Gradually, with many confusions, and sometimes sinful mistakes,
there arose, not in the cloister, not in the study--not even, alas!
in the churches of God, as they were then; but in the flowery meads
of May; under the forest boughs, where birds sang to their mates; by
the side of the winter hearth; from the lips of wandering minstrels;
in the hearts of young creatures, whom neither the profligacy of
worldlings, nor the prudery of monks, had yet defiled: from them
arose a voice, most human and yet most divine, reasserting once more
the lost law of Eden, and finding in its fulfilment, strength and
purity, self-sacrifice and self-restraint.

That voice grew clearer and more strong as time went on. It was
purged from youthful mistakes and youthful grossnesses; till, at the
Reformation, it could speak clearly, fully, once and for all--no
longer on the ground of mere nature and private fancy, but on the
ground of Scripture, and reason, and the eternal laws of God; and
the highest ideal of family life became possible to the family and
to the nation, in proportion as they accepted the teaching of the
Reformation: and impossible, alas! in proportion as they still
allowed themselves to be ruled by a priesthood who asserted the
truly monstrous dogma, that the sexes reach each their highest
excellence only when parted from each other.

But these things were hidden from David. One can well conceive that
he, so gifted outwardly and inwardly, must have experienced all that
was then possible of woman's love. In one case, indeed, he was
notably brought under that moral influence of woman, which we now
regard, and rightly, as one of the holiest influences of this life.
The scene is unique in Scripture. It reads like a scene out of the