NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
EVANSTON, ILUNOIS
THROUGH THE
PARABLES AND
TEACHINGS
FROM THE
OTHER SIDE
IRST; SERIES^
r
LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
AMD MEW TOBE : 15 EAST 16*^ STREET
LIGHT
THROUGH THE CRANNIES
FIRST SERIES
PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
LONDON
[See J>age 96.
THE REFLECT.
Copied by kind permission of Mr. Flinders Petrie. (The original
is now in the National Gallery.)
LIGHT
THROUGH THE CRANNIES
PARABLES AND TEACHINGS
from the
OTHER SIDE
FIRST SERIES
LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
AND NEW YORK ; 15 EAST 16"' STREET
1888
All rights reserved
PREFACE.
These Parables, with their teachings, have been
given, one every day since the i8th of May, 1888,
to the present time, solely through spiritual in¬
fluence, each taking about three hours to write,
and are not the mere product of the writer's own
brain. For this reason they take such a widely
differing conception of truth from that which is
generally accepted on a strictly human plane.
This volume forms only a small selection, it
being the intention of the writer to publish others
at convenient intervals.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
I. The Sadducee i
II. The River and the Pool . . . . 15
III. The Monk 27
IV. The Monster 40
V. The Borderland . * 55
VI. The Shepherd-boy of Samaria . . 70
VII. The Reflect 96
VIII. The Vestal 113
LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES.
I.
THE SADE UCEE.
O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures,
thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.—
Jeremiah Ii. 13.
Yet ye have not known Him ; but I know Him : and if I
should say, I know Him not, I shall be a liar like unto you.—
St. John viii. 55.
Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us ;
and we turn about their whole body.—St. James iii. 3.
One day, when our blessed Lord had just been
rebuking a Sadducee for his lack of the knowledge
of those things on which he prided himself, an evil
spirit approached as near as he might to the pre¬
sence of the holy body of our Lord, and, gazing at
Him from behind the shelter of the Sadducee's burn¬
ing anger, he asked, ' Why dost Thou, who knowest
all things, question this man of matters which he
cannot understand ? '
Then spake the Lord to the demon, ' How
knowest thou so well that this man cannot under-
R
2 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
stand ? Hast thou made his soul thy resting-place
so long ? '
' Nay, Lord ; I spake but in my density of under¬
standing. For more than two earth-lives of man I
cannot see, now Thine own shadow fills the space
beyond. And neither can I rest. Thou knowest
full well, in any place soever ; for Thy fiat hath long
since denied me rest.'
Then spake the Lord, ponderingly, ' Before this
planet Earth revolved in its own sphere, thou,
didst rebel against My sovereignty because the
boundaries of thy knowledge came far short of that
thou didst suppose thy due. Proud, self-degraded
minion of more daring force, wouldst thou still
look beyond the boundary wall ? Then take thy
will.' And, speaking thus, our Lord threw back
that veil which held the demon's sight in bondage,
and he looked, as spirits look, upon the never-ending
types of life ascending by the Christ to God Him¬
self. And as the demon gazed thereon he wept,
because there seemed no place for such as he.
And Jesus, feeling every wave of sensation that
passed through the nature of the creature who
conversed with Him, spake gently to this self-
degraded spirit, 'Turn thou thine eyes upon the
world of man ; thou must not gaze too long on holy
things, or thou wilt lose thy chance of grasping
them,'
THE SADDUCEE
3
' My chance, great Saviour of ungrateful man !
Does there remain a chance for such as I ? Thy
fiat seemed eternal. Speak, mighty Monarch of
unnumbered hosts. Is there a chance that one so
vile as I may yet return to glory ? '
And the spirit now no longer hid behind the
man, but humbly crawled, in its access of hope,
close to the Saviour's feet.
Then spake our Lord,
'Yet will I give thee one such other view back¬
wards, and thou shalt loathe thyself e'en to the
uttermost.' And at these words the demon's inner
self seemed to be standing on the brow of a sky-
reaching hill ; and down below him, far as sight
might penetrate, all grades and types of spirit-life
appeared, lessening in glory. And when at last his
gaze fell on the planes of man, beast, bird, and fish,
he stretched to get a glimpse of the beyond which
laid in darkness, save where gleams of fire, blood-
red, shot through its density, like fireflies in a
black forest of things animate, loathsome, and vile.
And as the demon looked into the pit from
which he late had come his soul awoke within
him, and he knew this was a vision of his mighty
fall ; nay, more, it was the dawn of higher life
in the poor ruined temple God had framed, and
he had rendered evil. Therefore he spake not, for
B 3
4 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
his breast was full of self-abasement ; so he lay
upon the earth, all love of sin and evil turned
into fiercest hatred thereof.
Then spake the Lord, ' That thou art vile, and
hast revolved in sin through all these ages, is for¬
given thee. That thou hast dragged thy higher self
into the mire of degraded being shall be forgiven
thee, so thou wilt go back again into thy place
amongst the fiends, and there endure what pangs
and pains they may impose on thee for thy deser¬
tion from their ranks. Wilt thou do this?'
And the poor demon writhed with memory of
tortures he had seen, nay, helped inflict, on those
who let a gleam of pity or compassion touch their
thoughts. But he answered feebly, ' What I can I
will, but let Thy grace stead me in my suffering.'
And the dear Lord replied, 'Think'st thou /
suffer not being here pent among this stiff-necked
race ? Think'st thou not that but for the reward I
would not lend My soul to suffer thus ? And to this
pass of sin and wretchedness has man been brought
by thee, and those like thee, who, being strong,
would mock My Father's strength. Count thyself
blest in that for every pain thou bearest I bear
three.'
Then did the demon raise his head and cry,
THE S A DD UCEE
5
' Lord, Thou art righteous, just, and full of truth.
For love to humankind Thou bearest this—and I,
for what in my degraded life must stand for love,
will bear the pangs of hell. Only let Thy soul
bless me ere I go.' And Jesus said, ' My grace
shall make thee strong.' Wherewith the demon
raised his wings and flew gladly towards his place
of bitter trial.
And while the speech of soul with soul went
on, the Sadducee, to whom Christ's calm, stern words
had been gall and wormwood, thought within him¬
self, ' This man, who cometh of poor parentage,
hath but a meagre store of courtesy to one who
fills a place of such high dignity as mine. Where¬
fore it much behoveth me to teach him that he
lacks.' Wherefore he said, ' Thou art a peasant
lately come from Nazareth, a small mean place,
and but of ill report. Go and pursue thy trade of
carpenter in some less famous quarter of the town,
and thou shalt be protected by our laws ; but come
not teaching here thy doctrine of rebellion and
rank heresy to those of like attainments as thyself,
or soon thou'lt find the rulers of this city are not
so simple as the unlearned folk of Nazareth, but
men of rank and dignity, and those who hold the
powers of life and death well in their grasp. Thou
art a very churl for courtesy.'
Then answered Jesus, 'As I teach, I teach.
6 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
Thou hast no power to make the dial go forward or
go back ; so, therefore, hast thou nought by which
to hinder or to speed the work for which My
life is given. Neither canst thou, vain man, keep
thine own body from the touch of death, sick¬
ness, or pain. Therefore bethink thee of thy
littleness, and glory not in things which are thy
shame.'
And the proud Sadducee grew white with fear
as Jesus spake ; for death was greatly dreaded by
these men, whose creed taught nothing of the
future.
Therefore he dropped the tone of angry pride,
and asked whether this doctrine of Nazareth could
turn the sun's course backwards or keep men's
bodies from disease and death.
Then answered Jesus, 'Know'stthou so little of
the frame of man as not to know the will controls
the flesh ; and if the will be evil, then the flesh, being
its slave, suffers in like proportion as its lord ; and
if the sun turned backwards in his course, then
would the spheres of earth be rent in twain and all
ye know as sea and all as earth mix in one chaos
of dissolving parts, and man amongst it battling
with death ? '
Then spake a Roman lawyer in the crowd.
THE S ADD UCEE
7
' How dost thou know these things, seeing thou
hast not learned them in the schools ? '
And Jesus answered, ' How doth the eagle learn
to build her nest so wisely ? How doth the sparrow
know the time of harvest? Even by means of
this know I these things.'
'Yea, but the eagle sees the mountain-top, the
sparrow looks upon the fields of grain ; and thou
by sight, seeing thou art a man, canst not perceive
beyond the vision of this present earth. Therefore
our wise men do esteem thee mad ; and surely
thou dost speak those things which touch not
human reason.'
Then answered Jesus, ' Neither speak I that I
have not learned, nor tell of visions that I have not
seen. 'Tis ye who do abuse the gifts My Father
gave ye—who debase the goodly things of higher
wisdom with the meanness of finite measures. And
because thou yet shalt know it is My Father's will
that I perceive those things that are at present
veiled to man's sin-seeking eyes, I say to thee,
thy mother lieth sick, and like to die—give her My
word at parting— all is well.'
And the lawyer, struck with horror and a kind
of faith begotten by the accents of our Lord,
pushed through the crowd and hurried thence.
è LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIÈS
Therefore the people turned and looked after him,
while many mocked, because they had hoped to
hear him tell our Lord that he believed him not.
And when he had passed from sight they again
turned to where the dear Lord had been standing ;
but, behold, the place was empty ; and the Sadducee
also had gathered up his robe, and with a stately
stride was passing through the market-place
towards his home.
And it came to pass towards evening, when the
day was far spent, our blessed Lord, wearied and
worn with earth travail, left His disciples and went
up into a high mountain, as was His wont, to pray
and hold communion with those favoured spirits
who in the early days of His ministry were per¬
mitted to rejoice in His presence and learn of Him
the things which were to be hereafter.
And while He conversed with such of these who
by reason of their innate purity were held from
contact with the world below, the silence of seclu¬
sion was suddenly wafted into space, and instead
thereof came fleshly sounds of labour and the
gross palpitation of human breath.
And He, looking earnestly upon him, perceived
it was the Sadducee who had talked so proudly in
the market-place, but that he had disguised himself
THË SADDUCEË
9
in beggar's raiment, thus hoping to deceive any who
might meet with him, and also to delude thus the
humble peasant of Nazareth concerning his rank.
But the dear Lord beheld his inner motives, and
knew that they were deeper than this outside
change made them appear. At last the man stood
trembling by our Lord ; for, having gained the
presence that he sought, the words he thought to
say were loth to come.
Then Jesus spake, ' Why dost thou seek Me
here, proud Sadducee ? Thinkest thou to make Me
prisoner in this place ? '
Then answered he, ' Thou art a teacher of no
common sort, and all our teachers have gone after
that which profits nothing ; for, verily, their wisest
yield to death, its worms and horror. If thou
knowest aught that shall secure a man from touch
of these I will repay thee with no lack of gold,
honour, or power that thy heart can covet. For,
behold, thou yet art young, and these things plea¬
sure youth.'
Then Jesus, seeing that the man's eagerness was
full of worldly cunning, spake to him and said,
' Wouldst thou live on for ages thus confined ?
Behold the narrow limits of thy form ; see how it
withers at the touch of pain—how it produces and
submits to germs of evil. Wouldst thou not be
lo LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
content to quit this living shell, and find some
other which should better fit wider conditions ? '
'Nay, Master,'said the man,'this frame con¬
tents me much. Oh that I might not fear the
touch of death dissolving it ! I care not for the
pain and misery : these I will bear rejoicing, so that
Death be kept away. If thou knowest this secret,
tell me by what means, and I will pay thee with
mine whole estate.'
'Nay,' said the Lord, 'for this I ask thee not.
Art thou willing to give up thy robe of office in
the court, thy wife and children, and embrace a
wandering preacher's life, living upon the husks
which men refuse ? '
'Yea, Master, so that I may live, and may not
die,' replied the man.
' But thou wilt crave death as a boon ere long,'
the Lord replied.
Then answered he, ' Nay, that is most impos¬
sible, great sir.'
Then said our Lord, ' Behold, the hour shall
come when this poor narrow life shall fret thee to
the full, and thou shalt long for death as he who
loves longs for the presence of the one beloved.
THE S ADD UCEE
II
And when thou cravest death after this fashion, I
will be by to yield it unto thee ; yea, and with that
also a living soul. Go hence, and bear with thee
a life which cannot yield to mortal power ; and
yet remember in each hour of life that He who bids
thee live. Himself shall die.'
And joyfully the Sadducee went home, for new
and greater vigour filled his frame as though he were
re-made. And when our Lord hung on the cross
of Calvary, he came and looked at Him sorrowfully
—yea, lay all night hidden amongst the lofty trees
in Joseph's garden—and he wept and said,Thou
wert the Son of God—the Prince of Peace—the
Giver of True Life. Oh that I knew where I might
find Thee ! for no more on earth shalt Thou be seen ;
and death is full of glory since thou hast gone down
into its shades.' And, wrestling in this manner
with himself, he saw the morning dawn, and then
returned, clad in his beggar's clothes, to his own
place, opened the postern gate, and privately went
to his chamber. And its windows looked towards
the east ; therefore all the sunlit cupolas and domes
of the city were gilded by its brilliance. But all
the man's awakened soul was heavy, for he said,
' Our rulers have done evil ; surely man ne'er spake
as this man. This is He who should have been
Messiah ; and now the grave and death have swal¬
lowed Him, and all the world is dark and grim
as night.'
12 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
And while he pondered on these things Jesus
Himself, new risen from the tomb, stood near and
gazed at him. Then was his heart nigh dead with
fear ; for Sadducees believed not that a man lived
after death, and he had seen the dear Lord die—had
seen Him yield His body to the touch, the dreaded
touch, of death ; and now, behold. He stood beside
him, clothed as in the flesh, and the great pity in
His gentle eyes broke like a weight of woe—too
hard to bear upon his heart.
' My Lord and God ! ' he cried, ' is it Thou—
alive—alive in flesh?'
'Yea, verily,' said the Vision softly; 'and for
that thou bearest a charmed life, thou shalt go
testify these things to men in other lands. And
when thou shalt have passed through all the
horrors of all kinds of death that persecution shall
invent for thee, then will I come and take thee to
Myself. '
And therefore in the days that followed the
feast of Pentecost this rnan preached in Rome, in
Cyprus, and in Greece, and all the evils of all kinds
of martyrdom suffered he ; yet death came not
with suffering. Seven times his mangled body
from the arena of wild beasts was brought for dead,
and seven times again from death he rose—each
with redoubled vigour to set out and teach the dear
THE SADDUCEE
13
Lord's doctrine of Life through Death—Life full,
abundant, ever growing in bliss and holiness, to
which grim death is but as the dark curtain hung
before the portal. At last, in quiet on the Samarían
Hills, as there he slept, desiring death with all his
aged heart, the Lord received him into the sphere
where martyrs live ; and thither also came, after
long ages, the demon who once hid behind his
wrath-inflamed visage, for he had likewise met a
martyr's death in fighting for the Lord.
And these great warrior spirits even yet are
full of reminiscences of earth—earth combats and
the curious ways of men.
TEACHINGS.
There are innumerable circles of life below us
with which we have nought to do, they being out
of touch with our atmosphere.
The worlds above us differ in light and density ;
some of these are scarcely perceptible to the clearest
and purest spirits among us. The description of
the holiness of higher spirits is not permitted us.
We cannot render these things more apparent
to humanity than by means of parables, or deriva¬
tions of meaning from the natural phenomena of
14 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
your planet Earth. It is the way of teaching our
dear Lord chose, and this also makes it the more
gracious to us.
In Him is the bond of all things. In Him the
lower nature of man unites with the higher, and
flesh-encased entities are permitted to communicate
with those on a more spiritual plane.
While Jesus was on earth He was subject to
like conditions as man, only the evil could not
enter His soul by virtue of its consummate holiness,
and subservience to the highest portion of man's
spirit. He was enabled to see, even as we see now,
the divisions of spirit atoms. The lower evil nature
of the Pharisees and Sadducees awoke in Him
an antagonism which, on the human plane of His
being, almost amounted to hatred. His combat
with this evil was sharp and strong ; and although,
by virtue of His heavenly nature. He could have
avoided those entities who annoyed Him, yet, in
virtue of His Divine mission. He withdrew His
vigour into the citadel of more neutral but future
attack, and submitted His body to the vengeance
of His enemies, like one of His own servants, who
had no other resource than that of yielding.
Received May 24, 1888.
IS
II.
THE RIVER AND THE POOL.
But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came
into Iconium.—Acts xiii. 51.
Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and
make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls !—
Ezekiel xiii. 18.
Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his
stature?—Matthew vi. 27.
Not long since came one amongst us from the
higher spheres, and woven on his garments were
blood-red crosses, and his head also was crowned
with them, set in a band of gold, and clasped about
his forehead. And when it was given us to per¬
ceive that he had come hither for the purpose of
speaking unto us, we flocked together and followed
him until he took his place upon the steps of
the altar of glory ; we were all eager to listen
unto him, and receive from him the message of
the Lord.
And he cried unto us, saying, ' O spirits of the
borderland, whose bulwarks are immutable, thus
saith your Lord, the Prince and Governor of all
worlds : Make you ready to pass over the boun-
i6 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
daries of your land earthwards, and speak unto the
children of men this parable :—
The stagnant Pool cried unto the River, saying,
' Give me of your pleasant waters, for I am over¬
grown with weeds so that my face no more reflects
the light of heaven, and loathsome reptiles burrow
in the mud which fills my basin. Though I move
not, and my waters stand pent in their hollow, yet
am I full of life and all uncleanness. Therefore, I
pray you, give me some measure of your fulness ;
for your banks are sunken by reason of abundance.'
Then said the River, ' Nay, except thou cast the
slime and filth away out of thy bosom, how can I
do this thing without a great injustice, seeing my
bed is bright and clear, and in my waters live all
wholesome things ? Shall I do wrong to them that
trust in me, and slay my well-beloved by bringing
them in contact with the reptiles that you cherish,
for no other purpose than because you cry to me ?
Nay. Surely till the sun forgets to shine I will not
cast away the creatures I have reared.'
Then replied the Pool, ' He that made thee
made me. Are not we kindred ? What hast thou
in thy construction that the good God gave me not
likewise ? Thy boast of purity is but the boast of
one who, being set to run a certain course by his
great Maker, leaps through pleasant pastures and
takes to himself the credit for his brightness and
THE RIVER AND THE POOL
17
healthy-seeming as though he had created them.
Not only by the power of my will stayed I thus
and gathered vileness ; therefore forbear to chide
me, for by doing thus thou dost revile the Wisdom
which designed us both.'
Then said the River, ' If thou art content,
wherefore dost thou ask bounty of me ? For He
that made me gave me a charge, saying. Keep all
the creatures I have set in thee wholesome and clean
by balancing the life of fish and weed. Therefore,
I should transgress the law of Him who made me
if I supplied thy lack, for in each drop of water
coursing through my veins are many lives.'
