"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.
"What a great power is the power of thought! And what a grand being is man when he uses it aright; because after all, it is the use made of it that is the important thing. Character comes out of thought. 'As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.'"—Sir Walter Raleigh.
"Marlow, October ——.
"Dear Husband: I was just thinking of you all when the letter carrier came this morning and gave me a welcome surprise, for your letters usually come in the afternoon. It seems too wonderful to believe about the children, and yet I can see it is their implicit faith that makes their words so potent.
"They are doing their part to help too, for every one in the world, large or small helps in greater or lesser measure to carry out the plans of the invisible Good.
"I dreamed of being at home last night, and it seemed as though you were all so happy and busy. You did not see me. Even little Jem was busily engaged in some kind of work. I could scarcely see what it was, but a vague white something like an invisible net was spread between you, and the thought came that you and Anna were weaving something, and even the children had a part to fulfill for they flitted to and fro, bringing something to you with faces so full of light and happiness, I almost cried out with joy.
"When I awoke I was deeply impressed that this was a symbol of united effort in making the seamlessrobe of Truth, and the family group represented the members of one body, each with a work to do to perfect the whole.
"No matter how humble our part may be, no matter how childish and incompetent we feel, by doing the best we know, with the ability we have, in all joy and earnestness, we shall be serving the Master and weaving the marvelous robe.
"Mrs. Pearl talked of the mighty power of thought in her lecture to-day.
"Every individual in the universe is inseparably connected with every other individual, and we are, as it were, 'touching elbows' with the whole world.
"How is it done? Simply by thinking and being susceptible to thought. Every thought of the individual helps to make or mar the happiness and health of the world. Every negative thought (and by that I mean opposite the good, which is positive) sent forth, goes into the miasmatic fog of error, and whoever believes in error or the reality of these thoughts, attracts to himself this quality of thought, which sooner or later, makes itself manifest in physical inharmony.
"For instance, one who believes in the reality of sickness and the reality of evil is constantly attracting thoughts that make sickness manifest, but if a knowledge of how to throw off or counteract those thoughts were used, the cloud would be dispelled before it turned into inharmony or sickness.
"This is why we are taught to deny every thought or feeling that is not harmonious or desirable, everything which can not be predicated of spirit. If this iswhat makes sickness and sin, truly it is not to be wondered at, for how many are perfectly happy, perfectly unselfish and kind, one single day at a time?
"Suppose one gets up in the morning with a feeling of crossness and impatience; he goes to breakfast, impresses the whole family with his discomfort, and so through the entire day leaves the imprint of his dark forebodings on every person who sees him, besides the untold influence that goes forth to the unprotected world, inasmuch as thoughts go everywhere.
"He retires at night, disgusted with himself and displeased with the whole world. People were unkind and unjust. Even inanimate objects were unusually aggravating. He wasted half an hour trying to untie a knot, hunted for a package of papers which were finally found in their proper place, had a vexing ten minutes with his office key, etc.
"Every impatient thought, word or action was an expenditure, not only of physical force, but a loss of moral strength, and just as surely as the world moves, these thoughts, in their revolving circuit, constantly return to the thinker, 'Whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap.'
"Who knows what dark trains of thought his lowering face suggested? Who knows what headaches and heartaches were brought on by the unconscious absorption of his impatience or bitterness? Who can measure the extent of that mysterious burden of depression, so often called 'the blues,' that crept into the consciousness of somebody under the influence of the dark thoughts sent out by this one, of whom perchance they know nothing?
"It is this negative quality of thought that holds the world in bondage. To destroy it is to destroy all inharmony. On the other hand, note the influence of the happy-voiced individual, who comes to us so running over with the joy and beauty of life that we catch the thrilling inspiration of his mood and begin to enjoy the same sunshine, see the same beauty and feel the same happiness.
"One look or one word may often send us off into the most delightful reveries, may inspire us to write a cheery letter, vibrating with love and hope, or prompt us to spend half an hour with one who needs the bath of joy our words may bring. Consciously and unconsciously we lighten the pathway, lift the burdens, sanctify the sorrows of the world by sending out and receiving this subtle thread of thought, so fine in its essence and quality, that any one and every one may feel its strengthening presence.
"It is the negative or mortal thought that produces disease. See how grief bends and breaks the strongest constitutions, furrows the cheek, dims the eye, takes the appetite, impairs the mind. See how anger cankers everything it touches, how jealousy corrodes the thoughts with poisoned arrows, until the body is written over with letters of unmistakable meaning.
"The body is what we may call the thermometer of the mind and registers the quality of thought. Universal beliefs in error find their common expression on the body. Every thought of sickness, sin or discouragement is recorded or bodied forth.
