CHAPTER XXXVI
NOCTURNAL INTERVIEW WITH A SEER
“I sent my soul through the invisible,
Some lessons of the after life to spell,
By and by it came and answered,
I myself am heaven and hell.”
Joy reigned in the house of Marcius. The unlooked-for arrival of Serenus and Amabel brought about a general and happy reunion of friends who long had been widely separated.
The abode of Serenus was now in Alexandria. As the worthy successor of Philo, he was the eminent head of a school of liberal Christian philosophy, where teachers and missionaries were trained and educated. The academy was not devoted to mere philosophical speculation and theorizing, but to the promulgation of the New Faith in its pristine purity. Both by precept and example Serenus inculcated a practical spiritual life which transformed those who came within its moulding influence. The school became a living fountain, from which went out the waves of a Christly Christianity. Set free, even in greater measure than the Primitive Church, from Jewish dogmatism, the truth was purged from all traditional rubbish, and given out in all its intrinsic value and beauty. It was the simple New Faith, [pg 450]without any admixture of asceticism, touched and gilded by the light of the highest and best Greek philosophy and idealism. The influence upon the world at large of the Alexandrian liberal school of Christianity, not being recorded in canonized history, has been mostly unrecognized in ecclesiastical annals.
The day after the arrival of Serenus and Amabel passed swiftly in mutual converse and encouragement. Every one of the reunited circle had much to recount. What a wealth of experiences gained, obstacles overcome, and inspirations kindled!
Late in the evening Marcius felt a strange and unwonted spirit of restlessness. All the rest of the household had retired for the night, when some intangible but powerful influence almost impelled him to go into the open air for a season of meditation and communion with the spirit of Nature. Telling Rebecca of his intention, he went out upon the porch and took his favorite seat overlooking the beautiful bay. The harmony and sublimity of the scene were borne in upon his soul, and gave him a sense of profound serenity. The air was soft and balmy, and the full-orbed moon was lifting herself above the horizon in queenly majesty, lighting up the expanse of waters with a sheen of wavy silver.