_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 LiveWoman, " 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-AndersonAll rights reserved

THE RIGHT KNOCK

Copyright, 1903, byThe New York Magazineof MysteriesAll 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 metaphysicalthought, there has never yet been a metaphysical story setting forth apicture of every-day life, in its search for, and attainment ofsatisfaction through the knowledge of Christ Philosophy. 

Knowing the pressing need of such a book among the many inquirers andstudents 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 offiction. Every case of healing, every seemingly marvelous experience hascome under the observation of the writer and can be authenticated as averitable fact. 

That there are hundreds, yea, thousands to-day, who leave their homesand go to distant cities for the sake of pursuing the study of ChristPhilosophy, or receiving the benefit of its healing ministry, is proofenough that the story of one woman's experience will be interesting andhelpful to all. 

While the lessons contained in Mrs. Hayden's letters are not exhaustive, they are valuable for their very simplicity, and are thoroughlypractical, complete instructions for the beginning and continuance ofthe study of this wonderful truth. 

With every lesson supplemented by personal experiences, the reader seesnot only the theory but the practice demonstrated, and in this simplestory 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 reachother hearts. " "The Right Knock" is presented with no other apology thanthis: 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 saya few more words about THE RIGHT KNOCK. 

After all these years of work along the lines laid out in the book andwith a wide knowledge of prevailing systems of mental training, theauthor is happy to be able to say with unbounded confidence that thereis nothing to excel this system for beginners, for those desiring to laya lasting foundation. The emphasis laid upon the necessity forpersistent, regular and systematic practice of word speaking by audiblerepetition, is great, but none too great. For the faithful student thisnever fails to bring results, never fails to put him in the way ofunderstanding and demonstration. With regular practice and constantapplication in the daily life, with good judgment as to the details ofpractice, length of time at one exercise, etc. , the pupil is assured inone way or another certain convincing experiences which developindividuality and, with that, his God-like gifts. Thousands have proventhis. 

The unnumbered letters of gratitude, the kind words, the warmhand-clasps, the many testimonials of sick beds forsaken, depressedspirits revived, vices discontinued, of physical and moral strengthregained, prove that the work of the Spirit is not to be measured bypuny human standards of judgment, prove that simple things--the thingsfrom which we expect the least, in which we put the least ambition orworldly desire may be those which will yield the "hundred fold" of realblessing. 

The test of any spiritual truth lies in its demonstration and in theinspiration and faithfulness with which it can be lived. Be true to thetruth and you will demonstrate it. Live the Christ life and the workswill follow; yet seek truth for its own sake, not for its power. 

A word about Christian Science. Sometimes persons aver of THE RIGHTKNOCK that it teaches Christian Science pure and simple. With all duerespect 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 aswell as herself, that this is not true. 

There are undoubtedly many similar statements, yet there are manydifferences which the careful reader will discover. Please note, forexample, that not matter itself, but matter as the real substance orpower, 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, placeand condition for _everything_, and that the discrimination of the planeon which a thing or condition exists, is the key to placing it in theright relation to the whole. 

In conclusion, the author would say most earnestly, study one writer orteacher at one time, just as you would study music of one instructor atone time. It is not the many books but _the Book within_ which is toreveal all things. 

 God speed you. 

 HELEN VAN-ANDERSON. 

THE RIGHT KNOCK is now in its THIRTEENTH edition, a fact which speaksfor the _great helpfulness_ of the book, and proclaims without furthercomment 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 theverandahs were gorgeous with the gayest Chinese lanterns, and every bushand tree in the lawn did duty as chandelier. Flowers, too, festoonedevery arch and embowered every corner, while rare vases fulfilled theiresteemed privilege of holding and showing fragrant blossoms. 

Everybody declared the decorations superb, and agreed that no one butMrs. Hayden could display such exquisite taste and such perfect judgmentin selection and arrangement. Animated groups of gayly attired guestssauntered up and down the rose-bowered walks, or promenaded theverandahs, while sounds of music and merriment from the house proclaimedthe joy that reigned throughout. 

"Oh, how beautifully Mrs. Hayden entertains!" remarked Kate Turner toher friend Grace Hall, as they stopped beside a marble fountain tosurvey the scene. "I wonder what place such a woman would take insociety without her wealth, " she continued. 

"Probably wouldn't have _any_ place, I am sorry to say, because thereare thousands of women just as capable and bright as Mrs. Hayden, yetbecause they have no social position, or rather no money to buythemselves one, they are unrecognized and alone, " said Grace, with atinge of bitterness in her tone. 

"I could never fancy Mrs. Hayden alone or unrecognized, although I onlyknow her as a society lady, and that mostly through Mrs. Nottingham. "

"There is no telling what a person really is till they have gone througha trial of some kind, or had something disagreeable to bear. _Then_ oneof two things happens: you will see either a saint or a sinner, and I amnot sure which Mrs. Hayden would be. She hasn't yet seen a flame fromthe fire of adversity, I'm sure. See how wonderfully she is blessed withthis beautiful home, a good husband and three nice children. "

"Oh! it must be lovely to have everything you want, " sighed Kate, underher breath. 

Poor Kate! She was alone in the world, making the best of life with hertalent 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 friendswithout troubling herself to cultivate in any warm fashion, thefriendship of a poor little music teacher, thought Kate, somewhatbitterly. 

"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 agreeablyemployed; every woman, no matter how much or how little she might have, should be occupied with something that she could put her heart into andspeak to the world through her work, whether it be painting pictures ordarning stockings. "

"Now Gracious, you are riding your hobby and you ought to see you can'tride with all these fine people in your path. Come down at once or I'lldesert you! Let's go in and hear that waltz, " and Kate laughingly pulledthe hobby-rider into the path that led to the conservatory where theycould listen to the music. 

"What a beautiful home Mrs. Hayden has!" said Mrs. Ferris to herneighbor with the severe collar and plain hair, as they examined theexquisite frescoing on the parlor ceiling. 

"Yes, but she ought to look into poor homes once in a while. She don'tuse her money in the right way. Just think of the good she might do forour church, if she would contribute to the charity fund, or take somepoor families to look after. "

The fat neck folded itself over the severe collar and the face settledinto rigid lines of judgment. Mrs. Dyke was a practical woman and talkedin a practical way. Being a wonderful church worker she naturallyconsidered it everybody's duty to give when they did not work for thecause of religion. She belonged to the First Methodist Church on HighSt. , and talked about "our church" as though there were no other. 

Mrs. Ferris was at a loss. She had said something that had not broughtforth a pleasant result. She merely wished to be sociable, and what moreconvenient topic than these beautiful surroundings? She was a meeklittle woman, who always wanted to say something agreeable or soothing, and she felt quite frightened at the mistake she had made. She wishedsomebody would come to the rescue, but there was no immediate prospect, and she scarcely knew how to proceed again, but ventured to ask if therewere many poor people who needed attention now. 

"Yes, indeed there are no less than fifteen families in the missionquarter nearest Mrs. Hayden who would consider it a privilege to pick upthe crumbs from her table, and I am afraid she'll have to give anaccount _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 husbandwho was seeking her. After she was gone, Mrs. Dyke looked grimly about, and not finding any one to listen, she relapsed into a meditativesilence. People always wondered what made Mrs. Dyke so popular that shereceived an invitation to every aristocratic party, but it was accordingto the old adage, "Where there is a will there is a way. "

This was a _gala_ night for Hampton. Such large social parties werealways an event, and no one refused an invitation to Mrs. Hayden's, forit always meant beautiful rooms, carpets, pictures and _bric-a-brac_, superb refreshments, and a splendid time generally. Mrs. Hayden was afavorite with the world because she fed the world with sugar plums, andafter smacking its lips it was always ready for more. And she usuallyhad one to drop in. To-night it was a remarkably sweet one. This was ageneral affair, and every big body and big body's cousins and friendswere there. To be sure they discussed their hostess as freely as thoughthey were not big bodies, but with rare exceptions the discussion wascomplimentary in the extreme. Mrs. Hayden, what she said, what she did, what she wore, what she served as refreshments the last time, what werethe probabilities next, her children, her husband, what they all did andsaid and how they acted, etc. , were always interesting themes. Sometimes, to be sure, there were adverse remarks like Mrs. Dyke's, butfew made them. 

Yes, Mrs. Hayden was decidedly popular, and although no one was everheard to tell of any particularly grand or noble deed she had done, shewas supposed to be doing good all the time. There were those who, inearlier years, would have pointed her out as an enthusiasticphilanthropist, eagerly helping whatever project needed her most, butgradually she had dropped it all, no one knew why, and now her principalwork was to shine in society, at least this was the general verdict ofthe adverse few who judged from the superficial standpoint of the world. Of her inner life they knew nothing as the world knows nothing of anyone's inner life. There may be depths or shallows in any character neverdreamed of by the most intimate friend, much less by the babbling world. 

Mrs. Hayden moved about among her guests with a stately grace. She hadalways a pleasant faculty of adjusting the broken links of conversation, supplying a _repartee_ or asking a question, introducing strangegentlemen and reviving timid _debutantes_ with a pretty compliment or agracious smile. 

"My dear, I wish you would play something, " she whispered to Miss Turneras she passed her, "I think the group in the drawing room need a littlechange;" and no wonder, for there was Mrs. Dyke in a hot dispute with aUnitarian over Robert Elsmere, while her pastor sat near, occasionallyadding something to Mrs. Dyke's emphatic remarks. 

"It's a most blasphemous piece of presumption to present such a pictureas 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 atthe beginning of his career. I could never forgive the author if shehadn't killed him, " she was saying in an angry voice. 

"We can take it simply as a symbol of the decay of his religion, andthat is comforting, " added the minister, complacently. 

"I am not at all in sympathy with the holy Catherine, with her prejudiceand bigotry. If it wasn't such a true picture of the many Catherines wefind in real life, I should be quite disgusted, but I do love to seereal people in novels, then I know so much better how to deal withthem, " said a pretty young lady who aspired to be called intellectualbecause she liked to study character. 

"Indeed, Catherine had a deep religious nature, which might be worthy ofemulation in many respects, and she is certainly a high ideal of wifelylove, " Mrs. Hayden interposed at this critical juncture. 

"Well, I didn't read the book for Catherine, but for the sake of knowingRobert and what he did to make such a stir in the world. I'm opposed tonovels, 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 toKate to play, and presently the rooms were filled with harmony. 

Kate Turner was a natural musician, and to-night she fairly excelledherself. The little passage at arms just recorded had inspired her withemotions that could only be expressed in music, and she played some timeto the continued delight of her listeners. She finished at last with asong that stirred every heart, and even Mrs. Dyke was visibly softened. "Verily 'music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, '" murmured theintellectual young lady, who was sorry that discussion of Robert Elsmerehad been interrupted. She rather enjoyed Mrs. Dyke, for she was animmensely interesting "character. "

This reception, like all others, came to an end at last. Everybodyexpressed themselves as highly delighted with their entertainment, andone by one reluctantly took their departure; the gay lanterns on thelawn and among the shrubbery went out, the lights inside the splendidmansion were finally extinguished, and only the quiet starlightillumined Terrace Hill. 

Mrs. Hayden, from her high bay window, looked out over the sleepingcity, then at the North Star that beamed so brightly above her--thatunerring beacon-light that guides so many lost mariners into port. Somedeep thought must have moved her, some hidden impulse stirred her mind. She sighed. There was no visible reason for it. Then she turned and wentdown the stairs to the nursery. Her two babies were sleeping sweetly. Mabel was asleep in her room, and all was quiet. The hush seemedoppressive after so much gay confusion. Now she was in another element. Now she was the mother, then she was a fashionable woman. She hastenedback to her room, once more gazed without and then thoughtfullyretired. 

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 previousevening, and as she saw the velvet lawn and terraced walks bordered withbright flowers, she half pitied herself because she was only a ploddingmusic teacher. She was not envious, but she had such longing aspirationsto be somebody in the world; she wanted so many things, needed so muchto complete her education, and starved herself in so many ways for thesake of completing it, that sometimes she grew discontented with herlot. Fortunately her moods did not last long, however, and especiallywhen she went home to her artist friend, Grace, with whom she sharedrooms. They were both making their own way in the world, and were agreat help to each other, as well as a great comfort. 

Kate was wondering what Mrs. Hayden did every day with her leisure. Sheshould think she would be tired always going to parties and lunches andoperas, or receiving calls. "But then, I am thankful to know her, " sheconcluded, casting a last glance at the stately mansion before turningthe corner. "After all, life might be worse for me, and I can be a happynobody if not a famous somebody, " she said to herself, as she ranupstairs, after stopping at the baker's for a loaf of bread and a pot ofjam. 

"Well, Gracious, what noble message have you given to the world throughyour work to-day?" she cried, a moment later, gaily peering into thestudio through the _portières_ that separated their parlor from the workroom. 

"Is that you, Kate? Well, I've been trying the whole afternoon to makethis Hebe look like a modern Hypatia, but----"

"In other words, " interrupted Kate, "you would change innocence intointellect. Now, look here, Grace, just leave this dainty girl alone. Shewould never do to serve the gods if you gave her the aspect and bearingof a goddess. Let her alone, or the world would not recognize her as arepresentative woman, " laughed Kate, inspecting the picture withcritical eyes. 

"Kate, stop laughing, and tell me truly if you think it would not do togive her a little more independence. "

"You know it's the worst thing in the world to give a woman even aninkling that such a thing exists, " said the mischievous Kate, with atotal abandonment to consequences as she gave the artist an impetuoushug. 

"Well, let us have tea, and we'll discuss the subject later, " saidGrace, somewhat mollified. 

"I am afraid, Gracious, you are something in the same mood I was when Istarted home to-night, but I concluded to let 'dull care' take care ofitself, and be merry while the sun shines, which means as long as wehave enough to pay our rent, and the prospect of a little more nextmonth, " continued Kate as she brought a tiny oil stove from the depthsof a closet and proceeded to "put the kettle on. "

"I have been so full of thoughts of the nineteenth century that I foundit 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 gowithout my message, " said Grace, a little gloomily, for above all thingsshe loved to put her own individuality into her pictures, which shegenerally did with rare success. 

"You mustn't have just one ideal of woman, or you'll lose the art ofpainting the sweetest phases of womanhood, " replied the busy housemaidfrom the sepulchral closet. 

"Oh! if I have such excellent models as you make in that checked apronand dusting cap, I can do nobly. "

Grace laughed good humoredly as she cleaned her palette and set Hebe inone corner. 

"Now, my dear, isn't there something I can do to help arrange thefeast?" 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 pourthe tea. "

A few minutes later they were _tête-à-tête_ at the little table, and asthey sat down Grace said with a comical smile: "Quite a differencebetween our banquet of last night and this, isn't there?"

"I should remark there is, but after all, Grace, I believe I am quitecontent. As I was passing along at the foot of the hill this evening amomentary dissatisfaction came over me that I couldn't have a fewadvantages _like_ Mrs. Hayden's, not hers of course, but similar ones, "with a smile at the distinction, "and then I wondered how she spends allher leisure, for of course she has the whole twenty-four hours at herdisposal, and--well, to be brief, I would not want to live without someobject 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 reallywho is there with whom we would care to exchange places? There are somany 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 belike her?" said Kate, with a merry twinkle in her eyes. 

"Oh, deliver me from that comparison! Why, she carries everybody's sinson her shoulders; I even heard she had taken Robert Elsmere to throw atthe world!" laughed Grace. 

"But not his wife; she didn't read about her. Wasn't it too funny tohear her go on last night, and the way she looked at the minister toemphasize her position?"

"Yes, but how many there are like her--read just enough to know thereare such and such characters and such and such incidents. Now of courseshe has heard the minister define Robert's crime, as he would call it Isuppose, so she thinks she can use the whole argument, " replied Grace, alittle 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 goodword for her, " said Kate, sipping her tea, thoughtfully. 

"Well, if she calls her an ideal of wifely love, I don't admire thereality, " exclaimed Grace, with more vigor than elegance, as she putdown her tea-cup. 

"I got positively impatient, " she continued, "when I read about hercruelty to Robert, judging him in that inquisitor's fashion. Poorfellow! _I_ think he died of a broken heart. "

"But, Grace, she did what she thought was her religious duty, and itmust have been hard for her to withdraw herself so completely when sheloved him so much, " said the more charitable Kate. 

"Do you call that love which would let him go tramping off alone, withnot even a word of sympathy, and so afraid that her religion would becontaminated she could not even hear him preach? I don't pretend to bereligious, but any religion stands on a poor foundation if it can beswept away by anybody's opinions. "

"It wasn't that; it was because she thought it was wrong to listen toheresy, as she supposed it was, and----"

"How did she know? Had she taken pains to find out? Did she study itcarefully and have a reason for her cruel judgment?" interrupted thewrathful Grace. 

"Well, she was conscientious and was doing what she had been taught wasright. "

"Kate, if there is anything that makes me out of patience with peopleit is when they hang all their actions on what somebody else says, andthat 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, themajority of religious people. "

Kate was naturally inclined to be charitable, and this, added to herearly training in a religious home, as well as her position as a churchmember, made her understand Catherine's position from a conscientiousstandpoint much more than Grace. She could readily appreciate the fixedlaw of conscience Catherine had made for herself by pledging her sacredword of honor to her father, whom she revered as an infallibleauthority, as most people revere the legends and doctrines of thechurch. 

"I admit that it is right to follow the dictates of one's ownconscience, but I believe in having an enlightened conscience, and areason for opinions. For that matter, so did Robert have a conscience, and while I don't understand his religion, I respect his honesty andeffort. There are a great many beautiful things in what he says, butthere must be a mistake somewhere in a religion that can not save to theuttermost, 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 theBible. The Christian religion is full of the most blessed promises ofsalvation in _everything_, " said Kate, gently, but flushing a little asshe spoke, for she disliked talking religion with Grace, who was soskeptical, although if compelled to do so, it was a matter of duty tostand up for her Christian principles. 

"Yes, I admit it gives many wonderful promises, but where are theyrealized? It seems to me the very fact that the church has not proventhem, made such people as Robert Elsmere doubt them even as possible offulfillment. "

"Why Grace, surely _you_ don't disbelieve in the power of God to fulfillthe 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 answerto her deepest needs and feelings, and to doubt that answer was nothingless than sacrilege, " said Kate, with a bright red spot on either cheek. 

"Well, " answered Grace, throwing down her napkin, "I want to see areligion that will stand infinite investigation without falling intoruins, and Robert reasoned himself away from the old beliefs and dogmasbecause he investigated them. He used his God-given reason, and I thinkthat is to be used as well as the blind, unquestioning faith ofCatherine. "

"There are times when we need faith and times when we need reason, butfaith 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 andreason--but this is idle talk. What does anybody know of such perfectionas I demand anyway?"

Grace impatiently pushed her chair away from the table, and went to lookat 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 andreturned late. Her husband was absent on a business trip, and she felt avague uneasiness come over her as she entered the room. She knew notwhy, but it seemed unusually lonely without him. She seldom went outalone, but to-night she had gone out as much to while away the time asto hear the music. After paying her usual visit to the nursery, she wentto bed, but slept little for several hours. 

About 4 o'clock she was awakened by stifling fumes of smoke andstartling cries of fire. Was it too late? She sprang up and ran to thenursery stairs, but the scorching flames met her, and she retreated tothe window, shrieking for help, only to get a glimpse of someone throughthe smoke climbing toward her. 

"Hold on!" cried the fireman, and reached out his arms for her just asshe fell back fainting. Grasping her firmly, the brave man dragged herout of the window, and began his perilous descent. When about half waydown, the ladder fell, but its burden was expected, and mattress andbed-clothing saved them from what might have been worse. As it was, thefireman escaped with a few bruises and slight scorching, and Mrs. Hayden with a broken limb. First they feared she was dead, but after afew 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 mustget up and be glad. " Poor child, instinctively she knew the value oflife above all other things. 

"How did it happen, where did it start, and who saw it first?" were thequeries on every side. Some one down at the foot of the hill had seen atiny blue flame licking the corner of the roof. The fire alarm wastouched, the bells set to ringing, and the observers leaped up theterraced stairways and arrived at the top just as the whole house burstinto flames. The fire company had not arrived in time to do anything, asit was impossible to climb the hill with their heavy trucks, and theirhose was not long enough to reach the flames, so the house was gone. Many people had gathered from all quarters in the fashion peculiar tofire crowds, but now they had seen the spectacle, and, as there wasnothing further to see or do, they slowly dispersed. 

Mrs. Hayden and the children were removed to the hotel and a telegramsent to Mr. Hayden, informing him of the catastrophe. 

When he arrived, twelve hours later, he found his wife confined to thebed with a nervous fever and a broken limb. The children were safe andwell cared for, and though his elegant home was in ruins, John Haydenwas deeply thankful. Marion would, of course, get over the trouble, andthings were much better than they might have been, he said. So he triedto look on the bright side, and after a few cheering words and a lovingkiss he left her, to run up the hill and view the ruins. 

It was early twilight, and as he beheld the smouldering _debris_, andrealized that the comforts and luxuries, possibly the necessities oflife had gone up in the smoke that even now curled in sullen wreathsfrom the blackened heaps, he bowed his head and wept. 

It was but a moment, but that moment was the bitterest of his wholelife. He knew better than anyone else that this was probably thebeginning of financial misfortune, for a very important transaction waseven now pending that he feared would take his all. As a merchant he hadan honorable reputation and position, but this unfortunate speculationwould ruin him. Failure seemed inevitable. But he hoped to save enoughto pay every debt and still be able to live, even though in a modestway. Now he would not even get his insurance on his house, for in hisfinancial embarrassment he had failed to renew his policy, which hadexpired 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 forwhat 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 wewere first married!" he groaned. 

His mind went back to the past. He looked again into her sweet, girlishface, into her clear, earnest eyes. He remembered how they had bothdesired to live a religious life, how he, having been brought up in areligious home, undertook in vain to explain the Bible where it was darkand unreasonable to her. He remembered how fruitlessly she had tried tobe converted, and that he had found even through her earnest seekingthat he had naught but the letter of religion and was also as helplessas to the manner of salvation. And then they had given up trying. Shesought, for a while, to satisfy herself by doing for others, giving hertime and energy to the poor that found her out and besieged her forfavors, while he had been satisfied to let religion alone and believewith the majority concerning the doctrines and dogmas. 

As the years went on, and prosperity came to them, he had grown more andmore indifferent, and finally, when they moved away from their earlyhome and entered a new city, they had begun a new life, as it were. 

He remembered, regretfully, that she had entered the competitive ranksof society, at his wish at first, because he thought it would add to hispopularity as a merchant and increase the number and quality of hiscustomers. Too well he remembered that the elegant parties and partycostumes were first his own instigation, and now that these were likelyto be taken away, he felt responsible for her happiness, and had asecret misgiving, born of his early religious training perhaps, ofretribution and judgment. He hoped indeed that she would be able torise above circumstances, but he was utterly at a loss to know how shewould take it, for although he knew that deep down in her heart werestill traces of the early longings, he felt vaguely there was no way tosatisfy them any more now than in the past, and probably they would onlyincrease the difficulty of finding happiness. 

John Hayden was kind-hearted and upright in all his ways, strictlyhonest and conscientious, but apt to be a little one-sided in hisjudgments, simply because, as a rule, he reasoned from one standpoint, thought in one groove. He had never considered the questions from thispoint of view, and therefore they were seriously perplexing. Like manyanother he lived within his own world, and knew naught of any other. Inthe later years of their married life he and Marion had grown a littleapart in the closest confidences, but it was caused by circumstancesmore than anything else, and notwithstanding the present misery he wassure of her love. 

"Poor girl, I must hasten back to her, " he murmured, as he rose from hisuncomfortable position. "After all, I can thank God for my family, myhealth, my honor, for no matter how much _we_ may suffer, no one elseshall suffer through me. "

There was a little pang at the thought of the privations in possiblestore for the family through him, but he had resolved to make the bestof circumstances and be brave as possible. Once more he looked over thescene, but there were only dim black shadows in the starlight, and hewent 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 afterthe crash came. 

"Yes, I am sorry for him, but he is coming out honorably, and I hopehe'll commence again before long. "

"Well, he is made of the right stuff if he did make one mistake, and Iguess he will never make the same blunder again. Too bad though abouthis 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 andget 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 inthis case--" and they passed on out of hearing. 

John Hayden, standing within the doorway of the open store, hadoverheard the remarks, and while they pained, they cheered him. Fromthat moment his resolve was taken, and as soon as everything washonorably settled he applied for credit of his old friends in thewholesale houses and they gladly gave it, for his reputation wasunimpeachable. 

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. Theycould 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 herhusband 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. " Andfrom that moment they began life again. She did not even complain whenthey were obliged to move into a small cottage in the suburbs, but itwas hard for her to be ignored and forgotten by the elegant socialworld, where she had so recently been an acknowledged leader. 

Alas! she had no sugar plums for society now, so it soon forgot herexistence. There were, however, some exceptions among her formerfriends, and she was glad to welcome among her few visitors, Kate Turnerand Grace Hall, who had grown to love Mrs. Hayden more than they wouldhave thought possible when she seemed so high above them in the socialscale. 

"She is turning out a saint rather than a sinner, " said Kate oneevening, as they were discussing the Haydens and recalled theconversation of the night of the party. 

"Just wait awhile. Many people can be heroic in great things, but aresadly deficient when it comes to the little things, " said Grace, withher usual caution. "I believe I could be a heroine myself, if some grandopportunity came, " she added, smiling. 

"Oh, Grace, don't trifle so; you know this is a very serious matter withMr. And Mrs. Hayden, and they are both doing nobly, " cried Kate, withtears in her eyes. 

"Well, queen Katherine, I don't mean any harm, and you must not thinkanything of my brusque speeches. As you know, there is a tinge ofskepticism in me which I can not help, and my ideals are so much higherthan the realities of life, that I am always painfully conscious of thedifference. "

"Well, what would you wish Mrs. Hayden to be like, for instance, inorder to come up to your ideal of the heroic woman?" asked Kate in asoftened tone. 

"Kate dear, I love Mrs. Hayden as much as you do, and would not for amoment disparage her virtues, but it strikes me as a philosophical factthat as a rule, human nature can and does display wonderful courage ingreat emergencies, but fails miserably in details, and this ought not tobe so. Nothing would please me better than to see one life prove that Iam 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 perfectshame that she must lose even her health, for of course she will neverbe strong again. "

"Another defect to be noted somewhere in the universal economy. It seemsto me we are pretty helpless creatures, generally speaking, for it allappears 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 itappeared, and there _did_ seem a great flaw somewhere which she wastrying her best to solve by noting every phase of life as she found it. Naturally bright, keenly intellectual and very independent, she was aphilosopher as well as an artist, and always ready for a tilt with theworld on its most petted opinions. Hers was a reasoning mind thatobserved all inconsistencies and discrepancies in anything she studied, and there was generally a little acidity in her judgment of the worldand its bigoted ways. 

"I can't see why Mrs. Hayden should not be cured completely, " continuedKate, ignoring her companion's last shot, "for it wasn't so bad thatanybody knew of until she got up. "

"My dear madam, " said Grace, striking an owlish attitude, "you have notread the latest opinion expressed by one of the most learned professorsin the Allopathic school of medicine in Paris. He stood before the classof graduating students and said: 'Gentlemen, you have done me the honorto come here to listen to a lecture on the science of medicine. I mustfrankly confess I know nothing about it, and, moreover, know of no onewho does. Any one who takes medicine is fortunate if it helps him, butmore fortunate if it does not harm him. ' Whether our friend is fortunateor unfortunate is a question hard to decide. I move we discuss anothersubject. "

Kate laughed in spite of herself, and Grace got up to take another viewof the "Modern Hypatia, " which at last was growing into a visiblecreation under her skillful brush. 

"Isn't that a woman for you?" she said, pointing to the pictureadmiringly, as she held it under the gas light. 

"Yes, I like her better than Hebe. She has a look of reserved powerabout her that is captivating, but there is something in her face thatmakes me sad, something that is lacking. "

"What is it? Tell me, for _I_ can see nothing!" Grace questionedimpetuously. 

"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 notfound what she sought. "

"Can you see that, Kate? Then I am at the same time the most happy andunhappy creature alive, " cried Grace, breathlessly dropping into a chairand 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'vesucceeded too admirably with this one. The poor thing has caught myunconscious fault of finding defects everywhere. Oh, I must get it outof 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 ineverything. " Grace put down the picture and gazed at it with stern, accusing eyes. "I shall leave this one and begin another to-morrow, " shefinally 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 upher music and arranging the books. 

Grace sat there brooding over her life problems with a new thought inher mind. She dimly realized that a woman must have a genuine messageherself before she tries to give it to the world. And alas, her messagewas sadly deficient, she found. Mechanically she took a book from thetable 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 atthe book. It was Goethe's poems, but she was not in the mood forreading, and she sat thinking till late at night. This was a newsentiment. 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 peacebut the triumph of principles. "--_Emerson. _

A year passed away, and Mrs. Hayden grew no better. She was not ascheerful as she had been at first, and instead of growing into thebrave, patient woman she longed to become, she had grown fretful andirritable, and was in many ways different from the Mrs. Hayden Kate andGrace had talked about so enthusiastically. None knew better than she, how miserably she had failed to live the life that was soulsatisfying--the life that brought forth fruits. In all the years of herprosperity, in the midst of the gayeties and luxuries, she had secretlylonged for something she never found, and in one sense it had not beenhard for her to give up the life of ease and idleness, because she hadhoped to find in the new duties a new peace and satisfaction, had hopedto live up to her ideal of a noble woman, and it was with her wholeheart she had promised her husband her help and sympathy, but in all theeighteen months, she had been but a burden; even calm forbearance andcheerfulness had ceased to be virtues. The children, not having anursery, must needs be anywhere and everywhere, and in spite of herefforts to the contrary, their noise annoyed her. 

To-night she sat thinking it all over, in one of her most despondentmoods, for be it said to her credit, things did not always appear asgloomy as she represented them to herself. 

The ruddy firelight flickered over her in fitful gleams of light andshadow. The children were out romping in the twilight, enjoying thefirst snow of the season. Her husband had not yet returned from thestore. 

What was the use, anyway, pursued the relentless conscience--even thewish to be good was always choked by a complete forgetfulness; andbefore she could catch her breath the words were out, so, although shehad believed nearly all her life that one might grow into goodness, shewas quite rebellious to-night with the thought of its impossibility, andshe felt bitter, too, to think of the long years of uselessnessstretching out before her. Scarcely thirty-five and yet she felt like across, crabbed old woman, and shuddered to think of all the years tocome, if they were to be like the past, and there seemed no help for itunless she could conquer herself. The doctor had done what he could tocure her dyspepsia but she was a veritable slave to her capriciousstomach. She felt one of her oft-recurring sick headaches coming on andevery thought grew blacker and more disconsolate. Oh! she wished supperwere over and the children safe in bed, so she could be free from theirnoise, and here they come! she thought, as a great stamping and laughingwas heard in the hall. 

"Oh, mamma! such lovely snowflakes, just like a fairy's quilt, and theyhave been falling all over us till we're like people in frost land. Justlook, mamma!" cried Mabel, who liked a romp as well as the boys, although she was thirteen. Three-year-old Jamie and five-year-old Fredcame trooping in behind. 

"Well, mamma, God has turned on the snow faucets, " announced Fred, withcharacteristic importance. 

"An' all 'e fevvers is tummin' down fum 'e 'ky, " shouted Jamie at thetop of his voice. 

"And mamma, _can't_ we have a sled and go coasting this winter?" queriedMabel, 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. Ican not endure so much confusion. "

They went out clanging the door behind them in spite of their efforts tokeep quiet, and as their voices grew fainter, she thought with anotherremorseful pang: "I have sent them away again. Why must I yield alwaysto self instead of overcoming?" Presently, however, all attempts atthinking were lost in the efforts to get the camphor, bathe her head andfind some comforting spot whereon to rest her aching temples. 

A subdued family gathered around the table that evening and everyonefelt the necessity of being quiet as possible. Even Fred and Jamieunderstood that they _must_ keep still, and managed to keep their voicesdown to something less than a shrill whisper. 

Mrs. Hayden partook only of a small cup of tea and was then assisted toher room, where she expected to remain for at least two days--the usualtime. Her husband spent the evening rubbing her head, bathing it withcamphor 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 amusedthemselves in the back parlor until they were tired and then flattenedtheir noses against the window, trying to see how many drops of meltedsnow fell from the porch roof. 

"I want a snow man, " wailed Jamie, suddenly remembering what papa saidabout the snow long ago. 

"Well, you can't have it, " said Fred, with great decision, who generallyopposed 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 suddenthought striking him, he jumped up, beaming with delight, and cried, ashe ran towards the hall:

"Mamma said Jack Frost couldn't find me when I had my overcoat and wedmittens 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 favorof the snow man, and hurriedly suiting the action to the word, rushed toget his coat which hung under Jamie's, just as Jamie reached his littlehands up to get his. Fred gave a tremendous flirt and pull at his coatwhich overbalanced his little brother and down came the high chair andJamie plump upon the luckless Fred, whose angry squeals and kicks, mingled with Jamie's loud shrieks of terror made a commotion thatbrought 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 theirbreath. 

"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, whichin this _melee_, had completely severed company with the rest of thechair, 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 quarrelso much. There! I hear mamma's bell; I must go see what she wants. Runaway and be quiet, for mamma can't stand a _bit_ of noise to-day, " andAnna left them again to their own devices. Jamie carefully laid thelittle white leg away in his box of playthings, and then both childrenwent back to the window to watch the drops again. 

"I see one, two, three, seven, four, ten--" slowly counted Jamie as thecrystal drops fell. 

"Oh, I see a ice berg, an' I'm goin' to get it for candy, " shouted Fredas he ran out on the porch and seized an icicle. It seemed so nice outthere that he stayed and called Jamie to come, too. They were delightedwith the new plaything and new sights, and any thought of being cold orneeding their coats never entered their minds, so the icicle, thebeautiful drops, and finally the snow claimed their attention until theywere at last happily engaged in the much-desired occupation of making asnow man. 

It was near noon and the sun had finally rifted the grayest clouds, andwas sending such warm smiles on the snow-laden earth that trees andfences, roofs and ridges burst into tears of joy. So, often does thesun-shiny smile melt the ice-bound prison of discontent ormisunderstanding. 

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'llcatch your death of cold; run into the house, quick! Why haven't yousomething on your heads and rubbers on your feet?" and without waitingto 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 hishead, cos' his eyes was black, you know, an' your old mashed hat for hishead, an'--"

"An' me foun' a 'tick for his arm, " interrupted Jamie, who must be surepapa knew all about this wonderful man. 

"Yes, he looks very promising, and I guess I'll have to finish him foryou; but you must not go out again to-day. Just think what would we doif you should be sick while mamma must be in bed. Poor mamma, she wouldfeel bad and cry because she couldn't help you, and it would make herfeel very sorry indeed to know her little boys went out without somebodysaying 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 socould 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 yourclothes 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 thewet snow, and must be changed right away. Put a flannel round theirnecks, too. I'm afraid they'll have the croup to-night. " With as muchhaste as possible, he stripped off their wet clothes, chafed their handsand feet, and with an anxious look left them, to go and speak to hiswife who, when suffering from headache could allow no one to enter theroom except her husband or Anna. 

That night the whole household were aroused by the hoarse andunmistakable cough of croup. Jamie had taken cold, as his father fearedhe would. The doctor was sent for in wild haste, and after several hoursof watchful care and frequent taking of hive syrup or ipecac, Jamie wasat last sleeping quietly, and every one felt that after this, at least, those children should be so well guarded that escape would beimpossible, and the dreaded enemy kept out. This was always a result ofexposure, and Mr. And Mrs. Hayden had often wished for the time whenJamie would outgrow the attacks as that really seemed the only thing inwhich 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. Readeseated herself cosily on the sofa near which Mrs. Hayden sat languidlytrying to read. 