"With all our belief in and fear of evil, sickness and death, we are continually subjecting ourselves tofalse and undesirable conditions, until, as Job said, 'Lo, the thing that I feared has come upon me.'
"Fear is more quickly productive of disease pictures than any other kind of thought. Some one has aptly said, 'if the human race were freed from fear, it would be free from sickness,' which is verily true. Even the most learned doctors of medicine admit that an epidemic takes hold of those first who are most afraid, and frequently leaves the absolutely fearless unmolested.
"Why is this so? Because fear weakens the power of mental control, and consequently weakens the body. To leave the doors unlocked, and then watch for the thief, is almost equal to having the thief in the house.
"The material scientist says an epidemic has a material cause; the Christian healer says it has a mental cause. Before there is an object to fear there must be the sentiment of fear. Let scarlet fever appear in a community, and every parent will immediately send out the most agonizing thoughts of fear. Where will they go? Everywhere, because thoughts can not be restrained. Their influence goes out in every direction. To the tender children especially, because particularly directed to them. All who have left the door open to fear, though they may be sleeping in their unconsciousness of danger, will be liable to receive these uncontrolled thoughts, and some day when they least expect or fear sickness, it may be upon them.
"So the children, to whom have been directed such thoughts, only prove their susceptibility to them, by picturing forth fear in the form of scarlet fever, or whatever may have been the naming of the error. Anybody manifesting sickness without consciousness offear proves passive or unconscious fear, while those suffering sickness through a conscious recognition and fear of sickness are manifesting active or conscious fear.
"There are two departments of mind sometimes spoken of as the conscious and unconscious. The conscious mind is the conscious thought, which is easily swayed or changed. It has an immediate or direct influence on the body as is shown by the blood that rushes to or recedes from the face at some sudden change of thought. The unconscious mind is the aggregation of past individual and universal conscious thought, and is the character formed, the second nature or instinct.
"As the flesh and bones are more fixed than the ever moving blood, so the unconscious mind is slower to receive impressions, and slower to show them forth. Our bodies to-day are showing a harvest of the thoughts of generations or ages of the past. The person manifesting consumptive tendencies is not only expressing his own conscious thoughts, but is veritably the picture of the thoughts of his parents, ancestors and the entire race, concerning a belief in consumption. Year by year the thoughts of this error have been writing themselves in his face, his eyes, his chest, his very walk and talk and breath. Unless he offsets them with thoughts of absolute Truth, they press him out of our sight. He yields to the belief of death, because he never said no to sin or sickness, because he was at one with the world in its false beliefs.
"'The last enemy to be overcome is death!' reads the inspired statement of Paul, confirmed and strengthened by the Master's never-dying promise, 'If a man keep my saying he shall never see death.'
"There are certain fixed beliefs inherent in every mind which we call universal beliefs. They are often referred to as belonging to the unconscious mind; as, for example, the fear of pain or suffering under certain circumstances will come to the surface of consciousness, proving that despite every feeling of confidence and fearlessness it has not been destroyed, but sleeps in the unconscious mind.
"These unconscious beliefs and fears of sickness are ultimately expressed on the body in different forms of disease, sometimes given one name and sometimes another. The material scientist calls a certain outshowing on the body cancer, the Christian healer calls it the picture of a belief of cancer. In this way disease is always the manifestation of both conscious and unconscious thoughts.
"Special forms of disease are born by constant attention to the thought of disease and their symptoms. It has been stated on good authority that physicians who make a specialty of certain diseases are apt to be afflicted with what they have especially fitted themselves to cure. In a medical journal a case was cited not long since of an eminent physician who read before a great convention of doctors, what was considered to be the ablest treatise on insanity ever written. 'On going home from the convention he killed his wife, four children, and then himself, in a fit of dementia.'
"This reveals a startling fact, which might be corroborated by many others, that the body ultimately pictures forth the idea. But the thought is not confined to the individual. It not infrequently finds the most striking expression in some member of the family or in any one under his influence.
"If one man's thoughts so influence himself, family or friend, think of the influence of such thoughts on those who go to him for advice or treatment, those who deliberately place themselves under his inspection and allow themselves to be guided both directly and indirectly by his erroneous opinions. Think of the vast stream of such thoughts going out from all medical colleges, students and practitioners. No wonder diseases increase as physicians increase, as some of the best thinkers of the age declare.
"Not that one class of people is more to be reflected upon than another, for some kind or degree of erroneous thought is held by all classes. Physicians talk sickness and death, ministers preach evil and punishment, the entire race believe in and suffer for sins.
