Seraphita | Page 8

in attributing to superior beings.
That face of purest marble expressed in all things strength and peace.
Minna rose to take the hand of Seraphitus, hoping thus to draw him to
her, and to lay on that seductive brow a kiss given more from
admiration than from love; but a glance at the young man's eyes, which
pierced her as a ray of sunlight penetrates a prism, paralyzed the young
girl. She felt, but without comprehending, a gulf between them; then
she turned away her head and wept. Suddenly a strong hand seized her
by the waist, and a soft voice said to her: "Come!" She obeyed, resting
her head, suddenly revived, upon the heart of her companion, who,
regulating his step to hers with gentle and attentive conformity, led her
to a spot whence they could see the radiant glories of the polar Nature.
"Before I look, before I listen to you, tell me, Seraphitus, why you
repulse me. Have I displeased you? and how? tell me! I want nothing
for myself; I would that all my earthly goods were yours, for the riches
of my heart are yours already. I would that light came to my eyes only
though your eyes just as my thought is born of your thought. I should
not then fear to offend you, for I should give you back the echoes of
your soul, the words of your heart, day by day,--as we render to God
the meditations with which his spirit nourishes our minds. I would be
thine alone."
"Minna, a constant desire is that which shapes our future. Hope on! But
if you would be pure in heart mingle the idea of the All-Powerful with
your affections here below; then you will love all creatures, and your
heart will rise to heights indeed."
"I will do all you tell me," she answered, lifting her eyes to his with a
timid movement.
"I cannot be your companion," said Seraphitus sadly.

He seemed to repress some thoughts, then stretched his arms towards
Christiana, just visible like a speck on the horizon and said:--
"Look!"
"We are very small," she said.
"Yes, but we become great through feeling and through intellect,"
answered Seraphitus. "With us, and us alone, Minna, begins the
knowledge of things; the little that we learn of the laws of the visible
world enables us to apprehend the immensity of the worlds invisible. I
know not if the time has come to speak thus to you, but I would, ah, I
would communicate to you the flame of my hopes! Perhaps we may
one day be together in the world where Love never dies."
"Why not here and now?" she said, murmuring.
"Nothing is stable here," he said, disdainfully. "The passing joys of
earthly love are gleams which reveal to certain souls the coming of joys
more durable; just as the discovery of a single law of nature leads
certain privileged beings to a conception of the system of the universe.
Our fleeting happiness here below is the forerunning proof of another
and a perfect happiness, just as the earth, a fragment of the world,
attests the universe. We cannot measure the vast orbit of the Divine
thought of which we are but an atom as small as God is great; but we
can feel its vastness, we can kneel, adore, and wait. Men ever mislead
themselves in science by not perceiving that all things on their globe
are related and co-ordinated to the general evolution, to a constant
movement and production which bring with them, necessarily, both
advancement and an End. Man himself is not a finished creation; if he
were, God would not Be."
"How is it that in thy short life thou hast found the time to learn so
many things?" said the young girl.
"I remember," he replied.
"Thou art nobler than all else I see."

"We are the noblest of God's greatest works. Has He not given us the
faculty of reflecting on Nature; of gathering it within us by thought; of
making it a footstool and stepping-stone from and by which to rise to
Him? We love according to the greater or the lesser portion of heaven
our souls contain. But do not be unjust, Minna; behold the
magnificence spread before you. Ocean expands at your feet like a
carpet; the mountains resemble ampitheatres; heaven's ether is above
them like the arching folds of a stage curtain. Here we may breathe the
thoughts of God, as it were like a perfume. See! the angry billows
which engulf the ships laden with men seem to us, where we are, mere
bubbles; and if we raise our eyes and look above, all there is blue.
Behold that diadem of stars! Here the tints of earthly impressions
disappear; standing on