weakness. Not my will, but thine, be done,' responded the divinity, the Christ-princi. ple within. "Carbon shrinks from the fierce chemical fires that transform it to diamonds. Flaxfields tremble at the transitional methods necessary to white linen napkins; and youthful sailors would fain shun the rough oceans requisite to making them skillful mariners. Mortals are but children in the eyes of the angels. Beautiful is the divine plan, with its infinitely-diversified methods of soul-discipline. There was never a birth without agony; a beautiful bloom without an aching, swelling bud; a musical instrument,―lute, lyre, or harp, without grating, tuning processes; and even craftsmen,' and mystics in their upward pilgrimages, meet with ruffians,' rough roads, repulses, and fiery ordeals, ere they pass the 'vails,' sit in the council chambers of the worthy, or rest in patriarchal tents. Aspiration and effort are the soul's jewels. Courage, brave ones: the gods help those that help themselves. Oh, it is grand to build the road we travel on; erect the ladders by which we ascend; carve our own mental statues on living, conscious forms; and construct our own homes in the upper kingdoms of beauty and blessedness! "Come, then, barbed arrows and dark-winged sorrows! Ye are all masked angels, leading souls oft by strange, inverse ways through thorn-encircled doorways into the inner courts of the beatified; the golden temples of the gods, whose every soul-tear will be transformed to a pearl; every groan die away into music; every sigh prove to have been a fore-gleam of a seraphic smile, and the sweetest, divinest ideals of earth, the imperishable reals of eternity! Courage, then, fainting soul! Every winter hath its spring; every ocean, its glittering gems; every frost, its shining crystals; every thunder-storm, its compensating health; every cloud, its silver lining; every ruin, its twining vines; every wave-tossed ark, its dove; every blood-stained cross, its flower-wreathed crown; and for every paradise lost, there are thousands to be gained! Patiently wait, then; wait and labor; wait and trust. Yea, be courageous, brave, hopeful, joyous, happy; for a good God reigns. Eternity with its infinite glories is stretching in mellowed radiance before you; ministering angels are beckoning you onward, upward; and loving archangels, standing upon evergreen mountains, and amid the matchless splendors of summer-land scenes, with wreaths, palms, and glistening robes, are inviting and singing, 'Here's rest for the weary, and crowns for the worthy.' 'All these, and infinitely more than tongue can tell, shall be thine, O children of earth! when ye are worthy,' saith my angel. Good-night, dear pilgrim friends. Sweet dreams to you, and kind angel-watchers. We shall meet again." CHAPTER XVI. HEART-ECHOES. "It is a little thing to speak a word of common comfort, Yet, on the ear of him who thought to die unmourned, LETTERS to our loved ones, not intended for the public eye, like words spoken in the ear with the music of love, always have soul in them. Artless is friendship; and how beautiful are its life-pictures ! No one surely has a right to refuse the world the aroma of these flowers, all a-drip with the morning light. Mr. Peebles's private correspondence has been immense, with people of every profession of life. One of his bosom friends, with whom he has had intimate relation, both in letters and direct co-operation, is Hon. J. G. Wait of Sturgis, Mich., of whom he delights to speak "as a counselor and solid pillar in the spiritual temple." He loves to recall the happy interviews with Revs. Higginson, Towne, Frothingham, Henry Ward Beecher, and with the political honorables who rendered him favors connected with the spiritual gospel, - Sec. Fish, Howard of Michigan, Harris of Louisiana, and Prof. Worthen, state geologist of Illinois. "COURTLAND, N.Y., Jan. 31, 1863. "DEAR MR. PEEBLES, -Have you forgotten taking a young man aside in Courtland, several years ago, and telling him the very thoughts of his soul? Oh, those kind, hopeful words! God only knows how much I owe you for the interest you manifested at that trying period of my life. All that I am, or nearly so, I am indebted to you for. ...Our publishing house is in a flourishing condition. "Most sincerely, H. S. CLARKE." "LA CROSSE, Wis., Sept. 3, 1863. "MY DEAR PEEBLES, - This morning I received a kind letter from you, which took me in the