AS RELATED TO TASTE. 85 



with images of things formed by God himself; they 

 are, then, so far as art is concerned, " the true and 

 the beautiful." This it accomplishes by educating 

 the senses. It also prepares men to receive and 

 cherish every form of beauty, by carrying the 

 thoughts up to the divine source of all created 

 things, thus developing the higher spiritual nature 

 and purifying the soul. In a polluted soul, no 

 perfect image of beauty can dwell it can not be 

 formed there; like a distorted mirror, the clearest 

 light may fall upon it and the most beautiful 

 objects may pass before it, but the images formed 

 will be changed in proportion or relation. The 

 beautiful will be reflected as hideously deformed, 

 while the loathsome and horrid may be thrown 

 back distorted into the perfect. But to the mind 

 and soul capable of perceiving, nature offers stand- 

 ards in color, form, relation, and proportion, set by 

 Him who is the author of mind as He is also of the 

 external world, and therefore they must be correct. 

 " He that formed the eye, shall he not see ?" and 

 He that formed the mind, shall He not understand 

 its wants and provide for the demands of Taste as 



