It takes man and woman, both, to constitute humanity, and a lovely, glorious womanhood is even more important than a true and noble manhood; for woman exerts a greater influence on the rising generation and on society than does man. She is the most potent factor in maintaining the churches, and all forms of charity and benevolence. Comte said: "Woman worship is what the age wants. We want the glory of woman to worship."

To me there is nothing so supremely admirable and lovely as a noble, true-hearted woman. And before her I uncover my head, as in the presence of that divinity which is Godlike and next to Deity. What a glorious record she has made in the history of humanity. Ah! without her there would have been no humanity. While the cruelty of man has been ravishing and destroying the earth, woman has been binding up its wounds, healing its sorrows, and replenishing its losses.

At the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, when Adam's sinful feet were scorching up the verdure where the desert now lies, Eve did not forsake him. If he had lost one heaven, he had regained the paradise of a woman's love. Jacob, when he went forth twice seven years to watch his peaceful herds amid Judea's hills, found in fair Rachael his guiding star of hope and love. With what pride must Abraham have looked upon Sarah as she stood in the shadows of the tents of Mamre, and said, though nearly a hundred years old: "I am yet comely and young." Who has not pictured the thoughtful Abigail, whose wise diplomacy saved her husband and her house from impending ruin; or the sweet faithfulness of Moabitess Ruth gleaning in the fields of Boaz; or the fearless, dark-eyed beauty of Queen Esther, as she

put in jeopardy her own life to save her people; or brown-eyed Judith, who slew the dread commander of her country's foes; or Ada, Jephthah's fair daughter immolated on the false honor of a father's vow; or the fair immaculate Mary, mother of the loving Christ, as the great masters-Raphael, Titian, Correggio, Murillo, and Reubens-loved to paint her, with the halo of golden glory thrown around her like Dawn smiting the angels along the friezes of St. Mark?

Think of Mary, and Martha, and Mary Magdalen, sitting in the meekness of love at the feet of divine wisdom and ministering to immortals. Think, ah! think of the divinity of woman, as she stands next to Deity the creator and preserver of the human race, and remember she must have her counterpart of mother-love and forgiving patience in the celestial realms of the triune God of heaven.

And remember, whenever man and woman truly love each other, though they wear wooden shoes and dwell in the humblest cot in the lowliest valley, it is the lost paradise regained, the Eden of earth's truest delight, the heaven of all earthly bliss.

The divine beauty and loveliness of woman is the inspiring cause of every verse that poet ever sang, and every gem and flower of art, painting, or sculpture that was ever executed, by the skill of man from the magic chisel of Praxateles, the brush of Raphael, or the noble architecture of Michael Angelo, to the rude sculpturing on the walls of Nineveh. And God never made a woman who to some man was not supremely beautiful or lovely; for a lovely woman is always beautiful, and a truly beautiful woman always lovely, and their ennobling influence is a part of the world's best wealth.

And whatever man obtains by his labor or courage, he lays at her feet for the joy and sunshine of her approving love and smiles. It accords, therefore, with the eternal fitness of things, with the similitudes of nature and truth, and with the eternal oracles of the spiritual and material universe, that the noblest, saintliest part of humanity should be represented in the triune Deity of heaven, in God the Father, God the Mother, and God the Son, as shadowed forth on earth in the human trinity of father, mother, and child.

In her divine motherhood woman is the prototype of life-giving Deity, and is pronounced "blessed." She is the tree of life, the fairest in God's garden beneath the jewelled stars. Quicker in perception, brighter in fancy, nobler in goodness, truer in love, she has won and wears the world's heart upon her bosom, and its crown of blessings upon her forehead. As she is earth's sweetest charm and brightest inspiration, she should typify and represent the beneficent love of the God Mother in the triune Deity of the universe.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE LIFE AND DESTINY OF WORLDS, AND THE INFINITE COST OF HUMAN SOULS

A learned scientist asks: "What becomes of the dead worlds? If none of them have been removed, there are about as many dead as life-supporting worlds moving in the heavens. The spaces in the Milky Way and the cleft in it may be filled with them. The middle of the annular cluster in Lyra may be as well filled with them, as the encircling ring is with worlds in their glory. If none have been removed, destroyed, or dissolved, there must be many generations of them-far more invisible than visible stars." He thinks that, as sure as there are generations of human beings, so there are generations of stars. And as human generations have increased from a few individuals to millions, so the generations of worlds have increased from a few to a countless host.

It is important to know whether stars have limited terms of existence however long, and if they have beginning and end. A recognition of a continued succession of generations of worlds may help men to a better understanding and treatment of their own world.

Until recently scientists have thought but little of the habitability of planetary worlds belonging to the fixed stars. The question whether the eight large planets of our solar system are populated has been

a more important inquiry. On that question they are divided in opinion except as to Mars, which is generally believed to be inhabited.

It is said that in time repulsion may become a dominant force in the worlds and planets, and bring about their dissolution. Repulsion is in force all around us. It is observed in smoke, in steam, in perfumes, and in many gases. For purposes of dissolution it is only necessary to extend its force to other substances of worlds to produce their gradual disintegration.

J. H. Bennett, in the "Genesis of Worlds," says that "the stars of the universe, like the generations of men, have growth, maturity, and old age; and in both cases complexions furnish the criterion of the various ages; and a knowledge of the stage of usefulness and age of the stars may be gained through their various colors Light-colored at first, they grow gradually darker toward the last. The universe is strewn with the remains of dead suns, with their systems dark, desolate, and useless." I cannot agree with him that there are any considerable number of dead worlds floating through space. It is possible there are a few.

He claims that the natural process of dissolution of all organic substances is by atomic dispersion or by transformation of substance, whereby the power of repulsion overcomes gravitation, with the result of a dispersion in the form of primordial matter By a similar means, he says, the organic substanc of worlds will become subject to a similar process, and the power of repulsion affect their dissolution and dispersion throughout the regions of space.

As such a dissolution cannot occur while populations remain, mankind cannot witness their dissolu