isdom grants scarcely a boon to her
faithful that the foolish or wicked would prize. And indeed, it may
often take place that the sage, as he moves among men, shall pass
almost unnoticed, shall affect them but slightly; be this that his stay
is too brief, that he comes too late, that he misses true contact; or
perchance that he has to contend with forces too overwhelming, amassed
by myriad men from time immemorial. No miracles can he perform on
material things; he can save only that which life's ordinary laws still
allow to be saved; and himself, it may be, shall be suddenly seized in
a great inexorable whirlwind. But, though he perish therein, still does
he escape the fate that is common to most; for at least he will die
without having been forced--for weeks, or it may be for years, before
the catastrophe--to be the helpless, despairing witness of the ruin of
his soul. And to save some one--if we admit that in life there are
truly two lives--does not of necessity mean that we save him from death
and disaster; but indeed that we render him happier, inasmuch as we try
to improve him. Moral salvation is the greatest salvation; and yet,
what a trifle this seems, as everything seems that is done on the
loftiest summits of soul. Was the penitent thief not saved; and that
not alone in the Christian sense of the word, but in its fullest, most
perfect meaning? Still had he to die, and at that very hour; but he
died eternally happy; because at the very last moment he too had been
loved, and a Being of infinite wisdom had declared that his soul had
not been without value; that his soul, too, had been good, and had not
passed through the world unperceived of all men.

35. As we go deeper down into life we discover the secret of more and
more sorrow and helplessness. We see that many souls round us lead idle
and foolish lives, because they believe they are useless, unnoticed by
all, unloved, and convinced they have nothing within them that is
worthy of love. But to the sage the hour must come when every soul that
exists claims his glance, his approval, his love--if only because it
possesses the mysterious gift of existence. The hour must come when he
sees that falsehood and weakness and vice are but on the surface; when
his eye shall pierce through, and discover the strength, and the truth,
and the virtue that lie underneath. Happy and blessed hour, when
wickedness stands forth revealed as goodness bereft of its guide; and
treacher