The little Pilgrim hung her head and cried, ’I do not understand.  Will not the Lord interfere?  Will not the Father make it clear to him?  Is he the judge between good and evil?  Is it all in his own hand?’

The Sage spoke softly, as if with awe.  He said, ’This is the burden of our nature, which is not like the angels.  There is none in heaven or on earth that can take from him what is his right and great honor among the creatures of God.  The Father respects that which He has made.  He will force no child of His.  And there is no haste with Him; nor has it ever been fathomed among us how long He will wait, or if there is any end.  The air is full of the coming and going of those who plead before the sons of men; and sometimes in great misery and trouble there will be a cause won and a judgment recorded which makes the universe rejoice.  And in everything at the end it is proved that our Lord’s way is the best, and that all can be accomplished in His name.’

The little Pilgrim went on her way in silence, knowing that the longing in her heart which was to compel them to come in, like that king who sent to gather his guests from the highways and the hedges, could not be right, since it was not the Father’s way, yet confused in her soul, and full of an eager desire to go back and wake that man and tell him all that had been in her heart while she watched him sitting on his judgment-seat.  But there came recollections wafted across her mind as by breezes of the past, of scenes in her earthly life when she had spoken without avail, when she had said all that was in her heart and failed, and done harm when she had meant to do good.  And slowly it came upon her that her companion spoke the truth, and that no man can save his brother; but each must sit and hear the pleadings and pronounce that judgment which is for life or death.  ‘But oh,’ she cried, ’how long and how bitter it is for those who love them, and must stand by and can give no aid!’

Then her companion unfolded to her the patience of the Lord, and how He is not discouraged, nor ever weary, but opens His great assizes year by year and day by day; and how the cause was argued again, as she had seen it, before the souls of men, sometimes again and again and over and over, till the pleadings of the advocates carried conviction, and the judge perceived the truth and consented to it.  He showed her that this was the great thing in human life, and that though it was not enough to make a man perfect, yet that he who sinned against his will was different from the man who sinned with his will; and how in all things the choice of the man for good or evil was all in all.  And he led her about the world so that she could see how everywhere the heavenly advocates were travelling, entering into the secret places of the souls, and pleading with each man to his face.  And the little Pilgrim looked on with pitying and tender eyes, and it seemed to her that the heart of the judge, before whom that great question