Meanwhile, they have no right to sneer at the Fountain of Youth, or
the Cup of Immortality. Well were it for them if those dreams were
true; in their heart of hearts they know it. Would they not go to
the ends of the earth to bathe in the Fountain of Youth? Would they
not give all their gold for a draught of the Cup of Immortality, and
so save themselves, once and for all, the trouble of becoming good?

But there are those here, I doubt not, who have in them, by grace of
God, that same divine thirst for the Higher Life; who are
discontented with themselves, ashamed of themselves; who are
tormented by longings which they cannot satisfy, instincts which they
cannot analyse, powers which they cannot employ, duties which they
cannot perform, doctrinal confusions which they cannot unravel; who
would welcome any change, even the most tremendous, which would make
them nobler, purer, juster, more loving, more useful, more clear-
headed and sound-minded; and when they think of death say with the
poet, -


''Tis life, not death for which I pant,
'Tis life, whereof my nerves are scant,
More life, and fuller, that I want.'


To them I say--for God has said it long ago,--Be of good cheer. The
calling and gifts of God are without repentance. If you have the
divine thirst, it will be surely satisfied. If you long to be better
men and women, better men and women you will surely be. Only be true
to those higher instincts; only do not learn to despise and quench
that divine thirst; only struggle on, in spite of mistakes, of