type in Heaven to the copy
of it which we have been lately seeing on earth, we are not surprised
to find the same mingled elements of attractiveness and awfulness in
the rainbow which encircled the throne of the empire for three and
sixty years.

In the first place, we find it a rainbow of unsullied purity. No one
could go down, even for a few hours, to preach at the Court, without
being struck by the goodness of the men, as well as the goodness of the
women, who surrounded the Queen. There was an atmosphere of goodness,
of innocence, of pure home life, which constituted a beautiful rainbow
round the throne. It had what we should expect--an attractive power
throughout the world. Everyone felt, for that reason, at home with
their Queen, because they were conscious that, at her home, there were
just the very qualities, and the very characteristics, of a pure, and
true, and good home. It gave an impulse of hope to the whole empire.
Young mothers in Canada, Australia, and the islands of the sea, mothers
of grown-up sons and daughters who found it difficult to keep the
standard high in their own homes, thousands of them, without knowing
it, were helped and inspired and enlightened by the sight of the
far-away rainbow round about the throne at the centre of the empire.
"She did it, she has managed it; in the midst of Court life, in the
midst of all difficulties and duties, her home is pure: mine shall be
pure; the Queen, God bless her!" That was the thought of thousands of
hearts, and the inspiration of thousands of homes throughout the
empire. And yet, who shall deny that there was an awe about it all?
The man or woman was not born who dared to take a liberty in the
presence of Queen Victoria. And can we wonder that the awful purity
which shone round the throne chased away, as evil birds are chased away
by the light, all things bad, all things loathsome, and all things even
questionable!

Our lesson, then, is this: How can we keep in the nation, in the home,
in the individual soul, a rainbow round the throne; how can we
incorporate into the national life, and home life, and the individual
life, the spotless purity that we saw in the Queen whom we have lost?

And, first of all, believe in the possibility of it. Those men who, in
their clubs, or before younger men, talk as if virtue and purity were
impossible; those women who allow into their drawing-rooms, or into the
society of those they love, men known to be ba