Then another voice overhead, clearer, more thoughtful, more musical than the first, sang sweetly: “Jehovah upholdeth all that fall, And raiseth up all who are bowed down.” Thereupon the first voice near me proceeded in the same low sweet tones full of sadness: “But as for me, my feet were almost gone, My steps had well nigh slipped.” The higher, nobler voice continued the heavenly consolations of Scripture: “Nevertheless I am ever with thee!” The voices, the music, the refrain, the holy words of the Psalmist, stirred in the tenderest manner the very depths of my soul. I wept. A new faith, a new hope, a new divine resolution were born within me. Like a singer who has been overcome with emotion, but dries her tears and resumes her singing,—the sadness overshadowed by a modest courage,—the first voice was heard again: “Thou hast held me by my right hand, Thou shalt guide me by thy counsel, And afterward shalt receive me into glory.” Then there was a burst of divine music as from a hidden choir of angels, in which the two voices joined; and this was the hymn: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want: He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters; He restoreth my soul!” The strains died softly away, lingering long on my charmed ear and leaving my heart in a sacred calm. I prayed with intense earnestness: “From self-love and the love of the world; from self-righteousness, presumption and hypocrisy; from pride, ambition and sensuality; all of which I have seen so fearfully unmasked: “Good Lord! deliver me.” I opened my eyes, and my father and the seraph-faced forerunner of Jesus stood before me. The latter took my hand tenderly in his own, and said: “All the experiences of life, both in the world of men and in the world of spirits, are given to teach us the difference between good and evil, between the true and the false; to show us the deformity of sin and the beauty of holiness; to deliver our souls from the bondage of hell, and lift them into the peace of heaven.” [Illustration: Ornament] [Illustration: Ornament] XIX. _THE MAGICIANS IN HELL._ [Illustration: Initial] We had then a long conversation about the mysteries of regeneration or the new birth, scarcely any of which are known to mankind, or would be believed if they were revealed. This knowledge is so peculiarly spiritual and angelic that it seems useless for me to say anything about it. If a church on earth ever comprehends these divine arcana, it will only be when the Lord sees fit to open his heavens anew, and to unfold the spiritual meaning of his Word.