arms of memory like a child back to the olden days of budding anticipations. Am glad to hear from you. My heart sinks down into old scenes, memories, and incidents, as one sinks to rest in a bed of down. The printing-office; the ride to Athens; the scared woman whose babies and pigs we did not run over; the visit to Towanda; the improvement to your sermon! Well, well, time has borne those days to the rear, and still the fight goes on. "I am older than when last we met. My eyes are wider open. The world and I have skirmished and battled; but, on the whole, I am ahead. Glad to hear you are coming out this way. The heart is still in the same friendly place for you as of yore. ... "I shall publish one or two books before spring; and, as you will read them, you will have an idea of what kind of a man (in theory) the boy you used to speak so kindly to in the East makes in the West. Write me. ... "With the best, earnest wishes for your health, happiness, and prosperity, "I am the same, MARK M. POMEROY, "Otherwise 'Brick' Pomeroy." A lady friend, M. E. Tillotson, of Binghamton, N.Y., in a letter of Oct. 2, 1864, recalling the dreamy past, sends Mr. Peebles this poetic contribution. It was not original: "I mind me of a quiet home By sweet affection warm; I mind me of a cozy nook All sheltered from the storm, The cross his crowning glory." The following note from Bishop Clark (Episcopalian) was addressed our "Peace Brother," L. K. Joslyn, who introduced Mr. Peebles to him as a "Representative Spiritualist: "— "PROVIDENCE, Dec. 10, 1864. "DEAR SIR, I shall be happy to see the Rev. Mr. Peebles at any time that he may find it convenient to call. I expect to be absent from town on Tuesday, and until the latter part of the week. I mention this in order that he may not call while I am away "Respectfully yours, THOMAS M. CLARK." Speaking of the conversation with Mr. Clark, about the truth of spirit manifestation, Mr. Peebles reports him as saying, "You are just designed to traverse the country, and scatter seed to get the golden fruit: but I,' said the bishop, 'instead of scattering the seed, am content to graft into the old trunk; and, if I put in too many grafts, they will absorb the juices and spoil the whole tree.'"' The author of this is the wife of Rev. C. F. Dodge (Universalist). She accompanied it with an accurate and interesting psychometric delineation of our Pilgrim's attributes of character: "DEAR BROTHER AND FRIEND, "PALMYRA, Wis., June 19, 1865. I thank you for the interest manifest in our behalf. I hear the words, 'Come up higher;' but the way I know not. I felt strengthened by your presence and teachings, during the brief visit, and felt then as if I would say out loud,' 'I am a Spiritualist.' If I understand my own heart, I have but little sympathy with the creeds now prevailing, can not feel the interest in denominational matYour visit here ... ters that I once did. The scale seems to me an ascending one. was a streak of sunshine to my sister, Mrs. Bunker, as well as to us. "Truly yours, C. H. DODGE." Wishing to post himself in the standard ancient works, Mr. Peebles, in the fall of 1865, called on Ralph Waldo Emerson, the NewEngland Plato, whose life-philosophy is so spiritual. Giving him the desired literary information, these moralizers talked about the "Spiritual movement." Writing of this happy interview, Mr. Peebles reports, "This 'Sage of Concord' said, 'The universe is to me one grand spirit manifestation; but as to the minor, the specialities so to speak, I shall have to refer you to Mrs. Emerson, who is much interested in these spiritual matters.'" "CHICAGO, March 10, 1866. "DEAR BROTHER, — I was just thinking how patient God must have been to wait so long for fullest working out of ultimates from commingling primates. And then I thought the reason why is obvious enough; because He sees a principle. Those only lack faith and get out of patience, who have not entered into 'the holy of holies' of ever-unfolding life. To understand a principle is eternal life. No man can have pure 'Platonic love,' unless he has climbed the topmost peak of unfolded principle. . . . "The truth shall make you free.' The unfolding of principle shall make you free. Nobody can bear and forbear, up to the divine standard of human needs, unless he sees clearly into, and all the way through, the principle, or the nature, of things. Nobody can comprehend the divine standard which turns the 'other cheek,' except him who has learned beyond the region of approximates. . You are the vacuum of appreciation SETH PAINE." into which my spirit can flow aud find a resting-place. 