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 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMEBIC A. 
 
LIGHT ON THE HIDDEN WAY 
 
LIGHT ON THE HIDDEN WAY 
 
 
 litl) an Introduction 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE 
 
 Heaven doth with us as we with torches do. 
 
 Not light them for themselves ; for if our virtues 
 
 Did not go forth of us, 't were all alike 
 
 As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touched 
 
 But to fine issues. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 BOSTON 
 TICKNOR AND COMPANY 
 
 1886 
 
.02 
 
 Copyright, 1886, 
 By Ticknor and Company. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 JHnifrfrsttD ^Bress : 
 John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 To the Sorrowing, Life-weary, and Sin-laden ; to all 
 
 who may find in these pages " that cup of 
 
 strength in some great agony" — 
 
 STfns little 3Soofc fs Enscrtbett, 
 
 with an earnest trust that, though it contain great 
 
 potency for pain, its deeper message is one of 
 
 ifispiration, strength, comfort, and that 
 
 Peace of God which passeth 
 
 all understanding. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The following remarkable story of a per- 
 sonal experience is written by a lady who is 
 herself firmly persuaded of its reality. I feel 
 bound to testify that the writer is regarded by 
 many intelligent and cultivated men and women, 
 who are her personal friends, as sincere, truth- 
 ful, and conscientious. I will add that she has 
 had no connection with so-called u Spiritualism," 
 and is unacquainted with an}' of the profes- 
 sional mediums. Her report, therefore, is an 
 independent one, and deserves nttention from 
 those engaged in investigating this occult Bor- 
 derland, where beings of the other world are 
 reported as coming into relations with the in- 
 habitants of our own. According to the view 
 of this writer, those who thus present them- 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 selves may often be in a low state, having 
 missed their way upward and needing advice 
 and encouragement from those still in the 
 body. The moral tone and influence of this 
 little book cannot but be useful even to those 
 who are not prepared either to accept or reject 
 its conclusions. 
 
 James Freeman Clarke. 
 January 1, 1886. 
 
Lo, at length the True Light! Light for 
 every man born into the world, kindling the 
 faces of them that receive it, till they become 
 the children of God ! 
 
 Cease, blinding glories of the heavens, which 
 none could see and live ! 
 
 Cease, gross darkness of the earth, where 
 the righteous put forth their hands and fear ! 
 
 The veil between is taken away, and the 
 mingling dayspring comes. 
 
 No longer is the dwelling of Eternal Life 
 too bright above, and the perishable world too 
 dark below. No more strangers and exiles, 
 but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the 
 household of God. For Thou hast made one 
 family, there and here, one living communion 
 of seen and unseen. We had said, " Thou 
 
xu EXORDIUM. 
 
 layest men fast in everlasting sleep ; " but lo, 
 they sleep into everlasting waking ! 
 
 Blessed be the Eternal, who giveth beauty 
 for ashes, and the garment of praise for the 
 spirit of heaviness ! 
 
LIGHT ON THE HIDDEN WAY. 
 
 My dear Friend, — You ask nie why I 
 do not tell you more of myself, and let you 
 keep near to my inner life. Perhaps your 
 question is the key to my long silences, 
 for I cannot write superficially to you, and 
 it is not easy to speak, much less to write, 
 out of the depths. 
 
 But since our separation is likely to be a 
 permanent one, I will try to live in the 
 spirit with you, and in the future to give 
 you at least some glimpses of my deeper 
 experiences. 
 
14 LIGHT ON 
 
 Again, you tell me that my letters " hint 
 of some rare gift," reminding you of strange 
 sayings in my childhood. Is it so ? Be- 
 ginning now to realize that I am in a way 
 unlike those about me, I speak less spon- 
 taneously, though not without an inward 
 protest. " Quench not the spirit " con- 
 tinually reproaches me when I am silent, 
 and yet would so gladly speak the word of 
 assurance and comfort. 
 
 It seems strange to me that those who 
 profess to believe in the immortal life, and 
 to treasure the Bible, where angels ascend- 
 ing and descending hold familiar converse 
 with men, and who though believing in the 
 transfiguration and resurrection of Jesus, 
 are so averse to the idea of a continued 
 communication between the two worlds, 
 and receive with coldness and unfaith the 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 15 
 
 assurance that the friend called dead stands 
 beside them most keenly alive. Thus I 
 have learned silence. But for how long? 
 I wait the growth of this wonder-seed. 
 Something whispers to me that it shall bear 
 precious fruit, from which may be distilled 
 drops of healing for the sin-sick and sor- 
 rowing. How grateful I am that I have 
 you to wait and watch with me ! 
 
 I have read of late many scientific books, 
 but meet with nothing that will in any 
 way account for what comes to me. Dr. 
 Carpenter's "unconscious cerebration" is 
 to my mind insufficient and unsatisfac- 
 tory; but among the spiritual gifts enumer- 
 ated by Saint Paul we find that of sight, 
 and his simple recognition of it as a 
 spiritual faculty seems both natural and 
 reasonable. 
 
16 LIGHT ON 
 
 You ask what I know of Spiritualism. 
 Nothing whatever from my own experi- 
 ence, never having seen a public medium or 
 read any Spiritualistic literature, as I have 
 wished my mind unbiassed by their views. 
 The little I have heard through friends is 
 distasteful to me. I am reluctant to be- 
 lieve that one can command the presence 
 of a number of unknown spirits, or that 
 such intercourse could be any gratifica- 
 tion to earnest souls. " The spirit bloweth 
 where it listeth ; " and these experiences 
 come to me or are withheld, "not as I 
 will." 
 
 That Spiritualism, in its purest and high- 
 est sense, is God's new dispensation to 
 mankind, I do believe; and though tares 
 are springing up with the wheat, a goodly 
 harvest will in time be realized for the 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 17 
 
 spiritual needs of the world. Are we not 
 ready for it ? Our best teaching is preg- 
 nant with this prophecy ; and the world of 
 thought, like the earth in these spring- 
 days, seems quivering with expectancy, 
 thrilled with the consciousness of a growth 
 which may burst into a flood of blossom 
 while we watch. 
 
 You know how busy my girlhood was. 
 My days continue to be filled to over- 
 flowing with practical duties, moments for 
 reading being snatched from the common 
 round of many cares. 
 
 I cannot think of this " open vision " as 
 in the least unnatural, it is so a part of 
 my daily life, — a glowing thread of light 
 interwoven with its sombre tones. Very 
 often, wiien with friends or strangers, I 
 see their dear ones with them, frequently 
 
18 LIGHT ON 
 
 those whom I have not known in this 
 life. For instance, this afternoon, while 
 sitting with a friend, I saw upon her 
 knee the little girl whom she has lost, 
 caressing her unconscious mother most 
 tenderly. 
 
 I spoke of the child, and of the comfort 
 in the thought that our dead are often with 
 us; but she, poor soul, shrank from this 
 idea. She would not like to feel that a dis- 
 embodied spirit was near her, it would give 
 her no pleasure, but make her nervous. 
 She rather clung to the belief in a future 
 resurrection day ; but if it were true that 
 death is only the portal to the higher life, 
 even then she could not believe the dead 
 were near the earth, but in that happy 
 land, far, far away. And so I feel as 
 if walking with those born blind, who 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 19 
 
 cannot comprehend the beauty of sunshine 
 and sweet faces. 
 
 And yet I know that others have this 
 gift, although it would seem to be rare. 
 My father had it in a less degree, and 
 my brother sees, but does not hear. 
 We frequently see the same spirit simul- 
 taneously. 
 
 I have not answered your question, 
 " How do they look to you ? Like ghostly 
 shadows ? " Not at all ; and yet their 
 conditions are so various, one might as 
 easily describe in one term what flowers 
 with their infinite variety of color and text- 
 ure look like. Some appear as if still in the 
 flesh, so that I have sometimes been puzzled ; 
 others appear to have become deformed, or 
 almost animal ; and then there are those 
 with shining garments and an atmosphere 
 
20 LIGHT ON 
 
 that suggests cathedral music and sunshine 
 streaming through stained glass. I usually 
 see the light or atmosphere first, — some- 
 times faint or cloudy, and occasionally over- 
 poweringly bright and beautiful. 
 
 Clothes ■? Yes. Some seem still to cling 
 to the latest fashions, while the more spir- 
 itual are clad in flowing robes of light of 
 various hues and degrees of purity. 
 
 You know that this gift dates back to my 
 earliest recollections. My mother left me 
 when a baby, and yet I have always known 
 her face. I remember, once, when quite a 
 little child, following her, as I thought ; and 
 when she disappeared, not understanding, 
 I ran, thinking to overtake her, till quite 
 exhausted. I thought she lived in the 
 moon, and I always felt safe and happy 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 21 
 
 in the moonlight, because, I understand 
 now, her spiritual atmosphere is like moon- 
 light. I often wake to find her sitting 
 by my bedside, and when I am in pain 
 or trouble she is much with me. Once 
 she reproved me for my mood, and bade 
 me read a poem, telling me what book to 
 find it in, the page and author. I had 
 never seen or heard of it ; but it was there, 
 just what I needed. 
 
 I feel as if my father's eyes were always 
 upon me. When I was about ten years old 
 I had set my room in order one Saturday 
 morning, and being in haste to get out, had 
 swept around the rug, and dusted in like 
 manner. As I started to go, I saw my 
 father standing on the rug, looking down 
 on it intently. Raising his solemn eyes to 
 mine, he told me to lift one end of it. 
 
22 LIGHT ON 
 
 I have never forgotten my mortification, 
 or his charge to remember that no act or 
 thought is hidden, and that every slighted 
 duty is a sin against the ideal life. 
 
 It was years before it occurred to me that 
 every one had not this same vision. Ghost- 
 stories did not affect my thought of heav- 
 enly any more than of earthly friends. In- 
 deed I did not connect the idea with them, 
 but supposed it referred to the rising and 
 reanimation of the dead body, — which ap- 
 peared to me as reasonable as to hear that 
 a dress had come out of a trunk and gone 
 about to frighten people. 
 
 I just remember taking tea at a neighbor's, 
 and when I said good-night, being asked if 
 I was afraid to go home alone. Confident 
 that I was not, I started ; but finding it 
 blustering, dark, and lonely, I soon became 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY, 23 
 
 timid and uncertain of my way. Presently 
 I discovered a little light beside me, and 
 then, in the light, the baby who had gone 
 the year before. He kept just before me 
 till I opened the front door, and then, with 
 the sweetest smile, was gone. 
 
 At the funeral of one I loved, I saw him 
 beside his mother and sisters, and wondered 
 that their grief seemed to prevent them 
 from seeing him. When the casket was 
 laid away, the vault seemed full of light 
 and flowers. 
 
 I have no recollection of ever feeling 
 fear, and surprise came as the knowledge 
 gradually dawned upon me that my sight 
 was something unusual. . . . 
 
 Some time since, I was passing a church 
 with a friend as the members were as- 
 sembling for the funeral of their pastor. 
 
24 LIGHT ON 
 
 Following an impulse, we too went in. 
 Presently the cortege arrived, the good 
 rector himself preceding the mourners in 
 their slow and solemn tread through the 
 aisle and remaining at the head of the cas- 
 ket during the service. We followed the 
 congregation into the churchyard, to find 
 the reverend gentleman again, bending pa- 
 thetically over his sobbing widow beside his 
 own grave. As there had been a double 
 congregation in the church, so at the grave 
 a chorus of heavenly voices swelled the 
 parting hymn into what seemed a song of 
 rejoicing and welcome to the new-comer, 
 while voices and faces gradually disap- 
 peared in the glory of light. 
 
