TEE CYCLES OF MATTER. 431 



— which seizes hold on infinity— which, though chained in 

 flesh, spurns its fetters, and feels evermore that it is the 

 offspring of God — the brother of angels — the heir of per- 

 petuity — and will soon shake its shambles down amongst 

 the rubbish of decaying worlds, and dwell superior to the 

 mutations of matter and the revolutions of the ages ? 

 What, in comparison with the crumbling of mountains and 

 the decay of worlds, is the being possessed of such a con- 

 sciousness and such a destiny ? Who shall tremble at the 

 wreck of matter, when, in perpetual youth, he shall outlive 

 suns, and systems, and firmaments, and through the cease- 

 less cycles of material history shall see creation rise upon 

 creation — the ever-recurring mornings of eternal life? 



