"There is nothing, Professor Gray," replied Dr. Jones, "that I am more positive of than that we are constantly surrounded by, and in actual contact with, spiritual forces. And further, that if we were but in a receptive condition, or were in the attitude toward God that we should be, we might, like Elisha's servant, see the hosts of the Lord camping upon the hills round about us. But my individual belief would be of no value if not based upon experience.
"The first thing I ever saw that I recognized as purely spiritual in its character was at the deathbed of a four year old boy. I was myself at this time but twelve years old, but I received an impression that I can never forget. I was standing at the foot of his little bed, his father and mother and three or four brothers and sisters were ranged along the sides and by his head. He was gasping in the last struggle with the grim monster, when he suddenly threw his hands toward the ceiling and cried out in a clear, strong voice, 'O papa! see there!' His little face that had been so distorted with suffering lightened up with the glory of the better world. His arms gradually sank to his side, and he was dead. But that heavenly smile remained upon his face long after death. One may explain away this glory-burst through the eyes of a dying child, calling it hallucination of a fevered or diseased brain if they will, but to me it was a revelation of spirit land.
"A few years ago I was permitted again to get a glimpse of the pearly gates, and this time it was the hand of a sweet little girl who lifted aside the veil for her sorrowing friends and myself. She was in the last extremity with diphtheritic croup. Her face was bloated and blue-black with suffocation. Her eyes were nearly bursting from their sockets, glassy and staring; and her face, always so sweet and beautiful, was now distorted so that her mother could not endure the sight, and cried in her agony, 'My God! is this my little Bertha? I cannot believe it!' Bertha, in her expiring effort for breath, had raised upon her knees in bed, when suddenly, as in the other case, she raised her hands, her face illumined with the 'light that is not seen upon sea or land,' and she said in a strong, clear whisper—for her vocal cords were so involved in the diphtheritic membranes that her voice was gone completely—'O mamma! I see Jesus!' The ecstasy lasted a moment or so, and then I laid her back upon the pillow—dead! Here again is an opportunity for the agnostic to cavil and reject such evidence. But of one thing you may be sure: If he derives as much pleasure from his unbelief as I do in believing, then he is a very happy man.
"And now I will relate what to me was still more startling and wonderful on the line of spiritual evidence or experience. I practiced medicine a few years in the Sierra Mountains, California. I was called one afternoon to see a patient in a mining camp some twelve or fifteen miles away. I rode a faithful, sure-footed little mare, and chose a short cut over a dangerous mountain trail. I had a deep cañon to cross, and was coming down into it on my return, when night set in. It became so dark that I could not see the trail, but fully trusted my little mare. I dropped the reins upon her neck and let her choose her own way and gait. We were on the most dangerous part of the trail, where it was not more than twelve or fifteen inches wide, and upon my left hand was a black chasm, some fifty or seventy-five feet deep. I was singing a hymn as unconcernedly as I ever did in my life, when suddenly something said to me, 'Get off that horse!' I did not stop to reason or ask questions, but promptly threw myself off on the right side and stood a moment by the animal, not knowing what the meaning could be. It was not an audible voice that had spoken to me, yet it was none the less distinct and unmistakable. I stood two or three minutes thus, waiting for further developments. Then I stepped down in front of Mollie—as I called the mare—into the trail, and started to lead her. I did not dare to get into the saddle again, though I could not imagine what was coming next. I had not proceeded ten feet, when I came to an exceedingly steep pitch in the trail. I had gone down this pitch but a few feet when something held me and I could go no farther. I nearly fell over the obstruction which I felt holding my legs. I reached down and found a heavy wire drawn very tightly across the trail, just above my knees. You will never know the feelings I experienced at that moment. I saw in an instant that my Heavenly Father had interposed and saved me from a violent death."
"What was that wire, and how came it there?" asked Fred.
"It was a telegraph wire. The pole on the opposite side of the cañon had been washed from its footing, and was hanging by its full weight from the wire, thus drawing it very taut across the trail."
"Could not this warning which you received be accounted for from a psychological standpoint?" asked Professor Gray.
"I will answer your question by asking another: If we reject the spiritual side of man's nature, then we have nothing left of him but the material. Now I ask you as a physicist, what is there in the laws governing matter that could in any degree account for the phenomenon that I have just related?"
"Nothing," answered the Professor.
"That is right, Professor. And I prefer to recognize the hand of God in this, and to believe that He exercises a special care over his children; that not a hair falls from the head of one of his believing children without the Father's notice. It is so much better to simply trust and believe. Nothing is so detestable as the spirit of skepticism abroad in the land to-day. The ministry itself is more or less permeated and honeycombed with the abominations called 'Higher Criticism,' 'Evolution,' etc. They would have us believe that the Bible is filled with interpolations, and that wicked men and devils, careless translators or copyists have been allowed to destroy to a very great extent the validity of that book. Now I simply take this stand: God has created you and me, and has endowed us each with an immortal principle which we call soul. He has placed us in this probationary state and has set before us two ways: The straight and narrow way that leads to Eternal Life, and the broad way that leads to Eternal Death. In order that we may know His will and so be able to fulfill the conditions of salvation, He has given us the Holy Bible. He is responsible for the validity of that book, and we may defy all the smart Alecks and devils in the universe to invalidate a single essential word of it. The gist of the whole matter reduces to a simple syllogism.