 I have a great love for churches, and sel- 
 dom find one empty. When visiting in 
 R , I went into an old church ; and while 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 25 
 
 examining a tablet, saw for a moment the 
 form of a young girl beside it. A few days 
 later, while calling upon a lady with whom 
 I was slightly acquainted, I noticed hanging 
 over the piano a colored photograph, which 
 I recognized unmistakably as a picture of 
 the face I had seen in the church. This 
 proved to be a likeness of the lady's daugh- 
 ter, and a near relative also of the friend 
 who had called my attention to the tablet. 
 
 One evening I attended service in a little 
 church belonging to a sect almost unknown 
 and quite unpopular here. The congrega- 
 tion was small, but there was more spirit 
 and earnestness in their worship than is 
 often seen in larger assemblies. During 
 the prayer three figures appeared below the 
 arched ceiling bending over the worship- 
 pers, — one a woman, and two suggested 
 
26 LIGHT ON 
 
 old pictures of the Patriarchs. Presently 
 another and more radiant form joined 
 them, and pausing, looked up in an ex- 
 pectant attitude. The white light grew 
 more and more brilliant, until a shining 
 one in an intensity of light, with long, 
 wonderful wings, 1 was just visible within 
 it, when the expectant figure raised his 
 hand, as if to stay the dazzling glory. The 
 tableau, as it were, remained thus, the 
 ineffable light streaming over the hushed 
 worshippers until the close of the prayer. 
 
 Speaking of churches, do you never feel 
 there is something more than the stillness 
 and association of the place that makes it 
 to many of us " none other than the house 
 of God and the gate of heaven?" I believe 
 
 1 I have seldom seen wings, but have been told that 
 they are symbolic of a very high degree of spirituality. 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 27 
 
 I could write a volume on what I have 
 seen and heard in them. Sometimes the 
 altar is beautifully decked with flowers 
 and the air filled with exquisite music. I 
 have been almost spell-bound by the deep 
 volume of sound during the singing of a 
 congregational hymn when only a hand- 
 ful of rainy-day saints were present in 
 the pews. 
 
 Have I told you of the white light, so 
 wonderful in its intensity ? Occasionally 
 it fills the church, but more frequently 
 descends upon individuals. Indeed, the 
 seeking, prayerful soul is recognized in 
 this way, though personally unknown to 
 me. This ineffable light always comes 
 with more or less intensity in response 
 to sincere prayer, and I doubt not is the 
 means by which comfort and strength are 
 
28 LIGHT ON 
 
 borne in upon the soul. Light ! how 
 freighted with meaning is that word, — 
 purifying, strengthening, quickening, illu- 
 minating ! 
 
 Some day I think we shall care more for 
 symbols, using them rationally for their 
 spiritual signification, without superstition. 
 I should be glad to see the ever-burning 
 lamp swung in our churches and in every 
 home, — symbol of the aspiring flame of 
 the soul and the light which continually 
 streams from the Father, " who covereth 
 himself with light as with a garment." 
 
 Is the repeated dwelling by sacred 
 writers upon the white light merely imag- 
 ination and coincidence ? " The white 
 light proceeding from the great white 
 throne," the New Jerusalem, which " has 
 no need of the sun, neither of the moon, 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 29 
 
 for the glory of God does lighten it," and 
 in the transfiguration, the garments " white 
 as no fuller on earth could white them," 
 for " as he prayed, the fashion of his coun- 
 tenance was altered, and his raiment was 
 white and glistering." " And behold, there 
 talked with him two men, which were 
 Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory." 
 Was it indeed only a sunstroke, that light 
 from heaven which blinded Paul and smote 
 him to the earth as he journeyed toward 
 Damascus, so searching his conscience that 
 it revolutionized the whole tenor of his 
 work and life ? 
 
 Your question, " How do they speak to 
 you ? Give me an idea of your intercourse 
 with them," is strangely difficult to answer. 
 
30 LIGHT ON 
 
 In the first place, let me say that I am 
 convinced this gift is a spiritual faculty, 
 entirely independent of the physical senses ; 
 for darkness or sunlight, the roar of the 
 city streets or the stillness of my chamber, 
 are alike immaterial conditions. Nor is it 
 only those who have laid aside the earthly 
 tabernacle that are thus unveiled to my 
 sight. Frequently, where I have felt in- 
 difference, even prejudice, I have been 
 touched and rebuked by the unexpected 
 loveliness of the inner man or woman, and 
 as often shocked to find those I should like 
 to respect, dark and repulsive. 
 
 The impossibility of imparting to another 
 the quickening glow we receive from finer 
 souls, will prevent my giving you more 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 31 
 
 than a very imperfect rendering of the 
 teachings I have received. But this is the 
 substance of a conversation held with my 
 father this evening. I had just left the 
 piano, after playing " Coronation," and was 
 enjoying the sunset from the bay-window, 
 feeling unusually bright and peaceful. 
 Standing beside me, he said : " You are 
 happy to-night, because the day has been 
 calm and restful ; nothing has occurred to 
 disturb its peace. You have not been good, 
 any more than you were in your sleep last 
 night ; you have rested. Should to-morrow 
 be a day of trial, shall I find you at evening 
 conquered, or conqueror ? Will you have 
 kept this peace in your heart undisturbed ? 
 Will you have listened to harshness and 
 injustice in silence and without anger, re- 
 turning a kind answer ? Will you have 
 
32 LIGHT ON 
 
 been patient and cheerful in sacrificing 
 yourself to others, remembering their faults 
 tenderly, your own seriously ? Will you 
 have kept your thoughts above littleness 
 and your soul open to the inflowing spirit ? 
 Should you succeed in doing this, you will 
 feel a far deeper peace than this mere rest 
 from spiritual labor." 
 
 " I know," I replied, " but I could not 
 do all that if my life depended on it." 
 
 " Your life does depend on it ; your whole 
 future life depends on just that, — whether 
 or not you slay the dragon self. It will 
 be a long struggle, but you can and must do 
 it, or else fail utterly in your life work." 
 
 " What is my life work ? " I asked. 
 
 " It is first to conquer yourself ; then to 
 develop and use wisely your physical, intel- 
 lectual, and spiritual being. Do this, and 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 33 
 
 you will find your sphere of influence wid- 
 ening, your five talents become ten. You 
 have enough to do now, rather more than 
 you have yet been equal to, in your own 
 heart and home. Recognizing your pain 
 and loneliness, I come, to help you if I can, 
 and keep you from discouragement and fail- 
 ure ; to inspire you to rise above it all and 
 save you from bitterness and unsanctified 
 sorrow. We feel the deepest sympathy with 
 you. It is a dreary life, hedged in with 
 briers and thorns. Yes, dear, but look up. 
 The sky is as blue, the stars shine as 
 brightly and solemnly for you, as for those 
 upon the sunny slopes of happiness. Hold 
 your dull life up to the light and see how it 
 will be transfigured. Life is not meant to 
 be a path of ease, but steep and rugged; 
 and it is only through self-denial, discour- 
 
34 LIGHT ON 
 
 agement, discipline, and trial that you may 
 attain the higher life. 
 
 " Believe me, you can no more develop 
 the spiritual powers without use and exer- 
 cise than you can the physical. There is no 
 virtue in being patient, if your patience is 
 never tried ; cheerful, if you are not tempted 
 to be gloomy. It is the little words you 
 speak, the little thought you think, the 
 little thing you do or leave undone, the 
 little moments you waste or use wisely, 
 the little temptations which you yield to or 
 overcome, — the little things of every day 
 that are making or marring your future 
 life. 
 
 u Of course you will fail sometimes ; but 
 see to it that you rise from every fall with 
 a renewed spirit and stronger will, deter- 
 mined to win a blessing from every foe. 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 35 
 
 Be peaceful and joyous ; consecrate the 
 simplest duties of every day ; fill your life 
 with earnest endeavor and perfect trust : 
 and no matter how narrow and painful it 
 may seem to you, when it is ended you 
 will look back with wonder at the influence 
 for good your quiet example and cheerful 
 spirit have been, and realize also that you 
 have won no small victory ; while in fail- 
 ing to reach your possibilities you injure 
 others. Remember there is no legacy like 
 the example of a holy life." 
 
 While busy in my room, to-night, there 
 came to me a venerable man, a beautiful 
 presence. He greeted me and said : — 
 
 " You are rarely gifted. You hold a solemn 
 trust, a light that should glorify your life. Do 
 
36 LIGHT ON 
 
 you value it as you should ? Do you realize 
 what failure means here, — remorse, regret, 
 and sorrow for lost opportunities ; words 
 and acts your agony cannot recall ; neg- 
 lect too late to repair ? So subtle is the far- 
 reaching influence of a life, that not only 
 must you meet your own failure and its 
 influence upon those about you, but often, 
 for generations, face the effect of the good 
 or evil you did or left undone. This is 
 judgment. 
 
 " There are some poor souls who go 
 through life without learning a conscious 
 lesson. Inherited tendencies, a lack of 
 moral training, cruel circumstances, and all 
 manner of chilling influences would seem to 
 have utterly blasted their spiritual natures. 
 Yet the germ of good is there, dormant in 
 its dull husk, and here, shall be quickened 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 37 
 
 into life. You know there are some seeds 
 that will not germinate in the cold, open 
 ground of northern latitudes, and that it is 
 only in a more genial atmosphere that they 
 can be made to unfold. Sometimes it hap- 
 pens so with this germ soul ; and here, in 
 the Divine Nursery, not a seed is lost, but 
 all wake to new possibilities. 
 
 " The first thrill of life may be a terrible 
 agony of remorse, — the painful bursting of 
 the hull. Then, for the first time, perhaps, 
 comes to it a consciousness of what it is 
 and what it might have been. A reaction 
 from the belief in a literal hell has given 
 many the very comfortable idea, that no 
 matter how selfishly and unworthily they 
 may have lived, at death their sins will be 
 blotted out, — that then they will begin to 
 live better lives and enter into joy and 
 
38 LIGHT ON 
 
 peace. Nothing could be farther from the 
 truth. If a child play with matches and 
 is burned, the loving mother will nurse 
 him tenderly and teach him that his suffer- 
 ing is the consequence of his disobedience. 
 Do all she can to soothe and heal, the lesson 
 must be learned. 
 
 " Thus, if the children of the all-wise, all- 
 loving Parent disobey his laws, the suffering 
 must follow. You will enter this life just 
 what you make yourself. If you allow your 
 spirit to be cramped, dwarfed, and sin- 
 stained, you will find yourself crippled, 
 weak, and impure ; unfit for the companion- 
 ship of the good, and unable to enjoy the 
 spiritual life until you have atoned by long 
 struggle. If you persistently resist tempta- 
 tion and hurtful shadows, and keep your 
 soul receptive to all purifying, inspiring 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 39 
 
 influences, your fitness to receive them will 
 increase, and you will enter here prepared 
 for higher development and purer joys." 
 
 Talking with my father this morning. I 
 asked him about Spiritualism. He said : 
 
 " The so-called Spiritualist has no con- 
 ception of pure spirituality. Instead of 
 spiritualizing the present, he would materi- 
 alize the future, placing it upon his level in- 
 stead of reverently striving to rise to ours. 
 There is also a loss of the sense of the 
 Divine Presence — the highest and purest 
 communion. He is apt to be less conscien- 
 tious than those who feel less assurance, 
 and utterly fails to realize the responsibility 
 of life ; while each day brings him nearer 
 its close, without realizing how it will be 
 
40 LIGHT ON 
 
 with him when all that is material has 
 vanished. Be sure that he will stand on 
 the threshold of Eternity shivering, for 
 he will have failed to weave his spiritual 
 garment. 
 
