elements of their sensible nature, but
their relation to the world and to life was altogether new. All that they
had formerly thought desirable they could now hate; what they had deemed
important was now worthless, and the worthless precious in their eyes;
whereas they once referred everything to their own desires, they now
referred all to God and His will. Their impulses were the same as of old,
but they kept them within bounds by a never-sleeping consciousness that
they led, not to joys, but to everlasting punishment. These regenerate
souls learned to contemn the world, and instead of gazing down at the
dust their eyes were fixed upwards on Heaven. If either of them tottered,
his whole 'new man' prompted him to recover his balance before he fell to
the ground.--But Orion! Your lover? His guilt seems to have passed over
him; he hopes for reunion with God from a more meritorious life in the
world. Not only is his nature unaltered, but his attitude with regard to
life and to the joys it offers to the children of this world. Earthly
love is spurring him on to strive for what is noble and great and he
earnestly seeks to attain it; but he will fall over every stone that the
devil casts in his path, and find it hard to pick himself up again, for
misfortune has not led him to the new birth or the new life in God. Just
such men have I seen, numbers of times, relapsing into the sins they had
escaped from. Before we can entirely trust a man who has once--though but
once-wandered so far from God's ways, while Grace has not yet worked
effectually in him, we shall do well to watch his dealings and course for
more than a few short days. If you still feel that you must follow the
dictates of your heart, at any rate do not fly into your lover's open
arms, do not abandon to him the pure sanctuary of your body and soul, do
not be wholly his till he has been fully put to the proof."

"But I believe in him entirely!" cried Paula, with a flood of tears.

"You believe because you love him," replied the abbess.

"And because he deserves it."

"And how long has he deserved it?"

"Was he not a splendid man before his fall?"

"And so was many a murderer. Most criminals become outcasts from society
in a single moment."

"But society still accepts Orion."

"Because he is the son of the Mukaukas."

"And because he wins all hearts!"

"Even that of the Almighty?"

"Oh! Mother, Mother! why do you measure him by the standard of your own