enters
triumphantly upon the pathway of life. But journeying forward he meets
conflict and strife, envy and jealousy, disappointment and defeat. He
finds it hard to live up to the level of his best moods. Self-interest
biases his judgment. Greed bribes reason. Pride leads him astray.
Selfishness tempts him to violate his finer self. The struggle to
maintain his ideals is like a struggle for life itself. Many, alas!
after a short, sharp conflict, give up the warfare and break faith and
fealty with the deeper convictions. They quench the light that shone
afar off to beckon and cheer them on. Persuading themselves that the
ideal life is impracticable, they strike an average between their
highest moods and their low-flying hours. Then is the luster of life
all dimmed, and the soul is like a noble mansion in the morning after
some banquet or reception. In the evening, when making ready for the
brilliant feast, all the house is illuminated. Each curio is in its
niche. The harp is in its place. The air is laden with the perfume of
roses. But when the morning comes, how vast is the change! The windows
are darkened and the halls deserted; the wax tapers have burned to the
socket, or flicker out in smoke; the flowers, scorched by the heated
air, have shriveled and fallen, and in the banquet-room only the
"broken meats" remain. Gone is all the glory of the feast! Thus, when
men lay aside their heroic ideals and bury their visions, the luster
of life departs, and its beauty perishes. Then it is that God sends in
the heavenly vision to rebuke the poorer, sensuous life and man's
material mood. Above the life that is, God hangs the glory, and
grandeur, and purity of the life that might be, and the soul looking
up scorns the lower things, and hungers and thirsts for truth and
purity. Then man comes to himself again, and makes his way back to his
Father's side.

Moreover, these vision hours come to men to give them hints and gleams
of what they shall be when time and God's resources have wrought their
purpose of strength and beauty upon the soul. Man is born a long way
from himself and needs to see the end toward which he moves. He has a
body and uses a lower life, but man is what he is in his best hours
and most exalted moods. The measure of strength in any living thing is
its highest faculty. The strength of the deer is swiftness, of a lion
strength; but to the power of the foot the eagle adds wings, and
therefore is praised for its