 " The true Spiritualist is one whose life 
 is sanctified by the Spirit, — a perpetual 
 consecration. You have Jesus for your 
 Ideal. He said, ' I sanctify myself,' so per- 
 fect was his consecration. After his death, 
 when his disciples were assembled at the 
 familiar meal, so fraught with tender as- 
 sociations, he appeared in their midst, — 
 not to hold a seance, to lift the table, or tell 
 them of the life to come, but simply to im- 
 press his teachings upon them and fill their 
 hearts with peace ; to breathe upon them 
 his holy spirit and charge them to be faith- 
 ful to the light they had received. Nor 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 41 
 
 do you find them waiting in the dark for 
 him to come again, but working, through 
 trial and persecution, to advance the com- 
 ing of his kingdom. This is the only true 
 Spiritualism." 
 
 Speaking of a friend to her father, he 
 said : " I regret her want of health, but she 
 must strive to overcome it, so far as lies in 
 her power, by the might of the spirit. Bet- 
 ter spend herself in work than rust away. 
 Remember, it is claimed that a knowledge 
 of the future life tends to the neglect of 
 daily duties. Let every detail of your work 
 be done as reverently and conscientiously 
 as if arranging the tiny stones in a delicate 
 mosaic, — a part of the Master's temple." 
 
 "But her life is so distasteful," I pleaded. 
 
42 LIGHT ON 
 
 " If her life is distasteful to her, it is a 
 sin that she allows it to be so, for since it 
 is the work now given her, she should do 
 it with the utmost earnestness and conse- 
 cration. An example that will teach her 
 children the holiness of labor and the sin- 
 fulness of wasted time will be the most 
 precious legacy she can leave them. A 
 faith that can make weary, struggling souls 
 faithful in the least of things, that con- 
 secrates the whole of life ; a faith lived 
 rather than spoken, filling the soul with 
 ' joy and peace in believing,' — must win 
 the world. If our presence and sympathy 
 make you live better lives and hold you up 
 to higher spiritual aims, you need no words 
 to prove it. That is the only test you 
 require." 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 43 
 
 Thank you for your dear letter of sym- 
 pathy. If I feel my arms so empty and 
 my heart and home so desolate, how must 
 it be with those who sit in darkness ! 
 
 As the little spirit breathed softly away, 
 a strange calm came over me. I seemed 
 blinded by the light and sense of awe and 
 mystery. I saw and felt my mother take 
 the little fellow from my arms ; and startled 
 to a sudden sense of resistance, found that 
 I held only the empty shell, " out of which 
 the pearl had gone." 
 
 The day passed without a glimmer from 
 beyond ; but in the sleepless night, so pain- 
 fully free from care, my father stood by 
 my bedside holding my darling in his 
 arms. It was only for a moment; but 
 I was comforted. We laid the little 
 casket away in a driving northeast storm. 
 
44 LIGHT ON 
 
 Oh, how it moaned and beat upon my 
 heart ! 
 
 I tried to live my faith, and accept my 
 loneliness as his gain, and trust that in 
 God's providence it shall be mine also. 
 
 A friend brought me this exquisite little 
 poem by Mrs. Lowell, which I copy for 
 you, as you may not have seen it. It has 
 comforted me to repeat it, especially, as the 
 closing verses recall the night I saw my 
 father holding my little lamb. 
 
 TO A FRIEND AFTER THE LOSS OF A 
 CHILD. 
 
 Mrs. James Russell Lowell. 
 
 When on my ear your loss was knelled, 
 
 And tender sympathy upburst, 
 A little spring from memory welled 
 
 Which once had quenched my hitter thirst ; 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 45 
 
 And I was fain to bear to you 
 
 A portion of its niild relief, 
 That it might be as cooling dew 
 
 To steal some fever from your grie£ 
 
 After our child's untroubled breath 
 
 Up to the Father took its way, 
 And on our home the shade of death 
 
 Like a long twilight haunting lay, 
 
 And friends came round with us to weep 
 
 The little spirit's swift remove, — 
 This story of the Alpine sheep 
 
 Was told to us by one we love. 
 
 They, in the valley's sheltering care, 
 Soon crop their meadow's tender prime ; 
 
 And when the sod grows brown and bare, 
 The shepherd strives to make them climb 
 
 To any shelves of pasture green 
 That hang along the mountain side, 
 
 Where grass and flowers together lean, 
 
 And down through mists the sunbeams ^lide. 
 
46 LIGHT ON 
 
 But nought can lure the timid things 
 The steep and rugged path to try, 
 
 Though sweet the shepherd call and sing, 
 And seared below the pastures lie, — 
 
 Till in his arms their lambs he takes, 
 Along the dizzy verge to go ; 
 
 When, heedless of the rifts and breaks, 
 They follow on o'er rock and snow. 
 
 And in those pastures lifted fair, 
 More dewy soft than lowland mead, 
 
 The shepherd drops his tender care, 
 And sheep and lambs together feed. 
 
 This parable, by Nature breathed, 
 Blew on me as the south wind free 
 
 O'er frozen brooks that float unsheathed 
 From icy thraldom to the sea. 
 
 A blissful vision through the night 
 Would all my happy senses sway, 
 
 Of the Good Shepherd on the height, 
 Or climbing up the starry way, 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 47 
 
 Holding our little lamb asleep, 
 
 And, like the burden of the sea, 
 Sounding that voice along the deep, 
 
 Saying, " Arise, and follow me ! " 
 
 Since that last vision I have seemed to 
 be left in darkness. Why, I cannot say. 
 Possibly my own intensity of feeling is the 
 barrier, or it may be a needed discipline. 
 And yet, how much more comfort and 
 assurance have I, than others who are 
 suffering the same heartache ? I feel 
 doubly bereft ; for not only has the child 
 gone, but the gates through which he 
 entered seem to have closed upon him. 
 There is a reason for it, though I may not 
 understand, and I will be patient. It may 
 be my soul's winter, and the spring will 
 come again with re-awakened blossoms. 
 
48 LIGHT ON 
 
 You ask if my faith has made my sorrow 
 easier to bear. Yes, it must be so ; be- 
 cause I know that it is well with the child. 
 
 " In that great cloister's stillness and seclusion, 
 By guardian angels led, 
 Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution, 
 He lives whom we call dead." 
 
 But though I believe this, sometimes I 
 feel that could we only have known how to 
 keep him he might have been a helper in 
 the world's work. The thought so beauti- 
 fully expressed in the following lines by 
 Julia C. R. Dorr makes me at times 
 unreconciled. 
 
 " Thy brothers, they are mortal, they must tread 
 Oft times in rough, hard ways, with bleeding feet; 
 Must fight with dragons, must bewail their dead, 
 And fierce Apollyon face to face must meet. 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 49 
 
 Was God, then, kinder unto thee than them, 
 thou whose little life was but a span ? 
 
 Ah, think it not ! In all his diadem 
 
 No star shines brighter than the kingly man 
 
 Who nobly earns whatever crown he wears, 
 Who grandly conquers, or as grandly dies, 
 
 And the white banner of his manhood bears 
 Through all the years uplifted to the skies ! 
 
 What lofty paeans shall the victor greet ! 
 
 What crown resplendent for his brow be fit ! 
 child, if earthly life be bitter-sweet, 
 
 Hast thou not something missed in missing it ? " 
 
 That passive resignation which accepts 
 everything as the will of God is no 
 longer possible to me; the question con- 
 tinually arises, as to how much misery is 
 God's will, and how much the consequence 
 of our ignorance and blindness. For 
 instance, when loved members of a family 
 
 die from the neglect of common sanitary 
 4 
 
50 LIGHT OAT 
 
 measures, does not the destroyer come into 
 our homes as the penalty of broken laws, 
 whether broken through wilful blindness 
 or ignorance ? and is it not irreverent to say 
 it is God's will that we suffer ? When ship 
 or railroad train, freighted with precious 
 lives, is swept away through the careless- 
 ness of officials, or may be the incompe- 
 tence of just one man, is it providential? 
 or are not these things allowed rather be- 
 cause God's laws are immutable, and we 
 only learn to adjust ourselves to them by 
 these solemn lessons ? 
 
 It does seem hard that the innocent 
 should suffer. In this sense w T e are surely 
 members one of another, — if one member 
 suffer, all members suffer with it ; but as 
 humanity learns the Divine lesson of in- 
 dividual responsibility, will not these laws, 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 51 
 
 at first sight so cruel, come to be recog- 
 nized as wise and beneficent, because fixed 
 and unchangeable ? 
 
 One spar I hold fast to on this dark sea 
 of questioning, — a faith, growing out of 
 every day's experience, as well as by tracing 
 the ways of the Spirit in history, in an over- 
 ruling Providence which evolves good out of 
 evil, light from darkness, life out of death, 
 and makes " the fairest flowers spring from 
 old dead decay." Longing and questioning 
 will arise ; but in my best moods I feel that 
 if the child went through some ignorance of 
 mine, even then, that heavenly life is full 
 of compensation to him, and through the 
 discipline of sorrow, loneliness, yes, even 
 doubt, may come to me a blessed spiritual 
 growth, otherwise impossible. 
 
 I have seen and heard very little the past 
 
52 LIGHT ON 
 
 months, just enough to know they are still 
 about me. Perhaps the waters of my soul 
 are too ruffled to reflect my heavenly lights. 
 The other day, I had this interesting ex- 
 perience. Sitting in the sunshine with my 
 book, the child of a friend stood beside me. 
 He often visits me, though I never saw him 
 in this life. We spoke of his mother and my 
 baby ; and stroking his lovely hair, T said, 
 u I wish I could send your mamma a curl ! " 
 So seized was I with the idea that, rising, 
 I went to my work-table for a pair of scis- 
 sors, and coming back to the child, selected 
 a curl to cut. As the scissors touched the 
 hair, he dropped his eyes with such an 
 amused, quizzical smile, and laughed out- 
 right at my look of dismay that the curl 
 did not come. " Did you really think you 
 could cut it ? " he asked. 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 53 
 
 [A number of the succeeding letters have 
 been omitted.] 
 
 I have been, and am still, groping through 
 great doubt and gloom. How will it end ? 
 Shall I find my way out with a stronger 
 faith, or are all my old stays giving way 
 under me ? I doubt everything now. Even 
 the sunshine seems changed, the joy to have 
 gone out of everything. All my life I have 
 accepted things as they came to me, and 
 formed through reading and experience 
 certain opinions ; but now have come to the 
 time when my house is shaken to its foun- 
 dations by the storms and floods that will 
 assail us, if we think. I only know that I 
 want truth at any cost, and all I have held 
 most precious must go, if not built upon " a 
 foundation that standeth sure." You ask 
 
54 LIGHT ON 
 
 if I have been reading Herbert Spencer and 
 the " Index." Yes, and a good deal be- 
 sides ; for I believe that not knowledge, but 
 a little knowledge, is a dangerous thing. 
 
 This evening I was sitting on the piazza, 
 watching the close of a perfect April day. 
 Early there had been a cloudless sky and 
 calm, still waters, changing to wild, black 
 squalls of rain and wind, with bursts of glad- 
 some sunlight in between ; and now all 
 clouds had fled, and the sun was setting as 
 peacefully as it had risen, shedding its rosy 
 hue over the placid river. Restless and 
 gloomy, the peace of the hour seemed 
 almost a mockery ; for I was far more in 
 sympathy with the dull sky and stormy 
 waters. 
 
