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Title: The Right Knock - A Story
Author: Van-Anderson, Helen, 1859-
Language: English
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THE RIGHT KNOCK
A Story
by
HELEN VAN-ANDERSON
Author of "It Is Possible," "The Story of Teddy," "The Journal of a Live
Woman," etc., etc.
"Go to your bosom;
Knock there; and ask your heart, what it doth know"
--SHAKESPEARE.
_THIRTEENTH EDITION_
Published by
_The New York Magazine of Mysteries_
22 North William Street, New York City
Copyright, 1889, by Helen Van-Anderson
All rights reserved
THE RIGHT KNOCK
Copyright, 1903, by
The New York Magazine
of Mysteries
All rights reserved
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER. PAGE.
I. MRS. HAYDEN, 9
II. THE GIRLS AT HOME, 17
III. A FIRE AND A RETROSPECT, 25
IV. BEGINNINGS, 30
V. THE OLD DOUBTS AGAIN, 36
VI. TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, 44
VII. A NEW HOPE, 59
VIII. WHAT THE WORLD SAID, 63
IX. A STRUGGLE WITH SELF, 70
X. HINTS OF HELP, 79
XI. LEAVING HOME, 83
XII. MRS. PEARL'S LECTURE, 90
XIII. THE TRUE FOUNDATION, 95
XIV. QUESTIONINGS, 104
XV. WHAT IS NOT TRUE, 112
XVI. STUDYING AND PROVING, 125
XVII. WHAT IS TRUE, 131
XVIII. IT MUST BE SO, 141
XIX. THE SPIRITUAL BIRTH, 151
XX. TANGLES AND TALKS, 162
XXI. INSPIRATION AND THE BIBLE, 172
XXII. A CHURCH COMMITTEE, 184
XXIII. PRAYER, 192
XXIV. EVERY-DAY PRACTICE, 202
XXV. UNDERSTANDING, 211
XXVI. A NEW PROBLEM, 222
XXVII. UNDERCURRENTS, 228
XXVIII. THE POWER OF THOUGHT, 234
XXIX. AN UNEXPECTED MEETING, 243
XXX. PRACTICAL APPLICATION, 249
XXXI. CONFIDENCES, 257
XXXII. PRACTICAL APPLICATION, 262
XXXIII. GRACE, 274
XXXIV. PRACTICAL APPLICATION, 281
XXXV. PRACTICAL APPLICATION, 291
XXXVI. FOUND AT LAST, 300
XXXVII. AFTER THREE YEARS, 308
PREFACE.
Although most excellent food is to be found on the table of metaphysical
thought, there has never yet been a metaphysical story setting forth a
picture of every-day life, in its search for, and attainment of
satisfaction through the knowledge of Christ Philosophy.
Knowing the pressing need of such a book among the many inquirers and
students on this theme, and with the hope of helping to fill that need,
this story is told.
It is a book of facts, not fiction, although wearing the dress of
fiction. Every case of healing, every seemingly marvelous experience has
come under the observation of the writer and can be authenticated as a
veritable fact.
That there are hundreds, yea, thousands to-day, who leave their homes
and go to distant cities for the sake of pursuing the study of Christ
Philosophy, or receiving the benefit of its healing ministry, is proof
enough that the story of one woman's experience will be interesting and
helpful to all.
While the lessons contained in Mrs. Hayden's letters are not exhaustive,
they are valuable for their very simplicity, and are thoroughly
practical, complete instructions for the beginning and continuance of
the study of this wonderful truth.
With every lesson supplemented by personal experiences, the reader sees
not only the theory but the practice demonstrated, and in this simple
story he may find the mirror of his own inner hopes and aspirations,
with a broader view of their possible attainment than he has yet seen.
Carlyle says: "If a book come from the heart, it will contrive to reach
other hearts." "The Right Knock" is presented with no other apology than
this: it has come from the heart.
HELEN VAN-ANDERSON.
PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION.
To a new and awakened public the author gives greetings and begs to say
a few more words about THE RIGHT KNOCK.
After all these years of work along the lines laid out in the book and
with a wide knowledge of prevailing systems of mental training, the
author is happy to be able to say with unbounded confidence that there
is nothing to excel this system for beginners, for those desiring to lay
a lasting foundation. The emphasis laid upon the necessity for
persistent, regular and systematic practice of word speaking by audible
repetition, is great, but none too great. For the faithful student this
never fails to bring results, never fails to put him in the way of
understanding and demonstration. With regular practice and constant
application in the daily life, with good judgment as to the details of
practice, length of time at one exercise, etc., the pupil is assured in
one way or another certain convincing experiences which develop
individuality and, with that, his God-like gifts. Thousands have proven
this.
The unnumbered letters of gratitude, the kind words, the warm
hand-clasps, the many testimonials of sick beds forsaken, depressed
spirits revived, vices discontinued, of physical and moral strength
regained, prove that the work of the Spirit is not to be measured by
puny human standards of judgment, prove that simple things--the things
from which we expect the least, in which we put the least ambition or
worldly desire may be those which will yield the "hundred fold" of real
blessing.
The test of any spiritual truth lies in its demonstration and in the
inspiration and faithfulness with which it can be lived. Be true to the
truth and you will demonstrate it. Live the Christ life and the works
will follow; yet seek truth for its own sake, not for its power.
A word about Christian Science. Sometimes persons aver of THE RIGHT
KNOCK that it teaches Christian Science pure and simple. With all due
respect and a recognition of the grand and marvelous work done by Mrs.
Eddy, the author feels called upon to say, in justice to Mrs. Eddy as
well as herself, that this is not true.
There are undoubtedly many similar statements, yet there are many
differences which the careful reader will discover. Please note, for
example, that not matter itself, but matter as the real substance or
power, is denied. Not sickness of the body, but sickness of the Spirit,
is a falsity, etc., etc.
In brief, the author of THE RIGHT KNOCK believes there is a name, place
and condition for _everything_, and that the discrimination of the plane
on which a thing or condition exists, is the key to placing it in the
right relation to the whole.
In conclusion, the author would say most earnestly, study one writer or
teacher at one time, just as you would study music of one instructor at
one time. It is not the many books but _the Book within_ which is to
reveal all things.
God speed you.
HELEN VAN-ANDERSON.
THE RIGHT KNOCK is now in its THIRTEENTH edition, a fact which speaks
for the _great helpfulness_ of the book, and proclaims without further
comment its _world wide Scope_.
THE RIGHT KNOCK.
CHAPTER I.
"When you have resolved to be great, abide by yourself, and do not
weakly try to reconcile yourself with the world."--_Emerson._
There was a brilliant light in all the windows at Terrace Hill. Even the
verandahs were gorgeous with the gayest Chinese lanterns, and every bush
and tree in the lawn did duty as chandelier. Flowers, too, festooned
every arch and embowered every corner, while rare vases fulfilled their
esteemed privilege of holding and showing fragrant blossoms.
Everybody declared the decorations superb, and agreed that no one but
Mrs. Hayden could display such exquisite taste and such perfect judgment
in selection and arrangement. Animated groups of gayly attired guests
sauntered up and down the rose-bowered walks, or promenaded the
verandahs, while sounds of music and merriment from the house proclaimed
the joy that reigned throughout.
"Oh, how beautifully Mrs. Hayden entertains!" remarked Kate Turner to
her friend Grace Hall, as they stopped beside a marble fountain to
survey the scene. "I wonder what place such a woman would take in
society without her wealth," she continued.
"Probably wouldn't have _any_ place, I am sorry to say, because there
are thousands of women just as capable and bright as Mrs. Hayden, yet
because they have no social position, or rather no money to buy
themselves one, they are unrecognized and alone," said Grace, with a
tinge of bitterness in her tone.
"I could never fancy Mrs. Hayden alone or unrecognized, although I only
know her as a society lady, and that mostly through Mrs. Nottingham."
"There is no telling what a person really is till they have gone through
a trial of some kind, or had something disagreeable to bear. _Then_ one
of two things happens: you will see either a saint or a sinner, and I am
not sure which Mrs. Hayden would be. She hasn't yet seen a flame from
the fire of adversity, I'm sure. See how wonderfully she is blessed with
this beautiful home, a good husband and three nice children."
"Oh! it must be lovely to have everything you want," sighed Kate, under
her breath.
Poor Kate! She was alone in the world, making the best of life with her
talent for music and through a mutual friend had been introduced to Mrs.
Hayden, who, after hearing her play, immediately engaged her for Mabel,
and always invited her to the parties, more as a musical attraction,
than out of any real regard, for Mrs. Hayden had an abundance of friends
without troubling herself to cultivate in any warm fashion, the
friendship of a poor little music teacher, thought Kate, somewhat
bitterly.
"But after all, Kate, life would need more than luxuries to make it _my_
ideal of happiness. I should want every human being to be agreeably
employed; every woman, no matter how much or how little she might have,
should be occupied with something that she could put her heart into and
speak to the world through her work, whether it be painting pictures or
darning stockings."
"Now Gracious, you are riding your hobby and you ought to see you can't
ride with all these fine people in your path. Come down at once or I'll
desert you! Let's go in and hear that waltz," and Kate laughingly pulled
the hobby-rider into the path that led to the conservatory where they
could listen to the music.
"What a beautiful home Mrs. Hayden has!" said Mrs. Ferris to her
neighbor with the severe collar and plain hair, as they examined the
exquisite frescoing on the parlor ceiling.
"Yes, but she ought to look into poor homes once in a while. She don't
use her money in the right way. Just think of the good she might do for
our church, if she would contribute to the charity fund, or take some
poor families to look after."
The fat neck folded itself over the severe collar and the face settled
into rigid lines of judgment. Mrs. Dyke was a practical woman and talked
in a practical way. Being a wonderful church worker she naturally
considered it everybody's duty to give when they did not work for the
cause of religion. She belonged to the First Methodist Church on High
St., and talked about "our church" as though there were no other.
Mrs. Ferris was at a loss. She had said something that had not brought
forth a pleasant result. She merely wished to be sociable, and what more
convenient topic than these beautiful surroundings? She was a meek
little woman, who always wanted to say something agreeable or soothing,
and she felt quite frightened at the mistake she had made. She wished
somebody would come to the rescue, but there was no immediate prospect,
and she scarcely knew how to proceed again, but ventured to ask if there
were many poor people who needed attention now.
"Yes, indeed there are no less than fifteen families in the mission
quarter nearest Mrs. Hayden who would consider it a privilege to pick up
the crumbs from her table, and I am afraid she'll have to give an
account _some_ time when the reckoning day comes, for those who have not
'given cups of cold water, or visited the sick languishing in prison.'"
The air almost trembled with a suggestion of something. Little Mrs.
Ferris looked longingly towards the door and just then spied her husband
who was seeking her. After she was gone, Mrs. Dyke looked grimly about,
and not finding any one to listen, she relapsed into a meditative
silence. People always wondered what made Mrs. Dyke so popular that she
received an invitation to every aristocratic party, but it was according
to the old adage, "Where there is a will there is a way."
This was a _gala_ night for Hampton. Such large social parties were
always an event, and no one refused an invitation to Mrs. Hayden's, for
it always meant beautiful rooms, carpets, pictures and _bric-a-brac_,
superb refreshments, and a splendid time generally. Mrs. Hayden was a
favorite with the world because she fed the world with sugar plums, and
after smacking its lips it was always ready for more. And she usually
had one to drop in. To-night it was a remarkably sweet one. This was a
general affair, and every big body and big body's cousins and friends
were there. To be sure they discussed their hostess as freely as though
they were not big bodies, but with rare exceptions the discussion was
complimentary in the extreme. Mrs. Hayden, what she said, what she did,
what she wore, what she served as refreshments the last time, what were
the probabilities next, her children, her husband, what they all did and
said and how they acted, etc., were always interesting themes.
Sometimes, to be sure, there were adverse remarks like Mrs. Dyke's, but
few made them.
Yes, Mrs. Hayden was decidedly popular, and although no one was ever
heard to tell of any particularly grand or noble deed she had done, she
was supposed to be doing good all the time. There were those who, in
earlier years, would have pointed her out as an enthusiastic
philanthropist, eagerly helping whatever project needed her most, but
gradually she had dropped it all, no one knew why, and now her principal
work was to shine in society, at least this was the general verdict of
the adverse few who judged from the superficial standpoint of the world.
Of her inner life they knew nothing as the world knows nothing of any
one's inner life. There may be depths or shallows in any character never
dreamed of by the most intimate friend, much less by the babbling world.
Mrs. Hayden moved about among her guests with a stately grace. She had
always a pleasant faculty of adjusting the broken links of conversation,
supplying a _repartee_ or asking a question, introducing strange
gentlemen and reviving timid _debutantes_ with a pretty compliment or a
gracious smile.
"My dear, I wish you would play something," she whispered to Miss Turner
as she passed her, "I think the group in the drawing room need a little
change;" and no wonder, for there was Mrs. Dyke in a hot dispute with a
Unitarian over Robert Elsmere, while her pastor sat near, occasionally
adding something to Mrs. Dyke's emphatic remarks.
"It's a most blasphemous piece of presumption to present such a picture
as that of the church. As if it were in its last stages of decay,
indeed! It was well such a weak-minded idiot as Robert Elsmere died at
the beginning of his career. I could never forgive the author if she
hadn't killed him," she was saying in an angry voice.
"We can take it simply as a symbol of the decay of his religion, and
that is comforting," added the minister, complacently.
"I am not at all in sympathy with the holy Catherine, with her prejudice
and bigotry. If it wasn't such a true picture of the many Catherines we
find in real life, I should be quite disgusted, but I do love to see
real people in novels, then I know so much better how to deal with
them," said a pretty young lady who aspired to be called intellectual
because she liked to study character.
"Indeed, Catherine had a deep religious nature, which might be worthy of
emulation in many respects, and she is certainly a high ideal of wifely
love," Mrs. Hayden interposed at this critical juncture.
"Well, I didn't read the book for Catherine, but for the sake of knowing
Robert and what he did to make such a stir in the world. I'm opposed to
novels, as a rule, and read as little of one as I can," said Mrs. Dyke,
smoothing her lap and looking at the minister. Mrs. Hayden motioned to
Kate to play, and presently the rooms were filled with harmony.
Kate Turner was a natural musician, and to-night she fairly excelled
herself. The little passage at arms just recorded had inspired her with
emotions that could only be expressed in music, and she played some time
to the continued delight of her listeners. She finished at last with a
song that stirred every heart, and even Mrs. Dyke was visibly softened.
"Verily 'music hath charms to soothe a savage breast,'" murmured the
intellectual young lady, who was sorry that discussion of Robert Elsmere
had been interrupted. She rather enjoyed Mrs. Dyke, for she was an
immensely interesting "character."
This reception, like all others, came to an end at last. Everybody
expressed themselves as highly delighted with their entertainment, and
one by one reluctantly took their departure; the gay lanterns on the
lawn and among the shrubbery went out, the lights inside the splendid
mansion were finally extinguished, and only the quiet starlight
illumined Terrace Hill.
Mrs. Hayden, from her high bay window, looked out over the sleeping
city, then at the North Star that beamed so brightly above her--that
unerring beacon-light that guides so many lost mariners into port. Some
deep thought must have moved her, some hidden impulse stirred her mind.
She sighed. There was no visible reason for it. Then she turned and went
down the stairs to the nursery. Her two babies were sleeping sweetly.
Mabel was asleep in her room, and all was quiet. The hush seemed
oppressive after so much gay confusion. Now she was in another element.
Now she was the mother, then she was a fashionable woman. She hastened
back to her room, once more gazed without and then thoughtfully
retired.
CHAPTER II.
"Christianity is not a theory or a speculation, but a _life_; not a
philosophy of life, but a life and a living process."--_Coleridge._
Kate Turner walked slowly along the street at the foot of Terrace Hill.
She looked up at the beautiful home where she had spent the previous
evening, and as she saw the velvet lawn and terraced walks bordered with
bright flowers, she half pitied herself because she was only a plodding
music teacher. She was not envious, but she had such longing aspirations
to be somebody in the world; she wanted so many things, needed so much
to complete her education, and starved herself in so many ways for the
sake of completing it, that sometimes she grew discontented with her
lot. Fortunately her moods did not last long, however, and especially
when she went home to her artist friend, Grace, with whom she shared
rooms. They were both making their own way in the world, and were a
great help to each other, as well as a great comfort.
Kate was wondering what Mrs. Hayden did every day with her leisure. She
should think she would be tired always going to parties and lunches and
operas, or receiving calls. "But then, I am thankful to know her," she
concluded, casting a last glance at the stately mansion before turning
the corner. "After all, life might be worse for me, and I can be a happy
nobody if not a famous somebody," she said to herself, as she ran
upstairs, after stopping at the baker's for a loaf of bread and a pot of
jam.
"Well, Gracious, what noble message have you given to the world through
your work to-day?" she cried, a moment later, gaily peering into the
studio through the _portières_ that separated their parlor from the work
room.
"Is that you, Kate? Well, I've been trying the whole afternoon to make
this Hebe look like a modern Hypatia, but----"
"In other words," interrupted Kate, "you would change innocence into
intellect. Now, look here, Grace, just leave this dainty girl alone. She
would never do to serve the gods if you gave her the aspect and bearing
of a goddess. Let her alone, or the world would not recognize her as a
representative woman," laughed Kate, inspecting the picture with
critical eyes.
"Kate, stop laughing, and tell me truly if you think it would not do to
give her a little more independence."
"You know it's the worst thing in the world to give a woman even an
inkling that such a thing exists," said the mischievous Kate, with a
total abandonment to consequences as she gave the artist an impetuous
hug.
"Well, let us have tea, and we'll discuss the subject later," said
Grace, somewhat mollified.
"I am afraid, Gracious, you are something in the same mood I was when I
started home to-night, but I concluded to let 'dull care' take care of
itself, and be merry while the sun shines, which means as long as we
have enough to pay our rent, and the prospect of a little more next
month," continued Kate as she brought a tiny oil stove from the depths
of a closet and proceeded to "put the kettle on."
"I have been so full of thoughts of the nineteenth century that I found
it hard to go back to the Pagan ages, but here this picture is ordered,
and I must finish it by next week, so I guess this one will have to go
without my message," said Grace, a little gloomily, for above all things
she loved to put her own individuality into her pictures, which she
generally did with rare success.
"You mustn't have just one ideal of woman, or you'll lose the art of
painting the sweetest phases of womanhood," replied the busy housemaid
from the sepulchral closet.
"Oh! if I have such excellent models as you make in that checked apron
and dusting cap, I can do nobly."
Grace laughed good humoredly as she cleaned her palette and set Hebe in
one corner.
"Now, my dear, isn't there something I can do to help arrange the
feast?" as she went into the little back room they used for a kitchen.
"Yes, wash the grapes and open the jam while I cut the bread and pour
the tea."
A few minutes later they were _tête-à-tête_ at the little table, and as
they sat down Grace said with a comical smile: "Quite a difference
between our banquet of last night and this, isn't there?"
"I should remark there is, but after all, Grace, I believe I am quite
content. As I was passing along at the foot of the hill this evening a
momentary dissatisfaction came over me that I couldn't have a few
advantages _like_ Mrs. Hayden's, not hers of course, but similar ones,"
with a smile at the distinction, "and then I wondered how she spends all
her leisure, for of course she has the whole twenty-four hours at her
disposal, and--well, to be brief, I would not want to live without some
object in life, and so I thought it best the way it is now."
"Very wise conclusion, Kate, that's just what I always say, and really
who is there with whom we would care to exchange places? There are so
many kinds of people and so many things for humanity to contend against,
I don't know that I should want to change burdens with anyone."
"Mrs. Dyke, for instance, would you not think yourself fortunate to be
like her?" said Kate, with a merry twinkle in her eyes.
"Oh, deliver me from that comparison! Why, she carries everybody's sins
on her shoulders; I even heard she had taken Robert Elsmere to throw at
the world!" laughed Grace.
"But not his wife; she didn't read about her. Wasn't it too funny to
hear her go on last night, and the way she looked at the minister to
emphasize her position?"
"Yes, but how many there are like her--read just enough to know there
are such and such characters and such and such incidents. Now of course
she has heard the minister define Robert's crime, as he would call it I
suppose, so she thinks she can use the whole argument," replied Grace, a
little scornfully.
"Mrs. Hayden interposed just at the right time. I was glad she did, too.
It seems she has considered Catherine's position and could speak a good
word for her," said Kate, sipping her tea, thoughtfully.
"Well, if she calls her an ideal of wifely love, I don't admire the
reality," exclaimed Grace, with more vigor than elegance, as she put
down her tea-cup.
"I got positively impatient," she continued, "when I read about her
cruelty to Robert, judging him in that inquisitor's fashion. Poor
fellow! _I_ think he died of a broken heart."
"But, Grace, she did what she thought was her religious duty, and it
must have been hard for her to withdraw herself so completely when she
loved him so much," said the more charitable Kate.
"Do you call that love which would let him go tramping off alone, with
not even a word of sympathy, and so afraid that her religion would be
contaminated she could not even hear him preach? I don't pretend to be
religious, but any religion stands on a poor foundation if it can be
swept away by anybody's opinions."
"It wasn't that; it was because she thought it was wrong to listen to
heresy, as she supposed it was, and----"
"How did she know? Had she taken pains to find out? Did she study it
carefully and have a reason for her cruel judgment?" interrupted the
wrathful Grace.
"Well, she was conscientious and was doing what she had been taught was
right."
"Kate, if there is anything that makes me out of patience with people
it is when they hang all their actions on what somebody else says, and
that excuse is simply barbarous in this case."
"Remember that in religion one must follow what he thinks to be right,
and Catherine Elsmere represents a large class of people; in fact, the
majority of religious people."
Kate was naturally inclined to be charitable, and this, added to her
early training in a religious home, as well as her position as a church
member, made her understand Catherine's position from a conscientious
standpoint much more than Grace. She could readily appreciate the fixed
law of conscience Catherine had made for herself by pledging her sacred
word of honor to her father, whom she revered as an infallible
authority, as most people revere the legends and doctrines of the
church.
"I admit that it is right to follow the dictates of one's own
conscience, but I believe in having an enlightened conscience, and a
reason for opinions. For that matter, so did Robert have a conscience,
and while I don't understand his religion, I respect his honesty and
effort. There are a great many beautiful things in what he says, but
there must be a mistake somewhere in a religion that can not save to the
uttermost, and his didn't. I haven't found one that does," said Grace,
with some irony.
"Nevertheless, Grace, there is nothing to warrant your assertion in the
Bible. The Christian religion is full of the most blessed promises of
salvation in _everything_," said Kate, gently, but flushing a little as
she spoke, for she disliked talking religion with Grace, who was so
skeptical, although if compelled to do so, it was a matter of duty to
stand up for her Christian principles.
"Yes, I admit it gives many wonderful promises, but where are they
realized? It seems to me the very fact that the church has not proven
them, made such people as Robert Elsmere doubt them even as possible of
fulfillment."
"Why Grace, surely _you_ don't disbelieve in the power of God to fulfill
the promises?" exclaimed Kate, deeply pained.
"I am talking from Robert Elsmere's standpoint," answered Grace,
evasively.
"My sympathy is with Catherine, for to her, religion was a living answer
to her deepest needs and feelings, and to doubt that answer was nothing
less than sacrilege," said Kate, with a bright red spot on either cheek.
"Well," answered Grace, throwing down her napkin, "I want to see a
religion that will stand infinite investigation without falling into
ruins, and Robert reasoned himself away from the old beliefs and dogmas
because he investigated them. He used his God-given reason, and I think
that is to be used as well as the blind, unquestioning faith of
Catherine."
"There are times when we need faith and times when we need reason, but
faith applies to religion and reason to the things of the world,"
replied Kate, recalling what she had heard a few Sundays before.
"Well, to me the ideal of religion is a marriage, a union of faith and
reason--but this is idle talk. What does anybody know of such perfection
as I demand anyway?"
Grace impatiently pushed her chair away from the table, and went to look
at her picture again, in a decidedly gloomy mood.
CHAPTER III.
"Such is the world, understand it, despise it, love it; cheerfully
hold on thy way through it, with thy eye on highest
loadstars."--_Carlyle._
It was a week since the party. Mrs. Hayden had been to the opera and
returned late. Her husband was absent on a business trip, and she felt a
vague uneasiness come over her as she entered the room. She knew not
why, but it seemed unusually lonely without him. She seldom went out
alone, but to-night she had gone out as much to while away the time as
to hear the music. After paying her usual visit to the nursery, she went
to bed, but slept little for several hours.
About 4 o'clock she was awakened by stifling fumes of smoke and
startling cries of fire. Was it too late? She sprang up and ran to the
nursery stairs, but the scorching flames met her, and she retreated to
the window, shrieking for help, only to get a glimpse of someone through
the smoke climbing toward her.
"Hold on!" cried the fireman, and reached out his arms for her just as
she fell back fainting. Grasping her firmly, the brave man dragged her
out of the window, and began his perilous descent. When about half way
down, the ladder fell, but its burden was expected, and mattress and
bed-clothing saved them from what might have been worse. As it was, the
fireman escaped with a few bruises and slight scorching, and Mrs.
Hayden with a broken limb. First they feared she was dead, but after a
few moments she revived and moaned feebly for husband and children.
Little Mabel clung desperately to her mother, and sobbingly told her
"only the house was burnt. Fred and Jamie were safe, and now she must
get up and be glad." Poor child, instinctively she knew the value of
life above all other things.
"How did it happen, where did it start, and who saw it first?" were the
queries on every side. Some one down at the foot of the hill had seen a
tiny blue flame licking the corner of the roof. The fire alarm was
touched, the bells set to ringing, and the observers leaped up the
terraced stairways and arrived at the top just as the whole house burst
into flames. The fire company had not arrived in time to do anything, as
it was impossible to climb the hill with their heavy trucks, and their
hose was not long enough to reach the flames, so the house was gone.
Many people had gathered from all quarters in the fashion peculiar to
fire crowds, but now they had seen the spectacle, and, as there was
nothing further to see or do, they slowly dispersed.
Mrs. Hayden and the children were removed to the hotel and a telegram
sent to Mr. Hayden, informing him of the catastrophe.
When he arrived, twelve hours later, he found his wife confined to the
bed with a nervous fever and a broken limb. The children were safe and
well cared for, and though his elegant home was in ruins, John Hayden
was deeply thankful. Marion would, of course, get over the trouble, and
things were much better than they might have been, he said. So he tried
to look on the bright side, and after a few cheering words and a loving
kiss he left her, to run up the hill and view the ruins.
It was early twilight, and as he beheld the smouldering _debris_, and
realized that the comforts and luxuries, possibly the necessities of
life had gone up in the smoke that even now curled in sullen wreaths
from the blackened heaps, he bowed his head and wept.
It was but a moment, but that moment was the bitterest of his whole
life. He knew better than anyone else that this was probably the
beginning of financial misfortune, for a very important transaction was
even now pending that he feared would take his all. As a merchant he had
an honorable reputation and position, but this unfortunate speculation
would ruin him. Failure seemed inevitable. But he hoped to save enough
to pay every debt and still be able to live, even though in a modest
way. Now he would not even get his insurance on his house, for in his
financial embarrassment he had failed to renew his policy, which had
expired but few days before. He would now have little besides this spot,
this beautiful hill. Yes, it was valuable, and in time could be sold for
what it was worth, but not now, and in the meantime what should he do?
How would Marion take it? Why had he not told her before he went away?
But he had known it himself only a few days.
"Oh, my dear wife, would that we could commence life as we did when we
were first married!" he groaned.
His mind went back to the past. He looked again into her sweet, girlish
face, into her clear, earnest eyes. He remembered how they had both
desired to live a religious life, how he, having been brought up in a
religious home, undertook in vain to explain the Bible where it was dark
and unreasonable to her. He remembered how fruitlessly she had tried to
be converted, and that he had found even through her earnest seeking
that he had naught but the letter of religion and was also as helpless
as to the manner of salvation. And then they had given up trying. She
sought, for a while, to satisfy herself by doing for others, giving her
time and energy to the poor that found her out and besieged her for
favors, while he had been satisfied to let religion alone and believe
with the majority concerning the doctrines and dogmas.
As the years went on, and prosperity came to them, he had grown more and
more indifferent, and finally, when they moved away from their early
home and entered a new city, they had begun a new life, as it were.
He remembered, regretfully, that she had entered the competitive ranks
of society, at his wish at first, because he thought it would add to his
popularity as a merchant and increase the number and quality of his
customers. Too well he remembered that the elegant parties and party
costumes were first his own instigation, and now that these were likely
to be taken away, he felt responsible for her happiness, and had a
secret misgiving, born of his early religious training perhaps, of
retribution and judgment. He hoped indeed that she would be able to
rise above circumstances, but he was utterly at a loss to know how she
would take it, for although he knew that deep down in her heart were
still traces of the early longings, he felt vaguely there was no way to
satisfy them any more now than in the past, and probably they would only
increase the difficulty of finding happiness.
John Hayden was kind-hearted and upright in all his ways, strictly
honest and conscientious, but apt to be a little one-sided in his
judgments, simply because, as a rule, he reasoned from one standpoint,
thought in one groove. He had never considered the questions from this
point of view, and therefore they were seriously perplexing. Like many
another he lived within his own world, and knew naught of any other. In
the later years of their married life he and Marion had grown a little
apart in the closest confidences, but it was caused by circumstances
more than anything else, and notwithstanding the present misery he was
sure of her love.
"Poor girl, I must hasten back to her," he murmured, as he rose from his
uncomfortable position. "After all, I can thank God for my family, my
health, my honor, for no matter how much _we_ may suffer, no one else
shall suffer through me."
There was a little pang at the thought of the privations in possible
store for the family through him, but he had resolved to make the best
of circumstances and be brave as possible. Once more he looked over the
scene, but there were only dim black shadows in the starlight, and he
went down toward the twinkling lights of the city below.
CHAPTER IV.
"Society is like a piece of frozen water; and skating well the
great art of social life."--_Letitia Elizabeth Landon._
"Too bad about Hayden, isn't it?" said one business man to another after
the crash came.
"Yes, I am sorry for him, but he is coming out honorably, and I hope
he'll commence again before long."
"Well, he is made of the right stuff if he did make one mistake, and I
guess he will never make the same blunder again. Too bad though about
his house. No insurance at all, and that was a magnificent property."
"Indeed it was, and I hope for his wife's sake he can sell the lot and
get another home for her."
"Can't do it now though--real estate is too low for any use in Hampton."
"Yes, that's so. The only way is to mortgage, and that seems a pity in
this case--" and they passed on out of hearing.
John Hayden, standing within the doorway of the open store, had
overheard the remarks, and while they pained, they cheered him. From
that moment his resolve was taken, and as soon as everything was
honorably settled he applied for credit of his old friends in the
wholesale houses and they gladly gave it, for his reputation was
unimpeachable.
Then he rented a modest little store and began anew.
Mrs. Hayden lay sick seven weeks, and arose a weak and nervous invalid,
"doomed to carry a still limb all her life," the physicians said. They
could not discover why her limb was stiff, but there was no help for it.
How did she bear the change in her life and circumstances? When her
husband told her, she just put her arms around his neck and whispered;
"All right, John, I shall do the best I can to help you bear it." And
from that moment they began life again. She did not even complain when
they were obliged to move into a small cottage in the suburbs, but it
was hard for her to be ignored and forgotten by the elegant social
world, where she had so recently been an acknowledged leader.
Alas! she had no sugar plums for society now, so it soon forgot her
existence. There were, however, some exceptions among her former
friends, and she was glad to welcome among her few visitors, Kate Turner
and Grace Hall, who had grown to love Mrs. Hayden more than they would
have thought possible when she seemed so high above them in the social
scale.
"She is turning out a saint rather than a sinner," said Kate one
evening, as they were discussing the Haydens and recalled the
conversation of the night of the party.
"Just wait awhile. Many people can be heroic in great things, but are
sadly deficient when it comes to the little things," said Grace, with
her usual caution. "I believe I could be a heroine myself, if some grand
opportunity came," she added, smiling.
"Oh, Grace, don't trifle so; you know this is a very serious matter with
Mr. and Mrs. Hayden, and they are both doing nobly," cried Kate, with
tears in her eyes.
"Well, queen Katherine, I don't mean any harm, and you must not think
anything of my brusque speeches. As you know, there is a tinge of
skepticism in me which I can not help, and my ideals are so much higher
than the realities of life, that I am always painfully conscious of the
difference."
"Well, what would you wish Mrs. Hayden to be like, for instance, in
order to come up to your ideal of the heroic woman?" asked Kate in a
softened tone.
"Kate dear, I love Mrs. Hayden as much as you do, and would not for a
moment disparage her virtues, but it strikes me as a philosophical fact
that as a rule, human nature can and does display wonderful courage in
great emergencies, but fails miserably in details, and this ought not to
be so. Nothing would please me better than to see one life prove that I
am wrong."
"That is all true, Gracie, about humanity in general, but she is lovely,
and I am sorry for her having to be lame all her life. It's a perfect
shame that she must lose even her health, for of course she will never
be strong again."
"Another defect to be noted somewhere in the universal economy. It seems
to me we are pretty helpless creatures, generally speaking, for it all
appears to be a matter of chance whether we get well or not, when we
_do_ get sick," mused Grace, bent upon drawing her own conclusions.
Poor girl! Life had been rather hard for her, and she judged it as it
appeared, and there _did_ seem a great flaw somewhere which she was
trying her best to solve by noting every phase of life as she found it.
Naturally bright, keenly intellectual and very independent, she was a
philosopher as well as an artist, and always ready for a tilt with the
world on its most petted opinions. Hers was a reasoning mind that
observed all inconsistencies and discrepancies in anything she studied,
and there was generally a little acidity in her judgment of the world
and its bigoted ways.
"I can't see why Mrs. Hayden should not be cured completely," continued
Kate, ignoring her companion's last shot, "for it wasn't so bad that
anybody knew of until she got up."
"My dear madam," said Grace, striking an owlish attitude, "you have not
read the latest opinion expressed by one of the most learned professors
in the Allopathic school of medicine in Paris. He stood before the class
of graduating students and said: 'Gentlemen, you have done me the honor
to come here to listen to a lecture on the science of medicine. I must
frankly confess I know nothing about it, and, moreover, know of no one
who does. Any one who takes medicine is fortunate if it helps him, but
more fortunate if it does not harm him.' Whether our friend is fortunate
or unfortunate is a question hard to decide. I move we discuss another
subject."
Kate laughed in spite of herself, and Grace got up to take another view
of the "Modern Hypatia," which at last was growing into a visible
creation under her skillful brush.
"Isn't that a woman for you?" she said, pointing to the picture
admiringly, as she held it under the gas light.
"Yes, I like her better than Hebe. She has a look of reserved power
about her that is captivating, but there is something in her face that
makes me sad, something that is lacking."
"What is it? Tell me, for _I_ can see nothing!" Grace questioned
impetuously.
"Wait a minute, perhaps I can define it. There! hold it so. Let me see,"
and Kate walked off a few paces.
"Yes, it is dissatisfaction, an incompleteness, as though she had not
found what she sought."
"Can you see that, Kate? Then I am at the same time the most happy and
unhappy creature alive," cried Grace, breathlessly dropping into a chair
and holding the picture fondly near her face.
"Why?" said the astonished Kate.
"Don't you know I am forever putting myself into my pictures? And I've
succeeded too admirably with this one. The poor thing has caught my
unconscious fault of finding defects everywhere. Oh, I must get it out
of her some way; how shall I, when to me she looks so perfect?"
"You better get it out of yourself first, if that is the trouble,"
replied Kate, with a great wave of pity in her voice.
"I wish I could. Oh, why do I have to see everything in the wrong way?
It seems to me life would be heavenly, if I could know only the good in
everything." Grace put down the picture and gazed at it with stern,
accusing eyes. "I shall leave this one and begin another to-morrow," she
finally announced in a subdued tone.
"I am glad you won't rub this out, for she is too lovely," said Kate,
softly, as she went about, gently putting things in order, picking up
her music and arranging the books.
Grace sat there brooding over her life problems with a new thought in
her mind. She dimly realized that a woman must have a genuine message
herself before she tries to give it to the world. And alas, her message
was sadly deficient, she found. Mechanically she took a book from the
table and opening it at random, read:
"If the whole is ever to gladden thee,
That whole in the smallest thing thou must see."
"That is not bad philosophy, whose is it?" she thought. She looked at
the book. It was Goethe's poems, but she was not in the mood for
reading, and she sat thinking till late at night. This was a new
sentiment. She would digest it and test its practical truth.
CHAPTER V.
Take up the threads of life at home,
Let not the stitches drop;
The busy world will know 'tis done
Though ne'er it pause nor stop.
"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace
but the triumph of principles."--_Emerson._
A year passed away, and Mrs. Hayden grew no better. She was not as
cheerful as she had been at first, and instead of growing into the
brave, patient woman she longed to become, she had grown fretful and
irritable, and was in many ways different from the Mrs. Hayden Kate and
Grace had talked about so enthusiastically. None knew better than she,
how miserably she had failed to live the life that was soul
satisfying--the life that brought forth fruits. In all the years of her
prosperity, in the midst of the gayeties and luxuries, she had secretly
longed for something she never found, and in one sense it had not been
hard for her to give up the life of ease and idleness, because she had
hoped to find in the new duties a new peace and satisfaction, had hoped
to live up to her ideal of a noble woman, and it was with her whole
heart she had promised her husband her help and sympathy, but in all the
eighteen months, she had been but a burden; even calm forbearance and
cheerfulness had ceased to be virtues. The children, not having a
nursery, must needs be anywhere and everywhere, and in spite of her
efforts to the contrary, their noise annoyed her.
To-night she sat thinking it all over, in one of her most despondent
moods, for be it said to her credit, things did not always appear as
gloomy as she represented them to herself.
The ruddy firelight flickered over her in fitful gleams of light and
shadow. The children were out romping in the twilight, enjoying the
first snow of the season. Her husband had not yet returned from the
store.
What was the use, anyway, pursued the relentless conscience--even the
wish to be good was always choked by a complete forgetfulness; and
before she could catch her breath the words were out, so, although she
had believed nearly all her life that one might grow into goodness, she
was quite rebellious to-night with the thought of its impossibility, and
she felt bitter, too, to think of the long years of uselessness
stretching out before her. Scarcely thirty-five and yet she felt like a
cross, crabbed old woman, and shuddered to think of all the years to
come, if they were to be like the past, and there seemed no help for it
unless she could conquer herself. The doctor had done what he could to
cure her dyspepsia but she was a veritable slave to her capricious
stomach. She felt one of her oft-recurring sick headaches coming on and
every thought grew blacker and more disconsolate. Oh! she wished supper
were over and the children safe in bed, so she could be free from their
noise, and here they come! she thought, as a great stamping and laughing
was heard in the hall.
"Oh, mamma! such lovely snowflakes, just like a fairy's quilt, and they
have been falling all over us till we're like people in frost land. Just
look, mamma!" cried Mabel, who liked a romp as well as the boys,
although she was thirteen. Three-year-old Jamie and five-year-old Fred
came trooping in behind.
"Well, mamma, God has turned on the snow faucets," announced Fred, with
characteristic importance.
"An' all 'e fevvers is tummin' down fum 'e 'ky," shouted Jamie at the
top of his voice.
"And mamma, _can't_ we have a sled and go coasting this winter?" queried
Mabel, not noticing in her eagerness that her mamma was very sick.
"Oh, _don't_ make so much noise. Take them away and keep quiet, Mabel. I
can not endure so much confusion."
They went out clanging the door behind them in spite of their efforts to
keep quiet, and as their voices grew fainter, she thought with another
remorseful pang: "I have sent them away again. Why must I yield always
to self instead of overcoming?" Presently, however, all attempts at
thinking were lost in the efforts to get the camphor, bathe her head and
find some comforting spot whereon to rest her aching temples.
A subdued family gathered around the table that evening and everyone
felt the necessity of being quiet as possible. Even Fred and Jamie
understood that they _must_ keep still, and managed to keep their voices
down to something less than a shrill whisper.
Mrs. Hayden partook only of a small cup of tea and was then assisted to
her room, where she expected to remain for at least two days--the usual
time. Her husband spent the evening rubbing her head, bathing it with
camphor and keeping the house quiet as possible.
The next day dawned cloudy and grey, with a faint mildness in the air,
indicating a thaw. Mabel went to school, Fred and Jamie amused
themselves in the back parlor until they were tired and then flattened
their noses against the window, trying to see how many drops of melted
snow fell from the porch roof.
"I want a snow man," wailed Jamie, suddenly remembering what papa said
about the snow long ago.
"Well, you can't have it," said Fred, with great decision, who generally
opposed anything on principle.
"Yes, we can. We can go out and make one," persisted Jamie.
"Jack Frost'll bite your fingers."
"No he won't."
"He will--"
"He won't eever--"
"He will, 'cos mamma said so," said naughty Fred.
Jamie's little face clouded and the lip began to quiver; then a sudden
thought striking him, he jumped up, beaming with delight, and cried, as
he ran towards the hall:
"Mamma said Jack Frost couldn't find me when I had my overcoat and wed
mittens on, and my wed cap."
"You can't reach your coat an' you've lost your mittens," insisted Fred,
with perseverance worthy a better cause.
"O, yes I can. I can 'tep on my high chair," dragging it after him.
"I can get my things on first," said Fred who suddenly decided in favor
of the snow man, and hurriedly suiting the action to the word, rushed to
get his coat which hung under Jamie's, just as Jamie reached his little
hands up to get his. Fred gave a tremendous flirt and pull at his coat
which overbalanced his little brother and down came the high chair and
Jamie plump upon the luckless Fred, whose angry squeals and kicks,
mingled with Jamie's loud shrieks of terror made a commotion that
brought Anna, the housekeeper, to the rescue.
"What _is_ the matter?" as she plucked Jamie from the general _debris_.
"Fred pulled me down--"
"Jamie jumped on me," said both at once as soon as they could get their
breath.
"An', I aint lost my wed mittens, an' my little white leg is broke off,"
cried Jamie suddenly, spying the oft-mended leg of the high-chair, which
in this _melee_, had completely severed company with the rest of the
chair, and now mutely appealed for help to be put on again.
"There, there, papa can mend it all right again. Don't cry, little man.
Now Fred, you must stop crying and play nice with Jamie and not quarrel
so much. There! I hear mamma's bell; I must go see what she wants. Run
away and be quiet, for mamma can't stand a _bit_ of noise to-day," and
Anna left them again to their own devices. Jamie carefully laid the
little white leg away in his box of playthings, and then both children
went back to the window to watch the drops again.
"I see one, two, three, seven, four, ten--" slowly counted Jamie as the
crystal drops fell.
"Oh, I see a ice berg, an' I'm goin' to get it for candy," shouted Fred
as he ran out on the porch and seized an icicle. It seemed so nice out
there that he stayed and called Jamie to come, too. They were delighted
with the new plaything and new sights, and any thought of being cold or
needing their coats never entered their minds, so the icicle, the
beautiful drops, and finally the snow claimed their attention until they
were at last happily engaged in the much-desired occupation of making a
snow man.
It was near noon and the sun had finally rifted the grayest clouds, and
was sending such warm smiles on the snow-laden earth that trees and
fences, roofs and ridges burst into tears of joy. So, often does the
sun-shiny smile melt the ice-bound prison of discontent or
misunderstanding.
Fred and Jamie were in the midst of their interesting creation when Mr.
Hayden came home to dinner.
"Boys! boys!" he called from the gate as soon as he saw them. "You'll
catch your death of cold; run into the house, quick! Why haven't you
something on your heads and rubbers on your feet?" and without waiting
to hear their vociferous reply, he hurried them into the house.
"Oh, but it was such fun, papa, an' we was goin' to put two coals in his
head, cos' his eyes was black, you know, an' your old mashed hat for his
head, an'--"
"An' me foun' a 'tick for his arm," interrupted Jamie, who must be sure
papa knew all about this wonderful man.
"Yes, he looks very promising, and I guess I'll have to finish him for
you; but you must not go out again to-day. Just think what would we do
if you should be sick while mamma must be in bed. Poor mamma, she would
feel bad and cry because she couldn't help you, and it would make her
feel very sorry indeed to know her little boys went out without somebody
saying they might."
"Well, papa, we didn't mean to go 'thout our things on, but two of the
_beautifullest_ icebergs hunged down an' we played they was candy an'
all the pretty drops said stop, stop, stop, an'--"
"Yes, an' the 'no was full of 'tars 'at shined right up at us an'
laughed an' played hide an' seek wiv each other."
"An' Jamie wanted to make a snow man," suddenly remembered Fred.
"Cos papa did when he was a little boy, an' he telled me sometimes so
could I--"
"Oh, you little rogues, it is well you can trace it back," laughed papa,
catching each small man, and placing upon his knees.
"Why, look here, your shoes are all wet, and your fingers red, and your
clothes sprinkled with water. This will never do. Take off your shoes,
Fred. Here, Anna," he called, as he heard her in the dining room,
"bring some dry stockings and aprons. These boys have been out in the
wet snow, and must be changed right away. Put a flannel round their
necks, too. I'm afraid they'll have the croup to-night." With as much
haste as possible, he stripped off their wet clothes, chafed their hands
and feet, and with an anxious look left them, to go and speak to his
wife who, when suffering from headache could allow no one to enter the
room except her husband or Anna.
