and faithful to the end. "We trust then that none of our readers "professing" Christianity will smile at our asser- tion, that special supernatural gifts are absolutely required for the attainment of true domestic happiness. Such spe- cial gifts can only be obtained by a compliance with the conditions imposed by Him who ordained "holy wedlock/' and still blesses those whom He "joins together !"
Between those who unite on this holy ground, who con- tract marriage with Christian judgment and Christian prep- aration, there can be but little fear of failure in attaining a degree of happiness which shall increase and strengthen with advancing years, which shall far transcend their live- liest anticipations, and which, as no other earthly condition, forestalls the joys of Heaven ! In this holy alliance there can be no such word as mastery. Neither is superior, neither inferior. Their qualities mingle by exchange. The wife is strengthened by the husband, who in turn is made better by the wife. Tenderness, tempering passion with sympathy, blends their two hearts in one. Other objects of affection they may have — children, parents, relations, and friends — ^none can equal, none can compare with each other in their hearts. They have nothing to fear from the lapse of time. Only wrong emotions bring ugli/ wrinkles. A life of happiness and virtue imparts such ineffable sweet- ness to the countenance that time seems to give even more than it takes. It is related of Michel Angelo that when some person objected that he had represented the Virgin Mary as beautiful when no longer young, he replied : "Do you not see that the beauty of her soul has preserved that of her countenance?"
