Seraphita

to itself; for at the moment when Seraphita revealed herself in her true nature, her thoughts were no longer enslaved by human words. The violence of that las

ntagious that Wilfrid and Minna, beholding those r

hen he had turned toward his Ori

es man a second time, purging awa

hings of Earth, were opened

h the terror of the Most High, yet like them they continued firm when they

glory from their eyes, dissolved imperceptibly away

ose feeble rays prepared them to look upon the Tr

mmeasurable differences which separate the

mbling and illuminated, like two children standing under shelter in pr

s were to the things seen what the visible senses of a man

thout odor, melody without sound. About them, where they

the shadow of that Presence as beneath the burning rays of a tropic

t they stood, as in a dream, on the confines of the Visible and the Invisible

the Infinite, and they knew not that neither time, nor space, nor death, existed ther

wledge of the faculties of that Life; they could have only fa

ears, and whose meaning entered their souls as life unites with body,-one echo of th

ined by the strength of the spirit, permitted them to

ice of the anguished soul broke forth above them-the praye

m to the very marr

"I have conquered the flesh through abstinence, I have conquered false knowledge by humility, I have conquered pride by charity, I have conquered the eart

swer

ed the Spirit, believing tha

the heads of the two kneeling witnesses,

ssed through space as sound through its echo, filling it, and shaking the universe which Wilfrid and Minna felt like

themselves in motion, were passing upward in spiral columns. The wor

than the most luminous of material stars, which detached itself, and fell like a thunderbolt, dazz

tidings, the plume of whose

way gleaming with a flood of the

irit with the palm, and the Spirit was transf

aph and clothing it with a glorious form, a celestial armor, po

felt the dead weight of their bodies which denied them a co

were able to measure the poverty of their light by co

r trial took possession of them,-trial through which they might vic

ace; and he said, raising his hands thitherward, "Grant that these two

d momentarily annihilated their physical bodies, or that it raised their spirits above th

om their knowledge, held them in its folds, bore them upwards, gave them forgetfuln

ed to them barren when they saw the source from which all wo

e themselves the points which moved toward the centre of their system. Each system had its centre

allest of the worlds to the smallest portion of the beings who compose

imself without separating them from Himself? who rendered his creations outside of Himself fixed in their essence and mutable in their form? The pair thus called to the celestial

a testimony which enlightened their minds forever after, was the proof of the action of the W

tself felt like a mighty respiration, the Worlds drawn by the concordant movement inclined themselves towar

ce seemed the rhythm of the sacred hymn which

red on earth in the form which to each of them had rendered him comprehensible,-to one Seraphitu

owed with Utterance; all things were at once sonorous, diaphanous, and mobile; so that each interpenetrated t

ty of human sciences, of w

which an all-consuming desire prompted them to plunge. But, fastened to t

, no longer looked towards them; he

eers like a merciful veil, enabling them to raise their eyes and see

ferior creations in the spiral movement of the worlds; he followed the line of the Infinite, pointing without deviation to the One Centre, there to ente

s, whose minuteness was not to be compared even to the smallest particle which the infinite of divisibility enabled the mind of man

the Seraph's first prayer placed like two links, as it were, to unite the

of human genius, they were able to perceive the principle of all melody in the songs of heaven which gave sensations of color, of per

not be described in any language, they were able to cast their e

confusion; all alike yet all dissimilar, simple as

; they appeared suddenly in the Infinite and filled it wit

at dawn upon the mountains. Waves of light flowed from their hair, and their moveme

rted together, the Spirits swept away with a breath the last vestiges of the human form; as the Seraph rose he became yet purer;

gift, while the sign of his election was transmitted to e

n diffused and multiplied it

pearl without spot, desire without flesh, new link of earth and heaven, be Light! Conquering spir

Seraph shone forth

brightness. His acts of faith shone like the Jacinth of heaven, the color of sidereal fires. The pearls of Charity were upon him,-a

growing brighter and brighter as its motion was lost in the m

ccents made the

veil from the first to the highest sphere, throwing Wi

to sight within the sanctuary, rece

ingled with terror. They felt that all were prostrate before the Throne, in all the sp

the Spirits bent the knee in token of their impatience; ot

of flowering herbs sparkling with diamond dew-drops in the sunlight; at that

he spheres as God penetrates them; it took possession of the

hough whole planets, purified, were ris

mission, the work of calling to God

distant undulations of an ended melody. Already the celestial lights were fading like

celess sleep, they felt like those who wake after a night of brilliant dreams, the memory of which still lingers in t

that was now about them was that

those lower regio

. "We have seen the worlds on their march to God;

s and Mighty men apportioning the Peoples among them, the Learned and the Rich standing above the suffering, noisy crowd, and noisily grinding them beneath their feet,-all were there, accompanied by their wives and servants; all were robed in stuffs of gold and silver and azure studded with pearls and gems torn from the bowels of Earth, stolen from the depths of Ocean, for which Humanity had toiled throughout the centuries, sweating and blaspheming. But these treasures, these

evouring the grass of the fields you have killed the lambs of the fold. Do you think yourself justified because of your sores? I will

at of the Prophets or the Avenger or the Messenger; we are still on the confines o

lt be all

t be all m

ly being here below to whom Joy and Sadness are comprehensible

Girl, "if we walk together, the way

plied the Man, "can I cross the

ill go to Heav

pair found themselves kneeling beside a body which old Davi

ed they heard a Voice in the sun-rays. They breathed a celestial essence from the new-born flowers. Holding each

going?" asked M

nswered. "Come w