That night the whole household were aroused by the hoarse and
unmistakable cough of croup. Jamie had taken cold, as his father feared
he would. The doctor was sent for in wild haste, and after several hours
of watchful care and frequent taking of hive syrup or ipecac, Jamie was
at last sleeping quietly, and every one felt that after this, at least,
those children should be so well guarded that escape would be
impossible, and the dreaded enemy kept out. This was always a result of
exposure, and Mr. and Mrs. Hayden had often wished for the time when
Jamie would outgrow the attacks as that really seemed the only thing in
which lay any hope.
CHAPTER VI.
"Build thee more stately mansions
Oh my soul,
As the swift seasons roll,
Leave thy low vaulted past.
Let each new temple nobler than the last
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free:
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea."
--_O. W. Holmes._
"How do you do Mrs. Hayden? You see I come in without ceremony as usual,
but I heard you'd had one of your headaches again," and Mrs. Reade
seated herself cosily on the sofa near which Mrs. Hayden sat languidly
trying to read.
"Oh, I have about recovered my usual strength, but of course I must be
careful and not get excited or overworked, though my work I am sorry to
say, does not amount to much." After a few moments commonplace
conversation, Mrs. Reade said, carefully:
"Now Mrs. Hayden, I believe there _is_ a help for you somewhere.
Wouldn't you like to try something new?"
"Why, you _know_ I would try anything that would give relief, but I have
exhausted everything that ever was heard of, and now every remedy seems
very transient or of no effect at all."
Mrs. Hayden leaned wearily back in her chair and seemed to think there
was no use discussing the subject any longer. After a few moments
thoughtful silence, Mrs. Reade looked up at her friend and said,
timidly:
"Mrs. Hayden, have you ever heard of Christian Healing?"
"No. What is it?"
"I can't tell, only that it is just the most wonderful panacea for all
ills that ever was discovered and they say it can be learned, and
applied by everybody."
"Do you mean that I could learn it and could then cure myself?"
"Yes, that is what they claim."
"Why, Mrs. Reade, what is all this wonderful news, and if it is true,
why hasn't the world heard of it before?" exclaimed Mrs. Hayden with an
amused smile.
Mrs. Reade did not return the smile but a still more earnest look came
into her eyes. She bent over her bit of sewing for a moment and then
looking up, as though resolved to speak the truth at any cost, she went
on:
"Mrs. Hayden, it is the fulfillment of the promises in the Bible, that
to them that believe, these signs should be given. You remember the
passage don't you, where Jesus gave His disciples the same power to heal
that He had?"
"Well, but that was long ago, and the promise was for the disciples, I
suppose."
"No, it was for everybody; and do you know, Mrs. Hayden, I can hardly
wait to learn this new method, I am so interested."
"How did you hear about it?"
"When I was down to Mapleton last summer I heard something about it
through a friend of mine, who was cured of chronic congestive headaches,
and now my cousin, Miss Greening, from Norfolk, has come on to spend the
holidays with us, and strange to say, she has been cured of weak
eyes--just came straight from Princeton where she was treated,
and--and--well, the fact is, I want you to come over and see her and may
be _you_ can be cured."
Mrs. Reade was quite frightened for having said so much, but was
reassured by the growing interest in Mrs. Hayden's eyes.
"And you know these things to be true? Why, it _is_ wonderful. How is it
done, by prayer?"
"Not exactly, but it is by some process of thinking. Oh, I can't begin
to tell you, only that it is wonderful, and you must come over and talk
with cousin Helen."
"I am afraid to trust myself out in this uncertain weather. Can't you
both come and take tea with us to-morrow? I hope to be well enough then,
and it would be a great pleasure, for if there is any truth in this, I
want to know it. Do come."
This was a good deal for Mrs. Hayden to say, but she was very earnest
when aroused to interest.
"Yes, we will," said Mrs. Reade, as she rose to go, looking straight
into her friend's eyes with joyful earnestness, "and I am so glad. Good
bye," and she retreated as unceremoniously as she had come, leaving Mrs.
Hayden to wonder why she should be so childishly pleased over that
invitation. It never occurred to her that Mrs. Reade should be so glad
to come merely to tell more about this new way of getting well.
Mrs. Reade was a young housekeeper, who, living just across the street,
was in the habit of often running in to Mrs. Hayden with her little
vexations, her triumphs of cookery, her questions of how to manage
little May, or what to do in matters of household furnishing. She was a
very progressive little woman, and, perhaps owing to the influence of
Mrs. Hayden, was ready at least to give everything a fair hearing. This
new "craze," as some called it, had been presented to her in a way that
compelled her attention and commanded her respect, and especially since
her cousin's coming had she been intensely interested.
Particularly was she desirous of enlisting the attention of Mrs. Hayden,
who not only needed the physical help to be obtained, but who would be
an excellent advocate of the principles, providing she could endorse
them, as Mrs. Reade was sure she would, if she could only be made to
understand.
So it was with great anticipated pleasure Mrs. Reade introduced her
cousin to Mrs. Hayden as they went in the next day.
"Now, Cousin Helen, just tell Mrs. Hayden how you were cured. I am so
anxious to set the ball rolling," said Mrs. Reade, with an arch look at
Mrs. Hayden after they were comfortably settled for their talk.
"Yes, indeed," added Mrs. Hayden; "if you have half as wonderful a
message as Mrs. Reade fondly imagines I shall be delighted to hear it,
but I would first like to ask what was the trouble with your eyes, and
something as to their condition when you first looked into this method
of healing."
"I had been obliged to leave school because they were so weak. They were
inflamed and bloodshot. I could not bear to go out in the wind, ride on
the cars, or have any excitement whatever. The occulists said the
trouble was caused by a physical defect that could not be remedied, so
you may imagine my despair. Father and mother came home from a visit in
Kansas, and while there they had heard of a lady in Princeton who was
having remarkable success with mind-cure, as they called it. They coaxed
me to go and try it. I had no faith, but to please them thought I would
go. It could do no harm, they said. The journey, though only sixty miles
from home, was very hard for me. When I arrived at Mrs. Harmon's it
seemed as though I could hardly bear the pain caused by the journey.
"Mrs. Harmon allowed me to stay right at her home, and though only there
a week, I was not only cured, but learned the principles and how to
apply them. After the first treatment I felt so well and happy she told
me I could use my eyes to read an hour or so. From the second treatment
I could use them all I wished. It was perfectly wonderful. When I went
home I was cured. That is now three weeks ago, and I have been using my
eyes constantly, have taken several journeys on the cars, and gone out
day and night."
Mrs. Hayden had listened with the greatest interest, her mind filled
with varying thoughts. Sudden glimpses of wonderful might-be's, mingled
with doubts and hopes, had chased each other in wild confusion through
her bewildered brain.
"Tell me," she found breath at last to ask, "what is it, and how is it
done, and can anybody do it?"
Miss Greening was delighted to find so willing an audience, for in spite
of her remarkable cure, most of her family and friends ridiculed her new
"cure all."
"Oh, I wish I could explain to you as Mrs. Harmon does. I am so very new
in the thought, but I will do the best I can to give you some idea. The
main thing in the beginning is to know that you know nothing," continued
Miss Greening, with a smile. "The world believes in the character as it
appears, to be the real character, that the person who suffers sickness,
sorrow, disappointment, anger or pain is the real self. We have always
taken the people of the world, as they appear, to be the children of
God. This truth teaches that the real child of God is in His image and
likeness and in Him lives, is moved and has His being. According to the
laws of thought, the thought of one individual affects another, and on
this principle the treatments are given, but it is the omnipresent life
Principle that does the work.
"Oh, it is perfectly wonderful, and if you could see what I saw while I
was with Mrs. Harmon, you would not doubt a moment. She was busy from
morning till night with patients. Hardly had time to eat or sleep. It
seemed like the times of the New Testament come back again. Mrs. Harmon
cured a man of rheumatism, where the joints had been stiffened and
contracted for years, in seven treatments. The first week the
treatments did not seem to have any effect, but the second week he
suddenly recovered the use of his arm and limbs, so that he could run
and jump or do anything else that a healthy man can do.
"One young girl, who was suffering from lead poisoning so that she was
given up by three or four prominent physicians, received nine treatments
and, although not perfectly strong and robust, was able to walk several
blocks and was so well that she did not need further treatment.
"Mrs. Harmon treated an old lady of seventy, so that she laid aside
glasses and could see to sew on black cloth. A lady who had been an
invalid for sixteen years was cured so that in a week she was able to
ride a mile and a half to the lectures.
"All these things I saw with my own eyes, and if the evidence had not
been enough in my own case, there were all these proofs. And the
teaching! Oh, it is beautiful. If we could only live up to that the
millenium would surely be here."
In her enthusiasm Miss Greening scarcely noticed the effect of her
words, else she would have seen Mrs. Hayden's expressive eyes full of a
yearning, silent and strong.
"Can it touch anyone's character or moral life?" she asked after a
moment's pause.
"Yes, indeed; there is not one thing in life that is not amenable to its
discipline. Mrs. Harmon says it is a great advantage in governing
children, that every mother ought to know it, for the help in that
direction, even if not for their health."
"What a wonderful thing it must be; and yet I always thought the days of
miracles were past, if indeed they ever were," said Mrs. Hayden,
thoughtfully.
"These are not miracles, as the ordinary understanding of that word
would imply, but are done in accordance with Divine Law, the highest
law,--not the setting aside of any law," interposed Mrs. Reade, who had
been deeply interested in the conversation, but hitherto had been a
silent listener.
"Oh, mamma, I wish supper was ready; I'm so hungry!" cried Fred,
bursting into the room, followed by Jamie and Mabel.
"Mamma, can't we have some--" began Jamie, and then stopped, abashed at
the size of the audience.
"No, dears; mamma don't want you to eat anything before supper. You know
what Doctor Jackson said about the little stomachs that were overworked.
Now, run away and be good; when everything is ready mamma'll call you."
"But we want it _now_. Doctor Jackson don't know everything. It's only
God that knows everything," said Fred, with unanswerable argument.
"Come away, Fred," whispered Mabel, giving him an impatient twitch.
"It's so, anyway; mamma told me about God just the other night."
"He knows I want some ginger 'naps," whimpered Jem.
"Never mind; run out, as mamma says," said Mrs. Hayden, resolutely, and
the aggrieved trio reluctantly departed.
"It would be an immense help to me if I could learn to manage these
three irrepressibles without getting tired all out," said Mrs. Hayden,
with a little sigh.
"Wouldn't it be splendid? I think, Mrs. Hayden, you better let Cousin
Helen treat you, and get you all cured, and then you can go somewhere
and learn how, yourself," said Mrs. Reade, as she demurely wound up the
ball.
Mrs. Hayden looked up with interested surprise. "Do you think anything
could be done for _me_, Miss Greening?"
"A great many worse than you have been cured, why not you?"
"Well, I don't know; it seems so far away and so intangible some way."
"Now, Mrs. Hayden, try it. Let Cousin Helen treat you," interposed Mrs.
Reade.
"What must _I_ do, any mysterious unheard-of thing?" was the answer,
with a look of evident amusement.
"Oh, no! Just sit quietly passive, and be as hopeful as possible during
the treatment. The only thing that might seem hard is to give up all
medicine and material applications while you are under treatment."
"That will not be hard at all, for I have lost all faith in medicine
anyway. When do you want to begin, Miss Greening?"
"Well, I am willing to try my best to help you, Mrs. Hayden, but you
must understand, in the first place, that I take no credit to myself,
for it is God's work. Then I have really not tried to heal any one;
since it was so recently I was cured myself, there has been no
opportunity, but as I said, I will do what I can."
Miss Greening spoke earnestly and reverently. It seemed rather new to
her to be called upon to prove her principles, and yet she had such
perfect faith in them, she never thought of wavering.
"Then it's all settled, and you can take your first treatment to-night,"
spoke up Mrs. Reade, volubly. "I'm so anxious to see you strong and well
like the rest of us," she added half apologetically.
"It will seem too good to be true. I can not realize such a
possibility."
A thoughtful silence fell upon the little company for a few moments, and
when they resumed their conversation, it was about something else.
At their usual tea time, Mr. Hayden, accompanied by Mr. Reade, came in,
and all were presently called to the dining room.
Mr. and Mrs. Hayden had dropped all pretension of style in their present
circumstances, and lived like their neighbors, in a modest but
comfortable way. The children came trooping in when they heard the
supper bell, and delightedly filed out to the dining room with their
elders.
"Well, I hope you ladies have been enjoying yourselves this afternoon. I
notice ladies have that faculty whenever they meet for an hour or so,"
said Mr. Hayden, with a genial smile, as he passed the plates.
"Oh, we have indeed had a lovely time, and a profitable one, too, I
hope," said Mrs. Reade, impulsively.
"You have about converted Mrs. Hayden to your ideas, you and Helen
together, I presume," remarked Mr. Reade, as he spread his napkin out to
its fullest capacity.
"I should certainly like to be converted, if so many wonderful things
are possible as I have heard about this afternoon," and Mrs. Hayden
showed by the unusual energy in her manner and the brightness of her
eyes that something had inspired her to an unwonted degree.
"Well now, tell me what all this is about. You seem to have conspired to
talk in riddles," exclaimed Mr. Hayden, with an injured air.
"Why, it is this new 'craze' they call Christian Healing that seems to
have taken hold of our worthy partners, Mr. Hayden," exclaimed Mr.
Reade, with a half-believing, half-skeptical air.
He really believed much more than he cared to acknowledge, but until he
was better informed of Mr. Hayden's opinions, he thought "discretion the
better part of valor." Someway we often stumble upon such characters in
life. Good-natured souls they are, and so anxious to please everybody.
"I am not sure but there is a good deal in that, Reade. I heard some
gentlemen talking about what was being done in Chicago, and it is truly
wonderful. After all, we know that the mind has a great influence over
the body, and why shouldn't we discover new abilities and powers in that
as we develop in other directions?"
"To be sure; just what I have always said, and now I am having an
opportunity to prove it since my wife is willing to listen," replied Mr.
Reade, with graceful diplomacy.
"Oh, there is something far beyond what you gentlemen see--something so
spiritual and beautiful, that mere intellect can not recognize it. But
you will come to that after awhile, if you only seek to know for Truth's
sake, though the recognition of what you see often comes first,"
interposed Miss Greening, with a warm flush of enthusiasm on her face.
"Certainly. I believe our capacity to recognize higher phases of thought
grows with our eagerness to receive. That is true of any branch of
study," said Mrs. Hayden, with conviction. She was well pleased that her
husband was so favorably inclined to hear, and expressed himself so
cordially. While she was quite independent in her own way of thinking,
it was still a keen pleasure to have her husband on the same side. He,
on the other hand, had great confidence in her judgment, and generally
allowed himself to be convinced, even if he had an opinion in the
beginning. They had been especially near to each other the last year.
Miss Greening was mentally congratulating herself on having found such a
ready audience, and felt as though she could do anything in the way of
healing, as she talked on and on, telling them the many things that had
happened in Princeton. She finished by saying, enthusiastically:
"When I had such wonderful proofs right before my eyes, do you wonder
that I looked with awe and astonishment and wanted to know the secret
of this power? Can you wonder that I felt anxious to go forth into all
the world and preach the gospel? Oh, how delightful, I thought, to carry
such blessed news and be able to give such blessed proof! So when Cousin
Ruth's letter came, asking me to make her a visit, I felt that perhaps
an opportunity would offer in which I might demonstrate the truth of my
precious science, and here it is ready for me, the very work I wanted.
Yes, just as far as possible will I use my knowledge, though as yet it
is but little, to help Mrs. Hayden."
Miss Greening had waxed eloquent in her unconscious enthusiasm, and
seeing the whole company gazing at her in astonished admiration, she
paused suddenly, with a vivid flush on her face, saying: "Pardon me. I
did not mean to monopolize the conversation."
"That apology is entirely unnecessary, for we have been listening to
something so new that its very newness and unconventionality is quite
refreshing, and certainly interesting," said Mr. Hayden, warmly.
"Surely, there must be some healing virtue even in your talk, for I feel
remarkably well to-day," was his wife's delighted addition.
"How glad, oh, how glad I am," fluttered Mrs. Reade.
A movement from Jem caused Mrs. Hayden to notice his extra dish of sauce
and huge piece of frosted cake.
"No, Jem, dear, you mustn't eat any more to-night, and you know mamma
don't want you to have any cake."
"O-o-o-h, peaze, tan't I have some more?"
"Not any more to-day. You know you had to be sick all night, not long
ago, and mamma had to give you some medicine. You don't want to have to
take paregoric, do you?"
"No-o-o, but I want e take!"
"Mamma said you couldn't have any. You're too little, anyway. Didn't I
tell you I ought to have the biggest piece 'cause my stomach's the
biggest, an' I'm not afraid of stomachache. Give me your sauce, if you
can't eat it," said shameless Fred.
Papa and mamma Hayden looked upon their oldest son in dismay, as he thus
openly delivered his sentiments.
"Hush, Freddie, you mustn't want any more, either, nor talk that way to
Jem. You have had enough for to-night."
"Well, I've had six biscuits any way," and Fred settled himself back
with a satisfied air as though he could stand anything if necessary,
while poor Jem was taken away from the table crying as if his heart
would break at the loss of his coveted sweets.
"You see, we seldom have company, and the children are unused to sweet
things as a rule, because the doctor always says their diet must be
carefully attended to, in order to avoid inflammation of the bowels,
which Jem once had," explained Mrs. Hayden with the old look of
weariness for a moment settling back on her face.
"Just wait till you have studied Christian Healing and then see how to
manage," said Mrs. Reade with sparkling eyes.
"Have you taken such a fancy to this too, Mrs. Reade?" asked Mr. Hayden,
rather teasingly.
"Oh, she's almost a crank _now_," answered her husband, with a merry
twinkle.
"Well, it is very good to have such an article in the family. It keeps
things lively and announces the world's progress with unerring
certainty," she retorted, and with this good-natured sally they rose
from the table. The evening was spent in a mixture of small talk and
earnestness, and before they departed Mrs. Hayden received her first
treatment.
CHAPTER VII.
"Like an Æolian harp, that wakes
No certain air, but overtakes
Far thought with music that it makes,--
"Such seemed the whisper at my side;
'What is't thou knowest, sweet voice?' I cried;
'A hidden hope,' the voice replied."
--_Tennyson._
The second morning after this Mrs. Hayden awoke, feeling much better
than she had for months. A strange, happy feeling possessed her. All
that had seemed dark and hopeless now appeared as nothing but gossamer
fog-wreaths. The world seemed so joyous and beautiful. God seemed so
near, so loving, so all-protecting. Why had she ever doubted the
possibility of health? Surely it was easy to feel well when she felt
happy; and yet, would this last? Had this delightful change any
connection with Miss Greening's treatment? No, surely not. It would be
too unreasonable to expect any benefit so soon; besides, she was
probably no better physically, that is, her lameness and dyspepsia were
not touched as yet, if indeed they ever could be. Well, how it would
astonish everybody if she really were cured, and could walk like her old
self again. Her stiffened limb would have to undergo a marvelous change,
but time would tell--it seemed nothing was beyond reach of this
extraordinary Power. Miss Greening was so sincere and earnest, she could
not for a moment doubt the truth of her statements, besides Mr. Hayden
himself confessed to having heard of the wonderful works, though he had
never mentioned it before, strangely enough. At the time it probably
appeared so vague and visionary, that he had thought best not to excite
her curiosity and hope without cause.
How glad she was that he had at last allowed her to try this without
ridiculing or scolding her. How beautiful this theory was, but it seemed
too good to be true. She would not be carried away with it until she had
demonstrated beyond doubt, until she could see the reason and understand
it.
The clock struck nine. Why, it was time to rise, and she really felt
hungry, so hungry that dry toast and hot water had no attractions for
her. She wondered if there would be anything on the table she dared not
eat; it would be hard to resist if there were. Thus musing she dressed
with more alacrity and energy than she had displayed for many months.
Her husband stood in the doorway as she left her room, and remarked as
they went down stairs:
"You must have had a good sleep last night, you are so bright and spry
this morning."
"Yes, indeed, I can scarcely remember when the night has passed so
quickly and the morning seemed so exhilarating; please help me down this
turn, won't you? It is always so hard to get down stairs."
The cane was brought into requisition, and with Mr. Hayden's help the
stairs were descended, but the refractory limb was forgotten again in
the interest with which she viewed the breakfast table.
"Mamma, we've waited and waited till we thought we'd have to eat
something, so we each took a doughnut to save time," was the explanatory
greeting of Fred, who acted as spokesman for the three hungry culprits,
who had this time, at least, disobeyed the imperative injunction not to
eat cake the first thing in the morning.
"Why, children, don't you remember how Dr. Jackson--"
"Well, mamma, I heard that lady 'at was here, say 'twouldn't hurt us to
eat if you wasn't so 'fraid 'bout our stomachs; an' she's a doctor, too,
an' ladies know 's much 's men, 'cos you said so," interrupted the
irrepressible, as usual, with unanswerable argument.
"Well, we'll see this time, but you must be more careful to remember
what mamma wishes you to do," said Mrs. Hayden more mildly than usual,
while her eyes smiled a little.
The breakfast was brought in, and, much to the astonishment of all, she
recklessly disregarded the dry toast and hot water, mutely appealing to
her from the side of her plate, and ate heartily of beefsteak, potatoes,
and pan cakes. "I am so hungry, and will risk it on the strength of
Fred's reminder," she apologized, as she sent her plate the third time
for cakes.
"Don't tell me you've no faith in Fred's newly-acquired wisdom," laughed
Mr. Hayden, and then added, with some concern, "but, really, my dear,
you ought to be careful. Remember the condition of your stomach."
"That is just what she told me to forget."
"Well, it beats all how things can be turned upside down," mused Mr.
Hayden, as he rose from the table preparatory to going to the store.
"It certainly is strange about this, for you remember yesterday, I even
walked over to Mrs. Reade's and back without any unusual fatigue."
"Oh, yes! I've noticed various daring breaches of the old code, and,
more than all, I've seen the best color in your face that has been there
for many a month," and he went out with a thoughtful expression on his
face.
"Mamma's well now," said little Jem, timidly, "'cos she puts me to bed."
"Yes, an' we can make a noise when we dress, an' talk 'bout Christmas,"
added Fred, as he was walking about, wiping his hands, in his usual
restless manner.
CHAPTER VIII.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."--_Shakespeare._
Of course Kate and Grace were told about the new way of being healed,
and Grace looked on at first with her usual incredulity, but when she
saw Mrs. Hayden getting so well and looking so happy, she began to
wonder and then to exclaim. Then she wanted to learn something about
this new "doctrine," and Mrs. Hayden had Miss Greening come over and
meet the girls one evening so they could hear her explain a little about
it. Grace was delighted, saying that was more reasonable than anything
she had ever heard.
"I really should like to learn it," she said for the third time as they
walked home.
"Why, you are really enthusiastic about it," said Kate, giving the
artistic arm a gentle squeeze.
"I must confess, Kate, that it is nearer my idea of religion than
anything I ever heard, and it _is_ marvelous to see Mrs. Hayden. Did you
see how bright she looked to-night? More like her old self than since
her sickness. I can't understand it."
"She said her limb was actually growing natural again so she could bend
it," added Kate.
"If _she_ could be cured, it would be a wonderful demonstration or proof
of the theory," remarked Grace.
"Oh, I don't know, Grace, I am afraid, after all, it might be wrong.
You know it says in the Bible we are to beware of false doctrines, and
the miracles of anti-Christ, and this may be that very thing," said
Kate, with a sudden smiting of conscience and reproaching herself that
she had not thought of this before. She had been brought up a strict
Methodist, but had grown rather careless of religious matters, till all
at once she realized the mighty import of her backsliding.
"I don't think if there is such a thing, it could do so much good, and
good power must come from the God of goodness," answered Grace, with
unusual gentleness. They walked on in silence, each pondering her own
thoughts.
Three weeks after, Mrs. Hayden was known as a restored invalid, was
daily answering a thousand questions as to how it was done. Was it
really so? Could she walk as well as ever? Didn't she get tired? Had she
any faith after all? etc.
She patiently told them the truth of the matter, that her limb had
become well and pliable as ever, that her stomach was perfectly sound,
her head free from nervous aching, her nights a joyous rest and her days
a round of delightful labor.
For the first time she learned there had been many cures, and several
classes taught in Hampton, but no case had excited the attention, public
and private, that hers had.
The various members of society wagged their wise heads, and cast mingled
glances of pity, wonder, ridicule or disdain upon the poor deluded
victim of the "latest humbug." Even the select circles heard of it as a
report finally reached the daily paper, which appeared with a glaring
head and ridiculous comments.
One of the weeklies contented itself by reprinting a scathing
denunciation from a prominent religious paper. Another contained
clippings from an Iowa paper giving an account of the arrest and trial
of a so-called Christian Scientist for illegal practice. But it failed
to add that "the judge instructed the jury to return a verdict for the
defendant," remarking that "under the constitution and laws of Iowa it
is no crime for a person to pray for his afflicted neighbor."
Among the worthy M. D.'s, a miniature storm arose and spent itself in
the characteristic fashion of storms, now carrying everything before it,
in its impetuous fury, now quietly subsiding into a ripple of
condescending concession, or languid comment, now breaking out with
renewed force into explosive epithets or vindictive rage.
Dr. Crouse expressed his astonishment that anybody should have the
audacity to practice medicine without a diploma, as this woman evidently
did, and demanded that the authorities enforce the law at once with the
utmost rigor--. "Such quacks ought to be dealt with without mercy, as an
example to other upstarts!" and with an angry growl the doctor
recklessly spat the whole width of the sidewalk.
Dr. Jones admitted that the mind had a great deal to do with the body,
and possibly this mind cure might help nervous prostration or hysterical
women, but if Mrs. Hayden's limb was healed, depend upon it, the
medicine taken all those months was the cause.
Dr. Bundy considered the matter too absurd to even mention.
Dr. Hone went up and down the streets, loudly denouncing such "humbugs,"
while his partner, Lapland, laughed at the preposterous idea of learning
all about materia medica in three weeks! "It is simply ridiculous, sheer
nonsense! Ha, ha, ha!" and the office fairly shook at the outburst of
merriment.
On the other hand, Dr. Wilson was deeply interested, and went so far as
to call on Miss Greening, and to her he frankly admitted there was an
unaccountable power in the mind some way, and if it did the work for
suffering humanity he was quite ready to welcome it, and anxious, for
his part, to investigate the matter.
Kind, liberal Dr. Jackson, Mrs. Hayden's former family physician, shook
his head wonderingly, but said nothing. He was a careful thinker and
needed time for his conclusions, but as every one well knew, he had the
friendliest, most charitable heart that ever was, and very candid,
withal, in his judgments, and fair in his investigations. So in time
they would know what he thought. It was whispered about that he had
already invested in some books, and was quietly studying Christian
Healing in his leisure moments.
Among the churches no less of a tumult raged. Rev. Rush preached a
stirring sermon about the evil days in which even the very elect should
be deceived by the miracles of anti-Christ, and warned his hearers
against being beguiled.
Rev. Long openly denounced Christian Healing as but another form of
spiritualism, and admonished his flock to beware of ravening wolves.
Rev. Morton mildly preached about being steadfast to the old faith,
avoiding investigation in anything new, while from the gentle,
spiritually minded Prof. Mill was heard an eloquent disquisition on the
promises and the all-abiding power of God.
All shades and phases of ministerial sentiments were expressed, and
whatever was grand and Christ-like sprang up as dainty, fragrant
blossoms amid the wayside weeds of falsity and Pharisaical bigotry.
The ladies' sewing societies discussed the subject to its fullest extent
with widely varying opinions, some exclaiming with wonder and awe that
it certainly must be a higher power that would perform such miracles;
others that it was nothing but mesmerism. A few reverently expressed
their conviction that Mrs. Hayden was extremely fortunate to be chosen
for such a favor, while still others of quite a contrary mind declared
it was nothing more nor less than the devil, who was stealthily taking
possession of the weak.
One timid little woman ventured to say that it could not be Satan, for
he was never known to do anything good. Another said there must be
something uncanny about it, for she had experienced the most peculiar
sensations when shaking hands with Mrs. Hayden.
Mrs. Dyke had waited for a more practical time to give her opinion, and
now she concluded the whole matter for herself, at least, by saying in a
most practical way:
"It is the devil's work from first to last, and I am not surprised that
that woman, Mrs. Hayden, has got into his clutches, for she never did
her duty to the church, and such people can't expect he will always let
them go their own way. Christian Healing has no right to its name or its
pretentions. It is only the magician's rod, and I, for one, don't
propose to look at it," with which profound announcement she went to the
other room to oversee her charge of sewing girls.
"Oh, how righteous we are!" giggled one very young lady, with a mock
look of reverence.
"Well, now, see here ladies!" declared Mrs. Grant, another "practical"
woman, but of a different type from Mrs. Dyke, "we may as well look at
this matter in a sensible and candid light. Here are the facts: Mrs.
Hayden is a lovely and reliable woman. She has, as we all know, suffered
everything from her headaches and dyspepsia, besides the limb that was
broken at the fire. We see her well, and ought to believe what she says.
They often say, 'Truth is stranger than fiction.' An example has come to
our door, and why should we refuse to believe, when the proof is so
plain? For my part, I can believe though I do not understand, and I want
to know what there is in Christian Healing."
Mrs. Grant had spoken, and as she usually did, turned the tide of
thought in her direction.
"Why, yes, we all want to know if there is anything in it, but there is
an if--"
"_If!_ There it is again! I've no patience with people who always tumble
over an _if_. You can bar the very gates of heaven with that nipping
little word. It means doubt, and doubt is the destroyer of faith which
we _must_ have in this world, if we live at all."
Mrs. Grant unwittingly preached a little sermon, which not only served
to quell the confusion, but gave them a helpful thought to carry home.
Scattering good seed seemed to be her mission, and many a good word
dropped into fruitful soil, and took its time to bring forth.
CHAPTER IX.
"Soul, receive into thyself the warm and radiant life of heaven, to
breathe it out again as spiritual fragrance over other lives, and
so change this wilderness-world into the garden of the Lord! This
is the lovely moral which hides within the roses of June, and makes
more than half their sweetness."--_Lucy Larcom._
And Mrs. Hayden? The old expressions of joy seemed utterly inadequate to
describe her feelings. It seemed that she was veritably dreaming of
heaven, such a sense of largeness, of freedom, had come over her, so
much wider was her horizon, so much more clearly could she see and
understand the hard questions that had always puzzled her, and yet she
had, as it were, just come to the edge of the beautiful flower-dotted,
dew-besprinkled field that seemed spreading out before her. So long
hopeless, so long hungry as she had been after this taste, she only
hungered the more. Wonderingly she looked at herself walking about
without pain; with an elastic step and the springing freshness of
health; wonderingly she remembered the dull, nervous throbbing
headaches, contrasted with the refreshing clearness, the joyous comfort
and peace of mind which made thinking a tonic, and labor a luxury.
What a glorious strength of exhiliration seemed flowing in to her with
every breath; how it expanded and thrilled her with its power! If this
was life, what joy to live, to know and feel the gladness and beauty of
God's beautiful world, and it must not be for her alone, but for all
hungering, thirsting mankind. She must impart it to those who had been
suffering and helpless like herself. It was even now flowing into her
own family. Although Miss Greening had given her but the first and
fundamental principles of the method, she had in many instances already
demonstrated their worth and power. It soon grew to be a regular matter
of course to treat every one in the family who seemed in need of a
remedy for anything.
Mr. Hayden had frequently come home with neuralgia in his face, but
after one or two attacks the unwelcome intruder vanished. The family
medicine case, which had recently been replenished for the winter, was
left to its own devices, and dust gathered on the necks and shoulders of
the cough remedies, paregoric and hive syrup bottles, until they would
have looked quite pitiful in their desertion, if anybody had seen them.
Jamie's one attack of croup yielded more readily to his mother's silent
treatments than it ever had to hive syrup, and it was with a deep
thankfulness, not unmixed with awe, that Mr. and Mrs. Hayden felt their
little one at last free from his old, dreaded enemy. Never before had
the children been so free from colds or ailments common to childhood, as
this winter. Never before had there been such a seemingly reckless
carelessness in wrapping them up, keeping them out of the draughts, or
letting them eat just what was on the table.
"Why, it is like living in another world altogether," said Mr. Hayden,
enthusiastically to one of the neighbors. "The children are so much
happier, quieter, more peaceable. I tell you, it is like getting free
from prison to come into this way of living, and my wife is getting
stronger all the time. Of course you want it," he continued. "Come over
some time, and we'll tell you more about it." Saying good night he
walked away, leaving his friend to wonder if the entire family had not
turned lunatics.
Enwrapped in the seamless robe of Truth, the sharp winds of worldly
criticism seldom reach us, because we are no longer susceptible to their
sharpness. A gentle mildness beams from every face, for beyond the veil
of outward appearances we learn to discern the pure, perfect holiness of
God's child--the divinity behind the bars. Not, however, till we know
how to put on this wondrous robe are we invulnerable.
Although Mrs. Hayden had learned much and lived much in these last few
months, there came a time, as the summer drew near, when it seemed that
everything was slipping away from her. Not her health, except that her
old headache occasionally threatened her, but things did not seem as
clear to her. Many problems were only in a partial state of solution,
and a vague dissatisfaction, a helpless discouragement took possession
of her at times, very hard to bear, especially when contrasted with the
light she felt had so long guided her. Of late even her treatments
seemed almost fruitless. Her old-time impatience had manifested itself
on several occasions, and one warm June morning she went about her work
in a decidedly old-fashioned mood.
It was Monday, and in addition to the washing to be seen to, the little
extra help to be rendered the girl, her husband had sent her a large
case of strawberries to be put up, manlike, forgetting that this day at
least was full. She was hastening to get them ready before the dinner
hour, and the "picking up" of the sitting-room, so essential Monday
mornings, had been left till a more convenient season.
Mabel had gone to school, while Jamie and Fred were playing in the sand
in the back yard.
With her hands in the berries, and her thoughts busily engaged, she was
suddenly roused from her reverie by the noisy entrance of Fred, who just
came in for a drink of water. As he turned to go out, he threw his arms
around his mother's neck and gave her a boy's impetuous hug, and a kiss
that ought to have rejoiced any mother's heart, but this morning it
annoyed her. "Run away, now; mamma hasn't time this morning," and she
pushed him impatiently away. Just then the door bell rang, and Fred
sprang to answer it. In another moment he ushered into her presence a
shabbily dressed, poor, miserable looking woman, who immediately asked
for a drink of water. "I can get it," said the ready Fred. While he was
gone, the woman began her request:
"Plaze, Ma'am, would you be wantin' some garters to-day? They are
warranted by the very man as made 'em. My boy is layin' sick, and his
father is dead, and all my health has been took away carin' for him, and
a friend of mine, she has been in this business a long time, and says
it's very good some days, and she let me take her place to-day, so if
you could take a pair or two to-day it would be very thankful I'd be,
and I'm sure this boy would need a pair; they are only 25 cents, and
will just fit; ain't they nice, my boy?" She poured her story out, as
though there were no end to it, as she held up some brilliant red and
blue elastics that quite dazzled Fred, who claimed them at once.
"I have not time to examine and choose this morning, and Fred, you do
not need them now," said Mrs. Hayden, with some annoyance in her tone.
"Now, mamma, you didn't see my old ones, they ain't red and blue, nor
stretchy, an' my stockin's come down all the time. See how wrinkly they
are," and he held up a dusty little shoe with a sadly demoralized
stocking above it, rich in holes as well as wrinkles. The stocking had
been torn on a nail, he volubly explained. In his excitement Fred raised
his voice, thus summoning Jamie to the scene with a rush that upset the
dish of berries just picked over.
"_I_ didn't mean to, and I can pick them up again," and he swept his
dirty little hands into the soft mushy pile, gathering berries, dust,
stems or whatever happened to be in the way, dashing the miscellaneous
mess into the clean berries that had escaped.
"Jamie, you careless child! how can you be so naughty? Go and wash your
hands this minute! Fred, leave those things and stay out with Jamie, I
can not have you around when there is so much to do!" and with an
impatient gesture she brushed Jamie aside and began sorting the berries
as best she could.
Fred started toward her with the elastics, saying:
"But, mamma, you haven't looked yet;"
"Well, you see my hands are full, and I can tell you just as well
without looking."
"You always tell me to do as I am told," pouted Fred as he reluctantly
departed.
Mrs. Hayden was ashamed and yet reckless with discouragement, and
scarcely noticed the anxious pedlar, who stood waiting for some decisive
word from her.
"I have no use for the supporters at present," she said at last. But as
she noticed the look of despair slowly settling on the woman's face, she
added, "but, if you are in such distress, I will let you leave two
pairs. Take the 50 cents lying there on the shelf," pointing to the
place. The woman was very grateful and soon went away with a brighter
face.
For a long time after she was gone, her picture remained in Mrs.
Hayden's remorseful memory, though she put it away as much as possible
and went on with her work. Jamie and Fred had quarreled several times,
but even in peace, the fires of war were likely to burst out afresh, for
it was always so when she felt this way.
As Mrs. Hayden sat in her own room that evening, reviewing the events of
the day, which seemed the culmination of many days, it seemed that the
Marion Hayden who had been so happy these last few months, improving in
health and strength and ability to live a more useful life, and the
Marion Hayden who had so miserably disgraced herself to-day, were far
apart--in fact irretrievably separated. Where, indeed, had gone her
power of self-control, her wisdom and tact in governing the children?
Why had she so harshly told Fred to run away from her when the dear
child was only showing his affection according to his own nature? Such
an active, impulsive yet loving child must be wisely dealt with, and she
had often realized that with Fred, love must be the governing power, not
force. To give way as she had to-day would be to lose her influence over
him, not only because of repulsing the child himself, but because his
critical eyes noticed every weakness and failure in her, to live up to
her own code of morals laid down for him to follow.
Her accusing conscience asked why she had not questioned and tried to
help that poor woman who, with all her ignorance, was doing the best she
could, to solve life's problem.
After all, what had she, Marion Hayden, to offer the world while she had
not yet conquered herself?
Oh, the bitterness of regret, the repining for wasted moments and lost
opportunities! but here she was in her old groove of thought. Could she
not try the new way, now that she so sorely needed it?
She would try; she would begin to look on the other side of these
questions. She _would_ regain her footing in spite of her humiliating
downfall, although there might still be a lingering sense of shame over
her defeat.
Later, her husband came home. He tossed her a paper saying: "Here is
something that will clear you up. Read it aloud. I just glanced over it,
and found it very good." He threw himself upon the sofa, waiting for
her to begin. Mechanically she took up the paper.
"'The Ubiquity of Good;' is this the article?"
"Yes, there are several just as strong as that one."
"Oh, I see; yes--I can hardly wait to read aloud," she exclaimed,
running her eyes over the pages, instantly imbibing the spirit of the
writer. She began with an awakening interest which increased till she
was fairly electrified with delight.
Her husband looked at her in astonishment although it had much the same
effect on him. "I thought you needed something like that;" he said,
sitting bolt upright and looking at her. "You see, Marion, if you could
only be as enthusiastic all the time as that woman is, you could do the
works that she does, and be as positive too."
"I know it, and if I understood as well as she does, it would be
different, but I know so little comparatively. Oh, if I could take
lessons of the teacher she had--just listen, she says: 'I have just had
the privilege of going through a class in metaphysics taught by one who
is conceded to be the best teacher in the world,' but," continued Mrs.
Hayden, "I've looked all over the paper and can't find the name of the
teacher; queer, isn't it? Mayn't I subscribe for this paper, John, and I
will ask her who this teacher is, when I send the subscription?"
"Well, yes, I think if you could get the benefit from every number you
have from that, it would be money well invested," replied Mr. Hayden. In
fact he was as much interested in this subject as she, and desired her
to "go to the bottom of it," as he expressed it.
That night she retired with a new hope. If others could learn and
demonstrate and keep, why could not she?
CHAPTER X.
"Oh, thou that pinest in the imprisonment of the Actual, and criest
bitterly to the gods for a kingdom wherein to rule and create, know
this of a truth, the thing thou seekest is already with thee, 'here
or nowhere,' couldst thou only see!"--_Carlyle._
The very next morning the letter was written and the money sent for the
new paper.
Mrs. Reade came over on one of her bird-like errands, and of course,
must hear something of the great help that had come so unexpectedly.
"How fortunate it came just now, for I have noticed several weeks you
have been losing courage, and as for myself, I don't seem to know what
to do in any case any more," she exclaimed, after hearing a few extracts
read from the paper. "Now you will find out who the teacher is and--"
"I shall go away to take lessons as soon as possible," interrupted Mrs.
Hayden. "Yes, I must go," she continued, "and see what there is in it. I
have already experienced too much physically and spiritually to be able
to give it up."
"Indeed, you have certainly had as much of a proof as one could wish. If
I could only do as much as you have, I should feel that it would be
better to go without many other things rather than this."
Mrs. Reade forgot that she had been able to keep little May in perfect
health; that she herself had ceased worrying over trifles and learned to
make the best of everything. To her, the change had been so gradual
that she hardly knew in what it consisted. In the meetings held by the
few who were interested she had, unconsciously almost, given many
glimpses of her private efforts and success, which showed how faithfully
she used what light she had.
"I wonder what Mrs. Grant would say to this," she resumed, after looking
over the paper. "I think she ought to take this paper, too. Of course, I
expect to read yours," with an arch smile.
"As you certainly may, I will let you have this number this afternoon; I
can't spare it yet. You can't imagine the abyss I fell into yesterday.
It seemed that I had not only lost the ability to hold myself up, but
the self respect that would help to regain my footing."
"'It is always darkest before the dawn', they say," quoted Mrs. Reade,
merrily, "and now the dawn of our delivery is at hand, we shall know
what to do before the twilight comes again. But I came after your jelly
mold and must not stand here all day talking about things so utterly
unlike--well, good-bye! I can hardly tear myself away when I talk with
you," and she ran out with a gay smile.
Nearly every week these last few months Mrs. Hayden, Mrs. Reade, Mrs.
Grant and occasionally one or two others had met to read and talk on the
all-absorbing topic and gain confidence and strength by an exchange of
ideas and experiences; but they knew not how to draw from the fountain
of knowledge itself, and while they had learned much and gained much,
there was a lack which, in the moment of trial, they knew not how to
supply.
In a few days Mrs. Hayden received the coveted information as to the
identity of the wonderful teacher, and that she was to teach several
classes in Marlow, only two hundred miles away, which quite set her on
fire with impatience to go at once.
But circumstances were not propitious. There were many details to be
arranged, much to be considered. What should be done with the children?
Could she afford it? What could she wear? In her eagerness she could
have overcome every obstacle within an hour, but her better judgment
told her to be patient a little longer, a decision her husband quite
approved.
In the meantime she tried to live more faithfully up to the light she
had received, but the first flush of faith that had brought forth the
works, seemed gone, and she knew not how to bring it back. Not that she
was not just as earnest, not that she had lost a whit of her faith or
interest, but the fire of impulse, unclouded by doubt, had disappeared.
She thought about it every leisure moment, but concluded at last to let
go such intense effort that must necessarily be blind, and live more in
the "holy carelessness of the eternal Now," as George MacDonald so
beautifully expressed it in his book she was reading.
In one respect she fared as comparatively few women do, who hunger after
spiritual things; she had her husband's full sympathy and co-operation.
Afterward, when she had seen more of the world and knew more about other
women's lives, she realized the value of it, realized that without it
she would have starved before she could have feasted. Oh, the sweet
influence of a sympathy that unites and harmonizes two natures, no
matter how opposite in character and tendencies.
CHAPTER XI.
"As out of a dream, paths impossible to sense and every day show
plain and sudden transit into distant places, so from your shut
souls widens out an entrance way into God's everlasting joy!"
--_A. D. T. Whitney._
At last the time came. She was to go for the last class in Marlow. The
last problem as to what to be done while she was gone had been solved.
The children were to be under the kind care of Anna, who agreed to do
her best in looking after them.
Mrs. Hayden's wardrobe had received the necessary additions, the
question of affording was not asked again, for it was like asking if she
could afford food or clothing.
It meant a great deal to her, going out in the world to get this
wonderful knowledge. It was a new way of seeking the kingdom of heaven,
and it must surely teach the right knock that would open the door. The
little light that had already come to her proved that, for never before
in all her years of hungry longing had she been so well fed, so visibly
nourished. Surely her soul could not be mistaken in thus dictating her
quest.
"It seems too good to be true, John, that there _is_ a way and that I am
going to find it," she said a few days before she went away.
"I am very glad, dear Marion, for your sake, that you are so happy in
this. It certainly is a beautiful religion as far as we can understand
it."
"Yes, the very thing we tried so hard to find during all those years of
darkness, and I have begun to actually feel thankful for our
misfortunes, because it seems they have led us into this knowledge. What
would we have known or cared for Miss Greening, had we been living in
the mansion on the hill? Or what would we have believed, even if we had
read something about Christian Healing?"
"It is hard to tell, but if you are content I am, wifie, although I
should like the old home again."
Like many others he was able to appreciate the material good things, but
knew not that the material are but emblems or symbols of the spiritual.