Then answered the Pool again, ' Because thou
hast denied me this, and keep'st thy wisdom for
thyself, grudging to help a neighbour, yea, and one
of kin to thee, I will accuse thee of transgressing
the commands our Maker gave thee, saying, " If
thou seest any hollow in thy course thou shalt not
pass it by, but spread thy waters over it, so that all
the course I set thee may be alike even and un¬
broken." '
Then said the River, ' Hadst thou lain directly
in my course, then had I taken thee into my cur¬
rent, and lifted thy loathsome veil of slimy weed
upon my waters, so that thou also might'st reflect
the sky. Yea, gladly would I have sent my vital
C
i8 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
energy through thy dead stagnant bosom ; but thou
wast proud, and loved to sit alone, nursing thy tiny
portion in the vale. And as the sun shone on thee
thou didst cry, " Behold the glory of my majesty.
How fairly is the image of my God reflected on my
face." And when I would have taken thee into my
current, being then only a trickling streamlet from
the mountain spring, thou drewest up thy waters in
disdain, and wouldst not stretch out thy hand to
welcome me. Therefore I turned aside, and thou
wast left to foster all the germs of evil things that
lay unseen within thee ; and, behold, thou in this
day dost reap that thou hast sown.'
Then spake the Pool, ' When I was proud and
self-sufficient, then didst thou pass me by without
a word of greeting. Hadst thou but bent towards
me with humility, not heeding my foolishness, but
humouring my conceit, then hadst thou won me.'
Then replied the River, ' He who guided me
said, " Let her alone. The day will come when
she shall sue to thee, and thou shalt answer her
with derision." And, behold, this day his words
are ringing in my ears.'
And the Pool said, ' Why dost thou speak so
haughtily, seeing thy waters rise as though with
open arms they would embrace me ? '
Then answered the River, ' In that day our
THE RIVER AND THE POOL 19
Maker spake of thy humility He did also command
me, saying, " Thou shalt not let thy heart be shut
to pity and compassion ; therefore spread out thy
arms and take her in, and cleanse her filth away,
and make her clean, so that her veil may rise and
float away and hide amongst the rushes. Gather
her fetid water, and send out My vigour that is in
thee until she shall be pure, and mingle life with
life, and her dull heavy drops shall also shine with
the pure light of heaven that looks on thee." '
And the Pool answered, ' Thou art fair and
bright, and I am vile. Oh, still bethink thee !
Shall I not bring defilement to thy waters ? '
And the River answered, ' Thou and I no more
are separate, but we flow together to the very Ocean
of Eternity.' And speaking thus the Stream sent
out its waters, and the Pool was cleansed..
This was the great angel's parable, and as he
paused his face grew radiant with the light of
glory. Then said one, ' Which of us will the Lord
choose to bear this message to mankind ? There
are none here who would refuse to go.'
Then said he, ' When I go hence ye shall find
at this spot where now I stand the figure of the
Cross. And whosoever toucheth this, and by the
touch receiveth no impression, it is not he the Lord
c 2
20 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
hath chosen ; but whosoever bears the brand thereof
upon him, even he shall go, and none other.*
So when the angel had departed, certain of us
who hungered for this mission went towards the
step, and found, as he had said, the figure of a cross,
blood-red, but small, and of perfect shape, and
seemingly indented in the stone.
Then came many and laid their hands upon
the place, and some trod thereon with their bare
feet. And many bore the impress of the cross,
but many more received it not.
At last came one who until now had stood afar
off watching the others as they sought for God's
consent to their desires ; and when these had moved
a little space away, he humbly kneeled upon the
lower step and pressed his forehead on the indent
of the cross, saying, ' Here, if the dear Lord will,
shall I bear the symbol of His burden.' And after
some brief space of silent prayer he rose, and,
behold, the cross was stamped deeply upon his
brow, between his eyes.
And when he knew from his companions' faces
that the Lord had chosen him, his soul was filled
with joy, so that he could not speak, but lifted up
his gaze towards the light as one who is in an
ecstasy, forgets his neighbours, and beholds the
THE RIVER AND THE POOL 21
Heavens open. Thus, 'twas he Christ chose to
lead the quest on earth.
TEACHINGS.
To him that overcometh I will give to sit with Me
upon My throne, saith Christ ; but the evil-minded
person and he that is persuaded in his heart that
God hath forgotten to be gracious, and he who
letteth the garments of patience drop from him,
the angel of My indignation shall even lash him
into the fray. For there is no one who hath not
his rightful work apportioned to him in this time
of waking life ; and he who casts his burden on the
back of his slave shall sweat under a treble portion,
which none may help him to bear, by-and-by.
That which is given unto thee, do it with all
thy might ; but for that which is withheld from
thee, fret not thyself.
The many parts all neatly fitted together make
up a perfect whole ; and he that chafes at his own
deficiencies not only retards his own progress but
that of others also, for by his apparent want on
this plane his neighbour's abundance is on another
plane equally balanced.
Thou shalt not judge of parts ; for every part is
22 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
justly proportioned, even though thou art not able
to understand how or by what means.
The wonder of eternity shall be fully employed
in searching out the hidden mysteries by which all
things, seemingly so contrary, are each worked
into one exquisitely flawless constituency.
' Woe to the women who sew pillows to all elbows,'
saith the prophet, ' and make kerchiefs upon the head
of every stature ! ' Woe to those who let not the
Lord's work alone, but strive to set things in order
according to their finite conception of what that
order ought to be ! who make soft places wherein
the hard muscles of men may grow weak with
disuse ! who speak to the labourers of rest when
honest work is his apportioned task! who lay
their silken kerchiefs on the head of progress, so
that the light may grow dim to its eyes, and its
brain be shielded from the dew and rain of God's
overspreading care, and thus man's race no longer
be striving upwards towards healthy growth in
knowledge of good, but blinded and rendered un¬
touchable by these Divine impulses ! The foolish¬
ness of earthly wisdom hunts their souls into the
meshes of evil spirits which wait outside in readiness
to attack the soul and enter the body of him who
unwarily approaches the edge of their circle, so
that they may drag him into it.
THE RIVER AND THE POOL
23
Remember that the feminine element is always
typical of will, and the masculine of understanding ;
by this side-light you will be able to perceive the
meaning of the text. The foolish wills of men
make all things as easy and pleasant as possible
during earth-life ; they wantonly refuse to see
beyond their own comfort and pleasure in this
present time ; they also, as much as possible,
reject the means of progress offered freely by the
Divine Organiser of the universe to every entity
in His innumerable worlds. For the fleshly body
being thus made the chief—nay, sole—aim of man's
existence, the soul which is contained therein is
hunted or driven by the fleshly will to terrible
straits ; so that, although the ties which exist
between it and its covering of grosser materials
cannot easily be broken, yet as a hare whom the
hunter pursueth croucheth in its cover, so lieth the
soul, uncared for and timid in its hiding-place, suf¬
fering with its enemy and by its enemy, the fleshly
will, until the Lord shall command its release
from prison, and the punishment of its oppressor.
In the time of Ezekiel, so even at this present
day, do men hunt their souls ; blinding the eyes
of their reason to the fact that they possess another
principle of life apart from the fleshly principle.
And although tormented with doubts in their
seasons of meditation and sickness, yet is this
24 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
consideration treated as a matter of little concern
during their ordinary course of existence.
To these men all spiritual revelation is simply
and irremediably out of reach. Therefore we take
no heed of their raillery, because they look upon
these things as foolish, wicked, contrary to God's
Divine order. For of this they are not competent
to be judges. And neither, so far as it goes, is any
human being, even the most spiritually-minded
amongst you. Neither are we, nor those yet above
us in the scale of progression.
But as regards these men, ye shall not strive
with them, nor anger them ; neither cast your jewels
in their path, for of these they know not the value.
But ye shall pass through their glittering stalls of
vanity, and shake the dust of contamination off
your feet as ye go out from amongst them. For
with these ye may not hold companionship, because
their deeds are evil.
Are not the boundaries of the sea set firmly ?
Yet now and then a stronger, fuller wave leaps
over the line that for centuries has marked the
coming in of the tide. And when once the time-
hallowed wall has been thus overleaped, other
waves follow, and the dry land is submerged, unless
man, striving his utmost, can keep them out awhile
by blocking their headway with huge stones and
THE RIVER AND THE POOL 25
piles driven into the more solid parts of strata
beneath the sand. Yet that is almost a hopeless task,
the sea is so strong. And this represents just now
how matters stand between our world and yours.
One wave has overleaped the boundary of intel¬
lectual understanding, and others have followed,
and organic reason is hurrying to bear down
with all its fury and strength and block up
the entrance and reclaim that portion of its in¬
heritance which is being taken into the ocean of
Spiritual Knowledge. But these spiritual waves
are not mere consequences of a passing storm or
heavy wind, but the steady advances made in
answer to God's Divine law and order ; therefore
man's arm is shortened and his utmost resistance
of no avail. For, strive how he will, the boundary
of the shore is passed, and presently the great
flood of spiritual enlightenment will overspread
the earth.
What wonderful influence the resistant and
combative forces of nature have over the whole
economy of God's worlds, no human, nay, no spi¬
ritual entity can conceive, unless indeed it be one of
those who can approach Godhead unveiled. And
of the forces which flit hither and thither about our
land, this is the most persistent and assertive ; for
none coming hither can bring with them the defor¬
mities of their earth-life. Neither can any be deaf,
blind, or dumb after the manner of men ; for the
26 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
unity of purpose which is necessary to make up
our great ministry of compassion touches every one
more or less in our community. Some spirits are
more sympathetic to humanity than others, yet
not one of us could be unmoved by the outflowing
of the stream of Divine love from our brother soul.
The unity of our pleasures and griefs makes this
land the land of peace. For griefs we have even
here, and not least of them is the sorrow for man's
hardness of comprehension and misconception of
our purpose in thus drawing near to Him. Yet
so urgently are the commands set upon us from
higher spheres, that we have no choice in the
matter. To him that hath ears and heareth,
therefore, we say, ' Blessed are ye, for the Lord's
will concerning you is good eternally.'
Received July 19, 1888.
27
III.
THE MONK.
He hath shewed His people the power of His works, that he may
give them the heritage of the heathen.—Psalm cxi. 6.
But meat commendeth us not to God : for neither, if we eat,
are we the better ; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.—
i Corinthians viii. 8.
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son
to be the Saviour of the world.—i John iv. 14.
%
Not many ages ago a very pious man was driven
out of a fraternity of monks to find what suste¬
nance he could in the world outside the walls of
their cells and cloisters.
The weather was severe, for it was winter time,
and the trees afforded no shelter, as their boughs
were bare and leafiess, and shivered helplessly in
the cold frosty air. Thinly clad was the holy man
and scantily fed, but as he took his way across the
crisp grassy plain on which the monastery stood he
chanted a hymn of praise, and showed no signs of
misery in his face or weakness in his steps. Yea,
and he lingered not, although the strong winds
smote fiercely on his solitary figure hurrying for-
28 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
ward in search of shelter. A storm of mist and
sleet swept over nature's face, by which his eyes
were blinded and his ears deafened, and the long
icicles clung to his hair and lay in the fringes of his
girdle like living jewels.
But through the storm his voice still gasped the
song of thankfulness, and still he hesitated not, but
pressed forward in his chosen path.
When the storm was over, those who hovered
near him perceived that he still laboured on,
dreading lest darkness should be due before he
reached the shelter he desired.
But the night came forth from her chamber
hastily, and hung the pall of blackness over the
heavens, and yet the dreary moor spread on all
sides of him.
Then said he, ' The Lord provides for all who
trust in Him. I may not linger, for if it be His will
to give me shelter, well ; if not, yet still 'tis well.'
And so he journeyed on, not doubtfully but with
good heed, like one who sees in the distance a
bright star and guides his course thereto. And
presently, in the dense darkness, he became aware
that one walked with him—neither behind nor yet
before, but step by step beside him, although in¬
visible. Therefore he put forth his hand, that if
THE MONK
29
perchance his eyes were dim, yet still he might
perceive by touch what kind of creature kept him
company ; but his cold fingers grasped the empty
air ; form there was none. Then spake he, ' Who
art thou, lone like myself, who venturest in the dark
across this place ? ' Yet no voice answered, and his
heart seemed to stand still with terror ; therefore
he argued, ' If this thing be of the Evil One, it
much behoveth me to know, seeing I keep not
company with Satan's imps, being a servant of the
Most High God.'
Then stood he still and cried, ' Speak, I adjure
thee by the living God ; what art thou who thus
forcest thyself into my presence ? I may not walk
with one who doeth evil. For, verily, the brand
which burneth with Hell-fire will scorch and render
sear the purity of him whom it doth touch.'
Then said a Voice in answer,
' Truly the burning brand scorches the things
of earth, and the fire of Hell consumes the chaif ;
but he that is of God is seven-tried gold, on which
earth, fire, wat^r, all expend alike their vagaries in
vain. Then wherefore shouldst thou fear to walk
with me ? I cannot harm thee.'
'Nay,' said the monk, 'not seven times tried
am I, no, nor yet gold ; but if the great good Maker
would but deign to show me what thou art, I
30 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
would be well content to use mine eyes. For verily
thou art a burning mystery to me. Thy voice is
like a woman's, and thy step bold as a man's. Yet
verily thou seemest nought but air when I would
touch thee.'
' What wilt thou promise me if I should grant
thee sight ? ' replied the Voice.
' Nought have I but my robe, and that, thou
knowest, is of small worth to any save myself.
Therefore think not to gain much wealth by rob¬
bing me,' replied the monk ; for as he spoke the
thought that this might be a robber crossed his
mind.
' Nay, thou art wrong. I came not here to
steal ; I came to help thee. Yea, behold, thy feet
have sped full bravely. See, the first streak of
dawn is rising from the East. Art thou content
to let me go unseen? 'Twere best for thee that
I should so depart.'
' Nay, let me see thy face, for friendship's sake,'
replied the monk, ' for I desire to carry on my road
the vision of that man who, out of pure compassion,
not for gain, came to befriend a lonely outcast
monk.'
And the Voice answered, ' Not for hope of gain ?
THE MONK
31
Nay, for I hope to wm thy fullest trust, thy heart's
best treasure and thy soul's true weal. Go, man of
pure soul, into thy solitary cell, and I will come
and be thy constant friend, in silence guiding thee
to work the spell upon thy fellow-mortals which
shall make the world rejoice that it hath borne so
high a type of manhood.'
' Aye, now thou speakest riddles,' said the monk.
' Surely I have but little learning, and no skill in
teaching others ; and for the spells thou speakest
of, what know I ? Surely all spells are vile, un-
, holy things, works of the Evil Spirit, whereby he
doth deceive the hearts of men, and leadeth them
along the paths of sin. Nay, thou art much mis¬
taken if thy soul tells this untruth of me, who, at
the best, am but a lonely monk, whom all my
brethren loathe. Yea, and I loathe myself ; for
what I would not, that, alas, I do ; and what I
would, I do not.'
Then said the Voice, ' Holy art thou and pure,
long-suffering and steadfast, and because thy
brethren were slaves of the flesh, sensual and
devilish, therefore have they cast thee out ; and
thou art sent by God to teach mankind the way
of Life Eternal.'
Then did the monk thrust his fingers in his
ears and run, crying, ' Now know I who thou art—
32 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
I need not ask to see thee—thou art the Tempter
of the brethren, the cunning Serpent who did
tempt our mother Eve. O Lord, forgive me that,
deceived by night, I knew not whom I talked with.
Oh, the sin and misery, that I should be caught in
close converse with the Father of all Lies ! '
But still the Voice pressed close to him and
would be heard. ' Thou wrong'st me much,' it
said. 'The sun is rising and the mist is gone.
Behold me, that I am ! ' And, with a fair white
arm the Spirit thrust aside its covering and stood
unveiled before the monk.
And he, drawing a deep breath of amazement,
sank upon his knees and prayed that this tempta¬
tion to believe in ill might pass away from him, and
this delusive view of Satan might be thrust out of
his path. ' Give me the worms, the skull, the dried-
up bones, the vileness, O my Lord, but, oh, not
this ! For well thou knowest my heart is weak
and tender to those who wear the semblance of
Heaven's beauty. Therefore take hence this seven¬
fold temptation from my path.'
Then said the Spirit, ' Gaze on me again ; per¬
chance thou shalt discern in me some lineament
of thine own mother's face if thou lookest long
enough.'
Then the monk raised his eyes furtively. ' Yea,
THE M O NÉ
33
truly,' answered he, ' thou bearest the favour of my
mother in thy face ; only thy beauty is of higher
type.' And then again he prayed, ' Oh, wherefore
dost thou so permit thy faithful servant. Lord, to be
the sport of past affections thus ? '
Then said the Spirit, ' It may be thou wilt find
some semblance in my voice to that of thy dead
sister—she whom thou didst love to listen to in
days gone by.'
And speaking thus, the Spirit sang so sweetly
that the monk wept ; for well he knew the strain his
sister used to sing.
And no more cried he out bitterly, for all his
heart began to unfold its past, and as a boy
once more he roamed the fields or sat beside his
mother's spinning-wheel, hearing the linnets piping
in the trees which hung their branches o'er the
flowing brook close by his cottage home. The
hollyhocks seemed waving in the breeze, and never
scene on earth could be so fair, so sweet, so inno¬
cent.
And still the Spirit sang, and as she sang these
memories came to him clothed in the tender light
of youthful joy, so that his face grew young and
his heart threw off the trappings of its servitude,
that years of fast and penance, shrift and prayer,.
D
34 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
had bound upon it. Where was the need of fast
and penance now? What use the codes of rote-
learned psalm and prayer ? These were as nothing,
for the Spirit sang its plaintive song ; and as the
thirsty hart drinketh the water of the brook, so
drank he in its melody.
And when the last words ceased, the monk
arose and went his way refreshed in soul ; but
nothing stayed behind to tell him that the whole
was not a dream.
And, led by unseen hands, guided by unheard
words, he crossed the wilderness and found a cell,
which long time since another monk had made his
hiding-place from those who lived another life than
his, and therefore hated him.
And here again the Spirit entered, and wove
her thoughts so closely into his that none save He
who is Most Wise can disentangle them.
And thus in meditation he essayed to spend his
life ; but the good Spirit sent him forth to gather
in what others he could find willing to serve the
Lord.
Therefore went he up and down the weary
world, the test of truth and goodness in his heart,
but none found he amongst the çrowds of men
THE MONK
35
battling in the city. Some mocked his errand ;
some refused belief in his God-giyen message, and
they went back to their merchandise, their oxen,
and their wives, too well content with this world's
goods to let the higher things awake their sleeping
consciences. So the old man came back despairing
and cast down.
Then spake the Spirit, ' Fear not. For thy
labour thou shalt find but small return, but by thy
life the world shall gather light, and from thy
hidden virtue holiness shall burst forth and flood
the world. Why art thou weary, O my best
beloved ? '
And he answered, ''Tis not my soul but 'tis
my flesh is weary ; not my heart despairs but my
aching bones. Therefore, I pray thee, let me rest
awhile, and afterward come back to finish off the
task that God has laid upon me to gather in when
the time of seed hath grown to harvest.
So, by God's will, the monk laid down to rest
and the life-germ of holiness he sowed on earth
hath brought forth the tiny blade, the stalk, the
ear, and now is ripening ; therefore his time shall
shortly come again—the day of his rejoicing is at
hand.
