asure that can co-exist with madness. He turns
crime and folly into excellence, and weaves out of the very vices of a
Tarquin the great idea of the universal monarchy of Rome. Every facility
of the reason, even in error, increases its readiness to accept truth.

Dear friend of my soul, suffer me to add my contribution to the great
woof of human wisdom. The image of the sun is reflected differently in
the dewdrop and in the majestic mirror of the wide-stretching ocean.
Shame to the turbid, murky swamp, which never receives and never reflects
this image! Millions of plants drink from the four elements of nature; a
magazine of supplies is open for all: but they mix their sap in a
thousand different ways, and return it in a thousand new forms. The most
beautiful variety proclaims a rich Lord of this house. There are four
elements from which all spirits draw their supplies: their Ego or
individuality, Nature, God, and the Future All intermingle in millions of
ways and offer themselves in a million differences of result: but one
truth remains which, like a firm axis, goes through all religions and
systems--draw nigh to the Godhead of whom you think!

LETTER V.

Raphael to Julius.

It would be very unfortunate, my dear Julius, if there were no other way
of quieting you than by restoring the first-fruits of your belief in you.
I found with delight these ideas, which I saw gaining in you, written
down in your papers. They are worthy of a soul like yours, but you could
not remain stationary in them. There are joys for every age and
enjoyments for each degree of spirits. It must have been a difficult
thing for you to sever yourself from a system that was entirely made to
meet the wants of your heart. I would wager that no other system will
strike such deep roots in you, and, possibly, if left quite to your own
direction, you would sooner or later become reconciled to your favorite
ideas. You would soon remark the weakness of the opposite system, and
then, if both systems appeared equally deficient in proof, you would
prefer the most desirable one, or, perhaps, you would find new arguments
to preserve at least the essential features of your former theory, even
if a few more doubtful points had to be given up.

But all this is remote from my plan. You must arrive at a higher freedom
of mind, where you no longer require support. I grant that this is not
the affair of a moment. The first aim of the earliest teaching is
co