Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 3.pdf/51

 What is it that enjoys as well as actuates, receives as well as communicates, through this inscrutable organization? It is the soul or spirit, without which this body were more unmeaning than a statue, and only fit, as it would tend, to decay. It is the soul which animates the features, and causes them to present a living picture of each passion; so that the inmost agitations of the heart become visible in a moment, and the wish that would seek concealment, betrays its presence and its power in the vivid eye, while the blood kindles into crimson with a thought that burns along the brow. It is this which diffuses a sweet serenity and rest upon the visage when our feelings are tranquillized, and our thoughts abide with heaven, like ocean in a calm, reflecting the peaceful glories of the cloudless skies. This indwelling spirit of power blends our features into unison and harmony, and awakes "the music breathing from the face" when in association with those we love; and heart answering to heart, we live in sympathy, while memory and hope repose alike in smiles upon the bosom of enjoyment. It is a flame from heaven purer than Promethean fire; that vivifies and energizes the breathing form. It is an immaterial essence, a being that quickeneth matter and imparts life, sensation, and motion to the intricate frame-work of our bodies, which wills when we act, attends when we perceive, looks into the past when we reflect, and, not content with the present, shoots with all its aims and all its hopes into the futurity that is for ever dawning upon it.