"THE STORY OF MY HEART." 275 



far above his associates. And since friend- 

 ship cannot endure the loss of equality, the 

 ties of years are severed. Instead of the 

 warmth of friendship, one feels, with the 

 coldness, the reproach of isolation. This is a 

 consideration, however, which would weigh 

 little with Jefferies, who lived, of free choice, 

 in isolation. 



Again, many men find a sufficient support 

 on the great questions of faith which they 

 seldom or never formulate to themselves in 

 the fact that certain men, whom they very 

 deeply venerate, believe in certain doctrines. 

 That such a man as Dean Stanley, for instance 

 a scholar, a man of unblemished life, whose 

 purity of soul and natural nobility of character 

 lifted him high above the average of man was 

 also a devout Christian, and a pillar of the 

 Church of England, has been, and is still, a solid 

 guarantee to thousands who remember his 

 example that the religion which was able to 

 light his feet through the valley of death, 

 and to sustain his heart while life was 

 ebbing, must be true. This is a kindly and a 

 natural aid to faith. And it is another illus- 



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