"Oh, I have about recovered my usual strength, but of course I must becareful and not get excited or overworked, though my work I am sorry tosay, does not amount to much. " After a few moments commonplaceconversation, 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 haveexhausted everything that ever was heard of, and now every remedy seemsvery transient or of no effect at all. "

Mrs. Hayden leaned wearily back in her chair and seemed to think therewas no use discussing the subject any longer. After a few momentsthoughtful 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 allills that ever was discovered and they say it can be learned, andapplied 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 anamused smile. 

Mrs. Reade did not return the smile but a still more earnest look cameinto her eyes. She bent over her bit of sewing for a moment and thenlooking up, as though resolved to speak the truth at any cost, she wenton:

"Mrs. Hayden, it is the fulfillment of the promises in the Bible, thatto them that believe, these signs should be given. You remember thepassage don't you, where Jesus gave His disciples the same power to healthat He had?"

"Well, but that was long ago, and the promise was for the disciples, Isuppose. "

"No, it was for everybody; and do you know, Mrs. Hayden, I can hardlywait 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 itthrough a friend of mine, who was cured of chronic congestive headaches, and now my cousin, Miss Greening, from Norfolk, has come on to spend theholidays with us, and strange to say, she has been cured of weakeyes--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 maybe _you_ can be cured. "

Mrs. Reade was quite frightened for having said so much, but wasreassured by the growing interest in Mrs. Hayden's eyes. 

"And you know these things to be true? Why, it _is_ wonderful. How is itdone, by prayer?"

"Not exactly, but it is by some process of thinking. Oh, I can't beginto tell you, only that it is wonderful, and you must come over and talkwith cousin Helen. "

"I am afraid to trust myself out in this uncertain weather. Can't youboth 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, Iwant to know it. Do come. "

This was a good deal for Mrs. Hayden to say, but she was very earnestwhen aroused to interest. 

"Yes, we will, " said Mrs. Reade, as she rose to go, looking straightinto her friend's eyes with joyful earnestness, "and I am so glad. Goodbye, " and she retreated as unceremoniously as she had come, leaving Mrs. Hayden to wonder why she should be so childishly pleased over thatinvitation. It never occurred to her that Mrs. Reade should be so gladto 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 littlevexations, her triumphs of cookery, her questions of how to managelittle May, or what to do in matters of household furnishing. She was avery progressive little woman, and, perhaps owing to the influence ofMrs. Hayden, was ready at least to give everything a fair hearing. Thisnew "craze, " as some called it, had been presented to her in a way thatcompelled her attention and commanded her respect, and especially sinceher 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 bean excellent advocate of the principles, providing she could endorsethem, as Mrs. Reade was sure she would, if she could only be made tounderstand. 

So it was with great anticipated pleasure Mrs. Reade introduced hercousin to Mrs. Hayden as they went in the next day. 

"Now, Cousin Helen, just tell Mrs. Hayden how you were cured. I am soanxious to set the ball rolling, " said Mrs. Reade, with an arch look atMrs. Hayden after they were comfortably settled for their talk. 

"Yes, indeed, " added Mrs. Hayden; "if you have half as wonderful amessage 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, andsomething as to their condition when you first looked into this methodof healing. "

"I had been obliged to leave school because they were so weak. They wereinflamed and bloodshot. I could not bear to go out in the wind, ride onthe cars, or have any excitement whatever. The occulists said thetrouble was caused by a physical defect that could not be remedied, soyou may imagine my despair. Father and mother came home from a visit inKansas, and while there they had heard of a lady in Princeton who washaving remarkable success with mind-cure, as they called it. They coaxedme to go and try it. I had no faith, but to please them thought I wouldgo. It could do no harm, they said. The journey, though only sixty milesfrom home, was very hard for me. When I arrived at Mrs. Harmon's itseemed 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 therea week, I was not only cured, but learned the principles and how toapply them. After the first treatment I felt so well and happy she toldme I could use my eyes to read an hour or so. From the second treatmentI could use them all I wished. It was perfectly wonderful. When I wenthome I was cured. That is now three weeks ago, and I have been using myeyes constantly, have taken several journeys on the cars, and gone outday and night. "

Mrs. Hayden had listened with the greatest interest, her mind filledwith varying thoughts. Sudden glimpses of wonderful might-be's, mingledwith doubts and hopes, had chased each other in wild confusion throughher bewildered brain. 

"Tell me, " she found breath at last to ask, "what is it, and how is itdone, and can anybody do it?"

Miss Greening was delighted to find so willing an audience, for in spiteof 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 newin the thought, but I will do the best I can to give you some idea. Themain thing in the beginning is to know that you know nothing, " continuedMiss Greening, with a smile. "The world believes in the character as itappears, to be the real character, that the person who suffers sickness, sorrow, disappointment, anger or pain is the real self. We have alwaystaken the people of the world, as they appear, to be the children ofGod. This truth teaches that the real child of God is in His image andlikeness and in Him lives, is moved and has His being. According to thelaws of thought, the thought of one individual affects another, and onthis principle the treatments are given, but it is the omnipresent lifePrinciple that does the work. 

"Oh, it is perfectly wonderful, and if you could see what I saw while Iwas with Mrs. Harmon, you would not doubt a moment. She was busy frommorning till night with patients. Hardly had time to eat or sleep. Itseemed like the times of the New Testament come back again. Mrs. Harmoncured a man of rheumatism, where the joints had been stiffened andcontracted for years, in seven treatments. The first week thetreatments did not seem to have any effect, but the second week hesuddenly recovered the use of his arm and limbs, so that he could runand jump or do anything else that a healthy man can do. 

"One young girl, who was suffering from lead poisoning so that she wasgiven up by three or four prominent physicians, received nine treatmentsand, although not perfectly strong and robust, was able to walk severalblocks and was so well that she did not need further treatment. 

"Mrs. Harmon treated an old lady of seventy, so that she laid asideglasses and could see to sew on black cloth. A lady who had been aninvalid for sixteen years was cured so that in a week she was able toride a mile and a half to the lectures. 

"All these things I saw with my own eyes, and if the evidence had notbeen enough in my own case, there were all these proofs. And theteaching! Oh, it is beautiful. If we could only live up to that themillenium would surely be here. "

In her enthusiasm Miss Greening scarcely noticed the effect of herwords, else she would have seen Mrs. Hayden's expressive eyes full of ayearning, silent and strong. 

"Can it touch anyone's character or moral life?" she asked after amoment's pause. 

"Yes, indeed; there is not one thing in life that is not amenable to itsdiscipline. Mrs. Harmon says it is a great advantage in governingchildren, that every mother ought to know it, for the help in thatdirection, even if not for their health. "

"What a wonderful thing it must be; and yet I always thought the days ofmiracles were past, if indeed they ever were, " said Mrs. Hayden, thoughtfully. 

"These are not miracles, as the ordinary understanding of that wordwould imply, but are done in accordance with Divine Law, the highestlaw, --not the setting aside of any law, " interposed Mrs. Reade, who hadbeen deeply interested in the conversation, but hitherto had been asilent 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 atthe size of the audience. 

"No, dears; mamma don't want you to eat anything before supper. You knowwhat 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 onlyGod 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, andthe aggrieved trio reluctantly departed. 

"It would be an immense help to me if I could learn to manage thesethree 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 CousinHelen treat you, and get you all cured, and then you can go somewhereand learn how, yourself, " said Mrs. Reade, as she demurely wound up theball. 

Mrs. Hayden looked up with interested surprise. "Do you think anythingcould 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 duringthe treatment. The only thing that might seem hard is to give up allmedicine and material applications while you are under treatment. "

"That will not be hard at all, for I have lost all faith in medicineanyway. When do you want to begin, Miss Greening?"

"Well, I am willing to try my best to help you, Mrs. Hayden, but youmust 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 noopportunity, but as I said, I will do what I can. "

Miss Greening spoke earnestly and reverently. It seemed rather new toher to be called upon to prove her principles, and yet she had suchperfect 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 welllike the rest of us, " she added half apologetically. 

"It will seem too good to be true. I can not realize such apossibility. "

A thoughtful silence fell upon the little company for a few moments, andwhen 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 presentcircumstances, and lived like their neighbors, in a modest butcomfortable way. The children came trooping in when they heard thesupper bell, and delightedly filed out to the dining room with theirelders. 

"Well, I hope you ladies have been enjoying yourselves this afternoon. Inotice 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, Ihope, " said Mrs. Reade, impulsively. 

"You have about converted Mrs. Hayden to your ideas, you and Helentogether, I presume, " remarked Mr. Reade, as he spread his napkin out toits fullest capacity. 

"I should certainly like to be converted, if so many wonderful thingsare possible as I have heard about this afternoon, " and Mrs. Haydenshowed by the unusual energy in her manner and the brightness of hereyes that something had inspired her to an unwonted degree. 

"Well now, tell me what all this is about. You seem to have conspired totalk in riddles, " exclaimed Mr. Hayden, with an injured air. 

"Why, it is this new 'craze' they call Christian Healing that seems tohave 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 hewas better informed of Mr. Hayden's opinions, he thought "discretion thebetter part of valor. " Someway we often stumble upon such characters inlife. 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 somegentlemen talking about what was being done in Chicago, and it is trulywonderful. After all, we know that the mind has a great influence overthe body, and why shouldn't we discover new abilities and powers in thatas we develop in other directions?"

"To be sure; just what I have always said, and now I am having anopportunity 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 sospiritual and beautiful, that mere intellect can not recognize it. Butyou will come to that after awhile, if you only seek to know for Truth'ssake, 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 thoughtgrows with our eagerness to receive. That is true of any branch ofstudy, " said Mrs. Hayden, with conviction. She was well pleased that herhusband was so favorably inclined to hear, and expressed himself socordially. 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 generallyallowed himself to be convinced, even if he had an opinion in thebeginning. They had been especially near to each other the last year. 

Miss Greening was mentally congratulating herself on having found such aready audience, and felt as though she could do anything in the way ofhealing, as she talked on and on, telling them the many things that hadhappened in Princeton. She finished by saying, enthusiastically:

"When I had such wonderful proofs right before my eyes, do you wonderthat I looked with awe and astonishment and wanted to know the secretof this power? Can you wonder that I felt anxious to go forth into allthe world and preach the gospel? Oh, how delightful, I thought, to carrysuch blessed news and be able to give such blessed proof! So when CousinRuth's letter came, asking me to make her a visit, I felt that perhapsan opportunity would offer in which I might demonstrate the truth of myprecious 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 itis but little, to help Mrs. Hayden. "

Miss Greening had waxed eloquent in her unconscious enthusiasm, andseeing the whole company gazing at her in astonished admiration, shepaused suddenly, with a vivid flush on her face, saying: "Pardon me. Idid not mean to monopolize the conversation. "

"That apology is entirely unnecessary, for we have been listening tosomething so new that its very newness and unconventionality is quiterefreshing, and certainly interesting, " said Mr. Hayden, warmly. 

"Surely, there must be some healing virtue even in your talk, for I feelremarkably 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 sauceand huge piece of frosted cake. 

"No, Jem, dear, you mustn't eat any more to-night, and you know mammadon'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 longago, and mamma had to give you some medicine. You don't want to have totake 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 Itell you I ought to have the biggest piece 'cause my stomach's thebiggest, an' I'm not afraid of stomachache. Give me your sauce, if youcan't eat it, " said shameless Fred. 

Papa and mamma Hayden looked upon their oldest son in dismay, as he thusopenly delivered his sentiments. 

"Hush, Freddie, you mustn't want any more, either, nor talk that way toJem. You have had enough for to-night. "

"Well, I've had six biscuits any way, " and Fred settled himself backwith a satisfied air as though he could stand anything if necessary, while poor Jem was taken away from the table crying as if his heartwould break at the loss of his coveted sweets. 

"You see, we seldom have company, and the children are unused to sweetthings as a rule, because the doctor always says their diet must becarefully attended to, in order to avoid inflammation of the bowels, which Jem once had, " explained Mrs. Hayden with the old look ofweariness for a moment settling back on her face. 

"Just wait till you have studied Christian Healing and then see how tomanage, " 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 merrytwinkle. 

"Well, it is very good to have such an article in the family. It keepsthings lively and announces the world's progress with unerringcertainty, " she retorted, and with this good-natured sally they rosefrom the table. The evening was spent in a mixture of small talk andearnestness, and before they departed Mrs. Hayden received her firsttreatment. 

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 betterthan she had for months. A strange, happy feeling possessed her. Allthat had seemed dark and hopeless now appeared as nothing but gossamerfog-wreaths. The world seemed so joyous and beautiful. God seemed sonear, so loving, so all-protecting. Why had she ever doubted thepossibility of health? Surely it was easy to feel well when she felthappy; and yet, would this last? Had this delightful change anyconnection with Miss Greening's treatment? No, surely not. It would betoo unreasonable to expect any benefit so soon; besides, she wasprobably no better physically, that is, her lameness and dyspepsia werenot touched as yet, if indeed they ever could be. Well, how it wouldastonish everybody if she really were cured, and could walk like her oldself again. Her stiffened limb would have to undergo a marvelous change, but time would tell--it seemed nothing was beyond reach of thisextraordinary Power. Miss Greening was so sincere and earnest, she couldnot for a moment doubt the truth of her statements, besides Mr. Haydenhimself confessed to having heard of the wonderful works, though he hadnever mentioned it before, strangely enough. At the time it probablyappeared so vague and visionary, that he had thought best not to exciteher curiosity and hope without cause. 

How glad she was that he had at last allowed her to try this withoutridiculing or scolding her. How beautiful this theory was, but it seemedtoo good to be true. She would not be carried away with it until she haddemonstrated beyond doubt, until she could see the reason and understandit. 

The clock struck nine. Why, it was time to rise, and she really felthungry, so hungry that dry toast and hot water had no attractions forher. She wondered if there would be anything on the table she dared noteat; it would be hard to resist if there were. Thus musing she dressedwith more alacrity and energy than she had displayed for many months. 

Her husband stood in the doorway as she left her room, and remarked asthey went down stairs:

"You must have had a good sleep last night, you are so bright and sprythis morning. "

"Yes, indeed, I can scarcely remember when the night has passed soquickly and the morning seemed so exhilarating; please help me down thisturn, won't you? It is always so hard to get down stairs. "

The cane was brought into requisition, and with Mr. Hayden's help thestairs were descended, but the refractory limb was forgotten again inthe interest with which she viewed the breakfast table. 

"Mamma, we've waited and waited till we thought we'd have to eatsomething, so we each took a doughnut to save time, " was the explanatorygreeting of Fred, who acted as spokesman for the three hungry culprits, who had this time, at least, disobeyed the imperative injunction not toeat 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 toeat 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 theirrepressible, as usual, with unanswerable argument. 

"Well, we'll see this time, but you must be more careful to rememberwhat 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, sherecklessly disregarded the dry toast and hot water, mutely appealing toher 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 ofFred's reminder, " she apologized, as she sent her plate the third timefor cakes. 

"Don't tell me you've no faith in Fred's newly-acquired wisdom, " laughedMr. 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 evenwalked 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 therefor many a month, " and he went out with a thoughtful expression on hisface. 

"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 usualrestless 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 shesaw Mrs. Hayden getting so well and looking so happy, she began towonder and then to exclaim. Then she wanted to learn something aboutthis new "doctrine, " and Mrs. Hayden had Miss Greening come over andmeet the girls one evening so they could hear her explain a little aboutit. Grace was delighted, saying that was more reasonable than anythingshe had ever heard. 

"I really should like to learn it, " she said for the third time as theywalked home. 

"Why, you are really enthusiastic about it, " said Kate, giving theartistic arm a gentle squeeze. 

"I must confess, Kate, that it is nearer my idea of religion thananything I ever heard, and it _is_ marvelous to see Mrs. Hayden. Did yousee how bright she looked to-night? More like her old self than sinceher sickness. I can't understand it. "

"She said her limb was actually growing natural again so she could bendit, " added Kate. 

"If _she_ could be cured, it would be a wonderful demonstration or proofof 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, andthe miracles of anti-Christ, and this may be that very thing, " saidKate, with a sudden smiting of conscience and reproaching herself thatshe had not thought of this before. She had been brought up a strictMethodist, but had grown rather careless of religious matters, till allat 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, andgood power must come from the God of goodness, " answered Grace, withunusual gentleness. They walked on in silence, each pondering her ownthoughts. 

Three weeks after, Mrs. Hayden was known as a restored invalid, wasdaily answering a thousand questions as to how it was done. Was itreally so? Could she walk as well as ever? Didn't she get tired? Had sheany faith after all? etc. 

She patiently told them the truth of the matter, that her limb hadbecome well and pliable as ever, that her stomach was perfectly sound, her head free from nervous aching, her nights a joyous rest and her daysa round of delightful labor. 

For the first time she learned there had been many cures, and severalclasses taught in Hampton, but no case had excited the attention, publicand private, that hers had. 

The various members of society wagged their wise heads, and cast mingledglances of pity, wonder, ridicule or disdain upon the poor deludedvictim of the "latest humbug. " Even the select circles heard of it as areport finally reached the daily paper, which appeared with a glaringhead and ridiculous comments. 

One of the weeklies contented itself by reprinting a scathingdenunciation from a prominent religious paper. Another containedclippings from an Iowa paper giving an account of the arrest and trialof a so-called Christian Scientist for illegal practice. But it failedto add that "the judge instructed the jury to return a verdict for thedefendant, " remarking that "under the constitution and laws of Iowa itis no crime for a person to pray for his afflicted neighbor. "

Among the worthy M. D. 's, a miniature storm arose and spent itself inthe characteristic fashion of storms, now carrying everything before it, in its impetuous fury, now quietly subsiding into a ripple ofcondescending concession, or languid comment, now breaking out withrenewed force into explosive epithets or vindictive rage. 

Dr. Crouse expressed his astonishment that anybody should have theaudacity to practice medicine without a diploma, as this woman evidentlydid, and demanded that the authorities enforce the law at once with theutmost rigor--. "Such quacks ought to be dealt with without mercy, as anexample to other upstarts!" and with an angry growl the doctorrecklessly 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 hystericalwomen, but if Mrs. Hayden's limb was healed, depend upon it, themedicine 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 learningall about materia medica in three weeks! "It is simply ridiculous, sheernonsense! Ha, ha, ha!" and the office fairly shook at the outburst ofmerriment. 

On the other hand, Dr. Wilson was deeply interested, and went so far asto call on Miss Greening, and to her he frankly admitted there was anunaccountable power in the mind some way, and if it did the work forsuffering humanity he was quite ready to welcome it, and anxious, forhis part, to investigate the matter. 

Kind, liberal Dr. Jackson, Mrs. Hayden's former family physician, shookhis head wonderingly, but said nothing. He was a careful thinker andneeded time for his conclusions, but as every one well knew, he had thefriendliest, most charitable heart that ever was, and very candid, withal, in his judgments, and fair in his investigations. So in timethey would know what he thought. It was whispered about that he hadalready invested in some books, and was quietly studying ChristianHealing in his leisure moments. 

Among the churches no less of a tumult raged. Rev. Rush preached astirring sermon about the evil days in which even the very elect shouldbe deceived by the miracles of anti-Christ, and warned his hearersagainst being beguiled. 

Rev. Long openly denounced Christian Healing as but another form ofspiritualism, 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 thepromises and the all-abiding power of God. 

All shades and phases of ministerial sentiments were expressed, andwhatever was grand and Christ-like sprang up as dainty, fragrantblossoms amid the wayside weeds of falsity and Pharisaical bigotry. 

The ladies' sewing societies discussed the subject to its fullest extentwith widely varying opinions, some exclaiming with wonder and awe thatit certainly must be a higher power that would perform such miracles;others that it was nothing but mesmerism. A few reverently expressedtheir conviction that Mrs. Hayden was extremely fortunate to be chosenfor such a favor, while still others of quite a contrary mind declaredit was nothing more nor less than the devil, who was stealthily takingpossession of the weak. 

One timid little woman ventured to say that it could not be Satan, forhe was never known to do anything good. Another said there must besomething uncanny about it, for she had experienced the most peculiarsensations when shaking hands with Mrs. Hayden. 

Mrs. Dyke had waited for a more practical time to give her opinion, andnow she concluded the whole matter for herself, at least, by saying in amost practical way:

"It is the devil's work from first to last, and I am not surprised thatthat woman, Mrs. Hayden, has got into his clutches, for she never didher duty to the church, and such people can't expect he will always letthem go their own way. Christian Healing has no right to its name or itspretentions. It is only the magician's rod, and I, for one, don'tpropose to look at it, " with which profound announcement she went to theother room to oversee her charge of sewing girls. 

"Oh, how righteous we are!" giggled one very young lady, with a mocklook 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 atthis 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, sufferedeverything from her headaches and dyspepsia, besides the limb that wasbroken 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 toour door, and why should we refuse to believe, when the proof is soplain? For my part, I can believe though I do not understand, and I wantto know what there is in Christian Healing. "

Mrs. Grant had spoken, and as she usually did, turned the tide ofthought in her direction. 

"Why, yes, we all want to know if there is anything in it, but there isan if--"

"_If!_ There it is again! I've no patience with people who always tumbleover an _if_. You can bar the very gates of heaven with that nippinglittle word. It means doubt, and doubt is the destroyer of faith whichwe _must_ have in this world, if we live at all. "

Mrs. Grant unwittingly preached a little sermon, which not only servedto quell the confusion, but gave them a helpful thought to carry home. Scattering good seed seemed to be her mission, and many a good worddropped 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 todescribe her feelings. It seemed that she was veritably dreaming ofheaven, such a sense of largeness, of freedom, had come over her, somuch wider was her horizon, so much more clearly could she see andunderstand the hard questions that had always puzzled her, and yet shehad, as it were, just come to the edge of the beautiful flower-dotted, dew-besprinkled field that seemed spreading out before her. So longhopeless, so long hungry as she had been after this taste, she onlyhungered the more. Wonderingly she looked at herself walking aboutwithout pain; with an elastic step and the springing freshness ofhealth; wonderingly she remembered the dull, nervous throbbingheadaches, contrasted with the refreshing clearness, the joyous comfortand peace of mind which made thinking a tonic, and labor a luxury. 

What a glorious strength of exhiliration seemed flowing in to her withevery breath; how it expanded and thrilled her with its power! If thiswas life, what joy to live, to know and feel the gladness and beauty ofGod's beautiful world, and it must not be for her alone, but for allhungering, thirsting mankind. She must impart it to those who had beensuffering and helpless like herself. It was even now flowing into herown family. Although Miss Greening had given her but the first andfundamental principles of the method, she had in many instances alreadydemonstrated their worth and power. It soon grew to be a regular matterof course to treat every one in the family who seemed in need of aremedy for anything. 

Mr. Hayden had frequently come home with neuralgia in his face, butafter one or two attacks the unwelcome intruder vanished. The familymedicine case, which had recently been replenished for the winter, wasleft to its own devices, and dust gathered on the necks and shoulders ofthe cough remedies, paregoric and hive syrup bottles, until they wouldhave looked quite pitiful in their desertion, if anybody had seen them. Jamie's one attack of croup yielded more readily to his mother's silenttreatments than it ever had to hive syrup, and it was with a deepthankfulness, not unmixed with awe, that Mr. And Mrs. Hayden felt theirlittle one at last free from his old, dreaded enemy. Never before hadthe children been so free from colds or ailments common to childhood, asthis winter. Never before had there been such a seemingly recklesscarelessness in wrapping them up, keeping them out of the draughts, orletting 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 muchhappier, quieter, more peaceable. I tell you, it is like getting freefrom prison to come into this way of living, and my wife is gettingstronger all the time. Of course you want it, " he continued. "Come oversome time, and we'll tell you more about it. " Saying good night hewalked away, leaving his friend to wonder if the entire family had notturned lunatics. 

Enwrapped in the seamless robe of Truth, the sharp winds of worldlycriticism seldom reach us, because we are no longer susceptible to theirsharpness. A gentle mildness beams from every face, for beyond the veilof outward appearances we learn to discern the pure, perfect holiness ofGod's child--the divinity behind the bars. Not, however, till we knowhow to put on this wondrous robe are we invulnerable. 

Although Mrs. Hayden had learned much and lived much in these last fewmonths, there came a time, as the summer drew near, when it seemed thateverything was slipping away from her. Not her health, except that herold headache occasionally threatened her, but things did not seem asclear to her. Many problems were only in a partial state of solution, and a vague dissatisfaction, a helpless discouragement took possessionof her at times, very hard to bear, especially when contrasted with thelight she felt had so long guided her. Of late even her treatmentsseemed almost fruitless. Her old-time impatience had manifested itselfon several occasions, and one warm June morning she went about her workin a decidedly old-fashioned mood. 

It was Monday, and in addition to the washing to be seen to, the littleextra help to be rendered the girl, her husband had sent her a largecase of strawberries to be put up, manlike, forgetting that this day atleast was full. She was hastening to get them ready before the dinnerhour, and the "picking up" of the sitting-room, so essential Mondaymornings, had been left till a more convenient season. 

Mabel had gone to school, while Jamie and Fred were playing in the sandin the back yard. 

With her hands in the berries, and her thoughts busily engaged, she wassuddenly roused from her reverie by the noisy entrance of Fred, who justcame in for a drink of water. As he turned to go out, he threw his armsaround his mother's neck and gave her a boy's impetuous hug, and a kissthat ought to have rejoiced any mother's heart, but this morning itannoyed her. "Run away, now; mamma hasn't time this morning, " and shepushed him impatiently away. Just then the door bell rang, and Fredsprang to answer it. In another moment he ushered into her presence ashabbily dressed, poor, miserable looking woman, who immediately askedfor a drink of water. "I can get it, " said the ready Fred. While he wasgone, the woman began her request:

"Plaze, Ma'am, would you be wantin' some garters to-day? They arewarranted by the very man as made 'em. My boy is layin' sick, and hisfather is dead, and all my health has been took away carin' for him, anda friend of mine, she has been in this business a long time, and saysit's very good some days, and she let me take her place to-day, so ifyou 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, andwill just fit; ain't they nice, my boy?" She poured her story out, asthough there were no end to it, as she held up some brilliant red andblue elastics that quite dazzled Fred, who claimed them at once. 

"I have not time to examine and choose this morning, and Fred, you donot 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, norstretchy, an' my stockin's come down all the time. See how wrinkly theyare, " and he held up a dusty little shoe with a sadly demoralizedstocking above it, rich in holes as well as wrinkles. The stocking hadbeen torn on a nail, he volubly explained. In his excitement Fred raisedhis voice, thus summoning Jamie to the scene with a rush that upset thedish of berries just picked over. 

"_I_ didn't mean to, and I can pick them up again, " and he swept hisdirty little hands into the soft mushy pile, gathering berries, dust, stems or whatever happened to be in the way, dashing the miscellaneousmess into the clean berries that had escaped. 

"Jamie, you careless child! how can you be so naughty? Go and wash yourhands this minute! Fred, leave those things and stay out with Jamie, Ican not have you around when there is so much to do!" and with animpatient gesture she brushed Jamie aside and began sorting the berriesas 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 wellwithout looking. "

"You always tell me to do as I am told, " pouted Fred as he reluctantlydeparted. 

Mrs. Hayden was ashamed and yet reckless with discouragement, andscarcely noticed the anxious pedlar, who stood waiting for some decisiveword from her. 

"I have no use for the supporters at present, " she said at last. But asshe noticed the look of despair slowly settling on the woman's face, sheadded, "but, if you are in such distress, I will let you leave twopairs. Take the 50 cents lying there on the shelf, " pointing to theplace. The woman was very grateful and soon went away with a brighterface. 

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 possibleand 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, forit was always so when she felt this way. 

As Mrs. Hayden sat in her own room that evening, reviewing the events ofthe day, which seemed the culmination of many days, it seemed that theMarion Hayden who had been so happy these last few months, improving inhealth and strength and ability to live a more useful life, and theMarion Hayden who had so miserably disgraced herself to-day, were farapart--in fact irretrievably separated. Where, indeed, had gone herpower 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 dearchild was only showing his affection according to his own nature? Suchan active, impulsive yet loving child must be wisely dealt with, and shehad often realized that with Fred, love must be the governing power, notforce. To give way as she had to-day would be to lose her influence overhim, not only because of repulsing the child himself, but because hiscritical eyes noticed every weakness and failure in her, to live up toher own code of morals laid down for him to follow. 

Her accusing conscience asked why she had not questioned and tried tohelp that poor woman who, with all her ignorance, was doing the best shecould, to solve life's problem. 

After all, what had she, Marion Hayden, to offer the world while she hadnot yet conquered herself?

Oh, the bitterness of regret, the repining for wasted moments and lostopportunities! but here she was in her old groove of thought. Could shenot try the new way, now that she so sorely needed it?

She would try; she would begin to look on the other side of thesequestions. She _would_ regain her footing in spite of her humiliatingdownfall, although there might still be a lingering sense of shame overher defeat. 

Later, her husband came home. He tossed her a paper saying: "Here issomething 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 forher 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 thewriter. She began with an awakening interest which increased till shewas fairly electrified with delight. 

Her husband looked at her in astonishment although it had much the sameeffect on him. "I thought you needed something like that;" he said, sitting bolt upright and looking at her. "You see, Marion, if you couldonly be as enthusiastic all the time as that woman is, you could do theworks that she does, and be as positive too. "

"I know it, and if I understood as well as she does, it would bedifferent, but I know so little comparatively. Oh, if I could takelessons of the teacher she had--just listen, she says: 'I have just hadthe privilege of going through a class in metaphysics taught by one whois 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 theteacher; queer, isn't it? Mayn't I subscribe for this paper, John, and Iwill ask her who this teacher is, when I send the subscription?"

"Well, yes, I think if you could get the benefit from every number youhave from that, it would be money well invested, " replied Mr. Hayden. Infact he was as much interested in this subject as she, and desired herto "go to the bottom of it, " as he expressed it. 

That night she retired with a new hope. If others could learn anddemonstrate 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 thenew 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 youhave been losing courage, and as for myself, I don't seem to know whatto do in any case any more, " she exclaimed, after hearing a few extractsread 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. Ihave already experienced too much physically and spiritually to be ableto give it up. "

"Indeed, you have certainly had as much of a proof as one could wish. IfI could only do as much as you have, I should feel that it would bebetter to go without many other things rather than this. "

Mrs. Reade forgot that she had been able to keep little May in perfecthealth; that she herself had ceased worrying over trifles and learned tomake the best of everything. To her, the change had been so gradualthat she hardly knew in what it consisted. In the meetings held by thefew who were interested she had, unconsciously almost, given manyglimpses of her private efforts and success, which showed how faithfullyshe used what light she had. 

"I wonder what Mrs. Grant would say to this, " she resumed, after lookingover the paper. "I think she ought to take this paper, too. Of course, Iexpect to read yours, " with an arch smile. 

"As you certainly may, I will let you have this number this afternoon; Ican'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, butthe 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 knowwhat to do before the twilight comes again. But I came after your jellymold and must not stand here all day talking about things so utterlyunlike--well, good-bye! I can hardly tear myself away when I talk withyou, " 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 theall-absorbing topic and gain confidence and strength by an exchange ofideas and experiences; but they knew not how to draw from the fountainof 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 tosupply. 

In a few days Mrs. Hayden received the coveted information as to theidentity of the wonderful teacher, and that she was to teach severalclasses in Marlow, only two hundred miles away, which quite set her onfire with impatience to go at once. 

But circumstances were not propitious. There were many details to bearranged, much to be considered. What should be done with the children?Could she afford it? What could she wear? In her eagerness she couldhave overcome every obstacle within an hour, but her better judgmenttold her to be patient a little longer, a decision her husband quiteapproved. 

In the meantime she tried to live more faithfully up to the light shehad received, but the first flush of faith that had brought forth theworks, seemed gone, and she knew not how to bring it back. Not that shewas not just as earnest, not that she had lost a whit of her faith orinterest, but the fire of impulse, unclouded by doubt, had disappeared. She thought about it every leisure moment, but concluded at last to letgo such intense effort that must necessarily be blind, and live more inthe "holy carelessness of the eternal Now, " as George MacDonald sobeautifully expressed it in his book she was reading. 

In one respect she fared as comparatively few women do, who hunger afterspiritual things; she had her husband's full sympathy and co-operation. Afterward, when she had seen more of the world and knew more about otherwomen's lives, she realized the value of it, realized that without itshe would have starved before she could have feasted. Oh, the sweetinfluence of a sympathy that unites and harmonizes two natures, nomatter 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. Thelast 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 doher best in looking after them. 

Mrs. Hayden's wardrobe had received the necessary additions, thequestion of affording was not asked again, for it was like asking if shecould afford food or clothing. 

It meant a great deal to her, going out in the world to get thiswonderful 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. Thelittle light that had already come to her proved that, for never beforein all her years of hungry longing had she been so well fed, so visiblynourished. Surely her soul could not be mistaken in thus dictating herquest. 

"It seems too good to be true, John, that there _is_ a way and that I amgoing 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 inthis. It certainly is a beautiful religion as far as we can understandit. "

"Yes, the very thing we tried so hard to find during all those years ofdarkness, and I have begun to actually feel thankful for ourmisfortunes, because it seems they have led us into this knowledge. Whatwould we have known or cared for Miss Greening, had we been living inthe mansion on the hill? Or what would we have believed, even if we hadread something about Christian Healing?"

"It is hard to tell, but if you are content I am, wifie, although Ishould like the old home again. "

Like many others he was able to appreciate the material good things, butknew not that the material are but emblems or symbols of the spiritual. 

"We shall possess something far better than all the palaces and kingdomsof the earth, if we get this 'pearl of great price. ' I know now what itmeans for the rich to hardly enter the kingdom of heaven. It is becausethey are so satisfied in their rich possessions they feel they haveeverything worth having and need nothing more. That very indifferenceand apathy keeps them from getting spiritual treasures. "

"How true that is, Marion, " said her husband, stroking his mustachethoughtfully. 

Just then the door bell rang and the girl presently ushered Grace andKate 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 aswe 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 Healinglessons?" asked Mrs. Hayden, with a bright smile, as they were cosilyseated for their chat. 

"Are you, really? I am so glad, Mrs. Hayden, " said Grace. "When are yougoing?"

"Monday, on the afternoon train, and I shall be gone three weeks. Itseems a long time now, but I hope it will be so profitable and pleasantthat it will not seem long while it is passing. "

Kate looked very grave. Finally she said: "Well, Mrs. Hayden, I am sorryyou are going. "

"Why?" exclaimed Mrs. Hayden. 

"Why?" echoed Grace, and the host looked the interrogation he did notverbally express. 

"Because I am seriously afraid it is wrong. Just a few days ago I had atalk with the minister, and he is very decided in his denunciation ofit, saying it is plainly contrary to the teachings of the Bible, and Ihave been reading an article this afternoon that is very convincing inits arguments against it. No, Grace, you needn't shake your head. I havebeen cowardly and lazy long enough about my religion, now I shall standup for what I think is right, and I love Mrs. Hayden too well not towarn her of what I believe to be a most dangerous heresy. "

She had evidently nerved herself to say this, but her voice trembledwith earnestness, and when she finished there were tears in her eyes. 

