The After-glow of a Great Reign | Page 9

Queen, because they were conscious that, at her home,
there were just the very qualities, and the very characteristics, of a pure,
and true, and good home. It gave an impulse of hope to the whole
empire. Young mothers in Canada, Australia, and the islands of the sea,
mothers of grown-up sons and daughters who found it difficult to keep
the standard high in their own homes, thousands of them, without
knowing it, were helped and inspired and enlightened by the sight of
the far-away rainbow round about the throne at the centre of the empire.
"She did it, she has managed it; in the midst of Court life, in the midst

of all difficulties and duties, her home is pure: mine shall be pure; the
Queen, God bless her!" That was the thought of thousands of hearts,
and the inspiration of thousands of homes throughout the empire. And
yet, who shall deny that there was an awe about it all? The man or
woman was not born who dared to take a liberty in the presence of
Queen Victoria. And can we wonder that the awful purity which shone
round the throne chased away, as evil birds are chased away by the
light, all things bad, all things loathsome, and all things even
questionable!
Our lesson, then, is this: How can we keep in the nation, in the home,
in the individual soul, a rainbow round the throne; how can we
incorporate into the national life, and home life, and the individual life,
the spotless purity that we saw in the Queen whom we have lost?
And, first of all, believe in the possibility of it. Those men who, in their
clubs, or before younger men, talk as if virtue and purity were
impossible; those women who allow into their drawing-rooms, or into
the society of those they love, men known to be bad, are doing all that
lies in their power to make the rainbow impossible; they are doing all
in their power to make it impossible for us to have in the nation, in the
home, or in the individual life, purity at all. Those who look out upon
scenes which disgrace our social system, and our city, and, with a shrug
of the shoulders, lead people to believe they constitute a necessary evil
which cannot be faced, are not only unconsciously believing in the
blasphemy that God made His physical laws so that they could not
obey His moral laws; they are not only condoning the most unblushing
cruelty which is going on in our midst to-day, but, also, they are not
realizing that Jesus Christ came with the very purpose among others of
proving that the pure life was a possible one. What is the Incarnation
but the taking of a human body, with all its passions, with all its
impulses, a real Human body, and wearing it perfectly untarnished to
the end? We must take hold, by meditation and by prayer, of the
teaching of the Incarnation, that we may live as children of the
Incarnation. We were sent into the world with a rainbow round our
souls.

"Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing
clouds of glory, do we come, From God, Who is our home."
And we may be perfectly certain that God does not send us into this
world with a rainbow round our souls if it is impossible to preserve the
brightness and the purity of that rainbow in the world to which He sent
us.
Having realized the possibility of it, the next thing to realize is that it is
absolutely essential. No one without that rainbow can pass to the throne
of God. There are many here, perhaps, who say, "Ah! it is too late to
teach me that now; my rainbow, if I ever had one, faded from round my
brow long ago." My brother or sister, did we not see that a rainbow was
made by the light shining upon rain, and do we not believe that, if any
single one here brings the tears of real penitence, that there shall be
round him again, or round her, the most beautiful rainbow, the rainbow
of the light of forgiveness shining upon penitence? During these six
weeks, let us then look into our own souls, and ask ourselves in the
light of God, "Where are we! how about our thoughts? how about our
words? how about our characters? where is the pristine purity of youth?
what about our lives today?" If such questions draw us on to our knees,
with tears of penitence, to beg God again of His mercy to make a
rainbow shine around us, there shall still be a rainbow round the throne
in our hearts.
And, while we look into our