Bernard observing Holden wandering from his subject, here inquired, “And by a reversal of the process by which it was lost, the outward beauty may be recovered?”

“Yes.  By the restoration of internal beauty.  It is the latter that shapeth and shineth through the former.  But the eyes of men are blinded, and they cannot, because they will not, see the truth.  The crust of inherited corruption interposeth betwixt them and the light.  Hence, having eyes they see not, and ears, and they cannot hear.  There is a law to control the spiritual, and a law for the material, and it is by observance of these two laws, that man’s first estate is to be regained.  He must, therefore be temperate, and sober, and wise in the regulation of his appetites and passions, banishing those pernicious inventions, whereby he degradeth and engendereth disease in a glorious structure that ought to be the temple of the Holy Ghost, and must diligently cultivate all noble aspirations, weeding out selfishness and gross desires, loving his neighbor as himself, and the Lord his God with all his heart, which latter is the admiration and love of beauty, and truth and justice, and of whatever is excellent.  Thus both outwardly and inwardly will gradually be transformed, the marred and defaced image of humanity into the glorious likeness of the Son of God.”

“That day so longed for and so glorious, is far distant I fear,” said Mr. Armstrong.

“Nay, but the signs of His coming are kindling in the Eastern sky,” exclaimed Holden, “and soon amid the hymns and hallelujahs of saints shall he establish His benign and resplendent empire.  Then shall commence the upward career of the race, whose earthly goal is the state of primeval perfection; whose heavenly it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive.  Then in that bright Millennium, whose radiance streams through the advancing ages, shall man cast off the slough of ignorance and sin, and rise like the painted butterfly, on the wings of faith, into the serene air of truth.”

Our readers must not hold us responsible for the sentiments of Holden.  They are his own, and no one’s else, and expressed in his own words, with all their wildness and incoherence.  Opinions like these seem to have prevailed at all periods of the Christian era.  They were entertained in the times of the Apostles, and are cherished now by a modern sect.  Milton alludes to them in his treatise “Of Reformation in England” in language which for its stately eloquence, deserves to be transcribed to enrich this page.  He speaks “of that day when Thou, the eternal and shortly-expected King, shalt open the clouds to judge the several kingdoms of the world, and distributing national honors and rewards to religious and just commonwealths, shalt put an end to all earthly tyrannies, proclaiming thy universal and mild monarchy through heaven and earth; when they undoubtedly, that by their labors, counsels, and prayers, have been earnest for the common good of religion, and their country, shall receive above the inferior orders of the blessed, the regal additions of principalities, legions, and thrones, into their glorious titles, and in super-eminence of beatific vision, progressing the dateless and irrevoluble circle of eternity, shall clasp inseparable hands with joy and bliss in over-measure for ever.”