xxi. BEAUTY FOR ASHES. ^3 



But there is no waste in nature equal to the waste 

 of human life. The ashes of the dead speak of the 

 greatest humiliation, the uttermost loss, highest hopes 

 extinguished, and noblest ideas perished. The gifts 

 and gains of our civilization have made human life 

 more precious than of old ; the results of science, 

 showing through what long stages and by what wonder- 

 ful processes it has reached its present perfection, have 

 greatly exalted the conception of its importance ; the 

 revelation of Divine grace has made known to us that, 

 for its sake, the Son of God Himself died, and what 

 unspeakable issues hang upon it ; and the experience 

 of every heart that deeply loves, confirms the truth 

 that in this human life love is by far the greatest and 

 most blessed thing, " the most divine flower that 

 Nature, in the long course of her evolutions, has 

 evoked." And here, in the ashes of the dead, it has 

 all come to an end; Nature has wasted all her 

 gathered gains, thrown away her grandest thing just 

 when it was perfected ! Other wastes may be repaired. 

 Every spring, the earth rises in fresh loveliness from 

 the baptism of the autumnal fire. It passes out 

 through winter's dark valley of the shadow of death 

 into green pastures and beside still waters beyond. The 

 leaves appear again in the old tenderness ; and out 

 of the dry bulbs and withered-looking branches come 

 the fair young flowers wearing the immortal bloom of 

 Eden. But, what shall repair the waste of human 

 death ? Can any following spring revive the ashes of 

 the urn ? Spring lays its magic wand upon the green 



