‘Will you, my child, try some of these ways, and not be soon weary? In due season you will reap, if you faint not.
‘Perhaps you will soon find some ways more suited to yourself than some of those I have suggested; but you asked me. I will try to get a beautiful prayer I have heard asking for light. It may be that the answer will be a baptism of fire;—a heaping coals of fire on our heads, and thus purifying us from evil. I would say earnestly, compel yourself (though often unwillingly), to look up to the Father, as the noblest souls have done in all ages, whether Christian or not. You must catch some beams of heavenly light, and see, as St. Stephen did, that man may be glorified to stand at the Right Hand of God, and to share with Him in carrying out His purposes of love. I think you will be led on to see the Father revealed in the Son; to me He is the Way, and it seems His words are true for us now: “No man cometh unto the Father (cometh near so as to see and know Him) but by Me.”
‘May the Good Shepherd lead you to green pastures and the still waters of comfort.’
To one who found danger and unreality in forms and ceremonies, and who wrote: ‘I feel I am cutting myself off from you in writing like this.’ She replied:—
‘PS.—Nothing will cut you off from me. I thought I had given no rules, only such suggestions as a heathen philosopher might have followed. I wrote my letter hastily; I should like to see what I said.
‘Your letter gave me pain, which was partly selfish, to find I was too ignorant to help you. We must have a little talk some day.’
To one who had written that she had to fight hard against pessimism caused by much unaccountable and apparently needless suffering. She answered:—
‘November 10, 1895.
‘I think our faith in God, as in any person, rests more on what He is than what He does....
‘Now I come to the conclusion:—