For she who guided him to live his life in holi-
p z
36 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
ness and purity is girding up her garments for the
flight earthwards.
And, verily, with power and greatly strength¬
ened hand, shall he reveal the emptiness of those
vain things that charm mankind, which, being fair
and pleasing to the outer vision, are yet full of
destructive rottenness and dead men's bones.
TEACHINGS.
The Christ-life is the life of ideal man. Nay,
more, of real man ; and beyond this no enthusiast
can go.
Yet was it not the most simple, natural, un¬
bound life possible for man to lead ? Did He not
grudge to yield to the ordinances of men ? And
did He not also keep studiously apart from any
community whatever ?
Wherefore, then, do you say civilisation de¬
mands such and such things? These are laws
of man's devising ; these are cities which he has
builded ; these are groves which he has planted
to shut out the pure light of nature's sun—truth.
Iniellectually, man is civilised. Spiritually, he is
blinded, he is deafened, he is led after false shadows,
he is taught from earliest childhood to regard his
THE MONK
37
daily service of food with the exaction of a despot.
Such and such things are a proper tribute to his
dignity ; wherefore should they be wanting ? And
yet all these things are mere creatures of his own
invention, his own demanding. He truly has need
of none of these. The learning to exist solely on
his neighbour's labour has taken him many ages to
accomplish so perfectly ; and it is now time that he
began to see the injustice of his demands, and make
resolves to help himself.
But who are they that will come out of the
softly clothed, luxuriously fed crowd, and go out
into the wilderness to seek knowledge from the
Most High ? Surely but few of these, for by
their daily bread do these exist. Aye, and for
their daily bread mostly. Yet have they to learn.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that prbceedeth from the mouth of God shall
man live.
Therefore it is not necessary that man should
reduce his freedom into bondage, howsoever just
those laws may be to which he yields the con¬
sent of obedience. Neither is it needful for him
to go far from the crowd of his brethren to live
the pure, holy, meditative life that is the copy of
Christ's ; for this can be done in the secrecy of
many a home, and the same grace which evokes it
there will not evoke it more successfully upon the
3^ lîght through the crannies
Hills of Palestine or in the communities bound
by self-imposed laws. To God all things are
possible. To the child of God comes the due
heritage of the Father's grace ; and therefore all
things are likewise possible to him, although often
not expedient. Live the life of holiness, and the
result shall not long tarry. Live the life of faith,
and thou shalt begin to see its fruition before long.
By the life of Christ was the whole system or code
of the Mosaic Dispensation remodelled, or perhaps
I should say regenerated.
The few miracles, the few parables, the death,
resurrection, and ascension of our blessed Lord,
were only the outside body or shell of the supreme
life contained within.
Not by His miracles, teaching, or death, but
by the example of the man-Christ, must Christians
find their way to heaven.
Therefore, by no man's labour on earth shall
the world be made whole ; by no man's endeavour,
though he be ever so learned or holy, but by his
life, shall others be led towards the goal of perfec¬
tion and true holiness. A corrupt tree shall be
known by his fruit. A good tree shall also be
known by his fruit. By the nature of their fruits
shall ye know them. And many have thought that
the work of the man is the fruit he bears ; but I
THE MONK
39
say, Not so. For the life of man contains the germ
of life, and life cannot be conveyed by aught but
through touch of life or unity with life. Work is
the natural or artificial effort to reveal that which
lies within, and therefore may be false or true,
and sometimes both so much intermingled that
man cannot sift the chaff from the wheat, and
judgés the life of the man to have been at one
time one thing and something else at another, when
in reality, apart from these shadows of seeming,
the life was either evil or good, and stands as such,
with no niingling or mixing whatever, in the
archives of God.
Judge not by the seeming. For if there be any¬
thing deceptive in this world it is the appearance
man wears to his neighbour.
Received June 30, 1888.
40 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
IV.
THE MONSTER.
All her people sigh, they seek bread ; they have given their
pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul : see, O Lord, and con¬
sider ; for i am become vile.—Lamentations of Jeremiah 1. ii.
And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth
nothing yet as he ought to know.—i CoR. viii. 2.
In another planet than Earth, much larger, wider,
and fuller of animal life, there dwelt a huge creature
whom it is difficult for us to describe to you, for
on your planet Earth never existed any living
thing by which you could imagine the hideousness
of his shape.
What was to him in the place of a head—that
is, the part of your organism which contains the
senses of sight and hearing—occupied about the
middle of his body, and that which represents your
shoulders divided in the centre, and were covered
with feathers which stood straight out like those
on the wings of very young fowls, and these were
of a faint yellow colour ; the rest of his body was
covered by long white hair, and his feet were
webbed and of a red colour. Such a monster you
THE MONSTER
41
could not possibly picture to yourself ; but never¬
theless he possessed the rudiments of soul.
Therefore, to him the good Lord Jesus sent
one of His messengers, saying,
' Because thou hast not cast the law I gave thee
from thy mind, but spared those things which I
have bade thee spare, and hast not sought to pry
beyond the bounds I did affix for thee, therefore
the time is come that I reward thee as thou dost
deserve for thy obedience. What wilt thou that I
give thee ? '
And as he spake the creature turned his eyes
upon the fair-proportioned form of the good Spirit,
and its great ■ unwieldy feet took a firmer grip of
the rock, as it replied,
' Here have I lived ten thousand happy years,
yet never saw the like of thee before. Here have
I lived and counted every bone in my construction ;
for thou knowest that the Lord so made my eyes
that they could turn within and see the ducts of
blood which He has made ; and as I saw them fill
and empty, everyone into its own restricted channel,
and not one trespassed on another course ; as also I
saw the nerves working with their subtler force,
each in its own accustomed place, not one too
many and not one too wide, but just proportioned,
weighed, and circumstanced, I argued that the
42 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
Power which made them thus must be of like pro¬
portions as myself ; but, now I look on thee, I see
thou art of different construction. Hath the good
Lord who made me other moulds as exquisitely
fashioned as mine own, yet with a difference ? '
Then spake the Angel, ' Twice five thousand
years thine eyes have turned upon thine own per¬
fections, and in all that time hast thou not found
one muscle out of place ? '
'Nay,' answered he, 'not one. But surely
thine economy is not so perfect as this frame of
mine. Look at the brilliant curving of my feet, so
delicately strained from joint to joint ; the fair
proportions of my rounded knees, supple and
strong and full of energy ; the softly-feathered
humps in which my claws delight to nestle, the
long white hair which wraps me daintily from
humps to webs. Oh, what delight I have in the
contemplation of my outer form—so beautiful, so
perfect—so divine in every part I '
Then spake the Angel, pityingly, as he gazed
at the huge monster hugging his own deformity,
' Thou art not fair to look at ; yet that the good
Lord made thee makes thee fair; and thy content¬
ment also makes thee fair, and thy long abstinence
from evil makes thee fair ; therefore, bethink thee
to what need of thine my Lord may minister ? *
THE MONSTER
43
Then replied the creature, ' In the depth of
yonder lake sometimes comes a savage, ill-shaped
thing of wide proportions ; yea, he comes and stares
at me and mocks at me, rolling his hideous eyes
outwards and inwards like two great burning
planets in their spheres, and his words mimic mine
own as though he loved to chafe me. Therefore, I
pray thee, rid me of this enemy, and I am well
content.'
Then said the Angel, ' If thou wilt show me the
place where he abides, then may I help thee.'
Wherefore the Monster led his spirit friend
towards some mountains which rose high and dark
against the glowing sky, and as the unwieldy
creature lapped along the ledges of his rocky
dwelling-place the Angel wondered wherefore the
great good God should thus have made so hideous
a thing, and much he wondered at its self-content.
Now when they presently had reached the pool
the Monster gripped his side and bellowed loudly,
and a distant cry of like deep volume answered
him. Then turned he to the Angel, saying,
' Now thou dost hear ? 'Tis thus he mocks me,
six words for my one.'
Then said the Angel, ' Nay, this is no mockery,
but thine own voice re-echoed. Listen, and thou wilt
hear the same thing happen when I call aloud.' And
44 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
at this the Angel turned his face towards the dis¬
tant rocks, and, bending down his head as one who
prays, cried out, ' The Lord is God.' And echo
took his voice with full delight, and answered him,
not six, but seven times.
When the last whispering echo had died down
and gathered into space, the Angel turned and
sought the Monster's gaze, and asked, ' What sayest
thou now? 'Tis thine own voice thou hearest.'
' Nay,' answered he, ' it is not my own voice ;
it is the voice of one hidden in the lake. Come
hither, and I'll show his face to thee.'
Then, clinging with his flat webbed feet upon
a ledge of rock which jutted out half way across
the lake, he stood and peered into the water, and
a great grotesque ill-shaped vision was reflected
there, seeming half horned, half fledged, and two
great burning eyes set loosely in their sockets
gazed at him and peered beneath two tufts of
snow-white hair, which like a fence stood just
before two ledges of bright red, which were in
shape like arches of two bows, for these were ears.
This was the view the water gave to him, and he,
delighted at this chance to show the Angel's
ignorance, cried out, * This is mine enemy. I told
you so. This is the mocker who deludes your ears.
Look down and see how hideous he is.'
THE MONSTER
45
Then leaned the Angel from the rocky ledge,
and likewise he was mirrored down below.
At this the Monster chafed and fumed with
mingled rage and disappointment ; his burning
eyes flashed darts of baffled spite upon his shadow
and the Angel's, both.
'You are a mocking spirit,' said the creature,
' and deal in magic. If, as you say, the Lord hath
sent you here to do me good, then smite my foe ;
you see him in the lake ; and mock me not with
proffers of great help, and then cry out my foe-
man is myself!
And as he spake the Angel bent his head sor¬
rowing, not knowing what to do ; and so hopelessly
dense the creature's ignorance appeared to him
that the great drops of pity filled his eyes as he
cried out, ' Alas, my gracious Lord, this thing Thy
hand hath made is so forgetful of the end of its
creation that he chafes at knowledge, only because
it comes outside of self!
And as the Angel wept the Monster wondered ;
for it knew not tears, nor sorrow, nor compassion,
having nought to call them forth.
And as the Angel's tears fell in the pool a
cloud of crimson broke over its face, turning its
46 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
crystal smoothness into waves of blood-red liquid ;
and when the Monster saw the gleam of blood—for
that he was familiar with his own, also because he
now no longer saw the face or rolling eyes which
mocked him in the pool—his heart began to beat in
ecstasy. ' O Spirit, thou hast wondrous power,'
he cried, ' for all thou art so lean and of a meagre
shape ; behold, the moisture from thine eyes hath
slain my foe ; yea, he is bleeding from his outer
skin, and his visage fades away ; his great humps
dwindle down into the gloom. I give thee thanks,
kind stranger, and ask thy pardon for my angry
words.'
And the good Angel, wondering, looked upon
the lake, and there beheld a herd of demons hiding,
and their faces glared up like the flames of hell
upon the solid lump of misshaped flesh that
gloated with the gloatings of revenge over the pain
of his imagined foe.
Then spake the Angel to these fiends below,
' See that you harm him not, for our great Master
will not that he fall into perdition.'
Then answered they, ' Why should your Lord
protect so foul a monster ? Leave him here to us ;
he will not lose his soul for the lack of fleshly
pride, or fret his bones with yearning after know-
THE MONSTER
47
ledge ; therefore is he a better mate by far for us
than for thy Master.'
Then said the Angel, ' I will bind ye here until
I have returned to our dear Lord and learned His
further will concerning this poor grisly lump of igno¬
rance.' And saying thus, the Spirit turned away.
And in the lake the prisoned demons held their
revels. And presently the Monster's eyes began
to see that these were living forms, and like to
flame ; and never had his eyes beheld so fair a
sight as these bright sprites lashing their river
steeds until they leaped and danced and plunged
and reared in musical upheaving, like the notes of
some delightful melody, all perfect and all one.
Then an adventurous demon from the lake
cried out, ' Come hither, mighty genius, and be¬
hold how close we are to thee. We are not air
nor water, though our forms appear so light, for
every limb of ours is tender to the grip. But that
we are forbidden to come to thee, we long ago
had brought our reverent offerings to thy feet ; so
now, although we long to touch the ledge of rock
on which thou buildest thy throne, unless of thine
own will thou dost hold out to us a hand of"
welcome we cannot come to thee nor touch thee
lest we should pollute thy sacred flesh. Yet give
48 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
us leave, and we will spread a golden carpet
straight above the lake, and rock thee on its
bosom.'
Then spake the Monster : ' Ye are fair and
sweetly spoken, and my fancy is much more kindly
drawn to you than to that other. Therefore I'll
hang my feet over the lake that ye may worship
them.'
And with these words the unwieldy body bent,
and the wide fan-like feet spread on the water.
Then came the demons and fondled them, and
made believe that they were very fair ; and after
some brief space of flattery they begged to touch
the long soft strands of hair before his ears, thus
fostering all his self-delusive pride. By slow de¬
grees they climbed the two fledged humps which
formed his shoulders, until his whole wide body
was inflamed with wild delight ; for these attentions
that the demons gave responded to some craving
in his lower self, which had lain so long in disuse
that he did not know that he possessed it. At last,
soothed and lulled by their enchantments and soft
words, he fell asleep. And lying thus the Angel
found him ; but the evil nature lately wakened in
him permitted not the Spirit to approach so closely
as before.
' Awake ! ' he cried ; ' awake, thou monster of
THE MONSTER
49
the rocky heart ! awake and hear the Lord's com¬
mand !'
But dreamily the creature answered him : ' Why
will ye rouse me from delightful dreams ? For¬
bear, I say ; I want ye not for twice five thousand
years'—and as he spake he dozed again.
' Listen, thou monster of blank ignorance ! If
thou shalt rouse thee from thy sleep of sin, and bear
the mountain's base upon your humps, then shalt
thou live and grow to better things.'
Then grew the Monster angry : ' Better things ?
What could be better than my present state ? What
could be better than my empire here ? Go hence,
ye vile, abusive, wrath-compelling shape ; I will not
hear, or heed, or rouse for thee.'
And with these words he turned his eyes within
to gloat over his own perfection ; and his ears he
likewise shut to all the Angel's words.
Therefore he left him, for the Lord had spoken,
saying, ' The way of pain shall be the way approved.'
So demons overruled that land, for very soon
the Monster was their slave, beaten with many
stripes, and sore with wounds. His knowledge
came by[ suffering. Thus shall those who will not
profit by the good when it is offered painlessly be
F.
SÖ LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
forced to buy with bitter suffering the very know¬
ledge they did ignorantly reject because they knew
not that its worth was great.
TEACHINGS.
As all things present different views from dif¬
ferent standpoints, so do man's actions, thoughts,
and responsibilities seem to us, from our place of
abode, to be unduly emphasised or regarded by
him, while the actual working laws whereby these
things are governed are entirely lost sight of. The
forces of magnetic repulsion and attraction which
are manifest in all nature produce in him nothing
more than the most narrow and crude ideas con¬
cerning them ; while in reality they are of infinite
importance, and possess universal power.
The law which brings health and peace to one
community of man brings madness and destruction
to another, because some parts of the system have
outgrown others. Truth to the one part cannot be
truth to all, and the state of rest for one cannot be
good for all ; thus your world is divided into
nations, sects, and what not, all of each represent¬
ing a distinct species in itself, as far as mental
forces are concerned. The universal brotherhood
of men becomes mere theory on the intellectual
plane, for true kinship or true attraction each to
each is rendered difficult by the antagonistic prin-
THE MONSTER
51
ciples that each has imbibed from communion with
his sect or party. Yet is the difference, humanly
speaking, not in kind ; for each entity has the same
bodily needs, each is alike affected by hunger,
thirst, and nakedness ; but in moral and spiritual
concerns their proportions are totally different ; and
diversities of effect follow from one specific treat¬
ment for all.
This is why man appears to have no guide,
although he takes to himself the credit of being
perfectly cognisant of the existence of all the dif¬
ferent arrangements of forces without and within
him. And curious indeed it is for us to behold
how ingeniously he endeavours to place the expla¬
nation of every difficult problem in matter or the
diffusion of certain gases. But how persistently he
ignores the action of anything he cannot see,
touch, or speculate about with his purely organic
senses 1 Spirit to him appears non-existent, and
he will boldly assert that he cannot believe in it.
Animal magnetism has somewhat shaken his
theory of sense tests, but even yet he cannot quite
bring himself to acknowledge that there is not a
cheat somewhere hiding in it—and he hates to
be cheated—but all the while being most empha¬
tically the dupe of his trusted senses, and fondly
hugging the conviction that he is too deep to be
taken in. These things are irresistibly ridiculous
E 2
52 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
to us, and we long for the days of man's en¬
lightenment—when the lion shall lie down with the
lamb and the little child shall put its hand on a
cockatrice's nest and shall not be harmed—when
none shall hurt or destroy in all God's Holy
Kingdom, but peace and security come with de¬
veloped knowledge, and love and gentleness walk
hand in hand with power.
Man's legitimate study lies in the planet to
which he is relegated. Those beyond—and there
are thousands in the universe—have at present no
lessons for him, because the earth-lessons must be
learned during the earth-life, and afterwards those
of the life or lives which follow, each in its parti¬
cular circle of progression. If mankind as a whole
would set about the study of such spiritual con¬
ditions as those which immediately surround him
he would soon be wiser, better, and healthier ; for
corruption and disease are caused by the violation
of certain rational laws which he will not recog¬
nise, and certain impulses of his lower self which
have not worn away in those previous lives, while
yet his higher intellect lay within him a mere seed-
germ beneath the rough exterior of some forest
savage.
Man is by spiritual birth and heredity a son
of God and heir of Eternal Life. But he has
stopped short of perceiving what is required of
THE MONSTER
53
those thus born. Therefore, because new impetus
is required under these conditions, the cry of the
human Jesus goes up for this poor degenerate
race of humanity whom His Father righteously
would have condemned to destruction. ' Let it
alone this year also, and I will prune this tree of
thy planting, and dig a trench about it, and fill
it with the water of spiritual knowledge ; and
then if it yield not fruit. Thy will be done con¬
cerning it'
The light of the body is the eye. If thine eye
be evil thy whole body is full of darkness. If
thine eye be single thy whole body is full of light.
Man would do well to consider this also. Given
jewels are not rarely prized. Those which are
searched for and longed for until by much labour
they are found have more appreciable value, and
are likely to be more tenderly cared for by the
possessor. This is why we do not spread open to
man's eyes our sheet of knowledge. It would only
confuse and dazzle him. He would only half, or
not quite so much as half, understand it, and his
belief in our efficiency to instruct him would be¬
come dwarfed by his want of capacity to stretch
over the whole ground at once. Therefore must
we teach him little by little, line by line, pre¬
cept by precept, until the fuller perception shall
dawn on him and his past seem as if it had never
been, by reason of its littleness.
54 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
The tales which we give you are like the
nursery rhymes of our land, and suited to the per¬
ception of those babes in spiritual knowledge who
love rather the sound of a tender voice repeating
the words than the matter they contain.
Received June 20, 1888.
