liturgy, her sacred rites, her grave and measured chants; the dim lights that ever burn in her sanctuaries; the mystic vestments with which her ministers are clothed; the incense diffusing a hallowed fragrance through the long, withdrawing aisles; the bells that morning, noon and night repeat the Angel's salutation to Mary and seem to shower blessings from heaven on Catholic lands,—all this speaks to the soul, subdues and softens the heart, until we long to bow the head in prayer and give free course to the gathering tears.
Can we not read in the countenances of those who love her truly the story of lives of patience and reverence, purity and mildness? How unwearyingly do they labor! How serenely when death comes do they rest from their labors! What a heavenly spell has she not thrown, does she not still throw, over innumerable souls, creating in them habits of thought, love and deed, against which theories of whatever kind are advanced in vain! They have made experiment; they have tasted the waters of life; they know and are certain that it is better to be for a single day in the holy place of the Lord than to dwell for a thousand years in the habitations of sinners. Has she not the secret of teaching the poor and unlearned the higher wisdom—the wisdom that lies in the spiritual mind and the lowly heart; making them capable of feeling God's presence and of viewing all things in their relations to Him who is eternal; enabling them to forget their nothingness in the consciousness of co-operating with Him for ends that are absolute, under the guidance of heaven-appointed leaders, comrades of the noble living and the noble dead; certain that though they die yet shall they live? Thus she turns her true children to righteousness, lifting the individuality of each from out the crushing mass of matter and of men; giving them deeper convictions of the sacredness and worth of life, of the possibilities that lie open to the meanest soul if he be but converted to God, who even in the most degraded can still see some likeness of Himself.
The Church has power to attract and hold the most different minds. In all the centuries since Christ was born, among all the races of men, she has found followers and lovers. She impresses by her long descent, her historic continuity, her power to adapt
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