66 STURGIS, MICH., June 24, 1866. "MY DEAR BROTHER PEEBLES, - Yes: I think we shall have a good time at the State Convention in Battle Creek. We certainly shall if we are all in the right spirit; if we seek not any personal end, but only the amelioration and elevation of ourselves and our fellow-men. I know you, at least, will so seek the precious good of our dear humanity. My country is the world; my kindred, all mankind; and, though we are all imperfect, I feel that most of us who will gather there will come to the great work of the age. "Cordially, SELDEN J. FINNEY." "ESTEEMED BROTHER J. M. PEEBLES, 66 CHICAGO, Sept. 21, 1866. How cheering! we have in our midst noble souls, whose tested morality, purified sympathies, and holy affections combine in earnest, practical work, whose influence casts the shadow of sunshine. Were it not for this fact, the bitterness of the dark side of Spiritualism would cause us to retire from public labors, sorrowful at the tardy movements of so-called reformers. But the issues of the hour bid us be faithful at the post of duty, discriminating between the true and the false, within and without. ALCINDA WILHELM." "PUTNAM, Oct 9, 1866. "DEAR BROTHER PEEBLES, -God bless you for your kind letter, so much needed. How I love your beautiful teachings! It seems as though you are my elder brother; and I can come to you for counsel. . . Thine, A. E. CARPENTER."* "BROTHER PEEBLES, ... ... "BRIDGEWATER, VT., Oct. 12, 1866. You say you are almost a Shaker in theory, perfectly so in practice;' that the idea of freedom of the affections 'has been a bone of contention,' &c. I believe in freedom of affection; but not indulgence of lusts under the name of Love. To me, the honest recognition of this philosophy of soul-union is of the utmost importance. When men believe it, they will not degrade their manhood, and insult the brute creation with such indulgences as now fill the land with depravity. . . . There then will not be as many divorce cases as now. . . . May the dear angels bless you and keep you as pure, true, and good as I know your soul desires to be! "M. S. TOWNSEND." The following extract was written just after the stormy convention of Spiritualists in Chicago. The author was formerly one of the editors of "The Spiritual Age." Has not the able brother told us the truth? Has there not been a "daubing with untempered mortar?" "WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 25. "DEAR BROTHER PEEBLES, An organization is not to come by throwing together a heterogeneous mass of antagonistic materials, expecting them to fall into order and harmonious combinations. Nature's method, God's method, is different. A little seed, or nucleus of life, is deposited; and this attracts to itself such materials as are fit and proper to constitute the body to be built. So, if there is to be an organization among the crude materials of the Spiritualistic field, it must come of the deposit of a germ of vital truth, first in individual hearts, - or, perhaps, in an individual heart, -so vital as to attract around it by slow concretion the individual particles that will form a living and powerful body. I have no faith in the Convention-al method. It will eventuate in nothing but the formation of, at best, a lifeless body, an external shell, not pervaded by the living spirit. Let these little nuclei begin to be formed, and I shall have some hope. But these must not be mere financial organizations, "to sustain a free platform," on which a babel of contradictions may be enunciated. There must be a basis or center of vital yet catholic truth, something positive, and not merely negative, — something which shall be esteemed of more value than all things else, something which shall pervade and control the daily life of the believer. "Our meetings are got up too much on the star system of theatrical managers. Speak ers are employed to draw, not to tell practical truths, or to develop a practical form of faith, or lead the way to a divine life. . . . I earnestly recommend you for Washington, and am glad you are engaged. I anticipate much from your coming. ... "Yours truly, A. E. NEWTON." *This brother has been for years the efficient missionary for the Spiritualists of Massa chusetts. |