"It is centuries since it was first discovered that ideas were transmitted without the ordinarily accepted means of communication, but, to-day it is positively and repeatedly, yes, continually proven that thought transference is not only possible or probable, but an every-day occurrence. To realize that
'Thoughts are things.Endowed with being, breath and wings,And that we send them forth to fillThe world with good results or ill,'
is to be mightily responsible for what we think. To know that we are verily our brother's keeper, and that every thought makes misery or happiness for the whole world as well as for the individual, is something that should engage our deepest and most earnest consideration.
"All thinking is for the weal or woe of the world that is yet in its infancy of knowledge. As consciousness of truth takes the place of consciousness of error, thoughts become light and beautiful and true with corresponding conditions.
"Let us no longer slumber in the arms of indifference and ignorance, but awake to truth and righteousness. 'Better be unborn than untaught; for ignorance is the root of misfortune.'"
"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.
"Blessed influence of one true, loving soul on another. Not calculable by algebra, not deductible by logic, but mysterious, effectual, mighty as the hidden process by which the tiny seed is quickened, and bursts forth into tall stem and broad leaf, and glowing tasseled flower."—George Eliot.
"Oh dear!" exclaimed Kate as she laid down the letter containing the lesson on Thought. "I didn't know we were so responsible for every little thing that comes into our mind."
"Or goes out of it," said Grace, smiling, as she finished tinting a dainty plaque. "Now we can understand that 'where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise,'" she added rather absent-mindedly.
"Yes, but I think I prefer the wisdom to the bliss. Do you understand this lecture as well as the rest?" asked Kate, again glancing at the letter.
"Why shouldn't we? It is plainly told, and is a natural sequence to the others. I should think it very helpful, and if there really is so much power in thought, it is time people knew it."
"But what of the people who do not know it? Are they utterly defenseless?"
"As long as they believe in the reality of sin, sickness and death, they must suffer from them," replied Grace, picking a loose hair from her blender.
"Then they ought to know how to learn and understand these things, but I could not tell anybody."
"We can solve any problem by going back and reasoning from the premise. If any shock of sin or sickness come over us, we have simply to remember the spiritual, which is the only real creation."
"It is not so easily done though. To-day I met the most miserable looking cripple sliding along without any limbs. I held my skirts aside as he passed, and forgot to even think of him as God's child," confessed Kate, in a regretful tone.
"Anything takes time, and we can't expect to leap into perfection at once, but what did you do after he had passed?" asked Grace, with some curiosity.
"I pitied the poor creature and wondered what made him so."
"That was the very way to keep him in the same condition," said Grace, rapidly mixing some paint. "This last lesson very clearly explains thateverythought has an influence, and that you help to make the body manifest whatever you think of it. If you think the real and true, you help to make that show forth, if you only think of the external or apparent trouble or defect, and regard it as the real, you are harming instead of helping."
"I can readily see that we may affect ourselves, but it seems hard to believe that we affecteverybody," protested Kate, incredulously.
"It is because we cannot realize the law of thought transference. I was reading just last week about that. An instance of Stuart C. Cumberland's mind-reading was cited. It was wonderful. And then long ago I read an old book written by Cornelius Agrippa aboutit, but I was not very much interested, and did not understand nor believe it at the time, so my memory is not worth much concerning it."
"Then you really think I added another weight to that unhappy creature's burden of trouble?" cried Kate, in sharp surprise.
"It would be best for you to deny his apparent conditions and affirm his real ones, and instead of thoughts of pity, which are only weakening, you could think of happiness and contentment. I truly believe we can learn to think of people this way, if we only catch ourselves for correction every time we think wrong."
"How shall I ever learn to bridle my thoughts?" was Kate's despairing wail.
"By learning to bridle your tongue; I found a splendid text to-day on that very theme. It is in James iii: 2. 'If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able to bridle the whole body.'
"Why, it tells in those few words the substance of all we have learned in these lessons," exclaimed Kate.
"Only we would never have had sense enough to understand without the lessons," added Grace, with a smile.
"They may be likened to a golden key that opens royal gates," said Kate, going to the piano to play while Grace was putting away her paints and brushes.
A little later Grace went out to mail a letter. As she turned from the post-box, she found herself face to face with—whom but Leon Carrington?
"Ah, an unexpected pleasure, Miss Hall!" he said, extending his hand and warmly grasping the one she slowly held out to him. He looked searchingly into her face, with clear, questioning eyes.
She dropped her lashes and drew back with a touch of the old haughtiness, murmuring something he could not hear.
