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200 LETTERS.
to have been. It is much my own fault, arising from want
of calmness and clearness in expressing myself; but nuch
is also owing to circumstances. Last winter I went often
to see you, my soul overflowing with words, which I thought
would have been full of comfort to you after the loss of
your daughter; for I know there was consolation and light
in them,— light which streams forth out of the treasures
of the Word, but which the human soul is not always capa-
ble of receiving with equal life and clearness. I longed
to communicate with you, but you were never alone, and it
is impossible for me to speak on serious subjects in the
presence of a third person, a mere listener. We shall
meet again, if it pleases God, and then, I trust, in a brighter
and more hopeful frame of mind. Yes, oh yes! we shall
again rejoice in the light which the gospel sheds over the
gloomiest portion of our life, of our fate. Next year I
shall devote almost exclusively to the study of the Bible.
In much I hope to gain more clearness, more coherence ;
but I know that many of the details will remain dark and
incomprehensible to me. But during this study, I shall
steadily adhere to one opinion ; and that is, that the Bible,
like all writings, has its body and its soul. The body may
change, may grow old, may become deformed ; yet the soul
will remain the same in all its main features. The written
word is the body ; the spirit is the soul. By rightly becom-
ing acquainted with the latter, we shall learn to interpret
the meaning truly and best, even where it has become less
clear from bodily defects. But I know that what is dark
and incomprehensible will not disturb me any more. The
knowledge of the wants of mankind, and a devout acquaint-
ance with Christ’s individuality, give to his existence, life,
and teachings a reality, and give also a firmness to our
belief (namely, to a sensible, rational belief) in Him, which
no obscurity of occasional passages and no fit of doubt can
shake. And these difficulties, doubts, disquietudes, and
sufferings, which formerly so often have assailed me, have
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