"I thank you, dear Kate, for your sincere regard, and appreciate yourmotive 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 myreligious responsibility as never before, and have been earnestlyconsidering this matter. At first it seemed all right and verybeautiful, but I believe it is only the work of the devil to get peopleinto his net of wickedness. "

Grace was too astonished for speech; now she understood what Kate hadmeant by her disinclination to talk on the subject since that night theyhad heard Miss Greening. _Now_ her thoughtful spells were explained, aswell 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 givingfreedom to the slaves; they opposed the temperance movement until it wasforced upon them. Many of them now oppose woman's suffrage, though theiraudiences are often composed almost entirely of women. It seems a greatmystery 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 mortalfaults and a great deal of mortal ignorance, " said Grace, recovering hertongue at last. 

"It seems to me if everybody would read the words of Jesus and followhis example they would never be harsh, or critical, or uncharitable, andabove all, they would not judge anybody or anything without a righteousreason. The whole burden of his teaching is expressed in the sentence:'Little children, love one another, '" was Mrs. Hayden's opinion. Katelooked 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 wecan 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 aswe get it we can not be moved from our position, for by the nature oftruth it is forever the same. Imagine anybody telling me two times twoare five. If they argued and talked forever they could not prove it, fora 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 shouldthey need to be so active and emphatic and malevolent, as they sometimesare, in their denunciation of what they call a lie, because if it is alie, won't it prove itself? And if their position is assured, and thetruth must necessarily be assuring, since that is the essence and natureof it, if their position is assured, why is there any need of suchresistance? Jesus plainly taught the _non_-resistance of evil, if I readmy Bible correctly this morning. I have been studying religion somewhat, too, the last few weeks, " she concluded, glancing at Kate ratherapologetically. 

"It would be well if we studied it a great deal more earnestly than wehave 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 earliestopportunity, and see what there is in it. If there is nothing, it cannot hurt me. If there is something, it will prove _itself_, and I shallgladly 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 downand we will read them together, or I can hand them to you after I havefinished 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 asyou; but they will be nothing but ordinary letters, for I would haveneither 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 dowant you to understand that this is the true Christ-religion, and asGrace says, if it is true it will prove itself. "

"I do not object to reading your letters; indeed shall be glad of theprivilege, " replied Kate, with a deprecatory gesture. 

"You must be sure and give us the practical part, so we can learn bypractice as well as theory, " said Mr. Hayden, playfully. 

"Yes, and I will promise to be a faithful student, if that will be anyinducement, " 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 asher husband helped her into the carriage. They did not say much as theydrove away to the depot, and both were deeply moved. There seemed such amomentous 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 mossesin passing, but hurrying on to a broader outlook and a straighterpathway, we float in the varying current of life, now dallying withyouth's pleasures and playfully touching the problems before us, thensent adrift by a deep desire to _know_, we go out on a voyage ofdiscovery, and be the winds rough or gentle, we go on till harbored atlast. 

Nor would we leave thee, gentle Truth. May thy voice guide andstrengthen and cheer; thy sweet knowledge be the lamp to our path; thywords of wisdom our armor and shield, and all the sweet enchantment ofthy 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 ofher safe arrival, but said nothing concerning her plans until later inthe week, she wrote:

"I attended a reception last night that gave me a good idea of the greatinterest manifested in this new subject by people from all parts of thecountry as well as this great city. Many who have been attending aconvention of truth seekers this week were there, and I met, amongothers, Mrs. Harmon. She is lovely, with such a sweet pleasant face andclear mild eyes. I do not wonder Miss Greening was charmed with her. Wehad quite a chat about mental healing. She gave me an interestingaccount of how she came into the work and what she is doing. I also metmany others. One thing noticeable about these people that seemspeculiarly characteristic, was the bright, happy faces so full of reposeand trustfulness contrasted with the dull, sluggish care-wornexpression of people in general. It really rests and cheers wonderfullyto look upon countenances that carry the gospel of healing with them. 

"After a pleasant social time, Mrs. Pearl, in whose honor the receptionwas given, was called upon for an address, the substance of which isabout as follows:

"It is an unexpected pleasure as well as privilege to thus meet face toface so large a body of people who are working or desire to work for theuplifting and healing of humanity by this new yet old Christ-method. 

"While there are so many thousands of the world's best workers engagedin lifting the burdens of sickness, sorrow and sin, there are none whoaccomplish more marvelous or speedy results than Christian healers. Indeed they have already demonstrated this philosophy to be a mostpowerful means of reclaiming the sinful and adjusting social relationsas well as healing the sick. 

"It already promises a better method of dealing with intemperance thanthat of any other class of reformers. Why? Not because earnest, devotedwomen do not give time, labor and hearts' blood to the temperance cause;not because wise, honest men are not doing their best with tongue andpen, in legislative halls and political conventions, but because neitherwomen nor men have learned the true principle of moral reform. 

"The wise mother knows that the best way to keep her child from mischiefis not to talk about his temptation but cause him to forget it bythinking of other and better things. She encourages him to do better byrecognizing his higher nature and showing him a better way. She'overcomes the evil with the good. ' Thus his moral nature graduallygains ascendency over the lower. This, and this only is the true reform;but the same mother fails to carry out the same principle with largerchildren. She must learn that the same management which corrects andimproves the child will correct and improve the sinner, for a sinner isonly a child of larger growth. 

"Thus far, the world has been most attracted to the healing of bodilyills, and all discomforts of the flesh, but the material demand is onlya forerunner or symbol of the spiritual, and the signs of the times areeven now ready for the keenest readers. People are beginning to enquireif this wonderful power for healing the body can not be used for thehealing of vicious minds, the curing of depraved appetites. 

"Since religious teachings and ethical lectures seem to be so inadequateto meet the crying need, why not try this new method which claims to bea panacea for all ills, ask the moral philosophers. 

"'The world moves slowly, ' it is said, but the world awakes slowly, itshould be. We are ministering angels to one another, in our process ofawakening. If we have not enough realization of truth to keep ourselvesawake, 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 whatbest teaches the law. None may know what has given this or that insightinto a broader truth, but all at once some one has the new light, andhastens to impart the knowledge. 

"All effort for truth points to one end--Truth. All reforms, allreligions point to a higher standard of living, a clearer realization ofthe highest and best, a broader vision of truth, a breaking away fromthe false and a bringing about of the true. 

"Mankind is conservative and must needs consider many things in manyways. Old opinions are not easily relinquished because they are 'bone ofour bone and flesh of our flesh' and not till we awake to spiritual aswell as intellectual knowledge, shall we realize that we are free--freeto listen, learn and live. 

"As in the history of every reform, we find opposition and persecutionfacing the Christian healers, but as time goes on, even the unbelievingand conservative shall be brought to a knowledge of the truth. Manythings unaccepted and unestablished to-day shall be proverbialplatitudes of to-morrow. 

"We who have a clearer vision of the better way, who are demonstratingour position with such wondrous signs, must realize more and more theimportance of the first and only law--the law of love. Judge not. Be aunit in Truth. 

"We come together as many, but should go away as one. We now havethousands of Christian healers all over the country who are striving asnever before to live a higher life, to work for humanity according tothe Master's teachings, and it becomes us, as true disciples of such aleader to so live that we shall see the fulfillment of that blessedpromise: 'Greater works than I, shall ye do. '

"Let us recognize the use and beauty of unity. Let us be as one, andthen, like the brave and faithful Joshua, we shall be able to break downthe walls of any Jericho. 

"Christ followers, truth seekers, friends! Make use of the goldenprivileges of to-day, use every moment for the furtherance of good, makeevery silent thought or uttered word a stream of influence that shallcause the desert to blossom like the rose. Send your thoughts out to thegrand reformers, the women workers and the men workers, the tiredmothers and the anxious fathers, the faithful teachers and the innocentchildren. Sow the seed diligently, no matter what the soil. Never mindthe coldness, the indifference, the slighting disparagements, forbye-and-bye will come the harvest. Do in all ways as you would be doneby. 

 '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 containingthe first lecture, which was given the day after the reception reportedin the last chapter. Pertaining to the lesson he read:

"How I wished you were with me yesterday, and could see the fifty eagerfaces as they gathered in the class room and waited for Mrs. Pearl. 

"Some sorrowful and careworn, some filled with the marks of sufferingand pain, some hopeless and despairing, some careless and gay, somemerely curious, but all expectant and interested. 

"It matters not with what varying motives a mass of people meettogether, there is a common chord of sympathy, which, if rightlytouched, will cause the many to think and feel as one, and herein liesthe secret of a teacher's power. Mrs. Pearl has this faculty ofgathering and holding the thoughts of her audience, and I could not helpnoting the calm and satisfied expression as they went out after thelecture. 

"The first lesson is about The True Foundation, and while much of it iswhat we have known and believed, it is stated in a new and interestingway. I will give it, as nearly as possible, in her own words:

"It is necessary to have a common premise in order to sustain aharmonious argument, and the first thing is to find a base or foundationfrom which and upon which to build. Our doctrine is to be established bysound reasoning and scientific argument, and we must go back to thebeginning and learn something about the First Cause of all things. 

"In ancient times students devoted themselves to the study of purereasoning, and they found that by putting themselves in harmony withFirst Cause, they attained a power, by certain lines of thought andthrough the speaking of words, to perform wondrous works, healing thesick, 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 toreason. Right, true words brought forth right and true conditions toeveryone around them, but deviation from this line of reason, wouldbring discord and trouble and undesirable conditions. These wisethinkers declared Mind to be the First Cause of all creation, andannounced the study of Mind and the words and ways of Mind, to be theprofoundest theme that could engage the attention of man. 

"We find this philosophy and these conclusions corroborated by theBible, which we shall consider and prove to contain revelations ofchangeless, eternal truth. 

"Truth is universal, and whatever is true in one part of the universemust be true in all parts. That which has been understood and concededto be true in all ages and climes is what we call universal truth. 

"Because the first chapter of Genesis, then, agrees in all essentialparticulars with the accounts of other nations and among other peopleswe 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 aswe have, and we are therefore willing to use it as the basis of ourargument. 

"We read: 'In the beginning God created, ' but a more literal andspiritual rendering would make the pivotal statement, 'God creates. ' Nowwe know there can be no beginning or end to Omnipotence, hence theremust be a continuous creating, and thus the term 'beginning' could onlyrefer to the manifestation of what had already been created. How was thecreation manifested? By the Word. 'God said, let there be light, and itwas so, ' and by every 'God said, ' was manifested the thing which He saidwas to be. 

"The word God is an abbreviation of the Anglo-Saxon of Good, the twowords in that language being identical. To many this will be an aid torealizing the omnipresence God, and add to the reverential sense of thatpersonal nearness which makes the Deity a Father and an ever-lovingFriend. 

"God is not person as to form or personal limitations, yet personal inthe sense of Presence and intelligent communication with intelligentbeings. Jesus said truly, 'No man hath seen God at any time, because theeye of the flesh cannot perceive spirit. ' Through the quality orinfluence of Good, Intelligence, Love and all we may name as soulful, weperceive 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 attributesof 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 ourearth nature, makes it fruitful because of the presence of its Creator. 

"Some there are who call this ever-present Intelligence or Good theliving Principle. As the Infinite, it wears all phases and adapts itselfto every conception of the Finite, so in the sense of omnipresence andunchangeableness it might from this point of view be called Principle. This is the cold, mathematical conception of God as Law, which withoutLove would be incomplete. We must, therefore, know the duality of God ifwe are to understand either Law or Love. Some things can only be knownby intuition, without the aid of the senses, and because of an inherentidea in our consciousness. For instance, every nation worships Deity insome way. Since we cannot know God through the senses, by which we gainknowledge of visible things, how can we know there _is_ a God?

"As Paul says: 'Likewise the spirit itself beareth witness with ourspirit that we are the children of God;' and what better answer could wehave?

"Spirit, according to Webster, is: 'Life or living substance consideredindependent of corporeal existence--vital essence, force, or energy asdistinct from matter. ' God is the vital essence, God is spirit, and Godis substance--'the real or existing essence, ' 'the divine essence orbeing. '

"God, therefore, is the Divine Power that creates and sustains allthings--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 Godwho is Father of all, over all, and in all. '

"Though we cannot see this God or Good Principle, we can apprehend itthrough the signs or manifestations that we see. As we look about, weeverywhere see the signs of life--not Life itself, but the signs ofit--that tell of the presence of God or Good. Now Life is Good in andfor itself. 

"We often see the divinest love manifested through every deed of love, every heroic act of higher living, every grand sacrifice ofself-comfort, pleasure, even life itself. Jesus says: 'Greater love canno man have than to lay down his life for his friend. ' Such love is amanifestation of the one, only Love, which is God--Good omnipresent. 

"Every glimpse of Truth which the whole world seeks to know and whereverfound, is a realization of the omnipresent Truth, which is God. 

"Intelligence, in its highest or lowest form, is but a manifestation ofGod as Intelligence; for whence comes our intelligence if not from thegreat and only Intelligence, which is ever flowing to us and through us, which is ever being generated in us, whenever and wherever we arewilling to let it manifest itself. 

"Emerson says: 'There is one mind common to all individual men. Everyman is an inlet to the same and to all of the same. He that is onceadmitted 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 isor can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent. '

"So we reason about health and strength and justice, or any of thedivine qualities, which we may claim as a part of our inheritance, because they are inherent in the All, in which 'we live, are moved, andhave our being. '

"Having something of an understanding as to the nature of this divineCreator, we can, to some extent, apprehend that the essence of allthings 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 createanything opposite Himself. 

"The nature of God embraces every good quality of masculine andfeminine character, as also the impersonal life Principle. It istherefore proper to use the masculine, feminine or neuter pronoun whenreferring to Deity. As different phases of the one Love, we seemanifested, the strong, all-protecting, intelligent father-love, thetender, restful, patient mother-love, the innocent, confiding, trustfulchild-love, each complete in the whole, which can be recognized by allor one of these attributes. 

"The great Mind of which the ancient philosophers tell us and whichEmerson so plainly realized, is the the Origin and Force of allCreation, the Mind for which we have found so many synonyms and so manyoffices, the Great Invisible of which all visible things are but signsor symbols. 

"There is but one great Mind, one great Thinker. All thoughts of thisMind, which is Infinite Goodness, must be infinitely good, and man isthe crown and apex of the wonderful creation--is made in the image andlikeness of God. 

"If we concede the Creator, God, to be omnipresent, omniscient andomnipotent, the only Power there is, perfect, unchangeable and eternal, we must necessarily concede that all which He creates is good, and mustremain so because everything connected with, emanating from, or similarto Him is, and must be like Him in quality and essence. 

"The true man is spiritual, perfect like his Father, and can only besubject to perfect conditions. If we continually and persistentlyrecognize the true creation which is invisible, we make manifest theperfect conditions in the sign of the true, which is the visible. Indoing 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 becomeidolators, and must now turn back to the only true God. 'If thou returnto the almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquityfar from thy tabernacles.... For thou shalt have thy delight in thealmighty and shalt lift up thy face unto God. '

"We have become filled with false beliefs, because we have judgedaccording to appearances, and hence drawn false conclusions. How can weknow spiritual truth without spiritual knowledge? How can we havespiritual knowledge without spiritual perception; how can we havespiritual perception without recognizing Spirit, Substance, God, as thesupreme Essence back of all visible forms?

"This is the fundamental principle of healing--this recognition ofspiritual being and spiritual law. Grasping only the surface meaning ofthis grand truth, we recognize and admire the mental power whichproduces cures, hence it is frequently called mind-cure, because, through the agency of mind, the cure is wrought, as we say, water-cureor sun-cure for the same reason; but as we proceed in the study, we willgo beyond an intellectual to a spiritual perception of what is meant by_met-a-physical_, which pertains not only to a science of mentalphenomena, but the science of real being, and has to do with thespiritual or real self of man. 

"Now John, if you don't understand, just wait and study, for really wemust study these statements, without prejudice, too, for that is theonly way, and of course we cannot expect to understand at once. Thegreat essential is to keep uppermost the _desire_ for truth, but I neednot tell you that, for what an earnest truth-seeker you are, nobodyknows better than myself. 

"This is the best I can do toward giving the first lesson, but you mustthink well upon it and get a good foundation laid for what is to comenext. This science is to be developed rather than learned. 

"I want to put in every moment I can get for study, so must close. Handthis to Kate and Grace. I do hope they will be interested. 

"Tell me all about your progress, and the precious little ones--how arethey?

 "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 theletter 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 thanshe cared to admit just yet, and Kate was still reluctant and fearfulabout the possible wrong. 

Grace had awakened in the night, just after Mrs. Hayden had gone andfound her crying. "What is the matter, Katie?" she asked. 

"Oh, Grace, I am so worried about this Healing, and I am afraid I didwrong to even promise Mrs. Hayden I would read her letters, " sobbed thepoor child. 

"Why, Katie dear, we could never know anything if we did not look intoit and use the reason God has given us. Surely you are not afraid toexamine into what claims to be such wonderful truth. You do notnecessarily accept by examining it, and I am glad we can have theprivilege of reading what Mrs. Hayden says, for she has such a fair, unprejudiced mind, and will give us the matter just as nearly right asshe can; then we can judge for ourselves. "

She reached over and drew Kate into her arms, but the sobbing did notcease at once. Grace was naturally kind-hearted, and respected people'sfeelings. To-night she was very gentle, as Kate gratefully realized. 

"Come Kate, put away your fears. There's nothing can change the truthyou have, and if it isn't truth, the sooner you change your mind thebetter. What makes you feel so, all at once? Has some one saidanything?"

"Yes, Mr. Narrow gave me such a talking to when I asked him if it waswrong; for someway, I got so troubled that I did not know what else todo. "

"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 thatshe was half afraid of eternal punishment, something she had been invague terror of all her life. It had been impressed upon her so vividly, and now she was suffering from a keenly reproachful conscience, becausefor so long a time she had been indifferent and neglectful of herreligious duties. 

Grace finally persuaded her it would be all right to give the matter afair investigation. Then she went to sleep, comforted, for half hermisery had been caused by her indecision and wavering. 

When they read the letter together, Grace was delighted and Kate notmuch less so, though she demurred a little about some things. 

"What beautiful ideas of God! It seems plainer than anything I everheard. To say God is Principle, not person, makes it easier to apprehendHis omnipresence, " exclaimed Grace, laying down the letter. 

"Y-e-s, in one sense, " slowly assented Kate, "but in the Bible He isspoken of as Person, or at least as having personal attributes, and youknow they frequently refer to what He says and how He talked withAbraham. "

"O, I think that is figurative, if it is true at all. How can a beingwith a definite or outlined form be everywhere at the same time?"

"But surely, you believe His thoughts can be everywhere, and that iswhat is meant by this omnipresence, " said Kate, earnestly. 

"Then do you think of Him as sitting on a great golden throne, listeningto the petitions of men below, and able to hear and to grant or refuseat the same moment every prayer that is sent to Him by the millions ofHis 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 everywherewaiting for our recognition of its presence to become manifested tous?" 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 tome every time I ever tried to read it, but during these three weeks thatMrs. Hayden is gone, I am going to put away my preconceived opinions asfar as possible and see if I can learn something, and now let us get theBible 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 inwhich it occurs. "

Kate was well pleased, not only to make the Bible the foundation of thisstudy, but to find Grace so changed, and so ready to look into sacredthings. "Perhaps she will be converted, " she thought, and from thatmoment she, too, resolved to look fairly into Christian Healing. Shebrought the concordance and found there was no reference toomnipresence. 

"We'll look for present or presence, " suggested Grace. She glancedrapidly down the columns and found a reference to Ps. Cxxxix. And turnedto that. 

"Yes, in the seventh verse it says: 'Whither shall I go from thy spiritor whither shall I flee from thy presence?' and here is a marginalreference to Jer. Xxiii: 24. 'Can any hide himself in secret places thatI 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, " saidKate. 

"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; forall his ways are judgment; a God of truth and without iniquity, just andright is he. ' Yes, there He is compared to a rock. Of course that issymbolical, but find another. Isn't there one that tells of Him asspirit?"

"Yes, 'God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him inspirit and in truth, ' that is in John iv: 24, and in the first chapterof John it reads: 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was withGod 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 onlyanother 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 inthe Bible it speaks of God as truth, " said Kate, quite willing to giveall the corroborative testimony she could. 

"Truth can only be considered as principle, so we have that statementconfirmed by the Bible, and that would agree with what Pythagoraswrote, " said Grace, quoting: "'There is one Universal Soul diffusedthrough all things, eternal, invisible, unchangeable; in essence liketruth, in substance resembling light; ... To be comprehended only by themind. ' 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 Goodinstead of God, don't you?"

"Well, yes, it does seem peculiarly expressive, but the old way sounds alittle better yet. "

"Of course, " pursued Grace, "it doesn't matter so much what we call thisomnipresent power, as whether we understand it. All humanity worship thesame Deity in the sense of recognizing an omnipotent Power. I once readsomething comparing the ideas of God among the different peoples, and itwas really wonderful how similar they were, excepting, of course, eachnation had a different name for Deity. I believe I have that book nowsomewhere;" and Grace went to look for it, but presently returnedwithout finding it. "Well, it made such a vivid impression on me that Iremember a few of the principal statements. One was that the Hindoosteach of an omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent Being called Brehmwho is the creator of all things, from whom all things emanate and bywhom all things are sustained. The Persians, Egyptians, Greeks heldsimilar ideas. The Persians called God, Ormuzd, the Greeks, Orpheus, theEgyptians, Osiris. "

"I did not know the Pagans held such ideas of Deity. I always thoughtthey believed in many gods, " said Kate. 

"They did, but as Edward Everett Hale, says: 'The innumerable Gods ofthe Pantheon are but manifestations of the One Being, ' that is, they hadspecial names for the different manifestations of God, as He appeared tothem in the sun, the air, the earth, and also the different qualities ofhuman character. They all alike believed in a Supreme Being, and madestatements almost synonymous with many in the Bible. That is what may becalled universal truth, and if this philosophy is what is consistentwith fundamental truth, it will be just what I have been wishing tofind. " Grace leaned back meditatively, adding, "Mythology used to have apeculiar charm for me, and many of those old stories are coming backwith 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 deepabstraction. "There is but one Truth and we can not establish a falsity. But I want to carry my reflections a little further concerning thisuniversal worship. To my mind, the power inherent in everything andrecognized in some way by every individual is the supreme, perfect Powerin different phases of manifestation. The man who trusts an unseen powerto bring the seed he plants to full fruition, is believing in the trueGod, though he may not know it. 

"The whole world lives on faith from one year to another, for there isnot enough food produced in one season to last more than one year, andif men did not know every succeeding season would provide, they would bedesperate indeed. What is this but believing in a supreme Power? Evenmaterialists admit that the great First Cause is beyond matter. HerbertSpencer speaks of it as the 'Universal Reality, without beginning andwithout end. '"

"All people reverence and admire the sentiments of love and justice andtruth and mercy. Let us agree they come from the same cause and areeverywhere present, and we shall come nearer to worshiping God in spiritand in truth, than we ever have before. Now let's have your opinion, Queen Katherine, " concluded Grace, looking at Kate with a playful smileas she finished her long dissertation. 

"There is nothing I can add to that, and it seems a very good conclusionto our first lesson. I did not know you had thought so much aboutreligious 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 gladif there is an explanation to these things that have always puzzledme. "

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 Iawaited the second lecture. It was splendid, so comprehensive, and aboveall, so practical. It throws light on many puzzling points, and I amdelighted so far with what seems so plain and true. 

"Some of the members of the class seemed quite shocked at some of thestatements, but it is not strange that they should seem startling to onewho has never thought on the subject, for indeed, I should think itwould take a good while to get used to reasoning that is directlyopposite the world's first conclusions; still we are looking for resultsthat are quite contrary to what the world looks for, so we can afford tocollide with its opinions. When Mrs. Pearl came into the class room, allturned 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 ofthe universe, the Great Reality beside whom there is absolutely nothingin existence; but as we look around at the scenes of suffering andpoverty and ignorance, we are mightily tempted to disbelieve such astatement. 

"'Talk of omnipotent Light in the midst of midnight darkness!' youexclaim. Ah, but you are to remember we are talking of the realcreation; the invisible and unapparent instead of the visible andapparent; the changeless and eternal instead of the evanescent anddecaying. 

"If God is the only Reality, His creation is the only real creation. Theword real is applied to that which actually exists, which forever is, not to that which seems or appears; therefore, in speaking of the realwe mean the changeless and invisible. 

"If God is the only Mind, His are the only real thoughts, and thoughtsare invisible to the eye, but discernible to the mind or consciousness. 

"If God is everywhere, there is no possible place or space in theuniverse where God is not; hence He is all there is. One of our modernprophets wisely wrote: 'Has not a deeper meditation taught certain ofevery clime and age that the Where and the When so mysteriouslyinseparable from all our thoughts, are but superficial adhesions tothought; that the Seer may discern them where they mount up out of thecelestial Everywhere and Forever. Have not all nations conceived theirGod as omnipresent and eternal, as existing in a universal Here, aneverlasting Now?

"'Think well, thou too wilt find that space is but a mode of our humansense, so likewise Time. There is no space and no time. _We_ are--weknow not what; light sparkles floating in the ether of Deity. So this sosolid seeming world, were, after all, but an air-image--our _me_ theonly reality. '

"This me is the spiritual self, the individual idea of God, His imageand likeness. 

"What then, about this body, which is not spiritual, you ask? What aboutthe material universe?

"Wait a moment. Think of the premise. As God the invisible is thechangeless, what is the variable, fleeting, visible unreality? The realis everlasting, the unreal is transitory. The real is called Spirit, theunreal matter. 

"What is Spirit? The underlying omnipresent substance that we call God. 

"What is matter? The counterfeit, shadow, emblem, showing that Spiritexists or is. 

"We read in a very ancient Hindoo Scripture: 'Those who haveunderstanding, whose thought is pure, see the entire universe as thepicture of Thy wisdom;' and the thoughtful Carlyle said: 'All visiblethings are emblems.... Matter represents some idea and bodies it forth. '

"These thoughts are in perfect accord with the principles laid down inour premise, hence we find that as we believe matter, believe the bodyto be the real creation, we are believing a falsity. This is the idol weare worshiping instead of the true and only God. The grand visibleuniverse in which we see so many beauties, so many charms, is but themighty object lesson before us by which we may learn of the infinite, invisible All. As Theodore Parker said: 'The universe itself is a greatautograph of the Almighty. '

"The characters used in mathematics do not constitute the science butmerely represent to the senses the invisible ideas of the principle ofmathematics. The visible does not constitute the invisible, but maycarry its messages as we learn to read its poetic and mystic pages. Thevisible 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 noother name for it than as the unreal, and the unreal being a counterfeitof the real, must be a lie, as the nature of a lie is to make falseclaims, pretending they are true. 

"Matter is a counterfeit because it is not genuine or of God, because itis changeable and fleeting, because being limited to a visible form, itmust 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 haveadded to the world's spiritual ideas revealed by their study of thefinite as well as their intuitive knowledge of the infinite. CharlesKingsley gives us a hint of how to learn: 'Do not study matter for itsown sake but as the countenance of God. Try to extract every line ofbeauty, every association, every moral reflection, every inexpressiblefeeling from it. '

"Our ideas of matter must then be entirely changed, and we must learn tolook beyond the seeming, to the true. We have believed in the realityof matter and material environment because of reasoning from the falsebasis that man is material or that he is a mixture of material andspiritual. To believe that the flesh and blood of our sister or brotheris their real self, is to believe God capable of creating somethingutterly unlike himself (John iii, James i. ) which may suffer, sin anddie, and if He is all perfection, He can not know imperfection. If He isall spirit, He can not know or be matter. Keep before your mind theperfection, omnipotence, omnipresence of Spirit, God or Principle, andyou will see more and more clearly the inconsistency of anythingopposite Him emanating from Him. 

"Believing in matter as a reality, we have endowed it with all the powerof the real, have ascribed to it life, substance and intelligence, whenit possesses neither. 

"Where is the life when the body dies? If life were inherent in thephysical body, could it ever cease to be? God the eternal life principlecan not cease to be. The life manifested through the body is the lifewhich is God and can not be affected by the decay or disappearance ofthe body. 

"The invisible essence of life is also the true substance, the reliableand changeless something, upon which we may forever depend. We use theword substance in its etymological sense (from _sub_, under and _stare_, to stand), and since Spirit or Mind is the reality that underlies everymaterial or sensible object, there is no substance to the object itself. 

"Plato taught that '_ideas_, are the only _real_ things. ' Ideas areexpressions of thoughts, and thoughts are expressions of mind, and thisreasoning brings us back to God as Mind and Mind as Cause. AdmittingMind or Spirit to be the life and substance back of or expressing itselfthrough the body, we may easily see that intelligence can not existapart from Mind, and hence can not belong to matter. 

"That the mind or intelligence is seated in the gray convolutions of thebrain, is held by the materialists, and yet Dr. Laycock affirms 'thatmatter is fundamentally nothing more than that which is the seat ofmotion to ends, of which mind is the source and cause. ' Professor Huxleycrowns the statement by saying, 'That which perceives or knows is mindor spirit, and therefore, that knowledge which the senses give us, is, after all, a knowledge of spiritual phenomena. ' Professor Faraday heldto the immateriality of physical objects. 

"In the language of Jesus the Christ, we are told, 'Spirit is all, theflesh profiteth nothing;' thus from all classes of conscientious butconfessedly diverse thinkers, we find statements of universal truth, andthis is what the hungry, starving world is seeking with more earnestnessthan ever before. 

"Since there is no life, substance or intelligence in matter, it will becomparatively easy to prove that there can be no sensation, for wherethere is no life in the body, there can be no feeling. Even thephysiologists tell us mind must know pain before it can be located inthe body. We state therefore a theorem which is practicallydemonstrated; there is no sensation in matter. 

"As we visit penitentiaries, reform schools and hospitals, as we readand hear the startling statements of press and pulpit, we growdisconsolate and heavy-hearted over the awful power and reality of evil, forgetting again that He who is perfect goodness can not behold evil orin any way permit its existence, any more than heat can permit cold, orlight can permit darkness. 

"Granting the omnipotence of Good, where is there any room for itsopposite?

"If there is but one Power, and that omnipotent and perfect, there canbe no evil _in reality_; hence we are dealing with another lie when wejudge according to appearances, which Jesus said we should not do. It isreally disloyalty to God to impute to Him all misery, pain, sickness andsuffering caused by the evil and ignorance of man. We are told: 'Letyour soul be subject to the higher powers, for there is no power but ofGod. ' Because we have not done so, but have believed in every claimpower, we suffer from 'evils which our own misdeeds have wrought, ' asMilton wrote, or, in the words of Emerson, 'we _mis_create our ownevils. '

"Jeremiah said: 'It is your sins that have withholden the good thingsfrom you. '

"According to Webster, 'sin is a transgression of the law of God. ' Thereis but one law--the perfect and unchangeable Truth. Any deviation fromTruth is error, and error is sin. In proportion as we deviate from thestrictly true, then, we sin. Because we admit things to be true whichare 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 untorighteousness, ' 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 thelaw, because, according to our established premise, it cannot be true. 

"Through a misconception of our relation to God, and a belief in thepower 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 theonly Reality, in which or in whom are all things that eternally are, notthat temporarily appear. 

"We have believed in a mind or power of thought opposite and contrary toGod, when in reality there can be nothing opposite or contrary toeternal Mind. We have believed ourselves endowed with a mind separatefrom 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 orcarnal 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 negativeclaim, and in so far as we are ignorant of the true, we are in bondageto 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 powerseparate or opposite from God, is to be subject to any suppositions orbeliefs formulated by that mind or negative thought. 

"That we are spiritually perfect is true, but it is necessary for us toprove that fact by 'working out our own salvation, ' by manifesting thepositive or God quality of thought through our life and actions, and theonly way to be filled with good thought is to recognize and acknowledgethe Good only as the real. 

"This error, tempter or devil, was spoken of by Jesus as having notruth, 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 betterterm for the expression of this power of thinking. 

"'Why have we this power of thinking wrong thoughts when there is butone good and only Mind?' you ask. As God's idea, in the image andlikeness of Mind that thinks, we have the power of recognition, thepower to be or not to be, the possibility to become sons of God. We havethe power to distinguish, to judge, to know; we have the spirit thatever leads us on and on in truth. 

"But here is where we fail. In our ignorance or limited state ofunfoldment, we have mistaken the symbol for that which is symbolizedmatter is the symbol, as also the body, we have judged according toappearances instead of righteous or strictly true judgment; we haveyielded to a belief in sin, hence are servants of sin. 

"The conception of matter as having power, is based on appearances, andbecause we have delegated to it a power, have acknowledged it as anentity, separate from the eternal mind, it has enslaved us. 

"Reasoning in this way we find everywhere two opposites orcontradictories to be recognized and judged, as the visible and theinvisible, the material and the spiritual, the false and the true, themortal and the immortal, the unreal and the real, the negative and thepositive. 

"Judging of the true by that which is changeless and eternal, we candecide at once on those qualities or attributes belonging to ordescribing what is true, and by knowing what is true, we can readilydistinguish it from the erroneous. 

"We have considered these great errors or negatives which the world hasbelieved and still believes in, and they must be dealt with according toscientific law. 

"Through all the ages of Christianity have been heard the words of theMaster: 'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take uphis cross and follow me;' but who has understood it? The letter of thelaw has indeed been observed by many earnest followers of Jesus to adegree not considered necessary in this age, but what has itdemonstrated? What has come of all the fasting and renunciation, thecruel asceticism and severe discipline?

"Do these conscientious disciples give an unmistakable proof of theirdiscipleship by showing the signs that must follow the true believer?How can they when they talk of sin, sickness and death; of thingscontradictory to the nature, power and presence of God?

"Then they must not have understood the spiritual import of these wordsof Jesus to 'deny himself. ' Deny means, according to Webster, 'tocontradict; to declare not to be true; to disclaim connection with; torefuse to acknowledge; to disown. ' Jesus meant deny the mortal thought, the false self; refuse to acknowledge it as having any authority; and itis only as the Christ follower proves this to be the true mode ofdenying self, that he can speak with authority as to the scientificmethod of dealing with all the errors to which mortal thought givesbirth. 

"No other way has brought the desired result; hence we confidentlyassert that all these mistakes agreed to and participated in by mankindmust 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 thatmust be laid down, that must be sacrificed, lost. 

"Humanity has proven its subjection to these errors. Now, by itsfaithful rejection of them, let it prove them lies, for the force of alie is always annulled by rejection. This proves the law referred to byJesus 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; itmay be mechanically at first, but say them over, several hours at atime, if possible. 

"More is accomplished by concentration than anybody is aware, and therepetition of the words helps to concentrate the thought. First repeatthe whole list of denials, then select one on which to spend most of thetime for several days. The denial of matter, for instance, makes us morespiritually minded. 

"When denying, try to realize there is no space, but that anywhere yousend your thought it will go, and as you think or say the words, youwill be denying error for the world as well as for yourself, as everythought is world-wide in its influence, and helps to free or bindhumanity, 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 cangive it. After Mrs. Pearl had finished the lesson, she requested theclass to sit in silence a few moments and together hold the thought, 'There is no reality in matter;' after which we were dismissed with thisbenediction: 'May we realize that God _is_, that spirit is the onlyreality. '

"The lessons are always opened by silent prayer, which I have forgottento mention before. 

"Please, dear husband, observe these rules and study every assertion ascarefully as though you were in the class. You, and Grace, and Kate, canaccomplish a great deal together; but by all means don't pass judgmenttill 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 theroom, 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 Iwanted 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 whenyour mind is filled with stoves and tea-pots. "

Kate smiled, and drawing her chair up beside Grace, she listened to thereading, while her face alternately brightened or darkened. 