"May I have the pleasure of a little walk with you?" he asked, suiting his step to hers and ignoring her apparent coldness.
"Certainly. How long since you returned to Hampton, Mr. Carrington?" recovering herself as they walked.
"Only a few days ago. I was called here on business for my uncle, and will probably be detained several weeks." He glanced at her as he spoke, but she gave no sign, only remarking it was a lovely season of the year for a visit. They walked along, talking only commonplaces, until they neared her home.
"Did you receive my letter, Miss Gra—Miss Hall?" he asked, with some unsteadiness in his voice.
"Yes," she replied, shortly. She did not understand herself any more than he did, and was vexed to find it so impossible to throw off her old proud ways, for she really intended to relent enough, at least, to have an explanation, and possibly—her thoughts could never go farther than this, and here she was, in the same imperious way, shutting her better self away from even a fair consideration of duty. These thoughts flashed through her mind while she walked on, apparently with the greatest indifference to either his words or his presence. But with a great effort she compelled herself to say again, with more warmth, "I received it, and intended to answer before this, but—" She stopped abruptly.
He gratefully caught the morsel she had given, and asked if he might not call the next day.
"Yes, you may come at three," she said, careful to set a time when Kate would surely be out.
At the door they parted, and as she went up the stairs, she wondered more than ever at her hardness, for almost unconsciously she had given up all doubts of his honor as a gentleman. What was it all about anyway? Nothing but a report that he was engaged to a young lady at the time he proposed to her, and on the testimony of a single friend, she had allowed herself to be miserable, and make another miserable, through this foolish pride that shewouldconquer by to-morrow afternoon.
What! would she compel herself to so utterly ignore her own nature? She leaned against the wall half way up the stairway, startled at this revelation of herself. She did not know she was capable of such changes, and yet the last two weeks had greatly modified her opinions in many things.... Why should it not be so? If it were right she could be glad, and she reverently felt that it was right to let the Truth erase all errors and right all wrongs. To-night she would deny away every fault in her character, especially pride, deny every obstacle to understanding, and then earnestly ask for guidance, and wait till it came, for this was truly a crisis in her life.
The next day she received her guest with a perceptibly softened manner. The hour was spent in mutual explanations, and the renewal of a more friendly relation on her part, much to the satisfaction of Mr. Carrington, whose perseverance was surely worthy this much reward, but Grace would go no further, although she gave him permission to call again. She must know herself fully before another word on the subject were said. Marriage was a vague and solemn theme, something to be pondered over days and nights and months perhaps, she thought, and said to him.
Mr. Carrington was a man of earnest aim and high purpose, thoughtful, intellectual and cultured, in every way congenial to her, and she was glad to accept his friendship. That he had loved her through all her coldness and neglect, she no longer doubted, which fact was of no small import in his chances for her favor. Finding how absolutely false had been the report that had caused her misjudgment, she was anxious to prove herself at least, a friend.
After he was gone she reviewed the situation. Had she gone too far? No. All was well. She was content. Even if it should end in marriage, for marriage was the highest symbol of perfection and—. What the symbol meant was yet to be revealed, but she already knew that it had a profound and sacred meaning.
"The study of Heredity,spiritualanatomy 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.
"The study of Heredity,spiritualanatomy and physiology is highest of all. The key to this study is your own soul. Study yourself; gain possession and mastery of your own spirit and you hold the key not only to the heights of liberty, but the key that unlocks imprisoned souls."—Mary Weeks Burnett M. D.
"Marlow, October ——.
"My dear husband: Gradually the vision broadens and we become more accustomed to the light. It is as though we were put into a beautiful room filled with all manner of lovely forms and dainty colors, flowers and perfumes, where we have groped blindfolded from one thing to another, trying to form some conception of the surpassing loveliness, when gradually the bandage is removed, layer by layer until the whole enchanting scene, radiant with light is revealed to our wondering gaze, showing the vast difference between supposition and reality.
"The light grew clearer than ever to-day, for we had our first practical hint on healing, inasmuch as we were told how to take up a case for treatment.
"We must never forget that we are, and wish to remain as little children, in our desire to apprehend and understand Truth. The natural attitude of the child-mind is one of receptivity and eager interest. Under the guidance of wise parents he will always be willing and anxious to learn more and more, continually growing in wisdom and love.
"Back to the zeal and innocence of childhood we go then, to learn the ever mysterious but ever charming alphabet of Truth, which leads us into the kingdom.
