264 HEREDITY. 



Do not say that I am uttering blasphemy if I affirm 

 that God speaks in a pure and permanent first love. 

 Is there a human being of the average order, to 

 whom Providence does not send that indication of 

 duty? When it. is sent, it is to be respected as a 

 Divine sign. We are not left in ignorance on this 

 most critical of all points. I hold that in the laws 

 of the supreme affections a pillar of fire is set up 

 before men, for their guidance ; and, if the noble 

 prefer the noble, it is well they should. That is for 

 the benefit of the race. If the degraded prefer the 

 degraded, how do we know but that is well they 

 should? Extinction is before them the sooner. We 

 have learned to face terrific facts here ; and among 

 other facts we have faced the circumstance that God 

 puts an end to an incorrigibly wicked family in this 

 world. The subtle laws by which supreme affections 

 are determined are the sifting-machine of the Divine 

 powers. And, subtle as the laws are ; discussed fool- 

 ishly in parlor, in pulpit, in press, and on the plat- 

 form ; degraded age after age by vice ; prated about 

 only too superficially by poetry, they nevertheless 

 have retained their sanctity. All around the globe, 

 the word that hushes humanity quickest, next after 

 the name of God, is the name of first love. Such 

 is the fact of human experience ; and when I stand 

 here to assert that the Divine indications in this 

 particular are not given out at random, and that, 

 where a supreme affection is granted, there a Divine 

 indication of duty is to be discerned, you will find 

 the better part of the philosophy of the globe on 



