“And on the night she died and passed away from hell, drawn by the power of God again to heaven, she went with him to see the lost souls pray, and sang a song so sweet, so full of love and purity and light, that one would have thought the very walls might have melted into tears and gentleness. But not so those poor prisoners bound in darkness. They heard, yet could not hear, except for one tired, weary, worn-out soul whose term of prison life was over. He heard and soared with the last flicker of life towards the dying angel, and she, with that sweet thankfulness for trifles which always went with her, received this one as a gift most precious and clasped it to her bosom. The act was just in time, the mighty, hidden light she carried in her had passed beyond her feeble strength. From her it passed into the innermost cell of that soul cleansed by the fire of hell to an apparent newness. “And Vestasian, blind with love, and blind with grief at the sad parting, which even he could scarcely understand, never noticed anything amiss, and let her return to me, who waited to carry her back to life and light. Then, as we passed the earth, we laid this soul, with its unconscious burden, within the lowly manger. Vestasian saw, yet saw not—neither did any of them at the time. And this pure Virgin Mother came back to heaven, and slept again the long, long sleep, and when she rose, refreshed and strengthened, stayed with us till she went again to him. And in the meantime, as the Saviour’s life advanced, they saw that we had solved their riddle, and recognised the part my daughter, Purity, had played in it. “You remember well his life, of utter strength and utter weakness, the finest tragedy that e’er was played upon the earth. “Surely then you yourself can read the rest. We, who had so humbled ourselves to send of our inmost being to the earth, were met with scoffs and laughter, misunderstood, and the outward sign of our presence, the body of Jesus, spat at and humbled to the very dust. * * * * * _Several passages omitted_ * * * * * “When Jesus of Nazareth died, the Christ Spirit which was in him returned to us from whom it passed. It entered into us and brought us more in sympathy with Man, to understand him better, feel his suffering and temptation, a thing before almost unknown to us except in the abstract theory. But his soul was a thing as other souls, the seed properly sown from which mankind may rise to heaven. So his soul entered into the body of the spiritual father who had ever stood by him in silence, waiting the last sad gasp of pain. And now you see him, the heavenly likeness of that earthly substance, glorified and beautified and turned to God.