These were days of sombre stillness in the palace of Gamaliel. The birth-pains of a soul, as it passes into the higher life, are more outside than within. Everything around is smitten and takes up a plaint, even when the soul that goes is quickened, and its own path smoothed and lighted.
Intervals of calmness and delirium alternated in their possession of Amabel. Her frame became so thin and transparent that the flashes of the pulsating self seemed to shine through, and reveal its vital dominance. But her incoherent utterances during periods of aberration, though very weak, gradually became more distinct.
“Serenus! Serenus!” was plainly upon her lips. It was repeated again and again. This was made known to Gamaliel. He was a wise father and a prudent interpreter. He thought deeply upon the matter; and after a brief but sharp conflict in his own mind between parental [pg 183]love and official dignity, the former prevailed, and he sat down and wrote a hasty letter.
[Rabban Gamaliel to Victor Serenus.]
“Palace of Gamaliel, Tammuz XXV.
“O Serenus! my friend and former helper! Peace be unto thee! Knowing well thy noble spirit and wise prudence, I pray for thy kind favor in my affliction. Touching a request that I make unto thee, my heart is rent with sorrow, in that my dear Amabel is soon to depart from our midst. She hath a deadly disorder, so that her days with us are nearly ended. And now I have to inform thee that, in her moments of sleep or wandering, she speaketh of thee and calleth thy name. Peradventure thy presence might soothe her, and bring peace to her troubled soul. While we mourn her as already dead, we pray that her closing hours may be serene. I am persuaded that past events have not clouded thy friendly spirit, and therefore beseech thy presence with us. The God of Israel bless thee! In sore affliction,
Gamaliel.”
The breast of Serenus was rent with conflicting emotions as he laid down the letter. Mingled with his sorrow at the sad tidings about Amabel, there was even a note of gladness. “She loves me!” was the thought that echoed and re-echoed through his heart. “If her seen form is to vanish, she is not the visible, but the invisible, and love is eternal. The grave can rear no wall nor make no gulf between us. Behold we dwell here for a season in tents, and then quietly fold them and move forward. Poor Amabel! She loveth me, but hid her love that she might not increase my burden.”
“But the sad tidings of the letter hath made me un[pg 184]mindful of my faith! Why should I consent to the declaration that Amabel must pass from sight? What have I to do with the faithlessness of the world? nay, even of the ceremonial religionist? What do the physicians, who are persuaded that her life must go out, understand of the vital powers of the spirit? Their nauseous medicaments touch but the utmost surface of life’s visible expression. They wot not of its hidden springs, and how to take hold upon them! Even the eyes of Gamaliel, master in Israel though he be, are not opened to the Father’s helpfulness! Did not the prophet of Nazareth declare, ‘These signs shall follow them that believe’? Behold neither the world nor the church doth believe! Have I not witnessed wonderful works among the Essenes and Therapeutæ? nay, are they not now common in the household of the New Faith? Is not the life of God in all things? and hath not every one that measure of it which he will open his soul to receive? Behold the Father withholdeth not, for all things are freely given to his children. His abounding spirit of wholeness is waiting to fill every place which is made meet!”
Such were some of the thoughts that flashed through the mind of Serenus. While at first taken unawares, and cast down by the tidings of Amabel’s condition, he soon felt a mighty influx of faith and strength that filled him with spiritual energy. Nothing was impossible!