The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1896-12-24
THE MAJESTY OF HOPE.

Hope is everywhere. She admins
ters consolation to king and pauper,
to infdel and Christian, to heathen
and skeptic, without discrimination.
TO the nun praying or meditating IN
the secusiOn of cloister, Hope says,
"Only few more years and your mo-
notonous life will have terminated.
Then you shall dwell for all eternity in
the realm of the blest, where the melo-
dious voices of saints and angels will |
ever regale your ears, and scenes such
as earth has never witnessed will be
ever presenting themselves to your en-
raptured gaze" To the monk count
ing his beads in the secluded silence of
a monastery she says, "Meek and lOwly |
penitent, the flames of purgatOry or
hell shall never torment you, for your
voluntary penance here below eXempts
you but instead you shall enter that
abode of endless felicity to which
every pure and upright man is heir.
TO the priest, sitting in his quiet re-
treat deploring the actions of luke
warm Christians, the backsliders and
skeptcs of his parish, she says, ''Good
and faithful servant of my Master, do
not grow Respondent but perseyere in
thy holy calling and you shall be re-
warded in the world to come by seeing
them all on the Judgment Day, skep-
tics. perchance, with the rest, marching
in one grand procession, laudng your
name in the highest terms of gratitude
for directing them to the road that led
them to that sphere of everlasting
peace and rest To the inhdel Spin
Oza, who was driven from his Hebrew
relatives and friends because he would
not accept the doctrine of his parental
religion; to CervanteS, sitting in his
studio, culling from the vista of past
ages such parts of the sayings and doc
trines of religion and ancient lore as
would stand the test Of his impartial
Judgment as truths ard casting the
remainder out as the germs of mans
imagination: to Luther, who revolted
against the cruelties of the Inquisition
of the Church of his early days by eX-
posing them to the world with pen and
tongue, Hope said, ''Brave reformers
of corrupted age, heed not the SCOTS
and ridicule of ignorance and bigotry,
but continue to nurture the plant of
liberty and truth which you have SO
heroically planted, and long ere another
century passes, it will have grown into
sturdy tree, spreading its branches OF
, light and reason, not only over this
small spot of the eastern hemisphere
upon which you live, but from one
end of this vast universe to the other.
TO the heather, going forth to fight
J. some belligerent tribe or band, Hope
s says. 'Be brave, and fight like warrior
s and should you be slain in battle YOU
: spirit shall go to the great hunting
Y ground beyond the moon, where yol
: will meet your father and your father
Y father roaming in forests, through
J., which beautiful streams are ever me
t andering their Iabyrinthine way be
e tween tree-lined banks teeming witt
n musical game" TO the skeptic, VIII
d is constantly suffering under the lashe
(. of conflicting ideas emanating from
d the teachings of infidelity and Chris
v tianity, she says, "Although thou ar
II the most miserable of all the human
t. families, yet, shall endeavor to con
sole you to your terrible predicamen
# by telling you that, should you fail t
# enter the Christians heaven, you sha
It at least be permitted to occupy qual
,e ters in the infidel's goal, where deca
% and rot shall caress your oblivious cal
k cass for evermore."
ID When sOrrow, like OminOus cloud
hovers above the heads of afflicted HI
K manity, enveloping them in their mu
1 ky darkness aad hunger, thirst and e.
u: posure rises about them on every sic
rt ready to sweep them from existenc
es thou dost appear on the distant heigh
IN as bright shining star, revealing
III them through thy radiance, pathwa!
winding themselves among those ha