Agents of Wickedness

The faith in a personal devil and his agents of wickedness was to us a far safer belief than the careless assurance we have grown into, that thoughts and actions are merely the expression of our own uninfluenced individuality. If we remember the number of undeveloped, evil-minded, and malicious souls passing constantly from our midst into the beyond, what more natural field presents itself for the exercise of their wicked propensities than the injury of those here on a higher plane than themselves, and towards whom they seem to feel a peculiar hatred and jealousy? We may be sure that the exact condition of our inner life and spiritual atmosphere is as clear to their vision as are physical forms to our material senses, and that tendencies and moods are open avenues for the influence of these subtle workers to crowd in upon, and by their artful management of vacillating motives ofttimes to turn the wavering balance on the side of wrong and evil. How necessary, then, to keep the mind clear and the heart pure, that good angels may come in and help us to battle out every struggle for right. Presences, good and evil, are ever watching near us; it is for ourselves to determine which shall be the chosen guests of our inner sanctuary.

Excerpt from Light on the Hidden Way, Ticknor & Company, Boston, 1886