"We shall possess something far better than all the palaces and kingdoms
of the earth, if we get this 'pearl of great price.' I know now what it
means for the rich to hardly enter the kingdom of heaven. It is because
they are so satisfied in their rich possessions they feel they have
everything worth having and need nothing more. That very indifference
and apathy keeps them from getting spiritual treasures."
"How true that is, Marion," said her husband, stroking his mustache
thoughtfully.
Just then the door bell rang and the girl presently ushered Grace and
Kate into the room.
"Why, how do you do? I am more than glad to see you," said Mrs. Hayden,
warmly grasping a hand in each of hers.
"It is such a lovely evening that we felt we should like a walk, and as
we generally gravitate toward your house, here we are," said Kate,
laying aside her hat.
"Do you know I am going to Marlow to take the Christian Healing
lessons?" asked Mrs. Hayden, with a bright smile, as they were cosily
seated for their chat.
"Are you, really? I am so glad, Mrs. Hayden," said Grace. "When are you
going?"
"Monday, on the afternoon train, and I shall be gone three weeks. It
seems a long time now, but I hope it will be so profitable and pleasant
that it will not seem long while it is passing."
Kate looked very grave. Finally she said: "Well, Mrs. Hayden, I am sorry
you are going."
"Why?" exclaimed Mrs. Hayden.
"Why?" echoed Grace, and the host looked the interrogation he did not
verbally express.
"Because I am seriously afraid it is wrong. Just a few days ago I had a
talk with the minister, and he is very decided in his denunciation of
it, saying it is plainly contrary to the teachings of the Bible, and I
have been reading an article this afternoon that is very convincing in
its arguments against it. No, Grace, you needn't shake your head. I have
been cowardly and lazy long enough about my religion, now I shall stand
up for what I think is right, and I love Mrs. Hayden too well not to
warn her of what I believe to be a most dangerous heresy."
She had evidently nerved herself to say this, but her voice trembled
with earnestness, and when she finished there were tears in her eyes.
"I thank you, dear Kate, for your sincere regard, and appreciate your
motive most deeply, but of course, that can not change my mind now,"
said Mrs. Hayden, much touched.
"That, of course, is for you to decide, but I have suddenly realized my
religious responsibility as never before, and have been earnestly
considering this matter. At first it seemed all right and very
beautiful, but I believe it is only the work of the devil to get people
into his net of wickedness."
Grace was too astonished for speech; now she understood what Kate had
meant by her disinclination to talk on the subject since that night they
had heard Miss Greening. _Now_ her thoughtful spells were explained, as
well as her eager desire to come here to-night.
"I do not see why the ministers should oppose it as they do," said Mr.
Hayden, after a short silence.
"If you look back over the history you will find they opposed giving
freedom to the slaves; they opposed the temperance movement until it was
forced upon them. Many of them now oppose woman's suffrage, though their
audiences are often composed almost entirely of women. It seems a great
mystery why they should oppose any of these good and necessary reforms,
but I think it is because they are only mortal men, and have many mortal
faults and a great deal of mortal ignorance," said Grace, recovering her
tongue at last.
"It seems to me if everybody would read the words of Jesus and follow
his example they would never be harsh, or critical, or uncharitable, and
above all, they would not judge anybody or anything without a righteous
reason. The whole burden of his teaching is expressed in the sentence:
'Little children, love one another,'" was Mrs. Hayden's opinion. Kate
looked at her gratefully.
"We would have a very different world if every one followed that law,
and we have never heard a better one. The only difficulty is to know
_how_ to follow it," added Mr. Hayden.
"We must know the whole truth if we would be free from all error, and we
can only get truth by earnestly seeking for it, is my firm conviction,"
said his wife.
"If the truth makes us free, certainly we ought to search for it, and as
we get it we can not be moved from our position, for by the nature of
truth it is forever the same. Imagine anybody telling me two times two
are five. If they argued and talked forever they could not prove it, for
a lie can never be proved true."
"That's capital reasoning, Grace," exclaimed Mr. Hayden, admiringly.
"Then if these ministers are in the right," she continued, "why should
they need to be so active and emphatic and malevolent, as they sometimes
are, in their denunciation of what they call a lie, because if it is a
lie, won't it prove itself? And if their position is assured, and the
truth must necessarily be assuring, since that is the essence and nature
of it, if their position is assured, why is there any need of such
resistance? Jesus plainly taught the _non_-resistance of evil, if I read
my Bible correctly this morning. I have been studying religion somewhat,
too, the last few weeks," she concluded, glancing at Kate rather
apologetically.
"It would be well if we studied it a great deal more earnestly than we
have before," said Kate, flushing warmly.
"Well, Kate, isn't one of our best ways a thorough investigation of it?"
"Yes, of course."
"Then I intend to look into Christian Healing at my earliest
opportunity, and see what there is in it. If there is nothing, it can
not hurt me. If there is something, it will prove _itself_, and I shall
gladly accept the help it gives," and Grace rested on her oars.
"I have a suggestion to make," said Mr. Hayden, "and that is that Mrs.
Hayden write us a report of each day's lecture, and you can come down
and we will read them together, or I can hand them to you after I have
finished them."
"Capital!" exclaimed Grace. "Will you do that, Mrs. Hayden?"
"I will do the best I can, and be delighted. It will help me as well as
you; but they will be nothing but ordinary letters, for I would have
neither the time nor the ability to write lectures." Then she added,
turning to Kate, "You will read them, too, won't you, dear? for I do
want you to understand that this is the true Christ-religion, and as
Grace says, if it is true it will prove itself."
"I do not object to reading your letters; indeed shall be glad of the
privilege," replied Kate, with a deprecatory gesture.
"You must be sure and give us the practical part, so we can learn by
practice as well as theory," said Mr. Hayden, playfully.
"Yes, and I will promise to be a faithful student, if that will be any
inducement," added Grace; "and I know Kathie will, too; won't you?"
"Don't say any more, please. You all know I want what is true and good,"
she replied, huskily.
* * * * *
It seemed hard to say the good-byes, even to go on this little trip.
Mrs. Hayden looked at the children and home through blinding tears as
her husband helped her into the carriage. They did not say much as they
drove away to the depot, and both were deeply moved. There seemed such a
momentous meaning in this journey.
"You must promise to write often, John?"
"Yes, dear Marion, and don't worry about us."
"I shall write every day, John, and I _do_ want you to grow with me.
Read the lessons please, very carefully."
"Yes; good-bye."
A kiss, and he was off. She waved her hand as the train started.
Like a leaf on the rippling river, gently touching the stones or mosses
in passing, but hurrying on to a broader outlook and a straighter
pathway, we float in the varying current of life, now dallying with
youth's pleasures and playfully touching the problems before us, then
sent adrift by a deep desire to _know_, we go out on a voyage of
discovery, and be the winds rough or gentle, we go on till harbored at
last.
Nor would we leave thee, gentle Truth. May thy voice guide and
strengthen and cheer; thy sweet knowledge be the lamp to our path; thy
words of wisdom our armor and shield, and all the sweet enchantment of
thy presence be with us forevermore.
CHAPTER XII.
"Our weary years of wandering o'er,
We greet with joy this radiant shore;
The promised land of liberty,
The dawn of freedom's morn we see.
O promised land, we enter in,
With 'peace on earth, good will to men,'
The 'Golden age' now comes again,
And breaking every bond and chain;
While every sect, and race and clime,
Shall equal share in this glad time."
--_E. B. Harbert._
Mrs. Hayden immediately sent a few words to her husband informing him of
her safe arrival, but said nothing concerning her plans until later in
the week, she wrote:
"I attended a reception last night that gave me a good idea of the great
interest manifested in this new subject by people from all parts of the
country as well as this great city. Many who have been attending a
convention of truth seekers this week were there, and I met, among
others, Mrs. Harmon. She is lovely, with such a sweet pleasant face and
clear mild eyes. I do not wonder Miss Greening was charmed with her. We
had quite a chat about mental healing. She gave me an interesting
account of how she came into the work and what she is doing. I also met
many others. One thing noticeable about these people that seems
peculiarly characteristic, was the bright, happy faces so full of repose
and trustfulness contrasted with the dull, sluggish care-worn
expression of people in general. It really rests and cheers wonderfully
to look upon countenances that carry the gospel of healing with them.
"After a pleasant social time, Mrs. Pearl, in whose honor the reception
was given, was called upon for an address, the substance of which is
about as follows:
"It is an unexpected pleasure as well as privilege to thus meet face to
face so large a body of people who are working or desire to work for the
uplifting and healing of humanity by this new yet old Christ-method.
"While there are so many thousands of the world's best workers engaged
in lifting the burdens of sickness, sorrow and sin, there are none who
accomplish more marvelous or speedy results than Christian healers.
Indeed they have already demonstrated this philosophy to be a most
powerful means of reclaiming the sinful and adjusting social relations
as well as healing the sick.
"It already promises a better method of dealing with intemperance than
that of any other class of reformers. Why? Not because earnest, devoted
women do not give time, labor and hearts' blood to the temperance cause;
not because wise, honest men are not doing their best with tongue and
pen, in legislative halls and political conventions, but because neither
women nor men have learned the true principle of moral reform.
"The wise mother knows that the best way to keep her child from mischief
is not to talk about his temptation but cause him to forget it by
thinking of other and better things. She encourages him to do better by
recognizing his higher nature and showing him a better way. She
'overcomes the evil with the good.' Thus his moral nature gradually
gains ascendency over the lower. This, and this only is the true reform;
but the same mother fails to carry out the same principle with larger
children. She must learn that the same management which corrects and
improves the child will correct and improve the sinner, for a sinner is
only a child of larger growth.
"Thus far, the world has been most attracted to the healing of bodily
ills, and all discomforts of the flesh, but the material demand is only
a forerunner or symbol of the spiritual, and the signs of the times are
even now ready for the keenest readers. People are beginning to enquire
if this wonderful power for healing the body can not be used for the
healing of vicious minds, the curing of depraved appetites.
"Since religious teachings and ethical lectures seem to be so inadequate
to meet the crying need, why not try this new method which claims to be
a panacea for all ills, ask the moral philosophers.
"'The world moves slowly,' it is said, but the world awakes slowly, it
should be. We are ministering angels to one another, in our process of
awakening. If we have not enough realization of truth to keep ourselves
awake, some one comes along and wakes us up, by telling us more and we,
in turn, wake some slumbering neighbor.
"Invisible and silent are the workings of Truth, and none may judge what
best teaches the law. None may know what has given this or that insight
into a broader truth, but all at once some one has the new light, and
hastens to impart the knowledge.
"All effort for truth points to one end--Truth. All reforms, all
religions point to a higher standard of living, a clearer realization of
the highest and best, a broader vision of truth, a breaking away from
the false and a bringing about of the true.
"Mankind is conservative and must needs consider many things in many
ways. Old opinions are not easily relinquished because they are 'bone of
our bone and flesh of our flesh' and not till we awake to spiritual as
well as intellectual knowledge, shall we realize that we are free--free
to listen, learn and live.
"As in the history of every reform, we find opposition and persecution
facing the Christian healers, but as time goes on, even the unbelieving
and conservative shall be brought to a knowledge of the truth. Many
things unaccepted and unestablished to-day shall be proverbial
platitudes of to-morrow.
"We who have a clearer vision of the better way, who are demonstrating
our position with such wondrous signs, must realize more and more the
importance of the first and only law--the law of love. Judge not. Be a
unit in Truth.
"We come together as many, but should go away as one. We now have
thousands of Christian healers all over the country who are striving as
never before to live a higher life, to work for humanity according to
the Master's teachings, and it becomes us, as true disciples of such a
leader to so live that we shall see the fulfillment of that blessed
promise: 'Greater works than I, shall ye do.'
"Let us recognize the use and beauty of unity. Let us be as one, and
then, like the brave and faithful Joshua, we shall be able to break down
the walls of any Jericho.
"Christ followers, truth seekers, friends! Make use of the golden
privileges of to-day, use every moment for the furtherance of good, make
every silent thought or uttered word a stream of influence that shall
cause the desert to blossom like the rose. Send your thoughts out to the
grand reformers, the women workers and the men workers, the tired
mothers and the anxious fathers, the faithful teachers and the innocent
children. Sow the seed diligently, no matter what the soil. Never mind
the coldness, the indifference, the slighting disparagements, for
bye-and-bye will come the harvest. Do in all ways as you would be done
by.
'Thou must be true thyself if thou the truth wouldst teach,
Thy soul must overflow with truth, the true results to reach.'"
CHAPTER XIII.
"One Holy Church of God appears
Through every age and race,
Unwasted by the lapse of years,
Unchanged by changing place.
"From oldest time, on farthest shores,
Beneath the pine or palm,
One unseen Presence she adores,
With silence or with psalm.
"Her priests are all God's faithful sons,
To serve the world raised up,
The pure in heart her baptized ones,
Love, her communion cup.
"The Truth is her prophetic gift,
The soul her sacred page;
And feet on mercy's errand swift
Do make her pilgrimage."
--_Longfellow._
The next day Mr. Hayden, with great interest, read the letter containing
the first lecture, which was given the day after the reception reported
in the last chapter. Pertaining to the lesson he read:
"How I wished you were with me yesterday, and could see the fifty eager
faces as they gathered in the class room and waited for Mrs. Pearl.
"Some sorrowful and careworn, some filled with the marks of suffering
and pain, some hopeless and despairing, some careless and gay, some
merely curious, but all expectant and interested.
"It matters not with what varying motives a mass of people meet
together, there is a common chord of sympathy, which, if rightly
touched, will cause the many to think and feel as one, and herein lies
the secret of a teacher's power. Mrs. Pearl has this faculty of
gathering and holding the thoughts of her audience, and I could not help
noting the calm and satisfied expression as they went out after the
lecture.
"The first lesson is about The True Foundation, and while much of it is
what we have known and believed, it is stated in a new and interesting
way. I will give it, as nearly as possible, in her own words:
"It is necessary to have a common premise in order to sustain a
harmonious argument, and the first thing is to find a base or foundation
from which and upon which to build. Our doctrine is to be established by
sound reasoning and scientific argument, and we must go back to the
beginning and learn something about the First Cause of all things.
"In ancient times students devoted themselves to the study of pure
reasoning, and they found that by putting themselves in harmony with
First Cause, they attained a power, by certain lines of thought and
through the speaking of words, to perform wondrous works, healing the
sick, having dominion over all creation.
"They discovered the different results of speaking words of science,
which are words of truth, and words of error or words contrary to
reason. Right, true words brought forth right and true conditions to
everyone around them, but deviation from this line of reason, would
bring discord and trouble and undesirable conditions. These wise
thinkers declared Mind to be the First Cause of all creation, and
announced the study of Mind and the words and ways of Mind, to be the
profoundest theme that could engage the attention of man.
"We find this philosophy and these conclusions corroborated by the
Bible, which we shall consider and prove to contain revelations of
changeless, eternal truth.
"Truth is universal, and whatever is true in one part of the universe
must be true in all parts. That which has been understood and conceded
to be true in all ages and climes is what we call universal truth.
"Because the first chapter of Genesis, then, agrees in all essential
particulars with the accounts of other nations and among other peoples
we consider it universal truth.
"Because it is so beautiful, logical and spiritual, we revere it;
because our own inner consciousness of truth agrees with its statements,
we concede it to be as accurate and reasonable an account of Creation as
we have, and we are therefore willing to use it as the basis of our
argument.
"We read: 'In the beginning God created,' but a more literal and
spiritual rendering would make the pivotal statement, 'God creates.' Now
we know there can be no beginning or end to Omnipotence, hence there
must be a continuous creating, and thus the term 'beginning' could only
refer to the manifestation of what had already been created. How was the
creation manifested? By the Word. 'God said, let there be light, and it
was so,' and by every 'God said,' was manifested the thing which He said
was to be.
"The word God is an abbreviation of the Anglo-Saxon of Good, the two
words in that language being identical. To many this will be an aid to
realizing the omnipresence God, and add to the reverential sense of that
personal nearness which makes the Deity a Father and an ever-loving
Friend.
"God is not person as to form or personal limitations, yet personal in
the sense of Presence and intelligent communication with intelligent
beings. Jesus said truly, 'No man hath seen God at any time, because the
eye of the flesh cannot perceive spirit.' Through the quality or
influence of Good, Intelligence, Love and all we may name as soulful, we
perceive and feel God's presence.
"Thus in the spiritual sense, the 'pure in heart may see God.' We can,
too, perceive the quality of God in Good, as we perceive the attributes
of the sun in its light. As the light of the sun warms the dark earth,
making it fruitful, so the divine Light (Intelligence), shining upon our
earth nature, makes it fruitful because of the presence of its Creator.
"Some there are who call this ever-present Intelligence or Good the
living Principle. As the Infinite, it wears all phases and adapts itself
to every conception of the Finite, so in the sense of omnipresence and
unchangeableness it might from this point of view be called Principle.
This is the cold, mathematical conception of God as Law, which without
Love would be incomplete. We must, therefore, know the duality of God if
we are to understand either Law or Love. Some things can only be known
by intuition, without the aid of the senses, and because of an inherent
idea in our consciousness. For instance, every nation worships Deity in
some way. Since we cannot know God through the senses, by which we gain
knowledge of visible things, how can we know there _is_ a God?
"As Paul says: 'Likewise the spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit that we are the children of God;' and what better answer could we
have?
"Spirit, according to Webster, is: 'Life or living substance considered
independent of corporeal existence--vital essence, force, or energy as
distinct from matter.' God is the vital essence, God is spirit, and God
is substance--'the real or existing essence,' 'the divine essence or
being.'
"God, therefore, is the Divine Power that creates and sustains all
things--the All-Power, the All-Intelligence, the All-Mind, the All-Love,
the All-Substance, the All-Harmony, the All-Life, the All-Good,
omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent. This is the one Creator, 'one God
who is Father of all, over all, and in all.'
"Though we cannot see this God or Good Principle, we can apprehend it
through the signs or manifestations that we see. As we look about, we
everywhere see the signs of life--not Life itself, but the signs of
it--that tell of the presence of God or Good. Now Life is Good in and
for itself.
"We often see the divinest love manifested through every deed of love,
every heroic act of higher living, every grand sacrifice of
self-comfort, pleasure, even life itself. Jesus says: 'Greater love can
no man have than to lay down his life for his friend.' Such love is a
manifestation of the one, only Love, which is God--Good omnipresent.
"Every glimpse of Truth which the whole world seeks to know and wherever
found, is a realization of the omnipresent Truth, which is God.
"Intelligence, in its highest or lowest form, is but a manifestation of
God as Intelligence; for whence comes our intelligence if not from the
great and only Intelligence, which is ever flowing to us and through us,
which is ever being generated in us, whenever and wherever we are
willing to let it manifest itself.
"Emerson says: 'There is one mind common to all individual men. Every
man is an inlet to the same and to all of the same. He that is once
admitted to the right of reason is made a free man of the whole estate.
* * * * Who hath access to this universal mind is a party to all that is
or can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent.'
"So we reason about health and strength and justice, or any of the
divine qualities, which we may claim as a part of our inheritance,
because they are inherent in the All, in which 'we live, are moved, and
have our being.'
"Having something of an understanding as to the nature of this divine
Creator, we can, to some extent, apprehend that the essence of all
things manifesting it, and manifested by it, must be good like itself,
must be of the same quality as itself; as light emanating from light,
must be of the same essence and quality as that from which it emanates.
God, like light, is always the same, and cannot send forth or create
anything opposite Himself.
"The nature of God embraces every good quality of masculine and
feminine character, as also the impersonal life Principle. It is
therefore proper to use the masculine, feminine or neuter pronoun when
referring to Deity. As different phases of the one Love, we see
manifested, the strong, all-protecting, intelligent father-love, the
tender, restful, patient mother-love, the innocent, confiding, trustful
child-love, each complete in the whole, which can be recognized by all
or one of these attributes.
"The great Mind of which the ancient philosophers tell us and which
Emerson so plainly realized, is the the Origin and Force of all
Creation, the Mind for which we have found so many synonyms and so many
offices, the Great Invisible of which all visible things are but signs
or symbols.
"There is but one great Mind, one great Thinker. All thoughts of this
Mind, which is Infinite Goodness, must be infinitely good, and man is
the crown and apex of the wonderful creation--is made in the image and
likeness of God.
"If we concede the Creator, God, to be omnipresent, omniscient and
omnipotent, the only Power there is, perfect, unchangeable and eternal,
we must necessarily concede that all which He creates is good, and must
remain so because everything connected with, emanating from, or similar
to Him is, and must be like Him in quality and essence.
"The true man is spiritual, perfect like his Father, and can only be
subject to perfect conditions. If we continually and persistently
recognize the true creation which is invisible, we make manifest the
perfect conditions in the sign of the true, which is the visible. In
doing this, we are, in the most essential sense, acknowledging God,
worshiping the one Deity.
"Because we have so long recognized the other powers we have become
idolators, and must now turn back to the only true God. 'If thou return
to the almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity
far from thy tabernacles.... For thou shalt have thy delight in the
almighty and shalt lift up thy face unto God.'
"We have become filled with false beliefs, because we have judged
according to appearances, and hence drawn false conclusions. How can we
know spiritual truth without spiritual knowledge? How can we have
spiritual knowledge without spiritual perception; how can we have
spiritual perception without recognizing Spirit, Substance, God, as the
supreme Essence back of all visible forms?
"This is the fundamental principle of healing--this recognition of
spiritual being and spiritual law. Grasping only the surface meaning of
this grand truth, we recognize and admire the mental power which
produces cures, hence it is frequently called mind-cure, because,
through the agency of mind, the cure is wrought, as we say, water-cure
or sun-cure for the same reason; but as we proceed in the study, we will
go beyond an intellectual to a spiritual perception of what is meant by
_met-a-physical_, which pertains not only to a science of mental
phenomena, but the science of real being, and has to do with the
spiritual or real self of man.
"Now John, if you don't understand, just wait and study, for really we
must study these statements, without prejudice, too, for that is the
only way, and of course we cannot expect to understand at once. The
great essential is to keep uppermost the _desire_ for truth, but I need
not tell you that, for what an earnest truth-seeker you are, nobody
knows better than myself.
"This is the best I can do toward giving the first lesson, but you must
think well upon it and get a good foundation laid for what is to come
next. This science is to be developed rather than learned.
"I want to put in every moment I can get for study, so must close. Hand
this to Kate and Grace. I do hope they will be interested.
"Tell me all about your progress, and the precious little ones--how are
they?
"Your loving MARION."
CHAPTER XIV.
"How shall I know if I do choose the right?"--_Shakespeare._
"Truth is one,
And in all lands beneath the sun,
Whoso hath eyes to see may see
The tokens of its unity."
--_Whittier._
"That is a very clear statement," said Mr. Hayden, as he handed the
letter to Grace when she called the next evening.
"Do you think we can get much of an idea from it?"
"O yes, indeed we can; but you take it home and read it with Kate."
Grace went straight home with her prize for she was more interested than
she cared to admit just yet, and Kate was still reluctant and fearful
about the possible wrong.
Grace had awakened in the night, just after Mrs. Hayden had gone and
found her crying. "What is the matter, Katie?" she asked.
"Oh, Grace, I am so worried about this Healing, and I am afraid I did
wrong to even promise Mrs. Hayden I would read her letters," sobbed the
poor child.
"Why, Katie dear, we could never know anything if we did not look into
it and use the reason God has given us. Surely you are not afraid to
examine into what claims to be such wonderful truth. You do not
necessarily accept by examining it, and I am glad we can have the
privilege of reading what Mrs. Hayden says, for she has such a fair,
unprejudiced mind, and will give us the matter just as nearly right as
she can; then we can judge for ourselves."
She reached over and drew Kate into her arms, but the sobbing did not
cease at once. Grace was naturally kind-hearted, and respected people's
feelings. To-night she was very gentle, as Kate gratefully realized.
"Come Kate, put away your fears. There's nothing can change the truth
you have, and if it isn't truth, the sooner you change your mind the
better. What makes you feel so, all at once? Has some one said
anything?"
"Yes, Mr. Narrow gave me such a talking to when I asked him if it was
wrong; for someway, I got so troubled that I did not know what else to
do."
"Well, what of it; you don't see anything wrong in it yourself, do you?"
"N--o, not exactly."
"What are you afraid of, then?"
"I--I don't know," with a hysterical sob. She was ashamed to admit that
she was half afraid of eternal punishment, something she had been in
vague terror of all her life. It had been impressed upon her so vividly,
and now she was suffering from a keenly reproachful conscience, because
for so long a time she had been indifferent and neglectful of her
religious duties.
Grace finally persuaded her it would be all right to give the matter a
fair investigation. Then she went to sleep, comforted, for half her
misery had been caused by her indecision and wavering.
When they read the letter together, Grace was delighted and Kate not
much less so, though she demurred a little about some things.
"What beautiful ideas of God! It seems plainer than anything I ever
heard. To say God is Principle, not person, makes it easier to apprehend
His omnipresence," exclaimed Grace, laying down the letter.
"Y-e-s, in one sense," slowly assented Kate, "but in the Bible He is
spoken of as Person, or at least as having personal attributes, and you
know they frequently refer to what He says and how He talked with
Abraham."
"O, I think that is figurative, if it is true at all. How can a being
with a definite or outlined form be everywhere at the same time?"
"But surely, you believe His thoughts can be everywhere, and that is
what is meant by this omnipresence," said Kate, earnestly.
"Then do you think of Him as sitting on a great golden throne, listening
to the petitions of men below, and able to hear and to grant or refuse
at the same moment every prayer that is sent to Him by the millions of
His children on earth?"
"'God's ways are not our ways, and with Him all things are possible.'"
"But is it not much easier to say this is Principle, which is everywhere
waiting for our recognition of its presence to become manifested to
us?" pursued Grace.
"Yes, I don't know but it is."
"Now Kate, I am truly in earnest and mean to study this very earnestly.
I know very little about the Bible, because it has been a sealed book to
me every time I ever tried to read it, but during these three weeks that
Mrs. Hayden is gone, I am going to put away my preconceived opinions as
far as possible and see if I can learn something, and now let us get the
Bible and see what it says on these questions. You have a concordance.
Let us look up the word omnipresence and read some of the passages in
which it occurs."
Kate was well pleased, not only to make the Bible the foundation of this
study, but to find Grace so changed, and so ready to look into sacred
things. "Perhaps she will be converted," she thought, and from that
moment she, too, resolved to look fairly into Christian Healing. She
brought the concordance and found there was no reference to
omnipresence.
"We'll look for present or presence," suggested Grace. She glanced
rapidly down the columns and found a reference to Ps. cxxxix. and turned
to that.
"Yes, in the seventh verse it says: 'Whither shall I go from thy spirit
or whither shall I flee from thy presence?' and here is a marginal
reference to Jer. xxiii: 24. 'Can any hide himself in secret places that
I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth?'
Now it seems to me that carries the idea of a personal Being," said
Kate.
"Well, let us look up the references to God," suggested Grace again.
"Here's one in Deut. xxxii: 4. 'He is the rock, his work is perfect; for
all his ways are judgment; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and
right is he.' Yes, there He is compared to a rock. Of course that is
symbolical, but find another. Isn't there one that tells of Him as
spirit?"
"Yes, 'God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in
spirit and in truth,' that is in John iv: 24, and in the first chapter
of John it reads: 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with
God and the Word was God.'"
"Ah! there we have it very plain; word is not flesh and blood or person.
Doesn't it say in the letter that God is Intelligence, which is only
another way to express the same thing?"
"Yes, and I remember when Jesus prayed for His disciples, He said:
'Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth;' and some place in
the Bible it speaks of God as truth," said Kate, quite willing to give
all the corroborative testimony she could.
"Truth can only be considered as principle, so we have that statement
confirmed by the Bible, and that would agree with what Pythagoras
wrote," said Grace, quoting: "'There is one Universal Soul diffused
through all things, eternal, invisible, unchangeable; in essence like
truth, in substance resembling light; ... to be comprehended only by the
mind.' Now it is comparatively easy to see manifestations of the Good.
By the way, I think it a volume of explanation in itself to say Good
instead of God, don't you?"
"Well, yes, it does seem peculiarly expressive, but the old way sounds a
little better yet."
"Of course," pursued Grace, "it doesn't matter so much what we call this
omnipresent power, as whether we understand it. All humanity worship the
same Deity in the sense of recognizing an omnipotent Power. I once read
something comparing the ideas of God among the different peoples, and it
was really wonderful how similar they were, excepting, of course, each
nation had a different name for Deity. I believe I have that book now
somewhere;" and Grace went to look for it, but presently returned
without finding it. "Well, it made such a vivid impression on me that I
remember a few of the principal statements. One was that the Hindoos
teach of an omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent Being called Brehm
who is the creator of all things, from whom all things emanate and by
whom all things are sustained. The Persians, Egyptians, Greeks held
similar ideas. The Persians called God, Ormuzd, the Greeks, Orpheus, the
Egyptians, Osiris."
"I did not know the Pagans held such ideas of Deity. I always thought
they believed in many gods," said Kate.
"They did, but as Edward Everett Hale, says: 'The innumerable Gods of
the Pantheon are but manifestations of the One Being,' that is, they had
special names for the different manifestations of God, as He appeared to
them in the sun, the air, the earth, and also the different qualities of
human character. They all alike believed in a Supreme Being, and made
statements almost synonymous with many in the Bible. That is what may be
called universal truth, and if this philosophy is what is consistent
with fundamental truth, it will be just what I have been wishing to
find." Grace leaned back meditatively, adding, "Mythology used to have a
peculiar charm for me, and many of those old stories are coming back
with a new significance."
"'There is but one foundation, other, can no man lay,'" quoted Kate,
earnestly.
"Yes, my dear," and Grace rose and paced back and forth in deep
abstraction. "There is but one Truth and we can not establish a falsity.
But I want to carry my reflections a little further concerning this
universal worship. To my mind, the power inherent in everything and
recognized in some way by every individual is the supreme, perfect Power
in different phases of manifestation. The man who trusts an unseen power
to bring the seed he plants to full fruition, is believing in the true
God, though he may not know it.
"The whole world lives on faith from one year to another, for there is
not enough food produced in one season to last more than one year, and
if men did not know every succeeding season would provide, they would be
desperate indeed. What is this but believing in a supreme Power? Even
materialists admit that the great First Cause is beyond matter. Herbert
Spencer speaks of it as the 'Universal Reality, without beginning and
without end.'"
"All people reverence and admire the sentiments of love and justice and
truth and mercy. Let us agree they come from the same cause and are
everywhere present, and we shall come nearer to worshiping God in spirit
and in truth, than we ever have before. Now let's have your opinion,
Queen Katherine," concluded Grace, looking at Kate with a playful smile
as she finished her long dissertation.
"There is nothing I can add to that, and it seems a very good conclusion
to our first lesson. I did not know you had thought so much about
religious things, Grace."
"I always had a fondness for looking on the forbidden side of things,
and I am afraid I was more curious than religious, but I am rather glad
if there is an explanation to these things that have always puzzled
me."
CHAPTER XV.
"A lie can not exist--it only appears. Truth is consciousness
consistent with itself in every relation; error is consciousness
inconsistent with itself in some relation."--_Judge H. P. Biddle._
"And what an end lies before us! To have a consciousness of our own
ideal being flashed through us from the thought of God! Surely, for
this may well give way all our paltry self-consciousness, our
self-admiration and self-worships! Surely, to know what He thinks
about us will pale out of our souls all our thoughts about
ourselves!"--_George MacDonald._
MARLOW, September ----.
"Dear John: I hope you are as anxiously awaiting this letter as I
awaited the second lecture. It was splendid, so comprehensive, and above
all, so practical. It throws light on many puzzling points, and I am
delighted so far with what seems so plain and true.
"Some of the members of the class seemed quite shocked at some of the
statements, but it is not strange that they should seem startling to one
who has never thought on the subject, for indeed, I should think it
would take a good while to get used to reasoning that is directly
opposite the world's first conclusions; still we are looking for results
that are quite contrary to what the world looks for, so we can afford to
collide with its opinions. When Mrs. Pearl came into the class room, all
turned to look at her and every ear was ready to listen.
"In yesterday's lesson we made a statement of God as the only Mind of
the universe, the Great Reality beside whom there is absolutely nothing
in existence; but as we look around at the scenes of suffering and
poverty and ignorance, we are mightily tempted to disbelieve such a
statement.
"'Talk of omnipotent Light in the midst of midnight darkness!' you
exclaim. Ah, but you are to remember we are talking of the real
creation; the invisible and unapparent instead of the visible and
apparent; the changeless and eternal instead of the evanescent and
decaying.
"If God is the only Reality, His creation is the only real creation. The
word real is applied to that which actually exists, which forever is,
not to that which seems or appears; therefore, in speaking of the real
we mean the changeless and invisible.
"If God is the only Mind, His are the only real thoughts, and thoughts
are invisible to the eye, but discernible to the mind or consciousness.
"If God is everywhere, there is no possible place or space in the
universe where God is not; hence He is all there is. One of our modern
prophets wisely wrote: 'Has not a deeper meditation taught certain of
every clime and age that the Where and the When so mysteriously
inseparable from all our thoughts, are but superficial adhesions to
thought; that the Seer may discern them where they mount up out of the
celestial Everywhere and Forever. Have not all nations conceived their
God as omnipresent and eternal, as existing in a universal Here, an
everlasting Now?
"'Think well, thou too wilt find that space is but a mode of our human
sense, so likewise Time. There is no space and no time. _We_ are--we
know not what; light sparkles floating in the ether of Deity. So this so
solid seeming world, were, after all, but an air-image--our _me_ the
only reality.'
"This me is the spiritual self, the individual idea of God, His image
and likeness.
"What then, about this body, which is not spiritual, you ask? What about
the material universe?
"Wait a moment. Think of the premise. As God the invisible is the
changeless, what is the variable, fleeting, visible unreality? The real
is everlasting, the unreal is transitory. The real is called Spirit, the
unreal matter.
"What is Spirit? The underlying omnipresent substance that we call God.
"What is matter? The counterfeit, shadow, emblem, showing that Spirit
exists or is.
"We read in a very ancient Hindoo Scripture: 'Those who have
understanding, whose thought is pure, see the entire universe as the
picture of Thy wisdom;' and the thoughtful Carlyle said: 'All visible
things are emblems.... Matter represents some idea and bodies it forth.'
"These thoughts are in perfect accord with the principles laid down in
our premise, hence we find that as we believe matter, believe the body
to be the real creation, we are believing a falsity. This is the idol we
are worshiping instead of the true and only God. The grand visible
universe in which we see so many beauties, so many charms, is but the
mighty object lesson before us by which we may learn of the infinite,
invisible All. As Theodore Parker said: 'The universe itself is a great
autograph of the Almighty.'
"The characters used in mathematics do not constitute the science but
merely represent to the senses the invisible ideas of the principle of
mathematics. The visible does not constitute the invisible, but may
carry its messages as we learn to read its poetic and mystic pages. The
visible speaks to the mortal nature, but the invisible beyond and above,
speaks to the immortal nature.
"Since we find matter to be so totally opposite the real, there is no
other name for it than as the unreal, and the unreal being a counterfeit
of the real, must be a lie, as the nature of a lie is to make false
claims, pretending they are true.
"Matter is a counterfeit because it is not genuine or of God, because it
is changeable and fleeting, because being limited to a visible form, it
must have finite limitations and can merely give finite conceptions.
"Taking it as a _sign_ of something infinite, we learn of the infinite.
All the students, teachers, learned men and women of the world have
added to the world's spiritual ideas revealed by their study of the
finite as well as their intuitive knowledge of the infinite. Charles
Kingsley gives us a hint of how to learn: 'Do not study matter for its
own sake but as the countenance of God. Try to extract every line of
beauty, every association, every moral reflection, every inexpressible
feeling from it.'
"Our ideas of matter must then be entirely changed, and we must learn to
look beyond the seeming, to the true. We have believed in the reality
of matter and material environment because of reasoning from the false
basis that man is material or that he is a mixture of material and
spiritual. To believe that the flesh and blood of our sister or brother
is their real self, is to believe God capable of creating something
utterly unlike himself (John iii, James i.) which may suffer, sin and
die, and if He is all perfection, He can not know imperfection. If He is
all spirit, He can not know or be matter. Keep before your mind the
perfection, omnipotence, omnipresence of Spirit, God or Principle, and
you will see more and more clearly the inconsistency of anything
opposite Him emanating from Him.
"Believing in matter as a reality, we have endowed it with all the power
of the real, have ascribed to it life, substance and intelligence, when
it possesses neither.
"Where is the life when the body dies? If life were inherent in the
physical body, could it ever cease to be? God the eternal life principle
can not cease to be. The life manifested through the body is the life
which is God and can not be affected by the decay or disappearance of
the body.
"The invisible essence of life is also the true substance, the reliable
and changeless something, upon which we may forever depend. We use the
word substance in its etymological sense (from _sub_, under and _stare_,
to stand), and since Spirit or Mind is the reality that underlies every
material or sensible object, there is no substance to the object itself.
"Plato taught that '_ideas_, are the only _real_ things.' Ideas are
expressions of thoughts, and thoughts are expressions of mind, and this
reasoning brings us back to God as Mind and Mind as Cause. Admitting
Mind or Spirit to be the life and substance back of or expressing itself
through the body, we may easily see that intelligence can not exist
apart from Mind, and hence can not belong to matter.
"That the mind or intelligence is seated in the gray convolutions of the
brain, is held by the materialists, and yet Dr. Laycock affirms 'that
matter is fundamentally nothing more than that which is the seat of
motion to ends, of which mind is the source and cause.' Professor Huxley
crowns the statement by saying, 'That which perceives or knows is mind
or spirit, and therefore, that knowledge which the senses give us, is,
after all, a knowledge of spiritual phenomena.' Professor Faraday held
to the immateriality of physical objects.
"In the language of Jesus the Christ, we are told, 'Spirit is all, the
flesh profiteth nothing;' thus from all classes of conscientious but
confessedly diverse thinkers, we find statements of universal truth, and
this is what the hungry, starving world is seeking with more earnestness
than ever before.
"Since there is no life, substance or intelligence in matter, it will be
comparatively easy to prove that there can be no sensation, for where
there is no life in the body, there can be no feeling. Even the
physiologists tell us mind must know pain before it can be located in
the body. We state therefore a theorem which is practically
demonstrated; there is no sensation in matter.
"As we visit penitentiaries, reform schools and hospitals, as we read
and hear the startling statements of press and pulpit, we grow
disconsolate and heavy-hearted over the awful power and reality of evil,
forgetting again that He who is perfect goodness can not behold evil or
in any way permit its existence, any more than heat can permit cold, or
light can permit darkness.
"Granting the omnipotence of Good, where is there any room for its
opposite?
"If there is but one Power, and that omnipotent and perfect, there can
be no evil _in reality_; hence we are dealing with another lie when we
judge according to appearances, which Jesus said we should not do. It is
really disloyalty to God to impute to Him all misery, pain, sickness and
suffering caused by the evil and ignorance of man. We are told: 'Let
your soul be subject to the higher powers, for there is no power but of
God.' Because we have not done so, but have believed in every claim
power, we suffer from 'evils which our own misdeeds have wrought,' as
Milton wrote, or, in the words of Emerson, 'we _mis_create our own
evils.'
"Jeremiah said: 'It is your sins that have withholden the good things
from you.'
"According to Webster, 'sin is a transgression of the law of God.' There
is but one law--the perfect and unchangeable Truth. Any deviation from
Truth is error, and error is sin. In proportion as we deviate from the
strictly true, then, we sin. Because we admit things to be true which
are not true, we _admit_, then _commit_ sin, and hence suffer for sin.
'Know ye not that to whomsoever ye yield yourselves servants to obey,
his servants ye are, whether of sin unto death or obedience unto
righteousness,' wrote Paul. We first think wrong. Sin is of the mind,
not of the body.
"To acknowledge the reality of sin or evil is a transgression of the
law, because, according to our established premise, it cannot be true.
"Through a misconception of our relation to God, and a belief in the
power of evil, we are obliged to admit the existence of sin, sickness,
and death, neither of which can be true in the presence of God, as the
only Reality, in which or in whom are all things that eternally are, not
that temporarily appear.
"We have believed in a mind or power of thought opposite and contrary to
God, when in reality there can be nothing opposite or contrary to
eternal Mind. We have believed ourselves endowed with a mind separate
from God, and ourselves subject to temptation from some cause not Good.
We have believed in minds, when there is but one Mind.
"This false force, this false mind, is variously called the evil or
carnal mind, the mind of the flesh, the old man, the serpent, the devil,
the adversary. It is simply the opposite or contradictory of the Good,
the god of evil.
"Beside every true or positive statement there is a false or negative
claim, and in so far as we are ignorant of the true, we are in bondage
to the false. To _believe_ the claims of error is to be bound; to _know_
the reality of truth is to be free. To believe in a mind or power
separate or opposite from God, is to be subject to any suppositions or
beliefs formulated by that mind or negative thought.
"That we are spiritually perfect is true, but it is necessary for us to
prove that fact by 'working out our own salvation,' by manifesting the
positive or God quality of thought through our life and actions, and the
only way to be filled with good thought is to recognize and acknowledge
the Good only as the real.
"This error, tempter or devil, was spoken of by Jesus as having no
truth, as being a liar, and the father or cause of lies (John viii: 44).
Instead of devil (which is only another name for evil or the slanderer),
or 'carnal mind', as Paul called it, we find mortal thought a better
term for the expression of this power of thinking.
"'Why have we this power of thinking wrong thoughts when there is but
one good and only Mind?' you ask. As God's idea, in the image and
likeness of Mind that thinks, we have the power of recognition, the
power to be or not to be, the possibility to become sons of God. We have
the power to distinguish, to judge, to know; we have the spirit that
ever leads us on and on in truth.
"But here is where we fail. In our ignorance or limited state of
unfoldment, we have mistaken the symbol for that which is symbolized
matter is the symbol, as also the body, we have judged according to
appearances instead of righteous or strictly true judgment; we have
yielded to a belief in sin, hence are servants of sin.
"The conception of matter as having power, is based on appearances, and
because we have delegated to it a power, have acknowledged it as an
entity, separate from the eternal mind, it has enslaved us.
"Reasoning in this way we find everywhere two opposites or
contradictories to be recognized and judged, as the visible and the
invisible, the material and the spiritual, the false and the true, the
mortal and the immortal, the unreal and the real, the negative and the
positive.
"Judging of the true by that which is changeless and eternal, we can
decide at once on those qualities or attributes belonging to or
describing what is true, and by knowing what is true, we can readily
distinguish it from the erroneous.
"We have considered these great errors or negatives which the world has
believed and still believes in, and they must be dealt with according to
scientific law.
"Through all the ages of Christianity have been heard the words of the
Master: 'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up
his cross and follow me;' but who has understood it? The letter of the
law has indeed been observed by many earnest followers of Jesus to a
degree not considered necessary in this age, but what has it
demonstrated? What has come of all the fasting and renunciation, the
cruel asceticism and severe discipline?
"Do these conscientious disciples give an unmistakable proof of their
discipleship by showing the signs that must follow the true believer?
How can they when they talk of sin, sickness and death; of things
contradictory to the nature, power and presence of God?
"Then they must not have understood the spiritual import of these words
of Jesus to 'deny himself.' Deny means, according to Webster, 'to
contradict; to declare not to be true; to disclaim connection with; to
refuse to acknowledge; to disown.' Jesus meant deny the mortal thought,
the false self; refuse to acknowledge it as having any authority; and it
is only as the Christ follower proves this to be the true mode of
denying self, that he can speak with authority as to the scientific
method of dealing with all the errors to which mortal thought gives
birth.
"No other way has brought the desired result; hence we confidently
assert that all these mistakes agreed to and participated in by mankind
must be emphatically, persistently, scientifically denied.
"Systematically and repeatedly we say:
"1. There is no life, substance or intelligence in matter.
"2. There is no sensation or causation in matter.
"3. There is no reality in matter.
"4. There is no reality in sin, sickness or death.
"5. There is no reality in evil.
"6. There is no reality in mortal thought.
"This is denying the self recognized by the world. This is the life that
must be laid down, that must be sacrificed, lost.
"Humanity has proven its subjection to these errors. Now, by its
faithful rejection of them, let it prove them lies, for the force of a
lie is always annulled by rejection. This proves the law referred to by
Jesus when he made a denial of self the first duty of his disciples.
"In denying, it is necessary to say the words over and over again; it
may be mechanically at first, but say them over, several hours at a
time, if possible.
"More is accomplished by concentration than anybody is aware, and the
repetition of the words helps to concentrate the thought. First repeat
the whole list of denials, then select one on which to spend most of the
time for several days. The denial of matter, for instance, makes us more
spiritually minded.
"When denying, try to realize there is no space, but that anywhere you
send your thought it will go, and as you think or say the words, you
will be denying error for the world as well as for yourself, as every
thought is world-wide in its influence, and helps to free or bind
humanity, even as it is truth or error.
"To deny is to put out of mind, to erase, as it were, the false beliefs.
Be earnest, be faithful, and you will have an abundant reward.