SS
V.
THE BORDERLAND.
Son of Man, eat that thou findest : eat this roll, and go speak
unto the House of Israel.—Ezekiel iii. I.
Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.—St.
John ii. 5.
And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven,
he also having a shsfrp sickle.—Revelation xiv. 17.
There are certain spirit-spheres set apart for
every class or rank of being ; but as every circle
joins, so is every sphere or world a place of so¬
journ for the travellers whose resting-place is set
in higher circles. And through the borderland of
lower spheres all that quit the body from your
earth-circle must pass, some slowly and some
quickly. The circles far below earth are not open
to us, as these are the abode of infinite ranges of
evil spirits, and the sight thereof would be dis¬
tressing to many tender and compassionate spirits
which inhabit here. Yet is the teaching definite,
and we have no excuse for letting sorrow touch us,
seeing that all these suffer to regain something
they have lost ; and presently they shall rejoice
56 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
with us and bless the Lord that He hath dealt thus
kindly with them.
But those disembodied entities which inhabit
the nearest circle to humanity, being bound by
earth-ties, linger in a sort of paradise on our side
of the globe. They often seek the company of
those they loved in life ; but want of touch loosens
the bond, and soon their sympathy with those who
once were dear to them becomes faint and broken,
unless the bond was purely spiritual and not ac¬
companied with flesh-taint ; for in this case death
does not weaken but rather cement the union ;
and the disembodied entity, at the expense of
spiritual growth on its own part, consents to grow
for awhile at the ratio of a flesh-embodied being,
with whom it holds converse and to whom it is for
awhile permitted to attach itself, but only for a
little while, after death. The seed-husk of spirit
begins to disintegrate immediately after death, and
consequently its progress towards higher conditions
begins to get enlarged, the earth contamination is
rendered less and less endurable, until at last, from
sheer inability to exist longer in these conditions,
it is obliged to quit the circle nearest earth. And
from this moment the sympathetic union is dis¬
solved, the earth-friend can no longer communicate
automatically with its chosen ally—as an angel
in dreams, or a teacher who inspires and commu¬
nicates higher knowledge to the earth-embodied
THE BORDERLAND
57
entity who yet is in bondage to the customs and
traditions of men, and whom it cannot even then
reach but through its higher consciousness, and
then only on condition that the body, or fleshly
part, be held holy from all touch of evil, and the
turmoil and strife of the world be shut away like
the breath of hell from the soul vehicle, or higher
intellect.
Therefore, not so long since, two highly sympa-
thatic beings were torn asunder by death. Their
lives had been pure, and their affections so per¬
fectly interlinked that the wrench of death was
more deeply felt by both of them than in most
cases ; and, bound by the ties of love, the dis¬
embodied entity went not far from its loved com¬
panion, but lingered, striving to bring comfort to
the aching heart of the mourner. Yet for awhile
the door of communication between them was close
shut, for the love of the one had been purer than
that of the other ; and therefore the barrier, which
had not appeared to exist during the earth-life,
became only too visible to the death-opened eyes
of the disembodied entity. Therefore she wept,
saying, ' O my beloved,, wherefore didst thou hide
this thorn in thy flesh from me ? for when I was
yet with thee I could have helped thee, but now
the power has gone from me.'
He also wept bitterly, as one without hope ; for
S8 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
she by whose deserted body he knelt had in all
things rarefied and beautified his life. And now
she was taken away the future was a dreary aching
void, for beyond the earth's too finite boundaries he
saw not. Although while she remained with him
she was a link whereby he held to holy things, now
she had passed away the truth came by her death,
with aggravated bitterness, that he had seen the
light in her refiected into his soul as by a pure
untroubled stream ; but not the actual light of
God, which purifieth all the dross away, and all the
evil thoughts, and all the matter of a carnal ima¬
gination, and all the doubts of God and His just
dealings with the world of man ; for now her pure
refiecting light was gone these things returned in
their full horror on his sin-stained soul. For verily
the unbelief was there, intensified a thousandfold
by memory of the sufferings she had endured. The
evil thoughts returned with stronger reinforcements
at their back ; for did not corruption contend for
the very atoms of the being that he loved ? And
nothing stayed behind to comfort him. The love,
the zeal, the patience that long years of tried com¬
panionship had rendered life of his life, had died
out into the blank of intervening space. And
where these things existed—how or in what form—
he could not tell ; and if he called on God, 'twas
but a name, a shadow, an indefinite unpitying force
which somewhere far away in space heeded not
him or his sorrow. Oh, the maddening thought !
THE BORDERLAND
59
Heeded not her, perhaps—cared not for her, whose
death had left him desolate, mad, haunted by
demons.
Therefore she wept, crying, 'Alas, my lord,
how little have I taught thee ! of how little service
have I been to thee, seeing I gave my thoughts
clear to thine eyes, and was contented that thou
shouldst perceive the light by me ! And now, behold,
thy misery hath bound its earth-spun web about
my life. Here will I stay and rescue thee, hugging
my lowly task with more delight than the arch¬
angel does his golden robe. Thy stains of earth
shall stain my body too, for I have wronged thee ;
here will I bind myself until thine eyes shall also
see as I see things pertaining to the life which holy
spirits lead.' And as she spake an angel came to
her, and in his hand he bore a glistening sword.
Then cried she bitterly, ' Not now, not now, my
lord, sever the links of life between us twain ! Let
me awhile remain in this sad place, this place of
tears ; let me bind up the wounds that I have made !
Let me disjoin with tender hands the links that I
have wrought ! '
Then said the Angel, pityingly, ' Behold, thou
hadst thy full allotted earthly span wherein to
work thy will. Knowest thou not the wheels of
life are set upon revolving axles, and if one tiny
cog remaineth still the vast stupendous whole goes
THE BORDERLAND
6i
neither put doubts between his soul and mine.
Make neither of us higher, purer, holier than the
other. We would be one—in life, in rank, in holi¬
ness.'
Then said the Angel, ' Thou hast asked a hard
thing, but thy love and purity are great ; therefore,
the dear Lord, seeing thy sorrow, yea, and pitying
thee, hath sent me here to seal thy consciousness
of higher matters ; and save by such weak working
as a human brain sustained by fleshly nourishment
be capable, thou shalt not see the dangers which
on every side environ you. For with the power of
perception comes the power of hurt. Therefore,
beyond the stain caused by their close proximity,
thou shalt not suffer aught ; but he by them shall
often be deceived, being less pure than thou, and
therefore won more easily into their toils, and
not, as thou art, blind and deaf to their allure¬
ments.'
Then cried she, ' Oh, my lord, spare him this
degradation ; let me suffer whatsoever evil chance
to come, but shield my other weaker self from this
deception and its consequence.'
Then answered he, not heeding her request, ' As
our Lord commanded, so say I : no more nor less.
Thy days of this earth-tendance must be few,
therefore make the most of them, for presently thy
6o LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
out of gear? Wouldst thou thus interfere with
other lives ? Thy place is set above the circle of
the earth. Come hence with me.'
Then pleaded she, ' Not so, my lord. I know
not by what force I am impelled to beg this boon
of thee ; neither know I by what wide stretch of
comprehension I can see that thou wilt grant my
prayer ; yet so it is. Good Angel, let me bide here
a space and be revealed to him, so I may lead
him out of darkness into light'
Then said the Angel, 'With utmost comprehen¬
sion shalt thou take this task upon thee, not other¬
wise. Therefore listen. The way is hard, and full
of dangers—dangers to him and thee ; yet for thy
sake, seeing thou didst follow in the footsteps of
our Lord as best thou couldst while in thy fleshly
house, I will set forth the easiest method to elude
the gaping, wonder-holden mouths of evil spirits
which even now are making mockery of thy in¬
tended onslaught. For this circle that thou bindest
thyself to in helping him is on the borderland of evil,
and free to ill suggestions and vile imaginations.
How can thy spirit brook this company—seeing
thou art clean from all its vices—but weak and
helpless, and no more able to resist attack than a
new-born babe the weapons of malignant savages ? '
Then cried she, ' O my lord, deny me not ;
62 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
empty place and work neglected, in the sphere to
which thou goest, shall demand thee.'
She bowed her head, for as he spoke the bril¬
liant glory on his face grew dim, and his last words
were faint and far away. And then, behold, she
stood alone by him she loved, and the white wan
image of herself lay still and cold upon the bed
under the canopy she knew so well, with a strange
sombre atmosphere of death clinging about it ; and
the burning candles in the room were wreathed in
sulphurous vapour, spreading dimly into the cham¬
ber, and their light was gross and heavy with
coarse fumes, so that she scarce could bear the
leaden atmosphere. And, bending close beside the
mourner, she whispered lovingly :
' I have prevailed : the parting is not yet. Thou
shalt not take thy way alone and nurse the bitter
memories of our past with such remorse. Lift up
thy heart : another world is waiting to receive thee—
the world of men unborn. Trust not the guidance
of thy darkened thoughts : they can but stumble,
knowing not the way to higher things. Lean thou
on me, and I will be to thee a guide which guideth
tenderly, and with the love of olden days.'
And lifting up his head, half cheered, half
doubting, at these words, which seemed like
thoughts begotten of his own imagining, he saw
THE BORDERLAND
63
the cold white face upon the bed, and all his fears
and doubts returned to him.
Then said she, ' Verily thou weariest me by hug¬
ging thus thy darkness ! What shall I say to thee
to make thee know that / myself do speak to thee—
I, and no other, much more alive that I have cast the
grossness of the body from my limbs ? Wherefore
dost thou turn from me to that poor worn-out
garment that resembles me in nothing but in form,
and wherefore wilt thou not lend credence to my
words ? '
And then again he lifted up his face, and the
conviction she instilled was too strong for him not
to experience a curious thrill of joy, a wonderful
uplifting out of grief.
And she said, ' Well, O doubter of true life,
O worshipper of gilded idols, didst thou not know
this temple was not im ? '
And he sighed, but rose and went and bowed
his head over a table which he had removed that
he might write, and watch her as he wrote, during
her sickness.
And she said, ' Take up thy pen. What doest
thou idle here ? Is the world healed because thou
art in grief, or have its evil ways begun to mend
64 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES '
because I no longer inhabit it visibly? Truly, thy
work hath fallen away of late.
Then said he, musingly, ' I am amazed, con¬
founded, at the peace which has come over me.
Truly the wound has set, and healing has com¬
menced. O spirit of my best beloved, even in
thee find I my comfort I As in the old earth-union
be thou near, and I will listen to thy voice in me
and heed thy teaching.'
Then said she, ' Gladly do I creep once more
into communion with thee. But thou must not stay
or be content with the earth-seekings, for I have
bound my progress unto thine, and sorely wilt
thou hinder me if thou lingerest in the race. For
my conditions need a greater force than thine to
keep them steadily upon the upward course. And
for the love of me thou shalt lay down all that
impedes us. My higher life shall lift thy lower
one ; thy higher life shall keep my feet from earth,
its trouble and pollution, till the time when both
alike shall be permitted to enjoy the realm of
Peace where trouble enters not.'
TEACHINGS.
Sufficient unto the day is the travail thereof,
so it be faithfully accomplished by the sons of men.
To what end he is working no man knoweth.
THE BORDERLAND
65
Yea, neither know we, for beyond the boundary of
our own world see we nought but glory ; yet not
the dissection or minute arrangement of the in¬
finitesimal combination of different lives, each in
active motion, which go to make up the fulness
of God's Divine radiance ; for this, as an horizon,
bounds our vision. Nevertheless it is easy, by the
gift of sight vouchsafed to us, to look into the
lower systems of life and speak as to their past
and present. Yet, as by the co-linking of all
spheres each acts upon each, so may we not read
far into the future lest we should thereby be
enabled to foresee our own ultimate goal in the
great revolving systems of the universe. And
although glimpses of eternity have been vouch¬
safed to certain favoured spirits, still they were
only glimpses, and dwarfed and distorted by the
narrow limits through which they had to pass
before comprehension was possible in the mind of
the seer.
To our eyes the untruth of the mortal has
always been so closely interwoven with the truth
of the immortal, that little of real service to the
human race has been eliminated from what is termed
in Scriptural language prophetic inspiration.
Although by prophetic divination given to
Joseph the Egyptians were as a nation spared
from famine, yet the consequences of their evil as
F
66 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
a nation were merely delayed for a brief space in
the annals of eternity, and ultimately their de¬
struction was bound to be accomplished, because
the lives they led were evil continually before the
Lord. Therefore was their pomp and pride over¬
whelmed by the waters of the Red Sea, and the
land became desolate by reason of its barrenness ;
for after the plagues which fell upon it the life
and spirit of the soil was dried up, and its fields
were as the sandy plains of a desert. Therefore a
much worse famine fell upon the people than was
threatened in the days of Joseph.
Evil may be averted for awhile by denunciation
of the causes of evil if it brings forth repentance ;
but unless this happens, and the people become
regenerate and made to see the error of their ways
as a nation, the seer's vision has no permanent
result, except to individuals, and these but few.
The more prosperous a nation is, the harder is
it to convince the people therein individually of
the transient nature of their enjoyments, wealth,
and security ; therefore concerning the future we
who can see are silent, so that the rejecting of
salvation by belief in our assertions may not of
necessity be added to the long list of man's delin¬
quencies.
In the Christ-life is contained all that man as
THE BORDERLAND
67
man or spirit needs for guidance, if it be rightly-
understood, Although this perfect life has been
much wrested from its real significance by the
transcriptions of those to whom the privilege was
committed of conveying its beauty and simplicity
to future generations, yet even further wresting
these narratives have suffered at the hands of
different translators and compilers to whom the
original manuscripts were hard to decipher ; first, be¬
cause the ancient language had become modernised ;
and secondly, that the manner of forming certain
characters in which it was written had been altered
and therefore insecure ground for them to venture
upon in the important task of giving the exact em¬
phasis of truth to all the works and actions of our
dear Lord Jesus. But enough has been left of the
original text to enable man to form a pretty just
estimate of what is required of him to be a Christian.
Very much which should have been written
concerning the higher or more spiritual life has
either been expunged or suppressed by certain
zealots of the Church in bygone times, and these
have also rendered many passages too vague and
indefinite for the average intellect of man to com¬
prehend ; and therefore we confidently assert that
much of man's Scriptural teaching has been wrested
very far away from its original meaning. To the
pure all things are pure, and to the simple-minded
all good things on the earth-plane are easily under-
F 3
68 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
stood ; but there are problems which bear relation
to man as a spirit, which are best left alone, since no
human entity embodied in flesh can by the utmost
sketch of his reasoning powers grasp them fully
enough to make them clear and palpable to their
fellow-man, and the very effort to do so will
smother up the attempt in the smoke of its own
extinction.
The theory of the interlinking of human atoms
may be of value to certain intellectually-minded
individuals ; but it is, nevertheless, calculated to
defer man's inception of knowledge from higher
sources, and lead him into byways which are not
healthy for him. Let him be content with Nature
for his handbook, for she conceals in all her work¬
ings the true modes of spiritual life. Therefore is
her teaching much wiser than the wisest of mor¬
tals ever yet conceived. It is thus different from
humanity's compilation ; for where Nature would
evolve a flower perfect in all its exquisite atoms,
and with the germ of spirit so cased within it that
it has a power of transmitting its likeness with un¬
broken fidelity through centuries, it does so by the
law of faith, not considering how or through what
means this should be accomplished, for its whole
creed is composed of selflessness ; and therefore the
result is perfect. But if it retired into its laboratory
to dissect the atoms of which it is composed, so
that it could knoiv how it was made, and keep every
THE BORDERLAND
69
one particle in its rightful order, there would be no
flowers to make the world of nature bright and
glorious ; the element of trust would be perverted,
and the blossom become only a mirror of its own
imperfection instead of the beautiful thing it is.
Like fabled Narcissus, it would love itself, and pine
away by reason of that love ; but now it loves the
Light and forgets itself ; therefore is it beloved of
men—yea, of God Himself.
Received July 7, 1888.
70 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
VI.
THE SHEPHERD-BOY OF SAMARIA.
Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria : thy nobles dwell
in the dust : thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no
man gathereth them.—Nahum iii. i8.
And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.—
i Col. 17.
Where is my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?—job
xvii. 15.
While our dear Lord was passing amongst the
people of Samaria, at the time of His earth-life,
preaching and teaching the Word of Truth to any
who would listen, a shepherd-boy, with his dog
following him, seeing that a few people went after
Jesus, joined himself to them and pressed roughly
against one of the disciples in his effort to get a better
view of our Lord's features. And it was Peter whom
he touched ; therefore that disciple turned angrily
upon the lad, for his feet were sore with journeying ;
moreover, the rejection of Jesus by the people who
should have welcomed Him as Messiah made this
man bitter against the blindness he saw on every side,
and indignant to the farthest limit of his patience
—for this stiff-necked race had not only treated him
THE SHEPHERD-BOY OF SAMARIA 71
with contempt, but more often utterly ignored his
Master's claim to a Divine origin 1 And Peter
had been one of those who had forsaken all and
followed Jesus, relying on the worldly fulfilment of
the promise that he should receive a thousandfold
in this present life, and in the world to come life
everlasting. Therefore, when the Samaritan shep¬
herd-boy brushed rudely past, the disciple's indig¬
nation against the world's rejection of himself and
his Lord broke from him in no mild terms, and he
struck the boy such a violent blow on his cheek
that he reeled and fell against Jesus.
Then said the Lord, turning to Peter, ' Where¬
fore didst thou raise thy hand against this lad ? Is
it a time of strife with those who seek to know
the truth ? Thy zeal hath overflowed its boundary
and done more hurt than thou knowest. How
shall men account of us if they perceive we follow
in the path of brawlers ? '
Then answered Peter, ' The lad is a Samaritan
and used to blows from people of our nation. One
more or less will matter little.'
Then said the Lord, ' Truly thy reason is .
shallow. If one smites down an eagle when he
swoops for prey it may be well ; but when the sing¬
ing bird alights on earth to seek her nest, ye shall
do ill to slay her.'
TI LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
And Peter answered, ' Not for instruction came
this lad to gaze at Thee, but for a better knowledge
of Thy features : his face betrayed his purpose.'
Then answered our Lord, ' The shafts of judg¬
ment overleap the mark when bowmen shoot at
random. He that for any cause shall come to Me,
deny him not.'
And turning to the lad. He raised him, saying,
' What wouldest thou in seeking Me ? '
Then said the boy, struggling, ' Let me go : the
Jewish knave shall not say I am a cur that yelps
and dare not bite. Like David, I have wrestled
with a bear and slain him.'
And Jesus answered, 'Truly thy bear was
harmless, having no flesh or bones beneath his skin.'
And the boy flushed with shame, for the slaying ot
the bear was but a boast, and he paused beneath
the searching eyes of the Great Master. And pre¬
sently the dog which came with him sent out a loud
long howl of fear, and fled away, as though pursued
by fiends, towards the mountain.
Then said the boy, turning to Peter, ' What hast
thou done to hurt my dog, seeing he never touched
thee ? '
And Peter replied, ' The dog ! What care I for
THE SHEPHERD-BOY OF SAMARIA 73
the dog ? He went without my help ; his nature is
like the nature of the folk which bred him—wrong-
heáded and perverse.'