"Well, it sounds very beautiful and very plausible, but I can't see howany one can say there is no evil when the world is full of it, and tosay there is no sin, sickness or death! why, that is blasphemous! I knowthe Bible won't corroborate that, " she said, in a horrified voice, atthe conclusion of the letter. 

"Hold on, we must not be so fast; there are good reasons for everystatement, and she says it is necessary to say these denials over andover. It is harder for me to believe there is no matter, but if there isa way to prove there is none, then I will submit. But first let us seewhat the Bible says, " said the more moderate Grace. 

She got the Bible and concordance, but could find no reference to matteras pertaining to physical creation, but she found under the word "flesh"an allusion to John i: 12-13, and iii: 6. "The first reads, " beganGrace, "'But as many as received him, to them gave he power to becomethe 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, butof God. ' That evidently refers to a creation possible to all, but whereis the authority for saying 'there is no matter'?"

She pondered a moment, then referred to the letter--"Oh, I see! Shesays, 'no _reality_ in matter, ' and then goes on to explain about thereal. 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 profitethnothing, ' but--"

"That's so. Why didn't we think of that before? Besides, it was taughtby the ancient philosophers as much as 4, 000 years ago, that matter hasno reality. Yes, its plain to see how it can be, theoretically, butwhere they can demonstrate it practically, puzzles me. Here is areference; let us see if that will tell us something. "

She read Heb. Xi: 3: "'Through faith we understand that the worlds wereframed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not madeof 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 anythingin that. Let us bear in mind, " she continued, "she does not say there isno appearance, but no reality in evil. Among the first references, Ifind one to the twenty-third Psalm: 'I will fear no evil, for thou artwith me. ' How plain that is! Of course there can be no evil where Godis, 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, andthe wicked people who commit them, " demurred Kate, with an incredulouslook. 

"We haven't got far enough to solve everything; listen to this: 'Onlywith 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 oppositeGod, and with the mind of the spirit we discern spiritual things; thatis in Romans somewhere, " exclaimed Kate, with a gleam of understandingin 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 mindis 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 allthoughts opposite God and God's creations are of the animal man, henceat enmity with God, and since there is nothing real but God and Hiscreations, 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 understandthose 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 essenceof the whole lesson, " and she read: "'He that walketh righteously, andspeaketh uprightly' (according to the true creation), 'he that despiseththe gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hand from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes fromseeing evil; He shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be themunitions of rocks; bread shall be given him; his waters shall besure. '"

"I really did not know there was such a passage in the Bible, and Idon't see why other people haven't found it before, " said Kate, quitewon 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 isall, besides, when a person dies the organs of the body may be perfect, but there is no life or feeling, and according to this newunderstanding, no substance, " explained Kate, in her turn. 

"I can see it well enough as a theory, but what all this has to do withpractical every-day living, is a mystery to me. "

"'We haven't got far enough to solve everything, ' somebody said to meonce, and here it is for you, " remarked Kate, with a spice of mischiefin her tone. 

"All right, what next?"

"No sensation or causation in matter; but I think that is answered thesame way as the other. But this last one; I do wonder if the Biblecorroborates it?" Kate looked troubled again, as she read: "'There is nosin, sickness nor death. '"

"The same reasoning applies to that as to all the rest. There is noreality to anything but God's creation, and that is changeless andperfect. 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, butit doth not yet appear what we shall be;' that of course is an assertionof our spiritual self. Then verse nine says: 'Whosoever is born of Goddoth 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 tothe 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, andsuggests 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. Imean to do it, " said Grace, shutting her book with a snap and pacingback 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 asinteresting 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 ofthe rules. Each sat silently thinking, according to directions: "Thereis no reality in matter, there is no reality in matter, " etc. For twohours neither spoke. Then Kate said: "I feel so light; as though therewere 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 orthought; that spirit is limitless and God is everywhere. "

She seemed lost in her new thoughts, and went to bed as though she weredreaming. Grace had experienced nothing but a sense of dullness andextreme 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 fromhome, and especially Fred's and Jamie's baby efforts. They wanted tosend mamma their love, and the straggling characters meant for words, convey as much meaning as though they were in good English, for theyspeak to me in unmistakable language. Why do I understand so well? Ah, John, I see. Because, being filled with love for them, I recognize thesame quality in what they feel for me, and only need a sign to read themeaning back of it. 

"As I write, new light comes to me regarding the real meaning of signsand symbols. Until we are filled with a desire and love for God, we cannot perceive or understand the real meaning of the universe, can notread God's love for us. Until we have a conscious apprehension thatthere is a spiritual knowledge, we can not recognize spiritual truth. 

"Oh, I can not help wishing you had been here to-day! It was simplygrand; such an uplifting, such a glimpse of the wondrous Now. We learnedabout what _is_, what we _are_ and how to prove ourselves God'schildren. Mrs. Pearl opened with a few words on the use and necessity ofsilence, after which we were all silent awhile, when she commenced:

"Garfield said, 'The world's history is a divine poem, of which thehistory of every nation is a canto and every man a word. Its strainshave been pealing along down the centuries, and though there have beenthe discords of warring cannon and dying men, yet to the Christian, thephilosopher, the historian and the humble listener, there has been adivine melody running through the song, which speaks of hope and halcyondays to come. '

"What has made possible this divine melody but the spirit of love andtruth 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 whichto found hopes of 'halcyon days?'

"Not from the visible man of flesh and blood do all things beautiful andtrue emanate, nor from the material and unstable, but from the onesource that is God, as apprehended and realized by His idea, the real, invisible, spiritual man. Beauty, worth, can only be in idea orunderstanding. 

"What made Milton, Shakespeare, Emerson, truly great was theirappropriation and manifestation of the invisible inheritance of spirit, mind. 

"What is man without intelligence, without love, without life, withouttruth? 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 individualis a manifestation of the God-power and presence. There is but one realMind, and all real or positive thought or intelligence is themanifestation of Mind, which is God. There is but one real Intelligence, and the intelligence manifested by the individual is the Intelligencewhich is God. 

"God is absolutely one Verity, the primordial Essence. But how shall weknow 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 onewith Him, and to be one with God is to know absolute Truth. We areconditioned by the thoughts we think and by the words we speak. Bythinking and speaking right words we manifest true conditions; bythinking and speaking wrong words we manifest false conditions. 'As aman 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 thespirit of God, having the same mind as Christ. '

"In order to realize the essence of these words, in order to realize theessence of any truth, we must enter into its meaning by becoming onewith it, by making ourselves the expression of its harmony, the pictureof its idea. 

"Knowing the potency of the word, we say the true words over and overagain, silently or audibly, we think of them in every possible way, withvaried expression if we will, as it is the thought, the prime idea thatwe are seeking to manifest. 

"We want the true salvation; 'we want to be filled with the spirit;' wewant the truth that makes free; we want strength, justice, wisdom. Tosecure these we have only to rid ourselves of the false and be filledwith the true. 

"By the positive denial of a lie we annul the lie; by the positiveaffirmation of truth we establish truth, or rather our consciousness oftruth is established; thus, as we deny error or affirm truth, are wecarried forward and upward. These are the 'wonderful words of life' thatclothe 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 westand 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 newmeanings flash upon us, new thoughts are born, new interpretations cometo efface the more obscure ones of the past. It may be easier to followevery denial with its corresponding affirmation; if so, study the lessonthat 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 everyconceivable way. Make every tiny leaf and slender blade of grass tellyou something of the infinite Life. Bear in mind that every where lifeis manifested, whether in plant, animal or man, wherever we look thereis omnipresent Life. 

"God is Life. This same Life is our life, which can not be taken awayfrom 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 onforever. '

"God is Truth, all truth, wheresoever or by whomsoever recognized, isthe everlasting Truth that must forever be. 

"There is not a community or church, not a society or family, but isorganized and held together by some phase of the all-embracing andperfect Truth. The different sects and parties are only differentbecause certain people see the same side of Truth, and preferring to beof one mind, they separate or unite and build their respectivesanctuaries. 

"'Truth is always present, and we only need to lift the iron lids of themind's eye to read its oracles, ' said Emerson. When the 'iron lids' arelifted we shall see as one, we shall belong to the Church of theuniverse and the oracle shall reveal to us its deepest secrets and mostsacred mysteries. 

"Truth _is_. All that we have, can have, or will have or can conceiveof, exists in the ever present Here and Now. It only remains for us torecognize and acknowledge it. 

"God is Love. To realize the mighty sea of omnipotent Love that enfoldsand blesses humanity, would be to plunge into the healing waters ofBethesda. Like the sick man, we wait until the majestic Christ commandsus to arise--help ourselves, instead of waiting for others to put usinto the cleansing current. Let us recognize, then, the allness, thetenderness, the sacredness of this divine Love by submerging ourselvesin it, until all thoughts of evil, suffering or hatred are lost in itsembrace. 

"'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 belifted away, that into our consciousness may come the high tide ofomnipresent Love. 'Love alone is wisdom, love alone is power, and whenlove seems to fail it is where self has stepped in and dulled thepotency of its rays. '

"God is our substance. True substance alone is reliable. God is our rodand our staff. Firmly relying on the Rock of substance which is God, wecan not be shaken, can not be destroyed. Though all seeming powerstotter 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 errorand affirm all Truth is the way to appropriate whatsoever we desire tomanifest. Deny weakness and affirm strength, deny discord and affirmharmony, deny sickness and affirm health. Why? Because we erase thefalse beliefs of weakness, discord, sickness, by the denial, andappropriate 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 toadmit any belief of dullness and ignorance, but gratefully acknowledgeour likeness to God our Wisdom. We refuse to entertain anything contraryto the Good, but fellowship only with God-like qualities. They are oursby right of inheritance. We gladly claim them and prove our claim by ourmanifestation. 

"Cleansing our consciousness from false conceptions, what wondrous powermay we not reflect! Our sufficiency is of God, not of ourselves, and toHim 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 highestconception 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 oneend of life--God or chaos is the only alternative. ' We say God worksthrough man to will and to do, and implicitly trust the divineIntelligence that guides every waiting child. 

"We choose the Good and reverently await our leadings. In every stormytrial, in every doubtful moment, in every hard-pressed circumstance westand aside and let the divine will work through us. There can be nomistaking this standing aside. It is not to sit down idly with nothought of responsibility or effort, but it is to do the best we can sofar as we know, constantly awaiting more knowledge of God's will andmore strength to do. 

"When the will of man is at one with the will of God, when man realizeshis mortal nothingness and the allness of God, there is divine andperfect 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. ' Thereal _I_ is governed by spirit, as an idea is governed by the mind thatthinks it. The real creation, being spiritual, can not be subject tomortal beliefs or 'carnal mind which is at enmity with God. ' With spiritthere can be no sin, sickness nor death, for these are enemies to beovercome by the Son of God, the Christ within. 'Thou wilt keep him inperfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee. ' 'The last enemy (belief) tobe overcome is death. '

"Until we persistently refuse to judge according to appearances, andacknowledge the true and invisible, we will continue in our old code ofbeliefs and be at the mercy of the consequences. 

"When we recognize the Christ or God principle within, we are then trulythe sons and daughters of God. Spiritual insight gives a logical and tosome, a new meaning to the term Christ. Christ means Truth and Truthmeans God. 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God andthe Word was God, and the Word was made manifest in the flesh, or theWord was made flesh and dwelt among us. '

"'Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. ' Jesus said ofHimself, 'I am the way, the truth and the life. ' But He did not speakthis 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, thetruth and the life. If you will substitute Truth for Christ any place inthe Bible, with this understanding, you will be able to read andapprehend as never before. In this line of thought read the thirty-fifthchapter of Isaiah, the title of which is 'The joyful flourishing ofChrist's (Truth's) kingdom. ' With this understanding, we so much moreclearly see what Paul meant when he said such things as 'Your life ishid with Christ in God, ' 'Christ in you, the hope of glory, ' 'UntilChrist be formed in you, ' and many other similar expressions. In theeighth chapter of Romans, especially the first verse, it is much clearerby reading with this new spiritual signification. 'There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus (Truth), who walknot after the flesh but after the spirit. ' Who could ever believe thephysical Jesus was meant? No: Christ was exactly what the first chapterof John says He was, the Word (or Truth) made manifest in the flesh, andthe name of the flesh was Jesus. 

"Jesus Christ means Jesus, the manifestation of Truth, and this explainsmany hitherto obscure passages, which are exceedingly hard tounderstand, when the flesh and spirit are regarded as one. 

"What vast possibilities unfold to the human being persistent in hissearch for truth! What a glorious realm of knowledge, what wonderfulpower, what blissful peace, for he will have 'put on the new man, whichis renewed in knowledge after the image of him that creates him. ' Hewill have attained the clear vision of liberty, for he will no longer bebound to the 'letter that killeth' but be filled with the 'spirit thatgiveth life. '

"The silence at the close seemed like a baptism of peace. To me came therealization of the intimate relationship of God's children to theirFather, 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, andfortunately I have made the acquaintance of the shorthand reporter inthe 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 thingsmuch more readily than I. In fact, I am afraid I should have given up indisgust had not she helped me out, for some of the statements seemed sounreasonable. "

"They are rather inconsistent in some respects, I must admit; but if wewill only be patient, and not allow prejudice to color our judgment, everything will straighten out, " replied Mr. Hayden, smiling. "Younotice Marion is careful to warn me not to judge hastily. She knows howI 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 tomake a fair and impartial investigation. "

"Do you follow directions about denying?" Kate asked, as they walkedalong. 

"I am trying to, but of course my days are busy, and evenings somewhattaken up with the children. Still, I deny matter as being inert, havingabsolutely no power of itself, except what is delegated to it by thesenses. I know it has no life, intelligence or causation of itself, butonly as man in his ignorance allows it to have. This has been held bywise men of all ages. I have an idea this way of thinking will help mein business as well as socially and religiously. "

"I am glad to hear that, " said Kate; "though I must confess at first Iwas very much afraid to look into this; but last night I had a veryclear assurance that there is something in it. Grace and I denied a longtime, and I had a most peculiar experience. Such a strange, exaltedfeeling, as if there were no weight about me, and it was very clear thatthere is no reality in matter. "

"Remarkable!" murmured Mr. Hayden. "Suppose you come down Sunday andwe'll compare notes, " he suggested, as he turned the corner toward home. 

"We will, " she promised, and went on with a hurried step, anxious toread the letter, for she was now as interested as Grace. When shearrived at their rooms she found her friend had gone out, so she wentabout the domestic duties, resolving to have everything ready when Gracereturned. 

"Isn't that a beautiful lesson?" exclaimed Grace, when they finally satdown to study, later in the evening. 

"Perfectly grand; but I want the Bible corroboration, though I am notafraid it is not there this time. "

"Of course everything that proves the theory helps to establish theconsequent facts, and I suspect all things prove it when we understandit. Well, here is the first statement about God that is about the sameas 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 saidunto her, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth andbelieveth in me shall never die. ' What can that mean, Grace?"

"Wait a moment, " said Grace, silently pondering. Then she looked againat the letter. "Why, of course! How could we forget so easily? I had itjust a moment ago. Jesus never referred to his flesh and blood when hespoke of himself as life, resurrection, truth, bread, but always meantthe Spirit of God that was manifest in him, and the Spirit of God whichis 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 anotherpassage. "

Kate read John vi: 51-64, and then added, anxiously, "it seems to growmore mysterious all the time. "

"Never mind, let us be patient. Read the fifty-first and sixty-thirdverses again. "

Kate read, "'I am the living bread which came down from heaven, if anyman eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I willgive is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.... It isthe spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing, the words thatI speak unto you they are spirit and they are life. '"

"That last clause is the key to all, " exclaimed Grace, eagerly. "He wasthe 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 hisword. Now let us look up Word, since so much hinges upon that. "

Rapidly turning over the leaves, Kate read again, John xv: 7: "'If yeabide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and itshall be done unto you. '"

"There we have it. Christ, we must remember, means Truth. If we abide inthe Truth and the words of Truth abide in us, that is, in order to eatthe flesh and drink the blood of Christ, we are to abide in the spiritand 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 ourlife, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. ' EvenI, can see that, " cried the delighted Kate, "and I remember a verse inEphesians, iv: 18, that will make it still plainer. Here it is: 'Havingthe understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God throughthe ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart'(mind). Ignorance is the opposite of truth, and one who is ignorant oftruth is subject to the carnal mind which leads to death. When we knowtruth, we know the opposite of death, which is life, so when Christ theTruth, which is life, shall appear, we shall be glorified with theknowledge of eternal life, and just as far as we realize truth wemanifest it, do we not?" She appealed to Grace, as if the thought weretoo good to be true, and must needs be confirmed before she couldbelieve it. 

"Manifest it? Why yes; I suppose so; that means in the body, " answeredGrace, thinking deeply; "manifest truth in the body. Of course, " shecontinued, "we will show forth a more perfect body in proportion as weacknowledge and realize more perfect thought. How strangely we lose ourpremise! If this could not be reasoned out so clearly, I should get alltangled 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 inthese 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 thanI, for you can get it spiritually or intuitively, while I get it onlyintellectually, and the intuition flies where reason walks. You had aperception of the unreality of matter last night and I had nothing atall but stupidity and sleepiness. But let us go on. I am more deeplyinterested than I can tell, and the Bible is a new book to me. I neverdreamed there were such treasures of truth in it. No matter where Iread in the Bible before, I could not understand, and then I stoppedtrying, but it is very different now. "

"What is the next point in the lesson?" asked Kate, taking up the Bibleagain. 

"I am the child of God. Look for child. "

"Yes, in Rom. Viii: 16, 17: 'The spirit itself beareth witness with ourspirit, that we are children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirsof 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 withhim, mortify the flesh, lay down the life of appetites and passions andtalk continually of spiritual things; in short, live the life that Jesusdid. "

"Here in Gal. Iv: 1: 'The heir, as long as he is a child, differethnothing from a servant, though he is lord of all, '" read Kate. 

"While he has a child's ignorance of his inheritance, of course he couldnot enjoy its possession, and the longer he remains ignorant, the longerwill he have the station of a servant, " explained Grace, readily. 

"But there is a seeming conflict in the two passages. The first says thespirit 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 aservant, " said Kate, in perplexity again. 

"But isn't there a place in the Testament somewhere about being bornagain?" 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 thisstudy at least. 

"John, iii: 3-7, reads: 'Except a man be born again, he can not see thekingdom of God.... That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that whichis 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 notmean we are born into the spiritual knowledge by abiding in the words oftruth?" reasoned Grace. 

"Why, that is it, I do believe, and one of the last verses of the thirdchapter of Galatians says, 'for ye are all the children of God by faithin Christ Jesus. '"

"By faith in the Truth, " amended Grace, for the sake of the clearermeaning. 

"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 ownwill begat he us with the word of truth, that we might be a kind offirst fruits of his creatures. ' My youthful Sunday school training isnot 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 caninterpret them, and that is certainly essential to the understanding, "replied Kate, thoughtfully, as she drew her hand slowly over the openpage. 

"Mrs. Hayden refers to the liberty brought by the spirit. Suppose youlook 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 thespirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.... But we all, beholding as ina glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image fromglory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. '"

"Why, Grace, " exclaimed Kate, shutting the book in her eagerness, "I seeit all now. By denial we take away falsities that bar us from lookinginto 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'tthat 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 thinkabout it now, " said Grace, with a yawn, betraying fatigue for the firsttime. 

"Why, Grace, a little while ago you said you were 'so interested. ' Whathas 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 weget through with this looking up, and then I must have a good longthink. " She playfully chucked Kate under her chin, and asked her "to goon, " but the searching was not so spontaneous as before, and in thespontaneity of study lies the acquisition of knowledge. 

Grace, it must be confessed, was compelling herself to a thoroughintellectual investigation which, till now, had been a novel pleasure, but was getting a little monotonous, although she was deeply interestedand more pleased with the Bible readings than she would have thoughtpossible, because, as she had said herself, the Bible had been a sealedbook to her before. She was very careful to conceal this new feelingfrom 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 todo of his good pleasure. ' That subordination to the will of God runs allthrough the New Testament. "

"Here is the last one, " resumed Grace, referring to the letter again. "Iam 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 tosay such things, " interposed Kate, darkening again. 

She looked up a reference to sin and turned to the sixth chapter ofRomans. "I don't see very clearly yet, " she faltered, after she hadfinished the chapter. 

"Yes, in the 16th verse is the key to it all, " said Grace, looking overthe page with her. "The idea is, if we admit sin or talk about it, weare committing sin, for it is wrong to do either. "

"I understand a little better now, but it is not an easy matter to be sogood, " sighed Kate. 

"But we are given these rules in order to know _how_ to be good. Let ussit 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 theywere 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'sexperience, for, strange as it may seem, I awoke with the same oldheadache and pain in my limb, and felt so dull and stupid, that I wasalmost doubtful whether I had ever known anything. In vain I tried totreat myself, but the more I tried the more perplexed I became, untilabout noon, when I began to feel better, though the whole day was anovel and rather disagreeable experience. When I went into class to-day, from nearly every quarter was heard a similar story of how the day ofrest had been passed. 

"It was more and more astonishing. Dr. Bright had hardly recovered fromher sick headache; Mrs. Dawn was still feeling stupid; two ladies werenot able to attend class; Dr. Johnson and Dr. Lorimer actually lookedangry, and the two ministers in the class were gravely discussing theknotty points and knitting their clerical brows over 'doubtfulexplanations' as they called them, while a perplexed and troubled airseemed to settle on everybody. But there are a few old students in theclass, and they looked at us with a knowing smile, saying: 'This is onlychemicalization; you will be all the brighter after you get over it. '

"They did not explain further, but I knew something about it from theexperience we have had, but had never thought of it in that light. 'Itis a comfort to know there is some prospect of an end to our darknessanyway, ' said Mrs. Dawn, with a long-drawn breath of relief, voicing thesentiments of all. 

"The kind and gracious look Mrs. Pearl gave us as she came in, sent awave of peace and satisfaction over me, for I felt that she understoodthe situation and would lift the curtains and let in the light. 

"After the usual silence, which seemed longer than before, Mrs. Pearlbegan in a calm clear voice:

"We have come now to a point where it seems necessary to explain theprocess of growth, and the phenomenal changes which take place atcertain stages of our development, whether known or unknown to theindividual. 

"Hitherto we have recognized material ideas, objects and processes. Wehave looked upon our physical being as the indisputable creation subjectto all changes, circumstances or conditions. Having experienced amaterial birth, we conceive of no other as being either possible ornecessary, and like Nicodemus we go in the night of our ignorance to askthe divine Teacher, Truth, questions concerning spiritual things, onlyto be told we must be born from above if we would know the things ofthe spirit. 'That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which isborn of Spirit is spirit. '

"We are covered with the cold, hard shell of material beliefs, whichmust be broken and cast away before the sweet and tender germ of spiritcan 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 andunconscious being. The more constantly and persistently we hold thedesire, the more rapid and perfect will be the development that producesthe fruit. The hard little kernel must first lie in the dark earth, while hidden forces make it swell and sprout until the outer shell diesand falls away, leaving the pure white germ to push its way up and upthrough the cold dreary earth. At this period it is very delicate andtender, and yet it must pass through a trying stage, for when the whitespire just peeps above the ground it has to encounter elements that atfirst seem bent upon its destruction. 

"Will the sun's rays now prove too hot for it? Will the winds be toorough and stormy? Will the cold air bite, or the storm beat and bruiseit unto death? Pointing ever skyward, does it stop to shiver at theprospect of dark and cold and heat, or windy violence?

"Let us see. Bravely the young shoot goes its way. As soon as it seesthe light it displays new beauty, and the reflected glory clothes it ina 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 stormour little friend is greener and brighter and larger than ever. It haswithstood 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 andwarmth and light, and joyously springs on toward budding time, and thenanother and different experience befalls. Instead of rolling every newleaf outward to be bathed in the light and kissed by the wind, there isa rolling inward, a curling up and shutting in of the new and delicateleaves. A hard, unlovely roll or lump now displays itself on the greenstem, and every day the roll becomes larger and harder. The green stalknever questions, though for a time her face is veiled. She lives in thewaiting silence, content with what is. One bright day she looks at herugly bud and finds it a rare blossom of surpassing beauty and sweetestfragrance. Thus is born the fair-robed lily, pure emblem of the child ofGod. 

"But we have many and various symbols of divine thought in the many andvarious flowers, from which we learn divine lessons. There are theviolets that come so early in the spring, with their wildwood fragranceand dainty blue cloaks, and the lovely roses of summer, the goldenrodsand asters of autumn, while among the rarer kinds we have thenight-blooming cereus, the beautiful but slow blossoming century plant, and many others. These are types and symbols of ourselves and ourprocess 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 atwhat 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 blowethwhere it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tellwhence it cometh or whither it goeth, so is every one that is born ofthe spirit. '

"The wonderful seed (desire for truth) we have planted must be moistenedby the water of right words, warmed by the sunshine of faith, fed by thedew of patience. 

"Our trials will be similar in character to the flowers, and the outcomewill be the same in proportion as we follow their example ofunquestioning faithfulness. 

"The very desire to grow is a challenge to the elements that _seem_ tooppose growth, but the plant overcomes all obstacles by itsnon-resistance, and herein lies one of our most valuable lessons. 

"In our progress we meet with many conditions and circumstances that tryus, that seem indeed to call in question our earnestness in thusstarting out, with new assumptions. Sometimes these adverse conditionsare called trials of faith and they may come to us in one way oranother, sometimes in sickness, sometimes in misunderstandings, sometimes in grief, sometimes in disagreeable duties. 

"Peculiarities of disposition that we thought overcome, may manifestthemselves very unexpectedly and cause us great annoyance, not onlybecause we may have congratulated ourselves on having risen above them, but because it would be a mortification to us to have our friends knowthat we who believe in the possibility of such high moral attainments, should be guilty of these old weaknesses and follies. In every way, thetempter--mortal thought--may show us the fallibility of human nature andtempt us to disbelieve in our high ideals. 

"The forty days' temptation in the wilderness is the soul history ofevery human being who starts out to lead the life of Jesus. Tempted ineverything as we are, he was the type of strength, purity andfaithfulness to principles, which we most earnestly should seek tofollow. After his baptism, 'He was conducted by the spirit into thedesert to be tempted by the enemy. '

"We are baptized by the spirit when we have come into the realization ofour sonship and daughtership, our true relation to the divine Father andMother Love, and have consecrated our lives to the service of Truth. Inorder 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 signifiesforsaken, where every means of comfort and companionship are gone, wherewe must learn to choose between the ever present but invisible thingsof God and the transitory but gratifying pleasures of the visible world. Having a glimpse of the power and blessedness conferred by the knowledgeof Truth, we are tempted to keep hold of the power, at the same timefellowshipping with the world, which by our recognition and fellowshipwill be greatly pleased through the acquisition of our society andtalents. 

"When tests are required of us similar to the turning of stones intobread, healing the lepers, raising the dead, will we realize ourdependence on the word of God which is the 'bread of life?' Temptationsto dare the protection of the power, give us an insight to the very sametrial of Jesus, and when we are led up to the mountain of knowledge fromwhich we may view the pomps and vanities of the world, realizing thesuperior insight that gives power, then comes the decisivequestion--shall God or mammon gain our allegiance? Shall we forego theseductive allurements of mortal thought (which is really only thenegative thought or the false power called the world's beliefs reflectedupon 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 onlyshalt thou serve. ' Then the enemy leaves us, and behold, angels come andminister to us. 

"After the long forty days, which with some seem longer than withothers, after the darkness and desolation of a desert night, we areministered unto by the blessed angels--good thoughts--and the glory ofthe Most High shines round about us. The struggle is ended, the Goodwhich is ever ready to be our guide when we choose, leads us into manysweet experiences that bring us nearer and nearer to the 'promisedland, ' the true inheritance of God's children. We begin the ascent ofthe mount of transfiguration, and though we come to many steep places, though we sometimes stumble over rocks of ignorance, though we encounterclouds of doubt that veil the glorious peak from our longing view for atime, though we meet wild beasts, (untamed human nature), though wecross shadowy valleys and dark ravines, lighted only by the torch offaith, we shall have transcendant glimpses of the fair Beyond, shallbreathe the perfumed air of Zion's Hills, and be transported withdelight at the never ceasing revelations made to the true seeker aftereternal 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, weshould at least catch hold the rope, hoping to be delivered from thedanger. After several successful experiences, we should have faith inthe rope, so when we feel the tidal wave of trial overtaking us, we areto catch hold of our denials and affirmations which correspond to thesaving rope. An invariable rule in Christian Science is to deny theundesirable and affirm that which can be predicated of spirit. _Nomatter what inharmony_ assails you, whether it be pain, poverty, sickness, loneliness, fear or anxiety, _deny_ it positively andrepeatedly and _affirm_ the opposite. Like Jesus, we must speak of thatwhich is true, but not visible. Thus when called to raise the daughterof Jairus, he said: 'She is not dead but sleepeth. ' The appearance ofdeath was denied, and its opposite, life, affirmed. 

"When talking to the Jews, Jesus said: 'If ye continue in my word, thenare ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth and the truthshall make you free. ' It is continuance in the word that brings theblessing, mark that. 

"And now let us enter into the silence with one accord, saying: 'For Thyblessed words and example we thank Thee, O, beloved Master, and with Thywords 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 havereceived that which we asked, and are filled with the peace that passethall understanding. '

"While we sat thus, just before she spoke, I had one of those peculiarexperiences they tell about, coming so often in the silence. It seemedas though I was in the cool quiet of early morning, watching the signsof a summer dawn. All at once the creeping rainbow colors shot up towardthe zenith, and the most glorious sunrise I ever beheld flooded me witha dazzling glow of gold. The moment she spoke it vanished, but oh, howlovely it was! What could it mean unless the dawn of the 'Sun ofRighteousness?' I must wait and see, for surely the understanding ofthese things will come when I am ready for it. 

"Several of the class have been having strange signs or hints ofsomething on which they have been studying deeply. Dr. Bright said thateverything turned black before her one day when she was denying, andwhen she could see again it seemed as though there were no walls to thehouse and she was gazing into empty space. This is on account of denyingtill material things seem immaterial, and we begin to realize thereality of spirit. 

"The saying of the affirmation for strength, Mrs. Dawn says, makes herbody feel almost electrified with vitality, and she can realize that thewords bring to her what they claim. 

"One young man, who sits just back of me, told his experience in denyingthe reality of matter. He was quite rebellious at first about sayingwhat seemed such a huge lie, but finally concluded to do the best hecould, 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 notafraid, but trust, ' and opening his eyes, he saw written on the wall thevery same words, and immediately a restfulness and satisfaction cameover him, so that he no longer demurred at the thought of saying thewords and, though he did not yet understand, he felt willing to wait. 

"Oh, how I wish the great busy world would listen to this beautifuldoctrine. It seems that we must compel it to come to the feast. I thinkwe all feel like a child delightedly showing its new toy to everybody. But the little experience I have had before, will teach me to withholdwhere there is antagonism to the truth, beautiful though it is, becausemy work at home even with my cure, did not interest or convince somewho would shut their eyes and ears to all. I remember so well how I feltlike shouting to everyone in my joy the glad story of my recoveredhealth, but the cold, incredulous looks, and the averted faces chilledthe tidings on my lips, and I learned that only when the world isthirsty, will it appreciate the cool and sparkling waters of truth. 

"Well, dear John, I have not answered your letter at all because I wasso afraid I would forget the substance of the lesson to-day, but I am soglad it seems plain to you as I present it, and it is such a help toknow you are glad I came here. How we shall grow together when we_begin_ together. Continue to write your opinions and ideas of thelessons, for you have such a clear way of expressing yourself. Don't letJamie forget to write again when you all write. Bless his dear littleself! 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 bysaying her denials and affirmations while Kate was out giving lessons, but she seemed so stupid and felt so cross that in despair she resortedto her painting, but only succeeded in spoiling the picture she hadspent 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 containherself, 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'slesson, and here I've wasted the whole afternoon and spoiled my'shipwreck' besides, and I'm in a villainous humor. Now, I'm going topour it all out on your innocent head. " She smiled grimly, as she tossedher painting apron aside and spitefully turned the picture to the wall. 

"What in the world ails you, Grace?" cried the astonished Kate. "Haveyou lost your senses? I was congratulating myself coming home on thegood time we would have again to-night. "

"I anticipated it so vividly this morning I could hardly wait, butreally, Kate, I feel ugly, and perhaps it would be as well not to talkto me. I will go out for a little walk, while you get the tea, " and shewent forthwith. 

A tumult raged within her that she had not conquered. One moment filledwith the most exhilarating sense of freedom and joy, the next the direstdisgust with herself and her failings; one moment clearly understandingthe many problems that had come up for solution the past week, and thenext with no ability to reason about anything. This had been going onall day. She had even felt unreasonably irritable because Kate had soquickly overcome her prejudices. What right had she to give away her ownfor some one else's opinions so easily?

Grace gave her glove an impatient twitch as she thought of it, but thenext instant she wished she, too, might be as childlike and receptive asher companion. 

To Kate the Bible was final, unquestioned authority; to Grace it was acorroboration, not a foundation. It was more interesting, she mustconfess, than ever before, but then she must have better reasons thanhad yet appeared for taking it as Kate did. 

After all, perhaps this religion was but another mirage that had comeinto her moral vision, as many another had come in all the years she hadbeen seeking truth and happiness. Happiness! Had she forgotten that fortwo years that word had been dropped from her vocabulary? That she hadresolved to live on the best intellectual food the world could offer, without tasting its heart viands? She walked on with an unwontedenergy. No, she would not be deceived; the best and sweetest in life wasnot for her, but she ought at least, to help poor little Kate. 

It was a calm, quiet evening. The sun was just disappearing over thedistant hills. The sky was radiant with delicate pink and blue tints. She was walking toward the east, when, glancing at the scene in front ofher, she saw what seemed to be a brilliant fire, not only in one placebut in many. Somewhat startled, she looked more closely and discoveredevery window ablaze with the sun's reflected glory. Like a flash itcame: "I am walking away from the glory of Truth. Oh! how shall I turnmy face to God?" she cried, with unspeakable yearning. 

An agony of suspense seized her. She looked up at the calm, beautifulsky, and its rays of radiance seemed to send down upon her a benedictionof 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 thatall the world looked like a new world. The turbulent waves of doubt andunrest had been divinely stilled. 

She walked on, so filled with her new thoughts that the twilightdeepened into starlight before she thought of home, and then it seemedthat 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 soulpoured itself out in music she had never dreamed of before. All thestruggles and pains of the past years, all the disappointments andunhappiness found expression through the wailing tones of the piano onlyto be swept away or swelled into sweeter and more joyous strains. Moreand more clearly a conception of joy and peace unspeakable filled herheart. She wandered again, a happy child, in country pastures gatheringviolets and buttercups. She could scent the clover and hear the birds. The water rippled over the pebbles and the air was filled with leafmusic. Now, again a child, she "walked in green pastures and beside thestill waters. " The sun of love was shining down upon her, and its rayswarmed her, clothed her, fed her. "Surely goodness and mercy shallfollow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of theLord forever, " she sang softly in an awed, hushed voice, as the musicgrew more divinely sweet, and the realization of a nameless Presencefilled her. It was the presence of impersonal, omnipresent Truth, everflowing into the heart ready for its reception, and though at first itmay be but a tiny stream, it grows to a swelling tide, and all the wordsin the universe can not name its sweet influence, or describe itswondrous allness. 

Oh, Katie darling, what wouldst thou have put away from thy life, ifthou hadst obstinately refused admittance to this heavenly Guest?... Atlast the music ceased. She bowed her head and gave herself up to theinexpressible thoughts that welled into her mind. For some moments shewas not aware that Grace was in the room, but as she finally arose andturned around, she saw her. Their eyes met, and silently was told thestory of experiences too sacred to utter. A silent understanding and aheartfelt sympathy bound them by closer ties than they had ever knownbefore. To be at one with Truth is to understand humanity, andunderstanding is a voiceless language. 