"This, dear John, is the substance of the lecture as nearly as I can
give it. After Mrs. Pearl had finished the lesson, she requested the
class to sit in silence a few moments and together hold the thought,
'There is no reality in matter;' after which we were dismissed with this
benediction: 'May we realize that God _is_, that spirit is the only
reality.'
"The lessons are always opened by silent prayer, which I have forgotten
to mention before.
"Please, dear husband, observe these rules and study every assertion as
carefully as though you were in the class. You, and Grace, and Kate, can
accomplish a great deal together; but by all means don't pass judgment
till you have carefully examined all the evidence.
"Tell me all about the children. Such details will greatly comfort me,
for I must confess that to-night I am the least bit homesick.
"Good night,
"Your loving MARION."
CHAPTER XVI.
"God is commanding us off, every hour of our lives, toward things
eternal, there to find our good, and build our rest. Sometimes He
does it by taking us out of the world, and sometimes by taking the
world out of us."--_H. Bushnell._
"The second letter has come," said Grace the moment Kate entered the
room, after her day's lessons were over.
"Has it? Let us hurry and get the tea over so we can study it."
"Don't you want to hear it first? I haven't looked at it because I
wanted to wait for you, but I can't wait that long," cried Grace,
pulling it out of her painting-apron pocket.
"All right, then read away while I start the fire."
"No; come and sit down like a good child, you can't half listen when
your mind is filled with stoves and tea-pots."
Kate smiled, and drawing her chair up beside Grace, she listened to the
reading, while her face alternately brightened or darkened.
"Well, it sounds very beautiful and very plausible, but I can't see how
any one can say there is no evil when the world is full of it, and to
say there is no sin, sickness or death! why, that is blasphemous! I know
the Bible won't corroborate that," she said, in a horrified voice, at
the conclusion of the letter.
"Hold on, we must not be so fast; there are good reasons for every
statement, and she says it is necessary to say these denials over and
over. It is harder for me to believe there is no matter, but if there is
a way to prove there is none, then I will submit. But first let us see
what the Bible says," said the more moderate Grace.
She got the Bible and concordance, but could find no reference to matter
as pertaining to physical creation, but she found under the word "flesh"
an allusion to John i: 12-13, and iii: 6. "The first reads," began
Grace, "'But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of God.' That evidently refers to a creation possible to all, but where
is the authority for saying 'there is no matter'?"
She pondered a moment, then referred to the letter--"Oh, I see! She
says, 'no _reality_ in matter,' and then goes on to explain about the
real. Yes, now I see. Do you understand it, Kate?"
"I can understand that the body is not the real," replied Kate,
thoughtfully, "for Jesus said 'the spirit is all, the flesh profiteth
nothing,' but--"
"That's so. Why didn't we think of that before? Besides, it was taught
by the ancient philosophers as much as 4,000 years ago, that matter has
no reality. Yes, its plain to see how it can be, theoretically, but
where they can demonstrate it practically, puzzles me. Here is a
reference; let us see if that will tell us something."
She read Heb. xi: 3: "'Through faith we understand that the worlds were
framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made
of things which do appear.'"
"That seems quite conclusive," said Kate.
"Yes, it does. Now we will consider your problem," replied Grace,
running her finger down the references, "and see if we can find anything
in that. Let us bear in mind," she continued, "she does not say there is
no appearance, but no reality in evil. Among the first references, I
find one to the twenty-third Psalm: 'I will fear no evil, for thou art
with me.' How plain that is! Of course there can be no evil where God
is, and God is everywhere. God is Love. In Love there is no evil."
"But just think of the awful crimes that are committed every day, and
the wicked people who commit them," demurred Kate, with an incredulous
look.
"We haven't got far enough to solve everything; listen to this: 'Only
with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked,'"
read Grace.
"That must mean that with the carnal mind we see all things opposite
God, and with the mind of the spirit we discern spiritual things; that
is in Romans somewhere," exclaimed Kate, with a gleam of understanding
in her face.
"What word shall I look for?" asked Grace, intently pursuing her search.
"Mind, I think; shan't I look for it?"
"No; here it is in the eighth chapter and tenth verse: 'The carnal mind
is at enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be.' That is plain enough. It means that all
thoughts opposite God and God's creations are of the animal man, hence
at enmity with God, and since there is nothing real but God and His
creations, of course there is no reality in them. Now you are satisfied,
aren't you, Kate?"
"I suppose I ought to be, for I don't see any other way to understand
those passages," she admitted, with a sigh of relief.
"Just one more, and we'll go on to the next denial, which will hit me,
I'm afraid," continued Grace.
She turned to Isa. xxxiii: 15-16: "I declare, Kate, here is the essence
of the whole lesson," and she read: "'He that walketh righteously, and
speaketh uprightly' (according to the true creation), 'he that despiseth
the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hand from holding of bribes,
that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from
seeing evil; He shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the
munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be
sure.'"
"I really did not know there was such a passage in the Bible, and I
don't see why other people haven't found it before," said Kate, quite
won over. "But how strange it seems to deny this way."
"Yes, that is the most unreasonable part of it, and yet I think Mrs.
Hayden has explained it very clearly. Now what is next?" asked Grace.
"There is no life, substance or intelligence in matter," answered Kate,
glancing at the letter.
"I must confess that puzzles me," mused Grace, thoughtfully.
"Oh, that is easy enough to understand, when you remember the spirit is
all, besides, when a person dies the organs of the body may be perfect,
but there is no life or feeling, and according to this new
understanding, no substance," explained Kate, in her turn.
"I can see it well enough as a theory, but what all this has to do with
practical every-day living, is a mystery to me."
"'We haven't got far enough to solve everything,' somebody said to me
once, and here it is for you," remarked Kate, with a spice of mischief
in her tone.
"All right, what next?"
"No sensation or causation in matter; but I think that is answered the
same way as the other. But this last one; I do wonder if the Bible
corroborates it?" Kate looked troubled again, as she read: "'There is no
sin, sickness nor death.'"
"The same reasoning applies to that as to all the rest. There is no
reality to anything but God's creation, and that is changeless and
perfect. But we will see what the Bible has to say; I. John iii: 2-10.
In the second verse it reads: 'Beloved, now are we the sons of God, but
it doth not yet appear what we shall be;' that of course is an assertion
of our spiritual self. Then verse nine says: 'Whosoever is born of God
doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him and he can not sin,
because he is born of God.' Then it seems plain there can be no sin to
the spirit, neither can there be sickness nor death."
"It is wonderful," murmured Kate.
"What is next?" pursued Grace, with the concordance open before her.
"That is all, except she explains the use and necessity of denial, and
suggests to Mr. Hayden the benefit of denying for hours at a time."
"Well, we can do that, too. If it is good for him, it must be for us. I
mean to do it," said Grace, shutting her book with a snap and pacing
back and forth excitedly.
"Oh, well, take it calmly; we can do that while we are getting supper,
and I am hungry now. Do you know it is seven o'clock?" Kate exclaimed,
looking at her watch.
"Two hours we have been studying," said Grace. "Really, this is as
interesting as painting. I don't see one thing but what is reasonable,
do you, Kate?"
"Not the way it seems now."
After everything was put away they began making earnest application of
the rules. Each sat silently thinking, according to directions: "There
is no reality in matter, there is no reality in matter," etc. For two
hours neither spoke. Then Kate said: "I feel so light; as though there
were no weight to my body. What does it mean?"
"I don't know, unless it shows you are realizing what you say."
"That is it. I can feel that there is no obstruction to spirit or
thought; that spirit is limitless and God is everywhere."
She seemed lost in her new thoughts, and went to bed as though she were
dreaming. Grace had experienced nothing but a sense of dullness and
extreme sleepiness.
CHAPTER XVII.
"The soul is not a compensation, but a life. The soul _is_. Under
all this sea of circumstance, whose waters ebb and flow with
perfect balance, lies the aboriginal abyss of real Being. Existence
or God is not a relation or a part, but a whole."--_Emerson._
"MARLOW, September ----.
"Dear husband: I was made very happy this morning by the messages from
home, and especially Fred's and Jamie's baby efforts. They wanted to
send mamma their love, and the straggling characters meant for words,
convey as much meaning as though they were in good English, for they
speak to me in unmistakable language. Why do I understand so well? Ah,
John, I see. Because, being filled with love for them, I recognize the
same quality in what they feel for me, and only need a sign to read the
meaning back of it.
"As I write, new light comes to me regarding the real meaning of signs
and symbols. Until we are filled with a desire and love for God, we can
not perceive or understand the real meaning of the universe, can not
read God's love for us. Until we have a conscious apprehension that
there is a spiritual knowledge, we can not recognize spiritual truth.
"Oh, I can not help wishing you had been here to-day! It was simply
grand; such an uplifting, such a glimpse of the wondrous Now. We learned
about what _is_, what we _are_ and how to prove ourselves God's
children. Mrs. Pearl opened with a few words on the use and necessity of
silence, after which we were all silent awhile, when she commenced:
"Garfield said, 'The world's history is a divine poem, of which the
history of every nation is a canto and every man a word. Its strains
have been pealing along down the centuries, and though there have been
the discords of warring cannon and dying men, yet to the Christian, the
philosopher, the historian and the humble listener, there has been a
divine melody running through the song, which speaks of hope and halcyon
days to come.'
"What has made possible this divine melody but the spirit of love and
truth that ever animates the children of God? Were it not for this vein,
nay this wholeness of the invisible spirit, what could we have on which
to found hopes of 'halcyon days?'
"Not from the visible man of flesh and blood do all things beautiful and
true emanate, nor from the material and unstable, but from the one
source that is God, as apprehended and realized by His idea, the real,
invisible, spiritual man. Beauty, worth, can only be in idea or
understanding.
"What made Milton, Shakespeare, Emerson, truly great was their
appropriation and manifestation of the invisible inheritance of spirit,
mind.
"What is man without intelligence, without love, without life, without
truth? The real man is spiritual because he is the idea of Spirit, Mind,
God, the only Creator. All that is grand, noble, true in an individual
is a manifestation of the God-power and presence. There is but one real
Mind, and all real or positive thought or intelligence is the
manifestation of Mind, which is God. There is but one real Intelligence,
and the intelligence manifested by the individual is the Intelligence
which is God.
"God is absolutely one Verity, the primordial Essence. But how shall we
know this as a fact? How shall we prove it as an incontrovertible truth?
you ask.
"By persistent acknowledgement of God and His creation, we become one
with Him, and to be one with God is to know absolute Truth. We are
conditioned by the thoughts we think and by the words we speak. By
thinking and speaking right words we manifest true conditions; by
thinking and speaking wrong words we manifest false conditions. 'As a
man thinketh in his heart so is he.' If we desire to manifest strength,
justice or wisdom of God, we must 'acknowledge God in all our ways.'
"'The only salvation,' says George MacDonald, 'is being filled with the
spirit of God, having the same mind as Christ.'
"In order to realize the essence of these words, in order to realize the
essence of any truth, we must enter into its meaning by becoming one
with it, by making ourselves the expression of its harmony, the picture
of its idea.
"Knowing the potency of the word, we say the true words over and over
again, silently or audibly, we think of them in every possible way, with
varied expression if we will, as it is the thought, the prime idea that
we are seeking to manifest.
"We want the true salvation; 'we want to be filled with the spirit;' we
want the truth that makes free; we want strength, justice, wisdom. To
secure these we have only to rid ourselves of the false and be filled
with the true.
"By the positive denial of a lie we annul the lie; by the positive
affirmation of truth we establish truth, or rather our consciousness of
truth is established; thus, as we deny error or affirm truth, are we
carried forward and upward. These are the 'wonderful words of life' that
clothe us with righteousness.
"The words that we use first are statements of fundamental Truth,
acknowledging who and what God is, what we are, and in what relation we
stand to our Father.
"1. God is Life, Truth, Love, Substance.
"2. God is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent.
"3. I am the idea of God, and in Him I have my being.
"4. God is my sufficiency in all work and my will in all ways.
"5. I am subject to God's law and can not sin, suffer or die.
"Over and over again we speak the words, and by marvelous law new
meanings flash upon us, new thoughts are born, new interpretations come
to efface the more obscure ones of the past. It may be easier to follow
every denial with its corresponding affirmation; if so, study the lesson
that way.
"_Hold to each affirmation till it yields its pearl._ Take the first,
'God is Life;' say the words over and over, think of them in every
conceivable way. Make every tiny leaf and slender blade of grass tell
you something of the infinite Life. Bear in mind that every where life
is manifested, whether in plant, animal or man, wherever we look there
is omnipresent Life.
"God is Life. This same Life is our life, which can not be taken away
from us. This Life is good, and in It we live even as God lives in us.
Oh, wondrous life that flows on and on, without beginning, without end,
even as the river sings: 'Men may come and men may go, but I go on
forever.'
"God is Truth, all truth, wheresoever or by whomsoever recognized, is
the everlasting Truth that must forever be.
"There is not a community or church, not a society or family, but is
organized and held together by some phase of the all-embracing and
perfect Truth. The different sects and parties are only different
because certain people see the same side of Truth, and preferring to be
of one mind, they separate or unite and build their respective
sanctuaries.
"'Truth is always present, and we only need to lift the iron lids of the
mind's eye to read its oracles,' said Emerson. When the 'iron lids' are
lifted we shall see as one, we shall belong to the Church of the
universe and the oracle shall reveal to us its deepest secrets and most
sacred mysteries.
"Truth _is_. All that we have, can have, or will have or can conceive
of, exists in the ever present Here and Now. It only remains for us to
recognize and acknowledge it.
"God is Love. To realize the mighty sea of omnipotent Love that enfolds
and blesses humanity, would be to plunge into the healing waters of
Bethesda. Like the sick man, we wait until the majestic Christ commands
us to arise--help ourselves, instead of waiting for others to put us
into the cleansing current. Let us recognize, then, the allness, the
tenderness, the sacredness of this divine Love by submerging ourselves
in it, until all thoughts of evil, suffering or hatred are lost in its
embrace.
"'Lift up the gates that the king of glory may enter in,' sang David,
and we too cry aloud with earnest aspiration that the gates shall be
lifted away, that into our consciousness may come the high tide of
omnipresent Love. 'Love alone is wisdom, love alone is power, and when
love seems to fail it is where self has stepped in and dulled the
potency of its rays.'
"God is our substance. True substance alone is reliable. God is our rod
and our staff. Firmly relying on the Rock of substance which is God, we
can not be shaken, can not be destroyed. Though all seeming powers
totter and fall around us, the One is ever the same, indivisible,
unchangeable I Am. When we are one with the eternal Substance, weakness,
danger, failure shrink into cowering nothingness.
"Study to know, and know to live, should be our motto. Deny all error
and affirm all Truth is the way to appropriate whatsoever we desire to
manifest. Deny weakness and affirm strength, deny discord and affirm
harmony, deny sickness and affirm health. Why? Because we erase the
false beliefs of weakness, discord, sickness, by the denial, and
appropriate strength, harmony, wholeness by affirmation.
"Can the spiritual self be ignorant, weak, sick or sinful? we argue.
Impossible, for God is our sufficiency, is all there is. We refuse to
admit any belief of dullness and ignorance, but gratefully acknowledge
our likeness to God our Wisdom. We refuse to entertain anything contrary
to the Good, but fellowship only with God-like qualities. They are ours
by right of inheritance. We gladly claim them and prove our claim by our
manifestation.
"Cleansing our consciousness from false conceptions, what wondrous power
may we not reflect! Our sufficiency is of God, not of ourselves, and to
Him we ascribe all honor and glory.
"The Master taught the divineness of yielding our will wholly to God,
'Not my will but thine be done,' He prayed. This is the highest
conception of the denial of self. The mortal self is to be set aside,
our immortal consciousness awakened into oneness with the Father.
"MacDonald has beautifully said, 'Oneness with the mighty All is the one
end of life--God or chaos is the only alternative.' We say God works
through man to will and to do, and implicitly trust the divine
Intelligence that guides every waiting child.
"We choose the Good and reverently await our leadings. In every stormy
trial, in every doubtful moment, in every hard-pressed circumstance we
stand aside and let the divine will work through us. There can be no
mistaking this standing aside. It is not to sit down idly with no
thought of responsibility or effort, but it is to do the best we can so
far as we know, constantly awaiting more knowledge of God's will and
more strength to do.
"When the will of man is at one with the will of God, when man realizes
his mortal nothingness and the allness of God, there is divine and
perfect healing. The poet was right when he wrote,
'Our wills are ours we know not how,
Our wills are ours to make them Thine.'
"'I am subject to the law of God and can not sin, suffer nor die.' The
real _I_ is governed by spirit, as an idea is governed by the mind that
thinks it. The real creation, being spiritual, can not be subject to
mortal beliefs or 'carnal mind which is at enmity with God.' With spirit
there can be no sin, sickness nor death, for these are enemies to be
overcome by the Son of God, the Christ within. 'Thou wilt keep him in
perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.' 'The last enemy (belief) to
be overcome is death.'
"Until we persistently refuse to judge according to appearances, and
acknowledge the true and invisible, we will continue in our old code of
beliefs and be at the mercy of the consequences.
"When we recognize the Christ or God principle within, we are then truly
the sons and daughters of God. Spiritual insight gives a logical and to
some, a new meaning to the term Christ. Christ means Truth and Truth
means God. 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and
the Word was God, and the Word was made manifest in the flesh, or the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.'
"'Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth.' Jesus said of
Himself, 'I am the way, the truth and the life.' But He did not speak
this of His physical body, He referred to the spirit or Christ within,
which was one with the Father, that was and is, literally the way, the
truth and the life. If you will substitute Truth for Christ any place in
the Bible, with this understanding, you will be able to read and
apprehend as never before. In this line of thought read the thirty-fifth
chapter of Isaiah, the title of which is 'The joyful flourishing of
Christ's (Truth's) kingdom.' With this understanding, we so much more
clearly see what Paul meant when he said such things as 'Your life is
hid with Christ in God,' 'Christ in you, the hope of glory,' 'Until
Christ be formed in you,' and many other similar expressions. In the
eighth chapter of Romans, especially the first verse, it is much clearer
by reading with this new spiritual signification. 'There is, therefore,
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus (Truth), who walk
not after the flesh but after the spirit.' Who could ever believe the
physical Jesus was meant? No: Christ was exactly what the first chapter
of John says He was, the Word (or Truth) made manifest in the flesh, and
the name of the flesh was Jesus.
"Jesus Christ means Jesus, the manifestation of Truth, and this explains
many hitherto obscure passages, which are exceedingly hard to
understand, when the flesh and spirit are regarded as one.
"What vast possibilities unfold to the human being persistent in his
search for truth! What a glorious realm of knowledge, what wonderful
power, what blissful peace, for he will have 'put on the new man, which
is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that creates him.' He
will have attained the clear vision of liberty, for he will no longer be
bound to the 'letter that killeth' but be filled with the 'spirit that
giveth life.'
"The silence at the close seemed like a baptism of peace. To me came the
realization of the intimate relationship of God's children to their
Father, whose love ever comes as a benediction to those who will or can,
recognize and appropriate it.
"With love to you all, I am,
"YOUR MARION.
"P. S. I take great pains to have the quotations accurate, and
fortunately I have made the acquaintance of the shorthand reporter in
the class who sits next to me; she takes notes and as a special favor,
reads the quotations for me after the class is dismissed.
"Once more, good-bye. M."
CHAPTER XVIII.
"Got but the truth once uttered, and 'tis like
A star new-born that drops into its place,
And which, once circling in its placid round,
Not all the tumult of the earth can shake."
--_Lowell._
"How are you getting on in your study of Christian Healing?" asked Mr.
Hayden, meeting Kate as he was going home, and handing her the letter.
"It is getting plainer, but Grace seems to catch the reason of things
much more readily than I. In fact, I am afraid I should have given up in
disgust had not she helped me out, for some of the statements seemed so
unreasonable."
"They are rather inconsistent in some respects, I must admit; but if we
will only be patient, and not allow prejudice to color our judgment,
everything will straighten out," replied Mr. Hayden, smiling. "You
notice Marion is careful to warn me not to judge hastily. She knows how
I am in religious matters, always insisting on the one interpretation.
But I am growing some, I hope, so I trust my judgment is broad enough to
make a fair and impartial investigation."
"Do you follow directions about denying?" Kate asked, as they walked
along.
"I am trying to, but of course my days are busy, and evenings somewhat
taken up with the children. Still, I deny matter as being inert, having
absolutely no power of itself, except what is delegated to it by the
senses. I know it has no life, intelligence or causation of itself, but
only as man in his ignorance allows it to have. This has been held by
wise men of all ages. I have an idea this way of thinking will help me
in business as well as socially and religiously."
"I am glad to hear that," said Kate; "though I must confess at first I
was very much afraid to look into this; but last night I had a very
clear assurance that there is something in it. Grace and I denied a long
time, and I had a most peculiar experience. Such a strange, exalted
feeling, as if there were no weight about me, and it was very clear that
there is no reality in matter."
"Remarkable!" murmured Mr. Hayden. "Suppose you come down Sunday and
we'll compare notes," he suggested, as he turned the corner toward home.
"We will," she promised, and went on with a hurried step, anxious to
read the letter, for she was now as interested as Grace. When she
arrived at their rooms she found her friend had gone out, so she went
about the domestic duties, resolving to have everything ready when Grace
returned.
"Isn't that a beautiful lesson?" exclaimed Grace, when they finally sat
down to study, later in the evening.
"Perfectly grand; but I want the Bible corroboration, though I am not
afraid it is not there this time."
"Of course everything that proves the theory helps to establish the
consequent facts, and I suspect all things prove it when we understand
it. Well, here is the first statement about God that is about the same
as in the first lesson," said Grace. "Look up the references to life."
"Here is one in Psalm xxvii: 1. 'The Lord is my life and my salvation,
whom shall I fear?'" read Kate; "and here is another in Acts xvii: 25:
'God giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.'"
"That is good; see if you can find another," said Grace.
"Here is one, but I hardly understand it--John xi: 25, 26. 'Jesus said
unto her, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth on me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and
believeth in me shall never die.' What can that mean, Grace?"
"Wait a moment," said Grace, silently pondering. Then she looked again
at the letter. "Why, of course! How could we forget so easily? I had it
just a moment ago. Jesus never referred to his flesh and blood when he
spoke of himself as life, resurrection, truth, bread, but always meant
the Spirit of God that was manifest in him, and the Spirit of God which
is the Christ, is Truth, and whosoever believes or apprehends Truth,
shall be whole and live."
"But it says, 'shall never die,'" interrupted Kate, still unsatisfied.
"I don't know, then, unless it means 'the Spirit is all.' Find another
passage."
Kate read John vi: 51-64, and then added, anxiously, "it seems to grow
more mysterious all the time."
"Never mind, let us be patient. Read the fifty-first and sixty-third
verses again."
Kate read, "'I am the living bread which came down from heaven, if any
man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will
give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.... It is
the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing, the words that
I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life.'"
"That last clause is the key to all," exclaimed Grace, eagerly. "He was
the Word, idea made manifest in the flesh. Flesh was a symbol of Word,
and he said they were to eat his flesh, which meant they were to eat his
word. Now let us look up Word, since so much hinges upon that."
Rapidly turning over the leaves, Kate read again, John xv: 7: "'If ye
abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it
shall be done unto you.'"
"There we have it. Christ, we must remember, means Truth. If we abide in
the Truth and the words of Truth abide in us, that is, in order to eat
the flesh and drink the blood of Christ, we are to abide in the spirit
and speak the words of Truth. Oh, how beautiful!"
"Yes, it is. Here is another passage, Col. iii: 3, 4: 'For ye are dead,
and your life is hid with Christ in God.... When Christ, who is our
life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.' Even
I, can see that," cried the delighted Kate, "and I remember a verse in
Ephesians, iv: 18, that will make it still plainer. Here it is: 'Having
the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through
the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart'
(mind). Ignorance is the opposite of truth, and one who is ignorant of
truth is subject to the carnal mind which leads to death. When we know
truth, we know the opposite of death, which is life, so when Christ the
Truth, which is life, shall appear, we shall be glorified with the
knowledge of eternal life, and just as far as we realize truth we
manifest it, do we not?" She appealed to Grace, as if the thought were
too good to be true, and must needs be confirmed before she could
believe it.
"Manifest it? Why yes; I suppose so; that means in the body," answered
Grace, thinking deeply; "manifest truth in the body. Of course," she
continued, "we will show forth a more perfect body in proportion as we
acknowledge and realize more perfect thought. How strangely we lose our
premise! If this could not be reasoned out so clearly, I should get all
tangled up; as it is, I don't keep out of snarls."
"Just think of poor me who seem to have no reasoning faculty at all in
these matters. What should I have done without you to help me out?"
queried Kate.
Grace smiled as she replied: "In one sense you will get on faster than
I, for you can get it spiritually or intuitively, while I get it only
intellectually, and the intuition flies where reason walks. You had a
perception of the unreality of matter last night and I had nothing at
all but stupidity and sleepiness. But let us go on. I am more deeply
interested than I can tell, and the Bible is a new book to me. I never
dreamed there were such treasures of truth in it. No matter where I
read in the Bible before, I could not understand, and then I stopped
trying, but it is very different now."
"What is the next point in the lesson?" asked Kate, taking up the Bible
again.
"I am the child of God. Look for child."
"Yes, in Rom. viii: 16, 17: 'The spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit, that we are children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs
of God, and joint heirs of Christ; if so be that we suffer with him.'"
"That means," said Grace, "we prove ourselves heirs if we suffer with
him, mortify the flesh, lay down the life of appetites and passions and
talk continually of spiritual things; in short, live the life that Jesus
did."
"Here in Gal. iv: 1: 'The heir, as long as he is a child, differeth
nothing from a servant, though he is lord of all,'" read Kate.
"While he has a child's ignorance of his inheritance, of course he could
not enjoy its possession, and the longer he remains ignorant, the longer
will he have the station of a servant," explained Grace, readily.
"But there is a seeming conflict in the two passages. The first says the
spirit itself tells us we are children and heirs, and the second says,
as long as he is a child, even though an heir, he is nothing but a
servant," said Kate, in perplexity again.
"But isn't there a place in the Testament somewhere about being born
again?" inquired Grace.
"Yes," replied Kate, wondering what that could have to do with it. "Yes,
that is where Nicodemus went to Jesus by night--"
"Find it," interrupted Grace, who was determined to be thorough in this
study at least.
"John, iii: 3-7, reads: 'Except a man be born again, he can not see the
kingdom of God.... That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which
is born of spirit is spirit.'"
"Well!" said Kate, as she finished.
"Didn't we learn that the words are spirit and life, and does it not
mean we are born into the spiritual knowledge by abiding in the words of
truth?" reasoned Grace.
"Why, that is it, I do believe, and one of the last verses of the third
chapter of Galatians says, 'for ye are all the children of God by faith
in Christ Jesus.'"
"By faith in the Truth," amended Grace, for the sake of the clearer
meaning.
"What a stupid I am!" cried Kate. A moment later she said thoughtfully,
"there is a text in the first chapter of James which reads: 'Of his own
will begat he us with the word of truth, that we might be a kind of
first fruits of his creatures.' My youthful Sunday school training is
not quite in vain," she added, meekly.
"It would not take us so long if we knew the Bible as some people do,
provided we want to take that as sole authority," remarked Grace,
referring to the letter again.
"I don't know about the advantage of knowing the passages unless you can
interpret them, and that is certainly essential to the understanding,"
replied Kate, thoughtfully, as she drew her hand slowly over the open
page.
"Mrs. Hayden refers to the liberty brought by the spirit. Suppose you
look up a reference to liberty," suggested Grace.
"Yes," said Kate, a moment later, "here in verses 17 and 18 of II. Cor.,
third chapter, it reads, 'Now the Lord is that spirit, and where the
spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.... But we all, beholding as in
a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from
glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.'"
"Why, Grace," exclaimed Kate, shutting the book in her eagerness, "I see
it all now. By denial we take away falsities that bar us from looking
into the face of God (Good), and by the affirmation we acknowledge Him,
which is turning an open face to Him and reflecting His glory. Isn't
that the way you understand it?"
Kate's face was all aglow with enthusiasm. A new light had come to her,
and she was lifted to a higher plane, both in conception and feeling.
"That is a beautiful interpretation, but I don't want to stop to think
about it now," said Grace, with a yawn, betraying fatigue for the first
time.
"Why, Grace, a little while ago you said you were 'so interested.' What
has come over you?" was Kate's rather discomfited answer.
"Oh, nothing, nothing!" rejoined Grace hastily, "only you know one _can_
be surfeited with good things, but never mind. I shall not stop till we
get through with this looking up, and then I must have a good long
think." She playfully chucked Kate under her chin, and asked her "to go
on," but the searching was not so spontaneous as before, and in the
spontaneity of study lies the acquisition of knowledge.
Grace, it must be confessed, was compelling herself to a thorough
intellectual investigation which, till now, had been a novel pleasure,
but was getting a little monotonous, although she was deeply interested
and more pleased with the Bible readings than she would have thought
possible, because, as she had said herself, the Bible had been a sealed
book to her before. She was very careful to conceal this new feeling
from Kate, for at least, she would not lay one obstacle in _her_ path,
and after a few moments' desultory conversation, they went on as before.
"The next affirmation is about the will, what can you find for that?"
asked Grace, as they had resumed their study again.
"I have found it already," replied Kate, with her finger on the passage.
"In Phil. ii: 13: 'For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to
do of his good pleasure.' That subordination to the will of God runs all
through the New Testament."
"Here is the last one," resumed Grace, referring to the letter again. "I
am subject to God's law and can not sin, suffer or die," she read.
"Oh, that does not sound right; I do _not_ see how it can be right to
say such things," interposed Kate, darkening again.
She looked up a reference to sin and turned to the sixth chapter of
Romans. "I don't see very clearly yet," she faltered, after she had
finished the chapter.
"Yes, in the 16th verse is the key to it all," said Grace, looking over
the page with her. "The idea is, if we admit sin or talk about it, we
are committing sin, for it is wrong to do either."
"I understand a little better now, but it is not an easy matter to be so
good," sighed Kate.
"But we are given these rules in order to know _how_ to be good. Let us
sit as we did last night, and say these affirmations," suggested Grace,
determined to do her duty, for Kate's sake at least.
Diligence and faithfulness never fail to bring forth fruit, and they
were laboring hard, both with soil and seed.
CHAPTER XIX.
"Each of us is a distinct flower or tree in the spiritual garden of
God,--precious each for its own sake in the eyes of Him who is even
now making us,--each of us watered and shone upon and filled with
life for the sake of His flower, His completed being, which will
blossom out of Him at last to the glory and pleasure of the great
Gardener. For each has within him a secret of Divinity; each is
growing toward the revelation of that secret to himself, and so to
the full reception, according to his measure of the
Divine."--_George MacDonald._
"MARLOW, September ----.
"Dear Husband: Your letter seemed the only bright spot in my yesterday's
experience, for, strange as it may seem, I awoke with the same old
headache and pain in my limb, and felt so dull and stupid, that I was
almost doubtful whether I had ever known anything. In vain I tried to
treat myself, but the more I tried the more perplexed I became, until
about noon, when I began to feel better, though the whole day was a
novel and rather disagreeable experience. When I went into class to-day,
from nearly every quarter was heard a similar story of how the day of
rest had been passed.
"It was more and more astonishing. Dr. Bright had hardly recovered from
her sick headache; Mrs. Dawn was still feeling stupid; two ladies were
not able to attend class; Dr. Johnson and Dr. Lorimer actually looked
angry, and the two ministers in the class were gravely discussing the
knotty points and knitting their clerical brows over 'doubtful
explanations' as they called them, while a perplexed and troubled air
seemed to settle on everybody. But there are a few old students in the
class, and they looked at us with a knowing smile, saying: 'This is only
chemicalization; you will be all the brighter after you get over it.'
"They did not explain further, but I knew something about it from the
experience we have had, but had never thought of it in that light. 'It
is a comfort to know there is some prospect of an end to our darkness
anyway,' said Mrs. Dawn, with a long-drawn breath of relief, voicing the
sentiments of all.
"The kind and gracious look Mrs. Pearl gave us as she came in, sent a
wave of peace and satisfaction over me, for I felt that she understood
the situation and would lift the curtains and let in the light.
"After the usual silence, which seemed longer than before, Mrs. Pearl
began in a calm clear voice:
"We have come now to a point where it seems necessary to explain the
process of growth, and the phenomenal changes which take place at
certain stages of our development, whether known or unknown to the
individual.
"Hitherto we have recognized material ideas, objects and processes. We
have looked upon our physical being as the indisputable creation subject
to all changes, circumstances or conditions. Having experienced a
material birth, we conceive of no other as being either possible or
necessary, and like Nicodemus we go in the night of our ignorance to ask
the divine Teacher, Truth, questions concerning spiritual things, only
to be told we must be born from above if we would know the things of
the spirit. 'That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is
born of Spirit is spirit.'
"We are covered with the cold, hard shell of material beliefs, which
must be broken and cast away before the sweet and tender germ of spirit
can spring up. We are born like the flowers, and blossom like them.
'Consider the lilies of the field, _how they grow_.'
"Seed typifies the desire for truth planted in the conscious and
unconscious being. The more constantly and persistently we hold the
desire, the more rapid and perfect will be the development that produces
the fruit. The hard little kernel must first lie in the dark earth,
while hidden forces make it swell and sprout until the outer shell dies
and falls away, leaving the pure white germ to push its way up and up
through the cold dreary earth. At this period it is very delicate and
tender, and yet it must pass through a trying stage, for when the white
spire just peeps above the ground it has to encounter elements that at
first seem bent upon its destruction.
"Will the sun's rays now prove too hot for it? Will the winds be too
rough and stormy? Will the cold air bite, or the storm beat and bruise
it unto death? Pointing ever skyward, does it stop to shiver at the
prospect of dark and cold and heat, or windy violence?
"Let us see. Bravely the young shoot goes its way. As soon as it sees
the light it displays new beauty, and the reflected glory clothes it in
a brighter robe--the fresh, dainty green of spring's supernal dress,
emblem of everlasting youth. But a storm of wind and rain assails it.
Dense cloud-curtains hide the sun, and the air is cold and chilling.
Sometimes for days this benumbing coldness lasts. But after the storm
our little friend is greener and brighter and larger than ever. It has
withstood the storm and wind, by using them for its own advancement.
Everything has been turned into good by recognizing only the good.
"When the sunshine comes again the little slip is baptized with dew and
warmth and light, and joyously springs on toward budding time, and then
another and different experience befalls. Instead of rolling every new
leaf outward to be bathed in the light and kissed by the wind, there is
a rolling inward, a curling up and shutting in of the new and delicate
leaves. A hard, unlovely roll or lump now displays itself on the green
stem, and every day the roll becomes larger and harder. The green stalk
never questions, though for a time her face is veiled. She lives in the
waiting silence, content with what is. One bright day she looks at her
ugly bud and finds it a rare blossom of surpassing beauty and sweetest
fragrance. Thus is born the fair-robed lily, pure emblem of the child of
God.
"But we have many and various symbols of divine thought in the many and
various flowers, from which we learn divine lessons. There are the
violets that come so early in the spring, with their wildwood fragrance
and dainty blue cloaks, and the lovely roses of summer, the goldenrods
and asters of autumn, while among the rarer kinds we have the
night-blooming cereus, the beautiful but slow blossoming century plant,
and many others. These are types and symbols of ourselves and our
process of birth and unfoldment.
"The new birth is a development from material to spiritual knowledge.
The individual corresponds to one or another plant, but none may know at
what particular stage.
"Some blossom early, some late, some manifest a nature like the violet,
others the rose, the water lily or the century plant. I can not tell,
you can not tell, none can tell. Even the Master said, 'The wind bloweth
where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell
whence it cometh or whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of
the spirit.'
"The wonderful seed (desire for truth) we have planted must be moistened
by the water of right words, warmed by the sunshine of faith, fed by the
dew of patience.
"Our trials will be similar in character to the flowers, and the outcome
will be the same in proportion as we follow their example of
unquestioning faithfulness.
"The very desire to grow is a challenge to the elements that _seem_ to
oppose growth, but the plant overcomes all obstacles by its
non-resistance, and herein lies one of our most valuable lessons.
"In our progress we meet with many conditions and circumstances that try
us, that seem indeed to call in question our earnestness in thus
starting out, with new assumptions. Sometimes these adverse conditions
are called trials of faith and they may come to us in one way or
another, sometimes in sickness, sometimes in misunderstandings,
sometimes in grief, sometimes in disagreeable duties.
"Peculiarities of disposition that we thought overcome, may manifest
themselves very unexpectedly and cause us great annoyance, not only
because we may have congratulated ourselves on having risen above them,
but because it would be a mortification to us to have our friends know
that we who believe in the possibility of such high moral attainments,
should be guilty of these old weaknesses and follies. In every way, the
tempter--mortal thought--may show us the fallibility of human nature and
tempt us to disbelieve in our high ideals.
"The forty days' temptation in the wilderness is the soul history of
every human being who starts out to lead the life of Jesus. Tempted in
everything as we are, he was the type of strength, purity and
faithfulness to principles, which we most earnestly should seek to
follow. After his baptism, 'He was conducted by the spirit into the
desert to be tempted by the enemy.'
"We are baptized by the spirit when we have come into the realization of
our sonship and daughtership, our true relation to the divine Father and
Mother Love, and have consecrated our lives to the service of Truth. In
order that we may be fully aware of the magnitude of our desire, we are,
as it were, led by the spirit to the desert which literally signifies
forsaken, where every means of comfort and companionship are gone, where
we must learn to choose between the ever present but invisible things
of God and the transitory but gratifying pleasures of the visible world.
Having a glimpse of the power and blessedness conferred by the knowledge
of Truth, we are tempted to keep hold of the power, at the same time
fellowshipping with the world, which by our recognition and fellowship
will be greatly pleased through the acquisition of our society and
talents.
"When tests are required of us similar to the turning of stones into
bread, healing the lepers, raising the dead, will we realize our
dependence on the word of God which is the 'bread of life?' Temptations
to dare the protection of the power, give us an insight to the very same
trial of Jesus, and when we are led up to the mountain of knowledge from
which we may view the pomps and vanities of the world, realizing the
superior insight that gives power, then comes the decisive
question--shall God or mammon gain our allegiance? Shall we forego the
seductive allurements of mortal thought (which is really only the
negative thought or the false power called the world's beliefs reflected
upon us), or shall we, in ringing tones cry out, 'Get thee behind me,
adversary (or opposer). Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only
shalt thou serve.' Then the enemy leaves us, and behold, angels come and
minister to us.
"After the long forty days, which with some seem longer than with
others, after the darkness and desolation of a desert night, we are
ministered unto by the blessed angels--good thoughts--and the glory of
the Most High shines round about us. The struggle is ended, the Good
which is ever ready to be our guide when we choose, leads us into many
sweet experiences that bring us nearer and nearer to the 'promised
land,' the true inheritance of God's children. We begin the ascent of
the mount of transfiguration, and though we come to many steep places,
though we sometimes stumble over rocks of ignorance, though we encounter
clouds of doubt that veil the glorious peak from our longing view for a
time, though we meet wild beasts, (untamed human nature), though we
cross shadowy valleys and dark ravines, lighted only by the torch of
faith, we shall have transcendant glimpses of the fair Beyond, shall
breathe the perfumed air of Zion's Hills, and be transported with
delight at the never ceasing revelations made to the true seeker after
eternal wisdom.
"After faith, comes knowledge. If we were overcome by the tidal wave,
when wading out a little way from shore, and a rope were thrown us, we
should at least catch hold the rope, hoping to be delivered from the
danger. After several successful experiences, we should have faith in
the rope, so when we feel the tidal wave of trial overtaking us, we are
to catch hold of our denials and affirmations which correspond to the
saving rope. An invariable rule in Christian Science is to deny the
undesirable and affirm that which can be predicated of spirit. _No
matter what inharmony_ assails you, whether it be pain, poverty,
sickness, loneliness, fear or anxiety, _deny_ it positively and
repeatedly and _affirm_ the opposite. Like Jesus, we must speak of that
which is true, but not visible. Thus when called to raise the daughter
of Jairus, he said: 'She is not dead but sleepeth.' The appearance of
death was denied, and its opposite, life, affirmed.
"When talking to the Jews, Jesus said: 'If ye continue in my word, then
are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth and the truth
shall make you free.' It is continuance in the word that brings the
blessing, mark that.
"And now let us enter into the silence with one accord, saying: 'For Thy
blessed words and example we thank Thee, O, beloved Master, and with Thy
words we enter now into Thy faith.'
"An impressive ten minutes, and then, with reverent voice and gesture,
Mrs. Pearl dismissed us with the words: 'It is finished. We have
received that which we asked, and are filled with the peace that passeth
all understanding.'
"While we sat thus, just before she spoke, I had one of those peculiar
experiences they tell about, coming so often in the silence. It seemed
as though I was in the cool quiet of early morning, watching the signs
of a summer dawn. All at once the creeping rainbow colors shot up toward
the zenith, and the most glorious sunrise I ever beheld flooded me with
a dazzling glow of gold. The moment she spoke it vanished, but oh, how
lovely it was! What could it mean unless the dawn of the 'Sun of
Righteousness?' I must wait and see, for surely the understanding of
these things will come when I am ready for it.
"Several of the class have been having strange signs or hints of
something on which they have been studying deeply. Dr. Bright said that
everything turned black before her one day when she was denying, and
when she could see again it seemed as though there were no walls to the
house and she was gazing into empty space. This is on account of denying
till material things seem immaterial, and we begin to realize the
reality of spirit.
"The saying of the affirmation for strength, Mrs. Dawn says, makes her
body feel almost electrified with vitality, and she can realize that the
words bring to her what they claim.
"One young man, who sits just back of me, told his experience in denying
the reality of matter. He was quite rebellious at first about saying
what seemed such a huge lie, but finally concluded to do the best he
could, and so said it over and over one day till he fell asleep.
Suddenly he was awakened by the words sounding in his ears, 'Be not
afraid, but trust,' and opening his eyes, he saw written on the wall the
very same words, and immediately a restfulness and satisfaction came
over him, so that he no longer demurred at the thought of saying the
words and, though he did not yet understand, he felt willing to wait.
"Oh, how I wish the great busy world would listen to this beautiful
doctrine. It seems that we must compel it to come to the feast. I think
we all feel like a child delightedly showing its new toy to everybody.
But the little experience I have had before, will teach me to withhold
where there is antagonism to the truth, beautiful though it is, because
my work at home even with my cure, did not interest or convince some
who would shut their eyes and ears to all. I remember so well how I felt
like shouting to everyone in my joy the glad story of my recovered
health, but the cold, incredulous looks, and the averted faces chilled
the tidings on my lips, and I learned that only when the world is
thirsty, will it appreciate the cool and sparkling waters of truth.
"Well, dear John, I have not answered your letter at all because I was
so afraid I would forget the substance of the lesson to-day, but I am so
glad it seems plain to you as I present it, and it is such a help to
know you are glad I came here. How we shall grow together when we
_begin_ together. Continue to write your opinions and ideas of the
lessons, for you have such a clear way of expressing yourself. Don't let
Jamie forget to write again when you all write. Bless his dear little
self! I would so like to see him, but then, I know all is well with you,
for Good is everywhere.
"Good night and good-bye,
"MARION."
CHAPTER XX.
"But when every leaf is dropped and the plant stands stripped to
the uttermost, a new life is even then working in the buds, from
which shall spring a tenderer foliage and a brighter wealth of
flowers. So, often, in celestial gardening, every leaf of earthly
joy must drop before a new and divine bloom visits the
soul."--_Harriet Beecher Stowe._
Saturday no letter came. All the forenoon Grace tried to do her duty by
saying her denials and affirmations while Kate was out giving lessons,
but she seemed so stupid and felt so cross that in despair she resorted
to her painting, but only succeeded in spoiling the picture she had
spent hours and days upon before. When Kate came in at the usual hour,
feeling so gay and light-hearted that she scarcely knew how to contain
herself, she was astonished to hear Grace say:
"Oh, I am glad you have come at last! Such a day as I have spent!
Thought I'd have so much extra time while you were gone to give Millie's
lesson, and here I've wasted the whole afternoon and spoiled my
'shipwreck' besides, and I'm in a villainous humor. Now, I'm going to
pour it all out on your innocent head." She smiled grimly, as she tossed
her painting apron aside and spitefully turned the picture to the wall.
"What in the world ails you, Grace?" cried the astonished Kate. "Have
you lost your senses? I was congratulating myself coming home on the
good time we would have again to-night."
"I anticipated it so vividly this morning I could hardly wait, but
really, Kate, I feel ugly, and perhaps it would be as well not to talk
to me. I will go out for a little walk, while you get the tea," and she
went forthwith.
A tumult raged within her that she had not conquered. One moment filled
with the most exhilarating sense of freedom and joy, the next the direst
disgust with herself and her failings; one moment clearly understanding
the many problems that had come up for solution the past week, and the
next with no ability to reason about anything. This had been going on
all day. She had even felt unreasonably irritable because Kate had so
quickly overcome her prejudices. What right had she to give away her own
for some one else's opinions so easily?
Grace gave her glove an impatient twitch as she thought of it, but the
next instant she wished she, too, might be as childlike and receptive as
her companion.
