to the Future by the very essence of his being, he yet
becomes disgusted by the debasing materialism into which its living
exponents, the '_New Men_, have fallen, he loses all hope in the
possible progress of humanity, and is presented to us as the champion of
the dying but poetic Past. But in this he finds no rest, and is involved
in perpetual struggles and contradictions. Baffled in a consuming
desire to solve the perplexing religious and social problems of the day
by the force of his own intellect; longing for, yet despairing of, human
progress; discerning the impracticability and chicanery of most of the
modern plans for social amelioration--he determines to throw himself
into common life, to bind himself to his race by stringent laws and
duties. The drama opens when he is about to contract marriage.

His Guardian Angel, anxious to save him, tries to lead him, through the
accomplishment of human duties, safely into that mystic Future, which he
had already vainly tried to find through the power of his own intellect.
The Angel chants to him:

'Peace be to men of good will. Blessed is the man who has still a heart;
he may yet be saved!

'Pure and true wife, reveal thyself to him; and a child be born to their
house!'

Thus the words once heard by the shepherds, and which then announced a
new epoch to humanity, open the drama. It is indeed only 'men of good
will,' men who sincerely seek the truth, who, in great or new epochs,
are able to comprehend it, or willing to receive it. And the number of
those who have preserved a _heart_ during the excitement and passions of
such eras, is always very small, and without it they cannot be saved,
for love and self-abnegation are the essence of Christianity.

To instil new life and hope into the wearied 'Man,' the Angel ordains
that a pure and good woman shall join her fate with his; that innocent
young souls shall descend and dwell with them. Domestic love and quiet
bliss are the counsel of the heavenly visitant.

Immediately after the simple chant of the Guardian Angel, the voice of
the Evil Spirit is heard seducing 'The Man' from the quiet path of
humble human duties. The glories of the ideal realm are spread before
him; Nature is invoked with all her entrancing charms; ambitious desires
of terrestrial greatness are awakened in his soul; he is filled with
vague hopes of paradisiacal happiness, which the Demon whispers him it
is quite possible to establish on earth. In the