Then cried the boy, ' He never served me thus
before. Thou must have cast thine evil eyes
upon him and drove him hence. Let me go, ye
Jewish magic-workers ; I and my kin will stone ye
if ye stay.' And, speaking thus, he ran across the
field, and choosing some sharp stones which laid
beside the sheep-trough, he hurled one at Peter,
but it struck our Lord. Then, as though gripped
by unseen hands, he stood rooted with fear to the
ground, and a voice spake to him, ' Who art thou
that darest to raise thy hand against the Son of
God ? Yea, who art thou ?—when we, whose arms
can hurl Leviathan out of his course, tremble
before Him.'
And the boy said, ' I sought not to do ill to any
save to him who threw me down.'
Then spake the voice, ' Listen. Until thy head
shall whiten and thy figure bend with palsy and
old age, thou shalt be cursed alike by man and
beast for doing this.'
And the boy answered, ' The evil I have done
I did by accident. 'Twas the stone that swerved
aside.'
74 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
And the voice said, ' Yea, and by this hast thou
made me thy master ; and thy bones shall ache and
fret against thy skin until thy body shall consume
in dust.'
Then replied the lad, ' Thy boast, like mine, is
but a bear without its flesh and bones. I fear thee
not, but will go after him I smote and ask him
to excuse the accident, seeing his face reminds me
of my mother's who is dead.'
Then said the voice, ' Go not ; for though He be
mild and gracious to the view. He hath a power no
thing in earth or heaven, yea, or hell, can stand
against'
Then said the boy, ' I love thee not : wherefore
dost thou thrust advice on me and fret me
with thy company ? The fields are wide : go thou
amongst the swine and wait till my return, unless
thou findest someone who will welcome thee. Or,
better still, if thou canst find a body anywhere to
walk withal, I'll love thee much.'
Then said the voice, ' Go not to Jesus : He will
do thee harm, because He is still suffering from the
hurt thou hast inflicted on Him.'
But the boy said, ' Thou wilt not stay me by
thy words, for ever have my teachers warned me
THE SHEPHERD-BOY OF SAMARIA 75
never to heed what wandering voices say. They
teach no good. I would I had my dog !—the faith¬
ful thing detested all thy breed.'
Then said the voice, ' If thou wilt quit this
quest to Him who goeth yonder, then will I fetch
thy dog to thee again.'
But at these words the boy grew merry, for he
said, ' Nay, thou wouldst only drive him farther
off. He hateth such as thee ; therefore thy promise
is not of much worth.'
And the next instant he was running with great
speed towards the road. But always in his ear the
voice kept up its pleading that he would not seek
the Lord ; but ever as it spake another voice—less
loud, but of more power, called, ' Heed him not,
for he lieth unto thee ; ' therefore the lad kept run¬
ning until he reached the place where Jesus rested,
and, behold. He was alone.
Then spake the Lord, ' Thou hast done well to
put aside the evil and prefer the good. Knowest
thou of what nature was this urging which lately
worked upon thee ? '
And the lad answered, 'Nay ; unless it was a
spirit tempting me—for the voice seemed to be in
me but not of me.'
76 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
And the Lord answered, ' Thou discernest much
which lieth still in darkness to the world. Hath
any taught thee ? '
And the boy answered, ' Yea, sir, in a manner
of speaking ; for my mother died while I was yet
young, and she speaketh with me oftentimes in
this same fashion when I mind my sheep upon the
mountains. Wherefore I fear not spirits, like those
folks which hear them not.'
And Jesus said, ' Wouldst thou see him who
lately talked with thee ? '
And the lad answered, 'Nay ; I love him not :
his words were full of lies. Besides, the shape of a
spirit is unknown to me. None ever spake with
me before, but her I call my mother.'
Then said the Lord, ' 'Tis wisest that thou keep
thy tongue from evil-speaking, for this perception
of other natures is given to thee early, and the way
is harder where evil's course is free. Hast thou
no boon to ask of Me, seeing thy way is closer
to temptation than the path of worldly-minded
men ? '
And the boy said, ' In the mountains have I
found a cave that no man knoweth. When I
lighted on it first 'twas strewn with crumbling
THE SHEPHERD-BOY OF SAMARIA 77
bones ; but these have I removed. I pray thee
come up hither : I will show thee the way, that
thou mayest hide thyself therein if any seek to
slay thee, for they say the Jewish Rabbis hate
thee to the full, and thou hast much ado to keep
thyself out of their power.'
And the Lord answered, ' Wherefore dost thou
offer Me thy mountain cave for shelter, seeing I
am a Jew and thou art a Samaritan ? Dost thou
think I fear the malice of My angry people ? '
And the boy said, ' Nay, thou hast a look in
thee as though thou couldst not fear. And yet
thy face is- full of gentleness. Would I could
have thee with me always ! for I picture her I call
my mother just such an one as thou art, only a
woman. And thy voice also reminds me of hers,
for it Cometh to me on the mountains like a fresh
cedar-scented breezè blowing from Lebanon ; and
therefore do I speak to thee as one well known,
and cannot bear to think the Jews should slay
thee.'
Then said the Lord, ' Thinkest thou that I am
kin to thee, that thus thou speakest ? '
And the boy answered, pondering, ' I never
. heard of what nation was my mother, for no one
ever speaks to me of her, and seldom do I quit my
78 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
flock to come down into this place. I love not
those who spin and sew at home : they weary me
with talking over-much. Neither have I a friend
in yonder town ; therefore do I live upon the hills,
alone with my sheep and dog.'
Then said the Lord, ' See that thou keep thy
flock from straying far away, and hold thy cave
in readiness upon the mountain side against My
coming, for verily there will I sup with thee.'
Then said the lad, ' I had forgotten until now
that I came here to speak. Behold, the stone I
sent at him who threw me down hath wounded
thee.'
And the Lord answered, ' Every weapon that
woundeth one of Mine hurteth Me sore. Thou
hast small need to grieve, since that by sparing
him for whom it was designecf the pain to Me was
less.'
Then said the boy, ' I know not if thou dost
mock me, sir, or seek to console me for my want of
skill ; thy words are strange.'
Then said our Lord, ' If on a little lamb which
you had cherished carefully a vulture swooped and
tore its tender flesh, would not you feel the hurt of
pity for its agony ? '
THE SHEPHERD-BOY OF SAMARIA 79
And the boy answered, 'Yea; but the vulture
should not carry it off without suffering somewhat,
for I would wound him also, and perchance re¬
deem the lamb. My aim is surer when I use my
sling.'
Then said the Lord, 'But if your dog—he
whom you cherish likewise—tore the lamb, what
then ? '
And he answered, ' I should chastise him, and
put bandages upon the lamb so that the wounds
might heal.'
Then said our Lord, ' But thou wouldst suffer
at thy dog's cries of pain because thou didst inflict
them, and thou wouldst suffer at the lamb's cries
of pain ; therefore thy portion of the suffering
would be greater than either. Even thus suffer I,
because I love My people and they seek to slay
My chosen, and also suffer I because My chosen
suffer.'
Then said the boy, ' Who are those people, sir,
whom thou dost call thy chosen ? '
And Jesus said, ' Have any taught thee that
Messiah, who is called the Christ, shall come to
redeem Israel ? '
And the boy answered, ' Messiah ? Yea, surely.
8o LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
have I heard that a great Prince of the House of
David shall come to save our nation from the
Roman yoke. Dost thou know Messiah ? '
And Jesus answered, ' Yea, for behold He
speaketh even now unto thee.'
And the boy stood wondering, for he thought to
see One clad in rich robes, wearing a chain of gold
about His neck, and having a train of armed men
following Him.
Then said the Lord, ' Child of the mountains,
who hath filled thy mind with such coarse visions ?
The good things of earth are evil to the eyes of
Him who comes to seek and save the erring sheep
of Israel. Would thy flock follow thee the better
because thou didst wear the long robes of a
Pharisee ? '
And the boy answered, ' Nay, Sir, they would
flee from me, except indeed I called to them ; then
might they know my voice, and so forget that I
had cast my skin.'
Then said the Lord, ' Even so also My sheep
will follow Me ; for if they accept Me not thus in
the lowly guise of a peasant of Nazareth neither
would they acknowledge My teaching with their
hearts because I came in the power of an earthly
ruler.'
THE SHEPHERD-BOY OF SAMARIA 8i
And the boy, seeing the glory in the dear
Lord's face as He spake, fell at His feet and cried,
' May not I also follow Thee, for Thou speakest
gently as my mother speaks, and not as those who
plough the fields or carry merchandise.'
Then said the Lord, ' Verily thy path is chosen
for thee, and truly shalt thou tread in it until the
end. Go to thy sheepfold on the mountains and
tend thy flock carefully, so that when thou hast
the souls of My people committed to thy care
thou shalt have learned to tend them well.'
And the boy answered, ' I want not to be a
teacher but to follow Thee, and Thou forbiddest me.
Yet didst Thou promise to come up and sup with
me within my mountain cave. Comest Thou hither
straight ? '
And Jesus answered, ' I spake of the here¬
after. Now My way lieth apart from thine. Yet,
wherefore dost thou urge Me thus to go with thee ?
Dost thou suppose I have not where to lay My
head ? '
I
And the boy said, ' Who is he that dares deny
the Lord shelter ? Surely my Lord hath palaces
and gold to spare if He would use them.'
Then said the Lord 'Yea, lad—gold which
G
82 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
has never lain in earth but is hewn from the mines
of Glory ; palaces whose building is not by the
hand of man ; garments which wax not old, eter¬
nal in the heavens. Wouldst thou behold these
things ? '
Then said he eagerly, ' Oh that I might behold
the wealth of Thy abundance I ' And immediately
his eyes were opened and he lifted them towards
the glory, but soon wearied, for its splendour
dazzled him. Therefore he turned his eyes again
on Jesus as in an ecstasy of joy, saying, ' Thou
ari the Prince of Peace ; Thou ari the King of
Israel.'
And even as he spake Peter and those which
were with him returned footsore and ill at ease.
Then Jesus spake, saying, 'Have ye found
that ye sought ? '
And they answered, ' Nay, for the people, hear¬
ing that Thou soughtest to lodge in this place, have
sent a message by us beseeching Thee that Thou
remain not, because the rulers of this village are
much set against Thy teaching, and the common
folk fear to offend them by listening unto Thee.'
Then spake the Lord, ' The ox knoweth his
owner and the ass his master's crib, but Israel
THE SHEPHERD-BOY OF SAMARIA 83
doth not know, My people doth not consider. For
even as one whom the voice of the accuser con¬
demns am I driven forth from My resting-place,
and the earth grows glad at the sound of My
departing footsteps. Oh, My people ! My people !
the sheep of My pasture I would that ye might
turn from the evil of your ways and amend your
doings ! '
Then said the shepherd-boy, as he stood near
and looked at the disciples, ' Why do ye pay heed
to the gossip of the idle, and bring uncivil messages
to your Lord, seeing that He is sorrowful and
needeth comfort ? The voice of ill-tidings is like
sickness unto Him, and maketh Him more sad.
Wherefore went ye forth to gather it ? '
And Peter answered, ' Who art thou that darest
to chide those who have left all to follow His for¬
tunes—who, weary and footsore, have gone from
town to town carrying His burden ? Thou art a
half-bred whelp of the Samaritans, and it becometh
thee not to voice thy unmannered bark in our
presence.'
And the boy answered, ' Who or what thou
art I know not, but thy tongue hath a savour of
Satan's fire in it, and makes my blood hot ; there¬
fore will I seek my sheep again.' And whistling as
he went, he hurried towards the mountain where
G 2
84 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
his dog long since had disappeared, and soon was
lost to sight.
And seeing that the Lord did not depart as
they had besought Him to do, the rulers of the
people, richly clad in their robes of office, came
forth, with a large train of hired servants, to speak
unto Him concerning this matter ; yea, and also to
see the Man whose knowledge of the written law
had made the Scribes and Pharisees of Jerusalem
afraid of Him.
And one of these, who was a citizen of fair
repute for wisdom, advanced towards the Lord
and said, ' Thou teacher of sedition, wherefore
dost thou go from place to place stirring up the
minds of the people from their accustomed quiet ?
Thinkest thou to bring great honour on thyself?
or art thou pledged to Beelzebub to catch him
flies ? '
Then answered Jesus, 'The hosts of the Lord
are around the righteous, and His ears are open
to their prayers. Wherefore, if I be evil, and My
teaching of false gods, do ye not petition the Lord
ye worship to thrust Me out of your pleasant
places. Surely His ears are open to the righteous.'
Then said the Samaritan, ' How knowest thou
the rightful rendering of this Scripture ? It may
THE SHEPHERD-BOY OF SAMARIA 85
be thou hast by evil teaching wrested the true
meaning to thine own construction. God hears
not every prayer.'
Then answered Jesus, ' If thine hand were
wounded, wouldst thou not take pains to make it
whole ? Even so He who made the world sustains
it from the beginning until now ; and if the laws
are transgressed, there cometh forth that from out
the ducts of nature which shall repair the breach
and make the place more fair. Therefore, if by
Me ye suffer present hurt, the profit shall be
greater by-and-by.'
Then 'said the citizen, ' These people are so
ignorant and easily persuaded, that thy words are
like to do them little hurt ; yet are they over¬
wrought with fear lest thou shouldst bring harm
into their bodies ; for 'tis said thou hast great
power in working miracles and turning people into
swine.'
Then answered Jesus, ' 'Tis thou and such-like
folk whose paltry greed have turned the Lord's
own people into swine, not /. Yea, and the Lord's
own vineyard ye have made into a slaughtering-
house, where ye do slay them and grow fat by
feeding sweetly on their flesh.'
Then said the citizen to his servants, ' Bind
86 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
him and take him to the magistrates. He is a
murderer, a scorner of the law, a blasphemer. No
wonder that the Pharisees of Galilee are mad at
him.'
Then said Jesus, 'In righteousness and jus¬
tice shall ye make your boast, O house of Israel,
saith the Lord. But, behold, I have looked for
judgment in the high places and found oppression ;
for righteousness, and, behold, a cry. They have
all gone out of the way, they are altogether be¬
come abominable. There is none that doeth good
—no, not one.'
Then cried the citizen, ' Speak to these also
which come with me, for thy face is turned away
from them. Have they not also merited thy
condemnation ? '
And Jesus said, 'Thinkest thou by numbers
to ensure safety ? I tell thee that One who trusteth
in My Father's strength, and doeth His will, shall
be as a legion ; and a host of armed soldiers who
do evil shall lack the power to overthrow him.
By counsel is wisdom perfected, but the Lord's
grace must bring forth the germ thereof.'
And as He spake, behold, a man who stood by
the citizen was seized with great fear, and stood
writhing and fighting as with an invisible foe.
THE SHEPHERD-BOY OF SAMARIA 87
The terror on his face was like that of one who
looks on death.
And our Lord, perceiving this, and also the
cause thereof, spake to the evil thing within the
man which so tormented him, saying, ' The end of
thy probation draweth nigh. Fret not the cords
which hold thee, else shalt thou be shelterless.'
And the demon answered, ' Jesus, Thou Son of
God 1 command the man that he go hence at once,
for Thy glance hath set me trembling so that I
shall slay him from my fear of Thee.'
Then said Jesus, ' Evil hast thou chosen, and
the good wounds thee. When thou shalt turn
from evil, good shall preserve thee.'
And the demon answered, ' While this world
opens its sheltering doors so freely to us, thinkest
Thou that we will go and tear ourselves to pieces
with remorse down below? Nay, not till Thy
word hath rent the spheres in twain.'
And Jesus said, 'Thou shalt not slay the man ;
therefore come out of him.'
And the demon answered, ' Whither shall I
go? There are no swine near us, save these of
human breed ; and Thou hast set the bounds of
88 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
Thy control too neatly for us to hurry straight
from one human resting-place to another.'
And the Lord answered, ' Thou shalt not escape
Me, neither shalt thou enter any here ; therefore
depart, and leave the man alone.*
Then said the demon, ' Thy mercy is but small
to us, seeing the lavishness with which Thou throw-
est it away on those who thank Thee not. Why,
he whom I must quit at Thy command, will be¬
fore nightfall take in a much worse spirit than
myself to bear him company, and it shall make
the man worse instead of better by my leaving
him.'
Then said the Lord, ' How knowest thou this ?
Take up thy chattels and go hence.'
Therefore the demon, with a longing glance back¬
wards, departed from the man, and hid himself not
far from Peter. But he seeing him not, neither
knowing what our Lord had done, and only that
a servant of the Samaritan's had suddenly been
seized with sickness, and fallen as one dead close to
his Master's feet, also that the other servants took
him up and bore him to the wayside, there to re¬
cover, he troubled not himself to stir aside or help
them, being weary and observing all this as in a
dream.
THE SHEPHERD-BOY OF SAMARIA 89
Then said the demon close to Peter's ear, ' If
your master were the true Messiah he should com¬
mand these men to do him reverence, and they
could not help acknowledging his power, seeing
the Son of God can rule the hearts of men and cast
out all their evil thoughts and make them clean
every whit, soul and body.'
And Peter, thinking that these thoughts were
evolved from out his own brain, wondered angrily
to hear the Lord so patiently rebuke and argue
with these men.
And the citizen, beholding that our Lord stood
as one who listens to a voice from other spheres,
and also that His face was full of power, spake
privately to another by his side, saying, 'This
teacher is truly a man of much learning in the
Scripture, and my portion of knowledge thereof
sorts not with his. Therefore, I pray thee, speak
unto him, and, above all things, desire him to
leave this place and go unto his own people.'
Then said the elder to Jesus, 'Thou speakest
things which are not in the law which Abraham,
our Father, gave to us. Whence hast thou authority
to teach the people, seeing thou hast not been
called to the priesthood, neither passed through
the rightful training for a Scribe ? '
And Jesus answered, ' Hast thou learned so
<5o LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
little in these fifty years of tendance on the ritual
of thy law as not to know that he who keeps
the law doeth it not of his own strength, neither
by means of given rites, but by the Spirit of God
moving him whithersoever it will.'
And the old man answered, 'Truly thou
speakest with small store of reverence for holy
things. The Jews do well to cast i/tee from their
synagogues. If none will thrust thee out of this
place, then shalt thou go to prison. We want no
teachers of thy sort amongst our servants.'
And the Lord said, ' Trouble not thyself : to¬
morrow's sun shall see thy village, but not the Son
of Man walking its streets. Yea, even ye who
pray Me to go forth shall crave for My return, but
shall not find Me lingering at the gate.'
And saying thus, the Lord roused Peter, who
had fallen asleep, and taking with Him the rest of
His disciples. He departed from Samaria. And as
He went He talked with them, saying, 'To-morrow,
about midday, a wail of agony shall go up from
this place, from those who cry for a physician but
are left to perish.'
Then said one, ' The punishment is just.'
