SCIENCE AND MAN. 371 



Such and so grew these holy piles 

 While love and terror luid the tiles; 

 Earth proudly wears the Parthenon 

 As the best gem upon her zone ; 

 And Morning opes with haste her lids 

 To gaze upon the Pyramids ; 

 O'er England's abbeys bends the sky 

 As on its friends with kindred eye ; 

 For out of Thought's interior sphere 

 These wonders rose to upper air, 

 And nature gladly gave them place, 

 Adopted them into her race, 

 And granted them an equal date 

 With Andes and with Ararat. 



Surely, many utterances which have been accepted as 

 descriptions ought to be interpreted as aspirations, or 

 as having their roots in aspiration instead of in objec- 

 tive knowledge. Does the song of the herald angels, 

 ' Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 

 goodwill toward men/ express the exaltation and the 

 yearning of a human soul? or does it describe an op- 

 tical and acoustical fact a visible host and an audible 

 song? If the former, the exaltation and the yearning 

 are man's imperishable possession a ferment long con<- 

 fined to individuals, but which may by-and-by become 

 the leaven of the race. If the latter, then belief in 

 the entire transaction is wrecked by non-fulfilment. 

 Look to the East at the present moment as a comment 

 on the promise of peace on earth and goodwill toward 

 men. That promise is a dream mined by the experi- 

 ence of eighteen centuries, and in that ruin is in- 

 volved the claim of the ' heavenly host ' to prophetic 

 vision. But though the mechanical theory proves un- 

 tenable, the immortal song and the feelings it expresses 

 are still ours, to be incorporated, let us hope, in purer 

 and less shadowy forms in the poetry, philosophy, and 

 practice of the future. 