To Kate the Bible was final, unquestioned authority; to Grace it was a
corroboration, not a foundation. It was more interesting, she must
confess, than ever before, but then she must have better reasons than
had yet appeared for taking it as Kate did.
After all, perhaps this religion was but another mirage that had come
into her moral vision, as many another had come in all the years she had
been seeking truth and happiness. Happiness! Had she forgotten that for
two years that word had been dropped from her vocabulary? That she had
resolved to live on the best intellectual food the world could offer,
without tasting its heart viands? She walked on with an unwonted
energy. No, she would not be deceived; the best and sweetest in life was
not for her, but she ought at least, to help poor little Kate.
It was a calm, quiet evening. The sun was just disappearing over the
distant hills. The sky was radiant with delicate pink and blue tints.
She was walking toward the east, when, glancing at the scene in front of
her, she saw what seemed to be a brilliant fire, not only in one place
but in many. Somewhat startled, she looked more closely and discovered
every window ablaze with the sun's reflected glory. Like a flash it
came: "I am walking away from the glory of Truth. Oh! how shall I turn
my face to God?" she cried, with unspeakable yearning.
An agony of suspense seized her. She looked up at the calm, beautiful
sky, and its rays of radiance seemed to send down upon her a benediction
of peace. Like a soft whisper the words, "Lo, I am with you always,"
fell upon her ear. Blessed words that filled her with a new-born awe,
but they brought a realizing sense of ever-present nearness of Truth,
such as she had never had before, and she was so filled with peace that
all the world looked like a new world. The turbulent waves of doubt and
unrest had been divinely stilled.
She walked on, so filled with her new thoughts that the twilight
deepened into starlight before she thought of home, and then it seemed
that every star beam was an angel of love sent to guide her on her way.
She entered quietly as Kate was playing one of Beethoven's symphonies,
and never had music seemed so sweet. It was like a welcome into heaven.
It was the heaven within her that made a heaven without.
To Kate had come such a realization of divine harmony, that her soul
poured itself out in music she had never dreamed of before. All the
struggles and pains of the past years, all the disappointments and
unhappiness found expression through the wailing tones of the piano only
to be swept away or swelled into sweeter and more joyous strains. More
and more clearly a conception of joy and peace unspeakable filled her
heart. She wandered again, a happy child, in country pastures gathering
violets and buttercups. She could scent the clover and hear the birds.
The water rippled over the pebbles and the air was filled with leaf
music. Now, again a child, she "walked in green pastures and beside the
still waters." The sun of love was shining down upon her, and its rays
warmed her, clothed her, fed her. "Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the
Lord forever," she sang softly in an awed, hushed voice, as the music
grew more divinely sweet, and the realization of a nameless Presence
filled her. It was the presence of impersonal, omnipresent Truth, ever
flowing into the heart ready for its reception, and though at first it
may be but a tiny stream, it grows to a swelling tide, and all the words
in the universe can not name its sweet influence, or describe its
wondrous allness.
Oh, Katie darling, what wouldst thou have put away from thy life, if
thou hadst obstinately refused admittance to this heavenly Guest?... At
last the music ceased. She bowed her head and gave herself up to the
inexpressible thoughts that welled into her mind. For some moments she
was not aware that Grace was in the room, but as she finally arose and
turned around, she saw her. Their eyes met, and silently was told the
story of experiences too sacred to utter. A silent understanding and a
heartfelt sympathy bound them by closer ties than they had ever known
before. To be at one with Truth is to understand humanity, and
understanding is a voiceless language.
Sunday afternoon they called on Mr. Hayden and found the fourth letter
awaiting them.
"I did not send it up because Kate promised you would come over to-day,
and now let us have a little experience meeting," he said, as he found
chairs for them, and seated himself, seemingly awaiting a reply.
"First let us read the letter," suggested Grace, who was more interested
than ever since her yesterday's experience.
"Read it aloud," said Mr. Hayden, settling himself back to enjoy it.
Grace had scarcely begun reading when Jamie came in, screaming that his
finger was "boke."
"Never mind, Jamie, it will soon be all right. Shall papa treat it?"
taking the child in his lap.
"Teat it, papa," and he laid his little head on papa's breast with
perfect confidence that the pain would soon be gone. A few moments of
silence and he looked up innocently, saying with the brightest smile:
"It's all gone now. Papa telled the good Jamie to tome home," he
explained to the girls, "and here he is, papa," he added, holding up his
sweet mouth for a kiss.
"How beautiful is a child's faith," exclaimed Kate, after the little
fellow had gone out to play again.
"Indeed I have learned more than I can tell you from the children," said
Mr. Hayden, thoughtfully. "Mabel is old enough to understand a good
deal, but Fred and Jamie are very quick to apply what they learn. Last
night Jamie complained of the stomach ache. Neither of the children knew
that I was near, but I overheard Fred telling his brother that he would
treat him if he would keep still. Jamie consented and I peeped in a
moment later, curious to know what they were doing. Fred sat there grave
as an owl, with his hands over his eyes, and Jamie in a chair opposite,
his eyes shut tightly and an air of expectancy on his face."
"Now you're all right," said Fred, very positively, after a few minutes.
They were soon playing and not once did the child complain after that.
When going to bed, Jamie told me about it, and I asked Fred what he did
when he treated.
"W'y," he answered, "w'y, I just 'membered what you said to Mabel that
everybody has two kinds o' thoughts, and one kind _thinks_ you're sick,
and the other kind _knows_ you're well, so I thinked about Jamie till I
thinked the _know_ thoughts, and _course_ he got well then."
"It was a lesson to me, and I have tried to emulate their receptiveness
and childlike trust. I don't know how well I am succeeding, but it is
pretty hard sometimes to get the problems all worked out."
"We wouldn't have to work them out if we had the faith of a child," said
Kate, warmly. These little incidents touched her deeply.
"Well, there is nothing better to learn from than living examples, and
yet we can only take them as guides, they will not do our work for us.
Every one of us must go through his own experience, and prove his right
to an inheritance, by claiming it on trust as the child does. Now,
yesterday," continued Mr. Hayden, leaning back and stroking his chin, "I
worked hard all the forenoon, and everything seemed to go wrong with
me,"--Grace glanced at Kate--"I was not willing to live a moment at a
time, as the child does, with no thought or care as to where its next
day's supplies are to come from, but I was tired and cross all day. The
consequence was, in the afternoon my old enemy, the headache, began to
assert itself. Then I got Marion's letter and that helped me, because it
threw some light on the cause, but when I heard Fred's explanation of a
treatment I just applied it. I 'thinked,' till the 'know thoughts
came,'" Mr. Hayden concluded with a grave smile.
"I believe that is what it means to 'work out our own salvation,'" said
Grace, "and how beautiful to have the children learn! It will make
different men and women of them."
"Indeed it will; I have already seen some change in the children. But
are you not going to read the letter, Miss Grace?" asked Mr. Hayden.
"Yes, I am anxious to read it, but I have learned a great deal without
it."
She took it up again and read without interruption to the end.
"Well, that _is_ quite an explanation of your experience of yesterday,
Mr. Hayden," explained Kate smilingly.
"And mine, too," added Grace. "It is comforting to know that there is a
scientific reason for it though."
"I think my darkness came earlier in the lessons, for yesterday and
to-day have been very bright to me," replied Kate, soberly; "but," she
continued, "there is so much about this to admire and so much to prove
that the system is founded on Christ's teachings, I can not see where
doubt could enter."
"We might not doubt the principle where we would often doubt ourselves,"
suggested Mr. Hayden.
"Yes," said Grace, "I believe that doubts will come as long as we
consider it a personal power."
"Which it is not, of course," interrupted Kate.
"Certainly not, but we must grow into a realization of Truth, we can not
change our old natures in a day, and it is only natural at first to feel
that it is a personal power because we are given so much personal
responsibility."
"I see what you mean," said Mr. Hayden, quietly, leaning back as if
thinking deeply. "You mean it is hard to forget self, and I agree with
you. This mind of the flesh claims so much wisdom and power of its own
that it is hard to attribute everything to a higher power, and let that
power work through you; but when we can do that, we have the kernel of
the whole system."
"It is a wonderful thought to me, that we reflect _all_ things
spiritual, as we divest ourselves of our false beliefs," remarked Grace,
earnestly.
"In other words, when we know ourselves as we are, and not as we appear,
we shall recognize that all things we desire are already ours," added
Mr. Hayden.
"How could it be otherwise? The sun is always shining behind the darkest
clouds. All I ask is that the ignorance may be removed," replied Grace.
"Well, I want to understand and believe truth, but it seems strange,
after we have declared our willingness to believe and acknowledge God to
be all, that we should be tempted. Why couldn't our acknowledgement be
sufficient?" queried Kate, in perplexity again.
"Why isn't the simple act of joining the church sufficient to make
Christians? Although some seem to think it all sufficient, it is not. It
is the daily life of overcoming, and denial of self that constitutes
true acknowledgement," said Grace, laying her hand upon that of her
friend.
"Not denial of self in the old way, either," said Mr. Hayden, "but
denial of the mortal thought, or as Paul would say, the 'carnal mind.'"
"Yes, and in the temptation of Jesus, we read our own temptations,"
interrupted Grace, "and it is all important that we should deal with
them as he did. Over and over he met the opposing thought, represented
by the tempter or opposer--error always opposing truth--and gave it
either a plain denial or an emphatic command to get out."
"That is very plain and very true," said Kate, with a little sigh, "but
still I can not see why God should allow us to be tempted after we have
fought the battle once as Jesus did."
"But he fought it more than once," explained Mr. Hayden, earnestly. "He
was continually overcoming, and at times found it necessary to withdraw
into the mountains where he fasted and prayed."
"That is a good thought to carry home," suggested Grace, rising, "for we
need to follow his example."
"I need it more than anyone else," said Kate, feeling a lack of
spiritual understanding, and wishing she could get on faster.
"You are doing grandly Miss Kate, just think how you opposed it all at
first," said Mr. Hayden encouragingly.
"Yes, I know I did," flushing a little, "but even thus far I have seen
enough, or rather experienced enough to make me anxious to understand
it, and I only ask so many questions because I am determined to get
every speck of light I can."
"If everybody would lay aside prejudice as you have, Miss Kate, they
would have no difficulty in seeing the truth as you do," he replied.
The tears came into her eyes. Neither Mr. Hayden nor Grace knew how much
it had cost her to 'lay aside prejudice,' but she could thank God that
she had done so, and indeed believed it was Providence that had led her
into this study in spite of herself.
"I want the truth," she said simply, and turned away to join Grace, who
stood at the open door waiting for her.
CHAPTER XXI.
"People imagine that the place which the Bible holds in the world
it owes to miracles. It owes it simply to the fact that it came out
of a profounder depth of thought than any other book."--_Emerson._
"MARLOW, September ----.
"Dear husband: The first thing I heard when I went into the class to-day
was Mrs. Dawn telling how she had treated a severe belief of headache
last evening and how marvelously soon the terrible pain ceased. She was
quite rejoiced because it was the first time she had tried to
demonstrate the principles.
"They all have plenty to tell now, and are growing more and more
interested. Every day somebody has some new experience. Little Mrs.
Dexter, who has been so long treated by the old method, says she fully
believes she will be cured, is feeling much better, and has such an
assurance all the time that she has found the true healing. She has had
several quite remarkable demonstrations with others.
"The whole line of argument is unfolding so naturally and beautifully
that it seems like a piece of fine mosaic, with every form and color
interwoven with the most exquisite exactness. Mrs. Pearl gave us a
lecture on inspiration and the Bible, which I consider one of the most
useful and interesting of any she has yet given:
"In studying the very fountain springs of Truth, and basing our ideas
upon a God who is the unexpressed and inexpressible essence of Truth
itself, with whom is 'no respect of persons,' and to whom we owe _all_
knowledge, it becomes us to inquire a little into the manner and means
of gaining that knowledge.
"That all peoples in all climes and ages have developed similar ideas
and expressed them in like terms, as philology shows, is an indisputable
fact, strengthened and corroborated by our broader conception and higher
understanding of God, the omnipresent Good.
"But how have these ideas come to them? Have they come through what is
known as inspiration or revelation? As the one fountain of Intelligence
is open to all alike, this must be the case, because Truth comes only in
this way. Inspiration means an 'inbreathing,' a breathing in of true
knowledge, and because the omnipresent Good comes into every
consciousness prepared to receive it, there is an inbreathing in
accordance with the readiness to receive. Intelligence is like the air,
to be breathed by every living being. Thus far, humanity has expanded
its lungs of consciousness only enough to have inhaled fundamental
truth, or what is recognized as such, but we are constantly receiving
more, and in proportion as we receive, do we know what we receive.
"All truth is inspired or revealed, because whatever is true is of the
great Truth. This must be so, yet many people consider inspiration as
confined to the authors of the Bible and that with them, inspiration
ceased. The immortal Job said, 'There is a spirit in man and the
inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding.' The inbreathing
of the Almighty, All-powerful Truth, giveth understanding. No truer
words were ever uttered.
"As inspiration is inhaling or breathing in Truth, we can readily
understand that 'God, Truth, Principle, is no respecter of persons.'
That it is a 'miraculous influence which qualifies man to receive and
communicate divine truth,' is in a sense true, for the works of God are
always 'wonderful,' but there can be no setting aside of divine law, as
some erroneously suppose, for the performance of these things that seem
unaccountable to human reason. It is a lack of understanding as to _how_
Truth works, that has caused a belief in supernatural or miraculous
ways. Could a fish judge according to appearances, he would regard the
creatures that walk on land as gifted with supernatural power, because
it would be utterly beyond his conception to know _how_ they could do
so.
"Revelation and inspiration are frequently used interchangeably, but
that which is revealed, is the manifested result of inspiration rather
than inspiration itself. Whenever we are ready to breathe or absorb
Truth into our consciousness, we get a revealment--'inspiration giveth
understanding.' This breathing-in process lifts us above ordinary
knowledge and gives refreshing glimpses of heavenly Truth, it is like
breathing in fresh air, after having been in a close suffocating room.
We say this or that scene, person or object inspires us; we mean that
some beautiful thought or conception of Truth is revealed to us, through
or by our seeing these objects, because they hint of something better
and higher, and the moment we get the higher thought, we are conscious
of knowing higher Truth. This is revelation.
"Revelation and inspiration are the usual terms for expressing spiritual
processes but are necessarily inadequate to express accurate spiritual
meanings. How ideas are born is a question of questions. Whether they
come from without or within, they must establish the oneness of God and
man in mind and idea. The only 'without' there can be is that which is
without the consciousness, the only 'within' is that which is within the
consciousness. Development, growth, unfoldment, better express spiritual
consciousness. What is consciousness but a recognition of itself? Then
would not 'recognition' more fully describe the birth of ideas? As we
grow able to recognize harmony and love, harmony and love are revealed
to us.
"The more spiritual our thoughts and desires, the more spiritual our
revelations. To think and talk of God, to desire knowledge of Him,
creates a receptivity which sooner or later brings the revealment of
more truth, and that of the highest quality. But it is not always by
what we see that we are lifted into this consciousness of new knowledge.
In various ways is the Truth expressed to us, and whether we know how or
why it should be thus and so, matters not if we receive the message.
"The wisdom of our Father has provided that none of His children should
be without a knowledge of Him, without a power to recognize and
appreciate Truth, and in the way or language best suited to the
capacity of each to understand, are the revelations made. Sometimes this
knowledge comes into our consciousness like a direct message from God,
and so vividly are we impressed, that no other words could express the
nearness and clearness of it, than the expression 'walking and talking
with God.' Sometimes wonderful pictures appear before our mind's eye,
and reading their symbolic meaning, we catch hints of higher wisdom that
would otherwise have been hidden.
"By persistently ignoring the spiritual and cultivating the intellectual
faculties, mankind has well nigh lost the highest means of inspiration,
but now that we again, like the prophets and apostles of old, seek for
signs of the Infinite, we are gradually recovering the key by which they
unlocked its mysteries.
"As to the infallibility of what is thus revealed, we must remember that
while truth is always infallible, there is a possibility of its
recognition or conception being tinged to a greater or less degree, with
our erroneous judgements, and as the light, pure in itself, is colored
by the glass through which it passes, so is the divinest truth colored
with the quality of mind through which it comes to the world. As Heber
Newton says, 'Inspiration can not do away with the limitations of the
human individuality.' Thus, in our discrimination of so-called inspired
literature, language or thoughts, we must learn that whatever is
opposite God, the universal idea of goodness, is the chaff that must be
blown away. In other words it is the assumption of mortal thought
instead of absolute knowledge of divine mind.
"It would be an utter impossibility to describe infinite truth in finite
language. Words are inadequate to express the grandeur of sacred
revelation.
"With this view of inspiration, we can readily see how far short we have
come in our conceptions of the Bible, and now that we are to use and
understand this wonderful book as never before, it is well that we
consider it a little more closely.
"There are three general views held in regard to the Bible as an
inspired book. 1. That it is verbally inspired; _i. e._, that every word
is direct from God. 2. That it is partially inspired; and, 3. That it is
no more inspired than any other good book. The first two of these views
have been and are accompanied with the idea that everything going under
the name of inspiration, is infallible, hence the idea that every
statement made throughout the entire book is absolute truth.
"The Bible itself makes no claim to infallibility, though there are
frequent references to inspiration and the influence of the Holy Ghost
in moving men to speak, but the principal text on which is based this
claim of infallibility is II. Tim. iii: 16. At the time this was
written, there was only the Old Testament, including the Apocrypha, that
could be referred to as Scripture, so when we read Paul's assertion
that, 'all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness,' if we take it to be infallible, we have a reasonable
ground for regarding the Old Testament and the Apocrypha as infallible.
But a more literal rendering of the Greek text would be, 'all scripture
divinely inspired is indeed profitable for teaching, for conviction, for
correction,' etc., and by simply changing the position of the little
word _is_, we have a vastly different sentence.
"Regarding the interpretation of scripture, Peter says: 'All prophecy of
scripture is not of its own solution.' The literal Greek is, 'all
prophecy of a writing, of its own loosing not it is,' meaning, of
course, that sacred writings can not always be interpreted literally,
but must be understood according to their spiritual meaning. Great
writings are not confined to any private or local meaning, but refer
more especially to great principles, to universal truth.
"If we consider the origin of the Bible, we shall learn what
comparatively few of us know, viz., how the Bible grew into a book. In a
necessarily brief outline it is impossible to give anything but a
bird's-eye view of this very interesting and important subject.
"As we look back to earlier times, through the various channels, we find
that much of what is considered history is merely legendary; that long
before the art of writing was known, these legends and myths were handed
down from generation to generation, and from age to age. Familiar as we
are with human nature, we may well imagine the additions and
subtractions and divergencies introduced by each succeeding narrator,
copyist or editor in every age. This is a very important feature to be
considered in interpreting ancient scriptures, but there are also
others. History reveals the fact that the books of the Old Testament
were not written nor arranged in the order in which they now appear in
the Bible. For instance, while it has been generally considered that the
first five books were written by Moses fifteen hundred years before
Christ, the best authorities have found at least a portion of them to
have been written, or compiled rather, in their present form 600 to 700
B. C.
"Whether Moses or some one else wrote them detracts not the least from
the value of the truth they contain, for whatever is true, can not lose
its value or be effected by the authorship. This is only one of the many
facts that might be produced to show that the Old Testament came in the
most natural way, and not at all through a miracle or by miraculous
interposition.
"Referring again to the best records we have, we find the books of the
New Testament were written from 50 to 175 A. D., thus showing the
liability to mistakes, and the reason for many of the discrepencies in
the New Testament. That the time between the writing of the oldest and
the latest parts of the Bible covered a period of more than a thousand
years, should have much significance in our judgment of both the writers
and their writings.
"Dr. Heber Newton says: 'We are not to read the Biblical writers as
though they were all cotemporaries. They are separated by vast tracts of
time. The later writers stand upon the shoulders of their predecessors
and see farther and clearer. We are not to view the institutions or
doctrines of the Bible as though no matter in what period of development
of the Hebrew Nation, or of the Christian Church they were found, they
were equally authoritative to us.'
"Though the prophets and apostles were inspired, we must remember that
they necessarily had to use the language and methods of speech prevalent
in their time in giving their divinest revelations to the people. The
language was rich with Oriental imagery, strong figures of speech, and
allusions to manners and customs of other nations. Unless we understand
something of the literature and customs, the religious ceremonies and
laws alluded to, we are very much in the dark as to the original
meaning.
"For instance, unless we know the custom that prevailed in ancient times
of putting the sins of the people, figuratively speaking, into a white
cloth, dipping the cloth into blood, tying it to the horns of the
scapegoat, and turning the animal loose in the wilderness till the sun,
air and rain had bleached it white, we can not appreciate the
expression, 'though thy sins be as scarlet, yet shall they be washed
white as snow.' Until we realize that the ideas and language as well as
the customs and rites of barbarous and ignorant heathendom influence
every page of the Bible, we shall not know how much allowance to make
for the revelations of the Divine, and the suppositions and possible
mistakes of the human. Until we know that the Bible has gone through
many hands since its words were first spoken or written, we can not
realize the possible loss of its most spiritual meanings.
"Moses, Isaiah, David, John, Paul had the grandest revelations possible
to man, experiences not 'lawful to utter,' not possible to clothe in
words. The unspeakable can not be put into speech. To attempt it is to
color it with finite meanings. To describe the Infinite is but to limit
or confine God.
"When we consider that no very ancient writings have reached us without
the marks of many pens; when we consider the impossibility of exact
translation, the difficulty of perfect copying all the years before the
art of printing, the method of canonizing the books and formulating
creeds, we must know that something besides God's message has come down
to us. And yet a message is there notwithstanding.
"Yes, the authors of the Bible were inspired. Whatever of Truth they
revealed is infallible, but as men with finite conceptions and
abilities, they could not comprehend nor reveal _all_ of God.
"'God is the same yesterday, to-day and forever,' and talks to man face
to face to-day even as with the immortal Moses.
"'I know that the Bible is inspired, because it finds me at greater
depths of my being than any other book,' said Coleridge.
"All candid students of sacred Scriptures agree that there is a
spiritual meaning back of the literal. The question with us is, how can
we get at this spiritual or esoteric interpretation.
"If you will let the spirit of Truth guide you, it will bless you with
keener discernment, and clearer understanding, than has been possible
for you heretofore. It is when you look for the spirit of religion that
you find it and understand it, and the fact that so much has been said
against our Bible as a book, does not and can not detract a particle
from its value.
"'There is a light that lighteth every man!' Every one of God's children
has the power to distinguish truth from error, and only needs to assert
that divine privilege of knowing and acknowledging truth in order to to
find it.
"Humanity is so under the yoke of traditional opinions that it has not
dared think for itself, but the time has come when 'ye shall of
yourselves know what is truth,' when each must prove his individual
liberty by claiming it. Is not the wisdom to know and understand God's
revelations given to every one who asks, or rather appreciates what he
already has?
"There is no reason for depending upon any but the wisdom in ourselves,
for searching the meanings of any Scripture. Whatever is true, we shall
understand and hold as infallible. That we have a rich storehouse of
precious gems, even the most adverse thinkers admit, and above all else
we should search for them, prize them, and use them. Study the Bible for
the sake of its wonderful and sacred truth, catch the inspiration of its
writers, and you will soon discriminate the inspired from the
uninspired. With the statements of the true is necessarily more or less
error; the Truth we want, the falsity we leave behind. Whatever is good
and pure and ennobling is of God; whatever is evil, erroneous,
degrading, is from man's misconception of Him.
"Goethe, who highly valued the Bible, said: 'With reference to things in
the Bible, the question whether they are genuine or spurious is odd
enough. What is genuine but that which is truly excellent, which stands
in harmony with the purest nature and reason, and which even now
ministers to our higher development? What is spurious but the absurd and
the hollow which brings no fruit.'
"If you do not understand, wait. Do not judge hastily or allow yourself
to be biased by the opinions of others. What may seem hard, unreasonable
dogma, may later prove but a veil over the sweetest, spiritual truth.
Reverence to read, patience to learn, wisdom to understand--all these we
want, and then, more brightly than before shall shine the sacred
diamonds that stud inspired pages.
"We refer again to what Dr. Newton says in his grand essay on the Right
Critical use of the Bible: 'Successive generations of men, struggling
with sin, striving for purity, searching after God, have exhaled their
spirits into the essence of religion, which is treasured in this costly
vase.
"'The moral forces of centuries devoted to righteousness are stored in
this exhaustless reservoir of ethical energy. At such cost, my brothers,
has Humanity issued this sacred book. From such patience of preparation
has Providence laid this priceless gift before you. In such labor of
articulation--spelling out the syllables of the message from on high,
through multitudinous lives of men dutifully and devoutly walking with
their God, does the Spirit speak to you, O, soul of man. Say thou:
'Speak, Lord; thy servant heareth!'"
* * * * *
"Thank God, Marion has at last found the key to the Bible," murmured Mr.
Hayden, as he finished the letter.
CHAPTER XXII.
"Not in Jerusalem alone,
God hears and answers prayer,
Nor on Samaria's mountain lone,
Dispenses blessings there.
But in the secrecy of thought,
Our silent souls may pray;
Or round the household altar brought,
Begin and close the day."
--_James Montgomery._
Grace was busily engaged with "Hypatia." She felt for the first time she
could bring out the peace and reposeful strength of character Kate had
thought so sadly lacking, and one afternoon, a few days after the
memorable walk, she sat down to her work with a pleasurable anticipation
of bringing out her ideal. As she put the touches here and there that
changed the expression, now adding to this feature, now taking from
that, she was thinking of the changes needed in herself, and wondering
how or by what process they would be wrought by the invisible Artist.
She was mixing some paint on her palette, when a rap was heard at the
door. Before she had time to say or do anything, in walked Mrs. Dyke
with a timid little woman who came in like a martyr, but one resolved to
die at her post if necessary. Grace was too astonished to speak for an
instant, then rising, she put down her palette, wiped her hands and went
forward with an invitation to the ladies to be seated.
"Is this Miss Turner?" began Mrs. Dyke, with a critical glance about the
apartment, and then at Grace.
"No, madam, Miss Turner is not in. She generally returns about five, but
to-day--"
"Very well, we can come again, for it is very important business. Are
you the young woman who lives with her?" asked Mrs. Dyke, as she seated
herself with deliberate dignity. "This is Mrs. Linberger, and we have
called as the church committee to look after Miss Turner's soul," she
continued, waving her hand majestically toward her companion-in-arms.
"Indeed," gasped Grace, bowing slightly toward Mrs. Linberger, and
coughing a little as she put her handkerchief to her mouth to hide a
smile.
"She belongs to our church, and we have heard she is being led astray by
this blasphemous kind of healing," pursued Mrs. Dyke, looking severely
at Grace from under her thick grey veil which hung like a lowering cloud
just above her eyes. "Mr. Narrow requested me and Mrs. Linberger to call
and examine into the matter. I hope _you_ don't encourage such
wickedness, young woman?"
"Certainly I am at enmity with any kind of wickedness, but I am not
aware of any particular wickedness in Christian Healing," replied Grace,
bracing herself for the storm she saw brewing.
"What! you don't see anything wrong in such awful heresy!" exclaimed
Mrs. Dyke, again pushing her veil up, and looking with horrified eyes,
first at Grace, then at Mrs. Linberger. "Perhaps you don't understand
about it," she added, softening a little as she settled back in her
chair.
"I must confess I know but very little about it, but what I do know only
increases my desire to know more," said Grace, flushing, as she sat down
in the nearest chair.
"Let me warn you not to read or hear another word about it then, for it
will simply be the means of worse than death to you," continued Mrs.
Dyke, raising her finger solemnly.
"It destroys the most important doctrines in the Bible, even taking away
the belief in the devil and hell," added Mrs. Linberger, speaking for
the first time.
"Yes; they even deny there ever was a devil or that there ever will be
any future punishment. Just think of it," reiterated Mrs. Dyke. "I guess
they will see, some time!" she added with a sort of steely satisfaction.
"Do you really believe they lay aside all future punishment?" asked
Grace, willing to waive the application to herself, and anxious to hear
Mrs. Dyke's views.
"Yes, they say there is no evil and no devil, so of course there is no
need for punishment."
"But do they not regard the devil as Jesus did, after all?" asked Grace,
again pursuing her advantage.
"U-m, well, Jesus recognized him and talked to him, telling him to get
out, and he often referred to the everlasting punishment," added Mrs.
Dyke again, with a solemn face.
"But, he did not mean a literal fire, did he, when He spoke of
everlasting punishment?"
Mrs. Dyke was the catechized instead of the catechizer, and it was an
unaccustomed _role_, but she bore it like a soldier.
"Of course he did; several places in Matthew he described the lot of the
wicked, and referred to the danger of hell-fire. Haven't you studied the
Bible, Miss Hall?" suddenly turning to look straight at Grace with some
severity.
"I am very much interested in it, Mrs. Dyke, but when I read that 'God's
mercy endureth forever,' and that 'Jesus came to destroy the works of
the devil,' I am inclined to think there must be some mistake about the
dreadful wrath that is to last forever," calmly replied Grace.
"And you don't believe in eternal punishment?" cried Mrs. Dyke, in a
shrill voice of astonishment.
"Don't believe in eternal punishment?" echoed Mrs. Linberger.
"I did not say that. I _do_ think there is punishment so long as there
is sin, but when we believe Christ has destroyed or can destroy sin,
sickness, sorrow or death, which are the devil's works, they _will be_
destroyed. It _must_ be so if we trust the words of the gospel."
"Well, I am thankful to find Miss Turner in such Christian company at
any rate," said Mrs. Dyke, as she adjusted her veil, preparatory to her
departure.
"Yes, indeed; it is a pleasure to see such an earnest young Christian,"
added Mrs. Linberger, with a sigh of satisfaction.
"But, ladies," began Grace, "I am not such a----"
"We shall be pleased to have you accompany Miss Turner to our meetings
some time, Miss Hall," interrupted Mrs. Dyke, not heeding what Grace was
saying. "Here is a card announcing the regular weekly services, and here
are some tracts for you to read." She dealt out a liberal supply, which
Grace took as she again started to explain, but a sudden haste had
seized her visitors, and they left, saying they would try and call some
other time, when Miss Turner was at home.
As Grace turned to go back to her painting, she caught a glance of her
reflection in the glass. After looking at it a moment with a quizzical
expression, she suddenly burst into a merry laugh, saying: "I did not
know you had turned Bible teacher. Well, well, it _was_ funny, but I
could not help it, that she went away with the wrong impression of me,
for she would not listen to my explanation."
When Kate came home she brought another letter from Mrs. Hayden, but
before it was read Grace told her all about the call by the "church
committee." Kate looked a little grave at first, but finally
straightening up as she took off her gloves and hat, she said:
"Well, Grace, it is not very pleasant to be waited upon in this fashion,
but I suppose if they take me in hand I can't help myself, and so I will
be resigned to fate." She smiled and spoke cheerily, but a little tremor
of the old fear touched her, notwithstanding.
"Let us read the letter now," suggested Grace, thinking that would be
the best thing to revive Kate's dampened courage.
"Yes, I am anxious to read it; Mr. Hayden told me it is on the Bible,
and very helpful."
"I am so glad!" she exclaimed, when it was finished. "Now I can
interpret more freely myself, as I plainly see we must use our judgment
about the Bible, as well as anything else. But what does it mean about
the creeds?" she added suddenly, appealing to Grace with the old anxious
look in her eyes.
"It means," said Grace, "that the ordinary orthodox interpretation of
doctrinal points was voted upon by bishops, presbyters and laity
generally, and because the majority of votes indicated a preference for
a certain interpretation, it was adopted and became the established
creed, and thus we have what is called the Apostles' Creed, which is the
basis of all orthodox churches throughout Christendom. And so with all
creeds; they are all established by majority vote."
"I should never have known anything about this," she continued, "if I
had not been searching so eagerly for some religion that would satisfy,
and in my rambles I came across this information."
"Are you sure it is reliable?" was Kate's almost feverish question. It
seemed that she must hold on to something or the last straw that bound
her to the teachings of childhood, would break.
"It is a matter of history, and you see Mrs. Hayden has touched upon it,
though very lightly. But it is the grandest historical truth I ever
read, for it gives personal liberty. I shall never forget how happy I
was to learn that the creeds were simply man-made or man-expressed
opinions, for in that case, I too, had liberty to read and think for
myself, just as well as those who voted upon these various
interpretations."
Grace was handsome when filled with enthusiasm, and as Kate looked at
her at this moment she thought her face perfectly angelic, but one more
question she must ask of this noble friend, who knew just what she
needed to know and could tell it when she needed it most. "Do you think
Christian Healing does away with the creeds of the church?"
"No, not necessarily. So far as I can see, it merely seeks truth, and
whatever of truth is found anywhere is retained. It is only the husks
that are thrown away. Indeed I can see more in the church than I ever
could before I knew anything of Christian Healing," replied Grace,
thoughtfully.
"Why, how is that?" asked Kate in surprise.
"The fundamental oneness in their search after God. What is back of the
creed but a desire to reverence Deity? That was the origin, no matter
into what it has degenerated now, and we must judge according to the
spirit, not the letter. Oh, when will the world worship in the unity of
the spirit?" sighed Grace, longing for the time when questionings and
controversies would be at an end.
"Here is Mrs. Dyke, for instance," she resumed, presently, "what is she
striving for but to live the true religion as she understands it? I can
respect any honest people who live up to their belief, and the Christian
who moans and sighs and looks doleful because he thinks it is his duty
to do so, is much higher in my estimation than the one who believes it
to be right, but fails to live accordingly."
"The spirit of religion washes away all differences in the letter,"
concluded Kate, with a lighter heart than she had when they began their
conversation.
The vague terror that had occasionally thrust itself upon her during
these last few weeks had loosened its hold upon her, and she realized,
as never before, that fear, more than anything else, had kept her back;
fear of deviating from the traditional and accepted opinions. The Bible
lesson was especially valuable, because it touched these very points,
and after this little conversation with Grace on the subject she was
like another person.
When Mrs. Dyke called a few evenings later, after a similar interview to
the one with Grace, she left the battlefield a wiser soldier than when
she entered it, for Kate had so beautifully proven her religious
earnestness, and more than all had shown such a Christ-like spirit, that
the "sword was beaten into a plowshare and the spear into a pruning
hook."
CHAPTER XXIII.
"More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day,
For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?
For so the whole round world is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God."
--_Tennyson._
"MARLOW, September, ----.
"Dear Husband:
"Your letter was so full of interest. How glad, oh how rejoiced I am
that we are privileged to know this beautiful truth. Don't you ever feel
like stopping in the midst of your work and giving thanks that you were
born in this age? As my eyes open more and more to God's goodness and
love and power, I am so full of thanks, there is no room for petitions;
indeed, I should feel as though I were begging, to ask God for what He
has already given me, and of course He gives every child alike, being
'no respecter of persons.' Just think of it: 'Eye hath not seen nor ear
heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, to conceive the
things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.' Negative
thought, carnal mind _can not_ know these things, but as we are
cleansed and purified, the new baptism 'creates in us a new heart,' the
loving child's heart turned to its father, and love shall teach us more
and more to read the signs of love.
"Oh, divine mystery of childhood, of parenthood, that brings us into
closer and sweeter knowledge of our Father whose love is infinite. Out
of the deep silence around us, filled as it is with the all-abiding
presence of God, may we ask for a manifestation of whatever gift we
choose to have. These thoughts filled my mind as I went to class this
afternoon, and what was my surprise and pleasure to find the lesson to
be on the subject of prayer.
"There is no theme or word so constantly in the mind and on the lips of
the Christ follower as prayer. The oft-repeated injunction of Jesus was,
'watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation.' 'Pray without ceasing.'
As we study more closely into the life of the Master, we find him on all
occasions communing with the Father in prayer. Thus we find that this is
the most sacred and necessary of all branches of our daily work.
"Prayer is the natural turning of the better self to God, in the
attitude of thankfulness, praise, supplication or voiceless desire. 'It
must be the spontaneous and almost irrepressible outpouring of the
thoughts and feelings of the soul into the listening ear of a present
God,' said an earnest thinker.
"To what wonderful depths and heights our prayers lead us when they are
thus spontaneous and irrepressible! How well David has expressed the
gratitude, the holy trust and majestic praise common to every devout
child of God. 'The Lord is my shepherd,' is blessed affirmation of
supreme trust, the naming of God's glorious gifts, the gratitude for
peace, life, love, protection, friendship, all the heavenly blessings of
God's presence in God's house. In this wonderful psalm we find, no
doubt, no thought of waiting for future blessings, but a grand
outpouring of thankfulness for the present. There are no petitions, no
supplications, no reserves of praise, but simply the glad recognition
and appreciation of the omnipresence and omnipotence of Good.
"It was the same feeling, tempered with a deeper solemnity, that
prompted Jesus to say 'Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me,' as
he was about to perform the mighty miracle of raising Lazarus.
"Thanks signify the accomplishment of the desire. His request of the
Father was granted before he had even preferred it, for he knew the law
and realized it--that God is life and knows not death--but the form of
words was observed because that makes the law a visible fact.
"Father is the human naming for this divine Love that ever waits for the
spoken word in order to be revealed. To Jesus it was the dearest and
best name of all by which to address or speak to the one great Helper,
Guide, Friend. 'Father, I thank thee,' was often on his lips, and it was
to the 'Father who seeth in secret' that he bade his disciples pray.
"In the secret consciousness of oneness with the Father there may be no
reservations, no concealments, no hypocritical bigotry, no thought of
self, only a glad going out with all our heart and soul to the Father, a
trustful acknowledgment of the Good. This is the attitude of true
prayer.
"The devout soul is always praying, because it _consciously_ lives with
God. There are times of praise, adoration, extolment, when thankfulness
is more exuberant, runs over into bursting joy, and times when longing
desire carries us into the very bosom of God. We long for comfort, for
love, for peace, with an unutterable agony of longing, and are met with
an unutterable joy of satisfaction, if we but turn to Him and
acknowledge, but an indispensable preliminary to prayer is fasting. The
power of accomplishment in fasting and prayer equals a decree.
"The conditions upon which hinge our use of the divine power are,
first,'putting away iniquity'--fasting; second, turning to God--prayer.
Then comes the power to decree; then we see the truth of Jesus' promise:
'All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have
received them, and ye shall have them.' Then we look into the face of
the Almighty and reflect the same power, are able to do a like work,
make visible the things of His creation by speaking the word of
acknowledgment, that they are already established.
"It was this kind of prayer that enabled the disciples to heal the sick,
cast out demons and do all the wonderful works. Failure was simply a
sign of unfaithfulness in prayer. 'Oh, ye of little faith!' was the
Master's explanatory exclamation.
"Here was a most essential requisite--faith in the Father, who alone is
the power; faith and trust in the invisible All. Why do we pray so much
with no answer to even our most devout aspirations? Because, like the
disciples, we have too little faith.
"The heart-weary mother has prayed for her son, and he still goes the
'broad way that leadeth to destruction,' as she thinks; but for her
heart-weariness, which is but lack of faith, he might have been turned
into 'paths of righteousness.' With her mind continually burdened with
fear, dire forebodings and anxious doubts, she has asked, begged,
beseeched the mighty Ruler of destinies to soften the heart of her
wayward boy. Thankfulness that God has given to her child the common
inheritance to all possible blessings, a pure spiritual nature, the
reflection of the All-Good, has never entered her thought to express.
Her mind is divided between a conception of good and a conception of its
opposite--evil. The result is years of hopeless praying, years of
hopeless waiting. 'A house divided against itself can not stand.'
"'Pray, believing that ye have received.' Thus, 'I thank Thee, Father,
for the perfect reflection of Thyself in my son. He is whole because he
lives in and of Thy wholeness. I thank Thee that Thou hast already done
more than I could ask. 'It is finished.' Into Thy hands I commend my
all.'
"In this is the simple recognition of the All-Father, His love and His
omnipotence. And after this, what? Trust--unwavering, childlike trust.
So the burden is truly 'cast upon the Lord,' evil is overcome, swallowed
up in the Good.
"With such mighty faith, what a cleansing there would be! what a
sincere, glad rejoicing that the true relation between God and man were
proven, for faith is the bond between the invisible and the visible, a
'basis of things hoped for, a conviction of things unseen.'
"With what devoutness, then, would we name the needs and aspirations?
With what certainty would we assert that we have 'already received?' Not
far off in the intangible somewhere, but here, there, everywhere may we
find the Good, and 'he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most
High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.'
"To dwell in the secret place, in the pure and righteous thought, is to
be always under the protection of the Most High. To be able to say, 'He
is my refuge and my fortress,' is the grand privilege given to the heir
of the King, the heir that has come to the full knowledge of his
inheritance and thankfully uses it.
"'The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,' wrote
the wise and righteous James. There is an infinite promise of the
fulfillment of righteousness in these words. They contain the key to all
accomplishment or all failure. The righteous man is one who 'walketh
righteously, speaketh uprightly, stoppeth his ears from hearing of
blood, shutteth his eyes from seeing evil' (prayer and fasting). The
righteous man decrees magnificently and trusts infinitely. He does not
approach God like a cringing servant, licking the dust at his master's
feet, but like a Prince who enters his Father's presence with the simple
statement of his wants, and knowing his Father's will takes the
glorious gift with thanksgiving and praise.
"Is it health he would have manifested for himself or his neighbor? He
confidently acknowledges the health, even though he can not see it, the
health with which all humanity is endowed, if it would claim its
endowment. Is it peace, power, strength he desires, he again goes to the
royal treasury. With the right word he climbs the stair of heaven; with
the right faith he enters his Father's house, where all things abound.
"The righteous man is of one mind, the divine Mind that works through
him. Were all the praying world of one mind, think you a Lincoln would
have been martyred, a Garfield sacrificed, or tender little children
lost to our sight?
"God is the same forever. There is no inharmony to come from Harmony. Be
of one mind; let the divine Mind work through you; acknowledge only the
divine creation, and then all beliefs in the opposite of God will be
destroyed. The immaculate Christ (Truth) destroys the works of the evil
(error) to-day, even as in the far away centuries of the past, 'if so be
you let the Mind that was in Christ Jesus be in you.'
"The practical naming of daily prayer is denial and affirmation, denying
evil or undesirable conditions, and acknowledging the Good or absolute.
"'Being is the vast affirmative excluding negation, self-balanced and
swallowing up all relations, parts and times within itself. Nature,
truth, virtue, are the influx from thence,' said Emerson, noting the
absoluteness of that which is. To become one with this affirmative
Allness, is to manifest the affirmative condition of Being.
"Paul says in Titus: 'The grace of God hath appeared to all men,
teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live
soberly, righteously and godly in this present world;' and in the next
chapter, referring to the same subject: 'This is a faithful saying, and
these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which hath
believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.'
"There is no ceasing of this most necessary process. It is only by
denying and affirming constantly that we fast and pray, thus fitting
ourselves for the cleansing ministry. It is to 'be diligent in season
and out of season,' if we would gain the true reflection from
Omnipotence.
What the sun is to the flower,
Thou to us art every hour;
Like the dew on lily's breast
Fall all blessings from the Best.
Not alone in day would we
Turn our faces, Lord, to Thee,
But through lowering clouds of night
Would reflect Thy radiant light;
Thanking Thee for all Thy care,
May our lives be filled with prayer.
"What an outpouring there was in the silence after this. Such a flood of
reverence and trustfulness filled my heart, and instantly it flashed
upon me that God requires no outward forms or ceremonies of His
children, except they be the spontaneous and involuntary expression of
an overflowing heart.
"Kneeling in prayer was first prompted by reverence and not the servile
form into which it has too much degenerated. A form is only a sign at
best. If there is nothing to prompt the sign, what a mockery it is!
Truly, 'the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life.'
"Exactly how these thoughts came to me I can not tell, but after the
silence I knew by a great and sudden wave of understanding, things that
I had never thought of before, and to attempt to tell them would be like
trying to catch the sunshine. The hint I have tried to give seems very
far from the reality of my experience--but what are words compared to
thoughts, anyway!... My heart is too full. I know now what
'inexpressible' means.
"Good bye, with love to all.
"MARION.
"P. S. I had just finished my letter when Mrs. Dawn and Miss Singleton
came in. They too, had something wonderful in the silence. It seems too
sacred to tell, but to you three who are so earnestly seeking the way of
Truth, I can say what might seem sacrilege to the thoughtless world.
Miss Singleton had realized in those few moments the inexpressible
meaning of the Lord's prayer. 'Why,' she said, 'why, if we could realize
what it means, there would be no more sickness, sin or death. It seemed
to me the very heavens opened, and I looked upon a broad white shining
light like a path, only it was broadened and broadened as I looked, till
it became wide enough to cover the whole earth. This is to be wherever
the kingdom has come upon earth. Wherever the thoughts are heavenly and
pure there the Father is, there heaven, wholeness, health are, and I
could realize that the light is here, but ignorance keeps it veiled, so
that verily the 'light shineth in darkness but the darkness
comprehendeth it not.' Talk of sickness, trouble, sorrow, why, they are
nothing! The _light_ is here, the kingdom of heaven _has_ come, and been
here all the time. Jesus knew it, but he had to use language they could
understand. He knew if they prayed faithfully in that spirit, bye and
bye the spiritual meanings would flash upon them. Oh, how much, how much
it means! I can never lose this, for it means unutterable things, and I
_know_ there is no reality in sickness for I am _well_!'
