“The pomp of our worship; those pictures in which the kneeling saints express a continual prayer in their looks; those statues placed on the tombs as if they were one day to rise with their inhabitants; those churches and their immense domes, have an intimate connection with religious ideas.  I like this splendid homage paid by men to that which promises them neither fortune nor power—­to that which neither punishes nor rewards them, but by a sentiment of the heart.  I then feel more proud of my being; I recognise something disinterested in man; and were even religious magnificence multiplied to an extreme, I should love that prodigality of terrestrial riches for another life, of time for eternity:  enough is provided for the morrow, enough care is taken for the economy of human affairs.  How I love the useless, useless if existence be only a painful toil for a miserable gain!  But if on this earth we are journeying towards heaven, what can we do better than to take every means of elevating our soul, that it may feel the infinite, the invisible, and the eternal, in the midst of all the limits that surround us?

“Jesus Christ permitted a weak, and perhaps, repentant woman, to anoint His feet with the most precious perfumes, and repulsed those who advised that those perfumes should be reserved for a more profitable use. “Let her alone” said He, “for I am only with you for a short time.”  Alas! all that is good and sublime upon earth is only with us for a short time; age, infirmity, and death, would soon dry up that drop of dew which falls from heaven and only rests upon the flowers.  Let us then, dear Oswald, confound everything,—­love, religion, genius, the sun, the perfumes, music, and poetry:  atheism only consists in coldness, egotism, and baseness.  Jesus Christ has said:  When two or three are gathered together in my name, I will be in the midst of them. And what is it O God! to be assembled in Thy name, if it be not to enjoy Thy sublime gifts, and to offer Thee our homage, to thank Thee for that existence which Thou hast given us; above all, to thank Thee, when a heart, also created by Thee is perfectly responsive to our own?”

At this moment a celestial inspiration animated the countenance of Corinne.  Oswald could hardly refrain from falling on his knees before her in the midst of the temple, and was silent for a long time to indulge in the pleasure of recalling her words and retracing them still in her looks.  At last he set about replying; for he would not abandon a cause that was dear to him.  “Corinne,” said he, then, “indulge your lover with a few words more.  His heart is not dry; no, Corinne, believe me it is not, and if I am an advocate for austerity in principle and action, it is because it renders sentiment more deep and permanent.  If I love reason in religion, that is to say, if I reject contradictory dogmas and human means of producing effect upon men, it is because I perceive the Deity in reason as well as in enthusiasm;