And the Lord answered, ' Sickness hangeth like
THE SHEPHERD-BOY OF SAMARIA 91
a heavy mist over the land ; many shall die thereof ;
but he that dieth shall be counted happy, insomuch
as he shall be spared further sorrow.'
And as the dear Lord said, even so happened it
to the people of that village.
TEACHINGS.
He that hath brought gold to the temple of the
Lord for the building up thereof is known to have
brought it to an excellent work, for gold is of the
indestructible nature of spiritual well-being, and as
it is neither perishable nor corruptible by those
things which affect the minor metals and nature's
products generally, so also is that which is born
of spirit. The air, which is symbolical of evil
influences, passes by and injures it not ; the fire,
which is symbolical of affliction, only renders it
more pure ; and the water, which is symbolical
of earthly affinities, customs, and civilisation, has
no power to injure it, although these influences
attempt to smother it up under their turbid restless
impulses of progression.
But what of him who bringeth not gold, but
the products of an ever-changing character, to the
building up of God's temple ? Stand aside, O ye
bearers of gold, and let him pass ; for verily if he
92 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
have not praise of men he loseth his reward alto¬
gether. Yet because he is in earnest, and desires
to do something for good, surely the labourer is
worthy of his hire. Yet since the moth and rust
of earth consume not your offering, neither the
elements corrupt it, ye need no praise of men, no
wages of earth to repay your labour. For although
men are often deceived by the appearance of their
fellow-creature's offering, the Father, who seeth in
secret, knoweth, yea, and every man knoweth in his
own soul, of what nature is the burden he carries.
Be not deceived : God is not mocked ; whatsoever
a man soweth, tJmt shall he reap. There is no
respect of persons with God, for He lifteth up the
poor out of the dust, that He may set him amongst
the princes of His people. He putteth down the
mighty from their seat, and exalteth the humble
and meek. He maketh the day of the lofty full of
darkness, and the night of His people as the noon¬
day for brightness. There is no man who ordereth
the doings of those to whom he stands in the same
relation as the lower animals do to him. The Con¬
troller of spirits hath not a human body as ye see
men have ; neither hath He the shape of one who
toils for daily food. Therefore man shall not pre¬
sume to say, ' Thus will / have it, and in just such
proportion. This will I take of Thy teaching, and
that reject^ As it is given him he shall take it
and be thankful, and whosoever rejects the morsels
of bread from the Lord's own table because he
THE SHEPHERD-BOY OF SAMARIA 93
objects to their shape or form shall reject them at
his own peril, for many diverse pieces go to make
up a perfect whole. And none may judge of
fitness except those who have a pattern before
their eyes to which they are working faithfully
and with zealous care. And even these will often
seem to be doing that which is needless to the
lookers-on—yea, will often justly appear to be
choosing the wrong colour or cutting the piece in
an awkward manner. Yet how can he judge who
sees only after the manner of men this thing which
is being worked out in the atelier of God ? Ye
take too much upon you, ye men of earth ; yours
is no judgment court ; ye are no dispensers of
righteous sentences : your very highest place is the
vestibule of those who wait to hear sentence—yea,
and fulfil it also when the time of the Lord's good
pleasure is come. Therefore stand aside in all
humility with that ye have gathered in your time
of earth-probation, and perchance when the Lord
appears He shall bring your reward with Him.
How easily ye fall out of the way of truth !
How hardly keep the steady gait of those to whom
to-day is as to-morrow, and time as eternity !
Have ye such small measure of life, ye sons of
men, that ye pant and strive as those who haste
away from destruction ? What shall your haste
profit you, even though ye arrived at the High
. Court of Heaven the sooner for it ? Nothing—
94 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
less than nothing ; for He who dwells therein look-
eth to purpose and seeth the cause for all things,
and He would know full well that your hasty
journey hither had the goading of selfish aims to
speed it forward. Therefore ye should be bidden
to return and help your weaker brethren on the
road. For Heaven's gate is fast closed to those
who seek to save their lives, and forget, or care not,
that their fellow-creatures have lives also to be
saved, and that God weigheth not according to
man's balances one life with another, one man's
work with another man's deficiencies, and one
man's progress with another's disadvantages ; but
that justice pure and simple shall be meted out
alike to all.
Seek by no means for the applause of man,
for the sound thereof is hateful to our ears ; its
poisonous sweetness ruins many from your earth-
sphere. Many, said I ? We count them by their
thousands. Judas betrayed his Master, the sinless
Christ, less for gold than the commendation of the
great ones who hated Jesus. Ananias for the pas¬
sion of being held in favour with the Apostles
of Christ made believe to sacrifice his living for
the benefit of the Church, but kept back a portion
secretly. Therefore the Lord slew him and his
wife, who had both together plotted this deceit in
sacred matters. And many besides, whose names
stand boldly out in the memories of their fellow-
THE SHEPHERD-BOY OF SAMARIA 95
men for just and benevolent followers of the Lord
Jesus, are at this present moment suffering the
severe pangs of remorse amongst those creatures
whom they professed to help, but in reality op¬
pressed during their last earth-life. In truth your
society teems with such ; they are by no means
rare in any class or rank of men ; the lowest even
are touched with this meanness of utter degrada¬
tion. Just the same as in the time of our Lord's
sojourn upon earth, so also amongst the extinct
civilisations which have existed from all time. No
type of race has ever run its course without falling
into absolute meanness and falsehood, evil-planning
and evil-doing, for the sake of present applause.
And until the earth-sphere is broken, and all her
atoms set anew under other conditions, we see, first
and foremost of the vices of men must be this
detestable propensity, these minute but defiling
atoms of sin mingling with the current of his life.
Received July 12, 1888.
96 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
VIL
THE REFLECT.^
For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be : yea, thou
shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.—Psalm
xxxvii. 10.
The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before
the separate place, they be holy chambers.—Ezekiel xlii. 13.
Ilath God cast away His people ? God forbid. For I also am
an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.—
Romans xi. i.
Evil as were the temple-keepers of the god
Serapis during the later days of Egyptian grandeur,
yet amongst these was one who came of Roman
extraction, and had been bound by his father to
this distasteful office under fear, because his
' During the summer of 1888 there was exhibited at the Egyptian
Hall, London a number of mummies recently discovered by the
Egyptian discoverer Mr. Flinders Petrie. The remarkable thing
about these was that each mummy bore its own portrait, executed
in a style of art that was supposed to be unknown at the period
when these bodies were first embalmed, about a.d. 150. The
writer was greatly interested in these portraits, especially in that of
a young man of a Graeco-Roman type and exceedingly sorrowful
face ; it occupied the writer's thoughts a great deal one evening,
especially the reason why these exquisitely painted portraits should
be affixed to the mummies and buried in the coffin. The next
morning this explanation was received.
THE REFLECT
97
enemies were powerful, and his place of authority
in Alexandria likely to be taken by another, who
was on his way from the Capitol with a reinforce¬
ment of Roman troops, for the Emperor was deter¬
mined to push his advantage to the full now he
had once set his foot firmly on Egyptian territory.
And the god Serapis had many priests who were
greatly honoured for their skill in healing, and this
not by means of herbs or decoctions of Nature's
vegetation, but from immediate inception of health
by their command over the inner nature of those
plants by which, in man's present state of material
knowledge, he sets out to accomplish these same
results. Therefore were these learned men set
apart from the other priests, and formed a separate
community, although occupying a portion of the
great building for the worship of Osiris-Apis, or, as
the Greeks called this god, Serapis.
And this place of the priests was connected by
secret passages into the underground cellars and
cloisters, where the embalming of dead bodies went
on, and for this purpose a knowledge of the secret
arts of medicine was necessary, so that a great
number of neophytes and others were employed in
this office, and much wealth came thereby to the
priests of the god. And the making of the shells
to contain the embalmed bodies was also connected
with the priest's portion by other passages, so that
they occupied about the centre of the building,
98 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
and not far from the richly-decorated courts of th<
Sacred Bull himself ; but the healing priests hac
more honour amongst the people than those wht
were set apart as the special attendants of the god
although these wore the richer robes, and made
more of their office in the sight of the wealthy
portion of the community, especially at the houn
of sacrifice.
And one of the priests, being an old man, and
knowing that the time of his departure drew nigh,
set his eyes on the young gatekeeper, whose father
was a Roman and his mother a Greek, that he
might instruct him in the arts in which he himseli
was so proficient ; for the others of his nation who
filled the same office as himself, only with less
knowledge, found he not worthy ; therefore he
sought for one who should come after him, and
benefit the people by this power of healing.
Therefore, after a great festival of the god, he
sought out this youth, and said unto him in the
Grecian tongue, ' Behold, thou hast the eyes of
one who should be able to peer into the occult
mysteries ; for I observe that neither thy occupation
nor thy rank in life is properly that of a doorkeeper
in the House of Apis. Wilt thou give up thy
body for the nourishment of thy inner nature, and
no longer lie softly or feed upon luxurious viands,
but keep thyself in the full exercise of health.
THE REFLECT
99
so that from thy vigour may come the healing of
disease ? '
The young man answered, ' The life of a priest
such as thou art suits ill with my fancies ; yet be¬
cause it is more honourable to wear thy long robes
than the short skirts of a doorkeeper, and also it
little matters what becomes of me, for my mother
is dead, and my father is a Roman governor, but
he fretteth continually about his office, seeing he is
likely to fall under the displeasure of the Emperor—
and when such evil fate overtakes him, there will
not be many hours of life left in him—therefore
hath he placed me in this lowly position that I
may escape death at their hands ; for he hath sworn
by his gods that he will not survive the reproof of
his inferiors, such as they whom the Emperor hath
put in authority over him.'
Then said the old priest, as he gazed up at this
tall youth, whose restless eyes half languished
with the grace inherited from his Greek mother,
yet were aflame with the fire of Roman ambition,
' Behold, thou art formed for my purpose. When
wilt thou begin thy task ? '
And he answered ' Even at once if it so please
thee ; but it were best that I let my father know
what thou designest for me ; therefore will I deliver
my keys to another hand, and return quickly.'
H a
loo LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
And the priest answered, ' Yea, go hither an(
take farewell of him and thy fleshly cossetings ani
petty fancies ; for when thou hast entered into ou
ranks thou shalt no longer wander at large abou
the streets of the city.'
Therefore the young man went forth, and th(
priest returned to the room where all the embalm
ing spices were prepared. And he made a patien'
investigation into the fitness of the young man
but, behold, all was uncertainty and mystery beyonc
the hour that they had parted ; for until then al
his life was plain and clearly defined, yet after this
was no enlightenment whatever.
Therefore the old priest cast the papyrus, with
its curious ring and circles of fate, from him in
disgust, and wondered that the youth had not re¬
turned. And, behold, it was midnight. Yea, and
beside him stood a shadow not clearly defined, but
palpable to his rarefied nerves. The old priest
therefore said,
' Who art thou ? '
And the shadow answered, 'Thus keep I my
appointment with thee. I am he who came this
eve unto thee, because thou didst desire to teach
me thy healing arts. Thou didst say 'twas best to
leave my body in the world with all its crude de¬
sires. Behold, it lieth in the atrium of the Roman
THE REFLÊCf
loi
villa where my father lived ; for I was slain even
as I entered there, by the hand of one who was a
slave of my father's but has now become the
property of him who has taken my father's office
by order of the emperor ; and, behold, my father
also is likewise slain ; but although I have searched
for him in every place permitted me, yet cannot I
find his shade. Therefore I bethought me of my
appointment with thee, knowing that thou wert
skilled in many arts. Perchance thou shalt tell me
where my father's spirit bides, that I may speak
unto him concerning burial.'
And the priest answered, ' There are chambers
in the courts of Apis which are sealed ; there are
places where the footsteps of his priests are not
permitted, and in these are kept the rolls of death.
Perchance Osiris would not hold thee ill-advised
to read therein, thou being a shade, because thy
father's body lieth on the earth without burial, yea,
and thine also, O my son ; therefore with me must
die the fullest revelations of our healing art'
And the shadow spake, saying, ' By what means
shall I demand the rites of cerement? For these
bodies of mine and my father's are left naked to
the spite of our enemies ; yea, and my face is
hacked in pieces by their swords so that none
may know me. And thy creed teacheth that the
soul, after its wandering, shall come once more out
I02 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
of the round of judgment into the same form c
flesh. And, behold, if this be truth, the gods thenr
selves shall never know of what form was m
visage. I shall be lost and left out of the reward
of Osiris, and condemned as one of the lost, or
common slave.'
Then said the old priest, ' Thy face was as th
face of a god, and have they left no trace of it
beauty ; and thy form as that of Osiris himself, an
now, behold, it is straightened in death. Therefon
because I have set my fancy upon thee, yea, eve
I will go forth and seek thy body, and cause it t
be purged of all its vileness of corruption ; ani
thou shalt rank amongst the priests in death, fo
thy burial cerements shall be torn from the sam
weaving, and thy body embalmed by the sam
spices.'
Then was the shade glad, and he cried, ' Beholc
these murderers have cut and slashed my fac
so that none can judge the form it was befon
Wherefore when my life shall once again retur:
into this body, as thy creed teacheth, behold, th
uniter will forget what manner of man I was ; alsc
my mother shall not know me in the land of th
just.'
And the old priest was sorrowful at thes
words ; therefore he said, ' Hast thou naugh
THE REFLECT
103
whereby the form of thy visage may be known ?
Truly 'tis hard for thee to enter once again into
a body where the face is lacking, seeing thy visage
was of such fair proportions.'
And the shade cried, ' Yea, now I bethink me,
I have a reflect of my face remaining ; for in the
days of our prosperity there came one to my
father's villa boasting that he possessed a unique
power, given him by the Roman god Apollo, of
making the face of a man look out from base
material, as though it were reflected in a silver
shield, yea, and remain after he who gazed had
passed away. Therefore my father bade him mark
out the lines and features of my face on such
coarse substance. And for this purpose he was
entertained for many days in a portion of the villa,
there to prepare the means whereby he might
accomplish this thing. And, behold, his skill was
fully proved ; for when our neighbours came to
view the reflect he had made, they were all amazed
because the likeness that it bore to me was wonder¬
ful beyond all conception. Therefore the people
of our rank sought to detain him longer by promise
of much wealth, but he would not. Yet now my
memory hath turned back again unto these things,
I do perceive the chance hath blessed me much,
for by his skill shall I renew once more the re¬
membrance of my visage. And, behold, it lieth
hidden in my chamber beside the gate ; for although
îo4 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
it smote me with a kind of dread while I was yet
in life, seeing it was rnyself who gazed at me, yet,
now I am no more than a poor withered shade, this
thing shall lie with me and soothe my flesh by its
touch in the blank solitude of my waiting body.'
And as the shade ceased to speak the priest arose,
and, going to the chamber, took forth the picture,
gazed despairingly upon it, and laid it aside, so
that when the body of the young man should be
prepared for burial this portrait might lie upon its
breast in the long waiting of its wooden tomb.
And he said, ' By this the uniter shall know of
what visage thou wert, and deal thee justice ; yea,
and thy friends shall come forth and greet thee,
because thou hast not stained thy life with the
pollution of false worship. And, behold, when the
accuser shall come hither to gaze at thee, it will
affright him to see a living face reflected upon the
dead linen.'
And this deed of the old priest's became from
that time known in the courts of Serapis as a
strange amendment of visage in death ; and many
talked about this thing, so that the wealthy set
about to find those skilled in the reflect of faces.
And after a few years there was added to the
embalming-cells others of a lighter character.
THE REFLECT
where a company of workmen, under a teacher of
great skill, were employed in depicting the faces of
men and women during their earth-life, which in
death were to be reminders to the gods of what
character were their living faces.
TEACHINGS.
He that hath given all things to His servants
hath also pre-ordained the distribution of matter, and
provided ducts for the reception thereof in every
entity. There is no lack of aught in God's eco¬
nomy, and the channels of His grace are likewise of
the same nature as the product they are designed to
convey ; so that by contrary influences nothing may
be rendered null, but rather gain added impetus
from the coursing of God's infinite grace through
sympathetic channels ; for unless a man's intellectual
consciousness worked to some extent in accordance
to the rhythm of spiritual vibration there could be
no communication between him and us. The finer
nature would lose so much of its exquisite vigour,
while the lower would be completely devitalised
by reason of immediate contact with the stronger
currents of life. Man as he at present exists on
earth only uses certain portions of his nature, and
those which are not brought into action become
weak and full of fantastical gropings after things
which partake of his higher life, but which he
io6 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
is not by the dim light of reason able to com¬
prehend. This neglect having been continual for
long ages has brought him as a race into his
present state of gross materialism, until only by
direct touch with spirit can the better parts of his
being evolve their natural functions. Emphatically
we assert that man ought to be much less an animal
than a spirit. And as there is little or no repul¬
sion manifested by him to creatures of the lower
creation—such as horses, dogs, cats, and other
animals with which he is familiar—so also there
ought not to be any shrinking or fear shown when
it is realised by him that we overrule all his con¬
cerns, from their minutest detail even to their
largest possibilities, and that not of our own power
nor by our own suggestions, but by those of the
Eternal Father, given out to man in this manner
through us.
Again, we would likewise entreat men to believe
that we cannot harm them either in soul or body—
that there is no power, neither will, in us to do
aught but elevate him above the littleness of his
earth-life, and lead him into higher, purer, and wider
views of his capabilities. Yea, and to the utmost
of our power, which, compared to his, is mighty in
good, and as the strength of Leviathan in the great
waters to the power of the smallest creature who
roams on the face of your earth. And yet we
speak not this boastingly, for neither is this strength
THE REFLECT
107
of our own begetting. Only in the great All
Father and His beloved Son are we strong—
yea, to remove mountains, either to take them
off your head, O ye sons of men, or to let
them fall thereon according to the decree of that
Supreme Will under which we live, move, and
have our being. Amongst us are great diversities
of operation. If ye believed not this, how much
should we be dwarfed in your estimation ! Because
one law of being never yet took in every individual
in a large society, therefore the innumerable differ¬
ences of administration in our spheres are such as
to elude man's finite conception altogether ; else
might we bring down to him the map of our
degrees and latitudes ; but this on the earth-plane
is best left alone ; although we can promise an
infinitely more largely comprehensive view of our
work and methods of doing it in the next life,
following death on the earth-plane, provided the
entity shall have escaped the degradation of the
lower astral planes—for these we are not able to
approach any more after death than before it.
In the highest part of the astral circle, where the
soul-germ has begun to be evolved, our interference
and help commence their first stage of instruction,
and this not necessarily after death as man under¬
stands it, but sometimes also during earth-life, yet
never through other means than intellectual vibra¬
tion ; for with the lower consciousness or fleshly
body of man we spirits on this plane may not hold
io8 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
communion, neither can we let loose the cords of
spiritual uplifting upon the neck of him who has
once become subject to our influence, for having
by means of continual striving against combative
elements brought ourselves into concord with any
human entity, we for our part become so linked
together with him, that intellectually we suffer as he
suffers, and his thoughts make themselves felt in
every corner of our vitality. Therefore, from touch
with evil things do we struggle to uplift that entity
with whom we make our abode, and the degradation
of his higher nature chafes us into the employment
of those powers which lie dormant in us until pro¬
voked lawfully. Thus he who wantonly lets him¬
self be preyed upon by the lower evil spirits : after
having received great help from us his body must
die that his soul may be saved alive. As in the
case of the lying prophets mentioned in Ezekiel,
who from laxity of guard over their better nature
allowed it to be entered by the creatures of the
swamp, so will it also be in these days to one
who, having put his hand to the plough, looketh
back. No longer is he fit for the advancement of
God's Kingdom on earth, and therefore must his
body on earth be laid down that the better part
of his nature may be scourged for his fault, and
once more enter the ranks of progression and help
others in attaining victory over their lower appetites,
so that God and His Christ may reign for ever over
all nations.
