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diff --git a/24177-8.txt b/24177-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..14ab195 --- /dev/null +++ b/24177-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9694 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Right Knock, by Helen Van-Anderson + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Right Knock + A Story + + +Author: Helen Van-Anderson + + + +Release Date: January 5, 2008 [eBook #24177] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RIGHT KNOCK*** + + +E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +_Price, $2.00._ + +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. + + + + * * * * * + + + +THE MYSTIC SUCCESS CLUB + +was founded to carry on and extend the Teachings and Ministry of _Our +Magazine_. One supplements the other. 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