of my usual habits of thought.  He could not remain in the tomb, they say; certainly not,—­death is impossible to such a being.  He remained upon earth; most true, and all who have met him since on the way, have felt their hearts burn within them.  He ascended to heaven; surely, how could it be otherwise?

’Would I could express with some depth what I feel as to religion in my very soul; it would be a clear note of calm assurance.  But for the present this must suffice with regard to Christ.  I am grateful here, as everywhere, when Spirit bears fruit in fulness; it attests the justice of aspiration, it kindles faith, it rebukes sloth, it enlightens resolve.  But so does a beautiful infant.  Christ’s life is only one modification of the universal harmony.  I will not loathe sects, persuasions, systems, though I cannot abide in them one moment, for I see that by most men they are still needed.  To them their banners, their tents; let them be Fire-worshippers, Platonists, Christians; let them live in the shadow of past revelations.  But, oh, Father of our souls, the One, let me seek Thee!  I would seek Thee in these forms, and in proportion as they reveal Thee, they teach me to go beyond themselves.  I would learn from them all, looking only to Thee!  But let me set no limits from the past, to my own soul, or to any soul.

’Ages may not produce one worthy to loose the shoes of the Prophet of Nazareth; yet there will surely be another manifestation of that Word which was in the beginning.  And all future manifestations will come, like Christianity, “not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfil.”  The very greatness of this manifestation demands a greater.  As an Abraham called for a Moses, and a Moses for a David, so does Christ for another Ideal.  We want a life more complete and various than that of Christ.  We have had a Messiah to teach and reconcile; let us now have a Man to live out all the symbolical forms of human life, with the calm beauty of a Greek God, with the deep consciousness of a Moses, with the holy love and purity of Jesus.’

X.

SELF-SOVEREIGNTY.

* * * * *

To one studying the signs of the times, it was quite instructive to watch the moods of a mind so sensitive as Margaret’s; for her delicate meter indicated in advance each coming change in the air-currents of thought.  But I was chiefly interested in the processes whereby she was gaining harmony and unity.  The more one studied her, the more plainly he saw that her peculiar power was the result of fresh, fervent, exhaustless, and indomitable affections.  The emotive force in her, indeed, was immense in volume, and most various in tendency; and it was wonderful to observe the outward equability of one inwardly so impassioned.