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SKETCHES. 315
and sisters? Oh, yes! But with thee this joy must also
die away.
Delicious spring-time ! no, it is not at thee that I rejoice
so much, but at the life of which thou art the symbol,
whose spirit thou bearest; at a spring which I feel is ap-
proaching ; a spring which does not wane ; a life which does
not die, and which, like thine, imparts its all to all.
It is the spring of community, of universality; it is all
mankind’s participation in the communion of God’s good
gifts. .
That spring is spiritual life; that life is eternal.
It descended from heaven to exalt and to bless earth.
During eighteen centuries it has breathed upon genera
tions, melted icebergs, burst fetters, cleansed, purified the
air, and penetrated in innumerable individual hearts. Now
it penetrates public life, Soczety, and also its movement
has become a downward one, in order to elevate.
Associations are formed for the propagation of God’s
kingdom upon earth in goodness, in wisdom, in beauty.
Weak men join their hands in long chains, which gives
them power; and the electric current of God’s love runs
more rapidly along them all.
And the neglected children are adopted, educated ; the
ignorant are taught; the erring improved, and the condition
of the poor is raised nearer to that of the rich.
Science steps forth from its study, and in bright beams
gives to the people the light which it has discovered — the
truth which it has gained during solitary labor and watch-
ing. And man learns better to conceive the God in whom
he has believed; learns better to understand himself, to
know the world in which he lives, the stars which shine
above his head, the flowers which grow at his feet. ‘Thus
he wanders more securely and more happy upon earth.
More securely, but also more humbly, more peacefully, and
— “Blessed are the peaceful !”
The social system becomes a general and sacred system,
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