto the Lamb, 
 forever and 
 ever." 
 
 Rev. v, 13. 
 
 
 

 ■••/ 
 
 
 +w 
 
 I 
 
 l^JOh! 
 
" As the sound of many waters 
 Let the full Amen arise! 
 Hallelujah i ceasing never, 
 Sounding through the great forever, 
 Linking all its harmonies ; 
 
 Through eternities of bliss, 
 Lord, our rapture shall be this 
 And our endless life shall be 
 One Amen of praise to thee.'' 
 
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