Sunday afternoon they called on Mr. Hayden and found the fourth letterawaiting 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 foundchairs for them, and seated himself, seemingly awaiting a reply. 

"First let us read the letter, " suggested Grace, who was more interestedthan 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 hisfinger 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 withperfect confidence that the pain would soon be gone. A few moments ofsilence and he looked up innocently, saying with the brightest smile:

"It's all gone now. Papa telled the good Jamie to tome home, " heexplained to the girls, "and here he is, papa, " he added, holding up hissweet mouth for a kiss. 

"How beautiful is a child's faith, " exclaimed Kate, after the littlefellow had gone out to play again. 

"Indeed I have learned more than I can tell you from the children, " saidMr. Hayden, thoughtfully. "Mabel is old enough to understand a gooddeal, but Fred and Jamie are very quick to apply what they learn. Lastnight Jamie complained of the stomach ache. Neither of the children knewthat I was near, but I overheard Fred telling his brother that he wouldtreat him if he would keep still. Jamie consented and I peeped in amoment later, curious to know what they were doing. Fred sat there graveas 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 didwhen he treated. 

"W'y, " he answered, "w'y, I just 'membered what you said to Mabel thateverybody 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 Ithinked the _know_ thoughts, and _course_ he got well then. "

"It was a lesson to me, and I have tried to emulate their receptivenessand childlike trust. I don't know how well I am succeeding, but it ispretty 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, " saidKate, warmly. These little incidents touched her deeply. 

"Well, there is nothing better to learn from than living examples, andyet 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 rightto an inheritance, by claiming it on trust as the child does. Now, yesterday, " continued Mr. Hayden, leaning back and stroking his chin, "Iworked hard all the forenoon, and everything seemed to go wrong withme, "--Grace glanced at Kate--"I was not willing to live a moment at atime, as the child does, with no thought or care as to where its nextday's supplies are to come from, but I was tired and cross all day. Theconsequence was, in the afternoon my old enemy, the headache, began toassert itself. Then I got Marion's letter and that helped me, because itthrew some light on the cause, but when I heard Fred's explanation of atreatment I just applied it. I 'thinked, ' till the 'know thoughtscame, '" Mr. Hayden concluded with a grave smile. 

"I believe that is what it means to 'work out our own salvation, '" saidGrace, "and how beautiful to have the children learn! It will makedifferent men and women of them. "

"Indeed it will; I have already seen some change in the children. Butare 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 withoutit. "

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 ascientific reason for it though. "

"I think my darkness came earlier in the lessons, for yesterday andto-day have been very bright to me, " replied Kate, soberly; "but, " shecontinued, "there is so much about this to admire and so much to provethat the system is founded on Christ's teachings, I can not see wheredoubt 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 weconsider 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 notchange our old natures in a day, and it is only natural at first to feelthat it is a personal power because we are given so much personalresponsibility. "

"I see what you mean, " said Mr. Hayden, quietly, leaning back as ifthinking deeply. "You mean it is hard to forget self, and I agree withyou. This mind of the flesh claims so much wisdom and power of its ownthat it is hard to attribute everything to a higher power, and let thatpower work through you; but when we can do that, we have the kernel ofthe whole system. "

"It is a wonderful thought to me, that we reflect _all_ thingsspiritual, 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, " addedMr. Hayden. 

"How could it be otherwise? The sun is always shining behind the darkestclouds. 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 tobe all, that we should be tempted. Why couldn't our acknowledgement besufficient?" queried Kate, in perplexity again. 

"Why isn't the simple act of joining the church sufficient to makeChristians? Although some seem to think it all sufficient, it is not. Itis the daily life of overcoming, and denial of self that constitutestrue acknowledgement, " said Grace, laying her hand upon that of herfriend. 

"Not denial of self in the old way, either, " said Mr. Hayden, "butdenial 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 withthem as he did. Over and over he met the opposing thought, representedby the tempter or opposer--error always opposing truth--and gave iteither a plain denial or an emphatic command to get out. "

"That is very plain and very true, " said Kate, with a little sigh, "butstill I can not see why God should allow us to be tempted after we havefought the battle once as Jesus did. "

"But he fought it more than once, " explained Mr. Hayden, earnestly. "Hewas continually overcoming, and at times found it necessary to withdrawinto the mountains where he fasted and prayed. "

"That is a good thought to carry home, " suggested Grace, rising, "for weneed to follow his example. "

"I need it more than anyone else, " said Kate, feeling a lack ofspiritual understanding, and wishing she could get on faster. 

"You are doing grandly Miss Kate, just think how you opposed it all atfirst, " said Mr. Hayden encouragingly. 

"Yes, I know I did, " flushing a little, "but even thus far I have seenenough, or rather experienced enough to make me anxious to understandit, and I only ask so many questions because I am determined to getevery speck of light I can. "

"If everybody would lay aside prejudice as you have, Miss Kate, theywould 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 muchit had cost her to 'lay aside prejudice, ' but she could thank God thatshe had done so, and indeed believed it was Providence that had led herinto this study in spite of herself. 

"I want the truth, " she said simply, and turned away to join Grace, whostood 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-daywas Mrs. Dawn telling how she had treated a severe belief of headachelast evening and how marvelously soon the terrible pain ceased. She wasquite rejoiced because it was the first time she had tried todemonstrate the principles. 

"They all have plenty to tell now, and are growing more and moreinterested. Every day somebody has some new experience. Little Mrs. Dexter, who has been so long treated by the old method, says she fullybelieves she will be cured, is feeling much better, and has such anassurance all the time that she has found the true healing. She has hadseveral quite remarkable demonstrations with others. 

"The whole line of argument is unfolding so naturally and beautifullythat it seems like a piece of fine mosaic, with every form and colorinterwoven with the most exquisite exactness. Mrs. Pearl gave us alecture on inspiration and the Bible, which I consider one of the mostuseful and interesting of any she has yet given:

"In studying the very fountain springs of Truth, and basing our ideasupon a God who is the unexpressed and inexpressible essence of Truthitself, 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 meansof gaining that knowledge. 

"That all peoples in all climes and ages have developed similar ideasand expressed them in like terms, as philology shows, is an indisputablefact, strengthened and corroborated by our broader conception and higherunderstanding of God, the omnipresent Good. 

"But how have these ideas come to them? Have they come through what isknown as inspiration or revelation? As the one fountain of Intelligenceis open to all alike, this must be the case, because Truth comes only inthis way. Inspiration means an 'inbreathing, ' a breathing in of trueknowledge, and because the omnipresent Good comes into everyconsciousness prepared to receive it, there is an inbreathing inaccordance with the readiness to receive. Intelligence is like the air, to be breathed by every living being. Thus far, humanity has expandedits lungs of consciousness only enough to have inhaled fundamentaltruth, or what is recognized as such, but we are constantly receivingmore, and in proportion as we receive, do we know what we receive. 

"All truth is inspired or revealed, because whatever is true is of thegreat Truth. This must be so, yet many people consider inspiration asconfined to the authors of the Bible and that with them, inspirationceased. The immortal Job said, 'There is a spirit in man and theinspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding. ' The inbreathingof the Almighty, All-powerful Truth, giveth understanding. No truerwords were ever uttered. 

"As inspiration is inhaling or breathing in Truth, we can readilyunderstand that 'God, Truth, Principle, is no respecter of persons. 'That it is a 'miraculous influence which qualifies man to receive andcommunicate divine truth, ' is in a sense true, for the works of God arealways 'wonderful, ' but there can be no setting aside of divine law, assome erroneously suppose, for the performance of these things that seemunaccountable to human reason. It is a lack of understanding as to _how_Truth works, that has caused a belief in supernatural or miraculousways. Could a fish judge according to appearances, he would regard thecreatures that walk on land as gifted with supernatural power, becauseit would be utterly beyond his conception to know _how_ they could doso. 

"Revelation and inspiration are frequently used interchangeably, butthat which is revealed, is the manifested result of inspiration ratherthan inspiration itself. Whenever we are ready to breathe or absorbTruth into our consciousness, we get a revealment--'inspiration givethunderstanding. ' This breathing-in process lifts us above ordinaryknowledge and gives refreshing glimpses of heavenly Truth, it is likebreathing in fresh air, after having been in a close suffocating room. We say this or that scene, person or object inspires us; we mean thatsome beautiful thought or conception of Truth is revealed to us, throughor by our seeing these objects, because they hint of something betterand higher, and the moment we get the higher thought, we are consciousof knowing higher Truth. This is revelation. 

"Revelation and inspiration are the usual terms for expressing spiritualprocesses but are necessarily inadequate to express accurate spiritualmeanings. How ideas are born is a question of questions. Whether theycome from without or within, they must establish the oneness of God andman in mind and idea. The only 'without' there can be is that which iswithout the consciousness, the only 'within' is that which is within theconsciousness. Development, growth, unfoldment, better express spiritualconsciousness. What is consciousness but a recognition of itself? Thenwould not 'recognition' more fully describe the birth of ideas? As wegrow able to recognize harmony and love, harmony and love are revealedto us. 

"The more spiritual our thoughts and desires, the more spiritual ourrevelations. To think and talk of God, to desire knowledge of Him, creates a receptivity which sooner or later brings the revealment ofmore truth, and that of the highest quality. But it is not always bywhat 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 orwhy 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 shouldbe without a knowledge of Him, without a power to recognize andappreciate Truth, and in the way or language best suited to thecapacity of each to understand, are the revelations made. Sometimes thisknowledge comes into our consciousness like a direct message from God, and so vividly are we impressed, that no other words could express thenearness and clearness of it, than the expression 'walking and talkingwith God. ' Sometimes wonderful pictures appear before our mind's eye, and reading their symbolic meaning, we catch hints of higher wisdom thatwould otherwise have been hidden. 

"By persistently ignoring the spiritual and cultivating the intellectualfaculties, mankind has well nigh lost the highest means of inspiration, but now that we again, like the prophets and apostles of old, seek forsigns of the Infinite, we are gradually recovering the key by which theyunlocked its mysteries. 

"As to the infallibility of what is thus revealed, we must remember thatwhile truth is always infallible, there is a possibility of itsrecognition or conception being tinged to a greater or less degree, withour erroneous judgements, and as the light, pure in itself, is coloredby the glass through which it passes, so is the divinest truth coloredwith the quality of mind through which it comes to the world. As HeberNewton says, 'Inspiration can not do away with the limitations of thehuman individuality. ' Thus, in our discrimination of so-called inspiredliterature, language or thoughts, we must learn that whatever isopposite God, the universal idea of goodness, is the chaff that must beblown away. In other words it is the assumption of mortal thoughtinstead of absolute knowledge of divine mind. 

"It would be an utter impossibility to describe infinite truth in finitelanguage. Words are inadequate to express the grandeur of sacredrevelation. 

"With this view of inspiration, we can readily see how far short we havecome in our conceptions of the Bible, and now that we are to use andunderstand this wonderful book as never before, it is well that weconsider it a little more closely. 

"There are three general views held in regard to the Bible as aninspired book. 1. That it is verbally inspired; _i. E. _, that every wordis direct from God. 2. That it is partially inspired; and, 3. That it isno more inspired than any other good book. The first two of these viewshave been and are accompanied with the idea that everything going underthe name of inspiration, is infallible, hence the idea that everystatement made throughout the entire book is absolute truth. 

"The Bible itself makes no claim to infallibility, though there arefrequent references to inspiration and the influence of the Holy Ghostin moving men to speak, but the principal text on which is based thisclaim of infallibility is II. Tim. Iii: 16. At the time this waswritten, there was only the Old Testament, including the Apocrypha, thatcould be referred to as Scripture, so when we read Paul's assertionthat, 'all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitablefor doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction inrighteousness, ' if we take it to be infallible, we have a reasonableground for regarding the Old Testament and the Apocrypha as infallible. But a more literal rendering of the Greek text would be, 'all scripturedivinely inspired is indeed profitable for teaching, for conviction, forcorrection, ' etc. , and by simply changing the position of the littleword _is_, we have a vastly different sentence. 

"Regarding the interpretation of scripture, Peter says: 'All prophecy ofscripture is not of its own solution. ' The literal Greek is, 'allprophecy of a writing, of its own loosing not it is, ' meaning, ofcourse, that sacred writings can not always be interpreted literally, but must be understood according to their spiritual meaning. Greatwritings are not confined to any private or local meaning, but refermore especially to great principles, to universal truth. 

"If we consider the origin of the Bible, we shall learn whatcomparatively few of us know, viz. , how the Bible grew into a book. In anecessarily brief outline it is impossible to give anything but abird's-eye view of this very interesting and important subject. 

"As we look back to earlier times, through the various channels, we findthat much of what is considered history is merely legendary; that longbefore the art of writing was known, these legends and myths were handeddown from generation to generation, and from age to age. Familiar as weare with human nature, we may well imagine the additions andsubtractions and divergencies introduced by each succeeding narrator, copyist or editor in every age. This is a very important feature to beconsidered in interpreting ancient scriptures, but there are alsoothers. History reveals the fact that the books of the Old Testamentwere not written nor arranged in the order in which they now appear inthe Bible. For instance, while it has been generally considered that thefirst five books were written by Moses fifteen hundred years beforeChrist, the best authorities have found at least a portion of them tohave been written, or compiled rather, in their present form 600 to 700B. C. 

"Whether Moses or some one else wrote them detracts not the least fromthe value of the truth they contain, for whatever is true, can not loseits value or be effected by the authorship. This is only one of the manyfacts that might be produced to show that the Old Testament came in themost natural way, and not at all through a miracle or by miraculousinterposition. 

"Referring again to the best records we have, we find the books of theNew Testament were written from 50 to 175 A. D. , thus showing theliability to mistakes, and the reason for many of the discrepencies inthe New Testament. That the time between the writing of the oldest andthe latest parts of the Bible covered a period of more than a thousandyears, should have much significance in our judgment of both the writersand their writings. 

"Dr. Heber Newton says: 'We are not to read the Biblical writers asthough they were all cotemporaries. They are separated by vast tracts oftime. The later writers stand upon the shoulders of their predecessorsand see farther and clearer. We are not to view the institutions ordoctrines of the Bible as though no matter in what period of developmentof the Hebrew Nation, or of the Christian Church they were found, theywere equally authoritative to us. '

"Though the prophets and apostles were inspired, we must remember thatthey necessarily had to use the language and methods of speech prevalentin their time in giving their divinest revelations to the people. Thelanguage was rich with Oriental imagery, strong figures of speech, andallusions to manners and customs of other nations. Unless we understandsomething of the literature and customs, the religious ceremonies andlaws alluded to, we are very much in the dark as to the originalmeaning. 

"For instance, unless we know the custom that prevailed in ancient timesof putting the sins of the people, figuratively speaking, into a whitecloth, dipping the cloth into blood, tying it to the horns of thescapegoat, and turning the animal loose in the wilderness till the sun, air and rain had bleached it white, we can not appreciate theexpression, 'though thy sins be as scarlet, yet shall they be washedwhite as snow. ' Until we realize that the ideas and language as well asthe customs and rites of barbarous and ignorant heathendom influenceevery page of the Bible, we shall not know how much allowance to makefor the revelations of the Divine, and the suppositions and possiblemistakes of the human. Until we know that the Bible has gone throughmany hands since its words were first spoken or written, we can notrealize the possible loss of its most spiritual meanings. 

"Moses, Isaiah, David, John, Paul had the grandest revelations possibleto man, experiences not 'lawful to utter, ' not possible to clothe inwords. The unspeakable can not be put into speech. To attempt it is tocolor it with finite meanings. To describe the Infinite is but to limitor confine God. 

"When we consider that no very ancient writings have reached us withoutthe marks of many pens; when we consider the impossibility of exacttranslation, the difficulty of perfect copying all the years before theart of printing, the method of canonizing the books and formulatingcreeds, we must know that something besides God's message has come downto us. And yet a message is there notwithstanding. 

"Yes, the authors of the Bible were inspired. Whatever of Truth theyrevealed is infallible, but as men with finite conceptions andabilities, they could not comprehend nor reveal _all_ of God. 

"'God is the same yesterday, to-day and forever, ' and talks to man faceto face to-day even as with the immortal Moses. 

"'I know that the Bible is inspired, because it finds me at greaterdepths of my being than any other book, ' said Coleridge. 

"All candid students of sacred Scriptures agree that there is aspiritual meaning back of the literal. The question with us is, how canwe get at this spiritual or esoteric interpretation. 

"If you will let the spirit of Truth guide you, it will bless you withkeener discernment, and clearer understanding, than has been possiblefor you heretofore. It is when you look for the spirit of religion thatyou find it and understand it, and the fact that so much has been saidagainst our Bible as a book, does not and can not detract a particlefrom its value. 

"'There is a light that lighteth every man!' Every one of God's childrenhas the power to distinguish truth from error, and only needs to assertthat divine privilege of knowing and acknowledging truth in order to tofind it. 

"Humanity is so under the yoke of traditional opinions that it has notdared think for itself, but the time has come when 'ye shall ofyourselves know what is truth, ' when each must prove his individualliberty by claiming it. Is not the wisdom to know and understand God'srevelations given to every one who asks, or rather appreciates what healready 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 shallunderstand and hold as infallible. That we have a rich storehouse ofprecious gems, even the most adverse thinkers admit, and above all elsewe should search for them, prize them, and use them. Study the Bible forthe sake of its wonderful and sacred truth, catch the inspiration of itswriters, and you will soon discriminate the inspired from theuninspired. With the statements of the true is necessarily more or lesserror; the Truth we want, the falsity we leave behind. Whatever is goodand 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 inthe Bible, the question whether they are genuine or spurious is oddenough. What is genuine but that which is truly excellent, which standsin harmony with the purest nature and reason, and which even nowministers to our higher development? What is spurious but the absurd andthe hollow which brings no fruit. '

"If you do not understand, wait. Do not judge hastily or allow yourselfto be biased by the opinions of others. What may seem hard, unreasonabledogma, may later prove but a veil over the sweetest, spiritual truth. Reverence to read, patience to learn, wisdom to understand--all these wewant, and then, more brightly than before shall shine the sacreddiamonds that stud inspired pages. 

"We refer again to what Dr. Newton says in his grand essay on the RightCritical use of the Bible: 'Successive generations of men, strugglingwith sin, striving for purity, searching after God, have exhaled theirspirits into the essence of religion, which is treasured in this costlyvase. 

"'The moral forces of centuries devoted to righteousness are stored inthis exhaustless reservoir of ethical energy. At such cost, my brothers, has Humanity issued this sacred book. From such patience of preparationhas Providence laid this priceless gift before you. In such labor ofarticulation--spelling out the syllables of the message from on high, through multitudinous lives of men dutifully and devoutly walking withtheir 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 shecould bring out the peace and reposeful strength of character Kate hadthought so sadly lacking, and one afternoon, a few days after thememorable walk, she sat down to her work with a pleasurable anticipationof bringing out her ideal. As she put the touches here and there thatchanged the expression, now adding to this feature, now taking fromthat, she was thinking of the changes needed in herself, and wonderinghow 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 thedoor. Before she had time to say or do anything, in walked Mrs. Dykewith a timid little woman who came in like a martyr, but one resolved todie at her post if necessary. Grace was too astonished to speak for aninstant, then rising, she put down her palette, wiped her hands and wentforward with an invitation to the ladies to be seated. 

"Is this Miss Turner?" began Mrs. Dyke, with a critical glance about theapartment, and then at Grace. 

"No, madam, Miss Turner is not in. She generally returns about five, butto-day--"

"Very well, we can come again, for it is very important business. Areyou the young woman who lives with her?" asked Mrs. Dyke, as she seatedherself with deliberate dignity. "This is Mrs. Linberger, and we havecalled as the church committee to look after Miss Turner's soul, " shecontinued, waving her hand majestically toward her companion-in-arms. 

"Indeed, " gasped Grace, bowing slightly toward Mrs. Linberger, andcoughing a little as she put her handkerchief to her mouth to hide asmile. 

"She belongs to our church, and we have heard she is being led astray bythis blasphemous kind of healing, " pursued Mrs. Dyke, looking severelyat Grace from under her thick grey veil which hung like a lowering cloudjust above her eyes. "Mr. Narrow requested me and Mrs. Linberger to calland examine into the matter. I hope _you_ don't encourage suchwickedness, young woman?"

"Certainly I am at enmity with any kind of wickedness, but I am notaware 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!" exclaimedMrs. Dyke, again pushing her veil up, and looking with horrified eyes, first at Grace, then at Mrs. Linberger. "Perhaps you don't understandabout it, " she added, softening a little as she settled back in herchair. 

"I must confess I know but very little about it, but what I do know onlyincreases my desire to know more, " said Grace, flushing, as she sat downin the nearest chair. 

"Let me warn you not to read or hear another word about it then, for itwill 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 awaythe belief in the devil and hell, " added Mrs. Linberger, speaking forthe first time. 

"Yes; they even deny there ever was a devil or that there ever will beany future punishment. Just think of it, " reiterated Mrs. Dyke. "I guessthey will see, some time!" she added with a sort of steely satisfaction. 

"Do you really believe they lay aside all future punishment?" askedGrace, willing to waive the application to herself, and anxious to hearMrs. Dyke's views. 

"Yes, they say there is no evil and no devil, so of course there is noneed 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 getout, 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 ofeverlasting punishment?"

Mrs. Dyke was the catechized instead of the catechizer, and it was anunaccustomed _role_, but she bore it like a soldier. 

"Of course he did; several places in Matthew he described the lot of thewicked, and referred to the danger of hell-fire. Haven't you studied theBible, Miss Hall?" suddenly turning to look straight at Grace with someseverity. 

"I am very much interested in it, Mrs. Dyke, but when I read that 'God'smercy endureth forever, ' and that 'Jesus came to destroy the works ofthe devil, ' I am inclined to think there must be some mistake about thedreadful wrath that is to last forever, " calmly replied Grace. 

"And you don't believe in eternal punishment?" cried Mrs. Dyke, in ashrill 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 thereis 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 atany rate, " said Mrs. Dyke, as she adjusted her veil, preparatory to herdeparture. 

"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 meetingssome time, Miss Hall, " interrupted Mrs. Dyke, not heeding what Grace wassaying. "Here is a card announcing the regular weekly services, and hereare some tracts for you to read. " She dealt out a liberal supply, whichGrace took as she again started to explain, but a sudden haste hadseized her visitors, and they left, saying they would try and call someother time, when Miss Turner was at home. 

As Grace turned to go back to her painting, she caught a glance of herreflection in the glass. After looking at it a moment with a quizzicalexpression, she suddenly burst into a merry laugh, saying: "I did notknow you had turned Bible teacher. Well, well, it _was_ funny, but Icould 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, butbefore it was read Grace told her all about the call by the "churchcommittee. " Kate looked a little grave at first, but finallystraightening 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 willbe resigned to fate. " She smiled and spoke cheerily, but a little tremorof the old fear touched her, notwithstanding. 

"Let us read the letter now, " suggested Grace, thinking that would bethe 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 caninterpret more freely myself, as I plainly see we must use our judgmentabout the Bible, as well as anything else. But what does it mean aboutthe creeds?" she added suddenly, appealing to Grace with the old anxiouslook in her eyes. 

"It means, " said Grace, "that the ordinary orthodox interpretation ofdoctrinal points was voted upon by bishops, presbyters and laitygenerally, and because the majority of votes indicated a preference fora certain interpretation, it was adopted and became the establishedcreed, and thus we have what is called the Apostles' Creed, which is thebasis of all orthodox churches throughout Christendom. And so with allcreeds; they are all established by majority vote. "

"I should never have known anything about this, " she continued, "if Ihad 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. Itseemed that she must hold on to something or the last straw that boundher 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 everread, for it gives personal liberty. I shall never forget how happy Iwas to learn that the creeds were simply man-made or man-expressedopinions, for in that case, I too, had liberty to read and think formyself, just as well as those who voted upon these variousinterpretations. "

Grace was handsome when filled with enthusiasm, and as Kate looked ather at this moment she thought her face perfectly angelic, but one morequestion she must ask of this noble friend, who knew just what sheneeded to know and could tell it when she needed it most. "Do you thinkChristian Healing does away with the creeds of the church?"

"No, not necessarily. So far as I can see, it merely seeks truth, andwhatever of truth is found anywhere is retained. It is only the husksthat are thrown away. Indeed I can see more in the church than I evercould 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 thecreed but a desire to reverence Deity? That was the origin, no matterinto what it has degenerated now, and we must judge according to thespirit, not the letter. Oh, when will the world worship in the unity ofthe spirit?" sighed Grace, longing for the time when questionings andcontroversies would be at an end. 

"Here is Mrs. Dyke, for instance, " she resumed, presently, "what is shestriving for but to live the true religion as she understands it? I canrespect any honest people who live up to their belief, and the Christianwho moans and sighs and looks doleful because he thinks it is his dutyto do so, is much higher in my estimation than the one who believes itto 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 theirconversation. 

The vague terror that had occasionally thrust itself upon her duringthese 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 Biblelesson was especially valuable, because it touched these very points, and after this little conversation with Grace on the subject she waslike another person. 

When Mrs. Dyke called a few evenings later, after a similar interview tothe one with Grace, she left the battlefield a wiser soldier than whenshe entered it, for Kate had so beautifully proven her religiousearnestness, and more than all had shown such a Christ-like spirit, thatthe "sword was beaten into a plowshare and the spear into a pruninghook. "

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 amthat we are privileged to know this beautiful truth. Don't you ever feellike stopping in the midst of your work and giving thanks that you wereborn in this age? As my eyes open more and more to God's goodness andlove 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 Hehas 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 earheard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, to conceive thethings which God hath prepared for them that love Him. ' Negativethought, carnal mind _can not_ know these things, but as we arecleansed and purified, the new baptism 'creates in us a new heart, ' theloving child's heart turned to its father, and love shall teach us moreand more to read the signs of love. 

"Oh, divine mystery of childhood, of parenthood, that brings us intocloser and sweeter knowledge of our Father whose love is infinite. Outof the deep silence around us, filled as it is with the all-abidingpresence of God, may we ask for a manifestation of whatever gift wechoose to have. These thoughts filled my mind as I went to class thisafternoon, and what was my surprise and pleasure to find the lesson tobe on the subject of prayer. 

"There is no theme or word so constantly in the mind and on the lips ofthe 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 alloccasions communing with the Father in prayer. Thus we find that this isthe most sacred and necessary of all branches of our daily work. 

"Prayer is the natural turning of the better self to God, in theattitude of thankfulness, praise, supplication or voiceless desire. 'Itmust be the spontaneous and almost irrepressible outpouring of thethoughts and feelings of the soul into the listening ear of a presentGod, ' said an earnest thinker. 

"To what wonderful depths and heights our prayers lead us when they arethus spontaneous and irrepressible! How well David has expressed thegratitude, the holy trust and majestic praise common to every devoutchild of God. 'The Lord is my shepherd, ' is blessed affirmation ofsupreme trust, the naming of God's glorious gifts, the gratitude forpeace, life, love, protection, friendship, all the heavenly blessings ofGod's presence in God's house. In this wonderful psalm we find, nodoubt, no thought of waiting for future blessings, but a grandoutpouring of thankfulness for the present. There are no petitions, nosupplications, no reserves of praise, but simply the glad recognitionand appreciation of the omnipresence and omnipotence of Good. 

"It was the same feeling, tempered with a deeper solemnity, thatprompted Jesus to say 'Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me, ' ashe was about to perform the mighty miracle of raising Lazarus. 

"Thanks signify the accomplishment of the desire. His request of theFather was granted before he had even preferred it, for he knew the lawand realized it--that God is life and knows not death--but the form ofwords was observed because that makes the law a visible fact. 

"Father is the human naming for this divine Love that ever waits for thespoken word in order to be revealed. To Jesus it was the dearest andbest 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 wasto the 'Father who seeth in secret' that he bade his disciples pray. 

"In the secret consciousness of oneness with the Father there may be noreservations, no concealments, no hypocritical bigotry, no thought ofself, only a glad going out with all our heart and soul to the Father, atrustful acknowledgment of the Good. This is the attitude of trueprayer. 

"The devout soul is always praying, because it _consciously_ lives withGod. There are times of praise, adoration, extolment, when thankfulnessis more exuberant, runs over into bursting joy, and times when longingdesire carries us into the very bosom of God. We long for comfort, forlove, for peace, with an unutterable agony of longing, and are met withan unutterable joy of satisfaction, if we but turn to Him andacknowledge, but an indispensable preliminary to prayer is fasting. Thepower 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 havereceived them, and ye shall have them. ' Then we look into the face ofthe Almighty and reflect the same power, are able to do a like work, make visible the things of His creation by speaking the word ofacknowledgment, 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 asign of unfaithfulness in prayer. 'Oh, ye of little faith!' was theMaster's explanatory exclamation. 

"Here was a most essential requisite--faith in the Father, who alone isthe power; faith and trust in the invisible All. Why do we pray so muchwith no answer to even our most devout aspirations? Because, like thedisciples, 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 herheart-weariness, which is but lack of faith, he might have been turnedinto 'paths of righteousness. ' With her mind continually burdened withfear, dire forebodings and anxious doubts, she has asked, begged, beseeched the mighty Ruler of destinies to soften the heart of herwayward boy. Thankfulness that God has given to her child the commoninheritance to all possible blessings, a pure spiritual nature, thereflection of the All-Good, has never entered her thought to express. Her mind is divided between a conception of good and a conception of itsopposite--evil. The result is years of hopeless praying, years ofhopeless 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 helives in and of Thy wholeness. I thank Thee that Thou hast already donemore than I could ask. 'It is finished. ' Into Thy hands I commend myall. '

"In this is the simple recognition of the All-Father, His love and Hisomnipotence. And after this, what? Trust--unwavering, childlike trust. So the burden is truly 'cast upon the Lord, ' evil is overcome, swallowedup in the Good. 

"With such mighty faith, what a cleansing there would be! what asincere, glad rejoicing that the true relation between God and man wereproven, 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?' Notfar off in the intangible somewhere, but here, there, everywhere may wefind the Good, and 'he that dwelleth in the secret place of the MostHigh shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. '

"To dwell in the secret place, in the pure and righteous thought, is tobe always under the protection of the Most High. To be able to say, 'Heis my refuge and my fortress, ' is the grand privilege given to the heirof the King, the heir that has come to the full knowledge of hisinheritance and thankfully uses it. 

"'The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much, ' wrotethe wise and righteous James. There is an infinite promise of thefulfillment of righteousness in these words. They contain the key to allaccomplishment or all failure. The righteous man is one who 'walkethrighteously, speaketh uprightly, stoppeth his ears from hearing ofblood, shutteth his eyes from seeing evil' (prayer and fasting). Therighteous man decrees magnificently and trusts infinitely. He does notapproach God like a cringing servant, licking the dust at his master'sfeet, but like a Prince who enters his Father's presence with the simplestatement of his wants, and knowing his Father's will takes theglorious gift with thanksgiving and praise. 

"Is it health he would have manifested for himself or his neighbor? Heconfidently acknowledges the health, even though he can not see it, thehealth with which all humanity is endowed, if it would claim itsendowment. Is it peace, power, strength he desires, he again goes to theroyal treasury. With the right word he climbs the stair of heaven; withthe right faith he enters his Father's house, where all things abound. 

"The righteous man is of one mind, the divine Mind that works throughhim. Were all the praying world of one mind, think you a Lincoln wouldhave been martyred, a Garfield sacrificed, or tender little childrenlost to our sight?

"God is the same forever. There is no inharmony to come from Harmony. Beof one mind; let the divine Mind work through you; acknowledge only thedivine creation, and then all beliefs in the opposite of God will bedestroyed. 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 beyou let the Mind that was in Christ Jesus be in you. '

"The practical naming of daily prayer is denial and affirmation, denyingevil or undesirable conditions, and acknowledging the Good or absolute. 

"'Being is the vast affirmative excluding negation, self-balanced andswallowing up all relations, parts and times within itself. Nature, truth, virtue, are the influx from thence, ' said Emerson, noting theabsoluteness of that which is. To become one with this affirmativeAllness, 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 livesoberly, righteously and godly in this present world;' and in the nextchapter, referring to the same subject: 'This is a faithful saying, andthese things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which hathbelieved in God might be careful to maintain good works. '

"There is no ceasing of this most necessary process. It is only bydenying and affirming constantly that we fast and pray, thus fittingourselves for the cleansing ministry. It is to 'be diligent in seasonand out of season, ' if we would gain the true reflection fromOmnipotence. 

 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 ofreverence and trustfulness filled my heart, and instantly it flashedupon me that God requires no outward forms or ceremonies of Hischildren, except they be the spontaneous and involuntary expression ofan overflowing heart. 

"Kneeling in prayer was first prompted by reverence and not the servileform into which it has too much degenerated. A form is only a sign atbest. 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 thesilence I knew by a great and sudden wave of understanding, things thatI had never thought of before, and to attempt to tell them would be liketrying to catch the sunshine. The hint I have tried to give seems veryfar from the reality of my experience--but what are words compared tothoughts, 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 Singletoncame in. They too, had something wonderful in the silence. It seems toosacred to tell, but to you three who are so earnestly seeking the way ofTruth, I can say what might seem sacrilege to the thoughtless world. Miss Singleton had realized in those few moments the inexpressiblemeaning of the Lord's prayer. 'Why, ' she said, 'why, if we could realizewhat it means, there would be no more sickness, sin or death. It seemedto me the very heavens opened, and I looked upon a broad white shininglight like a path, only it was broadened and broadened as I looked, tillit became wide enough to cover the whole earth. This is to be whereverthe kingdom has come upon earth. Wherever the thoughts are heavenly andpure there the Father is, there heaven, wholeness, health are, and Icould realize that the light is here, but ignorance keeps it veiled, sothat verily the 'light shineth in darkness but the darknesscomprehendeth it not. ' Talk of sickness, trouble, sorrow, why, they arenothing! The _light_ is here, the kingdom of heaven _has_ come, and beenhere all the time. Jesus knew it, but he had to use language they couldunderstand. He knew if they prayed faithfully in that spirit, bye andbye the spiritual meanings would flash upon them. Oh, how much, how muchit 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 diseaseand a slight curvature of the spine. 

"It was not very light in the room, and I had not noticed her figureparticularly, but as she spoke, her face fairly shone with a heavenlylight (I can think of nothing else to describe it), and she was straightas any one! She declared over and over that she was well, but more thanall else she appreciated the spiritual uplifting and knowledge that hadcome. 

"Mrs. Dawn had no special revelation to-day, but she seems to beunfolding most beautifully. We talked a long time, and then sat in thesilence. They have just gone. How I wish I could see you, but it is lateand I must again close. Give my love to Grace and Kate. I am so gladKate is getting into the light. I felt she would be all right after shebegun. Of course, Kate, you will read this, but you will not care, I amsure. 

 "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 hislisteners, Grace and Kate, who had called to get the letter which hadjust been read, "and it appears to me, " he continued, "that subject hasbeen misunderstood. "

"Well?" interrogated Grace. 

"Well, we have always been taught to pray to a God who could be informedof our wants and needs, and be induced to change His mind about themethod of dealing with them, or be softened in His judgments concerningHis children. Now if God is all-wise and all-powerful, why need we socarefully instruct Him? If He is all Love why need we ask Him withpiteous tears to bless our sick and afflicted? If He is everywherepresent, and no respecter of persons, why need we ask Him to do for onemore than for another? As God is omniscient, is He not all the knowledgethere is?"

