University of Virginia Library

The divine loveliness

Comeliness and grace are independent of matter. Be- ing possesses its qualities before they are perceived hu- manly. Beauty is a thing of life, which dwells forever in the eternal Mind and re- flects the charms of His goodness in expression, form, outline, and color. It is Love which paints the petal with myriad hues, glances in the warm sunbeam, arches the cloud with the bow of beauty, blazons the night with starry gems, and covers earth with loveliness.

The embellishments of the person are poor substitutes for the charms of being, shining resplendent and eternal over age and decay.

The recipe for beauty is to have less illusion and more Soul, to retreat from the belief of pain or pleasure

in the body into the unchanging calm and glorious free- dom of spiritual harmony.