 A hand was laid on my shoulder ; and 
 turning my head, I saw my father. He 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 55 
 
 did not speak for some time, but at length 
 said : — 
 
 " Do you know it is not necessary to die 
 to descend into hell and to feel its despair 
 and misery ? To look at life and the future 
 as you do, is to descend step by step into 
 torment. To use your reason is right and 
 necessary ; but you are now unreasonable, 
 and rejecting the light. I warn you that 
 if you persist in shutting it out, you will 
 lose it. 
 
 " You are aware of the great diversity 
 of gifts ; that to some have been given ten 
 talents, while others have received but one. 
 Will you dare decide how much value yours 
 may be to the Master, and bury it in the 
 ground ? This moment you are doubting 
 if I am really here, or whether there is 
 something the matter with your brain. 
 
56 LIGHT ON 
 
 You see and hear me, you are conscious of 
 the pressure of my hand. Can you not un- 
 derstand that all are not equally gifted ? 
 that some gifts are exceptional ? If you 
 possess this in an unusual degree, is not 
 that all the more reason for valuing it ? 
 You have no idea how it may develop, 
 under the influence of a firm conviction 
 and sunny faith, to be of blessed strength 
 and comfort to many." 
 
 Your efforts to cheer me are very kind. 
 I am not gloomy from any physical cause, 
 and a change of scene would not divert me. 
 One cannot run away from oneself. 
 
 Still the same questioning ? Yes ; and is 
 it not strange, if this spiritual intercourse 
 is an hallucination, that I find it so 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 57 
 
 difficult to accept it ? and also that when 
 my doubt is the gravest, 1 cannot separate 
 my thought of the future from what I 
 know of it through these experiences ? 
 Still, that may be a part of the delusion ; 
 just as we can think out both sides of an 
 argument and connect with one idea all we 
 have associated with it. 
 
 You say you do not see why, in giving 
 this up, I should lose faith in every- 
 thing. Nor do I, except that the entire 
 experience of my life seems so intimately 
 connected with it. I think, in those half 
 unconscious depths of the soul, I still be- 
 lieve in God and his providential guidance, 
 and in the reality of that other world and 
 all I have seen and heard ; and yet the sur- 
 face waters are so disturbed I can no longer 
 think of it without pain, while worship has 
 
58 LIGHT ON 
 
 long since been impossible to me. The 
 universe seems like avast machine, — iron, 
 pitiless, — and we, grinding through, our 
 existence, the victims of the machine ; our 
 affections the oil that keeps us from self- 
 destruction. With all our boasted knowl- 
 edge, we really know so little of the laws 
 that control the blending of matter and 
 spirit that it seems hopeless to satisfy the 
 reason. And what is intuition, but perhaps 
 a mild form of my disease ? My deepest 
 pain is in the thought that I have awakened 
 a false hope in those who have loved and 
 trusted me. They are aware of all my 
 misgivings; yet it is impossible for me to 
 shake their faith. Fortunately they are 
 few in number, for it has been too sacred 
 and intimate a part of my life to be spoken, 
 except to those very near me. Poor dear 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY, 59 
 
 hearts ! When I thought to give them 
 bread, did I give them a stone ? Your 
 sympathy and interest are most grateful 
 to me. When I catch a gleam of light, you 
 shall share it. 
 
 My dear father, if he be a fact, is most 
 patient with me. My imperfect notes of 
 his talks with me can give you little idea 
 of the force of his spoken words, or the 
 impressiveness of his manner. He greeted 
 me this afternoon in this wise : — 
 
 " So you are still in the fog, dear. Per- 
 haps I can let in a ray of sunshine. "We 
 will suppose that I am a myth, and if there 
 be a future life, that it is infinitely distant, 
 where the redeemed, dead to all love and 
 longing, all disinterested devotion, are 
 
60 LIGHT ON 
 
 content to sing eternal hallels, unmindful 
 of those who have been their joy and care. 
 You know you cannot believe in such a 
 heaven as this, that it is inconsistent with 
 the higher conceptions of God and prog- 
 ress. Then why not accept the one which 
 appeals to your reason and conscience ? 
 Or if your present life is all, if its high 
 aims and aspirations are merely the fra- 
 grance of a passing flower, what, then, 
 will it matter that you have had this 
 comfort and cheer? 
 
 " No, of course you do not wish to be 
 a victim to a self-delusion through some 
 reaction of your own brain ; but you are 
 no more able to satisfy yourself of this 
 than of the reality of your spiritual per- 
 ception. ' Spiritual things are spiritually 
 discerned,' and can never be demonstrated 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 61 
 
 to your satisfaction except through an act 
 of faith. For months you have lived with- 
 out faith, persistently rejecting a natural, 
 useful faculty. Have you been happier ? 
 Have you been inspired with a greater 
 earnestness and enthusiasm ? Or has 
 your soul been bound to a treadmill, — the 
 angel within you grown dull and sad ? 
 
 " I think you must decide which is the 
 reasonable, rational, and most reverent 
 faith, and having decided, hold to it; for 
 you surely cannot think that you will not 
 be held accountable for the way you use 
 this gift, which, accepted as a sacred trust, 
 may prove a source of strength and comfort 
 to many." 
 
 Touched, but not convinced, as he paused, 
 I asked : " Tell me where and how you live, 
 and what your homes are like ? Could 
 
62 LIGHT ON 
 
 I understand the laws and conditions of 
 your life and growth, it might be easier 
 to believe." 
 
 With a tender, half-amused smile, he 
 answered : " If the little children learn- 
 ing their letters in the primary school 
 should ask you to explain to them geom- 
 etry, astronomy, and physiology, or even 
 ask, as the busy little heads often do, 
 where the babies come from, you could 
 no more make them understand what love 
 and motherhood mean than you could 
 teach them calculus. So you could only 
 tell them to be patient and industrious, 
 to learn thoroughly each day's lessons, 
 to be pure, unselfish, and good, and when 
 they are old enough — that is, when their 
 minds have grown to it — they will under- 
 stand it all. And so I say to you, my 
 
THE HIDDEN WA V. 63 
 
 little child, you could not understand me 
 if I told you. As you develop your spirit- 
 ual nature and come up into this high 
 school, you will find it gradually unfolding 
 to your understanding. We do not come 
 to tell you startling facts or to relieve you 
 of your responsibilities. As your intellect 
 matures and broadens with culture and 
 experience, so will your spiritual facul- 
 ties expand to greater possibilities of 
 knowledge and usefulness ; for all your 
 powers are subject to the same law of 
 growth, — ' Use and improve, or abuse and 
 lose/ " 
 
 Yes, I did receive a letter from you, 
 urging my acceptance of these experiences 
 as veritable truths, without further effort 
 
64 LIGHT OAT 
 
 to reason upon them. Unable to accept 
 this as genuine revelation, I have en- 
 deavored to ignore and check its workings 
 as much possible ; and the subject has 
 become so painful to me, in many ways, 
 that even towards you I have been 
 reticent. But yesterday I was deeply 
 stirred, and it came to me in this wise. 
 I was resting upon the sofa, when suddenly 
 I felt that everything was drifting away 
 from me, and was soon conscious of only 
 cold and darkness. Presently I began to 
 discern glimpses of light, till I could grad- 
 ually distinguish forms, each clothed in an 
 atmosphere of its own, more or less illumi- 
 nated by the all-pervading white light. 
 Then I perceived that I alone was sur- 
 rounded by darkness which the light did 
 not penetrate. Recognizing my father, I 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 65 
 
 asked him if I were dying. He did not 
 reply directly, but after a while said, " Did 
 you not wonder, yesterday, how it would be 
 with you if death were to come suddenly? 
 The light which surrounds and pervades 
 all, is that divine grace which you persist 
 in shutting out of your life. Because you 
 cannot explain to the satisfaction of your 
 small understanding the peculiar condi- 
 tions of your special temperament, you 
 have closed the windows of your soul and 
 stifled your spirit with doubt." 
 
 Then I was made to see my little room 
 in my childhood's home. Around the 
 kneeling form of my girl-self brooded a 
 lovely light; and oh, the face was full 
 of sweetness, trust, and peace ! " And now 
 see what we hoped you might become ! " 
 
 Then was revealed to me a far more radi- 
 5 
 
66 LIGHT ON 
 
 ant form, reaching out both hands to men 
 and women, seeming to draw them from a 
 depth of darkness below into the clear 
 light of heaven, — their faces turned to 
 hers, growing peaceful and satisfied as 
 they advanced. "Look well at this pict- 
 ure," he said. " Shall it be a prophecy of 
 your future, or the warning of a lost oppor- 
 tunity ? Light is given you ; but you cling 
 to darkness, and are wilfully deaf and 
 dumb." 
 
 " But how can I be sure, even now, that 
 this is not a freak of morbid imagination, 
 or some brain disturbance ? " I said ; when 
 immediately it became so dark about me 
 that I could distinguish nothing. Dark and 
 cold as the grave, I began to wonder if I 
 were not really dead and cast into outer 
 darkness. After what seemed a long time, 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 67 
 
 I thought I saw the flickering of a faint 
 light, which appeared and disappeared, as 
 if thrown back in its efforts to pierce my 
 darkness by a repellent force. It was the 
 light I had seen about my baby ; and 
 melted, in an agony of remorse I sank 
 upon my knees, all resistance gone. When 
 I raised my head again, the darkness had 
 so dispersed that I could see my father 
 holding my darling in his arms. He said : 
 " You have fed upon husks and drunk 
 from shallow springs until your soul is 
 famished and wretched. Your peculiar 
 temptation is doubt; it has, and will cost 
 you, many a struggle. When you feel 
 yourself wavering, pray at once with your 
 whole soul for strength, and you will not 
 ask in vain for the grace that renews and 
 invigorates. 
 
68 LIGHT ON 
 
 " Begin now the eternal life of trustful 
 consecration and sanctified service, con- 
 sciously drawing your innermost life from 
 God. Life will hold more to you than 
 you have ever dreamed when, ceasing to 
 be an alien, you return to a life of faith, 
 to rest in the conscious nearness and 
 friendship of the Infinite Spirit, knowing 
 that God is not afar off, but nearer than 
 the closest friend, and that nothing is 
 so abiding sure as his love and provi- 
 dential care. 
 
 " A gift has been intrusted to you, the 
 value of which you are not capable of 
 estimating. You have now no conception 
 of the work you may accomplish if you arc 
 faithful to this trust. But remember your 
 own soul must be illuminated before you 
 can help others ; the spring does not brim 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 69 
 
 over with refreshing waters that has not 
 a hidden source. When you have learned, 
 through your soul's deep experience, that 
 the indwelling Spirit is the source of all 
 true living and high service, Nature, which 
 now seems to you a vast machine, will be 
 transfigured into the shining vesture of 
 the Eternal, and the inner chambers of 
 your soul, ever open to the celestial sunrise, 
 shall be filled with its unclouded peace." 
 
 I was deeply moved, and wished to 
 pledge myself to a renewed life of earnest 
 seeking and faith ; but before I could speak 
 he was gone. Strains of music seemed 
 to float toward me, which gradually died 
 away, and I found myself alive and alone. 
 
70 LIGHT ON 
 
 " We think that heaven will not shut for evermore 
 Without a kuocker left upon the door, 
 Lest some belated wanderer should come, 
 Heart-broken, asking just to be at home ; 
 So that the Father will at last forgive, 
 And looking on his face that soul shall live. 
 