"The great mistake has been to regard Deity as Person, instead ofPrinciple, " said Grace, as he paused a moment. 

"As God is changeless and eternal, the essence of Love and Life, " hewent on, not heeding the interruption, "how can it be otherwise thanthat we have an influx of this divine Life into ourselves as weacknowledge its eternal and omnipresent existence, realizing the truthof what we say?"

"There the trouble has been, " said Kate, taking up his thought, "that wehave not realized the divine Presence which we call Truth, because wehave not acknowledged it. "

"That is exactly the reason, and it needs a constant acknowledgment ofthe Good to keep us from admitting false beliefs that beset us becauseof an acknowledgment of the opposite of the Good. "

"What then is your idea of the true method of prayer?" asked Kate, muchinterested. 

"More of thanksgiving, as Mrs. Pearl teaches. I like her comparison tothe servant and prince. We can not dwell too much on the thought thatGod is always giving us blessings. They are here, have been from thebeginning of all knowledge, and our part is to take them. I often thinkof that comparison between the earthly and the heavenly Father, given byJesus, when he said: 'If ye then, being evil, know how to give goodgifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is inheaven, give good things to them that ask Him?' Here is Mabel, forinstance. Passionately fond of flowers as she is, suppose some day Ishould bring her a rare bouquet from the florist's, and with a smilehold them out to her, saying: 'Here Mabel, are some roses for you!' Howwould I feel if she came with the most pathetic expression of longingand misery in her face, and dropping down on her knees, should beg meto give her one flower? But instead, like a true child that knows thefather 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 vaseto hold her treasures. "

"Indeed, that is like the true child we all should become, and givethanks for the beautiful gifts of God, " said Kate, softly, as if toherself. 

"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 tounderstand. 

"I think her revelation far exceeds mine, but I have enough to know thatit is as she says: 'We must finally get the inner meaning, but I woulduncover the spiritual ideas by clothing them in more spirituallanguage. '

"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'tknow 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 spiritualmeaning. 

"All-pervading Father-Mother Spirit, which art in all harmony, reveredand holy is Thy name. Thy peace and love and righteousness is conceivedand realized amid earthly environments as it is in the highest state ofharmony. 

"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 thoughtsthat would dishonor Thee, for Thine _is_ the kingdom and power and gloryforever. "

"That is wonderful. Oh, how beautiful it all is, " exclaimed Kate withmuch feeling. 

"Isn't it?" added Grace, "and quite in accord with the passage quoted byMrs. Hayden, 'what things soever ye desire, that--'"

"Same principle, recognizing the omnipresence of all things good, andacknowledging 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 andsupplication let your requests be made known to God?'" asked Kate. 

"Oh, but you have not quoted it all: 'With prayer and supplication, withthanksgiving let your requests be made known, '" replied Mr. Hayden, smiling. "It means, continue to ask, and expect to receive and givethanks, 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 wecontinue to ask and give thanks, even if our petition is not visiblyanswered at once. "

Mr. Hayden had some advantage in his study over the girls, for thesethings had been more or less considered by himself and Mrs. Hayden eversince her recovery, and it was no wonder he could explain so readily. 

"After all, how would you apply this way of praying to givingtreatments?" asked Grace. "I am anxious for the practical application. "

"Why, it is all practical, as far as the individual is concerned, butthe application to others we have yet to learn, though I imagine it isthe same. It is simply being negative to false conditions, thus puttingthem off, and affirmative to true conditions, absorbing them as theflower 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, asshe rushed in the next evening. 

"Can't imagine, unless you cured little Tim, the newsboy, " laughedGrace, making her guess extravagant enough. 

"No, but really, I treated Fannie for a dreadful headache. Of course Isaid nothing to her, but she was stumbling so over her music, I askedher what was the matter, and when she told me I treated her. In just afew moments she brightened up and said she felt better, and before wegot 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. Haydengave me a clearer idea than I had before, and I just denied the headacheand acknowledged the truth that she was spiritually well; then waited afew moments and gave thanks that it was so. "

"How glad we ought to be for the privilege of reading Mrs. Hayden'sletters, " said Grace, thoughtfully, as she smoothed her hair and washedher hands. 

"Yes, and what a goose I was about it, " Kate replied. "I would scarcelytake 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, " saidGrace. "Now, if I actually hadn't seen that woman cured, and knownpositively how she was before, nothing would have induced me to spend mytime on this, although, from the first, I rather liked the theory. "

"Where is my gingham apron?" called Kate, looking in the dark closetwhere she had hung it. 

"Kate, I'm thoroughly reformed, as you will know when I tell you I amperfectly willing to perform the culinary duties to-night, and I will bethe cook while you discourse some music for my edification, " laughedGrace, as she emerged from the studio with her sleeves rolled back, andthe lost apron pinned around her. 

"What!" cried Kate, holding up both hands with a mock-tragic air. "Doyou really mean it?"

"Of course, and I will show you what a talent I have for poaching eggsand making toast. "

The girls were in the habit of dividing their work according to theirpersonal tastes. Kate liked to prepare dainty meals and wash dishes, while Grace preferred to sweep and dust, and arrange things to suit herartistic eye. Each disliked the other's part of the work, so they werewell 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 theyboil?"

"The eggs are in the tin pail on the third shelf in the closet. Theyshould 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 Gracecalled her out to dine. 

"It seems rather nice to come home and play lady, " she remarked, as shewent out where Grace was. 

"Well, really, Kate, I was thinking this afternoon that there is not somuch difference in the kinds of work as there is in the thoughts youhave when you work, and I resolved, that to refrain from certain dutiesbecause 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 concludedto 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 thenecessity of doing things that lie nearest us, whether it is washingdishes, painting or scrubbing. If I get so I can think right aboutthings I'm sure I shall like them. "

"That is true. I have already noticed a vast difference in my patiencein giving lessons. You know some days I would be so nervous and get soexasperated with Fannie Thornton and Jenny Miles, I didn't know what todo with myself, but the last few days I have not minded them at all, infact I got along better with Fannie than ever before, and it was justbecause I kept from thinking she was contrary and stupid. "

"Well, that is a practical application of your lesson. I think we oughtto apply it to everything we do, " replied Grace. 

"One of the chief beauties of this Christianity is that it goes intoevery thought and action, " said Kate, thoughtfully, adjusting her hair. 

"Oh!" she added a moment later, "I forgot to give you the letter thatcame to-day. " She pulled it out of her pocket all crumpled and gave itto Grace, who glanced at her name on the envelope and then grew whiteabout the mouth as she hastily put it into her pocket, remarking in anordinary tone, "It will keep a little longer. "

Little was said by either for some time. Grace was preoccupied and Katefurtively 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 itto do, while Kate poured her thoughts into music, feeling that she couldbest 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 thensat 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 weddedsolely to her art. Pride had forbidden her being frank enough to tellhim the real reason, caused by an impeachment made against hischaracter, by one whom she implicitly trusted as a friend. Her bitterresolve was the result, and while it was true she loved and desired tospend her life in pursuing her art, she had compelled herself to thinkshe loved it best, and so told him it was first choice. 

Hers was a proud, deep nature, and rather than admit that she had lovedor could love one whom she considered unworthy, she cut the matter shortby a decided rejection. It had cost her a mighty effort to come to thisdecision, and when she came out of the trial, she had lost her faith inall men. 

On all other points but this, Grace was sound and sweet in her generaldisposition, but any talk on marriage she would never tolerate even withKate. 

This was the third letter he had written in the two years since he wentaway, 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 yesterdaybefore I go to the lesson to-day. We were not in class, and I staid inmy room all day trying to solve the many questions that presentthemselves to us all, and to claim a little more understanding. Manypoints 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 thoughtsand 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, butas we passed a little low house about half way home, the door suddenlyopened and a little girl of ten or twelve years ran out sobbing, 'Thebaby is dying! the baby is dying!'

"She was going up an outside stairway to inform a neighbor. We rushedinto the house and found the frantic mother sobbing and wailing over herbaby apparently in the last agonies of death. 

"'What is it? Can't we do something for you?' we asked, not knowing whatelse to say. 

"'Oh, my baby, my precious baby is dying! Don't you see? she is almostgone. '

"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 nodeath. ' 'He that believeth on me shall not see death;' 'I am the way thetruth and the life. ' 'Treat, ' I whispered to Mrs. Dawn, and soon theawful lie was denied by us in the peaceful silence of our own souls; forall consciousness of appearances had vanished as we denied death and itspower, till we could _command_ the waves of mortal thought to subsideand say, 'Peace, be still. '

"It was the Master, the Christ within, who spoke for us, and we werefilled with the mighty peace and calmness of Truth that worked throughus and was immediately made manifest. The little face relaxed, the eyeslost their glassy stare, the color returned to the pale lips. 

"The mother ceased her mourning and gazed at the precious child inawesome silence. The neighbor and the little girl who had come in, stoodby in hushed amazement. For a while all felt the presence of the greatinvisible Power that had wrought so wondrous a work in their midst, although no one knew but ourselves what had been done. Presently themother leaned back in her chair with a sigh of relief, awaiting thedoctor, for whom her husband had gone before we entered the house. Wewaited till he came, and then quietly slipped out. 

"Mrs. Dawn came clear home with me, and we found our thoughts andfeelings had been almost identical in this remarkable experience, showing the oneness of truth. It is something we shall never forget, forit was indeed from the very depths of our being we were stirred andthrilled with the mighty Principle. 

"This morning I went to see the baby, and found it quite bright andhappy, but still breathing a little heavily. The M. D. Had leftmedicine, and of course, they were giving it 'according to directions. 'I told the mother something of the Healing, and she readily acknowledgedthat something mysterious had saved her child's life, because itcertainly 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 notyou were Christian healers or whatever that is, but she did not believea word in it, and that it was all nonsense, but I told her I didn'tcare. I thought you saved my baby, and the doctor said it had grown muchbetter since he came. 'Well, ' says I, 'ef you had seen her conditionwhen the ladies came in, you would say she _is_ better. '

"'Oh, we won't argue about what made her better, whether medicine orsomething else; all we want now is to have the child cured, ' said thedoctor, very kind-like, and I really thought a great deal better of himthan I had before, for most M. D. 's think they know everything, ' shesaid. 

"I was so glad to find she acknowledged even this much, so I talked alittle longer, and explained the necessity of perfect trust in God, andthe consequences of distrust in Him. She seemed very responsive andready to believe, but then, who would not believe after such ademonstration? I have felt awed and hushed all the morning, rememberingthe mighty something surging through me. It seems hard to believe thatat last my desire to have some grand sign shown me is already fulfilled. 

"Mrs. Pearl talked beautifully this afternoon on understanding. I wishyou could hear the lectures as she gives them, with all her grace andbeauty and impressiveness. Here is the essence of the lesson:

"As we evolve from material to spiritual understanding, we put ourselvesmore and more into the divine current of Life, Health, Goodness, whichis God. The higher our ideal, the higher our attainment. Believing inGod as supreme Love, we find it impossible to conceive of wrath, jealousy, revenge, as emanating from or existing in Him, Her or It. Aswe are filled with love, it becomes universal. Everybody is judged byits tender charity, everything is tinged with its warm radiance. 

"As Paul so beautifully wrote: 'Love suffereth long and is kind, loveenvieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behaveitself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh notaccount of evil, rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth in thetruth.... Love never faileth. ' If this be a standard by which to judgethe love of men, how much more appropriately might it judge God, who islove itself. 

"In proportion as we are freed from the ignorance and narrowness ofprimitive, ancient opinions concerning God, we shall rise to broader andtenderer and truer conceptions of Him. To the warm, sympathetic heart, that knows the deepest needs of humanity, the 'mercy that endurethforever' is an established fact of the universal Love. To understandthis Love is to be at one with it, to do the works and think thethoughts of Love. It is essential, then, first to understand the law ofeffort, then faith, then love, then spiritual understanding, which isthe goal toward which we all hasten--understanding of all spiritualthings, understanding of God, who is all spirit. As we make the effortwe receive faith, as we use faith we grow in the power and capacity oflove, and love brings us the fullness of all things, even understandingof infinite wisdom. Every glimpse of truth we have ever had, everyglorious 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 andconsequently right acting. In the Bible, the New Testament especially, great stress is laid upon the power of words. Solomon wrote, 'Howforcible are right words. ' 'Life and death are in the power of thetongue, ' 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 wouldmanifest its power. 

"But there is another and a holier office given to the word and that isthe office of atonement. The original meaning of atone was to 'makeat-one, to agree, to be in accordance, to accord. ' To be at-one with aperson is to be in such perfect sympathy that the thoughts of both arethe 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 soat-one with the divine Principle that we may say with Jesus, 'I am onewith the Father, ' for did he not say: 'They are not of this world evenas 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 atone with the divine Mind, to realize that Christ the Truth is theatoning power. The Christ is the impersonal Word of Truth which we areto speak, for 'unto us hath been committed the word of reconciliation'or atonement. 

"When we think true thoughts and catch true ideas, when we understandtrue meanings and love true knowledge, we are sustained by the livingword which sustains all who speak and live it, because we are truly atone 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 'sinswashed away by the blood of Christ, ' which is, sins or errors washedaway by the word of Truth. 

"In that wonderful sermon in the sixth chapter of John, Jesus used theterm blood as a symbol of his words, and emphatically told hisdisciples, when they persisted in taking his sayings literally, 'theflesh profiteth nothing, the _words_ that I speak unto you, they arespirit 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 madefoundation doctrines. Owing to the ancient custom of sacrificing animalsto appease the wrath of God, whom they regarded as subject to anger, jealousy or any human passion, they used figurative language whendescribing Jesus as the Lamb sacrificed for the sins of the world. 

"In one of the inspired moments of the prophet, when he apprehended Godas 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 knowledgeof God, the word of truth, that will save, and the only sacrifice is thesacrifice of self which makes the atonement possible. 

"To fast from all selfishness is to keep the true fast, so beautifullydescribed in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. 'Is it not to loose thebands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed gofree, to break every yoke? Then shall thy light break forth as themorning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily. ' Here is thefruit of atonement, the result of understanding, for understanding Godand being at one with God, is in reality the same. As we understand Godwe 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, thenshall thy whole body be full of light. ' To be single in recognizing theone Mind, one Power, one Creation, is to be filled with light, which islife, which is health, for as the mind, consciousness, becomesilluminated, the body responds by recording the history of thought uponthe visible page or body. 

"It is the revealment of God that we seek, and our individual relationto Him. What more is there for us to know after we know Him, for is notHe all there really is? He has given many marvelous signs to Hischildren, who must be taught in simple childish ways and the 'stillsmall voice' is ever near, speaking to whomsoever will listen. It is theinner guide, the 'spirit of truth that guides us into all truth. ' Thenwe are 'clothed upon, ' we have returned to our Father's house and thefeast is spread, the rejoicing has begun. 

"For awhile our only conception of power, is in visible manifestationsor feelings, but there comes a time when 'to be alone with silence is tobe alone with God, ' when joy is unutterable, and love the very potencyof silence, when we wait with bated breath and let the divine Thoughtsurge through us, when we put away all material beliefs and standglorified in the 'secret of His Presence. ' Then indeed are we baptizedof the spirit, and in the silent chamber of our new consciousness may wehear the blessed words, 'Thou art my beloved son. '

"No longer 'Thou shalt and thou shalt not, ' but the sweet affirmation ofsonship, of daughtership, of the precious benediction of a Father'slove. Then glad light rushes into every dark crevice of our mind. We seeas we never saw before, we understand as we never understood before, wespeak as we never spoke before, we live as we never lived before, because we have been lifted out of the depths of ignorance to theradiant heights of the Promised Land, because we hear the angel sayingas of old, 'Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwellwith them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be withthem and be their God ... And God shall wipe away all tears from theireyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passedaway. ' Finally, oh my husband, because we have been born again, and sofind ourselves within the royal gates, the palace doors open to receiveus and the insignia of royalty written upon our faces, for we shall bestamped with the signs of understanding, and know, as Jesus did, 'it isnot I, but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works. '

"Then, as the beauteous sunlight bathes and blesses all the world withits effulgent glory, so will the light of Truth, known as understanding, shine through us and turn pain into peace, sadness into joy, sicknessinto 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 fullnessof this knowledge now; for the ripened wisdom that shall unlock thedoors of my own consciousness, but I know, dear, this will come to us ifwe are faithful to the few little steps we know, no matter how westumble and fall in taking them. Oh, that we may reach out to all theworld 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 vaguesomething which sometimes loomed up in your horizon is gone. ' How glad Iam, no words can tell. What a change there will be! The old past shallbe sweetened and sanctified by the new present, and only the goodmemories shall remain. 

"What a blessed comfort in this thought, 'the Lord shall be thy rearward. ' We have nothing to do with the past, for it shall be utterlyannulled. The Truth has erased it, and it is swallowed up in the good inproportion as we recognize only the Good. This thought is a greatconsolation to me when I recall the hasty words I used to say when mytemper got the better of me. Oh, that old failing! I hope it is forevervanquished--but there, I must not forget to be scientific, and of courseit is not scientific to talk of error in any way. 

"Jamie is a dear little scamp, if he _did_ try to break the rules andget something to eat between meals by playing prairie dog. It must havebeen very funny to see him sitting in the attitude of a begging dog, mutely appealing for something, and being obliged at last to suggestthat there was candy on the top shelf. Even my heart would have softenedfor the innocent little trickster. 

"Well, really, we must try to give the children the liberty we olderchildren desire and insist upon having in such a headstrong way. Blessmy little darlings! They shall realize the absence of fear, the presenceof love in their home, which we must strive more and more to maketypical 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 annulthe opposite influences and fill their minds with the sweet, pure, ennobling realizations of Love. Meekly I say this, because I know not myown strength, or rather I know not how much divine strength I mayrecognize and use, but this is the right path, and I earnestly desire towalk in it. 

"You know some people say (in their ignorance, of course) that this freethinking breaks up families. Oh, if they could only know, on the otherhand, how it strengthens the bonds, how it clears up misunderstandingsand falsities, how it teaches us the sacredness of family relations, andbrings us into spiritual oneness, which is the only true marriage. 

"Spiritual light has come to me on this subject which can not be putinto words, but some time you will know what I know, and we shall bothbe 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 windsthan ever before, she was not able to formulate or even consciously nameher thoughts. A strange, unsettled feeling possessed her. She wonderedat herself that she did not contemptuously throw this letter of LeonCarrington's into the fire, as she had the other two, but for somereason did not do so. All night she was uneasy and slept but little. Thenext morning she announced to Kate that she would spend the day atRosewood, sketching. 

What the trouble was, Kate could only surmise, but wisely held her peacefeeling instinctively that now was no time for questions. She wasrelieved to hear of the prospective recreation, for Grace always cameback from these trips with so much fresh inspiration, and renewedenthusiasm. 

It was a beautiful day, one of those mild, hazy days of October thatseem made to teach humanity some of its most sacred lessons. Nature isthe best of teachers if we know how to read her mystic pages, her manyand varied beauties, her wide diversities of expression, her finesubtlety of language, for she is the handmaid of Truth, inasmuch as sheholds 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 theyheld a sweeter message than ever before, and she keenly anticipated thepleasure in store for her as she seated herself in the car and disposedof her sketching materials for the half hour's ride to Rosewood, apretty little woodland station near Hampton. 

She generally walked the mile and a half to the farmhouse in the edge ofthe woods, where she had made the acquaintance of a kind hearted oldlady, 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 weekssince Grace had called, and she was eager to tell her of the great treeup in the ravine that had been blasted by the lightning, and about thebeautiful little waterfall caused by the Cherry Creek freshet. 

Grace listened patiently as she rested, and asked questions that she hadasked many times before, because it pleased the old lady to tell of allthe beautiful spots and dainty bits of landscape in her vicinity. Thatwas next to being the artist. 

Prince stood by, looking with intelligent eyes, first at the visitorand then at his mistress, wagging his tail wistfully as though eager tobe 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 headas she looked into his great brown eyes. 

Prince licked his mouth and pushed his nose close under her hand whilehis tail wagged violently. "Yes, of course he is. I wish my old limbswould let me go too, but I can't even hobble to-day for the rheumatismhas been dreadful the last week, " said Mrs. Clayland, as she wiped herspectacles. 

Grace hardly knew what to say, for here was just the place for a littlesympathy, and yet she must shut her eyes to false beliefs andconditions, so she wisely talked of the beautiful day, the warm air, andwhat not, while secretly resolving that Mrs. Clayland should be herfirst patient if she ever knew how to treat patients according to theChrist method. In the mean time, she would give her some thoughts. 

While Mrs. Clayland volubly rattled on, talking of all her aches andpains, 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 beganher rambles in earnest. She knew of a beautiful view from one of thehills near by, and slowly wended her way thitherward. The hush and quietof the place seemed such a relief after the troubled hours of the pastnight, and as she came to the gentle slope of the grassy hill, she threwherself into the soft warm grass, in the shade of a stately elm thatstood there alone, and gave herself up to thinking--thinking of thedeepest and most sacred problems in human experience. 

Prince came and laid himself at her feet. The soft autumn sunshineplayed here and there upon her form and face through the leaves, whilethe occasional note of a bird or hum of an insect were the only soundsthat broke the stillness of the lonely place. What an exquisite pleasureto lie there and breathe in all this wonderful peace, for it was like ataste of heaven. Far away from all perplexities and cares, she couldhave lost herself in sweet forgetfulness but for this one theme thatwould persist in thrusting itself upon her. At last it had resolveditself into the form of a question. Should she or should she not writeto 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 untilshe began the self examination on this point. To be sure she had desiredto change in these respects, since she had seen a glimpse of thepossibilities of Christian life. She had denied all qualities ofcharacter in herself that seemed undesirable, and had affirmedcharitableness, patience, wisdom, but that she could ever have changedher mind on this subject seemed incredible and utterly inconsistent. 

And yet, what could she say to him? She had no answer, certainly noencouragement. The only thing she could do would be to tell him franklywhat her thought and judgment had been, without going into details, andlearn the truth of the matter; but that, she would never do. Whateverinjury she had inflicted through her silent, erroneous thoughts shouldbe as silently redressed by her best and most generous ones. 

Over an hour she lay there, no nearer the solution of her problem thanwhen she began. It was getting late, and she rose hurriedly, shook theleaves and grass from her dress, and opening her sketch book, set towork. 

An opening to the left in the woods revealed a view of lovely meadowsand wooded hills, clothed in all the gorgeous robes of autumn, with amisty blue haze enshrouding them, and gleams of a silvery river windingthrough meadow and woodland. She rapidly sketched the outlines, studiedthe beauteous blending of tints, and wondered meanwhile, what particularlesson she could learn or give by this beautiful picture. Again shelooked at the scene before her. Suddenly there came into her mind somelines 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, howprecious the lesson; and the divine Peace and Light _are_ indeedforever here. Could she throw such a divine message into her prospectivepainting? Could she make every form and color, every hint of light andshadow, tell the sweet story, as this living picture told it? Surely, the heart that overflows with an inbreathing of the divine, must be ableto teach the common heart of humanity, else what is the use ofinspiration?

On her way back to the house, Grace passed the blasted tree, describedby Mrs. Clayland, but she had no desire to study destruction or death. It was life, living things, that she would portray. Was there not beautyand grandeur everywhere, hinting of Infinity? Even the noisy andmonotonous waterfall now had a message for her as it rushed forcefullyon its course, regardless of any and all obstructions. 

It was quite late when Grace and Prince returned, much later than shesupposed, so that she missed the train and had to wait for the next, several hours later. Mr. Clayland kindly volunteered to take her to thestation, an offer she was very glad to accept. 

The lamps were already lighted when she entered the car. She slippedinto the first vacant seat, but caught a glimpse of a face several seatsin front of her that made her heart beat hurriedly and her breath comequick and fast for a few moments. 

She resolutely avoided looking anywhere but out of the window, and atthe end of her journey quietly but quickly disappeared in the surgingcrowd. 

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 ofGrace, and was therefore not alarmed at her prolonged absence. She satin a cozy chair, reading the last letter from Mrs. Hayden, when Graceentered. 

"What makes you look so sober, Gracious?" she asked, tenderly, after thehat and sketch book were laid aside and they had settled themselves fortheir usual chat. 

"Oh, Kate, I had a lovely time to-day, with all the beautiful sights outin the country; I wish you could see how much more there is in naturesince we have studied Christian Healing, " was the evasive reply. 

"I think we see more in everything, " said Kate, whose curiosity wasrather _piqued_ by the evasiveness, though she made no sign, "becauseeverything stands for something. It is like the x in algebra, andinteresting as the unknown quantity. "

Grace smiled a little. She was thinking of a different kind of "unknownquantity. "

"Don't you want to hear Mrs. Hayden's letter?" asked Kate, wonderingmore and more over the _distrait_ manner and dreamy absorption of herfriend. 

"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 decidedlythe most reasonable explanation of the atonement I have ever heard, " sheexclaimed at the close. 

"Yes, it is reasonable and beautiful I must admit, " said Kate, "but whenI first read the letter my old fear came back for a moment that possiblyit was all wrong, but I remembered my right to an interpretation. Thatone thought has been more helpful to me than any other, for it hasbrought such a sense of liberty. Then I looked up the quotation aboutthe 'word of reconciliation, ' and I must say it is so perfectly plain Ican not see why it has been so overlooked and neglected before. "

"Where is it? I did not catch that, " said Grace, following Kate's fingeras she pointed to the passage in the Bible. 

"There is something so sacred in these meanings, " resumed Kate, "and ifI may only get the truth, I care not what any one says about it. I seenow wherein lies the whole misconception or misinterpretation rather. Itis in the idea of God. If we conceive of Him as limited to human waysand capacities, as the ancient Hebrews did, we naturally ascribe suchworks to Him. "

"In other words, " added Grace, "we judge God entirely by ourselves. Ifwe are broad and loving in our nature and character it is easy for us toregard God as love. If we are vindictive and revengeful, we can readilysee Him as angry and unrelenting. "

"Yes, we are so apt to judge the whole world and God, too, by ourmoods, " replied Kate, thoughtfully. 

"As Emerson says, 'we see in others what we are ourselves, '" quotedGrace, removing her jacket which until now she had retained in order toget warm after her evening journey. 

"Oh! what do you think of what Mrs. Hayden says about marriage?" askedKate, putting her pencil in her mouth as she held both hands out toassist Grace. 

"She doesn't say enough to give an opinion, " replied Grace, "but theremust 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, forit is a very important question, " said Kate, with a casual glance towardher 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 aweek 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 whetherthey know anything or not. I am glad Mrs. Hayden mentions it for that isenough to show there is absolutely no foundation for such statements. "Grace moved her chair and put her elbow on the table so she might shadeher eyes with her hand. 

"Why, I don't see how people can say such things; surely the tendency isto draw families into closer bonds of sympathy and affection, " exclaimedKate, in questioning innocence. 

"It ought to be, " replied Grace, thoughtfully, "and undoubtedly is, " sheadded. 

"What do _you_ think of this question, Grace?" Kate ventured to ask. Atany other time she would not have dared approach the subject, but Graceseemed 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 thatdoesn't touch the principle itself. That is right and can never beotherwise. "

"Most people talk and write as seriously as though it _does_ touch theprinciple. "

"That is because they judge the principle by the persons representingit, whereas they should stop and consider that humanity is prone toweakness and often fails to demonstrate its high ideals. "

"And it is because of failure they think there is something wrong. Takean individual case, for instance, and there are thousands. If a girlmarries unhappily, she thinks there must be something wrong in thewhole system, for she judges everybody's misery by her own, " said Kate, secretly wishing Grace would be more confidential, and not so coldlyintellectual. 

"Then the way to a happy judgment of this question would be a happymarriage, you think?" laughed Grace, with a faint blush, looking upinquiringly. 

"Don't trifle Grace. You know I said it all earnestly, and really it isno matter to trifle over, any way. "

"Well, that is true, Kate, " replied Grace more soberly. "I don't believeanybody takes the question seriously enough. It is certainly the mostimportant of all things to consider. "

"Do you think it right to enter marriage for any other reason than pureand 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 beginto talk about love instead of marriage being a failure, they would getsome light on it, " a little impatiently. 

Grace looked up in surprise. 

"I know, " continued Kate, "it is because people are mistaken or misledin their reasons for marriage, that it even has a semblance of failure. "

"That is one reason, certainly, and another is that they do notunderstand each other's motives, or have not the patience to bear witheach other's faults. We can easily see how misunderstandings can be putaway 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 inJesus 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 havesaid or thought, if you had not studied the matter yourself. Youremember 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 ofthe 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 halfreproached herself for allowing anything to take her mind from the onespecial theme in which at last she had become thoroughly interested. Shewas eager to learn, to search in all directions for the meaning ofthings. Slowly the little grain of faith was growing into the mightytree. 

Enchanting Truth so round, so perfect, so beautiful, --no wonder we mustreach out in every direction for the knowledge of thy fair signs that wemay more correctly and more fully realize the perfect revealment of ourown 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 carriercame this morning and gave me a welcome surprise, for your lettersusually come in the afternoon. It seems too wonderful to believe aboutthe children, and yet I can see it is their implicit faith that makestheir 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 plansof the invisible Good. 

"I dreamed of being at home last night, and it seemed as though you wereall so happy and busy. You did not see me. Even little Jem was busilyengaged in some kind of work. I could scarcely see what it was, but avague white something like an invisible net was spread between you, andthe thought came that you and Anna were weaving something, and even thechildren had a part to fulfill for they flitted to and fro, bringingsomething to you with faces so full of light and happiness, I almostcried out with joy. 

"When I awoke I was deeply impressed that this was a symbol of unitedeffort in making the seamless robe of Truth, and the family grouprepresented the members of one body, each with a work to do to perfectthe whole. 

"No matter how humble our part may be, no matter how childish andincompetent we feel, by doing the best we know, with the ability wehave, in all joy and earnestness, we shall be serving the Master andweaving 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 everyother individual, and we are, as it were, 'touching elbows' with thewhole 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 andhealth of the world. Every negative thought (and by that I mean oppositethe good, which is positive) sent forth, goes into the miasmatic fog oferror, 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 thereality of evil is constantly attracting thoughts that make sicknessmanifest, but if a knowledge of how to throw off or counteract thosethoughts were used, the cloud would be dispelled before it turned intoinharmony or sickness. 

"This is why we are taught to deny every thought or feeling that is notharmonious or desirable, everything which can not be predicated ofspirit. If this is what makes sickness and sin, truly it is not to bewondered at, for how many are perfectly happy, perfectly unselfish andkind, one single day at a time?

"Suppose one gets up in the morning with a feeling of crossness andimpatience; he goes to breakfast, impresses the whole family with hisdiscomfort, and so through the entire day leaves the imprint of his darkforebodings on every person who sees him, besides the untold influencethat goes forth to the unprotected world, inasmuch as thoughts goeverywhere. 

"He retires at night, disgusted with himself and displeased with thewhole world. People were unkind and unjust. Even inanimate objects wereunusually aggravating. He wasted half an hour trying to untie a knot, hunted for a package of papers which were finally found in their properplace, had a vexing ten minutes with his office key, etc. 

"Every impatient thought, word or action was an expenditure, not only ofphysical force, but a loss of moral strength, and just as surely as theworld moves, these thoughts, in their revolving circuit, constantlyreturn to the thinker, 'Whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap. '

"Who knows what dark trains of thought his lowering face suggested? Whoknows what headaches and heartaches were brought on by the unconsciousabsorption of his impatience or bitterness? Who can measure the extentof that mysterious burden of depression, so often called 'the blues, 'that crept into the consciousness of somebody under the influence of thedark thoughts sent out by this one, of whom perchance they knownothing?

"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 theinfluence of the happy-voiced individual, who comes to us so runningover with the joy and beauty of life that we catch the thrillinginspiration of his mood and begin to enjoy the same sunshine, see thesame beauty and feel the same happiness. 

"One look or one word may often send us off into the most delightfulreveries, may inspire us to write a cheery letter, vibrating with loveand hope, or prompt us to spend half an hour with one who needs the bathof joy our words may bring. Consciously and unconsciously we lighten thepathway, lift the burdens, sanctify the sorrows of the world by sendingout and receiving this subtle thread of thought, so fine in its essenceand quality, that any one and every one may feel its strengtheningpresence. 

"It is the negative or mortal thought that produces disease. See howgrief bends and breaks the strongest constitutions, furrows the cheek, dims the eye, takes the appetite, impairs the mind. See how angercankers everything it touches, how jealousy corrodes the thoughts withpoisoned arrows, until the body is written over with letters ofunmistakable meaning. 

"The body is what we may call the thermometer of the mind and registersthe quality of thought. Universal beliefs in error find their commonexpression on the body. Every thought of sickness, sin or discouragementis recorded or bodied forth. 

"With all our belief in and fear of evil, sickness and death, we arecontinually 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 kindof thought. Some one has aptly said, 'if the human race were freed fromfear, it would be free from sickness, ' which is verily true. Even themost learned doctors of medicine admit that an epidemic takes hold ofthose first who are most afraid, and frequently leaves the absolutelyfearless unmolested. 

"Why is this so? Because fear weakens the power of mental control, andconsequently weakens the body. To leave the doors unlocked, and thenwatch for the thief, is almost equal to having the thief in the house. 

"The material scientist says an epidemic has a material cause; theChristian healer says it has a mental cause. Before there is an objectto fear there must be the sentiment of fear. Let scarlet fever appear ina community, and every parent will immediately send out the mostagonizing thoughts of fear. Where will they go? Everywhere, becausethoughts can not be restrained. Their influence goes out in everydirection. To the tender children especially, because particularlydirected to them. All who have left the door open to fear, though theymay be sleeping in their unconsciousness of danger, will be liable toreceive these uncontrolled thoughts, and some day when they least expector fear sickness, it may be upon them. 

"So the children, to whom have been directed such thoughts, only provetheir susceptibility to them, by picturing forth fear in the form ofscarlet fever, or whatever may have been the naming of the error. Anybody manifesting sickness without consciousness of fear provespassive or unconscious fear, while those suffering sickness through aconscious recognition and fear of sickness are manifesting active orconscious fear. 

"There are two departments of mind sometimes spoken of as the consciousand unconscious. The conscious mind is the conscious thought, which iseasily swayed or changed. It has an immediate or direct influence on thebody as is shown by the blood that rushes to or recedes from the face atsome sudden change of thought. The unconscious mind is the aggregationof past individual and universal conscious thought, and is the characterformed, the second nature or instinct. 

"As the flesh and bones are more fixed than the ever moving blood, sothe unconscious mind is slower to receive impressions, and slower toshow them forth. Our bodies to-day are showing a harvest of the thoughtsof generations or ages of the past. The person manifesting consumptivetendencies is not only expressing his own conscious thoughts, but isveritably the picture of the thoughts of his parents, ancestors and theentire race, concerning a belief in consumption. Year by year thethoughts of this error have been writing themselves in his face, hiseyes, his chest, his very walk and talk and breath. Unless he offsetsthem 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 orsickness, because he was at one with the world in its false beliefs. 

"'The last enemy to be overcome is death!' reads the inspired statementof 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 calluniversal beliefs. They are often referred to as belonging to theunconscious mind; as, for example, the fear of pain or suffering undercertain circumstances will come to the surface of consciousness, provingthat despite every feeling of confidence and fearlessness it has notbeen destroyed, but sleeps in the unconscious mind. 

"These unconscious beliefs and fears of sickness are ultimatelyexpressed on the body in different forms of disease, sometimes given onename and sometimes another. The material scientist calls a certainoutshowing on the body cancer, the Christian healer calls it the pictureof a belief of cancer. In this way disease is always the manifestationof both conscious and unconscious thoughts. 