THE REFLECT
109
A piece of bread and a drop of water received
with the uplifting of thanksgiving to the Almighty-
Giver of all good contain within them more ele¬
ments of nutriment than a sumptuous banquet of
dainty meats and costly wines without the uplifting ;
for man is emphatically more than animal. There¬
fore, if he be not spiritually nourished as well as
bodily nourished, then he will soon hunger again,
for the inner nature feeds not on unconsecrated
food. But he that takes a scanty meal which has
been hallowed by spiritual benediction will go in
the strength of that food many more hours without
faintness than he who makes a dinner of seven
courses which has not been thus blessed. These
things seem impossible to man, but none the less
are they possible to God and God's children, be they
embodied according to the fashion of earth, or in¬
habited by other creatures, such as are contained
in planets far distant from your atmospheric circle.
Prayer, as it is generally known amongst men,
appears to us a vain repetition of words ; but the
spiritual uplifting and the great immediate benefits
derived from it are only partially estimated at their
true worth by the few who have arrived at the
knowledge of its use. If man knew how to pray
with more advantage, his state would immediately
become less pitiable, for he could uplift his higher
consciousness in the moments of pain, and bodily
suffering would be no more remembered, neither
felt, by him. He could uplift his higher nature in
no LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
prayer, and become cognisant of the interference
of all his spiritual brethren in other spheres on his
behalf. Therefore the solitude of darkness would no
longer press upon him ; neither would he fear any
power of evil or any material hurt, for the Atone¬
ment of the universe would have taken him into its
circle, and neither life, nor death, nor any other
creature could henceforth permanently intervene
between himself and the peace of God through
Jesus Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge.
How much of your nature is spiritual, and how
much material, O man of dense understanding?
Whether ye eat or drink, walk or remain still, do all
to the glory of God, saith Saint Paul ; and he adds
thereto. Receive all things with thanksgiving—not
the mere repetition of words, but true uplifting of
the higher self, and ye shall soon perceive that by
this means the benefits which ye crave shall come
upon you, your labours shall become easy, the bur¬
den on your shoulder shall be lightened, the sweat
of your brow shall make earth bring forth better
produce ; for angel hands shall be brought into con¬
tact with what is spiritual in your construction, and
by aid of these ye shall find the material weight no
longer burdensome. The very grossest atoms of
nature are interwoven with spirit on a natural
plane, and these by their several channels are
linked to us ; yea, and these make man's burden
heavier than the mere bearing of substance, for his
THE REFLECT
III
nature has to resist where it should grasp, and
through his obstinate refusal to evolve the better
things in him he becomes a bond-slave to nature's
mysteries, and is obliged to bear that which should
be no part of his earth-burden.
As he is dominated by evil, the purer parts of
nature's spirit press more heavily upon him ; so
that he who toils for the mere daily wage works
against four times the power of resistance that
another man does who, doing precisely the same
amount of labour, yet does it under the influence
of spiritual blessing. The earth is the Lord's, and
the fulness thereof. And the Lord, He is God ;
yea, and God is Spirit. Therefore is spirit largely
incorporated with nature's substance ; so much so,
indeed, that of seven parts only one is material.
And does it not make itself apparent to you that
he who is at one with spirit in all its forms of
good must labour with more ease, and receive from
nature greater results for his toil, than one who
knoweth nought of these things ? Behold, there
is no heavier burden for man than spiritual op¬
pression ; therefore the labourer in God's vineyard
who only perceives the material side of his nature,
and all nature, works harder Úvdox he who perceives
the spiritual sides of both—for the unspiritual man
does not bring in the full produce of his toil with
him, because God, through His angels, blessed
not the labour of his hands. If we could only
112 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
impress this truth upon you sufficiently to evoke
a trial of prayer upon these lines, ye would soon
leave the flesh-pots of Egypt and the pleasant
pastures of Mammon, the palaces which were mor¬
tared together with blood, and the gateways of
pride which were cemented with the lives of your
humbler brethren, and go out into God's highways,
gathering together the halt, maimed, blind, and
dumb, and leading each human entity by the hand
towards that Eternal Atonement which shall be
consummated in the cities of spiritual life.
Received August 24, 1888.
"3
VIII.
THE FESTAL.
What is that proverb, . . . The days are prolonged, and every
vision faileth ?
For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divi¬
nation within the house of Israel.—Ezekiel xii. 22, 24.
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay
not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell
asleep.-—Acts vii. 60.
Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great
things.—James iii. 5.
Amongst the Jews at the time of our Lord there
were no other commandments so earnestly en¬
forced upon the people's attention by their priests
as those relating to idol worship. For from the
lower classes of the Hebrews many had been taken
as servants by their Roman conquerors, and these
were particularly subjected to temptations which
would not occur under the free dispensation of
Mosaic rule. Therefore those in authority strenu¬
ously held out before the people such command¬
ments as^
'Thou shalt not partake of that food which
has been offered to an idol.' ' Thou shalt not bow
I
114 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
thyself down to the likeness of a strange go<
lest the Lord thy God shall fail to have mere
upon thee, and thou be handed over unto th
tormentors.'
And many Jewish slaves underwent exquisit
tortures at the hands of their licentious master
rather than break these particular laws. And i
was in direct reference to this conduct on the par
of the Scribes and Pharisees who sat in Moses
seat that Jesus said, ' Ye bind heavy burdens
heavy and grievous to be borne, and lay them oi
men's shoulders ; but ye yourselves touch then
not with one of your fingers.'
Inside the golden rails which stood before th(
great entrance to the Temple of Apollo at Corinth
between the sculptured pillars of its outer court
several large baskets woven of bulrushes wen
wont to be placed, to receive the gifts of thos(
who had brought certain offerings of fruit o
flowers for the service of the temple. And boy:
robed in flame-coloured garments kept watch ove;
these, lest any should pilfer or steal therefrom.
Crowds of people also sauntered leisurely botl
in the outer and inner courts, and were for th<
most part richly habited ; for they chiefly consistée
of young patrician noblemen and their attendants
with here and there a Roman lady, elaborately
the Vestal
dressed after the fashion of the time, and heavily
guarded by a band of maiden slaves.
The conversation was loud-voiced, and by no
means checked through any sort of superstitious
reverence for the place. The noblemen laughed
and shouted no less freely than in their own wide
atriums ; and the idleness of those who deemed
labour a degradation found vent in folly.
Vendors of lotus-flowers—and there were many
of them—came near, shouting the names of their
wares to attract the wealthy. And amongst these
was a maiden of the Hebrews, one who had been
bought as a slave by a Roman plebeian ; and he
had sent her forth to win the good graces of those
scornful favourites of fortune who at the hour of
noon made a fashionable meeting-place of great
Apollo's temple.
The Hebrew maiden's face was fairer than her
flowers ; her voice was richer than the rarest music
in the god's high courts, and her unguarded in¬
nocence more to her master's purpose than the
coquettish arts of Cytherea herself.
And seeing that the crowd was densely packed,
and that the jokes were many and the laughter
loud and free, the Hebrew lotus-seller turned to
the part which appeared to be less occupied, and
I 2
ii6 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
there leaned against a pillar and began to sing the
Lord's song softly y with great sorrow in her heart.
For was not she a captive, yea, a bond-slave, in a
stranger's land, and whose far-distant birthplace
was despised and counted but of small repute by
this great nation of world-conquerors ?
Their mirthful voices made her sorrowful, so
proud, so self-assertive, but so mean were they.
Therefore her basket of white lotus-flowers hung
idly on her arm. She made no haste or effort to
part with them. What if her master chid her?
Was there not hope that if she brought him little
profit he might barter her to one more merciful ?
And even as she thought thereon her song became
less mournful and more loud.
Then was there a sudden lull of laughing
voices, a deep indrawing hush, as though the
stirring impulse of licentious mirth had died abor¬
tive. But she heeded not the silence, for, with
her eyes bent on the distant clouds, and her soul
wrapt away in pleasant dreams, the hateful present
had died out for her, and nought perceived she by
the outer sense.
Then spake a Voice close by her in the Hebrew
tongue, ' Dost thou know that they are gazing at
thee ? ' And with a startled 'Whom ? ' she turned
her eyes full on the staring crowd, whose gaze was
THE VESTAL
117
centred full upon her face ; and a deep blush of
anger dyed her cheeks.
' Have they no women of their own whereon
to gaze, no Roman bond-slave to make sport for
them, that they must hold their breath and stare
at me, who am a daughter of the Hebrews, one of
God's chosen race? I would I had a sword and
were a man ! they should not mock me so.'
Then said the Voice beside her, ' Thou art in
deadly peril, for these men behold thee to thy
hurt, seeing thou art the fairest maiden that their
eyes have ever fallen upon, yea, and most innocent.
Before the spell I cast upon them lifts, leap up
these steps, and I will lead thee by a secret way
where thou shalt find sanctuary with Dian's
Vestals.'
But the Hebrew maiden answered, ' Who art
thou that speak'st to me of peril and of sanctuary ?
Cannot Jehovah's arm protect His own ? '
And the Voice answered, ' Yea, and therefore
hath He sent me, for thy need is great. Therefore
delay not, because the madness seizes them.'
Then, seeing that the crowd of young patricians
still gazed at her insultingly, her heart became
impressed with the sore need of flight. Therefore
ii8 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
she suddenly leaped up the steps, and presently
a door was closed behind her, and again the soft
clear voice said,
' Be not afraid. Amongst the Vestal maids of
Dian shalt thou find one who will help thee, yea,
and transport thee to thy native land, where truth
abideth ; and when thou shalt return thither the
purpose of thy life shall come to thee.'
And as the Voice ceased speaking she perceived
that she was standing in a spacious court walled
in with many pillars, and white-robed maidens
loitered idly in twos and threes whither the fancy
led them ; and the place was bright, and almost
luminous, so that the Hebrew maiden held her
hand above her eyes to shade them from the
sudden glare of light which smote" upon them
sharply as she entered.
And for a while none heeded her ; but presently
a Vestal stopped and gazed at her curiously ; for
plebeian strangers never entered here, much less the
lotus-sellers of the streets. And this young girl
was clad after the Hebrew fashion ; but she bore
a flower-vendor's basket on her arm. Therefore
the Vestal frowned contemptuously upon her, and
passed by to speak with others of this strange in¬
trusion on their privacy. And they likewise came
to look at her, all maidens of patrician blood and
scornful bearing. And one of them chid the Hebrew
THE VESTAL
119
maiden in no measured terms, and bade her take her
wares into the outer court ; this was no place for her.
Then said another who was taller than the rest,
and much more queenly-looking, ' Nay, sweet
sister. See you not this flower-maiden is a
stranger — one of Hebrew blood, methinks.
Therefore the delicate Grecian accents of your
tongue meet not her comprehension.' Then,
turning to the girl, she said, ' Knowest thou not
this place is holy ground, sacred to Beauty, Art,
and Chastity ? Behold how fair the nymphs of
Diana are ! '
But very mockingly she said these words, so
that many of her hearers bit their lips, and wrath¬
ful indignation made their cheeks grow crimson.
Yet were the slave-girl's ears filled with their music,
for the voice that uttered them was sweeter than
the sweetest melody, and yet a depth of bitterness
lay but half concealed under its full rich tones.
And the girl, seeing that they waited for her to
speak, answered in Hebrew, ' Lady, chide me not.
It was no fault of mine that I came here ; the
crowd outside seemed mad at sight of me. And
one, I know not whom, hastened me hither, saying
I should find sanctuary amongst Dian's Vestals.
I am a daughter of the Hebrews.'
Then spake the tall maiden again to the
others, savine in Greek. ' Said I not so ? The
I20 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
oracles of Diana are not yet all buried in Del-
phos.' Then, turning to the girl, she laid her
hand caressingly upon her, answering in Hebrew,
' Thou dost not worship great Diana, then ? Why,
what an heretic thou art ! But never fear : we will
protect thee from the lawless crowd—yea, more,
will send thee safely to thy home.'
' O lady ! ' sobbed the girl, touched by that
tenderness which lurked so subtilely in the soft calm
tones of the fair Vestal's voice, ' I am a slave. My
master sent me forth to sell these flowers at
Apollo's Gate. Ah, send me not to him ! Set me
the meanest office in this place, but send me not
into the crowd again ! '
Then cried one of the Vestals contemptuously,
' A born votary of the chaste goddess sent hither to
augment our dignity ! Shall we employ her as an
Heaven-descended messenger, or let her feed the
altar-fires of our great Mistress ? '
Then answered the tall Vestal, ' Methinks
thou art gifted with a great discretion, sister ; for
a little faith and little innocence and chastity would
make a rare addition to our ranks ; yea, and evoke
a chance of favour with the gods—for latterly our
oracles fall dangerously wide of the fair reputation
which they had.'
And another cried, ' Shall we keep this foreign
THE VESTAL
121
maiden here with us ? Her plebeian air will shock
Apollo's priests ; beside, the coarseness of her low¬
bred speech will bring pollution with it.'
Then spake the tall, fair Vestal, ponderingly :
' 'Tis said her God was great in wonders. Mayhap
she knows some secrets of her people's faith.
Therefore by her may we be aided much, so as to
wrest fresh wonders for the yelping crowd outside
who cry for miracles.'
But though they spake before her, the Hebrew
maiden knew no word of that they said, only she
judged by the soft glances of this one kindly
maiden that her heart was drawn towards her.
Therefore she needed not the actual words to make
her more assured, for as she spake her hand had
fallen upon the slave-girl's arm, and she smoothed
it gently with a soft caress.
And another said, ' This were no hurt anyway,
for, as thou say'st, all the old devices have had their
day and waxen stale and foolish to the multitude.
They are not gulled so easily as in the olden time,
when every raving Vestal stormed the world. See
what this child can do to freshen up the worn-out
oracles of Diana. Her memory of her people's
faith might, as thou say'st, aid us somewhat. We
are well-nigh at the end of our resources, so loudly
do the passions of the people cry for novelty. It is
a mercy that you know her speech.'
122 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
Then spake another, ' See ! the girl is faint with
fear or else with fasting. I will bid a serving-maid
bring unto thee fresh fruits and cakes from off the
altar. Then will we talk again with you concerning
this young stranger.' And saying thus, they left
the girl in charge of her who spake her language.
Then said she, ' Maiden of Syria, trust me and
follow.' And she led the way to a small closed-up
chamber, where soft crimson cushions lay upon a
bench of white marble ; and also there was a higher
slab which formed a table, and on this was set
a ewer of clear water, and many curtains hung in
folds from the outer circle of the coloured roof, and
fell thickly over the entrance.
Then said the Vestal, as she gracefully reclined
upon the cushions, after throwing one at her feet
for the Hebrew maiden likewise to recline at a
respectful distance,
'Tell me by what word-service do the people
of your nation address their gods ? For 'tis said
that many wondrous things happened in olden time
to certain of your fathers. Speak, therefore, to me,
little one ; and if you please me, know that I have
the power to make you one of Dian's Vestal
priests, honoured by Greek and Roman ; yea, and
worshipped by Apollo's votaries.'
THE VESTAL
123
Then said the girl, ' To serve false idols of wood
and stone is the most awful fate I can conceive.
Oh that I might but once more enter the syna¬
gogue of Nazareth and take a trespass-offering to
the priest that he might pray for me before the
mercy-seat of our great God 1 Lady, the living God,
the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, is
my people's God. Oh that thou wouldst in thy
mercy send me to my native place ! The Voice
which led me hither promised me a safe return
and quick release from slavery. Ah ! gracious
lady, kind and powerful, wilt thou not hearken
unto me ? ' And the maiden knelt with out¬
stretched hands and grasped the Vestal's robe, so
earnest was she in her prayerful pleading.
Then said the Vestal, ' Dost thou believe in thy
God, and really suppose that He heareth the prayers
of those who cry unto Him for help ? '
And the maiden answered, 'Yea, I believe e'en
to the uttermost in Him, and am most assured
that He can hear my voice, even as thou dost at
this present time ; yea, even as thou dost pity me,
so doth the Lord care tenderly for all who trust
in Him.'
And the Vestal answered, ' If thou believest
thus, surely thou hast but to demand release from
slavery, and thy Lord will deliver thee.'
124 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
Then said the Hebrew maiden, * Am I the
priest or Levite, that God should hear my voice ?
Thou, in thy ignorance, speakest blasphemy.
Through sacrifice and pure oblation by the priest
the people's prayers are offered unto God, and
our Great High Priest offers the daily offering for
our sins. Surely thou mockest, or thou wouldst not
say that such as I, a woman, and of mean estate,
could dare to name the name of Israel's God ! '
And as she spoke a serving-maid appeared
bringing fresh fruit and cakes, and set them before
the maiden.
Then said the Vestal, ' Eat, for thou art well-
nigh famished.'
And observing that the fruits looked tempting,
and also that the cakes were dainty fare, the
Hebrew maiden ate.
And as she ate a sickness seized on her, so that
the fruit turned bitter in her mouth and of most
nauseous flavour ; yea, and the cake also seemed
unfit for food.
Then turned she to the Vestal hastily, and cried,
'Whence are these things, for they have taken
from me all the strength I had? Dost thou de¬
sign my death ? Surely these cakes are made of
poisoned meal, and these fair fruits sprang from
THE VESTAL
a rotten soil ; for food of so vile flavour never
tasted L'
And the Vestal laughingly replied as she
stretched out her hand, and, taking some of each,
began to eat of them,
' These fruits are brought from Dian's favoured
altar, and are the rarest species which our land
produces. Likewise, these cakes are made of finest
meal. Thy palate hath deceived thee. There is
nought to quarrel with in this good fare.'
Then wept the maiden, saying, ' I have eaten
of those things offered to idols. Woe is me ! I
am unclean ! Oh, woe is me ! for none will offer
to the Lord a trespass-offering for my sin. Alas !
alas ! I would that I might die ; for in the stead
of sacrifice my body might propitiate the priest
and save me from the curse.'
Then spoke the Vestal, ' Maiden of the Hebrews,
all these fleshly rites avail not aught before the
eyes of God. If, as thou sayest, He is a living
God, I would I knew where such were to be found,
or such a priest as leads a holy life, blameless and
pure, Thinkest thou that in thy land of storms
abideth such ? For it were worth a pilgrimage
across the desert, barefoot and unclothed, to come
at such an one.'
126 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
And the maiden answered, ' Yea, our priests
are such—holy, righteous, and blameless. Oh that
I had not eaten of thy fruit I '
Then said the Vestal, ' Truth shines in thy face,
fair Hebrew maiden—guilelessness and honesty.
