"We are all conscious, however partially, that in human nature there is a Principle that delights in heroic virtue, that admires and reveres men illustrious for self-sacrificing devotedness, that feeds with joy on fictions wherein fellow beings, amidst great trials and perils, are faithful to duty, and act with noble unselfishness whatever the cost. We all have experienced, in some degree, the workings of this Superior Nature, so as to rejoice with triumphant sympathy, when we read the memoirs of men and women, refined from self-love, pure in principle, consecrated to grand purposes, ascending by lives of ever enlarging love to the blessedness of a heavenly world. Now this high power of heart and will, which prompts us to aspire after Perfect Excellence, Jesus came to set free. His aim was to enlarge and invigorate it, to exalt it to supremacy, and by His own character, example, and influence, to win and welcome it to that Divine Goodness, which it impels us to pursue." William Ellery Channing.