THE CYCLES OF MATTER, 431 



which seizes hold on infinity which, though chained in 

 flesh, spurns its fetters, and feels evermore that it is the 

 offspring of God the brother of angels the heir of per 

 petuity and will soon shake its shambles down amongst 

 the rubbish of decaying worlds, and dwell superior to the 

 mutations of matter and the revolutions of the ages ? 

 What, in comparison with the crumbling of mountains and 

 the decay of worlds, is the being possessed of such a con 

 sciousness and such a destiny ? Who shall tremble at the 

 wreck of matter, when, in perpetual youth, he shall outlive 

 suns, and systems, and firmaments, and through the cease 

 less cycles of material history shall see creation rise upon 

 creation the ever-recurring mornings of eternal life? 