"Special forms of disease are born by constant attention to the thoughtof disease and their symptoms. It has been stated on good authority thatphysicians who make a specialty of certain diseases are apt to beafflicted with what they have especially fitted themselves to cure. In amedical journal a case was cited not long since of an eminent physicianwho read before a great convention of doctors, what was considered to bethe ablest treatise on insanity ever written. 'On going home from theconvention he killed his wife, four children, and then himself, in a fitof dementia. '

"This reveals a startling fact, which might be corroborated by manyothers, that the body ultimately pictures forth the idea. But thethought is not confined to the individual. It not infrequently finds themost striking expression in some member of the family or in any oneunder his influence. 

"If one man's thoughts so influence himself, family or friend, think ofthe influence of such thoughts on those who go to him for advice ortreatment, those who deliberately place themselves under his inspectionand allow themselves to be guided both directly and indirectly by hiserroneous opinions. Think of the vast stream of such thoughts going outfrom all medical colleges, students and practitioners. No wonderdiseases increase as physicians increase, as some of the best thinkersof 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 andpunishment, the entire race believe in and suffer for sins. 

"It is centuries since it was first discovered that ideas weretransmitted without the ordinarily accepted means of communication, but, to-day it is positively and repeatedly, yes, continually proven thatthought transference is not only possible or probable, but an every-dayoccurrence. 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 areverily our brother's keeper, and that every thought makes misery orhappiness for the whole world as well as for the individual, issomething that should engage our deepest and most earnest consideration. 

"All thinking is for the weal or woe of the world that is yet in itsinfancy of knowledge. As consciousness of truth takes the place ofconsciousness of error, thoughts become light and beautiful and truewith corresponding conditions. 

"Let us no longer slumber in the arms of indifference and ignorance, butawake to truth and righteousness. 'Better be unborn than untaught; forignorance 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 thelesson on Thought. "I didn't know we were so responsible for everylittle thing that comes into our mind. "

"Or goes out of it, " said Grace, smiling, as she finished tinting adainty 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 understandthis lecture as well as the rest?" asked Kate, again glancing at theletter. 

"Why shouldn't we? It is plainly told, and is a natural sequence to theothers. I should think it very helpful, and if there really is so muchpower in thought, it is time people knew it. "

"But what of the people who do not know it? Are they utterlydefenseless?"

"As long as they believe in the reality of sin, sickness and death, theymust suffer from them, " replied Grace, picking a loose hair from herblender. 

"Then they ought to know how to learn and understand these things, but Icould 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 rememberthe spiritual, which is the only real creation. "

"It is not so easily done though. To-day I met the most miserablelooking cripple sliding along without any limbs. I held my skirts asideas he passed, and forgot to even think of him as God's child, " confessedKate, in a regretful tone. 

"Anything takes time, and we can't expect to leap into perfection atonce, but what did you do after he had passed?" asked Grace, with somecuriosity. 

"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 bodymanifest whatever you think of it. If you think the real and true, youhelp to make that show forth, if you only think of the external orapparent trouble or defect, and regard it as the real, you are harminginstead of helping. "

"I can readily see that we may affect ourselves, but it seems hard tobelieve that we affect _everybody_, " protested Kate, incredulously. 

"It is because we cannot realize the law of thought transference. I wasreading just last week about that. An instance of Stuart C. Cumberland'smind-reading was cited. It was wonderful. And then long ago I read anold book written by Cornelius Agrippa about it, but I was not very muchinterested, and did not understand nor believe it at the time, so mymemory is not worth much concerning it. "

"Then you really think I added another weight to that unhappy creature'sburden of trouble?" cried Kate, in sharp surprise. 

"It would be best for you to deny his apparent conditions and affirm hisreal ones, and instead of thoughts of pity, which are only weakening, you could think of happiness and contentment. I truly believe we canlearn to think of people this way, if we only catch ourselves forcorrection every time we think wrong. "

"How shall I ever learn to bridle my thoughts?" was Kate's despairingwail. 

"By learning to bridle your tongue; I found a splendid text to-day onthat 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 learnedin these lessons, " exclaimed Kate. 

"Only we would never have had sense enough to understand without thelessons, " 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 andbrushes. 

A little later Grace went out to mail a letter. As she turned from thepost-box, she found herself face to face with--whom but LeonCarrington?

"Ah, an unexpected pleasure, Miss Hall!" he said, extending his hand andwarmly grasping the one she slowly held out to him. He lookedsearchingly into her face, with clear, questioning eyes. 

She dropped her lashes and drew back with a touch of the oldhaughtiness, murmuring something he could not hear. 

"May I have the pleasure of a little walk with you?" he asked, suitinghis 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, andwill 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 yearfor a visit. They walked along, talking only commonplaces, until theyneared her home. 

"Did you receive my letter, Miss Gra--Miss Hall?" he asked, with someunsteadiness in his voice. 

"Yes, " she replied, shortly. She did not understand herself any morethan he did, and was vexed to find it so impossible to throw off her oldproud ways, for she really intended to relent enough, at least, to havean explanation, and possibly--her thoughts could never go farther thanthis, and here she was, in the same imperious way, shutting her betterself away from even a fair consideration of duty. These thoughts flashedthrough her mind while she walked on, apparently with the greatestindifference to either his words or his presence. But with a greateffort she compelled herself to say again, with more warmth, "I receivedit, and intended to answer before this, but--" She stopped abruptly. 

He gratefully caught the morsel she had given, and asked if he might notcall the next day. 

"Yes, you may come at three, " she said, careful to set a time when Katewould surely be out. 

At the door they parted, and as she went up the stairs, she wonderedmore than ever at her hardness, for almost unconsciously she had givenup all doubts of his honor as a gentleman. What was it all aboutanyway? Nothing but a report that he was engaged to a young lady at thetime he proposed to her, and on the testimony of a single friend, shehad allowed herself to be miserable, and make another miserable, throughthis foolish pride that she _would_ conquer by to-morrow afternoon. 

What! would she compel herself to so utterly ignore her own nature? Sheleaned against the wall half way up the stairway, startled at thisrevelation of herself. She did not know she was capable of such changes, and yet the last two weeks had greatly modified her opinions in manythings.... 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 allerrors and right all wrongs. To-night she would deny away every fault inher character, especially pride, deny every obstacle to understanding, and then earnestly ask for guidance, and wait till it came, for this wastruly 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 morefriendly relation on her part, much to the satisfaction of Mr. Carrington, whose perseverance was surely worthy this much reward, butGrace would go no further, although she gave him permission to callagain. She must know herself fully before another word on the subjectwere said. Marriage was a vague and solemn theme, something to bepondered over days and nights and months perhaps, she thought, and saidto him. 

Mr. Carrington was a man of earnest aim and high purpose, thoughtful, intellectual and cultured, in every way congenial to her, and she wasglad to accept his friendship. That he had loved her through all hercoldness and neglect, she no longer doubted, which fact was of no smallimport in his chances for her favor. Finding how absolutely false hadbeen the report that had caused her misjudgment, she was anxious toprove 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, formarriage was the highest symbol of perfection and--. What the symbolmeant was yet to be revealed, but she already knew that it had aprofound 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 moreaccustomed to the light. It is as though we were put into a beautifulroom filled with all manner of lovely forms and dainty colors, flowersand perfumes, where we have groped blindfolded from one thing toanother, trying to form some conception of the surpassing loveliness, when gradually the bandage is removed, layer by layer until the wholeenchanting 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 practicalhint on healing, inasmuch as we were told how to take up a case fortreatment. 

"We must never forget that we are, and wish to remain as littlechildren, in our desire to apprehend and understand Truth. The naturalattitude of the child-mind is one of receptivity and eager interest. Under the guidance of wise parents he will always be willing and anxiousto learn more and more, continually growing in wisdom and love. 

"Back to the zeal and innocence of childhood we go then, to learn theever mysterious but ever charming alphabet of Truth, which leads us intothe kingdom. 

"As we present ourselves in the great school room of life, and take orrecognize our appointed place beside the ever present School-master, welearn the letters of the grand knowledge that shall teach us how to readthe most learned books, understand the deepest philosophy, theprofoundest science, the divinest religion. We would learn the ministryof healing, that will set free the 'spirits in prison;' we would be gladmessengers of the gospel of peace. The door to great attainments isfaithfulness in small ones. 

"There are three kinds or modes of healing. The first or lowest, is theintellectual; the second or next higher, the intuitional; the third andhighest, the spiritual. The first only can be taught, the other two areattained by individual development. The first comes by reason, thesecond by faith, the third by understanding. The first is by argument ora system of reasoning, the second by implicit trust or confidence in thePrinciple, the third by the realization of Truth and the speaking of theword or perchance, by one's very presence. 

"But there is nothing arbitrary about this. The person who never heardof Christ's teaching till yesterday may have so caught the fire of Truththat to-day he stands at the altar a priest instead of communicant, ateacher instead of pupil. 

"Many just beginning their study of this method of healing requireexplicit directions and explanations of details, in order to apply theprinciple, feeling that they have no intuitional leadings and can notdepend 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 learnthe principle, and only so long as you are ignorant of the principlewill you need the rule. To use the rule, as the child uses the chair inlearning to walk, is to grow strong, and able to dispense with it; touse it as spectacles are used, is to make it indispensable. 

"If we can not yet learn through divine ways, let us learn through humanways. The human is inadequate to express the divine, but many namelesshints and light-gleams and sudden illuminations will flash upon thefaithful worker all along the way. Words are signs of ideas and ideasare signs of God. When we think or speak true words, we have begun ourmission of healing or helpfulness, and from words we go on to theinexpressible 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 spiritualunderstanding, and having received the illumination, we are not to feelthat we have grown above the use of argument, for it may be necessary togo back to the rule with the very next treatment. 

"Above all else must the student of this Truth guard against what may becalled spiritual pride. No thought of supremacy or greater advancementshould be harbored for a moment. All such things are clouds that obscurethe 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 'lovenever faileth. '

"We become, as it were, the cleansed window pane, through which shinesthe divine light of Truth. Could we always be the cleansed pane, Truthwould melt away all error, just as the sun melts the frostwork, butbeing still in the current of human thought we must wait patiently forfurther power to reveal the God-likeness. 

"Wrong thought as the real cause of disease, opens new avenues ofinformation; but we continue to explore and discover. Any kind ofthought opposite the good is sure to break forth into some form ofdisease-pictures, and the question is, what kind of thought is it whichthus reflects itself upon the patient's body? All error will producepictures of error. The world's naming of the belief in heredity is thenaming of its greatest error, or belief in sin, because that implies allsins of the flesh as manifested in the body. 

"Back of all effect is a cause; the disease is the effect, the wrongthought is the cause. One of the great causes of disease is sensualbeliefs, the appetites and passions of the carnal man. 

"It is error to suppose he is subject to conditions unlike God, theSource. 'He that is born of God, can not sin, because his seed remainethin him. ' Being in and controlled by the universal thought current, theerror of supposition, he manifests it in his condition. Supposingconsumption hereditary, he suffers from the supposition; supposingimpurities of the blood transmitted through the flesh, he finds it evenso. Supposition, false thinking, being at the bottom of all erroneousconditions, we proceed to deal with them as we do with any other errorsor lies. 

"When we seek for anything with a desire to gain happiness, it isbecause we hope to gain what our previous efforts have failed to bringus, so the one who comes to be healed by Christian Truth, comes with ahope at least that this will bring the health he has sought in vain fromother sources. He has turned in all directions in response to the advicereceived from this or that one of the friendly advisers, so ready toconstitute themselves the body guard of the world. He has tried doctorsof every school; he has traveled east, west, north and south; he hasplunged into healing waters of all kinds and had all kinds of healingwaters plunged into him; he has been burned and steamed and pounded andstarved, till he is finally disgusted enough to want something that willnot harm if it will not cure, so he drags himself before us withpossibly a gleam of hope, possibly the faithlessness of despair, andasks for a treatment. 

"And now you wish to know in what a treatment consists; simply insilently telling the patient the truth about himself as God's child, ingiving him the principles we have learned concerning God and man, andwith earnest gladness assuring him of his freedom. For the benefit ofthe young practitioner, we will give a few directions or suggestivetreatments. 

"We ask the patient for a statement of his belief, which he is only tooglad to give with elaborate and vivid details. We meet every statementwith 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 thepositive belief of any inharmony. The patient, being in the belief offalse conditions, is of one mind with the world, and so reflects thebeliefs of mankind. That we may be sure of meeting all classes of falsebeliefs, we deny for him the reflection of any false conceptions ofhimself from the race, his parents and ancestors, his friends andassociates, himself and ourself, for we are still one with humanity. 

"Everybody has a conscious or unconscious belief in heredity, and sinceit is one of, if not _the_ most formidable of human beliefs, we dealwith it first as the possible cause of our patient's belief insuffering. 

"After he has finished the statement of his condition, we say to himmentally: '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 notsubject to the law of God, and _you_, the spiritual, immortal you, aresubject to the mind of the spirit which recognizes the spiritualcreation, therefore your spiritual self can not be sick or suffer fromany inharmony. 

"'This carnal mind belief named dyspepsia is not a condition of yourreal self. The belief of the race, ancestors, daily associates, yourselfor myself in heredity and the sensual appetites can not be picturedforth by your body in the form of dyspepsia, because the real you isspiritual and not subject to material beliefs. It is utterly impossiblefor you, who are spiritual, to be influenced by any thought that isopposite the spiritual, as it is impossible for the light to coalescewith darkness. 

"'_You_ are God's child, made in His image and likeness, and must beperfect like Him, for His conditions are changeless and eternal. Listento this glad message that tells you absolute Truth. Realize that asGod's child you can not suffer, for spirit knows no suffering. You cannot be weak, for God is your strength; you can not fear anything, forGod is your refuge and fortress. 'God hath not given us the spirit offear, but of love and of power and of sound mind. '

"'Listen to me!--The 'Truth sets free. '--_Now, you are free_. You gladlyacknowledge the truth, and prove it in every thought, word and deed. Like the Master, I say unto you, 'Lazarus, come forth!' Come out of theerrors in which you have been so long entombed, throw off the graveclothes of mortal thought, and rise to new thoughts, new conditions, anew life! Rejoice that you are whole, and let the world rejoice withyou.... It is finished. In the hands of omnipresent Good, in the name ofimmaculate Truth, I leave you. 

"'So may this be established, yea, it _is already_ established. I thankThee, Father, that thou hast heard me. '

 * * * * *

"This lesson, John, is very hard to report. I find so many questionssuggested to my mind, and so many if's and but's. 

"Mrs. Pearl desired us each to take up a case for absent treatment, someone 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 littleboy 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 thatI have given. It may not seem clear to you at first, but it is not thewords you are to remember so much as the ideas. Get the thought firmlyfixed in your mind, and the words will come of themselves. 

"You readily see it is using the same principle with the patient thathas been applied in self training. First, the denial of all error, andthen the affirmation of truth. This treatment is for any chroniccondition, 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 tosay my denials and affirmations some more, besides giving my patient thetreatment. 

"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 withsome 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 ofvanity to my other faults, " answered Grace, looking out of the windowand smiling pleasantly, with the least touch of absent mindedness in hermanner. 

"No danger of that, you dear old Gracious, but if you should saysecretiveness, I might be willing to stop, " said Kate, boldly, yethardly daring to look toward the window. 

Grace did not answer, but continued looking out of the window forseveral minutes. "What makes you say that, Kate?" she asked at last, turning around soberly, while the rosy flush crept up to her temples andback of her ears. 

"Oh, I don't know, Gracious, only it seems to me you are like a purewhite lily bell, and I want to creep into your heart and live in itsfragrance, but--" She stopped abruptly. It seemed as though the almostimperceptible veil of reserve was falling lower than ever. 

Oh, why could she not gain Grace's confidence? These thoughts passedrapidly through her mind while she stood as if transfixed, waiting forGrace to break the interminable silence. If she had only known it, Gracewas nearer to her at that moment than ever before, but with her eyescast 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 haddropped. 

"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 rapat the door startled them both. It was a boy with a note. "Miss GraceHall?" he said, handing it to her. 

Grace looked at the letter and then at the boy inquiringly. "I am towait for an answer, " he said. 

"Oh, " she murmured, in a dazed way, and hastened to find pen and paperfor 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 hadbeen working upon, but presently arose and began pacing the room. Katelooked up at her as she passed, but said nothing. She could see thatsome deep thought was struggling for utterance, and wondered much. 

After a few moments Grace stopped beside her. "I wish I might speakfreely to you, Kathie, but--" she hesitated, "but it has never beennatural for me to be confidential, and--"

She began her promenade again, but presently came back, and drawing herchair close up to Kate, told her the whole story, with long pauses andmuch hesitating speech. 

"And now he is in the city; he--wants an answer. He has invited meto--ride with him--to-morrow. "

"Surely, you will not refuse him that privilege?" cried the impetuousKate, with visions of a romance unfolding in thrilling chapters beforeher very eyes. 

"No, of course not, " in a low tone, "but how shall I answer him?" Thelast was scarcely audible. It seemed almost as though she spoke toherself. With her forefinger she idly traced some hieroglyphics on herlap. 

"What says your heart, my Lilybell?" asked Kate, softly, as she caressedthe hand that was at liberty. 

"'The prisoned bird doth ofttimes sing, but never at the bidding of itsjailer, '" 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 toopen now, for I am close to her throbbing heart. Wait, dear Grace. Letus sit silently and ask the Father for guidance. "

Sweet and solemn moment, when with one accord, they waited for theSpirit to pour out the full vials of love and wisdom. It was a precioustime of sweet communion, of giving and receiving the best, aconsecration of self to better efforts, higher aims, holier living; abaptism of strength and peace and lovely thoughts. 

Grace had entered upon a new epoch. The past, with its longings andstruggles, its loneliness and bitterness, was already fading into thebackground of memory like some dark, ill-favored picture, and in itsplace came the present, with its balmy atmosphere and dainty colorings, promising joy and peace. The morning looked fair. How would be the noonand eventide?

Ah, no questioning when you ask the Father's guidance! Have you notasked, dear heart?

Wait till the answer comes. Wait till the soundless message is deliveredinto your heart's safe keeping.... 

The last beams of the setting sun came through the window and bathedthem in its red-gold glory. In her exalted mood, it seemed to Kate likea heavenly vision. She saw Grace glorified with a divine radiance, baptized with a new peace. White-winged angels hovered near, like purethoughts personified. Every glinting sunbeam seemed a golden shaft oflove. 

The glory paled into a mellow twilight. The enchanting picture faded, but the essence of its beauty changed into a heart-melody of softenedsacred joy. What but music could speak in this hallowed moment?

Kate's very soul would utter itself. She went to the piano as in adream. Soft, low notes, faint and sweet, breathed of tender questioningsand tremulous doubts; then a higher, more triumphant strain of victoryswelled the notes that lingered but a moment, ere a tone of sadness andregret struck the keys, whispering of sacred duty and solemnresponsibility.... Again the music changed. Now peace and joy thrilledand rippled through the melodious chords.... 

Dearer than ever was the friendship thus cemented. They had been caughtup to heaven, as it were, and that which had been bound on earth was nowbound in heaven. 

"Mystical more than magical, is the communing of soul with soul, bothlooking heavenward. Here, properly, soul first speaks with soul; foronly in looking heavenward, take it in what sense you may, not lookingearthward, does what we can call union, mutual love, society, begin tobe possible. "

They sat till late into the night, discussing and considering all phasesof life and its problems. 

Kate read Mrs. Hayden's letter, which in the agitation and excitement ofthe first part of the evening she had quite forgotten. Because of theirdeep earnestness they were well prepared to catch the healing mood. Thisexperience seemed indeed the shower that most opened the blossom ofunderstanding, and ere they slept, each had taken some poor sufferingmortal into her care as a patient. The blessings they had received werealready 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 shellof selfishness, when we may begin to send the tender rootlets of beinginto 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. Ampleased to know that Mabel is so interested, for it will help her somuch in her studies and work. I must begin my daily report at once, asthere is not much time before class. 

"There was no lesson yesterday, and about noon Mrs. Dawn came after meto 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 theway with the quieting, reassuring thoughts that allay fear. Before shewent in we agreed to hold that thought. 

"When Mrs. Browning went into the office, we remained in the waitingroom thinking as intently as possible:

"'There is not a thing to fear, Lida Browning, there is no tooth-achewith your real self, there is no sensation in matter. You can entertainnothing 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 withyou, for you are one with the Father. '

... "It was done. The dentist was so amazed that he hardly remembered togive his patient a glass of water. 

"'Well, I never knew a cuspidate to come so hard. Didn't it hurtterribly?' he asked sympathetically. 

"'Not a bit except when you first put on the forceps, ' was her promptreply as she rinsed out her mouth.... 

"I need say no more. You can imagine our pleasure at this victory. Wenever know how little our faith till we see how astonished we are at thedemonstration. 

"You ask if Mrs. Pearl has explained your queries. A few questions werehanded in yesterday, but I had not time to put them in my letter. Onethat always puzzled us, was: What is the origin of evil? The questionsare written on slips of paper and laid on the table. She answers thembefore giving the regular lesson. When she read this slip there was nota little stir among the fifty eager questioners. 'What is the origin ofevil?' she repeated. 'It has no origin, ' was the unsatisfactory answer, after a momentary silence. Oh! the blankness of those faces! 'But, ' sheresumed presently, 'if you ask how _seeming_ evil originated, I may giveyou the ideas that came to me as a solution of that mortal mindquestion. '

"You know we might ask questions of each other forever, but unless ourthoughts are tinged with same quality, or run in the same direction, thesatisfactory answer to one may not be at all satisfactory to another. Inother words, we will not recognize the same phase of truth, unless weare in the same stage of development, so if you are not willing to takemy explanation as true, it may be that you are not yet where you canperceive it, or it may be, you require a different illustration toconvey the same thought, or, there may be innumerable reasons, but ofthis one blessed fact be assured: if you hold yourself in the receptiveattitude, and sincerely expect to be guided by the spirit of truth, someday the answer will come to you with such irresistible force andplainness that you can not forget it, or ever be in doubt upon thatpoint again. 

"It was in this way the light came to me. That question had puzzled memore than all else, and I asked every healer whom I met as to thecorrect solution. For several months I pondered and fretted over it. Atlast, in despair, I let it alone, resolving I would not be furthertroubled. But one day it unfolded itself so clearly and beautifully Iwas completely satisfied. 

"Here it is: Taking the first account of creation, we find man made inthe image and likeness of God, given dominion over all things. If webelieve man to be spiritual and not material, if we know that spirit_can not_ change its character or quality, we must know that spirituallyman never fell, but that he _seemed_ to fall through our misconceptionand misunderstanding of appearances. 

"Man now manifests what he believes in; his consciousness of truth isnot fully developed and he mistakes appearances for realities. Havingall possibilities of recognizing only the good, he is perfect. For everymistake that is made he manifests error, the fallen, or rather theundeveloped state. The Truth and Love that he manifests in his life, isthe revealment of his God-like nature. In the glimpses of his true selfhe recognizes his inheritance of power, and in his mistaken conceptionsforgets to acknowledge God. He then judges according to appearances, andsays things are true because they appear true to the senses. 

"The creating principle of life is perfect, but man neglects toacknowledge this divine power in proportion to his selfishness. It istherefore 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 arebelieving in nothingness, which so proves itself by death anddisintegration. If we believe appearances to be the _sign_ of the real, we are acknowledging the spiritual to be the all, hence it proves itselfby making even the body its sign, manifest life, health, perfection. 

"If we cast out all selfishness, pure love takes its place. We must bepurified from the beliefs of the world in selfishness and itsconsequences 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 answerwill come to you. 

"The lesson to-day was on deception and personal influences. The wholeworld has been deceived into believing man is fleshly instead ofspiritual, so many false thoughts and beliefs have arisen, which are thecause of all disease and trouble. Universally we are deceived, individually we are deceived, and it is not only because we are makingour beliefs visible on the body, but because we suffer from themmentally and physically that it is necessary to discover what they areand cast them out. 

"The term deception will cover the mistakes believed and made inignorance, and deceitfulness will include the beliefs in and expressionof deceitfulness. On the second day the patient is treated for theworld's next greatest beliefs, which are deception and deceitfulness, and as before, we set him free from this belief, as possibly reflectedor absorbed through one or more or all of these five avenues wementioned in the first treatment. 

"Because the world has admitted the first great lie, that the materialcreation is the true one, or synonymous with the true, we have 'yieldedourselves servants to sin, ' hence will see the consequences of suchfalse 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 howapplicable it is to this problem of deception. Truly, it is a tangledweb, and the only way to get it untangled is to break off the thread andgo back to the beginning where we can truly say, I am created free andperfect and whole in His image, and can not be influenced by anythingdifferent from Him. 

"This is _always_ spiritually true, but if we deal with the worldlybeliefs, we find that according to appearances, we are under theinfluence of our own and every other person's wrong thought. We say ofsome people, 'how happy I am in their company, how it uplifts me to bein their presence. ' With others we feel a nameless depression, afearful, unhappy feeling, and shun their company. As Emerson so aptlysays: 'With some I walk among the stars, whilst others pin me to thewall. '

"Now, in reality, no good ever comes from personal influence, althoughin 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 ourfriend, but we are benefited and uplifted by his freedom frompersonality, or in other words by the divine individuality flowingthrough him and expressed by his benevolence, his love, hischeerfulness, his wisdom. Inasmuch as he is free from personal orselfish thoughts, he is filled and permeated with gifts from the divineFountain of _all_ benevolence, _all_ love, _all_ cheerfulness, _all_wisdom. 

"There is a difference between personality and individuality which mostpeople 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 holdon, 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 nopower over one who has become filled with positive thoughts ofrighteousness. When we trust wholly to the Good, and become wholly atone with the Good, recognizing the supremacy of the Good, we are freefrom all belief in miseries or burdens. We breathe purer air, which isinvisible but life-giving; we feed on heavenly manna, the true word thatis divinely nourishing; we escape the awful bondage of fear, knowing theperfect love that casts out fear. We can not fear any false beliefs orwrong thoughts, for we are so filled with true thoughts, no suchfalsities can enter our mind. 

"Some people talk as though we have great cause to tremble at this awfulcounterfeit power of mortal mind, but if they would not talk of it, norfear 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 areality and you will see many witnesses to prove it. 'Agree with thineadversary quickly, lest he turn and rend thee, ' means make haste todispose of the lie that will throttle you, if you fellowship with itever so little. Let us not be deceived, but let us 'awake torighteousness and sin not. '

"Another question, and a very important one, was: 'What is thedifference between the different teachers of Christian Healing?' I canbest 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, shesaid: 'Everything that did not come from her teacher was mesmerism, thatit was altogether false, and it was so much of a power that it wasindeed to be feared, for there was no telling what its subtlety andcunning would suggest and execute; that no cure effected by it waspermanent, but that the patients would sooner or later be worse thanbefore. '

"Oh, dear, I must not rehearse it, for of course you remember how my oldheadache overtook me when I got home, and how wrought up I was allnight. Now I know what caused it, and _now_ I know the difference. 

"In the first place, these people are taught the pure and beautifulfoundation of pure Christian Healing, but instead of holding to theirpremise that all is good, they begin to talk about people and thingsthat are _not_ good, imputing false motives, and giving false power tothose who, as they say, are not in the truth. 

"If they would only remember that counterfeits can have no power exceptas it is delegated to them, that unreal thoughts must disappear in thepresence 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 weresist anything, we recognize it as something. If we regard evil as anentity, we can not help fearing or fighting it, but if we know it isnothingness claiming to be something, we deal with it accordingly. 

"Whoever resists evil or calls evil a power, has not denied the realityof evil faithfully enough. To talk of anything as having power, is tobelieve in the power and become entangled in its meshes. That explainsMrs. Fuller's remark that she was 'actually afraid to meet one of thosefalse teachers on the street, and always took pains to warn peopleagainst them. ' I speak of Mrs. Fuller because you know so well what shedid and said, that you will understand this explanation better. 

"Another remark she made was, that 'this power of mortal mind is whollyignored by these false teachers, although they secretly use it soeffectually and disastrously. ' Because they do not talk so much of evil, she thinks they ignore it, while really they silently but earnestly andvigorously deny it, thereby getting a sure control over it. She wastaught to call this seeming power of mortal thought Mesmerism, andAnimal Magnetism, and after giving it such formidable names, and somighty a place, it is most natural for her to say that it affectsherself and family or her patients, causing them to be slow in yieldingto treatment. Thus you can readily see how she accounts for herfailures. 

"Mrs. Pearl teaches that we can deal with this influence of carnal ormortal mind, by denying for the patient the conscious or unconsciousreflection of it from these five different sources. To the patient whois ignorant of truth, mortal thought has a power, because he hasacknowledged it as having power, but in our silent conviction of itspowerlessness, we speak the true word that sets him free. The wholesecret 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 lawof Good by recognizing only the Good in thought and speech. 

"How beautiful this teaching is! and how wonderfully the spirit leads usinto all truth. But it can not teach us if we talk error, ordeliberately judge others. Never till we are faithful in acknowledgingthe one Principle of Life will it prove itself the only power over us. 

"After the questions, Mrs. Pearl spoke of the third treatment. We treatfor everything we might have missed in the first two treatments. Sometimes this is called the sin treatment, for it takes up so manythings that belong more or less to everybody, according to the world'sbelief. A more explicit naming is selfishness. 

"Selfishness is the beginning, the mother of all the rest. It remindsone of the seven devils from which poor Mary Magdalen was freed. It isnot unlikely these were their names: Selfishness, pride, envy, avarice, jealousy, malice and cruelty. This we deny for the patient through thefive 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 fromany of these qualities. With our strong faith in the law and power ofthe word, we sturdily deny everything that might be the shadowobstructing his light. 

"As we go on in this study, we learn the meaning of these outshowings ofdisease. Every visible thing is the expression of a thought, whetherGod-given or man-supposed. We look into a patient's face and read orinterpret the signs of his thought. Is he selfish, unkind or severe inhis disposition, there are the lines and expressions that betray him. Ishe lovely, gentle and kind, a nameless feeling of peace and trust stealsover us. 

"In the moments or times of silence that every healer should seek, theremay come something to hint of the truth, some word or text ormind-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 meansare 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 afragment of landscape, a child's face, a storm, a sun. These are ideassymbolized. 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 depictingthe life of the righteous. It would mean peace for my patient. If thesymbol be a child's face, it may mean that I must become as a littlechild in order to be led into the kingdom. A storm may signify that mypatient is passing through a crisis of mental commotion, in which case Imust use the invariable rule, deny the false and affirm the true. 

"On the other hand I may never see a symbol, but some suggestive textmay come into my mind. If I were depressed or discouraged, these wordsmight 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 thineheart. '

"Or I might not be conscious of anything while I am sitting thus in thesilence. The answer to my silent question may come to me in the mostcommonplace way days or weeks after it is asked. Some person may saysomething that will be the very clue I am seeking. We are not to beanxious or troubled if many questions perplex us, or many problems seeminsoluble, but wait, trusting that 'he is faithful who promised. ' Wemust not be wishing for the same signs or powers that others have, butappreciate what is given to us, for faithfulness shall receive its fullreward in due time 'if we faint not. '

"No more to-day. Love to the babies. How glad I am to know they are sowell 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 anadded lustre to her beautiful eyes, and the faintest wild-rose tint inher cheeks made her a fit study for any artist. 

She looks like Psyche just awakened. Can it be possible, that with allher charms, she was sleeping, before to-day? he thought as he took hisseat beside her, thrilled with new hope. 

He drove into one of the broad, quiet avenues that led out of the cityand 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 riverover which lay the "Glen" road. 

"I have been wishing I might go there, before the leaves fell, and thisis exactly what I enjoy, " replied Grace, looking out over the scenebefore her with a keen pleasure. 

"Perhaps this is an answer to your wish. Sometimes I think our wishesare answered because of their intensity, " said Mr. Carrington, lookingmeaningly into her face. 

"George Eliot says: 'The very intensity keeps them from beinganswered. '" What gave him the sudden, triumphant certainty that he couldbide his time? She had lost all her haughtiness, apparently. He hadnever seen her in the mood of to-day. 

"_Apropos_ of wishes, " he resumed, "which are properly thoughts, I havetwo friends in Boston, who can communicate with each other, no matterhow 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 andkindred themes. 

He glanced at her in polite surprise. "Indeed, " he said, "are youacquainted with the subject?"

"Somewhat; I have seen enough to know it is founded on law, " shereplied, briefly. 

"What law?" he asked, wonderingly, with a slight smile of incredulitylighting his face. 

"Mental law, of course. "

She then went on to explain to him something of her study of mentalhealing. At first he was rather skeptical, but on seeing herseriousness, he very soon grew sober and gave the most respectful andapparently absorbed attention. By the time she finished, he was reallyinterested. 

"I have often thought that some day there would be more light upon thephilosophy of thought, but I was not aware it was so close upon us, " hefinally said. 

"It is certainly much needed now, " she replied, looking dreamily at thewhite clouds floating in the bits of blue above the trees. She wasthinking how much it had been worth to her in her trial last night. Henoticed the far-away look and wished he might know her thoughts. 

What would have been his surprise, could he have been told at thismoment how much he was already indebted to Christian Science? for had itnot softened the cruel pride that had so encrusted her before? He knewnothing of this. He perceived a change in her manner and even charactersince he last saw her two years before, although even then his greatlove had been able to condone all weaknesses, or what others would callweaknesses. To him they were part of her lovableness. 

When she so coldly rejected him, unlike most men, he had determined towait patiently for her indifference to turn into reciprocation. He hadrecognized but one thing, the simple, supreme fact that he loved GraceHall. In regard to her, there was and never could be any other thought. Inspired with such love as this, such sublime patience, such infinitehope, is it any wonder he looked into her eyes and read a hint ofvictory?

The time was drawing near. His two years of waiting surely gave himliberty to ask, and the right to receive.... As for that, love, suchlove as his, had royal rights and it would win its own way when themoment came. He would approach the subject gradually, talking about hiscoming departure, although he had mentioned that in his note, had evendared to tell her this must be his excuse for requesting an answersooner 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 arelovely hues. Is there not something else you would like? I saw somebeautiful 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 Ialways 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 thedeft fingers, to study every expression of the beautiful eyes and mobilemouth. He revelled in her beauty, because to him she was thepersonification of all that was lovely and noble and great. Hercharacter he would have loved just as much had she been plain instead ofbeautiful, for his ideal was the inward, not the outward beauty, exceptas the two blended into one, as they did with her. 

"You seem to be partial to the oak, Miss Hall. Is there any reason forit?"

"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 theyexpress so much. Some show such kindly benevolence, with their broad, spreading branches and friendly shade, some are so graceful, with theirtall trunks and delicately veined leaves, as though showing a fine, tender nature; while others are stunted and rough, with coarse, thickfoliage. I place each one as to character and station, and they teach memany beautiful lessons. "

"And they will teach me many after this, Miss Grace. "

He wanted to say something more, but she was so innocently unconsciousof anything but her work that he must wait for a better opportunity. 

Having finished her sketch, Grace looked up. The self-consciousness thathad scarcely left her, save these past few moments, now returned withpainful suddenness. Her eyes met his, and a vivid flush overspread herface, but she said nothing. 

"Shall we go?" he asked, holding out his hand to assist her. His eyesexpressed the question his lips could not frame, but she did not seethem. 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 nodifference. At last the undercurrent of feeling had burst through allreserves. 