 " We think there will be watchmen through the 
 
 night, 
 Lest any, far off, tunTthem to the light ; 
 That he who loved us into life must be 
 A Father, infinitely fatherly ; 
 And groping for him, all shall find their way 
 From outer dark, through twilight, into perfect 
 
 day." 
 
THE HIDDEN WA K 71 
 
 [The letters of the following eight years 
 have been omitted.] 
 
 In passing a certain house during the 
 past year, I have met, almost daily, its 
 former owner. He had been a physician 
 in good practice, and very popular socially, 
 — a welcome guest in many homes. My 
 acquaintance with him was very slight ; 
 and feeling irritated at the frequency of 
 these meetings, I usually showed my an- 
 noyance by hurrying by without appearing 
 to see him. 
 
 These earth-bound souls have it in their 
 power to make themselves very disagree- 
 able if allowed a recognition ; and finding 
 this one always there, as much a part 
 of the place as the trees or fence, I began 
 to make detours to avoid the neighborhood. 
 
72 LIGHT ON 
 
 But this zigzag wandering between two 
 direct points was often so inconvenient 
 that from time to time I would venture 
 again on my old direct course, only to 
 find my coming watched for, as before. I 
 
 mentioned these encounters to M , in 
 
 one of our casual talks, as an instance of 
 unpleasant shadowing ; but knowing him 
 to have been here exceedingly courteous, 
 she felt he was incapable of intention- 
 ally giving annoyance, and urged my 
 speaking. 
 
 Thus has come into my life a new expe- 
 rience, perhaps the beginning of a work 
 among these mistaught and erring ones. 
 He told me he had known all along that 
 I had seen him, but would not intrude 
 himself upon me, much as he had hoped 
 to win my interest and sympathy. He 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 73 
 
 was lonely and miserable ; yes, he had 
 companionship, but did not care for it; 
 he liked better to roam about his old 
 home and live in his old associations, 
 though it pained him that his wife thought 
 of him as happy in a far-off heaven, 
 and that he could not make her feel 
 his presence. I urged him to leave the 
 earth atmosphere and rise into a higher 
 life, where the stimulus of work is even 
 more urgent than here ; but he replied 
 that he could not see what there was 
 for a doctor to do where there were no 
 frail bodies to wear out. He was very 
 much disappointed to find a continued 
 existence so unlike his anticipations, but 
 supposed he must wait for the judgment- 
 day to know whether he was among the 
 lost or the saved. He had always attended 
 
74 LIGHT ON 
 
 church when he could, both from habit and 
 because it was the proper thing to do ; but 
 had never thought seriously of religious 
 matters, preferring society and the good 
 things of earth, of whicli he had an 
 abundance. Nevertheless he had died con- 
 fessing his faith in the Redeemer. Now 
 things seemed to be turned upside-down; 
 those he had thought unbelievers are so 
 radiant with spiritual light that he cannot 
 endure their presence ; while many good 
 church-members are quite the opposite. 
 Then he referred again to the day of judg- 
 ment, which he seemed to think would 
 adjust matters. I do not think I made any 
 impression upon him in this interview, 
 but we continued our daily visits, and tried 
 to make him understand how all days are 
 judgment-days ; that by his own admission 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 75 
 
 he had lived for the physical life alone, 
 and the dwarfing of his spiritual nature 
 is his present judgment; that we are 
 saved by holy lives, not by a vicarious 
 atonement; and that Christ and his true 
 disciples (the Christ-like) are living and 
 working to increase the kingdom of right- 
 eousness ; and that though he could no 
 longer heal the sick bodies, he could work 
 to save souls. But this idea offended him, 
 — he was not intended to be a minister ; 
 and I could not make him feel that in 
 the sense of helping, we are all meant 
 to be ministers. 
 
 He never walked beyond the limits of his 
 own grounds (which, however, were quite 
 extensive), yet seemed each day more eager 
 to see us. One Sunday morning we tried 
 to persuade him to accompany us to church, 
 
76 LIGHT ON 
 
 but without avail. Returning, I expressed 
 our disappointment that he had not gone 
 with us, as the sermon and music might 
 both have been a help to him ; then pro- 
 posed his joining us at our evening reading 
 at home, — perhaps too he would like the 
 hymns we are fond of singing. This he 
 would not promise; though I thought I saw 
 a little yielding in his manner, and was not 
 surprised when, later, he came gloomily into 
 the room and took a seat beside me. We 
 gave him no special welcome or notice, but 
 continued the singing, apparently regard- 
 less of his presence, for he was evidently 
 much depressed. Before leaving, he thanked 
 me with emotion for the privilege of the 
 evening, adding, " I thought I did not like 
 hymns or sermons, but I find I am just 
 beginning to understand what is meant by 
 
THE HIDDEN IV AY. 77 
 
 spiritual food." The next afternoon he 
 came some distance beyond his place to 
 meet us. I tried to induce him not to go 
 back there ; but he would not promise this, 
 although he asked permission to be present 
 again at the reading. Expecting him the 
 following evening, we selected carefully 
 what seemed to us best suited to his mood 
 and need, closing with Whittier's " Answer." 
 He spoke but little, was evidently deeply 
 stirred, and seemed to have taken some 
 strong, silent resolve. 
 
 We did not see him the next day, nor 
 the next, but the evening after, as we began 
 the reading, he came among us ; and then 
 I knew his determination had been to spare 
 me, if possible, a knowledge of the keen 
 suffering he was enduring. 
 
78 LIGHT ON 
 
 My father has since told me that it re- 
 quires great force of will to leave the earth 
 atmosphere, so strong is the clinging to 
 places and associations ; and the presence 
 of bright spiritual beings is to these lower 
 ones an almost intolerable pain. The soil 
 and stain of sensual life lies all uncovered 
 in the clear light of the heavenly atmo- 
 sphere, and it is only through the cleans- 
 ing touch of this purifying flame that the 
 gathered dross may be consumed, and the 
 spirit regain its Paradise. A free " sanc- 
 tity of will " remains always and inviolably 
 ours. Help and forgiveness are Heaven's 
 free gifts ; but " no force divine can love 
 compel," and step by step we fall or rise, 
 as we will. But our friend was now roused 
 and thoroughly in earnest ; he came to us 
 every night, and after a while, for half an 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 79 
 
 hour in the morning. The memory of his 
 past life became more painful to him as he 
 advanced upward, constant in seeking the 
 purifying flame, and so brave and silent 
 about the suffering. 
 
 Then there came a Sunday when I was 
 told to be early in my place at church. 
 I found a service, already begun, in that 
 spiritual temple so often unveiled to my 
 sight. At the close of the discourse there 
 was a pause, and he who had finished 
 speaking stood in the chancel, as if wait- 
 ing, while the congregation remained kneel- 
 ing with bowed heads. 
 
 Presently our Doctor came reverently 
 down the aisle and kneeled before this 
 radiant spirit, who, placing his hands upon 
 the bowed head, looked upward with an 
 indescribable expression of strength and 
 
80 LIGHT ON 
 
 peace. Overcome with emotion, for some 
 moments I was conscious only of the deep 
 silence and of an unusual intensity of white 
 light. Then I heard the exquisite chanting 
 of that heavenly choir ; and raising my 
 head, saw our Doctor rise, clothed in his 
 new robe of righteousness, his face so full 
 of peace and victory that I was filled with 
 unspeakable awe. 
 
 One morning, while busy in my room, 
 a friend from the " Hither Side " asked 
 if he might bring his wife to me ; he 
 hoped that I might help her. Having 
 been a hypochondriac for years before 
 her death, she cannot now be persuaded 
 that she is not ill, and clings so to earth 
 that her friends are unable to influence 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 81 
 
 her. Of course I assented, and a little later 
 lie brought her, leaving us alone together. 
 She had a weary, discontented face, and 
 the air of one who considered herself 
 injured. I made various unsuccessful at- 
 tempts to draw her into conversation, 
 receiving only short, cold answers, until 
 the happy thought occurred to me to inquire 
 about her health. It was surprising how 
 she gradually warmed, confiding to me all 
 her ills, and how unjust and unsympathetic 
 she had found her friends there, who wished 
 to persuade her that since quitting the 
 body she was no longer ill. They did not 
 know what it was to be an invalid, and she 
 must cease to expect sympathy. Indeed, 
 she and they seemed to have nothing now 
 in common, and she complained bitterly of 
 loneliness. Oh, if she were only back again 
 
82 LIGHT 02V 
 
 in the earth life with her daughter, who had 
 devoted time and strength to her for years! 
 Why had she been so imprudent ! She 
 had driven out insufficiently clad, and pneu- 
 monia had been the result. I reminded her 
 that her daughter, having spent her youth 
 and strength in devotion to her, needed 
 relief and rest; and hoped that she wxmld 
 soon entirely recover, to be a companion 
 for her husband and bright and well to 
 receive their daughter when she should 
 join them. 
 
 She did not give much heed to me, but 
 sighed and looked bored. She was evi- 
 dently not to be easily moved. The next 
 day I was surprised to see her again, and 
 proposed that she should rest upon my bed. 
 This appeared to please her, and she re- 
 mained all the afternoon, while I went on 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 83 
 
 with my work, leaving her several times to 
 go down-stairs. I was half amused and 
 much perplexed over this new charge. I 
 dared not offer to read, as I feared nothing 
 more serious than a light novel would be 
 acceptable, nor did I talk much, but tried 
 to make her feel welcome. 
 
 The following day she came again, and 
 appeared quite peevish and woe-begone. 
 I was reading aloud, and after a little went 
 on with it. Restless and listless, she soon 
 went away ; yet has continued her visits 
 every day since. She seems to like our 
 Doctor, and I believe he will help di- 
 vert her mind from herself. Her curios- 
 ity and interest are apparently excited, 
 although she has no sympathy in our 
 pursuits. Is it not sad ? And yet, were 
 she alive (what a singular expression !), 
 
84 LIGHT ON 
 
 finding her so utterly uninteresting and 
 tiresome, I should avoid her as much as 
 possible. 
 
 Since this experience I have questioned 
 whether we are right to seek only congenial 
 society. If our sincere desire be to advance 
 the kingdom of righteousness upon the 
 earth, ought we not to give ourselves more 
 freely ; to share the culture and refine- 
 ments that have graced our lives with those 
 less fortunate ; and above all, to exert all 
 the influence in our power to win the shal- 
 low and selfish to a higher plane of living ? 
 My conscience reproaches me that I feel the 
 claim of this weak, selfish, undeveloped 
 woman, as I should not had she been an 
 earthly acquaintance. 
 
THE HIDDEX WAY. 85 
 
 Last summer, we passed the day with 
 a friend in her old family homestead ; and 
 being left alone in the chamber where I 
 had laid my wraps, I sat down in the open 
 window, grateful for a little rest. Dreamily 
 enjoying the peace and beauty of the out- 
 look, I was roused from my reverie by a 
 deep sigh, soon another, and then another, 
 followed, finally, by most passionate sobs. 
 I arose and looked about me ; and going 
 to an opposite door, opened it, only to 
 find an adjoining vacant room. I returned 
 to my seat : and distressed by the con- 
 tinued sobbing, was glad to be released 
 from this haunted chamber by the call 
 of my friend a few minutes later. 
 
