“And now, dear Amabel! I would spend a little season alone. Peradventure some light may come to me concerning this present trial, its meaning and conclusion.”
“Light of my life! may thou be truly exalted in the silence.”
Amabel remained in the cabin, while Serenus retired to their little room and closed the door.
The gift to lift the curtain which veils the future, in varying degree, has come to a rare soul, here and there, in all ages. But more properly it is not a favor, specially bestowed from without, but a supernal attainment within,—an unwonted spiritual altitude. The prophetic instinct lies deeply embedded in the soul of man, but few there be who can strip away the thick coverings of sense, so as to read the direction of the delicate needle of the spiritual compass. Such a power is no miracle in the sense of a change or improved action on the part of the Unchangeable Perfection, but an orderly lifting of the soul into a close communion with It,—the Divine Mind. Through spiritual law, steadfast in its regularity,—of which the world at large has yet had but fitful glimpses,—events not only distant, but of the future, are clearly laid open to highly attuned souls. History, [pg 259]both ancient and modern, is marked with such demonstrations of the potency of a higher law. They are crowning-points of light, like the few widely separated stars of great magnitude in the black firmament of night.
There is a psychical unfoldment without its proportionate spiritual counterpart, and there is a possible reverse order; but it is the supreme and rounded combination of both which makes the true prophet.
Such was Victor Serenus.
He was in the little room alone—no, not alone. It was his to climb the Mount of Transfiguration, and gain a view from its summit.
* * * * * * * * * *
The great turbulent waves broke upon the Salapiæ, making her quiver in every timber—but he felt it not! The howling of the wind, groaning of the hard-pressed pumps, and a Babel of voices rent the air—but he heard them not. The peril which threatened every soul on board steadily increased—but he knew it not. His animate form reclined in the little room, but he was not there.
The embrace of the Infinite was about him!