consciousness, and inaugurates a spiritual faith; and we are
baptized into eternal life through the cloud and the shadow
of death.

But, once more, I remark, that there are those who may say,
"We do not ask for any permanence in the conditions of life;
we do not ask that even its dearest relationships should be
retained; but give, 0! give us ever those highest brightest
moods of faith and of truth, which constitute the glory of
religion, and lift us above the conflict and the sin of the
world! No truly religious mind can fail to perceive the
gravitation of its thoughts and desires, and the contrast
between its usual level and its best moments of contemplation
and prayer. And it . may indeed seem well to desire the
prolongation of these experiences; to desire to live ever in
that unworldly radiance, close to the canopy of God, --in
company with the great and the holy, --in company with the
apostles and with Jesus, --on some Mount of Transfiguration,
in garments whiter than snow, and with faces bright as the
sun; and the hard, bad, trying world far distant and far
below. Does not the man of spiritual sensitiveness envy
those sainted ones who have grown apart, in pure clusters,
away above the sinful world, blossoming and breathing
fragrance on the very slopes of heaven?

And yet, is this the complete ideal of life? and is this the
way in which we are to accomplish its true end? I think we
may safely say that even the brightest realizations of
religion should be comparatively rare, otherwise we forget
the work and lose the discipline of our mortal lot. The