‘Dilur, Aug. 25.
‘This is a very quiet place ... so I have plenty of time for thinking. I have been musing to-day why it is so very much more easy to love some Christians than others. You and every other servant of God must feel this, I think. It is not quite easy to get at the bottom of the matter. I ought to have particular facilities for judging; for, thank God, I find it easy to love a good many.
‘I have been considering to-day that simile of the four different circles round Him Who is the Centre of light, holiness, and beauty. Those who live nearest to Him, I do believe, actually catch something, however faint, of His likeness.... Christ is the All-attractive; and in the degree that His redeemed ones reflect His Image, it seems to me that they unconsciously attract. If I be not mistaken in this idea, one sees why anything of littleness or meanness repulses. Those possessing such qualities may be sincere servants of Christ; but these qualities spoil all likeness! So, love, here is the result of my cogitations, as I reclined on the sofa to rest myself after rather a tiring little expedition.
‘But oh, what a solemnising thought it is!—The likeness to Him, which we know will be apparent in another world, to begin in this! The glass of our souls, so spotted and dusty,—spotted with sin, and dusty with pettiness,—to be cleansed and polished, so as to receive such an Image! But you and I, love, have caught a glimpse of that Image in those whom we have been privileged to know; have we not?’
TO MRS. HAMILTON.
‘Sept. 29.
‘Yes, precious Laura, you might be sure that Char does not forget you in prayer any day; but your last dear letter from Ilfracombe made me more inclined to praise. It seemed as if God had granted just what I wished for you; that spiritual joy which is His special gift. Why should the Children of Light tread the pilgrim way in heaviness? “Light is sown for the righteous,” and the crop begins to show itself even here....’
Later, in the same letter, when speaking of two young converts, she says of one of them:—
‘He is a Mullah’s (Muhammadan religious teacher’s) son, and has been brought up in a fine school for bigotry. He told me what a merit it is considered to kill infidels; and that, when a child, he had intended to acquire this merit. “Do you mean that, if they could, the Muhammadans would think it right to kill all the Europeans and Native Christians?” I asked. “Beshakh!” (Without doubt!) replied the lad simply. Happily all Muhammadans are not Mullahs’ sons!’
‘Batala, Oct. 31, 1879.—What shall I say for the splendid box, which reached me in perfect condition to-night? I am almost bewildered by the multitude of my possessions, and have hardly yet quite realised their amount.... What shall I begin with?—not the medicine, surely,—and yet quinine is such a treasure in India, so often required, asked for! It is the medicine in a fever-land. And it is dreadfully expensive. I think that I once paid more than a guinea for a bottle, not a large one. But the cretonne—yes, that must have a principal place in my letter of thanks; such a splendid supply!...