thdrawn the
beauty of its glory from the heavens! Already the shadows are
lengthening around us, and shrouding in their darkness every object in
the Place. But a short hour hence, and--should no moon arise--the
gloom of night will stretch unresisted over Rome!'

'To what purpose do you tell me this?'

'Are you not reminded, by what we have observed, of the course of the
worship which it is our privilege to profess? Does not that first
beautiful light denote its pure and perfect rise; that short conflict
between the radiance and the gloom, its successful preservation, by the
Apostles and the Fathers; that rapid fading of the radiance, its
desecration in later times; and the gloom which now surrounds us, the
destruction which has encompassed it in this age we live in?--a
destruction which nothing can avert but a return to that pure first
faith that should now be the hope of our religion, as the moon is the
hope of night!'

'How should we reform? Do people who have no liberties care about a
religion? Who is to teach them?'

'I have--I will. It is the purpose of my life to restore to them the
holiness of the ancient Church; to rescue them from the snare of
traitors to the faith, whom men call priests. They shall learn through
me that the Church knew no adornment once, but the presence of the
pure; that the priest craved no finer vestment than his holiness; that
the Gospel, which once taught humility and now raises dispute, was in
former days the rule of faith--sufficient for all wants, powerful over
all difficulties. Through me they shall know that in times past it was
the guardian of the heart; through me they shall see that in times
present it is the plaything of the proud; through me they shall fear
that in times future it may become the exile of the Church! To this
task I have vowed myself; to overthrow this idolatry--which, like
another paganism, rises among us with its images, its relics, its
jewels, and its gold--I will devote my child, my life, my energies, and
my possessions. From this attempt I will never turn aside--from this
determination I will never flinch. While I have a breath of life in
me, I will persevere in restoring to this abandoned city the true
worship of the Most High!'

He ceased abruptly. The intensity of his agitation seemed suddenly to
deny to him the faculty of speech. Every muscle in the frame of that
stern, melancholy man quivered at the immortal promptings of the soul
w