-place? When the soul is at rest, when the passions and desires
are all attuned to the divine harmony,--
"Spirits moving musically
To a lute's well-ordered law,"
The Haunted Palace, by Edgar A. Poe.
do we not read the placid significance thereof in the human countenance?
"I have seen," said Charles Lamb, "faces upon which the dove of peace
sat brooding." In that simple and beautiful record of a holy life, the
Journal of John Woolman, there is a passage of which I have been more
than once reminded in my intercourse with my fellow-beings: "Some
glances of real beauty may be seen in their faces who dwell in true
meekness. There is a harmony in the sound of that voice to which divine
love gives utterance."
Quite the ugliest face I ever saw was that of a woman whom the world
calls beautiful. Through its "silver veil" the evil and ungentle
passions looked out hideous and hateful. On the other hand, there are
faces which the multitude at the first glance pronounce homely,
unattractive, and such as "Nature fashions by the gross," which I always
recognize with a warm heart-thrill; not for the world would I have one
feature changed; they please me as they are; they are hallowed by kind
memories; they are beautiful through their associations; nor are they
any the less welcome that with my admiration of them "the stranger
intermeddleth not."
THE WORLD'S END.
"Our Father Time is weak and gray,
Awaiting for the better day;
See how idiot-like he stands,
Fumbling his old palsied hands!"
SHELLEY's Masque of Anarchy.
"STAGE ready, gentlemen! Stage for campground, Derry! Second Advent
camp-meeting!"
Accustomed as I begin to feel to the ordinary sights and sounds of this
busy city, I was, I confess, somewhat startled by this business-like
annunciation from the driver of a stage, who stood beside his horses
swinging his whip with some degree of impatience: "Seventy-five cents to
the Second Advent camp-ground!"
The stage was soon filled; the driver cracked his whip and went rattling
down the street.
The Second Advent,--the coming of our Lord in person upon this earth,
with signs, and wonders, and terrible judgments,--the heavens robing
together as a scroll, the elements melting with fervent heat! The
mighty consummation of all
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