THE LIFE OF MAX. 219 



around are signs of a true change that takes place 

 in ourselves. 



And these two thoughts conduct us to a result 

 in which, while we press forward towards farther 

 light, we may yet rest with present satisfaction. 

 If man is one, and if some spiritual work pertaining 

 to humanity, and embracing, therefore, every mem- 

 ber of it, be the true cause of all that we experience, 

 then our hearts, at least, may be at rest. The 

 universal Life bears man's destiny within it ; and 

 not the meanest labour, the most trivial accident, 

 fails of contributing its part. If, as we have seen, 

 to understand our life, we must look beyond the 

 seeming, we see here the guide by which we may 

 interpret it. The carrying out of a change in man, 

 this is the meaning of it ; this the unseen fact. 

 It is not wasted as it seems. 



And yet once more our hearts turn to Nature 

 as their guide. What is it that is imaged there ? 

 What fact presents to our eyes this scene of mingled 

 life and death, of ruin and of order, and reveals to 

 our more humble and instructed gaze life springing 

 out of death, ruling decay, embracing ruin as its 