"Miss Singleton is, or has been troubled for years with heart disease
and a slight curvature of the spine.
"It was not very light in the room, and I had not noticed her figure
particularly, but as she spoke, her face fairly shone with a heavenly
light (I can think of nothing else to describe it), and she was straight
as any one! She declared over and over that she was well, but more than
all else she appreciated the spiritual uplifting and knowledge that had
come.
"Mrs. Dawn had no special revelation to-day, but she seems to be
unfolding most beautifully. We talked a long time, and then sat in the
silence. They have just gone. How I wish I could see you, but it is late
and I must again close. Give my love to Grace and Kate. I am so glad
Kate is getting into the light. I felt she would be all right after she
begun. Of course, Kate, you will read this, but you will not care, I am
sure.
"M. H."
CHAPTER XXIV.
"Not till the soul acts with all its strength, strains its every
faculty, does prayer begin."--_Frances Power Cobbe._
"I have always thought a great deal on the subject of prayer," said Mr.
Hayden, drawing his chair up closer and bending over to look at his
listeners, Grace and Kate, who had called to get the letter which had
just been read, "and it appears to me," he continued, "that subject has
been misunderstood."
"Well?" interrogated Grace.
"Well, we have always been taught to pray to a God who could be informed
of our wants and needs, and be induced to change His mind about the
method of dealing with them, or be softened in His judgments concerning
His children. Now if God is all-wise and all-powerful, why need we so
carefully instruct Him? If He is all Love why need we ask Him with
piteous tears to bless our sick and afflicted? If He is everywhere
present, and no respecter of persons, why need we ask Him to do for one
more than for another? As God is omniscient, is He not all the knowledge
there is?"
"The great mistake has been to regard Deity as Person, instead of
Principle," said Grace, as he paused a moment.
"As God is changeless and eternal, the essence of Love and Life," he
went on, not heeding the interruption, "how can it be otherwise than
that we have an influx of this divine Life into ourselves as we
acknowledge its eternal and omnipresent existence, realizing the truth
of what we say?"
"There the trouble has been," said Kate, taking up his thought, "that we
have not realized the divine Presence which we call Truth, because we
have not acknowledged it."
"That is exactly the reason, and it needs a constant acknowledgment of
the Good to keep us from admitting false beliefs that beset us because
of an acknowledgment of the opposite of the Good."
"What then is your idea of the true method of prayer?" asked Kate, much
interested.
"More of thanksgiving, as Mrs. Pearl teaches. I like her comparison to
the servant and prince. We can not dwell too much on the thought that
God is always giving us blessings. They are here, have been from the
beginning of all knowledge, and our part is to take them. I often think
of that comparison between the earthly and the heavenly Father, given by
Jesus, when he said: 'If ye then, being evil, know how to give good
gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in
heaven, give good things to them that ask Him?' Here is Mabel, for
instance. Passionately fond of flowers as she is, suppose some day I
should bring her a rare bouquet from the florist's, and with a smile
hold them out to her, saying: 'Here Mabel, are some roses for you!' How
would I feel if she came with the most pathetic expression of longing
and misery in her face, and dropping down on her knees, should beg me
to give her one flower? But instead, like a true child that knows the
father love, she would fly to take the beautiful gift and say, 'Oh,
thank you, papa!' as she gives me a rapturous kiss, then runs for a vase
to hold her treasures."
"Indeed, that is like the true child we all should become, and give
thanks for the beautiful gifts of God," said Kate, softly, as if to
herself.
"What do you think of the Lord's prayer as it was revealed to the lady?"
asked Grace, to whom this part of the letter seemed a little hard to
understand.
"I think her revelation far exceeds mine, but I have enough to know that
it is as she says: 'We must finally get the inner meaning, but I would
uncover the spiritual ideas by clothing them in more spiritual
language.'
"It would be a great help if you would interpret it for us," said Kate,
moving her chair closer in her eagerness to hear.
"Wait a moment," said Mr. Hayden, as he went for the Bible. "I don't
know very well how to word it, but the thought came to me this morning,
and became much plainer after I had read the letter."
He read the Lord's Prayer, then gave his conception of the spiritual
meaning.
"All-pervading Father-Mother Spirit, which art in all harmony, revered
and holy is Thy name. Thy peace and love and righteousness is conceived
and realized amid earthly environments as it is in the highest state of
harmony.
"Give to us each day the hidden manna, the living word that sustains us,
and give us the truth for error as we in our divine likeness to Thee,
give truth for error to those who err against us.
"Leave or let us not in temptation, but preserve us from all thoughts
that would dishonor Thee, for Thine _is_ the kingdom and power and glory
forever."
"That is wonderful. Oh, how beautiful it all is," exclaimed Kate with
much feeling.
"Isn't it?" added Grace, "and quite in accord with the passage quoted by
Mrs. Hayden,'what things soever ye desire, that--'"
"Same principle, recognizing the omnipresence of all things good, and
acknowledging the gift as already given," interrupted Mr. Hayden,
shutting his book and rising to put it away.
"How would you construe the passage where it says, 'with prayer and
supplication let your requests be made known to God?'" asked Kate.
"Oh, but you have not quoted it all: 'With prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known,'" replied Mr. Hayden,
smiling. "It means, continue to ask, and expect to receive and give
thanks, not only by word, but by proper use of what you already have.
'If ye continue in my word,' was the condition, so it must be that we
continue to ask and give thanks, even if our petition is not visibly
answered at once."
Mr. Hayden had some advantage in his study over the girls, for these
things had been more or less considered by himself and Mrs. Hayden ever
since her recovery, and it was no wonder he could explain so readily.
"After all, how would you apply this way of praying to giving
treatments?" asked Grace. "I am anxious for the practical application."
"Why, it is all practical, as far as the individual is concerned, but
the application to others we have yet to learn, though I imagine it is
the same. It is simply being negative to false conditions, thus putting
them off, and affirmative to true conditions, absorbing them as the
flower does the light and heat."
"Well, it is a beautiful idea of prayer at any rate," remarked Grace.
They soon went home, still discussing and deeply pondering the subject.
* * * * *
"Grace, what do you suppose I did to-day?" cried Kate, breathlessly, as
she rushed in the next evening.
"Can't imagine, unless you cured little Tim, the newsboy," laughed
Grace, making her guess extravagant enough.
"No, but really, I treated Fannie for a dreadful headache. Of course I
said nothing to her, but she was stumbling so over her music, I asked
her what was the matter, and when she told me I treated her. In just a
few moments she brightened up and said she felt better, and before we
got through it was all gone. Wasn't that delightful?"
"Very, and I am so glad. How did you do it?"
"Well, I can hardly tell, but the talk we had yesterday with Mr. Hayden
gave me a clearer idea than I had before, and I just denied the headache
and acknowledged the truth that she was spiritually well; then waited a
few moments and gave thanks that it was so."
"How glad we ought to be for the privilege of reading Mrs. Hayden's
letters," said Grace, thoughtfully, as she smoothed her hair and washed
her hands.
"Yes, and what a goose I was about it," Kate replied. "I would scarcely
take the chance when it was offered, and if it had been any one but Mrs.
Hayden, I do believe I should have refused point blank."
"We know so little what is right when we judge in the old way," said
Grace. "Now, if I actually hadn't seen that woman cured, and known
positively how she was before, nothing would have induced me to spend my
time on this, although, from the first, I rather liked the theory."
"Where is my gingham apron?" called Kate, looking in the dark closet
where she had hung it.
"Kate, I'm thoroughly reformed, as you will know when I tell you I am
perfectly willing to perform the culinary duties to-night, and I will be
the cook while you discourse some music for my edification," laughed
Grace, as she emerged from the studio with her sleeves rolled back, and
the lost apron pinned around her.
"What!" cried Kate, holding up both hands with a mock-tragic air. "Do
you really mean it?"
"Of course, and I will show you what a talent I have for poaching eggs
and making toast."
The girls were in the habit of dividing their work according to their
personal tastes. Kate liked to prepare dainty meals and wash dishes,
while Grace preferred to sweep and dust, and arrange things to suit her
artistic eye. Each disliked the other's part of the work, so they were
well content to have it so divided.
"Go on, now," ordered Grace, "and play for me. I want some music; but,
first of all, tell me where the eggs are, and how long should they
boil?"
"The eggs are in the tin pail on the third shelf in the closet. They
should boil till they are a pretty blue white."
"Very well, now I can dispense with your company."
Kate laughed merrily, and sitting down to the piano, played till Grace
called her out to dine.
"It seems rather nice to come home and play lady," she remarked, as she
went out where Grace was.
"Well, really, Kate, I was thinking this afternoon that there is not so
much difference in the kinds of work as there is in the thoughts you
have when you work, and I resolved, that to refrain from certain duties
because one does not like them is selfish, and makes a person one-sided.
Then I could see no reason why I should dislike to cook, and concluded
to try it."
"I believe you are right about the one-sidedness," said Kate, soberly.
"I do want to grow into a rounded character, and am just realizing the
necessity of doing things that lie nearest us, whether it is washing
dishes, painting or scrubbing. If I get so I can think right about
things I'm sure I shall like them."
"That is true. I have already noticed a vast difference in my patience
in giving lessons. You know some days I would be so nervous and get so
exasperated with Fannie Thornton and Jenny Miles, I didn't know what to
do with myself, but the last few days I have not minded them at all, in
fact I got along better with Fannie than ever before, and it was just
because I kept from thinking she was contrary and stupid."
"Well, that is a practical application of your lesson. I think we ought
to apply it to everything we do," replied Grace.
"One of the chief beauties of this Christianity is that it goes into
every thought and action," said Kate, thoughtfully, adjusting her hair.
"Oh!" she added a moment later, "I forgot to give you the letter that
came to-day." She pulled it out of her pocket all crumpled and gave it
to Grace, who glanced at her name on the envelope and then grew white
about the mouth as she hastily put it into her pocket, remarking in an
ordinary tone, "It will keep a little longer."
Little was said by either for some time. Grace was preoccupied and Kate
furtively watched her face, for this was an unaccountable procedure,
although occasionally Grace had been affected the same way before.
She insisted on washing the dishes, and was glad indeed that she had it
to do, while Kate poured her thoughts into music, feeling that she could
best show sympathy for her friend by this, to her, most expressive way.
As for Grace, she waited till she had quite finished her work and then
sat down to read the letter. She well knew it was from Leon Carrington,
a suitor, whom she had rejected on the plea that she wished to be wedded
solely to her art. Pride had forbidden her being frank enough to tell
him the real reason, caused by an impeachment made against his
character, by one whom she implicitly trusted as a friend. Her bitter
resolve was the result, and while it was true she loved and desired to
spend her life in pursuing her art, she had compelled herself to think
she loved it best, and so told him it was first choice.
Hers was a proud, deep nature, and rather than admit that she had loved
or could love one whom she considered unworthy, she cut the matter short
by a decided rejection. It had cost her a mighty effort to come to this
decision, and when she came out of the trial, she had lost her faith in
all men.
On all other points but this, Grace was sound and sweet in her general
disposition, but any talk on marriage she would never tolerate even with
Kate.
This was the third letter he had written in the two years since he went
away, and as in the preceding, he fervently begged her to reconsider.
CHAPTER XXV.
"Life hath its Tabor heights,
Its lofty mounts of heavenly recognition,
Whose unveiled glories flash to earth munition
Of love, and truth, and clearer intuition:
Hail! mount of all delights!"
--_I. C. Gilbert._
"MARLOW, September ----.
"Good morning, dear ones all! I must tell you a little of yesterday
before I go to the lesson to-day. We were not in class, and I staid in
my room all day trying to solve the many questions that present
themselves to us all, and to claim a little more understanding. Many
points became very much clearer after my long meditation in the silence.
In the evening I ran down to see Mrs. Dawn, who is several blocks away.
We were so interested, so completely absorbed in telling our thoughts
and experiences, that it was after eleven o'clock when I arose to go,
and then she accompanied me home, only intending to come part way, but
as we passed a little low house about half way home, the door suddenly
opened and a little girl of ten or twelve years ran out sobbing, 'The
baby is dying! the baby is dying!'
"She was going up an outside stairway to inform a neighbor. We rushed
into the house and found the frantic mother sobbing and wailing over her
baby apparently in the last agonies of death.
"'What is it? Can't we do something for you?' we asked, not knowing what
else to say.
"'Oh, my baby, my precious baby is dying! Don't you see? she is almost
gone.'
"Indeed, for an instant it seemed the little life had gone out, when,
like a flash of lightning, the words came to my inner self, 'There is no
death.' 'He that believeth on me shall not see death;' 'I am the way the
truth and the life.' 'Treat,' I whispered to Mrs. Dawn, and soon the
awful lie was denied by us in the peaceful silence of our own souls; for
all consciousness of appearances had vanished as we denied death and its
power, till we could _command_ the waves of mortal thought to subside
and say, 'Peace, be still.'
"It was the Master, the Christ within, who spoke for us, and we were
filled with the mighty peace and calmness of Truth that worked through
us and was immediately made manifest. The little face relaxed, the eyes
lost their glassy stare, the color returned to the pale lips.
"The mother ceased her mourning and gazed at the precious child in
awesome silence. The neighbor and the little girl who had come in, stood
by in hushed amazement. For a while all felt the presence of the great
invisible Power that had wrought so wondrous a work in their midst,
although no one knew but ourselves what had been done. Presently the
mother leaned back in her chair with a sigh of relief, awaiting the
doctor, for whom her husband had gone before we entered the house. We
waited till he came, and then quietly slipped out.
"Mrs. Dawn came clear home with me, and we found our thoughts and
feelings had been almost identical in this remarkable experience,
showing the oneness of truth. It is something we shall never forget, for
it was indeed from the very depths of our being we were stirred and
thrilled with the mighty Principle.
"This morning I went to see the baby, and found it quite bright and
happy, but still breathing a little heavily. The M. D. had left
medicine, and of course, they were giving it 'according to directions.'
I told the mother something of the Healing, and she readily acknowledged
that something mysterious had saved her child's life, because it
certainly was dying as much as the child she had lost years ago.
"'After you left last night, the neighbor who was here said like as not
you were Christian healers or whatever that is, but she did not believe
a word in it, and that it was all nonsense, but I told her I didn't
care. I thought you saved my baby, and the doctor said it had grown much
better since he came. 'Well,' says I, 'ef you had seen her condition
when the ladies came in, you would say she _is_ better.'
"'Oh, we won't argue about what made her better, whether medicine or
something else; all we want now is to have the child cured,' said the
doctor, very kind-like, and I really thought a great deal better of him
than I had before, for most M. D.'s think they know everything,' she
said.
"I was so glad to find she acknowledged even this much, so I talked a
little longer, and explained the necessity of perfect trust in God, and
the consequences of distrust in Him. She seemed very responsive and
ready to believe, but then, who would not believe after such a
demonstration? I have felt awed and hushed all the morning, remembering
the mighty something surging through me. It seems hard to believe that
at last my desire to have some grand sign shown me is already fulfilled.
"Mrs. Pearl talked beautifully this afternoon on understanding. I wish
you could hear the lectures as she gives them, with all her grace and
beauty and impressiveness. Here is the essence of the lesson:
"As we evolve from material to spiritual understanding, we put ourselves
more and more into the divine current of Life, Health, Goodness, which
is God. The higher our ideal, the higher our attainment. Believing in
God as supreme Love, we find it impossible to conceive of wrath,
jealousy, revenge, as emanating from or existing in Him, Her or It. As
we are filled with love, it becomes universal. Everybody is judged by
its tender charity, everything is tinged with its warm radiance.
"As Paul so beautifully wrote: 'Love suffereth long and is kind, love
envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave
itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not
account of evil, rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth in the
truth.... Love never faileth.' If this be a standard by which to judge
the love of men, how much more appropriately might it judge God, who is
love itself.
"In proportion as we are freed from the ignorance and narrowness of
primitive, ancient opinions concerning God, we shall rise to broader and
tenderer and truer conceptions of Him. To the warm, sympathetic heart,
that knows the deepest needs of humanity, the 'mercy that endureth
forever' is an established fact of the universal Love. To understand
this Love is to be at one with it, to do the works and think the
thoughts of Love. It is essential, then, first to understand the law of
effort, then faith, then love, then spiritual understanding, which is
the goal toward which we all hasten--understanding of all spiritual
things, understanding of God, who is all spirit. As we make the effort
we receive faith, as we use faith we grow in the power and capacity of
love, and love brings us the fullness of all things, even understanding
of infinite wisdom. Every glimpse of truth we have ever had, every
glorious breath of freedom, is but a hint of what will be when we have
'awakened to righteousness.'
"We gain our knowledge by and through the law of right speaking and
consequently right acting. In the Bible, the New Testament especially,
great stress is laid upon the power of words. Solomon wrote, 'How
forcible are right words.' 'Life and death are in the power of the
tongue,' and from St. Paul we hear, 'Hold fast the form of sound words;'
and James' admonition, 'Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only,'
show that both considered it necessary to speak the word if they would
manifest its power.
"But there is another and a holier office given to the word and that is
the office of atonement. The original meaning of atone was to 'make
at-one, to agree, to be in accordance, to accord.' To be at-one with a
person is to be in such perfect sympathy that the thoughts of both are
the thoughts and feelings of one.
"Another illustration would be to say of a chip thrown into the river,
it is at-one with the current. In this sense we should aim to be so
at-one with the divine Principle that we may say with Jesus, 'I am one
with the Father,' for did he not say: 'They are not of this world even
as I am not of this world,' and 'That they may be one even we are one.'
"To speak absolute Truth is to come into the true at-one-ment, to be at
one with the divine Mind, to realize that Christ the Truth is the
atoning power. The Christ is the impersonal Word of Truth which we are
to speak, for 'unto us hath been committed the word of reconciliation'
or atonement.
"When we think true thoughts and catch true ideas, when we understand
true meanings and love true knowledge, we are sustained by the living
word which sustains all who speak and live it, because we are truly at
one with the divine Word.
"Knowing the meaning of Christ to be Truth, blood to be life or word,
and sin to be error, we catch the spiritual meaning of the phrase 'sins
washed away by the blood of Christ,' which is, sins or errors washed
away by the word of Truth.
"In that wonderful sermon in the sixth chapter of John, Jesus used the
term blood as a symbol of his words, and emphatically told his
disciples, when they persisted in taking his sayings literally, 'the
flesh profiteth nothing, the _words_ that I speak unto you, they are
spirit and they are life.'
"That the Bible writers used the figurative language of those times,
must be taken into account when reading points that have been made
foundation doctrines. Owing to the ancient custom of sacrificing animals
to appease the wrath of God, whom they regarded as subject to anger,
jealousy or any human passion, they used figurative language when
describing Jesus as the Lamb sacrificed for the sins of the world.
"In one of the inspired moments of the prophet, when he apprehended God
as a God of Love, he cried out, 'I have desired mercy and not sacrifice;
and the knowledge of God more than burnt offering.' It is the knowledge
of God, the word of truth, that will save, and the only sacrifice is the
sacrifice of self which makes the atonement possible.
"To fast from all selfishness is to keep the true fast, so beautifully
described in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. 'Is it not to loose the
bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go
free, to break every yoke? Then shall thy light break forth as the
morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily.' Here is the
fruit of atonement, the result of understanding, for understanding God
and being at one with God, is in reality the same. As we understand God
we shall be at one with Him, and to be at one with God is to be whole,
for He is Holiness, wholeness, health. 'If thine eye be single, then
shall thy whole body be full of light.' To be single in recognizing the
one Mind, one Power, one Creation, is to be filled with light, which is
life, which is health, for as the mind, consciousness, becomes
illuminated, the body responds by recording the history of thought upon
the visible page or body.
"It is the revealment of God that we seek, and our individual relation
to Him. What more is there for us to know after we know Him, for is not
He all there really is? He has given many marvelous signs to His
children, who must be taught in simple childish ways and the 'still
small voice' is ever near, speaking to whomsoever will listen. It is the
inner guide, the 'spirit of truth that guides us into all truth.' Then
we are 'clothed upon,' we have returned to our Father's house and the
feast is spread, the rejoicing has begun.
"For awhile our only conception of power, is in visible manifestations
or feelings, but there comes a time when 'to be alone with silence is to
be alone with God,' when joy is unutterable, and love the very potency
of silence, when we wait with bated breath and let the divine Thought
surge through us, when we put away all material beliefs and stand
glorified in the 'secret of His Presence.' Then indeed are we baptized
of the spirit, and in the silent chamber of our new consciousness may we
hear the blessed words, 'Thou art my beloved son.'
"No longer 'Thou shalt and thou shalt not,' but the sweet affirmation of
sonship, of daughtership, of the precious benediction of a Father's
love. Then glad light rushes into every dark crevice of our mind. We see
as we never saw before, we understand as we never understood before, we
speak as we never spoke before, we live as we never lived before,
because we have been lifted out of the depths of ignorance to the
radiant heights of the Promised Land, because we hear the angel saying
as of old, 'Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell
with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with
them and be their God ... and God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed
away.' Finally, oh my husband, because we have been born again, and so
find ourselves within the royal gates, the palace doors open to receive
us and the insignia of royalty written upon our faces, for we shall be
stamped with the signs of understanding, and know, as Jesus did, 'it is
not I, but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works.'
"Then, as the beauteous sunlight bathes and blesses all the world with
its effulgent glory, so will the light of Truth, known as understanding,
shine through us and turn pain into peace, sadness into joy, sickness
into health, error into truth.
'Wisdom ripens into silence,
And the lesson she doth teach,
Is, that life is more than language,
And that thought is more than speech.'
"How I long for this ultimate experience! How I yearn for the fullness
of this knowledge now; for the ripened wisdom that shall unlock the
doors of my own consciousness, but I know, dear, this will come to us if
we are faithful to the few little steps we know, no matter how we
stumble and fall in taking them. Oh, that we may reach out to all the
world in the sweet ministry of 'peace on earth, good will to men.'
"You say 'there is a rift in the clouds for you, too, and the vague
something which sometimes loomed up in your horizon is gone.' How glad I
am, no words can tell. What a change there will be! The old past shall
be sweetened and sanctified by the new present, and only the good
memories shall remain.
"What a blessed comfort in this thought, 'the Lord shall be thy rear
ward.' We have nothing to do with the past, for it shall be utterly
annulled. The Truth has erased it, and it is swallowed up in the good in
proportion as we recognize only the Good. This thought is a great
consolation to me when I recall the hasty words I used to say when my
temper got the better of me. Oh, that old failing! I hope it is forever
vanquished--but there, I must not forget to be scientific, and of course
it is not scientific to talk of error in any way.
"Jamie is a dear little scamp, if he _did_ try to break the rules and
get something to eat between meals by playing prairie dog. It must have
been very funny to see him sitting in the attitude of a begging dog,
mutely appealing for something, and being obliged at last to suggest
that there was candy on the top shelf. Even my heart would have softened
for the innocent little trickster.
"Well, really, we must try to give the children the liberty we older
children desire and insist upon having in such a headstrong way. Bless
my little darlings! They shall realize the absence of fear, the presence
of love in their home, which we must strive more and more to make
typical of the great Home in which we are all members.
"I feel that they are dearer now than ever. My love is more unselfish,
and I can really feel that they are truly consecrated to the Good,
because I know how to hold them in the thought of the Good, how to annul
the opposite influences and fill their minds with the sweet, pure,
ennobling realizations of Love. Meekly I say this, because I know not my
own strength, or rather I know not how much divine strength I may
recognize and use, but this is the right path, and I earnestly desire to
walk in it.
"You know some people say (in their ignorance, of course) that this free
thinking breaks up families. Oh, if they could only know, on the other
hand, how it strengthens the bonds, how it clears up misunderstandings
and falsities, how it teaches us the sacredness of family relations, and
brings us into spiritual oneness, which is the only true marriage.
"Spiritual light has come to me on this subject which can not be put
into words, but some time you will know what I know, and we shall both
be blessed by the knowledge.
"Peace be unto all God's children.
"Your loving
"MARION."
CHAPTER XXVI.
"If thou art worn and hard beset,
With troubles that thou would'st forget,
If thou would'st read a lesson that will keep
Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep,
Go to the woods and hills! No tears
Dim the sweet look that Nature wears."
--_H. W. Longfellow._
Grace was in deep perplexity. She pondered her problem over and over,
and though in reality she felt more like flinging pride to the winds
than ever before, she was not able to formulate or even consciously name
her thoughts. A strange, unsettled feeling possessed her. She wondered
at herself that she did not contemptuously throw this letter of Leon
Carrington's into the fire, as she had the other two, but for some
reason did not do so. All night she was uneasy and slept but little. The
next morning she announced to Kate that she would spend the day at
Rosewood, sketching.
What the trouble was, Kate could only surmise, but wisely held her peace
feeling instinctively that now was no time for questions. She was
relieved to hear of the prospective recreation, for Grace always came
back from these trips with so much fresh inspiration, and renewed
enthusiasm.
It was a beautiful day, one of those mild, hazy days of October that
seem made to teach humanity some of its most sacred lessons. Nature is
the best of teachers if we know how to read her mystic pages, her many
and varied beauties, her wide diversities of expression, her fine
subtlety of language, for she is the handmaid of Truth, inasmuch as she
holds before our admiring eyes pictures of Truth and its wondrous laws.
If we can interpret the pictures, we are wiser and better and happier.
Grace was ever ready to listen to the oracles of nature, but now they
held a sweeter message than ever before, and she keenly anticipated the
pleasure in store for her as she seated herself in the car and disposed
of her sketching materials for the half hour's ride to Rosewood, a
pretty little woodland station near Hampton.
She generally walked the mile and a half to the farmhouse in the edge of
the woods, where she had made the acquaintance of a kind hearted old
lady, who loaned her a great Newfoundland dog belonging to the house,
for company in her rambles.
Mrs. Clayland was rejoiced to see her, for it had been several weeks
since Grace had called, and she was eager to tell her of the great tree
up in the ravine that had been blasted by the lightning, and about the
beautiful little waterfall caused by the Cherry Creek freshet.
Grace listened patiently as she rested, and asked questions that she had
asked many times before, because it pleased the old lady to tell of all
the beautiful spots and dainty bits of landscape in her vicinity. That
was next to being the artist.
Prince stood by, looking with intelligent eyes, first at the visitor
and then at his mistress, wagging his tail wistfully as though eager to
be off, for he seemed to realize that this was his holiday too.
"Are you ready to go, Prince?" asked Grace, patting the dog on the head
as she looked into his great brown eyes.
Prince licked his mouth and pushed his nose close under her hand while
his tail wagged violently. "Yes, of course he is. I wish my old limbs
would let me go too, but I can't even hobble to-day for the rheumatism
has been dreadful the last week," said Mrs. Clayland, as she wiped her
spectacles.
Grace hardly knew what to say, for here was just the place for a little
sympathy, and yet she must shut her eyes to false beliefs and
conditions, so she wisely talked of the beautiful day, the warm air, and
what not, while secretly resolving that Mrs. Clayland should be her
first patient if she ever knew how to treat patients according to the
Christ method. In the mean time, she would give her some thoughts.
While Mrs. Clayland volubly rattled on, talking of all her aches and
pains, Grace was doing her best to think of the very opposite statement,
that she was well.
At last, however, with Prince trotting gaily in front of her, she began
her rambles in earnest. She knew of a beautiful view from one of the
hills near by, and slowly wended her way thitherward. The hush and quiet
of the place seemed such a relief after the troubled hours of the past
night, and as she came to the gentle slope of the grassy hill, she threw
herself into the soft warm grass, in the shade of a stately elm that
stood there alone, and gave herself up to thinking--thinking of the
deepest and most sacred problems in human experience.
Prince came and laid himself at her feet. The soft autumn sunshine
played here and there upon her form and face through the leaves, while
the occasional note of a bird or hum of an insect were the only sounds
that broke the stillness of the lonely place. What an exquisite pleasure
to lie there and breathe in all this wonderful peace, for it was like a
taste of heaven. Far away from all perplexities and cares, she could
have lost herself in sweet forgetfulness but for this one theme that
would persist in thrusting itself upon her. At last it had resolved
itself into the form of a question. Should she or should she not write
to Leon Carrington? Might it not be possible she had been misinformed,
and that she was mistaken in her hasty conclusions?
Life presented a different aspect now from what it had two years ago.
She was more lenient in her judgments, more charitable in her opinions,
more softened in her pride; changed more than she ever realized until
she began the self examination on this point. To be sure she had desired
to change in these respects, since she had seen a glimpse of the
possibilities of Christian life. She had denied all qualities of
character in herself that seemed undesirable, and had affirmed
charitableness, patience, wisdom, but that she could ever have changed
her mind on this subject seemed incredible and utterly inconsistent.
And yet, what could she say to him? She had no answer, certainly no
encouragement. The only thing she could do would be to tell him frankly
what her thought and judgment had been, without going into details, and
learn the truth of the matter; but that, she would never do. Whatever
injury she had inflicted through her silent, erroneous thoughts should
be as silently redressed by her best and most generous ones.
Over an hour she lay there, no nearer the solution of her problem than
when she began. It was getting late, and she rose hurriedly, shook the
leaves and grass from her dress, and opening her sketch book, set to
work.
An opening to the left in the woods revealed a view of lovely meadows
and wooded hills, clothed in all the gorgeous robes of autumn, with a
misty blue haze enshrouding them, and gleams of a silvery river winding
through meadow and woodland. She rapidly sketched the outlines, studied
the beauteous blending of tints, and wondered meanwhile, what particular
lesson she could learn or give by this beautiful picture. Again she
looked at the scene before her. Suddenly there came into her mind some
lines she had often admired:
"Oh, the peace at the heart of Nature,
Oh, the light that is not of day!
Why seek it afar forever,
When it can not be lifted away?"
Ah, here was the key. "The peace of Nature," typical of divine peace,
"The Light not of day," divine Light itself. How sweet the thought, how
precious the lesson; and the divine Peace and Light _are_ indeed
forever here. Could she throw such a divine message into her prospective
painting? Could she make every form and color, every hint of light and
shadow, tell the sweet story, as this living picture told it? Surely,
the heart that overflows with an inbreathing of the divine, must be able
to teach the common heart of humanity, else what is the use of
inspiration?
On her way back to the house, Grace passed the blasted tree, described
by Mrs. Clayland, but she had no desire to study destruction or death.
It was life, living things, that she would portray. Was there not beauty
and grandeur everywhere, hinting of Infinity? Even the noisy and
monotonous waterfall now had a message for her as it rushed forcefully
on its course, regardless of any and all obstructions.
It was quite late when Grace and Prince returned, much later than she
supposed, so that she missed the train and had to wait for the next,
several hours later. Mr. Clayland kindly volunteered to take her to the
station, an offer she was very glad to accept.
The lamps were already lighted when she entered the car. She slipped
into the first vacant seat, but caught a glimpse of a face several seats
in front of her that made her heart beat hurriedly and her breath come
quick and fast for a few moments.
She resolutely avoided looking anywhere but out of the window, and at
the end of her journey quietly but quickly disappeared in the surging
crowd.
CHAPTER XXVII.
"Let me not dwell so much within
My bounded heart with anxious heed,
Where all my searches meet with doubt,
And nothing satisfies my need;
It shuts me from the sound and sight
Of that pure world of life and light
Which has no breadth, or length, or height."
--_A. L. Waring._
Kate had long ago become accustomed to these uncertain movements of
Grace, and was therefore not alarmed at her prolonged absence. She sat
in a cozy chair, reading the last letter from Mrs. Hayden, when Grace
entered.
"What makes you look so sober, Gracious?" she asked, tenderly, after the
hat and sketch book were laid aside and they had settled themselves for
their usual chat.
"Oh, Kate, I had a lovely time to-day, with all the beautiful sights out
in the country; I wish you could see how much more there is in nature
since we have studied Christian Healing," was the evasive reply.
"I think we see more in everything," said Kate, whose curiosity was
rather _piqued_ by the evasiveness, though she made no sign, "because
everything stands for something. It is like the x in algebra, and
interesting as the unknown quantity."
Grace smiled a little. She was thinking of a different kind of "unknown
quantity."
"Don't you want to hear Mrs. Hayden's letter?" asked Kate, wondering
more and more over the _distrait_ manner and dreamy absorption of her
friend.
"The letter, why, of course; where is it?"
"Here; shall I read it?"
"Certainly."
Grace grew more interested as the reading went on. "That is decidedly
the most reasonable explanation of the atonement I have ever heard," she
exclaimed at the close.
"Yes, it is reasonable and beautiful I must admit," said Kate, "but when
I first read the letter my old fear came back for a moment that possibly
it was all wrong, but I remembered my right to an interpretation. That
one thought has been more helpful to me than any other, for it has
brought such a sense of liberty. Then I looked up the quotation about
the 'word of reconciliation,' and I must say it is so perfectly plain I
can not see why it has been so overlooked and neglected before."
"Where is it? I did not catch that," said Grace, following Kate's finger
as she pointed to the passage in the Bible.
"There is something so sacred in these meanings," resumed Kate, "and if
I may only get the truth, I care not what any one says about it. I see
now wherein lies the whole misconception or misinterpretation rather. It
is in the idea of God. If we conceive of Him as limited to human ways
and capacities, as the ancient Hebrews did, we naturally ascribe such
works to Him."
"In other words," added Grace, "we judge God entirely by ourselves. If
we are broad and loving in our nature and character it is easy for us to
regard God as love. If we are vindictive and revengeful, we can readily
see Him as angry and unrelenting."
"Yes, we are so apt to judge the whole world and God, too, by our
moods," replied Kate, thoughtfully.
"As Emerson says, 'we see in others what we are ourselves,'" quoted
Grace, removing her jacket which until now she had retained in order to
get warm after her evening journey.
"Oh! what do you think of what Mrs. Hayden says about marriage?" asked
Kate, putting her pencil in her mouth as she held both hands out to
assist Grace.
"She doesn't say enough to give an opinion," replied Grace, "but there
must be something in her mind or she would not write about it now."
"Her ideas must be very exalted, and I hope to know what they are, for
it is a very important question," said Kate, with a casual glance toward
her companion, as she bit the end of the pencil.
"Mrs. Hayden decidedly denies the imputation laid to Christian Healing,
that it is opposed to marriage, or that it tends to separate families,"
said Grace, with more interest than Kate would have thought possible a
week ago.
"I did not know any such imputation had been laid to it," rejoined Kate,
opening her eyes in astonishment.
"Oh, yes, I have heard it several times, but people will talk whether
they know anything or not. I am glad Mrs. Hayden mentions it for that is
enough to show there is absolutely no foundation for such statements."
Grace moved her chair and put her elbow on the table so she might shade
her eyes with her hand.
"Why, I don't see how people can say such things; surely the tendency is
to draw families into closer bonds of sympathy and affection," exclaimed
Kate, in questioning innocence.
"It ought to be," replied Grace, thoughtfully, "and undoubtedly is," she
added.
"What do _you_ think of this question, Grace?" Kate ventured to ask. At
any other time she would not have dared approach the subject, but Grace
seemed more pliable to-night for some reason.
"What question?" asked Grace, rousing from her reverie. "Oh, marriage.
Well, sometimes I have thought the query going the rounds of the press,
'Is marriage a failure?' a very pertinent one, but of course that
doesn't touch the principle itself. That is right and can never be
otherwise."
"Most people talk and write as seriously as though it _does_ touch the
principle."
"That is because they judge the principle by the persons representing
it, whereas they should stop and consider that humanity is prone to
weakness and often fails to demonstrate its high ideals."
"And it is because of failure they think there is something wrong. Take
an individual case, for instance, and there are thousands. If a girl
marries unhappily, she thinks there must be something wrong in the
whole system, for she judges everybody's misery by her own," said Kate,
secretly wishing Grace would be more confidential, and not so coldly
intellectual.
"Then the way to a happy judgment of this question would be a happy
marriage, you think?" laughed Grace, with a faint blush, looking up
inquiringly.
"Don't trifle Grace. You know I said it all earnestly, and really it is
no matter to trifle over, any way."
"Well, that is true, Kate," replied Grace more soberly. "I don't believe
anybody takes the question seriously enough. It is certainly the most
important of all things to consider."
"Do you think it right to enter marriage for any other reason than pure
and devoted affection?" persisted Kate.
"No, I do not. Why do you ask?" demanded Grace rather sharply.
"Because that is the solution of the whole problem. If they would begin
to talk about love instead of marriage being a failure, they would get
some light on it," a little impatiently.
Grace looked up in surprise.
"I know," continued Kate, "it is because people are mistaken or misled
in their reasons for marriage, that it even has a semblance of failure."
"That is one reason, certainly, and another is that they do not
understand each other's motives, or have not the patience to bear with
each other's faults. We can easily see how misunderstandings can be put
away when there is true love, when we determine to see only the good,
and learn to 'resist not evil.' That is one of the strong points in
Jesus the Christ's teachings," said Grace with unwonted earnestness.
"I am so sorry people can't see it in the right light," added Kate,
regretfully.
"You can have much charity for them, for it is just what you would have
said or thought, if you had not studied the matter yourself. You
remember how Mr. Narrow influenced you and biased your judgment?"
"Yes, and I see as never before that the 'Truth makes us free.'
'He is a freeman whom the truth makes free.
And all are slaves besides,'"
said Grace, as she reached for the sketch book to look over her work of
the afternoon.
"It is no use, she never will say anything, even when she might,"
thought Kate as she reviewed the events of the past few days. She half
reproached herself for allowing anything to take her mind from the one
special theme in which at last she had become thoroughly interested. She
was eager to learn, to search in all directions for the meaning of
things. Slowly the little grain of faith was growing into the mighty
tree.
Enchanting Truth so round, so perfect, so beautiful,--no wonder we must
reach out in every direction for the knowledge of thy fair signs that we
may more correctly and more fully realize the perfect revealment of our
own divinity.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
"What a great power is the power of thought! And what a grand being
is man when he uses it aright; because after all, it is the use
made of it that is the important thing. Character comes out of
thought. 'As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.'"--_Sir Walter
Raleigh._
"MARLOW, October ----.
"Dear Husband: I was just thinking of you all when the letter carrier
came this morning and gave me a welcome surprise, for your letters
usually come in the afternoon. It seems too wonderful to believe about
the children, and yet I can see it is their implicit faith that makes
their words so potent.
"They are doing their part to help too, for every one in the world,
large or small helps in greater or lesser measure to carry out the plans
of the invisible Good.
"I dreamed of being at home last night, and it seemed as though you were
all so happy and busy. You did not see me. Even little Jem was busily
engaged in some kind of work. I could scarcely see what it was, but a
vague white something like an invisible net was spread between you, and
the thought came that you and Anna were weaving something, and even the
children had a part to fulfill for they flitted to and fro, bringing
something to you with faces so full of light and happiness, I almost
cried out with joy.
"When I awoke I was deeply impressed that this was a symbol of united
effort in making the seamless robe of Truth, and the family group
represented the members of one body, each with a work to do to perfect
the whole.
"No matter how humble our part may be, no matter how childish and
incompetent we feel, by doing the best we know, with the ability we
have, in all joy and earnestness, we shall be serving the Master and
weaving the marvelous robe.
"Mrs. Pearl talked of the mighty power of thought in her lecture to-day.
"Every individual in the universe is inseparably connected with every
other individual, and we are, as it were, 'touching elbows' with the
whole world.
"How is it done? Simply by thinking and being susceptible to thought.
Every thought of the individual helps to make or mar the happiness and
health of the world. Every negative thought (and by that I mean opposite
the good, which is positive) sent forth, goes into the miasmatic fog of
error, and whoever believes in error or the reality of these thoughts,
attracts to himself this quality of thought, which sooner or later,
makes itself manifest in physical inharmony.
"For instance, one who believes in the reality of sickness and the
reality of evil is constantly attracting thoughts that make sickness
manifest, but if a knowledge of how to throw off or counteract those
thoughts were used, the cloud would be dispelled before it turned into
inharmony or sickness.
"This is why we are taught to deny every thought or feeling that is not
harmonious or desirable, everything which can not be predicated of
spirit. If this is what makes sickness and sin, truly it is not to be
wondered at, for how many are perfectly happy, perfectly unselfish and
kind, one single day at a time?
"Suppose one gets up in the morning with a feeling of crossness and
impatience; he goes to breakfast, impresses the whole family with his
discomfort, and so through the entire day leaves the imprint of his dark
forebodings on every person who sees him, besides the untold influence
that goes forth to the unprotected world, inasmuch as thoughts go
everywhere.
"He retires at night, disgusted with himself and displeased with the
whole world. People were unkind and unjust. Even inanimate objects were
unusually aggravating. He wasted half an hour trying to untie a knot,
hunted for a package of papers which were finally found in their proper
place, had a vexing ten minutes with his office key, etc.
"Every impatient thought, word or action was an expenditure, not only of
physical force, but a loss of moral strength, and just as surely as the
world moves, these thoughts, in their revolving circuit, constantly
return to the thinker, 'Whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap.'
"Who knows what dark trains of thought his lowering face suggested? Who
knows what headaches and heartaches were brought on by the unconscious
absorption of his impatience or bitterness? Who can measure the extent
of that mysterious burden of depression, so often called 'the blues,'
that crept into the consciousness of somebody under the influence of the
dark thoughts sent out by this one, of whom perchance they know
nothing?
"It is this negative quality of thought that holds the world in bondage.
To destroy it is to destroy all inharmony. On the other hand, note the
influence of the happy-voiced individual, who comes to us so running
over with the joy and beauty of life that we catch the thrilling
inspiration of his mood and begin to enjoy the same sunshine, see the
same beauty and feel the same happiness.
"One look or one word may often send us off into the most delightful
reveries, may inspire us to write a cheery letter, vibrating with love
and hope, or prompt us to spend half an hour with one who needs the bath
of joy our words may bring. Consciously and unconsciously we lighten the
pathway, lift the burdens, sanctify the sorrows of the world by sending
out and receiving this subtle thread of thought, so fine in its essence
and quality, that any one and every one may feel its strengthening
presence.
"It is the negative or mortal thought that produces disease. See how
grief bends and breaks the strongest constitutions, furrows the cheek,
dims the eye, takes the appetite, impairs the mind. See how anger
cankers everything it touches, how jealousy corrodes the thoughts with
poisoned arrows, until the body is written over with letters of
unmistakable meaning.
"The body is what we may call the thermometer of the mind and registers
the quality of thought. Universal beliefs in error find their common
expression on the body. Every thought of sickness, sin or discouragement
is recorded or bodied forth.
"With all our belief in and fear of evil, sickness and death, we are
continually subjecting ourselves to false and undesirable conditions,
until, as Job said, 'Lo, the thing that I feared has come upon me.'
"Fear is more quickly productive of disease pictures than any other kind
of thought. Some one has aptly said, 'if the human race were freed from
fear, it would be free from sickness,' which is verily true. Even the
most learned doctors of medicine admit that an epidemic takes hold of
those first who are most afraid, and frequently leaves the absolutely
fearless unmolested.
"Why is this so? Because fear weakens the power of mental control, and
consequently weakens the body. To leave the doors unlocked, and then
watch for the thief, is almost equal to having the thief in the house.
"The material scientist says an epidemic has a material cause; the
Christian healer says it has a mental cause. Before there is an object
to fear there must be the sentiment of fear. Let scarlet fever appear in
a community, and every parent will immediately send out the most
agonizing thoughts of fear. Where will they go? Everywhere, because
thoughts can not be restrained. Their influence goes out in every
direction. To the tender children especially, because particularly
directed to them. All who have left the door open to fear, though they
may be sleeping in their unconsciousness of danger, will be liable to
receive these uncontrolled thoughts, and some day when they least expect
or fear sickness, it may be upon them.
"So the children, to whom have been directed such thoughts, only prove
their susceptibility to them, by picturing forth fear in the form of
scarlet fever, or whatever may have been the naming of the error.
Anybody manifesting sickness without consciousness of fear proves
passive or unconscious fear, while those suffering sickness through a
conscious recognition and fear of sickness are manifesting active or
conscious fear.
"There are two departments of mind sometimes spoken of as the conscious
and unconscious. The conscious mind is the conscious thought, which is
easily swayed or changed. It has an immediate or direct influence on the
body as is shown by the blood that rushes to or recedes from the face at
some sudden change of thought. The unconscious mind is the aggregation
of past individual and universal conscious thought, and is the character
formed, the second nature or instinct.
"As the flesh and bones are more fixed than the ever moving blood, so
the unconscious mind is slower to receive impressions, and slower to
show them forth. Our bodies to-day are showing a harvest of the thoughts
of generations or ages of the past. The person manifesting consumptive
tendencies is not only expressing his own conscious thoughts, but is
veritably the picture of the thoughts of his parents, ancestors and the
entire race, concerning a belief in consumption. Year by year the
thoughts of this error have been writing themselves in his face, his
eyes, his chest, his very walk and talk and breath. Unless he offsets
them with thoughts of absolute Truth, they press him out of our sight.
He yields to the belief of death, because he never said no to sin or
sickness, because he was at one with the world in its false beliefs.
"'The last enemy to be overcome is death!' reads the inspired statement
of Paul, confirmed and strengthened by the Master's never-dying promise,
'If a man keep my saying he shall never see death.'
