d&atflen in 



So Angel guarded, may'st thou tread 



The narrow path which few may find 

 And at the end look back, nor dread 



To count the vanished years behind! 

 And pray that she, whose hand doth trace 



This heart-warm prayer when life is past 

 May see and know thy blessed face, 



In God's own glorious light at last. 



I have sometimes questioned to myself whether 

 it is right to place before the undeveloped mind 

 subject-matter which is and must remain un- 

 demonstrated and unproved, as the most solemn 

 facts which can ever be presented to it, and I 

 have felt that a heavy responsibility must be in- 

 curred in doing so. I have reflected whether it 

 might not be better rather to train the mind into 

 an appreciation of the poetical beauties of re- 

 ligion, as the highest ideal and the goal for the 

 purest aspirations of the most refined tempera- 

 ments, and as such to be held always before us 

 and striven for with all the earnestness we can 

 command. In such a case there would at least 

 be no room for the revulsion of feeling, loss 

 of restraint, and possible despair which is apt 

 to ensue when the hitherto revered idols are 

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