 Returning to the quiet of our home that 
 evening, I asked the meaning of what I 
 had heard ; and was told that a brother 
 
86 LIGHT ON 
 
 of our hostess had wished to reach me, 
 but had been completely overcome by the 
 associations of the place. A few days 
 later he came and gave me the sad story 
 of his life, — which is not an uncommon 
 one, I fear. He was the eldest son of 
 a man of rare integrity and purity of 
 character, but of a reserved temperament, 
 much absorbed in his books and profession, 
 and himself so far above the lower tempta- 
 tions of the flesh that this kind of danger 
 to his children did not occur to him. 
 This son was a handsome fellow, genial, 
 warm-hearted, and susceptible to influ- 
 ence, either good or evil. His compan- 
 ions and surroundings were in many ways 
 unfortunate, until gradually he was drawn 
 into the toils of a fascinating, unprin- 
 cipled married woman. (Oh, the shame 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. . 87 
 
 of it, that such women are allowed to 
 poison society !) 
 
 Later he went to the West ; and there, 
 already demoralized, sank still lower, till 
 death suddenly swept him away. And 
 where ? Into hell ? Yes ; but why ? What 
 had he in common with pure spiritual 
 souls ? That great gulf — the conscious- 
 ness of sin and unworthiness — had sepa- 
 rated him from his parents, who had died 
 some time before, and made him shrink 
 away and hide himself in the companion- 
 ship of his equals, stifling his conscience 
 in low pleasures. 
 
 I cannot tell you what a shock and dis- 
 appointment it has been to me to find that it 
 is possible to continue a low, depraved life 
 in the world of spirit. I had always thought 
 that the power to sin ended here ; but have 
 
88 LIGHT ON 
 
 learned that freedom of choice between 
 good and evil remains as much a law of 
 that life as this, and that there is nothing 
 whatever in death to change a sinner into a 
 saint, except as it brings the sternest judg- 
 ment, by forcing upon the unclothed soul 
 the exact consciousness of its condition. 
 To the earnest, this is all that is needed to 
 rouse a most ardent desire for the higher 
 life ; while to the pure and holy it re- 
 veals, to their surprise and joy, the heights 
 they have attained, while, filled with that 
 peace which passeth understanding, they 
 behold the white peaks yet to be attained, 
 rising all fair and glorified in the bright 
 light of heaven. 
 
 But though the sinner may descend 
 lower and lower, the saving love is seek- 
 ing him, and he can find no peace, no 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY, 89 
 
 escape from that awful conscience which 
 nothing will pacify. No pleasure satisfies, 
 as ever onward he pursues the phantom, 
 till, sated and weary, starving and humble, 
 he comes to himself and bewails the in- 
 heritance he has wasted. But oh, how 
 piteous is the return ! — step by step, 
 through struggle and atonement, until the 
 lost measure of purity and strength be 
 regained. 
 
 I talked w r ith this prodigal a long time, 
 and urged his coming regularly, that we 
 might help and encourage him as we do 
 others ; but when I spoke of his parents, 
 it was pitiful to see his shrinking from 
 them and all the sainted ones. How shall 
 I describe to you our anxiety and suffering 
 for him, poor fellow, during the succeeding 
 months of repeated trial and backsliding, 
 
90 LIGHT ON 
 
 while his father and mother directed my 
 efforts and helped sustain my fainting hope ? 
 Once, when we thought he had gained a 
 sure hold and was safe, the old dull look 
 of discontent returned, and for days I did 
 not see him. Then our Doctor begged that 
 he might go in search of him and use all 
 his persuasion to bring him back. I was 
 deeply touched, for I felt that he knew 
 that to go into those dark depths was 
 to put himself in the way of old influences 
 and temptations, literally plunging him- 
 self into the fire to save another. He left 
 us, saying in his quiet way, without a 
 word of either fear or assurance, " I must 
 go ; and if I do not return to-night, you will- 
 know why. I only ask that your thought 
 and prayer may go with me." He re- 
 turned, looking worn and sad ; his effort 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 91 
 
 had been in vain. He soon left us ; and 
 when he came again the next day, I saw 
 that he was lifted and strengthened, ready 
 to try once more. He was gone several 
 days, — how anxious they were to us ! — 
 and this time was successful. 
 
 One evening, after we had finished read- 
 ing and were alone, a lovely little girl 
 stood at my knee and most pathetically 
 besought me to find her mamma. I learned 
 that the child had never known earth-life, 
 and that her mother, now dead, was sepa- 
 rated from her by a gulf of darkness, — 
 why, she knew not, but had been told that 
 I could help her. I assured her of my hope 
 and desire to bring them together, and she 
 left me w r ith all a child's joy of anticipation. 
 
92 LIGHT ON 
 
 In the night I was roused by a touch, 
 and saw kneeling by my bedside a young, 
 slight, delicate woman, clad in black and 
 sobbing piteously. I tried to put my hand 
 upon her head ; but she shrank away and 
 cowered all in a heap upon the floor, while 
 little by little she poured out her sad con- 
 fession. Betrayed by her lover, — more 
 sinned against than sinning, — in her 
 alarm and despair she had destroyed the 
 life of her child, and soon after faded 
 away in a quick decline. 
 
 She had been brought up under the 
 strictest Orthodox teachings, and believed 
 herself hopelessly lost. Hence the hold 
 he continued to exercise over her when 
 she found him already there before her, 
 through his own reckless act; both doomed, 
 as she thought, and forever shut apart from 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 93 
 
 the pure and good. It would be impossible 
 to portray in words the intensity of feeling 
 shown by these poor sufferers, — their own 
 sense of guilt and degradation, the iron 
 door that shuts them out! 
 
 Fortunate it was that I had known some- 
 thing of the man who had wrecked her 
 life. She was not his only victim, — 
 though it was difficult to persuade her 
 of this, for the fascination had been com- 
 plete ; and yet I felt that it loosened his 
 hold upon her. 
 
 I said all that I could at that time ; 
 and now for many months she lias spent 
 hours daily in my room. But my hand 
 trembles and my eyes fill when I recall 
 the dark valley we have travelled together, 
 of which I can give you little idea. 
 
 Poor little thing, my heart went out 
 
94 LIGHT ON 
 
 to her as it has to none other, she was so 
 prostrate and blinded by her sense of 
 guilt, and so drawn by habit of thought 
 and discouragement back to the old life ! 
 Many a time she fled from him and from 
 herself to my side, and more than once 
 he followed, pleading or taunting, as his 
 mood might be. Once when in despair 
 for her my soul cried out for help, a 
 quick flash of intense light was the imme- 
 diate response, from which he fled with 
 a yell like a maniac. 
 
 After a while she came to stay most 
 of the time in my room. She was soul- 
 sick, poor child, and lay upon my lounge 
 both day and night ; though I often woke 
 to find her kneeling by my bedside. We 
 talked and read a great deal to her, till 
 gradually she came to trust that she could 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY, 95 
 
 be saved and forgiven, and finally to 
 realize that she still had the power to 
 seek the light which purifies, invigorates, 
 and strengthens. 
 
 If hell-fire means anything, — and we 
 are told that every old dogma contains 
 a kernel of truth, — it is this light which 
 purifies as by fire, but which becomes their 
 source of peace and refreshment when 
 cleansed and healed. 
 
 Once roused to the full sense of her 
 need, the heroism displayed by our little 
 Lou was sublime. There was no more 
 wavering or flinching, but a patient, reso- 
 lute determination to regain her lost purity 
 and peace ; nor would her conscience be 
 satisfied with less than her utmost endur- 
 ance. I remember, one day, starting to 
 throw a little white shawl over her black 
 
96 LIGHT ON 
 
 robe, and haw she shrank from it, begging 
 me not to put anything white near her. 
 How pleased I was when, long after, she 
 let me spread it over her as she lay on my 
 bed, looking so calm and spent that I 
 wondered how this could be with one set 
 free from the body. But I understand 
 now that the spirit faints and is weary, 
 and have been led to question whether the 
 spirit does not react upon the body here, 
 even more than the body upon the spirit. 
 And then there came a night when she 
 was brought, like one dead, by two shining 
 ones. She did not leave us again for 
 several days, but lay quiet and peaceful 
 upon my lounge, under the little white 
 shawl, with some sprays of sweet white 
 honeysuckle beside her. Upon waking in 
 the morning we found her gone. We 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 97 
 
 knew that this ordeal through which she 
 was passing could not kill, and would not 
 last forever ; but oh, how deeply was our 
 sympathy stirred ! how interminable seemed 
 those hours ! 
 
 The next afternoon we were told to 
 be in church at sunset. We found the 
 place filled, the altar exquisitely decked 
 witli delicate white flowers, the music en- 
 chanting, and the long, deep hush of the 
 worshippers only broken by the soft, low 
 strains. While I listened, awed and breath- 
 less, our little charge was borne down the 
 aisle, all spent and unconscious, to the 
 chancel, where one — oh, so bright and 
 beautiful ! — waited. He placed his hands 
 tenderly upon her brow ; and looking up, 
 seemed to bring down, as in answer, a 
 
 flood of light ineffable. Every head bowed. 
 
 7 
 
98 LIGHT ON 
 
 After a prolonged silence, some lovely 
 words were chanted by the congregation. 
 Raising my head, I beheld our little Lou 
 standing erect, her face filled with con- 
 scious peace. The little black dress had 
 given place to a robe of pale-blue light, 
 and folded in her arms was her little 
 girl, — -the child she thought she had lost 
 forever ! 
 
 At first I wondered that this should not 
 have been a sacredly private hour ; but 
 then I recalled how there is " joy in heaven 
 over every sinner that repenteth," and felt 
 that each soul in that congregation was 
 there from sympathy and joy. 
 
 That evening, when my little flock 
 gathered about me, little Lou asked me 
 to read the parable of the prodigal son. 
 I think it had a deeper meaning to us 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 99 
 
 all, as we saw the emotion with which 
 she listened to the story of the son's 
 welcome home to the Father's heart and 
 love. 
 
 During those months of anxiety over 
 our little Lou, the young man of whom 
 I told you in a previous letter came to 
 me irregularly. Dissatisfied and restless 
 in his old life, yet too weak from long 
 habits of self-indulgence for any continued 
 striving, my time and strength became so 
 overtaxed by his demands upon my sym- 
 pathy that he was forbidden by my helpers 
 to come to me any more till thoroughly 
 in earnest. This deprivation proved the 
 needed stimulus to his first sincere effort 
 at improvement; for he was a loving 
 
100 LIGHT ON 
 
 fellow, and felt deeply the separation from 
 me and his companions, two of whom had 
 been friends of his boyhood, and were 
 holding to the right more steadfastly 
 than he. 
 
 Many days passed before he was al- 
 lowed to see me, and then I read and 
 talked with him alone, until, after months 
 of slow progress, he was allowed to 
 resume his old place at the readings ; 
 and, inspired by little Lou's example, is 
 now one- of my safe ones, happy in his 
 awakened sensibility to righteousness, and 
 rejoicing in the loving approval of the 
 father and mother he had so deeply 
 grieved. 
 
 The dawn of some interest beyond her 
 own selfish broodings also came to my in- 
 valid through watching our labor of love 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 101 
 
 over little Lou. My weak ones have 
 always shown a tender sympathy for one 
 another ; the slipping back of one is grief 
 to all, while earnest indeed is the joy and 
 pride of each over a brother's hard-won 
 victory. So the unconscious heroism of 
 little Lou stimulated all to greater effort, 
 and won even my invalid from her listless 
 indifference. 
 
 " You are queer women," she one day 
 said to me. " Do you really like this 
 work ? and is it not a sacrifice to give 
 up society and devote yourselves to such 
 as these ? " She has little spirituality, and 
 her progress will be much slower than 
 that of some who have sunk to greater 
 depths. 
 