"There are certain fixed beliefs inherent in every mind which we call
universal beliefs. They are often referred to as belonging to the
unconscious mind; as, for example, the fear of pain or suffering under
certain circumstances will come to the surface of consciousness, proving
that despite every feeling of confidence and fearlessness it has not
been destroyed, but sleeps in the unconscious mind.
"These unconscious beliefs and fears of sickness are ultimately
expressed on the body in different forms of disease, sometimes given one
name and sometimes another. The material scientist calls a certain
outshowing on the body cancer, the Christian healer calls it the picture
of a belief of cancer. In this way disease is always the manifestation
of both conscious and unconscious thoughts.
"Special forms of disease are born by constant attention to the thought
of disease and their symptoms. It has been stated on good authority that
physicians who make a specialty of certain diseases are apt to be
afflicted with what they have especially fitted themselves to cure. In a
medical journal a case was cited not long since of an eminent physician
who read before a great convention of doctors, what was considered to be
the ablest treatise on insanity ever written. 'On going home from the
convention he killed his wife, four children, and then himself, in a fit
of dementia.'
"This reveals a startling fact, which might be corroborated by many
others, that the body ultimately pictures forth the idea. But the
thought is not confined to the individual. It not infrequently finds the
most striking expression in some member of the family or in any one
under his influence.
"If one man's thoughts so influence himself, family or friend, think of
the influence of such thoughts on those who go to him for advice or
treatment, those who deliberately place themselves under his inspection
and allow themselves to be guided both directly and indirectly by his
erroneous opinions. Think of the vast stream of such thoughts going out
from all medical colleges, students and practitioners. No wonder
diseases increase as physicians increase, as some of the best thinkers
of the age declare.
"Not that one class of people is more to be reflected upon than another,
for some kind or degree of erroneous thought is held by all classes.
Physicians talk sickness and death, ministers preach evil and
punishment, the entire race believe in and suffer for sins.
"It is centuries since it was first discovered that ideas were
transmitted without the ordinarily accepted means of communication, but,
to-day it is positively and repeatedly, yes, continually proven that
thought transference is not only possible or probable, but an every-day
occurrence. To realize that
'Thoughts are things.
Endowed with being, breath and wings,
And that we send them forth to fill
The world with good results or ill,'
is to be mightily responsible for what we think. To know that we are
verily our brother's keeper, and that every thought makes misery or
happiness for the whole world as well as for the individual, is
something that should engage our deepest and most earnest consideration.
"All thinking is for the weal or woe of the world that is yet in its
infancy of knowledge. As consciousness of truth takes the place of
consciousness of error, thoughts become light and beautiful and true
with corresponding conditions.
"Let us no longer slumber in the arms of indifference and ignorance, but
awake to truth and righteousness. 'Better be unborn than untaught; for
ignorance is the root of misfortune.'"
CHAPTER XXIX.
"Blessed influence of one true, loving soul on another. Not
calculable by algebra, not deductible by logic, but mysterious,
effectual, mighty as the hidden process by which the tiny seed is
quickened, and bursts forth into tall stem and broad leaf, and
glowing tasseled flower."--_George Eliot._
"Oh dear!" exclaimed Kate as she laid down the letter containing the
lesson on Thought. "I didn't know we were so responsible for every
little thing that comes into our mind."
"Or goes out of it," said Grace, smiling, as she finished tinting a
dainty plaque. "Now we can understand that 'where ignorance is bliss,
'tis folly to be wise,'" she added rather absent-mindedly.
"Yes, but I think I prefer the wisdom to the bliss. Do you understand
this lecture as well as the rest?" asked Kate, again glancing at the
letter.
"Why shouldn't we? It is plainly told, and is a natural sequence to the
others. I should think it very helpful, and if there really is so much
power in thought, it is time people knew it."
"But what of the people who do not know it? Are they utterly
defenseless?"
"As long as they believe in the reality of sin, sickness and death, they
must suffer from them," replied Grace, picking a loose hair from her
blender.
"Then they ought to know how to learn and understand these things, but I
could not tell anybody."
"We can solve any problem by going back and reasoning from the premise.
If any shock of sin or sickness come over us, we have simply to remember
the spiritual, which is the only real creation."
"It is not so easily done though. To-day I met the most miserable
looking cripple sliding along without any limbs. I held my skirts aside
as he passed, and forgot to even think of him as God's child," confessed
Kate, in a regretful tone.
"Anything takes time, and we can't expect to leap into perfection at
once, but what did you do after he had passed?" asked Grace, with some
curiosity.
"I pitied the poor creature and wondered what made him so."
"That was the very way to keep him in the same condition," said Grace,
rapidly mixing some paint. "This last lesson very clearly explains that
_every_ thought has an influence, and that you help to make the body
manifest whatever you think of it. If you think the real and true, you
help to make that show forth, if you only think of the external or
apparent trouble or defect, and regard it as the real, you are harming
instead of helping."
"I can readily see that we may affect ourselves, but it seems hard to
believe that we affect _everybody_," protested Kate, incredulously.
"It is because we cannot realize the law of thought transference. I was
reading just last week about that. An instance of Stuart C. Cumberland's
mind-reading was cited. It was wonderful. And then long ago I read an
old book written by Cornelius Agrippa about it, but I was not very much
interested, and did not understand nor believe it at the time, so my
memory is not worth much concerning it."
"Then you really think I added another weight to that unhappy creature's
burden of trouble?" cried Kate, in sharp surprise.
"It would be best for you to deny his apparent conditions and affirm his
real ones, and instead of thoughts of pity, which are only weakening,
you could think of happiness and contentment. I truly believe we can
learn to think of people this way, if we only catch ourselves for
correction every time we think wrong."
"How shall I ever learn to bridle my thoughts?" was Kate's despairing
wail.
"By learning to bridle your tongue; I found a splendid text to-day on
that very theme. It is in James iii: 2. 'If any man offend not in word,
the same is a perfect man, and able to bridle the whole body.'
"Why, it tells in those few words the substance of all we have learned
in these lessons," exclaimed Kate.
"Only we would never have had sense enough to understand without the
lessons," added Grace, with a smile.
"They may be likened to a golden key that opens royal gates," said Kate,
going to the piano to play while Grace was putting away her paints and
brushes.
A little later Grace went out to mail a letter. As she turned from the
post-box, she found herself face to face with--whom but Leon
Carrington?
"Ah, an unexpected pleasure, Miss Hall!" he said, extending his hand and
warmly grasping the one she slowly held out to him. He looked
searchingly into her face, with clear, questioning eyes.
She dropped her lashes and drew back with a touch of the old
haughtiness, murmuring something he could not hear.
"May I have the pleasure of a little walk with you?" he asked, suiting
his step to hers and ignoring her apparent coldness.
"Certainly. How long since you returned to Hampton, Mr. Carrington?"
recovering herself as they walked.
"Only a few days ago. I was called here on business for my uncle, and
will probably be detained several weeks." He glanced at her as he spoke,
but she gave no sign, only remarking it was a lovely season of the year
for a visit. They walked along, talking only commonplaces, until they
neared her home.
"Did you receive my letter, Miss Gra--Miss Hall?" he asked, with some
unsteadiness in his voice.
"Yes," she replied, shortly. She did not understand herself any more
than he did, and was vexed to find it so impossible to throw off her old
proud ways, for she really intended to relent enough, at least, to have
an explanation, and possibly--her thoughts could never go farther than
this, and here she was, in the same imperious way, shutting her better
self away from even a fair consideration of duty. These thoughts flashed
through her mind while she walked on, apparently with the greatest
indifference to either his words or his presence. But with a great
effort she compelled herself to say again, with more warmth, "I received
it, and intended to answer before this, but--" She stopped abruptly.
He gratefully caught the morsel she had given, and asked if he might not
call the next day.
"Yes, you may come at three," she said, careful to set a time when Kate
would surely be out.
At the door they parted, and as she went up the stairs, she wondered
more than ever at her hardness, for almost unconsciously she had given
up all doubts of his honor as a gentleman. What was it all about
anyway? Nothing but a report that he was engaged to a young lady at the
time he proposed to her, and on the testimony of a single friend, she
had allowed herself to be miserable, and make another miserable, through
this foolish pride that she _would_ conquer by to-morrow afternoon.
What! would she compel herself to so utterly ignore her own nature? She
leaned against the wall half way up the stairway, startled at this
revelation of herself. She did not know she was capable of such changes,
and yet the last two weeks had greatly modified her opinions in many
things.... Why should it not be so? If it were right she could be glad,
and she reverently felt that it was right to let the Truth erase all
errors and right all wrongs. To-night she would deny away every fault in
her character, especially pride, deny every obstacle to understanding,
and then earnestly ask for guidance, and wait till it came, for this was
truly a crisis in her life.
The next day she received her guest with a perceptibly softened manner.
The hour was spent in mutual explanations, and the renewal of a more
friendly relation on her part, much to the satisfaction of Mr.
Carrington, whose perseverance was surely worthy this much reward, but
Grace would go no further, although she gave him permission to call
again. She must know herself fully before another word on the subject
were said. Marriage was a vague and solemn theme, something to be
pondered over days and nights and months perhaps, she thought, and said
to him.
Mr. Carrington was a man of earnest aim and high purpose, thoughtful,
intellectual and cultured, in every way congenial to her, and she was
glad to accept his friendship. That he had loved her through all her
coldness and neglect, she no longer doubted, which fact was of no small
import in his chances for her favor. Finding how absolutely false had
been the report that had caused her misjudgment, she was anxious to
prove herself at least, a friend.
After he was gone she reviewed the situation. Had she gone too far? No.
All was well. She was content. Even if it should end in marriage, for
marriage was the highest symbol of perfection and--. What the symbol
meant was yet to be revealed, but she already knew that it had a
profound and sacred meaning.
CHAPTER XXX.
"The study of Heredity, _spiritual_ anatomy and physiology is
highest of all. The key to this study is your own soul. Study
yourself; gain possession and mastery of your own spirit and you
hold the key not only to the heights of liberty, but the key that
unlocks imprisoned souls."--_Mary Weeks Burnett M. D._
"MARLOW, October----.
"My dear husband: Gradually the vision broadens and we become more
accustomed to the light. It is as though we were put into a beautiful
room filled with all manner of lovely forms and dainty colors, flowers
and perfumes, where we have groped blindfolded from one thing to
another, trying to form some conception of the surpassing loveliness,
when gradually the bandage is removed, layer by layer until the whole
enchanting scene, radiant with light is revealed to our wondering gaze,
showing the vast difference between supposition and reality.
"The light grew clearer than ever to-day, for we had our first practical
hint on healing, inasmuch as we were told how to take up a case for
treatment.
"We must never forget that we are, and wish to remain as little
children, in our desire to apprehend and understand Truth. The natural
attitude of the child-mind is one of receptivity and eager interest.
Under the guidance of wise parents he will always be willing and anxious
to learn more and more, continually growing in wisdom and love.
"Back to the zeal and innocence of childhood we go then, to learn the
ever mysterious but ever charming alphabet of Truth, which leads us into
the kingdom.
"As we present ourselves in the great school room of life, and take or
recognize our appointed place beside the ever present School-master, we
learn the letters of the grand knowledge that shall teach us how to read
the most learned books, understand the deepest philosophy, the
profoundest science, the divinest religion. We would learn the ministry
of healing, that will set free the 'spirits in prison;' we would be glad
messengers of the gospel of peace. The door to great attainments is
faithfulness in small ones.
"There are three kinds or modes of healing. The first or lowest, is the
intellectual; the second or next higher, the intuitional; the third and
highest, the spiritual. The first only can be taught, the other two are
attained by individual development. The first comes by reason, the
second by faith, the third by understanding. The first is by argument or
a system of reasoning, the second by implicit trust or confidence in the
Principle, the third by the realization of Truth and the speaking of the
word or perchance, by one's very presence.
"But there is nothing arbitrary about this. The person who never heard
of Christ's teaching till yesterday may have so caught the fire of Truth
that to-day he stands at the altar a priest instead of communicant, a
teacher instead of pupil.
"Many just beginning their study of this method of healing require
explicit directions and explanations of details, in order to apply the
principle, feeling that they have no intuitional leadings and can not
depend upon the invisible power because they know so little about it.
"Wait; be patient; trust. Remember that 'he who is faithful in little,
shall be made ruler over much.' You need not learn the rule if you learn
the principle, and only so long as you are ignorant of the principle
will you need the rule. To use the rule, as the child uses the chair in
learning to walk, is to grow strong, and able to dispense with it; to
use it as spectacles are used, is to make it indispensable.
"If we can not yet learn through divine ways, let us learn through human
ways. The human is inadequate to express the divine, but many nameless
hints and light-gleams and sudden illuminations will flash upon the
faithful worker all along the way. Words are signs of ideas and ideas
are signs of God. When we think or speak true words, we have begun our
mission of healing or helpfulness, and from words we go on to the
inexpressible thrill of realization.
"We can not tell when we may thus change from the letter to the spirit,
can not tell when we come into the exalted condition of a spiritual
understanding, and having received the illumination, we are not to feel
that we have grown above the use of argument, for it may be necessary to
go back to the rule with the very next treatment.
"Above all else must the student of this Truth guard against what may be
called spiritual pride. No thought of supremacy or greater advancement
should be harbored for a moment. All such things are clouds that obscure
the light as much as other material beliefs.
"To gauge ourselves by that inimitable thirteenth chapter of I.
Corinthians is to maintain the perfect equilibrium of a loving,
charitable heart, that can heal and bless all human-kind, for 'love
never faileth.'
"We become, as it were, the cleansed window pane, through which shines
the divine light of Truth. Could we always be the cleansed pane, Truth
would melt away all error, just as the sun melts the frostwork, but
being still in the current of human thought we must wait patiently for
further power to reveal the God-likeness.
"Wrong thought as the real cause of disease, opens new avenues of
information; but we continue to explore and discover. Any kind of
thought opposite the good is sure to break forth into some form of
disease-pictures, and the question is, what kind of thought is it which
thus reflects itself upon the patient's body? All error will produce
pictures of error. The world's naming of the belief in heredity is the
naming of its greatest error, or belief in sin, because that implies all
sins of the flesh as manifested in the body.
"Back of all effect is a cause; the disease is the effect, the wrong
thought is the cause. One of the great causes of disease is sensual
beliefs, the appetites and passions of the carnal man.
"It is error to suppose he is subject to conditions unlike God, the
Source. 'He that is born of God, can not sin, because his seed remaineth
in him.' Being in and controlled by the universal thought current, the
error of supposition, he manifests it in his condition. Supposing
consumption hereditary, he suffers from the supposition; supposing
impurities of the blood transmitted through the flesh, he finds it even
so. Supposition, false thinking, being at the bottom of all erroneous
conditions, we proceed to deal with them as we do with any other errors
or lies.
"When we seek for anything with a desire to gain happiness, it is
because we hope to gain what our previous efforts have failed to bring
us, so the one who comes to be healed by Christian Truth, comes with a
hope at least that this will bring the health he has sought in vain from
other sources. He has turned in all directions in response to the advice
received from this or that one of the friendly advisers, so ready to
constitute themselves the body guard of the world. He has tried doctors
of every school; he has traveled east, west, north and south; he has
plunged into healing waters of all kinds and had all kinds of healing
waters plunged into him; he has been burned and steamed and pounded and
starved, till he is finally disgusted enough to want something that will
not harm if it will not cure, so he drags himself before us with
possibly a gleam of hope, possibly the faithlessness of despair, and
asks for a treatment.
"And now you wish to know in what a treatment consists; simply in
silently telling the patient the truth about himself as God's child, in
giving him the principles we have learned concerning God and man, and
with earnest gladness assuring him of his freedom. For the benefit of
the young practitioner, we will give a few directions or suggestive
treatments.
"We ask the patient for a statement of his belief, which he is only too
glad to give with elaborate and vivid details. We meet every statement
with an emphatic mental denial.
"The faithful student who has fasted and prayed (denied and affirmed),
is now the embodiment of one vast negative that should wipe out the
positive belief of any inharmony. The patient, being in the belief of
false conditions, is of one mind with the world, and so reflects the
beliefs of mankind. That we may be sure of meeting all classes of false
beliefs, we deny for him the reflection of any false conceptions of
himself from the race, his parents and ancestors, his friends and
associates, himself and ourself, for we are still one with humanity.
"Everybody has a conscious or unconscious belief in heredity, and since
it is one of, if not _the_ most formidable of human beliefs, we deal
with it first as the possible cause of our patient's belief in
suffering.
"After he has finished the statement of his condition, we say to him
mentally: 'James Martin! Hear what I say, for I tell you absolute truth.
Not one word of all this you have told me about dyspepsia is true,
because the carnal mind, to which you have been listening, is not
subject to the law of God, and _you_, the spiritual, immortal you, are
subject to the mind of the spirit which recognizes the spiritual
creation, therefore your spiritual self can not be sick or suffer from
any inharmony.
"'This carnal mind belief named dyspepsia is not a condition of your
real self. The belief of the race, ancestors, daily associates, yourself
or myself in heredity and the sensual appetites can not be pictured
forth by your body in the form of dyspepsia, because the real you is
spiritual and not subject to material beliefs. It is utterly impossible
for you, who are spiritual, to be influenced by any thought that is
opposite the spiritual, as it is impossible for the light to coalesce
with darkness.
"'_You_ are God's child, made in His image and likeness, and must be
perfect like Him, for His conditions are changeless and eternal. Listen
to this glad message that tells you absolute Truth. Realize that as
God's child you can not suffer, for spirit knows no suffering. You can
not be weak, for God is your strength; you can not fear anything, for
God is your refuge and fortress. 'God hath not given us the spirit of
fear, but of love and of power and of sound mind.'
"'Listen to me!--The 'Truth sets free.'--_Now, you are free_. You gladly
acknowledge the truth, and prove it in every thought, word and deed.
Like the Master, I say unto you, 'Lazarus, come forth!' Come out of the
errors in which you have been so long entombed, throw off the grave
clothes of mortal thought, and rise to new thoughts, new conditions, a
new life! Rejoice that you are whole, and let the world rejoice with
you.... It is finished. In the hands of omnipresent Good, in the name of
immaculate Truth, I leave you.
"'So may this be established, yea, it _is already_ established. I thank
Thee, Father, that thou hast heard me.'
* * * * *
"This lesson, John, is very hard to report. I find so many questions
suggested to my mind, and so many if's and but's.
"Mrs. Pearl desired us each to take up a case for absent treatment, some
one we would like to help, and from whom we could hear every day or so,
or who would be under our personal notice. I am going to treat a little
boy in the house where I board. It is quite a severe case of catarrh.
"I wish you would take a case, too. Just try this form of treatment that
I have given. It may not seem clear to you at first, but it is not the
words you are to remember so much as the ideas. Get the thought firmly
fixed in your mind, and the words will come of themselves.
"You readily see it is using the same principle with the patient that
has been applied in self training. First, the denial of all error, and
then the affirmation of truth. This treatment is for any chronic
condition, and is given twice a day, in the morning and at night.
"Now, I must say good-night. It is nearly eleven, and I really ought to
say my denials and affirmations some more, besides giving my patient the
treatment.
"With many kisses to the dear ones,
"I am your loving MARION."
CHAPTER XXXI.
"Once let friendship be given that is born of God, nor time nor
circumstance can change it to a lessening; it must be mutual
growth, increasing trust, widening faith, enduring patience,
forgiving love, unselfish ambition and an affection built before
the Throne, which will bear the test of time and trial."
--_Allen Throckmorton._
"It seems to me, Grace, you have been touching up your complexion with
some of the same paint as that in your roses," exclaimed Kate,
playfully, as she inspected Grace rather critically.
"Really, Kate, you must be more careful, or I shall add the sin of
vanity to my other faults," answered Grace, looking out of the window
and smiling pleasantly, with the least touch of absent mindedness in her
manner.
"No danger of that, you dear old Gracious, but if you should say
secretiveness, I might be willing to stop," said Kate, boldly, yet
hardly daring to look toward the window.
Grace did not answer, but continued looking out of the window for
several minutes. "What makes you say that, Kate?" she asked at last,
turning around soberly, while the rosy flush crept up to her temples and
back of her ears.
"Oh, I don't know, Gracious, only it seems to me you are like a pure
white lily bell, and I want to creep into your heart and live in its
fragrance, but--" She stopped abruptly. It seemed as though the almost
imperceptible veil of reserve was falling lower than ever.
Oh, why could she not gain Grace's confidence? These thoughts passed
rapidly through her mind while she stood as if transfixed, waiting for
Grace to break the interminable silence. If she had only known it, Grace
was nearer to her at that moment than ever before, but with her eyes
cast down, she saw not the yearning look on the face of her friend.
Grace spoke at last:
"But what, Kate?" she asked, taking up Kate's words where they had
dropped.
"But the petals will not open, and I am left out," finished Kate,
determined to be frank.
Grace looked out of the window again, and was about to reply, when a rap
at the door startled them both. It was a boy with a note. "Miss Grace
Hall?" he said, handing it to her.
Grace looked at the letter and then at the boy inquiringly. "I am to
wait for an answer," he said.
"Oh," she murmured, in a dazed way, and hastened to find pen and paper
for reply.
"More mystery! I declare, it is getting interesting," thought Kate,
recovering herself, as she furtively watched the rosy face of Grace.
"Any answer?" asked the boy as he took the note.
"No." The door was shut and Grace sat down beside the picture she had
been working upon, but presently arose and began pacing the room. Kate
looked up at her as she passed, but said nothing. She could see that
some deep thought was struggling for utterance, and wondered much.
After a few moments Grace stopped beside her. "I wish I might speak
freely to you, Kathie, but--" she hesitated, "but it has never been
natural for me to be confidential, and--"
She began her promenade again, but presently came back, and drawing her
chair close up to Kate, told her the whole story, with long pauses and
much hesitating speech.
"And now he is in the city; he--wants an answer. He has invited me
to--ride with him--to-morrow."
"Surely, you will not refuse him that privilege?" cried the impetuous
Kate, with visions of a romance unfolding in thrilling chapters before
her very eyes.
"No, of course not," in a low tone, "but how shall I answer him?" The
last was scarcely audible. It seemed almost as though she spoke to
herself. With her forefinger she idly traced some hieroglyphics on her
lap.
"What says your heart, my Lilybell?" asked Kate, softly, as she caressed
the hand that was at liberty.
"'The prisoned bird doth ofttimes sing, but never at the bidding of its
jailer,'" was the low reply, with a faint smile, but tearful eyes.
"Poor Lilybell; she can not bloom before her time. I can wait for her to
open now, for I am close to her throbbing heart. Wait, dear Grace. Let
us sit silently and ask the Father for guidance."
Sweet and solemn moment, when with one accord, they waited for the
Spirit to pour out the full vials of love and wisdom. It was a precious
time of sweet communion, of giving and receiving the best, a
consecration of self to better efforts, higher aims, holier living; a
baptism of strength and peace and lovely thoughts.
Grace had entered upon a new epoch. The past, with its longings and
struggles, its loneliness and bitterness, was already fading into the
background of memory like some dark, ill-favored picture, and in its
place came the present, with its balmy atmosphere and dainty colorings,
promising joy and peace. The morning looked fair. How would be the noon
and eventide?
Ah, no questioning when you ask the Father's guidance! Have you not
asked, dear heart?
Wait till the answer comes. Wait till the soundless message is delivered
into your heart's safe keeping....
The last beams of the setting sun came through the window and bathed
them in its red-gold glory. In her exalted mood, it seemed to Kate like
a heavenly vision. She saw Grace glorified with a divine radiance,
baptized with a new peace. White-winged angels hovered near, like pure
thoughts personified. Every glinting sunbeam seemed a golden shaft of
love.
The glory paled into a mellow twilight. The enchanting picture faded,
but the essence of its beauty changed into a heart-melody of softened
sacred joy. What but music could speak in this hallowed moment?
Kate's very soul would utter itself. She went to the piano as in a
dream. Soft, low notes, faint and sweet, breathed of tender questionings
and tremulous doubts; then a higher, more triumphant strain of victory
swelled the notes that lingered but a moment, ere a tone of sadness and
regret struck the keys, whispering of sacred duty and solemn
responsibility.... Again the music changed. Now peace and joy thrilled
and rippled through the melodious chords....
Dearer than ever was the friendship thus cemented. They had been caught
up to heaven, as it were, and that which had been bound on earth was now
bound in heaven.
"Mystical more than magical, is the communing of soul with soul, both
looking heavenward. Here, properly, soul first speaks with soul; for
only in looking heavenward, take it in what sense you may, not looking
earthward, does what we can call union, mutual love, society, begin to
be possible."
They sat till late into the night, discussing and considering all phases
of life and its problems.
Kate read Mrs. Hayden's letter, which in the agitation and excitement of
the first part of the evening she had quite forgotten. Because of their
deep earnestness they were well prepared to catch the healing mood. This
experience seemed indeed the shower that most opened the blossom of
understanding, and ere they slept, each had taken some poor suffering
mortal into her care as a patient. The blessings they had received were
already being passed to the waiting neighbor.
It is the deep, unselfish God-love that takes the world in its embrace.
To perceive, feel, live the divine Love, is to have broken the old shell
of selfishness, when we may begin to send the tender rootlets of being
into the ready soil of the universe.
CHAPTER XXXII.
"The power to bind and loose to Truth is given!
The mouth that speaks it is the mouth of Heaven.
The power, which in a sense belongs to none,
Thus understood belongs to every one."
--_Abraham Coles._
"Thro' envy, thro' malice, thro' hating,
Against the world, early and late,
No jot of our courage abating--
Our part is to work and to wait."
--_Anon._
MARLOW, October ----.
"Dear ones at home: Your letters were all received this afternoon. Am
pleased to know that Mabel is so interested, for it will help her so
much in her studies and work. I must begin my daily report at once, as
there is not much time before class.
"There was no lesson yesterday, and about noon Mrs. Dawn came after me
to go with her and Mrs. Browning, her hostess, to the dentist's, as Mrs.
Browning had to have a tooth extracted. We started, treating her all the
way with the quieting, reassuring thoughts that allay fear. Before she
went in we agreed to hold that thought.
"When Mrs. Browning went into the office, we remained in the waiting
room thinking as intently as possible:
"'There is not a thing to fear, Lida Browning, there is no tooth-ache
with your real self, there is no sensation in matter. You can entertain
nothing but the One Life. The One Mind thinks, and you are His idea,
perfect as your Creator. Good is all, Love is all, Peace is already with
you, for you are one with the Father.'
... "It was done. The dentist was so amazed that he hardly remembered to
give his patient a glass of water.
"'Well, I never knew a cuspidate to come so hard. Didn't it hurt
terribly?' he asked sympathetically.
"'Not a bit except when you first put on the forceps,' was her prompt
reply as she rinsed out her mouth....
"I need say no more. You can imagine our pleasure at this victory. We
never know how little our faith till we see how astonished we are at the
demonstration.
"You ask if Mrs. Pearl has explained your queries. A few questions were
handed in yesterday, but I had not time to put them in my letter. One
that always puzzled us, was: What is the origin of evil? The questions
are written on slips of paper and laid on the table. She answers them
before giving the regular lesson. When she read this slip there was not
a little stir among the fifty eager questioners. 'What is the origin of
evil?' she repeated. 'It has no origin,' was the unsatisfactory answer,
after a momentary silence. Oh! the blankness of those faces! 'But,' she
resumed presently, 'if you ask how _seeming_ evil originated, I may give
you the ideas that came to me as a solution of that mortal mind
question.'
"You know we might ask questions of each other forever, but unless our
thoughts are tinged with same quality, or run in the same direction, the
satisfactory answer to one may not be at all satisfactory to another. In
other words, we will not recognize the same phase of truth, unless we
are in the same stage of development, so if you are not willing to take
my explanation as true, it may be that you are not yet where you can
perceive it, or it may be, you require a different illustration to
convey the same thought, or, there may be innumerable reasons, but of
this one blessed fact be assured: if you hold yourself in the receptive
attitude, and sincerely expect to be guided by the spirit of truth, some
day the answer will come to you with such irresistible force and
plainness that you can not forget it, or ever be in doubt upon that
point again.
"It was in this way the light came to me. That question had puzzled me
more than all else, and I asked every healer whom I met as to the
correct solution. For several months I pondered and fretted over it. At
last, in despair, I let it alone, resolving I would not be further
troubled. But one day it unfolded itself so clearly and beautifully I
was completely satisfied.
"Here it is: Taking the first account of creation, we find man made in
the image and likeness of God, given dominion over all things. If we
believe man to be spiritual and not material, if we know that spirit
_can not_ change its character or quality, we must know that spiritually
man never fell, but that he _seemed_ to fall through our misconception
and misunderstanding of appearances.
"Man now manifests what he believes in; his consciousness of truth is
not fully developed and he mistakes appearances for realities. Having
all possibilities of recognizing only the good, he is perfect. For every
mistake that is made he manifests error, the fallen, or rather the
undeveloped state. The Truth and Love that he manifests in his life, is
the revealment of his God-like nature. In the glimpses of his true self
he recognizes his inheritance of power, and in his mistaken conceptions
forgets to acknowledge God. He then judges according to appearances, and
says things are true because they appear true to the senses.
"The creating principle of life is perfect, but man neglects to
acknowledge this divine power in proportion to his selfishness. It is
therefore his selfishness that prevents him from recognizing the Good,
and causes him to see, name and believe in matter and its consequences;
and he thus becomes materially minded, and is known as the 'Adam' in
'whom all die.'
"Adam signifies error, clay, unreality. Christ signifies Truth, Spirit,
Reality. If we believe in things that appear to be the creation, we are
believing in nothingness, which so proves itself by death and
disintegration. If we believe appearances to be the _sign_ of the real,
we are acknowledging the spiritual to be the all, hence it proves itself
by making even the body its sign, manifest life, health, perfection.
"If we cast out all selfishness, pure love takes its place. We must be
purified from the beliefs of the world in selfishness and its
consequences by recognizing that our 'sufficiency is of God.'
"This was very plain to me, John, and I hope you will find it so too,
but if you do not, wait, and as soon as you are ready for it, the answer
will come to you.
"The lesson to-day was on deception and personal influences. The whole
world has been deceived into believing man is fleshly instead of
spiritual, so many false thoughts and beliefs have arisen, which are the
cause of all disease and trouble. Universally we are deceived,
individually we are deceived, and it is not only because we are making
our beliefs visible on the body, but because we suffer from them
mentally and physically that it is necessary to discover what they are
and cast them out.
"The term deception will cover the mistakes believed and made in
ignorance, and deceitfulness will include the beliefs in and expression
of deceitfulness. On the second day the patient is treated for the
world's next greatest beliefs, which are deception and deceitfulness,
and as before, we set him free from this belief, as possibly reflected
or absorbed through one or more or all of these five avenues we
mentioned in the first treatment.
"Because the world has admitted the first great lie, that the material
creation is the true one, or synonymous with the true, we have 'yielded
ourselves servants to sin,' hence will see the consequences of such
false conclusion, until we deny the lie and affirm the truth.
'Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive,'
is a couplet I remember learning long ago, when I was a child, and how
applicable it is to this problem of deception. Truly, it is a tangled
web, and the only way to get it untangled is to break off the thread and
go back to the beginning where we can truly say, I am created free and
perfect and whole in His image, and can not be influenced by anything
different from Him.
"This is _always_ spiritually true, but if we deal with the worldly
beliefs, we find that according to appearances, we are under the
influence of our own and every other person's wrong thought. We say of
some people, 'how happy I am in their company, how it uplifts me to be
in their presence.' With others we feel a nameless depression, a
fearful, unhappy feeling, and shun their company. As Emerson so aptly
says: 'With some I walk among the stars, whilst others pin me to the
wall.'
"Now, in reality, no good ever comes from personal influence, although
in the first instance it might seem so. Personal, from the word
_persona_, a mask, is only applied to the physical self or carnal mind;
therefore we can receive no benefit from the _personal_ quality of our
friend, but we are benefited and uplifted by his freedom from
personality, or in other words by the divine individuality flowing
through him and expressed by his benevolence, his love, his
cheerfulness, his wisdom. Inasmuch as he is free from personal or
selfish thoughts, he is filled and permeated with gifts from the divine
Fountain of _all_ benevolence, _all_ love, _all_ cheerfulness, _all_
wisdom.
"There is a difference between personality and individuality which most
people do not recognize. Personality only pertains to the physical,
while individuality is the term properly applied to the spiritual self.
'There is but one Mind, the Universal Mind, which, if we can lay hold
on, will give us all knowledge, wisdom and power,' said Emerson.
"When we can throw aside a belief in personality, or personal influence,
we will be free. The negative thoughts sent out by the world have no
power over one who has become filled with positive thoughts of
righteousness. When we trust wholly to the Good, and become wholly at
one with the Good, recognizing the supremacy of the Good, we are free
from all belief in miseries or burdens. We breathe purer air, which is
invisible but life-giving; we feed on heavenly manna, the true word that
is divinely nourishing; we escape the awful bondage of fear, knowing the
perfect love that casts out fear. We can not fear any false beliefs or
wrong thoughts, for we are so filled with true thoughts, no such
falsities can enter our mind.
"Some people talk as though we have great cause to tremble at this awful
counterfeit power of mortal mind, but if they would not talk of it, nor
fear it as having power, it would vanish as mist before the morning sun.
"The great sin is in admitting a lie. Admit the belief of sickness as a
reality and you will see many witnesses to prove it. 'Agree with thine
adversary quickly, lest he turn and rend thee,' means make haste to
dispose of the lie that will throttle you, if you fellowship with it
ever so little. Let us not be deceived, but let us 'awake to
righteousness and sin not.'
"Another question, and a very important one, was: 'What is the
difference between the different teachers of Christian Healing?' I can
best give the substance of Mrs. Pearl's reply by reference to Mrs.
Fuller, the healer from Trenton.
"You remember when she gave her parlor lecture at Mrs. Haight's, she
said: 'Everything that did not come from her teacher was mesmerism, that
it was altogether false, and it was so much of a power that it was
indeed to be feared, for there was no telling what its subtlety and
cunning would suggest and execute; that no cure effected by it was
permanent, but that the patients would sooner or later be worse than
before.'
"Oh, dear, I must not rehearse it, for of course you remember how my old
headache overtook me when I got home, and how wrought up I was all
night. Now I know what caused it, and _now_ I know the difference.
"In the first place, these people are taught the pure and beautiful
foundation of pure Christian Healing, but instead of holding to their
premise that all is good, they begin to talk about people and things
that are _not_ good, imputing false motives, and giving false power to
those who, as they say, are not in the truth.
"If they would only remember that counterfeits can have no power except
as it is delegated to them, that unreal thoughts must disappear in the
presence of true thoughts, they would not be troubled and puzzled.
Adhering to the law, they would recognize and talk about the Good only.
"Ah, John, here is the secret of Jesus' words, 'Resist not evil.' If we
resist anything, we recognize it as something. If we regard evil as an
entity, we can not help fearing or fighting it, but if we know it is
nothingness claiming to be something, we deal with it accordingly.
"Whoever resists evil or calls evil a power, has not denied the reality
of evil faithfully enough. To talk of anything as having power, is to
believe in the power and become entangled in its meshes. That explains
Mrs. Fuller's remark that she was 'actually afraid to meet one of those
false teachers on the street, and always took pains to warn people
against them.' I speak of Mrs. Fuller because you know so well what she
did and said, that you will understand this explanation better.
"Another remark she made was, that 'this power of mortal mind is wholly
ignored by these false teachers, although they secretly use it so
effectually and disastrously.' Because they do not talk so much of evil,
she thinks they ignore it, while really they silently but earnestly and
vigorously deny it, thereby getting a sure control over it. She was
taught to call this seeming power of mortal thought Mesmerism, and
Animal Magnetism, and after giving it such formidable names, and so
mighty a place, it is most natural for her to say that it affects
herself and family or her patients, causing them to be slow in yielding
to treatment. Thus you can readily see how she accounts for her
failures.
"Mrs. Pearl teaches that we can deal with this influence of carnal or
mortal mind, by denying for the patient the conscious or unconscious
reflection of it from these five different sources. To the patient who
is ignorant of truth, mortal thought has a power, because he has
acknowledged it as having power, but in our silent conviction of its
powerlessness, we speak the true word that sets him free. The whole
secret lies in our own freedom from belief in this false power.
"The name Mesmerism or Magnetism makes it seem like some awful monster,
lurking in every corner, ready to devour us, while, as Mrs. Pearl says,
we go our way, quietly denying all appearance of evil, proving the law
of Good by recognizing only the Good in thought and speech.
"How beautiful this teaching is! and how wonderfully the spirit leads us
into all truth. But it can not teach us if we talk error, or
deliberately judge others. Never till we are faithful in acknowledging
the one Principle of Life will it prove itself the only power over us.
"After the questions, Mrs. Pearl spoke of the third treatment. We treat
for everything we might have missed in the first two treatments.
Sometimes this is called the sin treatment, for it takes up so many
things that belong more or less to everybody, according to the world's
belief. A more explicit naming is selfishness.
"Selfishness is the beginning, the mother of all the rest. It reminds
one of the seven devils from which poor Mary Magdalen was freed. It is
not unlikely these were their names: Selfishness, pride, envy, avarice,
jealousy, malice and cruelty. This we deny for the patient through the
five different sources, and you can see how apt it will be to touch him,
for who is there of all earth's children that is perfectly free from
any of these qualities. With our strong faith in the law and power of
the word, we sturdily deny everything that might be the shadow
obstructing his light.
"As we go on in this study, we learn the meaning of these outshowings of
disease. Every visible thing is the expression of a thought, whether
God-given or man-supposed. We look into a patient's face and read or
interpret the signs of his thought. Is he selfish, unkind or severe in
his disposition, there are the lines and expressions that betray him. Is
he lovely, gentle and kind, a nameless feeling of peace and trust steals
over us.
"In the moments or times of silence that every healer should seek, there
may come something to hint of the truth, some word or text or
mind-picture that will teach what no book or teacher could tell, for
'the spirit of truth leads us into all truth,' and the ways and means
are varied according to our capacity to receive.
"A mind-picture is a symbol representing some thought. For instance:
Suppose while I sit in the silence, there comes to my consciousness a
fragment of landscape, a child's face, a storm, a sun. These are ideas
symbolized. If it be a pleasant scene, it may be to me a glimpse of the
'green pastures and still waters' that David sang about when depicting
the life of the righteous. It would mean peace for my patient. If the
symbol be a child's face, it may mean that I must become as a little
child in order to be led into the kingdom. A storm may signify that my
patient is passing through a crisis of mental commotion, in which case I
must use the invariable rule, deny the false and affirm the true.
"On the other hand I may never see a symbol, but some suggestive text
may come into my mind. If I were depressed or discouraged, these words
might give me new courage and hope: 'Fear not, for I am with thee;'
'wait patiently on the Lord, and He will give thee the desires of thine
heart.'
"Or I might not be conscious of anything while I am sitting thus in the
silence. The answer to my silent question may come to me in the most
commonplace way days or weeks after it is asked. Some person may say
something that will be the very clue I am seeking. We are not to be
anxious or troubled if many questions perplex us, or many problems seem
insoluble, but wait, trusting that 'he is faithful who promised.' We
must not be wishing for the same signs or powers that others have, but
appreciate what is given to us, for faithfulness shall receive its full
reward in due time 'if we faint not.'
"No more to-day. Love to the babies. How glad I am to know they are so
well and happy.
"Faithfully, MARION."
CHAPTER XXXIII.
"Comfort our souls with love,
Love of all human kind;
Love special, close in which, like sheltered dove,
Each weary heart its own safe nest may find;
And love that turns above
Adoringly; contented to resign
All loves, if need be, for the love divine."
--_D. M. Mulock Craik._
Grace looked very lovely, as she stepped into the carriage, when Mr.
Carrington called for her. A suggestion of reserved feeling gave an
added lustre to her beautiful eyes, and the faintest wild-rose tint in
her cheeks made her a fit study for any artist.
She looks like Psyche just awakened. Can it be possible, that with all
her charms, she was sleeping, before to-day? he thought as he took his
seat beside her, thrilled with new hope.
He drove into one of the broad, quiet avenues that led out of the city
and into a country road. "I thought you would like to visit 'The Glen,'
and see its autumn dress," he said, as they came in view of the river
over which lay the "Glen" road.
"I have been wishing I might go there, before the leaves fell, and this
is exactly what I enjoy," replied Grace, looking out over the scene
before her with a keen pleasure.
"Perhaps this is an answer to your wish. Sometimes I think our wishes
are answered because of their intensity," said Mr. Carrington, looking
meaningly into her face.
"George Eliot says: 'The very intensity keeps them from being
answered.'" What gave him the sudden, triumphant certainty that he could
bide his time? She had lost all her haughtiness, apparently. He had
never seen her in the mood of to-day.
"_Apropos_ of wishes," he resumed, "which are properly thoughts, I have
two friends in Boston, who can communicate with each other, no matter
how far apart they may be. They call it the power of thought."
"Yes, thought transference. I am quite interested and fully believe it,"
said Grace, glad to have the opportunity of sounding him on this and
kindred themes.
He glanced at her in polite surprise. "Indeed," he said, "are you
acquainted with the subject?"
"Somewhat; I have seen enough to know it is founded on law," she
replied, briefly.
"What law?" he asked, wonderingly, with a slight smile of incredulity
lighting his face.
"Mental law, of course."
She then went on to explain to him something of her study of mental
healing. At first he was rather skeptical, but on seeing her
seriousness, he very soon grew sober and gave the most respectful and
apparently absorbed attention. By the time she finished, he was really
interested.
"I have often thought that some day there would be more light upon the
philosophy of thought, but I was not aware it was so close upon us," he
finally said.
"It is certainly much needed now," she replied, looking dreamily at the
white clouds floating in the bits of blue above the trees. She was
thinking how much it had been worth to her in her trial last night. He
noticed the far-away look and wished he might know her thoughts.
What would have been his surprise, could he have been told at this
moment how much he was already indebted to Christian Science? for had it
not softened the cruel pride that had so encrusted her before? He knew
nothing of this. He perceived a change in her manner and even character
since he last saw her two years before, although even then his great
love had been able to condone all weaknesses, or what others would call
weaknesses. To him they were part of her lovableness.
When she so coldly rejected him, unlike most men, he had determined to
wait patiently for her indifference to turn into reciprocation. He had
recognized but one thing, the simple, supreme fact that he loved Grace
Hall. In regard to her, there was and never could be any other thought.
Inspired with such love as this, such sublime patience, such infinite
hope, is it any wonder he looked into her eyes and read a hint of
victory?
The time was drawing near. His two years of waiting surely gave him
liberty to ask, and the right to receive.... As for that, love, such
love as his, had royal rights and it would win its own way when the
moment came. He would approach the subject gradually, talking about his
coming departure, although he had mentioned that in his note, had even
dared to tell her this must be his excuse for requesting an answer
sooner than she wished to give it.
"Oh, what a lovely group of colors!" exclaimed Grace, involuntarily,
pointing to a tree decked in the most gorgeous foliage.
"Shall I get some leaves for you?" he asked, anticipating her desire,
and descended from the carriage.
Presently he returned, with his hands full of small branches. "They are
lovely hues. Is there not something else you would like? I saw some
beautiful ferns over yonder," he said, pointing to the spot.
"Will we have time? I _would_ like to get out," she exclaimed eagerly.
"Time! 'There's time for all things,' Shakespeare says," laughed Mr.
Carrington, as he assisted her to alight.
Grace was in her element amid the speaking grandeur of Nature's hills.
"Have you a sharp pencil, Mr. Carrington? I seem to have lost the one I
always carry with me, and that grand oak tree I must have as a model."
He quickly sharpened one and gave it to her.
How beautiful she looked! He delighted to watch every movement of the
deft fingers, to study every expression of the beautiful eyes and mobile
mouth. He revelled in her beauty, because to him she was the
personification of all that was lovely and noble and great. Her
character he would have loved just as much had she been plain instead of
beautiful, for his ideal was the inward, not the outward beauty, except
as the two blended into one, as they did with her.
"You seem to be partial to the oak, Miss Hall. Is there any reason for
it?"
"Yes, I am. It is a grand symbol of strength and firmness of character,"
she replied, still sketching rapidly. "I like to paint trees, for they
express so much. Some show such kindly benevolence, with their broad,
spreading branches and friendly shade, some are so graceful, with their
tall trunks and delicately veined leaves, as though showing a fine,
tender nature; while others are stunted and rough, with coarse, thick
foliage. I place each one as to character and station, and they teach me
many beautiful lessons."
"And they will teach me many after this, Miss Grace."
He wanted to say something more, but she was so innocently unconscious
of anything but her work that he must wait for a better opportunity.
Having finished her sketch, Grace looked up. The self-consciousness that
had scarcely left her, save these past few moments, now returned with
painful suddenness. Her eyes met his, and a vivid flush overspread her
face, but she said nothing.
"Shall we go?" he asked, holding out his hand to assist her. His eyes
expressed the question his lips could not frame, but she did not see
them. They went to the carriage in silence.
The road presently left the woods and turned into a broad country lane.
Both had forgotten the proposed trip to "The Glen," but it made no
difference. At last the undercurrent of feeling had burst through all
reserves.
Mr. Carrington awaited the final answer, and what did she say?
