81/115 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS By FRANK H. SPRAGUE

In a microscopic inspection of life, its negative features are magnified into prominence as evils. We need to stand off and look down on the finite spectacle from the view-point of eternity.
The transcendental view of life is the only thoroughly satisfactory one. It is to obtain that view-point, that humanity yearns and strives, wittingly or unwittingly.

Its scope is inclusive, not exclusive. If the aspect of things which the finite mind regards as evil, were eliminated from experience, life would be characterless. The severest trials are often invaluable. They subserve a larger end, by impelling us to expand in consciousness, so that our thought shall include, surmount, and transcend the evil. Thenceforth it ceases to exist as evil; it is absorbed in a larger ideal.

Clear and cool, clear and cool,
By laughing shallow, and dreamy pool;
Cool and clear, cool and clear,
By shining shingle, and foaming wear;
Under the crag where the ouzel sings.
And the ivied wall where the church-bell rings,
Undefiled, for the undefiled;
Play by me, bathe in me, mother and child.

Dank and foul, dank and foul,
By the smoky town in its murky cowl;
Foul and dank, foul and dank.
By wharf and sewer and slimy bank;
Darker and darker the further I go;
Who dare sport with the sin-defiled?
Shrink from me, turn from me, mother and child.

Strong and free, strong and free;
The flood-gates are open, away to the sea.
Free and strong, free and strong.
Cleansing my streams as I hurry along.
To the golden sands, and the leaping bar.

And the taintless tide that awaits me afar.
As I lose myself in the infinite main,
Like a soul that has sinned and is pardoned again.
Undefiled, for the undefiled,
Play by me, bathe in me, mother and child.
—Charles Kingsley.