102 LIGHT ON 
 
 You ask me to tell you more of my 
 " little flock." Many of them have been 
 men of prominence here. That " the first 
 shall be last and the last first," according 
 to the world's standard of wisdom and 
 greatness, is daily illustrated by the hu- 
 mility with which these men of once high 
 places come to learn of spiritual things 
 like little children. Their characters are 
 various, and through devious ways have 
 they come to that " last bourne ; " but each 
 separate experience is intensely interesting. 
 I will try to give you fragmentary touches 
 of a few of them. 
 
 Dead here to all spiritual life and 
 growth, they have entered the higher life 
 totally unfit for the companionship of 
 the blessed, and in their despair, gloom, 
 and guilt, shrink away from all helpful 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 108 
 
 influences ; for only with the soul's cry 
 of Abba, Father ! does growth begin. 
 
 It has been difficult to understand why 
 this work among the soul-sick and unhappy 
 is given me, when the Better Land is so 
 full of earnest helpers, whose natural and 
 chosen labor would seem to be just here. 
 But we learn that it is less painful for 
 the unspiritual dead to approach one still 
 veiled by this mortal vestment while their 
 sympathies and regrets hold them to earth ; 
 but once receptive to wiser teachers, they 
 pass immediately from my guidance into 
 the safe fold. 
 
 One who has held my warmest sympathy 
 was here a clergyman, a man of brilliant 
 mind and natural liberal tendencies ; but 
 rejecting the higher light, preached dogmas 
 he no longer believed, closing his eyes and 
 
104 LIGHT ON 
 
 understanding to truths inconvenient to 
 accept. His suffering is twofold, — the 
 injury to his own spirit, and a grief yet 
 more intolerable over those misled by his 
 teaching; for he had many enthusiastic 
 admirers, to whom his word and opinion 
 were law. 
 
 Two were gentlemen of ample means 
 who lived moral, but narrow, selfish lives, 
 and died leaving their property to public 
 institutions already richly endowed. What 
 would they not give now to be able to re- 
 lieve the distress of relatives and friends 
 who are suffering from this selfish indiffer- 
 ence to their needs ! They cannot detach 
 themselves from these lives, following them 
 through anxieties and hardships their care 
 might have averted, so unreconciled at be- 
 ing helpless to aid them, and having only 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY, 105 
 
 themselves to blame. In some ways these 
 are the most miserable of all who come 
 to me ; held back from progress by 
 regrets and remorse, they will not seek 
 for themselves brighter spheres while 
 those they have neglected are toil-worn 
 here. 
 
 If people could only know in making 
 their wills what a scourge they may be 
 preparing for themselves, which will one 
 day drive them literally into a hell of 
 regret and unrest, then would charity 
 indeed begin at home and in the com- 
 munity where they have lived, and much 
 misery here and hereafter be spared. 
 Large bequests to public charities will 
 not absolve the soul from a neglect of the 
 modest but pressing needs of those close 
 about him, whom public charities cannot 
 
106 LIGHT ON 
 
 and should not reach, but who struggle 
 bravely and uncomplainingly, doing all in 
 their power to help themselves. 
 
 Our wealth, talents, time, culture, and 
 refinements are sacred trusts. The ideal 
 life demands that we give, even as we 
 have received, not from a sense of duty, 
 but as a gracious privilege. Nor will the 
 soul be satisfied with any compromise ; it 
 must share its every gift. The purse with- 
 out sympathy and time and trouble, it may 
 be, is as empty, so far as it has power 
 to grace the giver ; while the man who 
 proffers friendship and sympathy, yet does 
 not out of his abundance make that pro- 
 fessed interest a substantial help, defrauds 
 his own soul. 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 107 
 
 Judge C was a man of fine intellect 
 
 and large hospitality, living upon a hand- 
 some estate, lord of the domain, and much 
 deferred to in the management of State 
 affairs. His wife had been an Episco- 
 palian, and his children grew up with a 
 preference for that Church. He was not 
 a church-goer himself, loved argument, 
 talked remarkably well, and was always 
 ready for a discussion. Thus slipped along 
 in ease and prosperity a life of sixty odd 
 years, when health began to fail, and the 
 problem of a future life presented itself. 
 His country home was somewhat isolated ; 
 and loving intelligent companionship, he 
 invited the Catholic priest, when in that 
 neighborhood, to stay at his house. Re- 
 ligious discussions naturally became fre- 
 quent and more interesting, with decreasing 
 
108 LIGHT ON 
 
 bodily strength ; and a few weeks before 
 his death he was baptized by the friendly 
 priest, absolved from his sins, and per- 
 suaded that an acceptance of the Church's 
 conditions of salvation would be a sure 
 passport into happiness and heaven. 
 
 He had been years in the spirit-world 
 when brought to me by a dear friend, who 
 had been one of his near ones in earth- 
 life. But oh, the bitter disappointment of 
 this poor soul ! He had found a new life, 
 but one utterly unlike that pictured to him 
 by the priest. The teaching of religion 
 was all false, lie said ; there was no such 
 thing as vicarious atonement, and he did 
 not believe there was a Jesus ! 
 
 Another was an atheist ; a man of 
 large culture, but a reserved, unsympa- 
 thetic nature, who had thought to solve 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 109 
 
 all life's mysteries by intellectual pro- 
 cesses. He was brought to me shrouded in 
 indifference and gloom, "himself his own 
 dark jail," and for months seemed hardly 
 interested in our readings. I wondered, 
 as I watched him pace the floor on the 
 opposite side of the room, so coldly silent, 
 what attracted him to our gatherings. The 
 awakening seemed to come to him during 
 the reading of Dr. James Freeman Clarke's 
 " Apostle Paul;" and through the last 
 pages of " The Legend of Thomas Didy- 
 mus " he sat with his head bowed in his 
 hands, deeply stirred. The seed was quick- 
 ened. He had been a man of energy and 
 great strength of will ; and once roused 
 to a consciousness of guilt, the swift tide 
 of remorse was terrible to see. A faith- 
 less, thankless soul, all his life impervious 
 
110 LIGHT ON 
 
 to the sweet influences of spirit, and finally 
 hurried on his path of recklessness by the 
 fearful crime of self-destruction! 
 
 Do you remember the last half of Whit- 
 tier's "Answer"? It would seem to have 
 been written for these belated ones, and 
 expresses the truth so perfectly that their 
 condition is no arbitrary doom, but the 
 inevitable retribution of a life of sense and 
 unfaith. Nothing that I have read has 
 been more stirring to them than this 
 poem : — 
 
 " Though God be good and free be heaven, 
 No force divine can love compel ; 
 And though the song of sins forgiven 
 May sound through lowest hell, 
 
 " The sweet persuasion of His voice 
 Respects thy sanctity of will. 
 He giveth day : thou hast thy choice 
 To walk in darkness still, 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. Ill 
 
 " As one who, turning from the light, 
 Watches his own gray shadow fall, 
 Doubting, upon his path of night, 
 If there be day at all ! 
 
 " No word of doom may shut thee out, 
 
 No wind of wrath may downward whirl, 
 No swords of fire keep watch about 
 The open gates of pearl ; 
 
 " A tenderer light than moon or sun, 
 Than song of earth a sweeter hymn, 
 May shine and sound forever on, 
 And thou be deaf and dim. 
 
 " Forever round the Mercy-seat 
 
 The guiding lights of Love shall burn ; 
 But what if, habit-bound, thy feet 
 Shall lack the will to turn ? 
 
 " What if thine eye refuse to see, 
 
 Thine ear of heaven's free welcome fail, 
 And thou a willing captive be, 
 Thyself thy own dark jail 1 
 
112 LIGHT ON 
 
 " doom beyond the saddest guess, 
 As the long years of God unroll 
 To make thy dreary selfishness 
 The prison of a soul ! 
 
 " To doubt the love that fain would break 
 The fetters from thy self-bound limb, 
 And dream that God can thee forsake 
 As thou forsakest Him ! " 
 
 Perhaps the most trying of all whom 
 I have sought to aid, is one who here 
 was a man of position and influence both 
 in his church and community, a promi- 
 nent member of various missionary and 
 tract societies, given to cant, long prayers 
 and graces, strict in his family disci- 
 pline, rigidly observing every letter of 
 Evangelical religion. He was known to 
 be a shrewd business man, and in con- 
 sequence of his wide and well-known 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 113 
 
 connection with religious and charitable 
 institutions, became guardian and trustee 
 for many orphans and widows, whom he 
 defrauded of their property, using their 
 means to pursue his growing passion for 
 speculation. 
 
 It would be most painful to you, as well 
 as to me, to go into the details of the 
 moral and spiritual degradation of this 
 man, who hid his iniquity under the cloak 
 of righteousness, imposing upon the true 
 and simple by his sanctimonious air and 
 loud professions. He was brought to me 
 by one whom he had wronged, and we 
 have done all in our power to help him ; 
 but it lias seemed an almost hopeless task 
 to restore to him even a small measure 
 of spiritual life, for there is not a single 
 
 means of comfort or inspiration to others 
 
 8 
 
114 LIGHT ON 
 
 that does not contain a bitter sting for 
 him. The simplest word of prayer wrings 
 from him a cry of agony. He who prayed 
 so fluently in the prison and reformatory, 
 who was always ready to lead the prayer- 
 meeting or offer the long grace, unable 
 to lisp even the Publican's prayer ! He 
 comes with the others, but remains apart, 
 bowed with humility and remorse, unwill- 
 ing so much as to raise his eyes unto 
 heaven, or even ask that his darkened soul 
 may receive. 
 
 I think if there be an unpardonable sin, 
 it is religious insincerity, which seems 
 nearer moral and spiritual death than 
 anything I have seen. A silent sym- 
 pathy is almost all that I can give to com- 
 fort him, together with the assurance that 
 if he will be patient and longsuffering 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 115 
 
 with himself, enduring the healing pain, 
 there shall gradually be restored to him 
 the power to seek forgiveness and the 
 quickening, saving love, in sincerity and 
 truth. For " yet doth he devise means 
 that his banished ones be not expelled 
 from him." 
 
 The faith in a personal devil and his 
 agents of wickedness was to us a far safer 
 belief than the careless assurance we have 
 grown into, that thoughts and actions are 
 merely the expression of our own uninflu- 
 enced individuality. If we remember the 
 number of undeveloped, evil-minded, and 
 malicious souls passing constantly from 
 our midst into the beyond, what more nat- 
 ural field presents itself for the exercise 
 
116 LIGHT OJV 
 
 of their wicked propensities than the in- 
 jury of those here on a higher plane than 
 themselves, and towards whom they seem 
 to feel a peculiar hatred and jealousy? 
 We may be sure that the exact condition 
 of our inner life and spiritual atmosphere 
 is as clear to their vision as are physical 
 forms to our material senses, and that 
 tendencies and moods are open avenues 
 for the influence of these subtle workers 
 to crowd in upon, and by their artful 
 management of vacillating motives oft- 
 times to turn the wavering balance on the 
 side of wrong and evil. How necessary, 
 then, to keep the mind clear and the heart 
 pure, that good angels may come in and 
 help us to battle out every struggle for 
 right. Presences, good and evil, are ever 
 watching near us ; it is for ourselves to 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 117 
 
 determine which shall be the chosen guests 
 of our inner sanctuary. 
 
 I attended very recently the funeral 
 of a young' girl, — an idolized, only child. 
 She was one of my Sunday-school class, 
 and my favorite among them all, — so 
 earnest, and always eager for the best 
 thoughts we could glean for the week's 
 lesson. Her illness had been sudden and 
 sharp ; one of those quick snatchings out 
 of the home-life of its very joy and centre. 
 Bereft, and stricken to the very soul, her 
 parents could not be comforted, for " their 
 child was not." The materialistic drift of 
 the father's mind robbed the poor mother 
 of what consolation might have come to 
 her through belief in her darling's gain. 
 