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 liberalenough to fairly consider these matters from a woman's standpoint. Theyfreely discussed a married woman's rights and privileges, and bothagreed that a wife should have an individuality after marriage as wellas before. "I desired to express myself on this point before, my dearGrace, " 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 thelast few weeks. I used to feel that marriage was degrading rather thanelevating, because it seemed as though a woman had to give up so muchthat really belonged to her, her name, her property, her freedom as anindividual. But now I see that true marriage should bring freedom in thefullest sense of the word. "

"In love there is no bondage, " he replied, admiring her independentthought. 

"Yes, but the world has a faint conception of love, the love that savesto the uttermost, and endures forever, " said Grace. 

"With such love there would be no danger of marriage degrading theindividual, no need of divorce. "

He spoke strongly for he felt strongly. Any one speaking from the depthsof a heart-conviction, speaks with authority. 

"The world needs to be lifted to a higher standard on these matters. Thesubject of marriage is too sacred to jest about, and people in generalthink it no harm to toy with the word and all that pertains to it withthe utmost carelessness. "

Grace was more like herself now. She was very happy in the thought thatMr. Carrington understood this as she did, but she was not a littlesurprised to find herself giving such free expression to her opinions. 

"Indifference and laxity is the result of the trifling. My theory isthat these things should be sacredly spoken of in the family, when boysand 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 makessociety, " she replied, secretly touched by the allusion to his mother. 

She felt more and more confidence in Mr. Carrington. It seemedsurprising to find how rapidly her love for him had increased since shegave it permission to grow. She did not realize that it had been asmothered plant before, trying to live without sunshine. Now it couldgrow in the warmth and brightness of beautiful day. 

It was early twilight when they returned. Kate was waiting for her. Thejoyous light in Grace's eyes, though she tried to veil it, told thestory. Kate put her arms about her, saying, as she caressed the rosycheek:

"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 hehanded 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 bettertogether. I am rather glad for the delay. I was afraid the first one hadmiscarried, " he replied. 

The waiting had only increased their interest, and on reaching home theyat 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 howthe patient feels after such a vigorous denial of the seven evils. It isquite necessary to know what to do at this stage. 

"After the treatment for special sins, James Martin comes with bittercomplaints that he is worse instead of better. He tells a doleful storyof how he suffered all night; had chills and fever exactly as when hehad the ague long ago; how he coughed and choked and broke out withsomething like measles, and was all the while so vilely sick it seemedas 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 andvery soothingly give him the mental information that 'there is nothingto fear. '

"When he concludes his mournful story, we assure him in quiet tones thatthere is no occasion for alarm, as we know how to deal with thesesymptoms. Then, very gently and slowly, with a most self-possessedattitude 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 noreality in sickness; you are not suffering any inharmony because of fearor remorse for sin. It can not be possible for you to reflect fear orremorse from your parents, or the race or your daily associates. Neitheris it possible for you to suffer from your own fear or remorse, normine. Remember, you are spiritual and not material, and can fearnothing. God is your intelligence, and you know that truth isall-powerful. Now, listen! You are happy, you are content, you arefilled with blessed peace, 'the peace that passeth all understanding. 'You know the Lord is your shepherd. He leadeth you beside the stillwaters. 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 takenaway; you are in the gentle care of Truth, which ever whispers, 'Comeunto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give yourest. ' Sh--h! Gently the arms enfold you, sweetly peace and love embraceyou, and you are at rest; sleep if you like. Softly come sweet words ofdivine love to your waiting ear, 'fear not, fear not, for I am withthee. ' 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 similarto the effect produced by the union of different chemicals. Sometimesthe patient chemicalizes after the first treatment, in which case thesecond and third treatments are omitted. 

"When the patient first comes to be treated, he might be likened to alast year's garden. His mind is filled with the roots and rubbish of thebeliefs he has sown, and some of them are noxious weeds, deeply rootedin the mental soil. 

"Cutting and keen are the words of Truth, and like a burnishedplowshare, it enters the unsightly field and uproots everything in itspath. We now do not mention sickness, because his mind is so unsettledand his active beliefs of disease all on the surface, so we gentlysoothe him into forgetfulness of his trouble, and quietly assure himthere is no occasion for alarm of any kind. Thus, with the word of peaceand assurance we smooth the rough, uneven soil, until it is pulverizedand prepared for the new seeds which are to grow and blossom into fairtruth-flowers. 

"To deny errors for him who believes so absolutely in them, is to digdown into the unconscious mind and rake up even the memories that areimbedded, hence his symptoms of ague, or measles or whatever beliefs hemay have had. 

"Because mortality dislikes to be told of its faults and consciously orunconsciously resents such telling, the violence of chemicalization onlymarks the degree of conscious or unconscious mental opposition, of whichthe bodily symptoms are the picture. There is no law forchemicalization, for some patients pass through this period without evennoticing it. 

"Sometimes instead of an excited feverish condition, which requires thesoothing quieting thought, the patient is dull and sluggish, perhapsunconscious, as in fainting, spasms or something similar; then vigorous, rousing thoughts should be given--sharp, decisive and emphatic, as whenawaking a heavy sleeper. 

"When called to treat any one suffering from fever or any acutecondition, we give the soothing, or peace treatment as it is sometimescalled. Little children may be compared to mirrors, reflecting everythought around them. In treating them it is necessary to make thelaw--and the true word is always law--that they do not or can notreflect fear or belief of disease from their parents or relatives, taking pains to name each person strongly holding thoughts of fear forthe little one. If it is a contagious and dangerous sickness, accordingto mortal thought, besides the near ones in the family, deny that anythought of fear from the neighborhood or world can be reflected upon thechild 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 littleone--that it is living in the current of infinite Love, where no fearcan touch it, no sickness come near it, no pain destroy it. 

"Such cases require frequent or long-continued treatments, or ratherlong-continued thought of the Good, mostly affirmation, for very littledenial is needed to cut the chains of error from a babe. Denial is to beapplied more to the parents--the denial of fear. 

"If we feel at all doubtful or fearful concerning our work, we are notat one with the divine Love, and must treat ourselves before we treatthe patient. Be at one with omnipotent Law, and the Law will proveitself through you. _Know_ truth and do not tamely believe it, then youmay 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 askedconcerning the meaning of Bible passages implying eternal punishment. 

"There is always punishment so long as we are in mortal belief, but itis only in mortal belief we can suffer, for the spirit made in the imageand likeness of God can not suffer, neither know suffering. 

"The word everlasting should be translated age-lasting, to give theoriginal meaning. Fire is a symbol of purification, and in the languageof ancient times it was customary to use strong figures of speech. 

"In the fifteenth chapter of John, wherein Jesus explains about the vineand branches, what could be plainer than his illustration of the deadbranches? 'Every branch that beareth not fruit, he taketh away, andevery branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forthmore fruit. '

"Every false belief is a branch that beareth not fruit, hence must betaken away and destroyed even as dead limbs are burned. Falsity or evil, being nothingness, can not exist because it is not of the real creationand is necessarily cast into the fire of purification, an illustrationwell understood at the time, since all the city refuse was taken toGehenna, a place outside Jerusalem, where fire was always kept for thepurpose of burning this waste matter. 

"'Every branch that beareth fruit is purged'--that is, if you are amixture of good and evil beliefs, you will have to be cleansed of theevil, before you can do much with the good. This cleansing process isquite properly named purging. This is what we undergo in suffering. 

"'He whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, ' means the good in us chastensus, 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 thisexplanation, but Mrs. Pearl told her not to let the question troubleher, for if she would do the best she could with what she knew, in duetime the solution would come to her. 

"In the night it came. After she retired, the question kept pressingupon her so that she could not sleep. 

"About two o'clock it seemed as though a great flood of light came, andwith it the clearance of the whole problem. The texts on that themebecame illumined as it were, and she could see how impossible it is forthe 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 willgive you her explanation of Matt. Xxv: 31, 32. 'When the Son of manshall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall hesit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered allnations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherddivideth his sheep from the goats. '

"The Son of man, consciousness of Truth, shall come (be developed) withall glorious thoughts (angels) and judge us in all our ways (nations)and shall discriminate between the false and the true, the evil and thegood, then the good motives or good thoughts (sheep) shall coalesce orbe 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, andswallowed up in their native darkness which is nothingness. 

"This is the key to the rest of the chapter, and it is in the same linewith Mrs. Pearl's explanation, but Mrs. McClaren is delighted that itcame to _her_. Now she feels as though a mountain had been lifted fromher heart, so great has been her fear that Christian Healing would makeher disbelieve in eternal punishment, which she had learned was anincontrovertible doctrine. Now she realizes that nothing but Truthitself is being revealed to her, and it seems that her heart will burstfor joy. This may seem extravagant, but it is just what she said, andafter 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 andwait for the spirit to tell us what is true! It is ignorance andfoolishness that we have to contend with as much as anything else, forit is one of the thickest clouds that hide knowledge. Until we havelearned to turn to the hidden fountain of wisdom, we are helplesslybound to error's ways. 

"Even after we go forth from a class, and feel that we have beenbaptized with the spirit, we are afraid we will not be wise enough toanswer the world's questionings of our faith, are afraid we may not knowjust how to proceed with a certain problem, afraid we will be too weakto do the things that come to us to be done. 

"'Oh ye of little faith, ' says the rebuking Christ within us--'why doubtyour knowledge, when God is your wisdom? Why doubt your intelligence, when God is your intelligence? Why doubt your strength, when God is yourstrength?'

"As we realize there is but one Mind, and that it is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, the influence of all other thoughts willfade quite away. It is because we recognize the carnal mind whosethoughts are frivolous, vain, wretched or miserable, that we areunsettled and dissatisfied. There can be no foundation, no sense ofsecurity, to the one who is continually listening to other than theGood. 

"Know all wisdom through the universal Mind, and whoever draws hisknowledge 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 theutterance of those through whom this Mind is expressed, and theinvisible something within us, sometimes called the 'Spirit itself, 'sometimes the 'light that lighteth every man that cometh into theworld, ' will recognize and appropriate its own. If we keep this judgmentfaculty unbiased, it will lead us to choose the books we read and teachus how to separate the wheat from the chaff. It is best to read thethoughts of one writer until we understand the root, branch and growthof his inspiration. It is not well to go from one author to anotherwhile we are young in the thought, any more than it would be well totake a music lesson from a different teacher every week. 

"We must remember that 'he that doeth the will shall know of thedoctrine, ' and to start out with the Divine will as our guide, as we dowhen we say, 'God works through me to will and to do, ' is to grow inknowledge of all that pertains to the doctrine of the blessed truth thatsets us free. 

"Never talk of failures, or be discouraged by them, because many timesthe discouraging outlook is but the prelude to a bounteous harvest. Workwith an undaunted faith in the mighty Invisible, knowing that you servethe only Power, are governed by the one Principle, Infinite Justice, that ever rewards according to service. Doing your best, the Bestrewards you. 

"Under all circumstances we declare our unfailing wisdom because we askof the Good. We can not foolishly be led away because judgment to do isalways with us. 

"This is the fifth stage in the patient's progress, and we treat him forignorance and foolishness as possibly reflected from the five differentsources. Deny that he can be ignorant of the truth, or foolish inbelieving error. Affirm all strength and courage and steadfastness. Hecomes to-day with an uncertain ring in his voice. He is undecided as towhat to do; is weak and nerveless; can not tell whether he is better orworse. The treatment for strength and courage will bring him back toTruth, and he will brighten and revive under the warm influence of yoursunny faith. 

"One more lesson! I shall be glad, yet sorry, when it is over. Oh, whatan 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 inthis 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 inChristian Healing, but I will be faithful as ever, even though I tell itall over again when I see you. 

"Everybody looked regretful enough when they went into the class roomto-day, but a hundred fold more so when we went out and the good-byeswere said. It means so much to us all. We have passed through twelvelessons which may symbolize twelve epochs or stages through which weproceed from ignorance to understanding, and understanding to completedemonstration. 

"We have been together scarcely three weeks, and yet so much has beenuncovered that we stand face to face with our real selves. All that wasconventional has been laid aside in our intercourse, and the best andsweetest and most sacred phases of our lives laid bare, so that we havehad a clear glimpse of God's children as they are, not as they usuallyappear; and indeed it gives us better courage and stronger faith to goforth into the world again, knowing that the possibilities of one arethe possibilities of all, for 'God is no respecter of persons. '

"I know, perhaps better than some of the rest, that we shall be walkingin 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 fertileslopes and sunny grass lands of well attained effort. My experience ofthe past shall be only a stronger incentive to perseverance in thefuture, and while it seems human to fall, it is divine to rise, andknowing the divine privilege of proving divinity, I trust God to workthrough me in my daily effort. So said we all when we left the classroom to-day, and with a holy consecration to our new-born faith, wetrust 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 usnot to be zealous without judgment, not to speak when silence would begolden, 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 intheir first joyous enthusiasm and overwhelming conviction wouldindiscreetly tell people 'there is no matter, ' for instance, so eagerwere they to bring everybody into the sweet liberty of the spirit; butthe world not being ready to properly consider the subject, would ofcourse ridicule and argue hotly against such a statement, so that falseopinions would spring up and most absurd practices and claims beattributed to Christian Healing. 

"Our system should have a dignified place in the world's opinion, and ifwe want to help give it that place, we should aim to be livingrepresentatives of the principles, maintain a dignified attituderegarding it, and if we can answer any questions pertaining to it, letour answer and manners be ennobling and Christ-like. 

"We never argue audibly with unbelievers. Argument kills the spirit ofany religion, and the person who desires to prove his position byargument is not ready to be convinced by the spirit. If you are obligedto carry on a conversation with an argumentative person, silently denyall his statements of error, and with calm positiveness affirm for himintelligence, wisdom, and a desire to know truth. In other words, recognize his spiritual self, which is in perfect peace and harmony, andthe outward disturbance or inharmony, which is simply nothingnessexpressed by him, is annulled. Possibly you may seem obliged to submitand listen to him. Never mind. Carry on your silent thoughtsscientifically, and constantly think truth. Thus you will plant a seedthat shall bring forth beauteous blossoms, excellent fruit. 

"Whenever you hear error talked, deny it. This is 'shutting your earsfrom hearing of blood, and your eyes from seeing evil. ' _Any_ error mustbe 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 theirwagging, timid hearts could breathe again, and fair names bloom in everyhome. 

"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 andwaiters serving the gentlemen and ladies in the elegant dining-room, ladies' _ordinary_ and ground-floor _café_. Alas! that the discoveryshould 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 leavenof truth dropped in the highways and byways of daily life. We must 'bediligent in season and out of season, ' silently as a rule, but at timesaudibly, perchance forcibly, for some minds seem so dull and sluggish asto need a startling thunder-clap to awaken them from their slumber ofignorance. Thus some patients that come to be healed must be toldsharply and definitely how to think or what to say, for sometimes it isnecessary to make them say their own word of healing, they are socompletely absorbed in material beliefs. 

"We grow more in wisdom and spiritual judgment as we proceed faithfullyalong our way of scientific thought and living, and thus have anunerring insight into what we shall do and say in order to give to eachthe healing gospel. 

"When we go to church we ought to acknowledge and emphasize every truestatement made by the clergyman with our silent affirmation, and asemphatically deny every erroneous statement, that we may turn the tideof Truth into a broad stream of spiritual uplifting for the wholecongregation. 

"Should the minister be inclined to speak about the awfulness and powerof God's wrath and punishment, we can silently assure him that God is aGod 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, todictate to any one how they should talk, but you will notice that it isnot dictation of action, but rather recognition of motive--the truemotive of the true self. We have a right to recognize the highest andbest of every person. Indeed, we are going directly opposite God'scommands if we acknowledge any but the good creation, which is thespiritual. 

"What can the spirit, which is perfect, made in God's image andlikeness, have to say of God's anger or punishment, when it knowsneither, inasmuch as it is pure as the Father in heaven? 'Shall not thejudge of all the earth do right?'

"Not only in the social circle and in the church, but in all kinds ofwork, in all affairs of business, and above all, in the home, must wethus live up to our principles which soon prove our sublimest theory byour sublimest practice. And, blessed privilege, we do not need tounderstand all, before we can begin to demonstrate our preciousreligion. 

"We need not worry about the burden of to-morrow and thus drop that ofto-day, but only carry that of to-day with the strength that is givenfor the day. 'Consider the lilies of the field, _how they grow_;' dailyappropriating their portion of sunshine and air and dew, they unfold andblossom, exhale their fragrance, display their matchless beauty, thusfulfilling their appointed mission; so we may unfold and blossom intorare excellence and strength of character. Refreshed by the dew of apure purpose, nourished by the sunlight of true thoughts, fed by theall-abounding manna--the living word, we soon grow strong enough towithstand driving tempest or boisterous gale. 

"Mentally we are quickened, learning to discern the opposing force inourselves, and meeting it with the sharp sword of truth, lay it low atonce. But it requires practice to wield this spiritual weapon; it takesjudgment faculty to discover whence comes selfishness that exhausts andweakens; whence comes the material or sensual thought that sickens andwearies, or the jealousy that poisons and embitters the life-forces. 

"Faithfully and diligently do we use the word of denial, that sets usand our patients free from these subtle enemies; faithfully andearnestly we affirm all truth and purity and goodness as our portion, asour strength, our refuge, and our defense. 

"By the blessed law, when we have thus cleansed ourselves, we become atone with the one Life. We intuitively draw to ourselves the best qualityof friendship and give forth the best; we seek the most uplifting andspiritual literature, because it gives us a fresh baptism of spirituallight, which in turn we give to others, so there is a continualreceiving and giving, a continual blessing and being blessed. 

"'Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends, ' said the Masterbefore his departure. Now 'the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth forever. ' We came as servants to be taught. While inour ignorance, we were the servants or inferiors; knowing the Truth webecame free, and henceforth are brothers, sisters, 'heirs of God andjoint heirs with Christ. ' We now claim our inheritance, the privilege toenter into the kingdom and possess the land, our royal birthright. Inthis 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 giftof health, and we may say: 'Now are ye clean through the word I havespoken unto you. ' He, too, must now become the friend, and need nolonger be the servant. When he first came to us he was like a littlechild that had lost his way. We could not show him the way to the velvetslopes of health without taking hold of his hand and leading him throughthe thickets and underbrush in which he was lost. So we graciouslyreached down to him, by talking of things with which he was familiar, ofanimal passions, of selfishness, of sin. We gently and kindly showed himthey were not the true, proved to him that his belief in them had ledhim off the right path, and talked to him of brighter, better, truerthoughts that led to smiling skies of hope, to balmy airs of peace. 

"Each day we assured him of his true inheritance, and now we confidentlyassert that he is in full possession of it. Now he is ready to believethe affirmation without the denial, because he is convinced that theaffirmations are true, and he comes to us this day with clear, cleaneyes, and a child-like joy in his recovered health. We give him thefinal word, the benediction, the binding assurance of his birthright. 

"Realizing as we must ourselves the wondrous truth concerning his realself and all which that implies, we impressively and with the mostthrilling conviction affirm for him that only health, strength, joy, courage, peace, satisfaction, can come to him as the child of God, theidea 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, thathe 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 againstwhich no darkness can be thrown; like a true answer to a problem whichany number of wrong answers can not change. Spiritual like God, he canonly recognize and appropriate what is God-like. Henceforth he knowshimself and his Father, knows that whatever he may ask (realize) will begranted unto him. Knows that he must acknowledge the Truth, and he willabide in the kingdom of Good. 

"We send him forth with all the blessings he can desire, because we haverealized for him the possession of those blessings. Knowing that God isall there is, and that our patient lives, is moved and has his being inGod, we point with unerring finger to the sunny uplands of health. Hecan 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 comeinto the consciousness of life everlasting, into health and joy withoutmeasure. So be it forever more. 

"The thought of perfection should be held steadfastly, even though thepatient do not manifest health at once. No matter if the cure is noteffected in one, two, three weeks, or even as many months, hold fast, with unwavering faith (even if you do not give regular treatments allthe time, and it may be well to skip a week or so occasionally), _knowing_ that good seed _must_ bring forth good fruit; when, where orhow, you nor no other may know. Time is unthinkable with God. We aredealing with Principle, not time. We plant the seed, 'God giveth theincrease. '

"Do the best you know, and work out your own problems. No one else cando that for you. Jesus gave us the key, showed us the way; more thanthat he could not do. We must live our lives and maintain our place byour own efforts. It is 'he that overcometh' who receives the supremegift 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 firstrapturous welcome from children and husband received, than in came Graceand Kate, who, in their eagerness to see her, had scarcely been able tolet her have the first half hour to her family. 

"I think you will have to include us in your family, Mrs. Hayden, for wecould not resist the family welcome, said Grace, smiling with happiness, as she grasped Mrs. Hayden's hand and drew Kate close beside her withthe other. 

"You _are_ included my dears. There is but one family you know, " was thecordial 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 theexpression of fear, " she added, turning to Mr. Hayden with a pleasedsurprise. 

"Didn't I tell you they were both growing beautiful?" was his laughinganswer. "But girls, " he added, "don't you notice something different inMrs. Hayden? That is quite wonderful, I think. "

"Really, Mrs. Hayden, " exclaimed Grace, with wonder, "you are not nearlyso 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 sawyou, " said Grace again. 

"I am quite thankful she came home before all resemblance to my wife waslost, " said Mr. Hayden, with a hearty laugh, as he looked at each inturn. 

"Well, be serious now, and I will tell you something after I have putthe children to bed, " said Mrs. Hayden, cuddling the sleepy Jem in herarms. Fred and Mabel stood beside her, frequently interrupting theconversation, 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 itclearly now, that desiring, searching and living for right, brings thebody into harmonious expression. If we think truth, we see it expressedin harmony, beauty, symmetry, because the external is the expression ofthe internal. "

"It was particularly by the denial of matter that I lost the superfluousflesh, for since I was too fleshy to be of symmetrical form, it wassuperfluous 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, andthen I could hardly believe it, but after I understood the theorybetter, of course it seemed more reasonable. "

"It is both wonderful and reasonable too, I think. Why didn't you writesomething 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 arematerially minded in their tastes and habits that are apt to be fleshy?"

"That depends upon what you would call materially minded, " was Grace'ssmiling reply. 

"I mean those who like what the world calls the good things oflife--those who think a great deal of material pleasures orenvironments, and find it comparatively difficult to think or realizespiritual things. "

"Oh!----yes, I believe that is true, although I have never thought ofit, " said Grace, slowly. 

"Because the denial of matter makes all these things secondary, theeffect of the new thought is to make the body more spiritual. "

"Of course! Why could we not see it before?" was Kate's conclusivequery. 

"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 alittle 'far fetched, ' as he would have expressed it. 

"It does not effect them like the denial of evil, because materialthings are not so important to them, while they are apt to be pining andfretting about the evils and ills in the world, either as touchingthemselves or humanity in general. Denying evil and evil conditionswould then have the opposite effect, and cause them to gain flesh, orgrow into the expression of physical harmony to correspond with thespiritual. "

"This is only a higher reading of what we have already learned, and itis lovely to know we may go on indefinitely, ever reading somethingnew, " 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, andthe patients we took up, are all doing nicely. "

"Grace is very modest. She doesn't say a word of how quickly she curedme of neuralgia, or a horrible fit of the blues, " supplemented Kate, looking fondly at Grace, who had become dearer than ever since theirconfidential talks. 

"Mr. Hayden has a good report for himself and the children, too, thoughI suppose you have heard from him, " Grace remarked with a smile. Helooked rather pleased at her thoughtfulness, but said: "I would ratherhear more from Marion. Were there many cures in the class?"

"Several. Mrs. Dexter, the lady I mentioned in my letters as having beena long while under the doctor's care, went home perfectly well, and MissSingleton also, of whom I wrote. A gentleman who had been in a previousclass told his experience. His right arm had been fractured in the army. Orders were given that it should be amputated, but by the interventionof a physician with whom he was acquainted, the arm was saved, though hehad never been able to use it much. At times it was very painful. It wasso 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 joyhe told everybody. When the doctors got hold of it, they laughed at himsaying if that arm was as large as the other in six months, they wouldbelieve there was something in Christian Healing. In six weeks it was aslarge and strong and sound as the other. "

"That was remarkable, " said Mr. Hayden, speaking for all. "Did you hearanything about treating animals?" he added after a momentary silence. 

"Oh, yes. We may think of an animal as the perfect expression of God'sthought, as manifesting the true Life, the same as human beings. "

"After all, " said Kate, "that is something we ought to expect, for arewe not promised dominion over all things?"

"Certainly, and we are not proving our right, till we prove thedominion, " answered Mrs. Hayden. "It is a beautiful thought to me, andseveral of the class told of successful work in this line. One lady hadtreated a frightened horse, and made him so gentle any one could drivehim. It is mostly fear that is reflected upon animals. They manifestthought, even as humanity does. "

"I have often noticed horses. They are apt to show the same dispositionas their masters. This explains it, " said Mr. Hayden thoughtfully. "Whydidn't you write about all this?"

"I was afraid it would be too strong meat for you, for I could scarcelyrealize it myself. "

"It seems as though we have had so many wonderful suggestions it willtake 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 ofTruth. That is the healing process. But there are not very many quickcures, comparatively, though it is the quick cures we should aim forand expect, for the cure is always in the degree of our realization ofthe allness of God. 

"Another of the older students told of some wonderful absent healing. Alady that had been four years an invalid, and given up to die by fivephysicians 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 withTruth there is no space nor time. All is the eternal _now_ and _here_. Some prefer to give present treatment, especially in acute cases; withothers absent treatment seems more effectual. "

"I am glad to hear that, for I feel that I can do better absently, " saidGrace, with a look of relief. 

"But tell me, " questioned Kate, eagerly, "have all persons the samegifts?"

"In the germ, yes; but all are not equally developed. We enter thisstudy in different stages of unfoldment. Some heal quickly, othersslowly; some teach naturally, while others find it more difficult, especially at first. We develop the gift we desire to use by continuallyclaiming it and using it, and bye and bye we shall marvelously provethat we have it. In Love we recognize no partiality, no time and noplace, 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 extremekindness in allowing us to read your beautiful letters, Mrs. Hayden. They have made life seem entirely different to us. " She was deeply inearnest, 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 thegreatest 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 dawnedfor each of them. The mysterious future verged into the mighty present. All that was grand and noble and tender filled the measure of theiraspirations. The world surely might enter into their joy, for their joysurely entered into the world. 

Mrs. Hayden broke the silence, saying:

"'Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and itshall be opened unto you. ' Many years have I asked and sought for thekingdom 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 gratefire, soft curtains, beautiful rugs and simple but elegant adornings formantel and wall in this lovely room of a lovely home. 

The only occupant is a young woman--young because of the real life ofwhich she so vividly and strongly expresses a consciousness, the onlylife after all to be expressed, and which, rightly appropriated will andmust forever be clothed with the freshness and vigor of youth. The youngwoman is Grace Hall Carrington. 

She sits before the glowing embers in an expectant attitude. She isevidently waiting for some one, and as she waits, her mind seems full ofpleasant musing. The three years that have passed since we saw her haveripened her character. We can see that. The unrest and longing whichpervaded her whole being in the old days are gone. A poise and calmnessof spirit have taken their place. Even her attitude as she sits therewith the shadows flickering over her, is full of a suggestive alertnessthat expresses an awakened life. The forces that had slumbered so longin 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. Sheis thinking even now of the richness of effort and opportunity thathave been hers in these last years. She had been particularly fortunatein her marriage. Few women have as much to be thankful for as she has inthis respect, but then, she waited to find her true womanhood before shefound a husband. Perhaps that had something to do with it. At any rateshe is satisfied that she waited. 

The door bell rings. A moment later she is greeting two visitors. Whobut the friends we knew in the old days--Kate Turner and Mrs. Hayden?

"I really expected you sooner, Mrs. Hayden; Kate is more uncertain. Onenever 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. " AndGrace hastened to make her friends comfortable. 

"Oh but it is nice to get home occasionally, " cried Kate with a shrug ofpleasure as she looked around the beautiful room and then at the smilinghostess. 

"I only wish you would come oftener Kathie. It seems like the old daysto have you here, " replied Grace with a loving pat. 

"I suspect Kate has a bit of news for us, " remarked Mrs. Hayden, as shesat down near the fire. 

"Indeed, " exclaimed Grace, lifting her eyebrows, and tightening her holdof 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 musicheard, and as Professor Beal's assistant it will be heard a long way andto 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, orthat 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, orrather it has consisted more of silence than work. There's no tellinghow 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 theHealing, protesting that he had no time for such things, persisting in agood-natured skepticism, although strangely enough he believed a greatmany 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 assureyou it shows, " resumed the elder friend, who still seemed to the othertwo, the incarnation of all that was noble and wise. 

"Do tell us the way you manage anyway, Grace, " begged Kate, with specialreasons for inquiring. 

"Why my dear, there's nothing to tell unless it be that a bland silenceis a good thing to cultivate. There's no use in making so much of abugbear of these people who seem to oppose, and the best way to leadthem into the green pastures is to let them nibble along the outsideuntil they want to jump the fence and get over in spite of you. NowLeon is really quite hungry to know some things, especially about thepractical application of thought to business, but he knows just whereand how to find what he wants, so I let him take his own time and hisown way. "

"Which will end, of course, in his wanting to know all, providing youhave 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. Ahot-bed growth, produced by whatever means, will not bear the hardy, healthy bloom of a natural development. He may be slow but he must betrue. "

"There Grace, you have touched the keynote, " exclaimed Mrs. Haydenwarmly. "It is freedom people need, freedom to think and act thehighest, for everybody has a highest. "

"Yes, if they can only keep the channels open for the inspiration of thehighest to come to them or work through them, " remarked Kate with agesture of doubt. 

"What better way is there to give freedom or open the channel, than todestroy prejudice, put away antagonism and--"

"Either in yourself or others, " interposed Grace, "for to hold prejudiceor 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 ofthe very last to be practiced in my experience. I tell you girls, it isthe lesson of non-resistance we most need. " Mrs. Hayden spoke earnestlyas she always did, and her words carried weight. 

"Go on, Mrs. Hayden. If I'm asleep anywhere, I wish you would wake meup, " cried Kate, drawing the hassock upon which she sat, close up to theelder lady, and putting one hand in her friend's lap, as she waitedexpectantly for the answer. 

"Well dear, I'm only talking on general principles, and what I havediscovered in myself--"

"Please tell us what you have found Mrs. Hayden, " said Grace. "We needall the light we can get, and no matter how it may cut, we won't shrinkwill we, Kathie?" with a loving glance at the latter. 

"No, we'll only know and be glad that the hot blaze of truth is meltingsome more of the dark spots in our range of vision, " returned Kate. 

"It is only this, " began Mrs. Hayden, modestly. "I have been looking mytheory and practice squarely in the face lately, and I find them in manythings quite widely separated. For instance, I have been saying forthree years that there is no evil, while in many cases my actions havecarried the very opposite idea, and--"

"Why, what do you mean, Mrs. Hayden?" cried Kate in astonishment, "whohas been more faithful, who more loving, and who more successful inproving the unreality of sickness and evil?"

"For one thing then, I have never put away the tendency to pronouncejudgments on people or things, and I must get beyond that before Iprove 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, " wasKate's remonstrance. 

"No, but we _can_ help making it positive, and we can avoid fightingagainst it if we only stick to our first statement that there is but oneLaw. "

"I see what you mean, " said Grace quietly. "You mean that we must holdso perfectly to the allness of Good, that no shadow of ignorance canever darken our vision or our consciousness. "

"Yes, indeed, we all see that that is the ultimate, " interposed Katewith 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 canrest in the consciousness of the allness of Good as Grace has expressedit. With that consciousness there is no judgment and no resistance. "

Kate still looked mystified, "Please make it a little plainer, " shebegged. 

"Well, last summer when I was called to treat Mrs. Hart's child, as youknow, the father knew little or nothing of the Science, and when heinsisted on having a physician what did I do? Instead of calmlyrealizing that all the medicine in the world could not hurt Truth, anddealing with his ignorance as I would with his fear, I felt that itwould be a terrible thing to countenance such disloyalty, and sowithdrew from treating the case, forgetting that the father's ignorancecould not be called disloyalty; forgetting that my faithfulness toprinciple would be the same regardless of any and all ignorance. In factmy 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 myconsciousness 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 thatwe make _something_ of what we declare as nothing?"

"Exactly, Grace. We resist it by thinking it something antagonistic toTruth, whereas we should remember our first statement that there is butone Power. It is the One that heals in every instance. We know that. Whyshould 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 wouldyou have us do?" suddenly falling into doubt again. As of old Kate wasever the questioner. 

"Dear, I am not talking of persons or laying down rules of action foranybody, but I am giving you my idea of the non-resistance of evil. Thequestion with me is, am I 'about my Father's business. ' If I accusesomeone of being unfaithful, or if I criticise any methods, means orpersons, I still believe in something besides the Good. Even if Iaccuse myself in any way no matter how slight the fault, I amrecognizing that which I have declared does not and never did exist. Yousee 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 importantquestion, " was the dreamily earnest reply. 

"As for that I might say the same, but we are not to look at that sideof 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 thisor that thought, or decision or action? It is very easy to decide. "

A thoughtful silence fell upon the group. The evening shadows grewdeeper outside. The firelight cast long crimson shafts of light into thecorners, and flickered fitfully over the faces and forms before thegrate. 

"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. "Ihave been holding strongly to the name--the name of Jesus Christ--andrealizing what it means, and it has helped me more than anything. "

"What does it mean, Kate? That is something which is still a littletainted with the old superstitious worship of a personality, " saidGrace. 

"Beware, Grace; that is criticism. Put it away until you know, " warnedMrs. Hayden. 

"Thank you. Tell me every time, " returned Grace humbly. 

"Indeed, this contemplation of the name takes one farther frompersonality or the recognition of mere person than anything else, " Katewent on earnestly. "Jesus Christ means God or Truth manifest. Holdingthe words with that thought, all sense of person, limitation, or time, disappears. Wisdom and power come to fill your consciousness, until theChrist life seems not only a possibility but a real demonstration. " Katepaused. Perhaps she had said too much!

But there was no mistaking the vibration of a sympathetic thought, evenif 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, byholding to the idea of Law. To me everything is embodied in that, although of course, any great word understood as to its real meaning isan all-inclusive term. But we cannot always live in an ecstasy. "

"We should not if we could, " said Mrs. Hayden. "We must get beyond thatif we ever attain the mental poise that will carry us througheverything. "

"But I am so weak, " murmured Kate. "How shall I ever--"

"There, child, you are doing the very thing that will keep you fromgrowing strong. What right have you to pass judgment on Katherine Turneranymore than on anyone else?" said Mrs. Hayden almost sternly; thensuddenly softening her tone she added, "Dear heart, we must not let selfjudgment or self condemnation creep in upon us to leave their blight ofdiscouragement or failure. No, the only way is to keep our eyes fixed onthe mark of the high calling, resisting nothing, carrying on our lips, success, in our hearts love, in our lives truth. By the outer we judgenothing: by the inner we know all. Personally, that is, physically weare 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 positivelynecessary to perfect demonstration, " added Grace. 

"Yes, perfect demonstration in oneself or in others, " said Mrs. Haydenemphatically. "In fact the first, last, and only consideration is orshould be true living, or the ability _to be lived_. "

"That is what it amounts to, after all, " accorded Grace, "for what istrue living but the setting aside of self, so that the great, infiniteLife may be established in our action, as a manifest reality?"

Kate rose softly, and went to the piano. Then spoke the mighty Voicethrough Music, and through that wondrous harmony a consciousness of theperfect Life, with all its power and presence, burst upon these threewho were no longer three but One. For that moment they knew and livedonly as the One, and in that moment the world received a baptism ofblessed, healing tenderness. 

 * * * * *

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