re must be some fine traits in the
character of one whose face is like the face of an angel, whose voice is
sweeter than that of the sons of men.' We may be, I believe we are,
partly right--at least in many cases, for the spiritual powers of those
who are gone may still in part live on in their descendants. But often,
if we are candid, we must admit that apparently the outward and visible
are separated from the inward and spiritual, that we have outward beauty
and grace which is no sign at all of anything deeper--nay, that the very
spiritual qualities, of which it is the sign, {80} and which may once
have existed in the person, have been used for the vilest ends. This
being the case, we are still left with the problem, Is the outward and
visible not intended to be a sign of something deeper? Here it is not a
sign. Why not? Will it ever be so? To put the case in its short,
simple, concrete form, how can a 'flirt' exist when by all the laws of
the universe beauty should surely be a sign not of instability,
insipidity, unspirituality, worldliness, shallowness, hypocrisy, but of
the Supreme?

I cannot answer this question. I doubt whether any man can. But I can
show you where its ultimate solution must lie. It lies in the
sacraments. Yes, they are the answer to the whole problem. They tell us
that the outward and visible--the commonest objects, water, wine,
bread--may be the signs of something which is deeper than anything we
know. And they tell us more. They are to my mind a sure and certain
pledge that some day the outward and visible shall really correspond to
the inward and invisible. For, remember, this world lasts for ever. The
good lasts, and is purified by fire. The evil alone is consumed. The
sacraments are a pledge to me that some day upon this world our longings
after a correspondence of the inward with the outward will be
fulfilled--how, God only knows--probably not in the way we expect, but in
a way far, far better. For His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His
ways are not our ways. When therefore you are utterly bewildered and
perplexed by finding so much that is attractive which seems utterly
divorced from God's life; when you find yourself that the outward and
{81} visible in your own life--the words you say, the actions you do,
tend to become absolutely different from your real inward life; when you
feel that every one is a hypocrite, and you are the worst of all, kneel
down at that wo