Despite the clouds which appear from time to time in our social atmosphere, I seem to become sensible more and more of a luminous atmosphere of faith, which, like the ether that we breathe, overhangs and envelops us all. This is faith, not in forms of belief, but in the infinite good to attain which must ever constitute the greatest effort of which humanity is capable. I would not limit the development of this atmosphere to any time or place. It is doubtless present wherever true souls abide, but in our country it rules supreme, and our most important institutions are dedicated in its name.
Like a cloud no bigger than a man's hand it overhung the tent of Abraham on the plains of Mamre. On the mountain-top it enveloped the form of him who wrote on tables of stone the laws which still rule the civilized world. It spread itself like a canopy above the blessed steps of the Christ, . . . and to-day it shines with a new glory, and stretches itself to a compass which we are unable to measure. Who shall set bounds to its presence?
The Cosmopolitan.
