In the same way the Faith—­the consoler of hearts—­turns to a raging wild-beast when it stoops to become religious partisanship.  If you would really understand Christianity you must look neither down to the deluded masses, and those ambitious worldlings who only use it as a means to an end by inflaming their baser passions, nor up to the throne, where power translates the impulse of a disastrous moment into sinister deeds.  If you want to know what true and pure Christianity is, look into our homes, look at the family life of our fellow believers.  I know them well, for my humble functions lead me into daily and hourly intercourse with them.  Look to them if you purpose to give your hand to a Christian and make your home with him.  There, my child, you will see all the blessings of the Saviour’s teaching, love and soberness, pitifulness to the poor and a real heart-felt eagerness to forgive injuries.  I have seen a Christian bestow his last crust on his hapless foe, on the enemy of his house, on the Heathen or the Jew, because they, too, are men, because our neighbor’s woes should be as our own—­I have seen them taken in and cherished as though they were fellow-Christians.—­There you will find a striving after all that is good, a never-fading hope in better days to come, even under the worst afflictions; and when death requires the sacrifice of all that is dearest, or swoops down on life itself, a firm assurance of the forgiveness of sins through Christ.  Believe me, mistress, there is no home so happy as that of the Christian; for he who really apprehends the Saviour and understands his teaching need not mar his own joys in this life to the end that he may be a partaker of the bliss of the next.  On the contrary:  He who called the erring to himself, who drew little children to his heart, who esteemed the poor above the rich, who was a cheerful guest at wedding-feasts, who bid us gain interest on the spiritual talents in our care, who commanded us to remember Him at a social meal, who opened hearts to love—­He longed to release the life of the humblest creature from want and suffering.  Where love and peace reign must there not be happiness?  And as He preached love and peace above all else, He cannot have desired that we should intentionally darken our lives on earth and load them with sorrow and miseries in order to will our share of Heaven.  The soul that is full of the happy confidence of being one with Him and his love, is released from the bondage of sin and sorrow, even here below; for Jesus has taken all the sins and pains of the world on himself; and if Fate visits the Christian with the heaviest blows he bears them in silence and patience.  Our Lord is Love itself; neither hatred nor envy are known to Him as they are to the gods of the Heathen; and when he afflicts us, it is as the wise and tender pastor of our souls, and for our good.  The omniscient Lord knows his own counsel, and the Christian submits as a child does to a wise father whose loving kindness he can always trust; nay, he can even thank him for sorrow and pain as though they were pleasurable benefits.”