some brother Yankee would have improved upon it, and invented one
warranted to burn 'forever _and a day_.' They would probably have thus
raked together a great deal of the 'filthy lucre;' _possibly_ this would
have been their main object; but the world would have been benefited by
them. All selfishness, to be sure, but exclusive selfishness benefits
the world.

[Speaking of _filthy_ lucre, I begin to see why those who have lost it
all are said to be '_cleaned_ out.' But this is only _par parenthèse_.]

But exclusiveness is not peculiar to the Rosicrucians; there is too much
of it in even the religious sects of this enlightened age; it is too
much, 'Lord, bless me and my sect;' 'Lord, bless us, and no more.'
There are self-constituted mountain-tops that would extract all the
mercy and grace with which the winds come freighted from the great ocean
of Love, so that they would pass over beyond them hot, dry winds of
wrath. But I am glad that this is impossible; that in the moral world
there are no Andes, no rainless regions.

I fear that I have not stuck very closely to the text furnished me by
thick-headed, thick-tongued Dogberry.

Allow me to compress into closing sentences, a few general remarks....
Those lakes that have no outlet, grow salt and bitter; we all know the
ennui and bitterness of those souls that receive many blessings, sending
forth none; better drain your soul out for others, than have it become a
_Dead Sea_.... Black, that absorbs all rays, reflecting none, is an
anomaly in nature; it is true, but one earthly character has reflected
all the rays of goodness, absorbing none, making the common light 'rich,
like a lily in bloom;' yet every man can reflect at least one ray to