est to believe, have but entered upon
another phase of the eternal life of the spirit.

The Roman Church has an act or service called "The Culture of the Dead."
It means the "practice of the presence" of those who, though gone from
us, in spirit are with us. The Creed has an article which reads, "I
believe in the communion of saints." The Christian year has one day
called "All Saints' Day." We shall not be far from the traditions of
the church when we pray for our beloved, whether they be in the body or
out of the body.

Those who would realize the beatitude of this privilege should remember
the truth in this stanza from "In Memoriam:"

"How pure at heart and sound in head,
With what Divine affections bold,
Should be the man whose thought would hold
An hour's communion with the dead."

THE GOAL

But Thee, but Thee, O Sovereign Seer of time,
But Thee, O poet's Poet, Wisdom's Tongue,
But Thee, O man's best Man, O love's best Love,
O perfect life in perfect labor writ,
O all men's Comrade, Servant, King, or Priest,--
What _if_ or _yet_, what mole, what flaw, what lapse,
What least defect or shadow of defect,
What rumor, tattled by an enemy,
Of inference loose, what lack of grace
Even in torture's grasp, or sleep's, or death's,--
Oh, what amiss may I forgive in Thee,
Jesus, good Paragon, thou Crystal Christ?

--_The Crystal._ Sidney Lanier.

XII

_THE GOAL_

If the cosmic process in the physical sphere culminated with the
appearance of man, and if, since that culmination, its movement has been
toward the perfection of the soul, it is fit and proper that this book
should end with a study of the goal toward which the human spirit is
pressing. Is it possible for us, with our limitations, to have an
adequate conception of the man that is to be "when the times are ripe"
and the "crowning race" walks this earth of ours?--or, if not this
earth, at least, dwells in the spiritual city? The fascination of this
subject has been widely recognized. The answer must be secured from many
sources. Only in imagination can we follow the lines along which the
spirit will move in the far-off ages, and yet our conclusions will not
be wholly imaginative, for the direction in which those lines are
tending is clearly perceived. Under the circumstances, therefore,
imagination may not be an untrustworthy guide. We are now to deal with
prophecies