118 LIGHT ON 
 
 But this faith all unstaid, the great here- 
 after " only a problematical preacher's 
 tale," hope and trust had no place beside 
 the living reality of crushing sorrow, — an 
 instance only too common of the unfaith 
 with which the beloved of many homes 
 are laid away. Could these mourners but 
 detach themselves from the sway of the 
 physical sense, their spirits, " touched to 
 finer issues," would find the vivid realities 
 of the spirit realm an unfailing source 
 of inspiration and strength. 
 
 Can you imagine a more heartrending 
 position than to be in one's own familiar 
 home and place, unseen, unheard, and 
 unf elt, — thrust out, as it were, from the 
 love that has nurtured and blessed us all 
 our lives ? So it was with this poor child. 
 She looked about upon the objects of her 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 119 
 
 daily care like one in a troubled dream. 
 There were the plants she had so recently 
 tended, the little singing-bird in the win- 
 dow, the darkened house, her agonized 
 parents, so unconscious of her presence ; 
 and then, completely overcome by the 
 hopelessness of comforting them, who 
 thought of her as gone to some distant 
 place, she clung sobbing to her mother 
 in an agony of grief and homesickness. 
 Presently the service for the dead began ; 
 and my little friend grew more calm, as 
 sentence after sentence of conviction and 
 hope fell from the lips of our beloved 
 pastor, and at the last allowed herself to 
 be led tenderly away by loving spirits. 
 Soon after, she came to me in my room 
 and begged me to comfort her mother ; 
 to tell her that she lived and loved her 
 
120 LIGHT ON 
 
 in the old close way, but could not be 
 happy while she and her father were so 
 sad and unreconciled to her going; that 
 she would like to have stayed with them 
 longer, but was yet with them in thought, 
 love, and often presence, and after so short 
 a time they would have a happier home 
 together in the brighter world. 
 
 It is always a pleasant thought to me 
 that you hold such an earnest interest 
 in my gift. Yes, it continues with, if 
 possible, more interest than ever ; and as 
 " my patients," as you call them, cease 
 to need my help, and pass up into the 
 higher life, they continue to hold their 
 affection for me and to " lend a hand " in 
 this labor of love. But let me begin by 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 121 
 
 answering the questions in your last let- 
 ter. You ask, u Has this double life, as 
 it were, been a help to you, or an added 
 strain ? " 
 
 It has indeed been no easy path to 
 climb, thus doubly responsible to those 
 dependent upon me both here and there. 
 If I have sometimes, when discouraged, 
 felt my radiant teachers stern in their 
 exactions, it has been because they would 
 not allow me to rest with less than my 
 best effort. With deep humility and grati- 
 tude would I confess their tender patience, 
 always so strong to uplift, comfort, and 
 encourage. They alone know the battles 
 lost or won, and whether at the last I 
 shall be found worthy of so grave a trust 
 and their sustaining help in every hour 
 of need. 
 
122 LIGHT ON 
 
 What have I found the most impressive 
 fact, aside from the essential spirituality 
 of that life? 
 
 It were difficult to select. Perhaps that 
 perfect order of the universe which causes 
 every soul to find its own level and exact 
 place, by the same unfailing law that builds 
 the marvellous architecture of snow crystal 
 and flower, and provides for the progress 
 of each soul as surely as for the sweep 
 of the planets on their mighty course. 
 We are just beginning to read in the les- 
 sons of nature and history that providen- 
 tial order which we call " law." 
 
 We have learned much of the conserving 
 power of Nature ; but it remains for the 
 future life to reveal to us that nothing 
 is lost, and that all our toil, study, and 
 self-discipline have been storing the soul 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 123 
 
 with material which, when freed from the 
 fetters of earth, in that life of larger oppor- 
 tunities, will unfold to blessed use. What 
 joy to find what we thought lost in our 
 weary struggle with life saved for us, — 
 stored safely away for future use ! 
 
 " He lends not, but gives to the end, 
 As he loves to the end. If it seem 
 That he draws back a gift, comprehend 
 'Tis to add to it rather, 
 Or keep, — as a mother may toys 
 Too costly, though given by herself, 
 Till the room shall be stiller from noise, 
 And the children more fit for such joys 
 Kept over their heads on the shelf." 
 
 I wish I might say to all mothers who 
 sit with empty arms and aching hearts, 
 that though for a time they may not 
 watch the growth and unfolding of their 
 little ones, yet does their present sorrow 
 
1 24 LIGHT ON 
 
 enfold unspeakable future joy. When they 
 come to know how their children have 
 been cared for, and led by wise and loving 
 friends into greater possibilities of growth 
 than we can imagine, I am sure the com- 
 pensations will overpay the heartache of 
 tliis temporary separation. 
 
 And to lives that have here been full 
 of high, pure aspirations, but hedged in 
 by cruel circumstances, what a release 
 does death bring, opening brighter realities 
 than their deepest longings and fairest 
 visions have ever pictured! 
 
 Most impressive to the finite mind are also 
 the subtle, far-reaching effects of seemingly 
 small events. The more we realize the 
 perfect order and beneficent purpose of the 
 universe, the more solemn becomes our 
 sense of responsibility; and as reverence 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 125 
 
 deepens into awe, we confess, with the 
 Psalmist of old, " Thou hast beset me 
 behind and before, and laid thine hand 
 upon me. Such knowledge is too wonder- 
 ful for me ; it is high, I cannot attain 
 unto it." 
 
 " What do they do, these bright ones ? " 
 1 think all that we may know of that 
 higher life is summed up in the teaching 
 of Jesus, — probably all that we can under- 
 stand of it ; certainly ail that we need to 
 know. First, " Be ye perfect ; " and out 
 of that comes the service of the strong 
 to the feeble, " Whosoever will be chief 
 among you, let him be your servant." " It 
 is more blessed to give than to receive." 
 Primarily, it is a life of growth and 
 service. 
 
 Do you ask, If, then, we have already 
 
126 LIGHT ON 
 
 sufficient knowledge of the conditions of a 
 future life, what value has this spiritual 
 intercourse ? 
 
 First, I answer, we all want to believe 
 in the future life. Does not every added 
 assurance make it appear more probable? 
 If in the providence of God and the de- 
 velopment of man we have reached a point 
 where, to certain temperaments at least, 
 " the veil between is taken away," may 
 we not hope that it is perhaps a steadily 
 growing possibility, yet to become an es- 
 tablished fact? If I could learn all I 
 might wish of that life ; if I could answer 
 any question that I long to know, predict 
 the future, and solve problems through 
 spirit agency, — I should be unable to be- 
 lieve that this experience has any grounds 
 for faith, it would so destroy my reverence 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 127 
 
 and the sense of infinite progress. But 
 what I have been allowed to know seems 
 to be in harmony with the highest, purest 
 revelations of truth which have come to us 
 through the intuition of the great thinkers 
 and seers of all time. 
 
 As the world " in the fulness of time " 
 has received new dispensations, I believe 
 that, more and more as we are able to 
 receive it, we shall have continued testi- 
 mony of the life to come, which shall 
 stimulate our spiritual growth and increase 
 our reverence and humility, emphasizing 
 the truth, " Except ye become as little chil- 
 dren ye shall in no wise enter therein." 
 
 Is it not something to know that our 
 loved ones are living; that if they were 
 true and good, they have their reward in 
 the companionship of radiant souls and 
 
128 LIGHT ON 
 
 in the joys of the higher life ; that having 
 here built up the kingdom of heaven 
 within them, they awoke at home? And 
 how sweetly solemn is the thought that 
 for the fallen and sin-sick there is such 
 saving power ! 
 
 Again you ask, " What particular sect 
 seems to be the church ? " 
 
 You will forgive my involuntary smile, 
 though I do not wonder at your question. 
 Verily, I have not received the faintest 
 indication of any sect there. The shining 
 ones have gathered, from all nations and 
 religions, the pure and saintly of the 
 ages, who have feared God, loved their 
 brother, and worked righteousness. The 
 condition there, depends solely upon prog- 
 ress in the spiritual life, without any refer- 
 ence to the helps which have been used. 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 129 
 
 I have been sitting on the rocks this 
 afternoon. Listening to the stirring har- 
 monies of the ocean and watching the 
 heavy barque laboriously " tacking " against 
 an adverse wind, the steamer plying its 
 steady way, or the luxurious yacht, so 
 slight of build, bending under its overplus 
 of sail, it seemed most fitting that the ocean 
 should have ever symbolized the sea of life, 
 — the promised land stretching away in the 
 unseen distance, the sea, in its interchange 
 of calm and storm, alike to all. The yacht, 
 like the gay life of pleasure and sensuality, 
 may founder, or reach its destination bat- 
 tered and dismantled. The slow and pon- 
 derous barque, like the conservative mind 
 with its unwieldy dogmas and long cables 
 of superstition, plodding laboriously against 
 the free winds of Providence, that do not 
 
130 LIGHT ON 
 
 blow out of the past. Others, like the 
 steamer, draw a spiritual force from the 
 conserved energies of the ages, using her 
 sails as helps when they can speed her 
 on her way, but depending for steady 
 progress upon the spirit and power which 
 is constantly renewed in the furnace of 
 the heart. And as the ship from year 
 to year is improved in its model and 
 appliances, so the progressive mind re- 
 ceives new inspiration, and its passage 
 is made quicker, happier, and safer 
 by a larger knowledge and improved 
 helps. 
 
 There is but one worship, there, and 
 that, the soul's deep sense of need and 
 gratitude, the conscious communion with 
 the Father, in spirit and in truth. Words, 
 symbols, music, are the spirit's tools, — 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 131 
 
 essential and useful only as they serve to 
 build the soul more stately mansions. 
 
 To your final question, " Was Jesus God 
 or man? What think ye of Christ?" I 
 answer, I do not think, — I know. 
 
 As the Egyptian in his reverence spoke 
 not the name of Osiris "lest his name 
 be lightly breathed on earth," so, dear 
 friend, do I falter as I try to speak of him 
 who in the providence of God was the 
 highest and purest revelation of a spiritual 
 soul. 
 
 Above the dim mists of superstition 
 and materialism towers this majestic, co- 
 lossal figure, mantled in holiness, his face 
 all aglow with conscious, intimate com- 
 munion with the Father, — the ideal sancti- 
 fied soul. One with the Father, because 
 filled with the Holy Spirit; the son, because 
 
132 LIGHT ON 
 
 living in the spirit, in harmony with the 
 divine will, — " he hath left us an example 
 that we should follow in his steps." Con- 
 sider the beautiful spirituality with which 
 he entered the future life ; and then, if 
 imagination does not fail you, conceive 
 of a progress of nineteen centuries from 
 that starting-point ! Yet is he our elder 
 Brother and our Friend ; and enthroned in 
 the loving, grateful hearts of all who have 
 been led by him into a higher life, he lives 
 and works with that great company of 
 holy souls, to lead humanity onward and 
 upward into the perfect light. 
 
 It were impossible, with our finite minds 
 and limited powers of comparison outside, 
 or rather inside, the physical, to conceive of 
 the possibilities of progress there. Suffice 
 it for me to say, that having seen such 
 
THE HIDDEN WAY. 133 
 
 ineffable glory, I know that farther heights 
 are beyond our present comprehension. 
 Merciful it is, that they are veiled from 
 our sight until we grow strong and pure 
 enough to bear them. 
 
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