I have a secret that none here must know, but to
tlue am I led to speak thereof. For in a vision
over the altar of our goddess one appeared to me,
clad in thy Hebrew fashion, and he said, " Because
thou seekest truth and lovest truth, behold, it shall
be revealed unto thee ; " and, saying thus, the
figure seemed to vanish into the altar. And now
the sight of thee hath wakened in me a desire to
search for truth in thy country. Didst thou not
say that He who led thee here foretold that thou
shouldst see thy native land at no far-distant
date ? '
Then cried the maiden, as she sobbed aloud,
'Yea, so said the Voice. And my father's God, He
is the God of truth, abhorring whomsoever makes
a lie. Oh for the joy to see my home again ! '
Then said the Vestal, ' To thy land, then, go I ;
for this place reeks with rottenness from Diana's
altars downwards. Nay, those who hold their
place by virtue of their purity are only less de¬
graded than the beasts slain on the sacrificial slab.
O child, thy guileless face hath made my heart
THE VESTAL
127
ache with the burden of its wickedness. Thou
daughter of the Hebrews, surely I will guide thee
to thy land, and we together will go in search of
truth.'
Then were they glad, because the hearts of
both were turned towards the altars of the East.
And the Vestal kept the Hebrew maiden from all
converse with the others, so that when Apollo's
priests came there with messages to the Vestals she
threw some heavy drapery over the young girl's
head, saying it was the custom of her land never
to go unveiled, and never to behold the face of
man or speak in his presence. Thus she kept her
pure and sacred from the evil which reigned in
that licentious crowd of priests and Vestals. But
all the while she secretly planned to quit the place ;
and, after many dangerous and narrow escapes,
they at last landed in Palestine. And the Great
Teacher of God's truth was preaching by the Sea
of Galilee ; and these two women, with their rai¬
ment worn to rags, pale and pinched with hunger
and fatigue, pressed near—why, they knew not—
to hear the words He uttered. And suddenly the
Vestal shrank aside, and, covering up her face with
both her hands, burst into tears—the tears of joy
they were ; but she was weak with fasting, and
her sin weighed heavily upon her. Therefore the
Hebrew maiden tenderly asked her why she wept.
Then whispered she between her sobs, ''Tis He
128 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
I saw at Corinth—the Teacher who appeared in
Hebrew guise before the altar. Let us go hence
before He see us, for my heart is heavy, nigh to
breaking with the sense of shame He casts on me.
My sins—my sins are more than I can bear ! Cast
thou thy arms around me ; for methinks the journey
and the weight of misery within me have slain
me.'
So the Hebrew girl half carried and half led
her fainting sister from the crowd of Galileans,
and she bore her to a fountain which sparkled
from a little cleft of rock in an unfrequented place,
and there she laid her as one from whom the spirit
has departed. Then the Hebrew maiden wrung
her hands and wept, for very dear had their com¬
panionship made them to each other.
And presently a man stood beside the fountain
looking earnestly down at the women. And he
said to the Hebrew girl, ' Whence come ye ? '
And she answered, ' Even from Corinth. And
she who brought me out of slavery is dead. Oh,
would that I could go to her ! for she was all to
me—so dear, so gentle ! '
Then said the Lord, for it was Jesus who had
come hither, ' Thy friend but sleeps, and she shall
wake refreshed. Behold ! ' and, stretching out His
THE VESTAL
129
hand above her, she began to move, and presently
sat up and gazed in great amazement at the place
and at Him who stood beside her.
Then said He, ' Daughter, though thy sins are
many, thou lovedst truth so well that thou didst
forget that thou wert feeble and the way was long
and hard to come at.'
f
And she answered, ' Yea, sir. Yet having seen
Thee, and knowing not from whence thou art,
my foolish heart is like to break for joy. Canst
thou explain this mystery ? '
Then said He, ' Thy better self is not so strange
to me as thou dost think. If I should tell thee
that through Me cometh the light of God's own
truth to man, wouldst thou believe ? '
Then answered she, ' I am a sinner, and sin
clouds the vision, so that I cannot fully com¬
prehend the meaning of thy words. But that
thou art a heaven-sent teacher full well I know.
Thou bearest this assurance in thy speech, thy
features, and thy presence.'
Then said He, ' If I tell thee that thou sawest
Me at Dian's altar, in the high place of men's
hypocrisy, what wilt thou answer ? '
And she said, ' Thou art a spirit, and thine
K
I3Q LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
eyes behold our hidden vices. Yet are they not
too pure to gaze upon my sinfulness, knowing, as
thou must do, my hateful past ? '
And He answered, ' From thy soul is cast away
its stain ; from thy other lives the evil shall go
forth, and thou shalt be renewed, re-born to holi¬
ness.'
And as He spake the woman closed her eyes,
and, wrestling with some power in herself, fainted ;
and when the Hebrew maiden had again restored
her to consciousness, behold, they were alone. Then
she arose, and, looking round her, said, ' Not far
from here my people used to dwell. If, therefore,
thou wilt rest thee for awhile, I will go and search.
Perchance I yet may find some few who bear my
name.'
Then answered her companion, ' Go thou and
find thy people. He who spoke to me but now
hath suddenly become my people and my portion.
Truly he is a god come in disguise amongst this
race of thine. Hast thou ever heard that gods
came down from far Olympus to this people of dull
brains and clownish manners ? '
Then said the Hebrew maiden, ' Thy idols of
wood and stone are but the labour of men's hands,
not gods at all. There is a curse on every Jew
THÉ VESTAL
who boweth down to such. This teacher, whom he
is I know not, but his garments are fashioned like
a common carpenter's. My people were of better
rank in life, and sorted not with those of his
degree.'
Then said the Vestal, ' He and thou are not of
kin—in that thou saidest truly. Saw ye the gar¬
ments that he hallowed by his touch ? I tell you
that Apollo's self, robed in his jewelled vestments,
has not the grace and dignity, the true nobility of
mien, this village teacher has.'
Then said the Hebrew maiden, ' Thou, being
but a Gentile, dost not know the grace and
true nobility we chosen people of the Lord carry
amongst us. If one such simple peasant charm you
so, what will ye do when ye shall see our priests
and Levites in their sacrificial vestments ? Truly
the sight is wonderful ; and deeply have I longed
through all my days of bondage for the teaching
of the Rabbis and readings in the synagogue.'
Then said the Vestal, 'Never yet saw I a face
so godlike. If thy priests come of this building,
then truly have we lighted on the land loved of the
gods ; for in Corinth know I none to be compared
with him.'
Then cried the maiden, ' See, down yonder road
K 2
132 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
Cometh a Levita ! Is it not brave thus to be clad ;
yea, clad with piety and holiness ! See, the good
man is lifting up his hands to chide a kneeling
beggar.'
Then said the Vestal, ' I have touched the key¬
stone of his sanctity. I have seen beneath the
gilding. Verily he hath the outer grace, and bears
the folds of honour well enough, but such as he
serve in Apollo's temple and are counted holy ; but
I know them well.'
Then said the Hebrew maiden, ' Thou dost
blaspheme, seeing thou art a Gentile. The heathen
priests are vile, abhorrent, base deceivers, liars,
bowers to false gods ; but knowest thou not the
Levites are the heritage of God, the chosen tribe-
amongst the chosen race? 'Twere better that thy
tongue were bit in twain than rank our holy men
with heathen priests.'
Then said the Vestal, 'Go to thy people and
thy holy priests ; for me, the very air they breathe is
reeking with pollution. Thinkest thou I know not
the bearing of deceit, the fair parade of vestments,
and high respect of place ? Thinkest thou not that
passing through the towns from the sea-coast, full
forty miles away, I have not seen the contemptuous
glances that they threw on us, the hasty drawing-
in of flowing robes as I went by — I, the poor
THE VESTAL
133
Vestal of Dian's fane—nor heard the scornful words
and sneers which followed us? Truly these people
are more heathenish than those who bow the knee
at Dian's altars.'
Then cried the Hebrew maiden, ' Thou and I
must part. My people are God's chosen race, and
darest thou compare them to the dogs of heathen
lands ? '
Then said the Vestal, ' Truly thy fortune at my
people's hands was but an ill one ; therefore I quit
thee somewhat of thy railing speech ; but better
is it that we separate, for thou and I alike have
broken the tender cord which bound us to each
other.'
Therefore the Hebrew maiden gathered up her
portion of the burden of the spoils they had brought
from Dian's temple and departed. And the Vestal
also rose, and strained the veil she wore close
round her form, and hid her face and wept—wept
sorely, as one who hath seen her bosom-friend
smitten by death. And curiously she mixed the
vision of Diana with the teacher's face who taught
beside the sea at Galilee ; and help, the help of
strength, came down to her, so that she entered
into the village, and found a poor peasant's cottage,
where for a piece of gold they gave her where¬
withal to wash her feet, and bread to stay her
134 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
hunger ; and /tere she lodged, until the woman of
the house, attracted by her loneliness and gentle^
ness, spake kindly to her, yet secretly, for fear her
husband might remark thereon, and so forbid her,
for heathens were of ill-repute in Galilee. And
the fair Vestal asked one day whether the woman
knew where that great teacher bode who once had
taught the people by the sea.
Then answered she, ' He hath gone hence. Our
Rabbis love him not, for some of the people believe
he is Messiah and some a prophet. And verily
he doeth mighty works—healing the sickly, bring¬
ing the dead to life—and is withal so gentle to the
poor and hath such wisdom, that the cleverest men
cannot compete with him for knowledge, although
he had small learning in the schools, being only a
carpenter at Nazareth.'
Then said the Vestal, ' Canst thou not ask the
gossips where he stays ; for truly I am sick until
I hear his voice. My journey hath been over¬
much for the small strength I had, and I think
my hours on earth shall be but few. Good, gentle
Hebrew woman, whatsoever thou believest, the
Vestal of Diana hath the power to leave a bless
ing on thy threshold when she goes.'
And the woman, seeing that her husband was
from home, took her hand, kissed it, and wept ; for
signs of death were in the Vestal's face.
THE VESTAL
135
Then said she, ' I will go and ask about him.
Be thou at ease, and make thy mind content.'
And when the woman had departed, behold,
Jesus came to her, and she, being too weak to rise,
besought Him that He would once more repeat the
words that He had said the day she saw Him first.
Then answered He,' ' There is no need. The
light of truth is dawning in thy soul ; yea, it hath
made thee whole and purified thy life. Wouldst
thou return to earth for a brief space, or wouldst
thou die ? Behold, the powers of these things lie
in My hands.'
And she said, ' Lord, where dost Thou abide ?
For where thou dwellest, there would / be also.'
And He said, ' To-day on earth, to-morrow
in the borderland of Paradise, and thence again
through all the spheres to My own place.'
And she said, ' Hades we called it, and Olympus
was the mountain of the gods ; but truth was veiled
in Corinth.'
And He said, ' Yea, because these gods were
merely shadows of true godhead, not the actual
power. My Father is the One, Entire, Supreme
All-potent Ruler both of gods and men.'
136 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
And she said, ' Thou art as Thy Father ; yea,
I know Thou art the Great, Supreme, All-potent
God, yet whence such knowledge found its way to
me I cannot guess. But as Thou goest from earth
to Thy fair place amongst the shades, grant that
I may stand upon the threshold first, so as to
welcome Thee, my Lord, my God.'
And He said, ' So be it. Yet shalt thou wonder
as thou look'st on earth to see by what a course I
enter on the confines of that world.'
Then answered she, wearily, ' I am content, so
that I may see Thee.' And as she spake a faint-
ness seized on her, and she laid unconscious many
weeks, then died.
And therefore was it given her to see from a
higher place of vantage how the dear Lord fought
and conquered evil, how He wrestled for the mastery
over those powers of darkness, which by seeming
triumph lost their hold on man.
TEACHINGS.
To the sleeper say. The Lord appeareth at the
time ye think not, and with the sound of His thunders
will He awaken thee. With the voice of His power
will He make thee afraid. Thou shalt arouse thy-
THE VESTAL
137
self, and terror shall seize upon thee, for the armies
of God shall stand revealed to thee in the hour of
thy waking, and the hosts that thou hast trusted
in shall be far removed from thee. Thy boasted
courage shall forsake thee, and thou shalt moan as
a child that is deserted in a land of strangers.
Wherefore dost thou wilfully fall asleep, seeing the
light has begun to dawn ? Wherefore wilt thou
hide thine eyes from the great mysteries, and pro¬
claim to thy fellows that these things are mere
delusions ? Perverse is thy soul and easily led of
evil, easily gulled by the deceptions of the organs
of sense, but hard to be convinced of the higher
organs of sense which lie unused within thee, and
which appertained to thy better self, thy eternal
consciousness, thy God-begotten heritage of spirit.
Yet because thou shalt deny thy belief in these
things, thinkest thou that thou shalt alter thereby
the existence of them, or hinder God's revelation of
them in His own acceptable time ? Thinkest thou
to tie up His counsels in thy little bag of intelli¬
gence ? The ocean that He had gathered together
in the deep hollow of the globe is vast and over¬
powering to thy tiny comprehension. How much
more should the immeasurable grandeur of His
purpose in all these higher matters cause thee to be
humble and say, ' What know we ? We that are
cased in such a narrow body that a few feet of earth
can hide us away from our fellow-creatures, and
blot us from their memory. We who could never
138 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
have learned to think or reason except the Lord so
■designed it'
How shall the clay say to the potter, Where¬
fore hast thou formed me thus ? Or how can base
earth foresee or judge to what uses it is best
applied ?
The struggle between light and darkness has
already commenced ; the angels are in the dwellings
of the righteous ; and the men of Sodom clamour
loudly at the door of the tent ; for man's ways are
evil, and the evil within them urges them to their
destruction. Therefore upon them shall fall the
blackness of darkness—even blindness which cannot
be lifted. The light that they had shall be taken
away from them and added in its proportion to
that of those who have received the light, or inner
sight, so that the first may be last and the last first ;
and the mighty cast down from their seat, while
the meek are exalted.
Break forth into singing, ye valleys and humble
places of the earth ; for as your Lord was born
amongst the lowliest, and has been throned King
of kings. Lord of lords, the Ruler of the princes
of Light, the glorious Messenger of Perfect Rest,
so shall your inhabitants be also uplifted, and your
loved ones set over those which despised them.
He that is dead is freed from sin ; he that is
THE VESTAL
139
dead hath emancipation from further sin, seeing
that the evil spirits which dominate him add crime
to themselves but burden not his soul with aught
thereof ; for as a tool in the hand of a master work¬
man doth his will without being able to resist, so
also the souls freed from the body augment sins in
others who are yet in flesh, by means of their unity
with the originators of sin, but they are no more
responsible in their higher nature for this than a
tool fashioned by the maker for good honest labour
is responsible for its misuse when it falls into the
hands of a villain. He that is out of the body is
freed from further sin ; not freed from the conse-
•quences of past sin, for that has given him over to
the power of evil entities, but by this very means
his detestation of evil is aroused, and the soul saved
alive.
Thinkest thou God cannot care for His own,
that ye pray, ' Good Lord, deliver us,' and string
a list of seeming evils to the end of this petition ?
Surely the Father of the Household knoweth the
needs of His children, and vain repetitions of things
asked for by mere lip-subservience pleaseth Him
not.
What ye need and have not, that with humility
pray for. This do we in our place ; but the prayers
of the churches have lost the fine odour of honest
enthusiasm which made them acceptable at the
I40 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
throne of grace. No longer like the incense which
rose around the shekinah, and followed its guiding
light to the great Creator's footstool ; but like a
heavy earth-laden vapour, redolent of the fumes of
corruption, and dark with the darkness that seeketh
not light, it hangs like a pillar of cloud in the
atmosphere of earth, and never reaches heaven,
except the chosen few who see light direct its
pathway upward.
Who are ye who mock at visions and divina¬
tions? Even the priests and prophets of God—
those which should lead the people into the ways
of truth ? those who should enter the Holy of
Holies, and stand in the full blaze of the she¬
kinah? Priests after the order of Melchizedek^
priests after the order of Christ, servants of
servants, lowly, spiritually-minded, warring against
the powers of darkness in high places, letting fall
the sceptre of righteousness on the neck of the
fainting suppliant who approaches the glory of
God's presence—the glory, because not by the
rags of earthly weaving ye stand supreme, not by
the service of gold and jewels are ye made terrible,
but by the light of humility, the light of suffering,
the garments of poverty, ye are become strong in
the Lord and in the power of his Christ, whom ye
daily serve by abjuring the dignities of the world,
and reproving the worldly-minded, the sensual, the
self-indulgent, if so be, ye are true followers of
THE VESTAL
141
the Lord Jesus. And if not, then is the curse of
blindness descending upon you ; for ye, being men
of unclean lips, and dwelling amongst a people of
unclean lips, have dared to enter into the presence
of God without the cleansing fire of affliction
•touching, purifying, and burning up your mortal
grossness—for this can only come by the immediate
interposition of spiritual aid. Only by this means
can ye be made fit receptacles for the glory of the
Eternal Spirit, who works by us and in us, who lays
His commands on us that we draw near to our
fellow-creatures in the flesh, and by our finer per¬
ceptions guide them towards a better comprehen¬
sion of our common Eather's commandments and
purposes.
He who will not work with us shall be over¬
thrown, for, warring against the invisible, ye know
not whom ye fight ; but we know, for all things are
open and visible to us.
As a man beateth the wall in his delirium and
bruiseth himself, without hurt to any other—as he
that exhausteth himself with fighting the empty
air, or what, as far as he can discern, is empty air—
so do those who strive against us. For we come
laden with power ; but the arm of man, be he ever
so strong, cannot reach us, cannot stop us, cannot
control us.
To the weak we are strength, if pride and creeds
142 LIGHT THROUGH THE CRANNIES
of humanity blind him not to our power of helping"
him. To the strong we add other strength, the
quintessence of power, if he bows down his finite
nature to the infinite within him. He that hath
said that God is not near—who believeth not in
visions, neither in divinations—to him, as to the
stubborn Israelites in the wilderness, God shall
make Himself felt in the thunder, fire, and smoke ;
with no gentle voice will He reveal Himself, but
with a mighty voice and with a stretched-out arm.
Therefore the armies of the sky shall gather
together, and the vultures shall hover liké a black
cloud over the earth ; for he that hath ears and
will not hear, and he that hath eyes and will not
see, shall no longer mock the Giver of these senses
by neglecting them. And in the day of the Lord's
revelation, when all eyes and ears shall be opened,
these men shall cry to the mountains, ' Fall on us,'
and to the hills, ' Cover us ; ' for the Sun of
Righteousness ariseth in the terror of His glory,
and the shouts of His armies are like the rending
of the skies.
Then lift up your eyes and be glad, O ye
dwellers in the clefts of the rock, ye outcasts of
humanity, ye scorners of the good things of this
world ; for the hour of your exaltation approaches,
and more than conquerors are ye in Christ Jesus
our Lord 1
Received July 8 and 9, 1888.
PRINTED BY
8POTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
LONDON