It was the sacred page in a maiden's life that is read but once.
* * * * *
Grace had found in her lover a man who was broadminded and liberal
enough to fairly consider these matters from a woman's standpoint. They
freely discussed a married woman's rights and privileges, and both
agreed that a wife should have an individuality after marriage as well
as before. "I desired to express myself on this point before, my dear
Grace," said Mr. Carrington, "because to my mind it is a mutual life,
and should be a mutual development."
"It is, indeed. I have never looked at it in the right way, till the
last few weeks. I used to feel that marriage was degrading rather than
elevating, because it seemed as though a woman had to give up so much
that really belonged to her, her name, her property, her freedom as an
individual. But now I see that true marriage should bring freedom in the
fullest sense of the word."
"In love there is no bondage," he replied, admiring her independent
thought.
"Yes, but the world has a faint conception of love, the love that saves
to the uttermost, and endures forever," said Grace.
"With such love there would be no danger of marriage degrading the
individual, no need of divorce."
He spoke strongly for he felt strongly. Any one speaking from the depths
of a heart-conviction, speaks with authority.
"The world needs to be lifted to a higher standard on these matters. The
subject of marriage is too sacred to jest about, and people in general
think it no harm to toy with the word and all that pertains to it with
the utmost carelessness."
Grace was more like herself now. She was very happy in the thought that
Mr. Carrington understood this as she did, but she was not a little
surprised to find herself giving such free expression to her opinions.
"Indifference and laxity is the result of the trifling. My theory is
that these things should be sacredly spoken of in the family, when boys
and girls are growing up. That is the way my mother did," said Mr.
Carrington reverently.
"Yes, the family is more responsible than society, for it makes
society," she replied, secretly touched by the allusion to his mother.
She felt more and more confidence in Mr. Carrington. It seemed
surprising to find how rapidly her love for him had increased since she
gave it permission to grow. She did not realize that it had been a
smothered plant before, trying to live without sunshine. Now it could
grow in the warmth and brightness of beautiful day.
It was early twilight when they returned. Kate was waiting for her. The
joyous light in Grace's eyes, though she tried to veil it, told the
story. Kate put her arms about her, saying, as she caressed the rosy
cheek:
"Lilybell is bloomed at last."
CHAPTER XXXIV.
"Be cheerful: wipe thine eyes:
Some falls are means the happier to arise.
* * * * *
Before the curing of a strong disease,
Even in the instant of repair and health
The fit is strongest; evils that take leave,
On their departure most of all show evil."
--_Shakespeare._
For two days no letter came, and then Mr. Hayden received two, which he
handed to the girls as he met them on the street the same evening.
"Can you spare them both?" said Kate, holding out her hand eagerly.
"Oh, yes; I am especially engaged to-night, and besides they are better
together. I am rather glad for the delay. I was afraid the first one had
miscarried," he replied.
The waiting had only increased their interest, and on reaching home they
at once sat down to read the the two letters handed them by Mr. Hayden.
"MARLOW, October ----.
"Dear John: I suppose you, like the rest of us, are anxious to know how
the patient feels after such a vigorous denial of the seven evils. It is
quite necessary to know what to do at this stage.
"After the treatment for special sins, James Martin comes with bitter
complaints that he is worse instead of better. He tells a doleful story
of how he suffered all night; had chills and fever exactly as when he
had the ague long ago; how he coughed and choked and broke out with
something like measles, and was all the while so vilely sick it seemed
as though he was about to die.
"As he is telling his pitiful tale, with perhaps a gleam of hatred,
disgust or helpless anguish in his eyes, we are to sit calmly by and
very soothingly give him the mental information that 'there is nothing
to fear.'
"When he concludes his mournful story, we assure him in quiet tones that
there is no occasion for alarm, as we know how to deal with these
symptoms. Then, very gently and slowly, with a most self-possessed
attitude of mind, we talk to him mentally something after this fashion:
"'There! James Martin, it is all right. Oh, no; nothing has hurt you,
nor can hurt you. You are not afraid of anything; you know there is no
reality in sickness; you are not suffering any inharmony because of fear
or remorse for sin. It can not be possible for you to reflect fear or
remorse from your parents, or the race or your daily associates. Neither
is it possible for you to suffer from your own fear or remorse, nor
mine. Remember, you are spiritual and not material, and can fear
nothing. God is your intelligence, and you know that truth is
all-powerful. Now, listen! You are happy, you are content, you are
filled with blessed peace, 'the peace that passeth all understanding.'
You know the Lord is your shepherd. He leadeth you beside the still
waters. He maketh you to lie down in green pastures _now, this moment_.
There is no future to God's promises; they are in the eternal present.
There! James Martin, a sweet ease comes to you, the burden is taken
away; you are in the gentle care of Truth, which ever whispers, 'Come
unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest.' Sh--h! Gently the arms enfold you, sweetly peace and love embrace
you, and you are at rest; sleep if you like. Softly come sweet words of
divine love to your waiting ear, 'fear not, fear not, for I am with
thee.' Peace ... peace be with you, Amen.'
"This stage is called chemicalization, because our words of truth,
dropped into the mind filled with error, produce a fermentation similar
to the effect produced by the union of different chemicals. Sometimes
the patient chemicalizes after the first treatment, in which case the
second and third treatments are omitted.
"When the patient first comes to be treated, he might be likened to a
last year's garden. His mind is filled with the roots and rubbish of the
beliefs he has sown, and some of them are noxious weeds, deeply rooted
in the mental soil.
"Cutting and keen are the words of Truth, and like a burnished
plowshare, it enters the unsightly field and uproots everything in its
path. We now do not mention sickness, because his mind is so unsettled
and his active beliefs of disease all on the surface, so we gently
soothe him into forgetfulness of his trouble, and quietly assure him
there is no occasion for alarm of any kind. Thus, with the word of peace
and assurance we smooth the rough, uneven soil, until it is pulverized
and prepared for the new seeds which are to grow and blossom into fair
truth-flowers.
"To deny errors for him who believes so absolutely in them, is to dig
down into the unconscious mind and rake up even the memories that are
imbedded, hence his symptoms of ague, or measles or whatever beliefs he
may have had.
"Because mortality dislikes to be told of its faults and consciously or
unconsciously resents such telling, the violence of chemicalization only
marks the degree of conscious or unconscious mental opposition, of which
the bodily symptoms are the picture. There is no law for
chemicalization, for some patients pass through this period without even
noticing it.
"Sometimes instead of an excited feverish condition, which requires the
soothing quieting thought, the patient is dull and sluggish, perhaps
unconscious, as in fainting, spasms or something similar; then vigorous,
rousing thoughts should be given--sharp, decisive and emphatic, as when
awaking a heavy sleeper.
"When called to treat any one suffering from fever or any acute
condition, we give the soothing, or peace treatment as it is sometimes
called. Little children may be compared to mirrors, reflecting every
thought around them. In treating them it is necessary to make the
law--and the true word is always law--that they do not or can not
reflect fear or belief of disease from their parents or relatives,
taking pains to name each person strongly holding thoughts of fear for
the little one. If it is a contagious and dangerous sickness, according
to mortal thought, besides the near ones in the family, deny that any
thought of fear from the neighborhood or world can be reflected upon the
child or manifested in this belief of sickness.
"Sometimes children are treated entirely through the parents, that is,
the parents are quieted and assured of the truth concerning their little
one--that it is living in the current of infinite Love, where no fear
can touch it, no sickness come near it, no pain destroy it.
"Such cases require frequent or long-continued treatments, or rather
long-continued thought of the Good, mostly affirmation, for very little
denial is needed to cut the chains of error from a babe. Denial is to be
applied more to the parents--the denial of fear.
"If we feel at all doubtful or fearful concerning our work, we are not
at one with the divine Love, and must treat ourselves before we treat
the patient. Be at one with omnipotent Law, and the Law will prove
itself through you. _Know_ truth and do not tamely believe it, then you
may have marvelous proof of the difference between knowledge and belief,
God-like understanding and blind faith.
"Mrs. Pearl very clearly answered the question which was asked
concerning the meaning of Bible passages implying eternal punishment.
"There is always punishment so long as we are in mortal belief, but it
is only in mortal belief we can suffer, for the spirit made in the image
and likeness of God can not suffer, neither know suffering.
"The word everlasting should be translated age-lasting, to give the
original meaning. Fire is a symbol of purification, and in the language
of ancient times it was customary to use strong figures of speech.
"In the fifteenth chapter of John, wherein Jesus explains about the vine
and branches, what could be plainer than his illustration of the dead
branches? 'Every branch that beareth not fruit, he taketh away, and
every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth
more fruit.'
"Every false belief is a branch that beareth not fruit, hence must be
taken away and destroyed even as dead limbs are burned. Falsity or evil,
being nothingness, can not exist because it is not of the real creation
and is necessarily cast into the fire of purification, an illustration
well understood at the time, since all the city refuse was taken to
Gehenna, a place outside Jerusalem, where fire was always kept for the
purpose of burning this waste matter.
"'Every branch that beareth fruit is purged'--that is, if you are a
mixture of good and evil beliefs, you will have to be cleansed of the
evil, before you can do much with the good. This cleansing process is
quite properly named purging. This is what we undergo in suffering.
"'He whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,' means the good in us chastens
us, cleanses us for the further working of the Good. Punishment, then,
there must be, just as long as we believe in, and fellowship with error.
"Mrs. McClaren, a staunch Presbyterian, did not seem satisfied with this
explanation, but Mrs. Pearl told her not to let the question trouble
her, for if she would do the best she could with what she knew, in due
time the solution would come to her.
"In the night it came. After she retired, the question kept pressing
upon her so that she could not sleep.
"About two o'clock it seemed as though a great flood of light came, and
with it the clearance of the whole problem. The texts on that theme
became illumined as it were, and she could see how impossible it is for
the spirit to suffer or be punished when it is like God who can not
'behold evil.' She came over this morning and told me about it. I will
give you her explanation of Matt. xxv: 31, 32. 'When the Son of man
shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he
sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all
nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the goats.'
"The Son of man, consciousness of Truth, shall come (be developed) with
all glorious thoughts (angels) and judge us in all our ways (nations)
and shall discriminate between the false and the true, the evil and the
good, then the good motives or good thoughts (sheep) shall coalesce or
be set on the right hand with Truth, and the evil or erroneous beliefs
(goats) shall be relegated to the left, the negative or no-side, and
swallowed up in their native darkness which is nothingness.
"This is the key to the rest of the chapter, and it is in the same line
with Mrs. Pearl's explanation, but Mrs. McClaren is delighted that it
came to _her_. Now she feels as though a mountain had been lifted from
her heart, so great has been her fear that Christian Healing would make
her disbelieve in eternal punishment, which she had learned was an
incontrovertible doctrine. Now she realizes that nothing but Truth
itself is being revealed to her, and it seems that her heart will burst
for joy. This may seem extravagant, but it is just what she said, and
after all, you are used to enthusiasm since your wife is an enthusiast.
"Is it not wonderful? I ask myself over and over, and echo answers
'wonderful'! But oh, how ignorant we ever will be, unless we stop and
wait for the spirit to tell us what is true! It is ignorance and
foolishness that we have to contend with as much as anything else, for
it is one of the thickest clouds that hide knowledge. Until we have
learned to turn to the hidden fountain of wisdom, we are helplessly
bound to error's ways.
"Even after we go forth from a class, and feel that we have been
baptized with the spirit, we are afraid we will not be wise enough to
answer the world's questionings of our faith, are afraid we may not know
just how to proceed with a certain problem, afraid we will be too weak
to do the things that come to us to be done.
"'Oh ye of little faith,' says the rebuking Christ within us--'why doubt
your knowledge, when God is your wisdom? Why doubt your intelligence,
when God is your intelligence? Why doubt your strength, when God is your
strength?'
"As we realize there is but one Mind, and that it is omnipotent,
omniscient and omnipresent, the influence of all other thoughts will
fade quite away. It is because we recognize the carnal mind whose
thoughts are frivolous, vain, wretched or miserable, that we are
unsettled and dissatisfied. There can be no foundation, no sense of
security, to the one who is continually listening to other than the
Good.
"Know all wisdom through the universal Mind, and whoever draws his
knowledge by inspiration from this source shall become as one with you,
and we all shall be as one with the supreme Mind.
"There is an indelible but invisible stamp of truth marking the
utterance of those through whom this Mind is expressed, and the
invisible something within us, sometimes called the 'Spirit itself,'
sometimes the 'light that lighteth every man that cometh into the
world,' will recognize and appropriate its own. If we keep this judgment
faculty unbiased, it will lead us to choose the books we read and teach
us how to separate the wheat from the chaff. It is best to read the
thoughts of one writer until we understand the root, branch and growth
of his inspiration. It is not well to go from one author to another
while we are young in the thought, any more than it would be well to
take a music lesson from a different teacher every week.
"We must remember that 'he that doeth the will shall know of the
doctrine,' and to start out with the Divine will as our guide, as we do
when we say, 'God works through me to will and to do,' is to grow in
knowledge of all that pertains to the doctrine of the blessed truth that
sets us free.
"Never talk of failures, or be discouraged by them, because many times
the discouraging outlook is but the prelude to a bounteous harvest. Work
with an undaunted faith in the mighty Invisible, knowing that you serve
the only Power, are governed by the one Principle, Infinite Justice,
that ever rewards according to service. Doing your best, the Best
rewards you.
"Under all circumstances we declare our unfailing wisdom because we ask
of the Good. We can not foolishly be led away because judgment to do is
always with us.
"This is the fifth stage in the patient's progress, and we treat him for
ignorance and foolishness as possibly reflected from the five different
sources. Deny that he can be ignorant of the truth, or foolish in
believing error. Affirm all strength and courage and steadfastness. He
comes to-day with an uncertain ring in his voice. He is undecided as to
what to do; is weak and nerveless; can not tell whether he is better or
worse. The treatment for strength and courage will bring him back to
Truth, and he will brighten and revive under the warm influence of your
sunny faith.
"One more lesson! I shall be glad, yet sorry, when it is over. Oh, what
an experience this has been! Surely, I shall never be such a weak,
impatient woman again. Thank God! Now I know what there is for me in
this beautiful world.
"Good bye,
"MARION."
CHAPTER XXXV.
"Build on resolve, and not upon regret,
The structure of thy future. Do not grope
Among the shadows of old sins, but let
Thine own soul's light shine on the path of hope,
And dissipate the darkness. Waste no tears
Upon the blotted record of lost years,
But turn the leaf, and smile, oh smile to see
The fair, white pages that remain for thee."
--_Ella Wheeler Wilcox._
"MARLOW, October ----.
"I suppose this is the last letter I will write on the lessons in
Christian Healing, but I will be faithful as ever, even though I tell it
all over again when I see you.
"Everybody looked regretful enough when they went into the class room
to-day, but a hundred fold more so when we went out and the good-byes
were said. It means so much to us all. We have passed through twelve
lessons which may symbolize twelve epochs or stages through which we
proceed from ignorance to understanding, and understanding to complete
demonstration.
"We have been together scarcely three weeks, and yet so much has been
uncovered that we stand face to face with our real selves. All that was
conventional has been laid aside in our intercourse, and the best and
sweetest and most sacred phases of our lives laid bare, so that we have
had a clear glimpse of God's children as they are, not as they usually
appear; and indeed it gives us better courage and stronger faith to go
forth into the world again, knowing that the possibilities of one are
the possibilities of all, for 'God is no respecter of persons.'
"I know, perhaps better than some of the rest, that we shall be walking
in the valleys many times when our eyes are on the sun-crowned heights,
but if we can be patient and earnest, our feet shall reach the fertile
slopes and sunny grass lands of well attained effort. My experience of
the past shall be only a stronger incentive to perseverance in the
future, and while it seems human to fall, it is divine to rise, and
knowing the divine privilege of proving divinity, I trust God to work
through me in my daily effort. So said we all when we left the class
room to-day, and with a holy consecration to our new-born faith, we
trust we shall ever grow in grace and wisdom as God's children,
according to the promise.
"Mrs. Pearl spoke of our method as the science of silence, and told us
not to be zealous without judgment, not to speak when silence would be
golden, not to act so as to bring reproach upon our cause or ourselves,
but remember to 'avoid even the appearance of evil.' She said many in
their first joyous enthusiasm and overwhelming conviction would
indiscreetly tell people 'there is no matter,' for instance, so eager
were they to bring everybody into the sweet liberty of the spirit; but
the world not being ready to properly consider the subject, would of
course ridicule and argue hotly against such a statement, so that false
opinions would spring up and most absurd practices and claims be
attributed to Christian Healing.
"Our system should have a dignified place in the world's opinion, and if
we want to help give it that place, we should aim to be living
representatives of the principles, maintain a dignified attitude
regarding it, and if we can answer any questions pertaining to it, let
our answer and manners be ennobling and Christ-like.
"We never argue audibly with unbelievers. Argument kills the spirit of
any religion, and the person who desires to prove his position by
argument is not ready to be convinced by the spirit. If you are obliged
to carry on a conversation with an argumentative person, silently deny
all his statements of error, and with calm positiveness affirm for him
intelligence, wisdom, and a desire to know truth. In other words,
recognize his spiritual self, which is in perfect peace and harmony, and
the outward disturbance or inharmony, which is simply nothingness
expressed by him, is annulled. Possibly you may seem obliged to submit
and listen to him. Never mind. Carry on your silent thoughts
scientifically, and constantly think truth. Thus you will plant a seed
that shall bring forth beauteous blossoms, excellent fruit.
"Whenever you hear error talked, deny it. This is 'shutting your ears
from hearing of blood, and your eyes from seeing evil.' _Any_ error must
be denied in order to see the proof of its opposite truth.
"If everybody would learn to deny all the slander or gossip they hear,
we should soon have a new social world. Cruel tongues would cease their
wagging, timid hearts could breathe again, and fair names bloom in every
home.
"This would be the beginning of a much needed reform in the daily press.
Poor editors, they are obliged to fill orders, like the cooks and
waiters serving the gentlemen and ladies in the elegant dining-room,
ladies' _ordinary_ and ground-floor _café_. Alas! that the discovery
should not be made by everybody, so they could send in different orders.
How gladly would the bill of fare be changed!
"But there is nothing more certain to change it, than the little leaven
of truth dropped in the highways and byways of daily life. We must 'be
diligent in season and out of season,' silently as a rule, but at times
audibly, perchance forcibly, for some minds seem so dull and sluggish as
to need a startling thunder-clap to awaken them from their slumber of
ignorance. Thus some patients that come to be healed must be told
sharply and definitely how to think or what to say, for sometimes it is
necessary to make them say their own word of healing, they are so
completely absorbed in material beliefs.
"We grow more in wisdom and spiritual judgment as we proceed faithfully
along our way of scientific thought and living, and thus have an
unerring insight into what we shall do and say in order to give to each
the healing gospel.
"When we go to church we ought to acknowledge and emphasize every true
statement made by the clergyman with our silent affirmation, and as
emphatically deny every erroneous statement, that we may turn the tide
of Truth into a broad stream of spiritual uplifting for the whole
congregation.
"Should the minister be inclined to speak about the awfulness and power
of God's wrath and punishment, we can silently assure him that God is a
God of love, not wrath, and tell him he desires to present only the
_true_ side of religion. Some people might say this would be wrong, to
dictate to any one how they should talk, but you will notice that it is
not dictation of action, but rather recognition of motive--the true
motive of the true self. We have a right to recognize the highest and
best of every person. Indeed, we are going directly opposite God's
commands if we acknowledge any but the good creation, which is the
spiritual.
"What can the spirit, which is perfect, made in God's image and
likeness, have to say of God's anger or punishment, when it knows
neither, inasmuch as it is pure as the Father in heaven? 'Shall not the
judge of all the earth do right?'
"Not only in the social circle and in the church, but in all kinds of
work, in all affairs of business, and above all, in the home, must we
thus live up to our principles which soon prove our sublimest theory by
our sublimest practice. And, blessed privilege, we do not need to
understand all, before we can begin to demonstrate our precious
religion.
"We need not worry about the burden of to-morrow and thus drop that of
to-day, but only carry that of to-day with the strength that is given
for the day. 'Consider the lilies of the field, _how they grow_;' daily
appropriating their portion of sunshine and air and dew, they unfold and
blossom, exhale their fragrance, display their matchless beauty, thus
fulfilling their appointed mission; so we may unfold and blossom into
rare excellence and strength of character. Refreshed by the dew of a
pure purpose, nourished by the sunlight of true thoughts, fed by the
all-abounding manna--the living word, we soon grow strong enough to
withstand driving tempest or boisterous gale.
"Mentally we are quickened, learning to discern the opposing force in
ourselves, and meeting it with the sharp sword of truth, lay it low at
once. But it requires practice to wield this spiritual weapon; it takes
judgment faculty to discover whence comes selfishness that exhausts and
weakens; whence comes the material or sensual thought that sickens and
wearies, or the jealousy that poisons and embitters the life-forces.
"Faithfully and diligently do we use the word of denial, that sets us
and our patients free from these subtle enemies; faithfully and
earnestly we affirm all truth and purity and goodness as our portion, as
our strength, our refuge, and our defense.
"By the blessed law, when we have thus cleansed ourselves, we become at
one with the one Life. We intuitively draw to ourselves the best quality
of friendship and give forth the best; we seek the most uplifting and
spiritual literature, because it gives us a fresh baptism of spiritual
light, which in turn we give to others, so there is a continual
receiving and giving, a continual blessing and being blessed.
"'Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends,' said the Master
before his departure. Now 'the servant abideth not in the house forever,
but the son abideth forever.' We came as servants to be taught. While in
our ignorance, we were the servants or inferiors; knowing the Truth we
became free, and henceforth are brothers, sisters, 'heirs of God and
joint heirs with Christ.' We now claim our inheritance, the privilege to
enter into the kingdom and possess the land, our royal birthright. In
this kingdom are 'hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.'
"The patient who comes to us must on this day be told of the royal gift
of health, and we may say: 'Now are ye clean through the word I have
spoken unto you.' He, too, must now become the friend, and need no
longer be the servant. When he first came to us he was like a little
child that had lost his way. We could not show him the way to the velvet
slopes of health without taking hold of his hand and leading him through
the thickets and underbrush in which he was lost. So we graciously
reached down to him, by talking of things with which he was familiar, of
animal passions, of selfishness, of sin. We gently and kindly showed him
they were not the true, proved to him that his belief in them had led
him off the right path, and talked to him of brighter, better, truer
thoughts that led to smiling skies of hope, to balmy airs of peace.
"Each day we assured him of his true inheritance, and now we confidently
assert that he is in full possession of it. Now he is ready to believe
the affirmation without the denial, because he is convinced that the
affirmations are true, and he comes to us this day with clear, clean
eyes, and a child-like joy in his recovered health. We give him the
final word, the benediction, the binding assurance of his birthright.
"Realizing as we must ourselves the wondrous truth concerning his real
self and all which that implies, we impressively and with the most
thrilling conviction affirm for him that only health, strength, joy,
courage, peace, satisfaction, can come to him as the child of God, the
idea of Mind _in_ the power of the Thought that thinks him into being.
We assure him that he can recognize and reflect nothing but Good, that
he can manifest only the Father whose son he knows himself to be.
Nothing but Mind can affect him. He is like a column of light against
which no darkness can be thrown; like a true answer to a problem which
any number of wrong answers can not change. Spiritual like God, he can
only recognize and appropriate what is God-like. Henceforth he knows
himself and his Father, knows that whatever he may ask (realize) will be
granted unto him. Knows that he must acknowledge the Truth, and he will
abide in the kingdom of Good.
"We send him forth with all the blessings he can desire, because we have
realized for him the possession of those blessings. Knowing that God is
all there is, and that our patient lives, is moved and has his being in
God, we point with unerring finger to the sunny uplands of health. He
can never more relapse as he will ever walk in the open fields of Truth.
We bid him God speed on his journey, and thank God that he has come
into the consciousness of life everlasting, into health and joy without
measure. So be it forever more.
"The thought of perfection should be held steadfastly, even though the
patient do not manifest health at once. No matter if the cure is not
effected in one, two, three weeks, or even as many months, hold fast,
with unwavering faith (even if you do not give regular treatments all
the time, and it may be well to skip a week or so occasionally),
_knowing_ that good seed _must_ bring forth good fruit; when, where or
how, you nor no other may know. Time is unthinkable with God. We are
dealing with Principle, not time. We plant the seed, 'God giveth the
increase.'
"Do the best you know, and work out your own problems. No one else can
do that for you. Jesus gave us the key, showed us the way; more than
that he could not do. We must live our lives and maintain our place by
our own efforts. It is 'he that overcometh' who receives the supreme
gift of eternal life."
CHAPTER XXXVI.
"May I reach
That purest heaven,--be to other souls
The cup of strength in some great agony,
Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love,
Beget the smiles that have no cruelty,
Be the sweet presence of a good diffused,
And in diffusion ever more intense--
So shall I join the choir invisible,
Whose music is the gladness of the world."
--_George Eliot._
"Mrs. Hayden's was a joyous home-coming. No sooner was the first
rapturous welcome from children and husband received, than in came Grace
and Kate, who, in their eagerness to see her, had scarcely been able to
let her have the first half hour to her family.
"I think you will have to include us in your family, Mrs. Hayden, for we
could not resist the family welcome, said Grace, smiling with happiness,
as she grasped Mrs. Hayden's hand and drew Kate close beside her with
the other.
"You _are_ included my dears. There is but one family you know," was the
cordial reply grasping the hand of each.
"What a change in you, Grace--Kate--why, I should hardly know you,"
exclaimed Mrs. Hayden, after the first excitement was over.
"Grace has lost the cloud of perplexity and doubt, and Kate the
expression of fear," she added, turning to Mr. Hayden with a pleased
surprise.
"Didn't I tell you they were both growing beautiful?" was his laughing
answer. "But girls," he added, "don't you notice something different in
Mrs. Hayden? That is quite wonderful, I think."
"Really, Mrs. Hayden," exclaimed Grace, with wonder, "you are not nearly
so fleshy are you? I can hardly define the change, if that is not it,
but I noticed something the moment I saw you."
"I have lost something in weight since I left home," she replied,
somewhat amused at their looks of astonishment.
"Your figure is so much better proportioned, too," continued Grace.
"And your complexion clearer," added Kate.
"Do tell us what it all means. You certainly look better than I ever saw
you," said Grace again.
"I am quite thankful she came home before all resemblance to my wife was
lost," said Mr. Hayden, with a hearty laugh, as he looked at each in
turn.
"Well, be serious now, and I will tell you something after I have put
the children to bed," said Mrs. Hayden, cuddling the sleepy Jem in her
arms. Fred and Mabel stood beside her, frequently interrupting the
conversation, for they, too, wanted to share the good time with mamma.
When Mrs. Hayden returned, she resumed.
"It may seem strange to you as it did to me at first, but I see it
clearly now, that desiring, searching and living for right, brings the
body into harmonious expression. If we think truth, we see it expressed
in harmony, beauty, symmetry, because the external is the expression of
the internal."
"It was particularly by the denial of matter that I lost the superfluous
flesh, for since I was too fleshy to be of symmetrical form, it was
superfluous and----"
"Did you know the denial of matter would have such an effect?"
interrupted Kate.
"No, not till I heard some of the rest of the class speaking of it, and
then I could hardly believe it, but after I understood the theory
better, of course it seemed more reasonable."
"It is both wonderful and reasonable too, I think. Why didn't you write
something about it?" asked Kate again.
"Oh, there are many things that can be told better than written."
"And many things that can be thought better than told," added Grace,
thoughtfully.
"Another lady in the class had about the same experience," said Mrs.
Hayden.
"But tell us the scientific reason for such an effect?" continued Grace.
"I will, as well as I can. Have you noticed that it is people who are
materially minded in their tastes and habits that are apt to be fleshy?"
"That depends upon what you would call materially minded," was Grace's
smiling reply.
"I mean those who like what the world calls the good things of
life--those who think a great deal of material pleasures or
environments, and find it comparatively difficult to think or realize
spiritual things."
"Oh!----yes, I believe that is true, although I have never thought of
it," said Grace, slowly.
"Because the denial of matter makes all these things secondary, the
effect of the new thought is to make the body more spiritual."
"Of course! Why could we not see it before?" was Kate's conclusive
query.
"What effect then, has this denial on lean people?" asked Mr. Hayden,
more seriously, for until now he had been inclined to regard this as a
little 'far fetched,' as he would have expressed it.
"It does not effect them like the denial of evil, because material
things are not so important to them, while they are apt to be pining and
fretting about the evils and ills in the world, either as touching
themselves or humanity in general. Denying evil and evil conditions
would then have the opposite effect, and cause them to gain flesh, or
grow into the expression of physical harmony to correspond with the
spiritual."
"This is only a higher reading of what we have already learned, and it
is lovely to know we may go on indefinitely, ever reading something
new," said Grace.
"Now tell me something of what _you_ have all been doing?" said Mrs.
Hayden, as she looked at Grace.
"Oh, Kate has been doing some wonderful treating among her pupils, and
the patients we took up, are all doing nicely."
"Grace is very modest. She doesn't say a word of how quickly she cured
me of neuralgia, or a horrible fit of the blues," supplemented Kate,
looking fondly at Grace, who had become dearer than ever since their
confidential talks.
"Mr. Hayden has a good report for himself and the children, too, though
I suppose you have heard from him," Grace remarked with a smile. He
looked rather pleased at her thoughtfulness, but said: "I would rather
hear more from Marion. Were there many cures in the class?"
"Several. Mrs. Dexter, the lady I mentioned in my letters as having been
a long while under the doctor's care, went home perfectly well, and Miss
Singleton also, of whom I wrote. A gentleman who had been in a previous
class told his experience. His right arm had been fractured in the army.
Orders were given that it should be amputated, but by the intervention
of a physician with whom he was acquainted, the arm was saved, though he
had never been able to use it much. At times it was very painful. It was
so weak he could scarcely lift a plate of bread to pass it at the table.
After a few lessons, that arm was just as well as the other. In his joy
he told everybody. When the doctors got hold of it, they laughed at him
saying if that arm was as large as the other in six months, they would
believe there was something in Christian Healing. In six weeks it was as
large and strong and sound as the other."
"That was remarkable," said Mr. Hayden, speaking for all. "Did you hear
anything about treating animals?" he added after a momentary silence.
"Oh, yes. We may think of an animal as the perfect expression of God's
thought, as manifesting the true Life, the same as human beings."
"After all," said Kate, "that is something we ought to expect, for are
we not promised dominion over all things?"
"Certainly, and we are not proving our right, till we prove the
dominion," answered Mrs. Hayden. "It is a beautiful thought to me, and
several of the class told of successful work in this line. One lady had
treated a frightened horse, and made him so gentle any one could drive
him. It is mostly fear that is reflected upon animals. They manifest
thought, even as humanity does."
"I have often noticed horses. They are apt to show the same disposition
as their masters. This explains it," said Mr. Hayden thoughtfully. "Why
didn't you write about all this?"
"I was afraid it would be too strong meat for you, for I could scarcely
realize it myself."
"It seems as though we have had so many wonderful suggestions it will
take a life time to understand them," remarked Kate.
"There is no end to the study of Infinity," was Mrs. Hayden's reply.
"How do you account for the _quick_ cures?" interposed Grace.
"It all depends upon how quickly one receives the consciousness of
Truth. That is the healing process. But there are not very many quick
cures, comparatively, though it is the quick cures we should aim for
and expect, for the cure is always in the degree of our realization of
the allness of God.
"Another of the older students told of some wonderful absent healing. A
lady that had been four years an invalid, and given up to die by five
physicians in the place, was healed in three weeks by absent treatment."
"Is that considered as effectual as present treatment?"
"There should be no difference, because we ought to realize that with
Truth there is no space nor time. All is the eternal _now_ and _here_.
Some prefer to give present treatment, especially in acute cases; with
others absent treatment seems more effectual."
"I am glad to hear that, for I feel that I can do better absently," said
Grace, with a look of relief.
"But tell me," questioned Kate, eagerly, "have all persons the same
gifts?"
"In the germ, yes; but all are not equally developed. We enter this
study in different stages of unfoldment. Some heal quickly, others
slowly; some teach naturally, while others find it more difficult,
especially at first. We develop the gift we desire to use by continually
claiming it and using it, and bye and bye we shall marvelously prove
that we have it. In Love we recognize no partiality, no time and no
place, and thus we can truly say all we desire is truly ours."
Grace laid her hand on that of Mrs. Hayden, saying:
"Words can never express our gratitude to you both for your extreme
kindness in allowing us to read your beautiful letters, Mrs. Hayden.
They have made life seem entirely different to us." She was deeply in
earnest, and her quivering lip spoke more than a volume of words.
"Grace speaks for us both," added Kate, huskily.
"Dear friends," replied Mrs. Hayden, much touched herself, "I am glad,
yes, more than glad, that you can speak so of my letters, of which the
greatest merit lies in their simple earnestness--." She ceased abruptly,
and for a few moments all were silent....
It was a silence too full for words. A door had opened--a morning dawned
for each of them. The mysterious future verged into the mighty present.
All that was grand and noble and tender filled the measure of their
aspirations. The world surely might enter into their joy, for their joy
surely entered into the world.
Mrs. Hayden broke the silence, saying:
"'Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it
shall be opened unto you.' Many years have I asked and sought for the
kingdom of heaven, but never till now have I found the right knock."
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Love is the high consummation and fulfillment of all Law. It casts
out fear, discord and imperfection. To minister is God-like,
Christ-like. * * * * The law of love reaches down, rules, and
overcomes adverse laws which are below itself.--_Henry Wood._
Outside, deepening twilight of a midwinter's day: inside, a bright grate
fire, soft curtains, beautiful rugs and simple but elegant adornings for
mantel and wall in this lovely room of a lovely home.
The only occupant is a young woman--young because of the real life of
which she so vividly and strongly expresses a consciousness, the only
life after all to be expressed, and which, rightly appropriated will and
must forever be clothed with the freshness and vigor of youth. The young
woman is Grace Hall Carrington.
She sits before the glowing embers in an expectant attitude. She is
evidently waiting for some one, and as she waits, her mind seems full of
pleasant musing. The three years that have passed since we saw her have
ripened her character. We can see that. The unrest and longing which
pervaded her whole being in the old days are gone. A poise and calmness
of spirit have taken their place. Even her attitude as she sits there
with the shadows flickering over her, is full of a suggestive alertness
that expresses an awakened life. The forces that had slumbered so long
in her being are fully alive to their duty and their privilege. Yes,
Grace Carrington is awake, and happy as a wife and woman should be. She
is thinking even now of the richness of effort and opportunity that
have been hers in these last years. She had been particularly fortunate
in her marriage. Few women have as much to be thankful for as she has in
this respect, but then, she waited to find her true womanhood before she
found a husband. Perhaps that had something to do with it. At any rate
she is satisfied that she waited.
The door bell rings. A moment later she is greeting two visitors. Who
but the friends we knew in the old days--Kate Turner and Mrs. Hayden?
"I really expected you sooner, Mrs. Hayden; Kate is more uncertain. One
never knows when to look for her; but never mind, we are together again,
so come up to the fire and let us get settled for the evening." And
Grace hastened to make her friends comfortable.
"Oh but it is nice to get home occasionally," cried Kate with a shrug of
pleasure as she looked around the beautiful room and then at the smiling
hostess.
"I only wish you would come oftener Kathie. It seems like the old days
to have you here," replied Grace with a loving pat.
"I suspect Kate has a bit of news for us," remarked Mrs. Hayden, as she
sat down near the fire.
"Indeed," exclaimed Grace, lifting her eyebrows, and tightening her hold
of her friend's hand. "And is the momentous question decided, dearie?
"Yes, and I am to report for duty next week," was the reply.
"Good for you, Kathie. I always knew the Truth would make your music
heard, and as Professor Beal's assistant it will be heard a long way and
to good advantage."
"She is reaping the reward of her trust in the Law," said Mrs. Hayden.
"That is the only thing that will make the working sure."
"Well Kate, you have trusted surely, and to think what a proof this is!"
"How you talk Grace! One might think you had never proven it at all, or
that your work didn't bear witness to your own trust," reproved Mrs.
Hayden, smiling.
"Oh well, girls, my work has been of the silent order altogether, or
rather it has consisted more of silence than work. There's no telling
how it will show up," was the blushing response.
It had been a standing joke with the three as to how Grace managed her
"liege lord," inasmuch as he had never been quite won over to the
Healing, protesting that he had no time for such things, persisting in a
good-natured skepticism, although strangely enough he believed a great
many things when they were presented without the name of "Healing"
attached to them.
"Perhaps that very silence is the secret of its showing, for I assure
you it shows," resumed the elder friend, who still seemed to the other
two, the incarnation of all that was noble and wise.
"Do tell us the way you manage anyway, Grace," begged Kate, with special
reasons for inquiring.
"Why my dear, there's nothing to tell unless it be that a bland silence
is a good thing to cultivate. There's no use in making so much of a
bugbear of these people who seem to oppose, and the best way to lead
them into the green pastures is to let them nibble along the outside
until they want to jump the fence and get over in spite of you. Now
Leon is really quite hungry to know some things, especially about the
practical application of thought to business, but he knows just where
and how to find what he wants, so I let him take his own time and his
own way."
"Which will end, of course, in his wanting to know all, providing you
have the patience to wait", laughed Kate.
"That is a foregone conclusion. I _can_ wait, and I will," said Grace.
"Besides," she continued more soberly, "I must consider Leon's rights.
He should not be forced to a conclusion simply because I hold it. A
hot-bed growth, produced by whatever means, will not bear the hardy,
healthy bloom of a natural development. He may be slow but he must be
true."
"There Grace, you have touched the keynote," exclaimed Mrs. Hayden
warmly. "It is freedom people need, freedom to think and act the
highest, for everybody has a highest."
"Yes, if they can only keep the channels open for the inspiration of the
highest to come to them or work through them," remarked Kate with a
gesture of doubt.
"What better way is there to give freedom or open the channel, than to
destroy prejudice, put away antagonism and--"
"Either in yourself or others," interposed Grace, "for to hold prejudice
or to believe in evil is always an obstruction."
"After all, it all hinges upon the non-resistance of evil," said Kate.
"Yes, one of the first laws of the beautiful Christlife, and yet one of
the very last to be practiced in my experience. I tell you girls, it is
the lesson of non-resistance we most need." Mrs. Hayden spoke earnestly
as she always did, and her words carried weight.
"Go on, Mrs. Hayden. If I'm asleep anywhere, I wish you would wake me
up," cried Kate, drawing the hassock upon which she sat, close up to the
elder lady, and putting one hand in her friend's lap, as she waited
expectantly for the answer.
"Well dear, I'm only talking on general principles, and what I have
discovered in myself--"
"Please tell us what you have found Mrs. Hayden," said Grace. "We need
all the light we can get, and no matter how it may cut, we won't shrink
will we, Kathie?" with a loving glance at the latter.
"No, we'll only know and be glad that the hot blaze of truth is melting
some more of the dark spots in our range of vision," returned Kate.
"It is only this," began Mrs. Hayden, modestly. "I have been looking my
theory and practice squarely in the face lately, and I find them in many
things quite widely separated. For instance, I have been saying for
three years that there is no evil, while in many cases my actions have
carried the very opposite idea, and--"
"Why, what do you mean, Mrs. Hayden?" cried Kate in astonishment, "who
has been more faithful, who more loving, and who more successful in
proving the unreality of sickness and evil?"
"For one thing then, I have never put away the tendency to pronounce
judgments on people or things, and I must get beyond that before I
prove that I mean what I say, when I say there is no reality in evil."
"But surely we can't help seeing the negative side of things," was
Kate's remonstrance.
"No, but we _can_ help making it positive, and we can avoid fighting
against it if we only stick to our first statement that there is but one
Law."
"I see what you mean," said Grace quietly. "You mean that we must hold
so perfectly to the allness of Good, that no shadow of ignorance can
ever darken our vision or our consciousness."
"Yes, indeed, we all see that that is the ultimate," interposed Kate
with some warmth, "but when and how are we to reach it?"
"In the first place we must know that the ultimate is always in the Now,
and that by holding to our highest statements with that thought, we can
rest in the consciousness of the allness of Good as Grace has expressed
it. With that consciousness there is no judgment and no resistance."
Kate still looked mystified, "Please make it a little plainer," she
begged.
"Well, last summer when I was called to treat Mrs. Hart's child, as you
know, the father knew little or nothing of the Science, and when he
insisted on having a physician what did I do? Instead of calmly
realizing that all the medicine in the world could not hurt Truth, and
dealing with his ignorance as I would with his fear, I felt that it
would be a terrible thing to countenance such disloyalty, and so
withdrew from treating the case, forgetting that the father's ignorance
could not be called disloyalty; forgetting that my faithfulness to
principle would be the same regardless of any and all ignorance. In fact
my action belied my words that there is no reality in evil."
"But--why, what else could you do?" asked Kate with a puzzled frown.
"I could, or at least I ought to be able to maintain my faith and my
consciousness of Good just the same under those, as other circumstances,
and so make no resistance."
"Oh yes, I see what you mean," exclaimed Grace suddenly. "You mean that
we make _something_ of what we declare as nothing?"
"Exactly, Grace. We resist it by thinking it something antagonistic to
Truth, whereas we should remember our first statement that there is but
one Power. It is the One that heals in every instance. We know that. Why
should we stop to combat what other people think or do not think?"
"There! Now I understand you," ejaculated Kate with a brightening face.
"It is the One only which acts under all disguises, and--but what would
you have us do?" suddenly falling into doubt again. As of old Kate was
ever the questioner.
"Dear, I am not talking of persons or laying down rules of action for
anybody, but I am giving you my idea of the non-resistance of evil. The
question with me is, am I 'about my Father's business.' If I accuse
someone of being unfaithful, or if I criticise any methods, means or
persons, I still believe in something besides the Good. Even if I
accuse myself in any way no matter how slight the fault, I am
recognizing that which I have declared does not and never did exist. You
see what I mean. There is no use to multiply examples."
"Oh yes, I see, but can I live up to it? That is the all important
question," was the dreamily earnest reply.
"As for that I might say the same, but we are not to look at that side
of the question. A safe and I think the very best guide to right living,
is to measure every act by the standard of love. Would love prompt this
or that thought, or decision or action? It is very easy to decide."
A thoughtful silence fell upon the group. The evening shadows grew
deeper outside. The firelight cast long crimson shafts of light into the
corners, and flickered fitfully over the faces and forms before the
grate.
"I have been learning a lesson too." It was Kate who broke the silence.
Her voice was reverential. Her eyes were bright with an inner light. "I
have been holding strongly to the name--the name of Jesus Christ--and
realizing what it means, and it has helped me more than anything."
"What does it mean, Kate? That is something which is still a little
tainted with the old superstitious worship of a personality," said
Grace.
"Beware, Grace; that is criticism. Put it away until you know," warned
Mrs. Hayden.
"Thank you. Tell me every time," returned Grace humbly.
"Indeed, this contemplation of the name takes one farther from
personality or the recognition of mere person than anything else," Kate
went on earnestly. "Jesus Christ means God or Truth manifest. Holding
the words with that thought, all sense of person, limitation, or time,
disappears. Wisdom and power come to fill your consciousness, until the
Christ life seems not only a possibility but a real demonstration." Kate
paused. Perhaps she had said too much!
But there was no mistaking the vibration of a sympathetic thought, even
if the pressure of friendly hands had not reassured her.
"It is wonderful how many ways there are of attaining the same end,"
mused Grace. "Now I can gain the same state of mind Kate speaks of, by
holding to the idea of Law. To me everything is embodied in that,
although of course, any great word understood as to its real meaning is
an all-inclusive term. But we cannot always live in an ecstasy."
"We should not if we could," said Mrs. Hayden. "We must get beyond that
if we ever attain the mental poise that will carry us through
everything."
"But I am so weak," murmured Kate. "How shall I ever--"
"There, child, you are doing the very thing that will keep you from
growing strong. What right have you to pass judgment on Katherine Turner
anymore than on anyone else?" said Mrs. Hayden almost sternly; then
suddenly softening her tone she added, "Dear heart, we must not let self
judgment or self condemnation creep in upon us to leave their blight of
discouragement or failure. No, the only way is to keep our eyes fixed on
the mark of the high calling, resisting nothing, carrying on our lips,
success, in our hearts love, in our lives truth. By the outer we judge
nothing: by the inner we know all. Personally, that is, physically we
are only a part of all external limitation. Individually, that is,
spiritually, we are the potentiality of Infinity itself."
"And that means the possibility of true living, which is positively
necessary to perfect demonstration," added Grace.
"Yes, perfect demonstration in oneself or in others," said Mrs. Hayden
emphatically. "In fact the first, last, and only consideration is or
should be true living, or the ability _to be lived_."
"That is what it amounts to, after all," accorded Grace, "for what is
true living but the setting aside of self, so that the great, infinite
Life may be established in our action, as a manifest reality?"
Kate rose softly, and went to the piano. Then spoke the mighty Voice
through Music, and through that wondrous harmony a consciousness of the
perfect Life, with all its power and presence, burst upon these three
who were no longer three but One. For that moment they knew and lived
only as the One, and in that moment the world received a baptism of
blessed, healing tenderness.
* * * * *
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