"Where, think you, may a man find these fruitful truths if not in the
heart of God Himself?--What am I?--The humble interpreter of a single
line left to us by the greatest of the Apostles--a single line out of
thousands all equally full of light. Before us, Saint Paul said, '_In
Deo vivimus movemur et sumus_.' In our day, less believing and more
learned, or better instructed and more sceptical, we should ask the
Apostle, 'To what end this perpetual motion? Whither leads this life
divided into zones? Wherefore an intelligence that begins with the
obscure perfection of marble and proceeds from sphere to sphere up to
man, up to the angel, up to God? Where is the Fount, where is the ocean,
if life, attaining to God across worlds and stars, through Matter and
Spirit, has to come down again to some other goal?'

"You desire to see both aspects of the universe at once. You would adore
the Sovereign on condition of being suffered to sit for an instant
on His throne. Mad fools that we are! We will not admit that the most
intelligent animals are able to understand our ideas and the object of
our actions; we are merciless to the creatures of the inferior spheres,
and exile them from our own; we deny them the faculty of divining human
thoughts, and yet we ourselves would fain master the highest of all
ideas--the Idea of the Idea!

"Well, go then, start! Fly by faith up from globe to globe, soar through
space! Thought, love, and faith are its mystical keys. Traverse the
circles, reach the throne! God is more merciful than you are; He opens
His temple to all His creatures. Only, do not forget the pattern of
Moses; put your shoes from off your feet, cast off all filth, leave
your body far behind; otherwise you shall be consumed; for God--God is
Light!"

Just as Doctor Sigier spoke these grand words, his face radiant, his
hand uplifted, a sunbeam pierced through an open window, like a magic
jet from a fount of splendor, a long triangular shaft of gold that lay
like a scarf over the whole assembly. They all clapped their hands, for
the audience accepted this effect of the sinking sun as a miracle. There
was a universal cry of:

"_Vivant_! _Vivant_!"

The very sky seemed to shed approval. Godefroid, struck with reverence,
looked from the old man to Doctor Sigier; they were talking together in
an undertone.

"All honor to the Master!" said the stranger.

"What is such transient honor?" replied Sigier.

"I would I could perpetua