herish the blissful hope of being, in some spiritual form,
the brides of Jesus. A long line of these, coeval with the Crucifixion,
have passed on in maiden meditation, and so were fancy-free from all of
mortal mould. This ecstatic dreaming is so charming, and so insatiable
withal, that it seems to those who entertain it a divine vision. It is
an enchantment so complete that Reason cannot penetrate its circle, and
Logic has never approached it. Doubtless this fond aspiration finds
freest and fairest expression in the Roman Church,--a communion that not
only encourages, but enjoins, the adoration of the Virgin, in order that
certain enthusiasts among men may also aspire to the skies on the wings
of pure, yet passionate love.

The ready objection to this course of life is that it leads to solitude.
It wins the devotee apart, and away from the influences to that
universal brotherhood whereto Philanthropy fondly turns as the finest
manifestation of the spirit of the Redeemer. And yet they are equally
the fruits of His coming. Without the perfect Man the sublimest
endurance and most marvellous aspiration of Hope would never have found
development below. Now it has become a power that so pervades the bosoms
of sects that they accept its soaring wing as one to which the heaven
of heavens is open. This, certainly, is the greatest triumph that human
nature has achieved over those who have systematically depreciated it;
inasmuch as it is a heightening, not a change of heart. Verily, Love is
stronger than Death; and in its complete presence or utter absence,
here or hereafter, there is and will be the extreme of bliss or bale.
Therefore it is in the affections to lead those sweetly and swiftly
heavenward who singly seek the immortal way. So guided and inspired, it
cannot but be a charming path; for those who perpetually walk therein
come to look as though they were entranced with the perfume that
floats from fields of asphodel. Characters so developed are beautiful
exceedingly, and seem of a far higher strain than those who most
generously and effectively labor for the amelioration and moral
advancement of the race. They, more than any others who have riches
there, illumine the grand, yet gloomy arches of the Christian Church
with their ineffable whiteness. No preacher therein is so eloquent as
their marble silence; for they reveal in their countenances the mystery
of Redemption. Even while among the living, men looked upon them wit