To ends of tenderness and charity;

A nature purified by fellowship

With angels and bright ministers of Heaven,

That wander thither from their homes above

On missions of benignity and grace.

And in this pleasaunce, as by holy need,

There reigneth deep communion of soul,

That frameth as it were one atmosphere

Of joy, and hope, and blessedness for all;

No selfish pleasures fluttering before

To woo satanic emulation forth,

But all combining for one common weal,

Moved still by sympathetic influence.

How passing beautiful must they not be,

Thus dower'd with Virtue's highest attributes,

That from the spiritual springeth up

A living fount of light and loveliness.

Soul is the life of Beauty, as the sun

Is of the universe it luminates.

O what were matter, fashioned ne'er so fair,

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