the beauty of goodness, the nobleness of self-sacrifice. They show that obedience to the harshest decrees of duty may become a pleasure. They demonstrate the value of time by such cheerful use of every moment, that conscience-stricken Indolence, sitting in their presence, becomes oppressed by her own idleness, and deems it heavier than the weight of labor. They inspire the weak of purpose with reverence for the strength of zeal, by their earnestness. They illustrate the glory of self-conquest, by their victory over those evil passions which are the "foes of a man's own household;" and prove how sweet is the peace which comes after such holy warfare, by their serenity. They pass through the world encompassed by an atmosphere of purity and power so potent and so subtle, that it penetrates into closed hearts, which no less delicate agency could reach, and melts their iciness, and softens their hardness, and breathes the very breath of life into souls that seemed dead. Therefore have we more faith in the puissant ministry of these voiceless preachers than in the most sensation-seeking, revival-rousing exhortation that was ever thundered from the lips of eloquence; for it is not possible to deny that
The world is lifted up by noble lives;
It is the men who in the silence work,
Nor seek the notice of the vulgar eye
