" The explanation of the paradox is not
far to seek. The principle which animated the life now withdrawn from
sight--which raised it above all its littlenesses and made it a witness
for God and His Christ, constraining even the scoffers to feel the
presence of "Him who is invisible"--this principle was self-sacrifice. So
at least the imperfections of human speech lead us to call that which
stands in antagonism to self-pleasing; but before Him to whom all things
are open, what we so call is the purification and exaltation of that self
in us which is the highest created reflex of His image--the growing up of
it into His likeness for ever.
We may here, once for all, and very briefly, advert to one specialty of
the author's works, which, if we are right in our interpretation of their
central moral import, flows almost necessarily as a corollary from it. In
each of these sketches one principal figure is blotted out just when our
regards are fixed most strongly on it. Milly, Tina, and Mr Tryan all
die, at what may well appear the crisis of life and destiny for
themselves or others.
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