"As we present ourselves in the great school room of life, and take or recognize our appointed place beside the ever present School-master, we learn the letters of the grand knowledge that shall teach us how to read the most learned books, understand the deepest philosophy, the profoundest science, the divinest religion. We would learn the ministry of healing, that will set free the 'spirits in prison;' we would be glad messengers of the gospel of peace. The door to great attainments is faithfulness in small ones.
"There are three kinds or modes of healing. The first or lowest, is the intellectual; the second or next higher, the intuitional; the third and highest, the spiritual. The first only can be taught, the other two are attained by individual development. The first comes by reason, the second by faith, the third by understanding. The first is by argument or a system of reasoning, the second by implicit trust or confidence in the Principle, the third by the realization of Truth and the speaking of the word or perchance, by one's very presence.
"But there is nothing arbitrary about this. The person who never heard of Christ's teaching till yesterday may have so caught the fire of Truth that to-day he stands at the altar a priest instead of communicant, a teacher instead of pupil.
"Many just beginning their study of this method of healing require explicit directions and explanationsof details, in order to apply the principle, feeling that they have no intuitional leadings and can not depend upon the invisible power because they know so little about it.
"Wait; be patient; trust. Remember that 'he who is faithful in little, shall be made ruler over much.' You need not learn the rule if you learn the principle, and only so long as you are ignorant of the principle will you need the rule. To use the rule, as the child uses the chair in learning to walk, is to grow strong, and able to dispense with it; to use it as spectacles are used, is to make it indispensable.
"If we can not yet learn through divine ways, let us learn through human ways. The human is inadequate to express the divine, but many nameless hints and light-gleams and sudden illuminations will flash upon the faithful worker all along the way. Words are signs of ideas and ideas are signs of God. When we think or speak true words, we have begun our mission of healing or helpfulness, and from words we go on to the inexpressible thrill of realization.
"We can not tell when we may thus change from the letter to the spirit, can not tell when we come into the exalted condition of a spiritual understanding, and having received the illumination, we are not to feel that we have grown above the use of argument, for it may be necessary to go back to the rule with the very next treatment.
"Above all else must the student of this Truth guard against what may be called spiritual pride. No thought of supremacy or greater advancementshould be harbored for a moment. All such things are clouds that obscure the light as much as other material beliefs.
"To gauge ourselves by that inimitable thirteenth chapter of I. Corinthians is to maintain the perfect equilibrium of a loving, charitable heart, that can heal and bless all human-kind, for 'love never faileth.'
"We become, as it were, the cleansed window pane, through which shines the divine light of Truth. Could we always be the cleansed pane, Truth would melt away all error, just as the sun melts the frostwork, but being still in the current of human thought we must wait patiently for further power to reveal the God-likeness.
"Wrong thought as the real cause of disease, opens new avenues of information; but we continue to explore and discover. Any kind of thought opposite the good is sure to break forth into some form of disease-pictures, and the question is, what kind of thought is it which thus reflects itself upon the patient's body? All error will produce pictures of error. The world's naming of the belief in heredity is the naming of its greatest error, or belief in sin, because that implies all sins of the flesh as manifested in the body.
"Back of all effect is a cause; the disease is the effect, the wrong thought is the cause. One of the great causes of disease is sensual beliefs, the appetites and passions of the carnal man.
"It is error to suppose he is subject to conditions unlike God, the Source. 'He that is born of God, can not sin, because his seed remaineth in him.' Being inand controlled by the universal thought current, the error of supposition, he manifests it in his condition. Supposing consumption hereditary, he suffers from the supposition; supposing impurities of the blood transmitted through the flesh, he finds it even so. Supposition, false thinking, being at the bottom of all erroneous conditions, we proceed to deal with them as we do with any other errors or lies.
"When we seek for anything with a desire to gain happiness, it is because we hope to gain what our previous efforts have failed to bring us, so the one who comes to be healed by Christian Truth, comes with a hope at least that this will bring the health he has sought in vain from other sources. He has turned in all directions in response to the advice received from this or that one of the friendly advisers, so ready to constitute themselves the body guard of the world. He has tried doctors of every school; he has traveled east, west, north and south; he has plunged into healing waters of all kinds and had all kinds of healing waters plunged into him; he has been burned and steamed and pounded and starved, till he is finally disgusted enough to want something that will not harm if it will not cure, so he drags himself before us with possibly a gleam of hope, possibly the faithlessness of despair, and asks for a treatment.
"And now you wish to know in what a treatment consists; simply in silently telling the patient the truth about himself as God's child, in giving him the principles we have learned concerning God and man, and with earnest gladness assuring him of his freedom.For the benefit of the young practitioner, we will give a few directions or suggestive treatments.
"We ask the patient for a statement of his belief, which he is only too glad to give with elaborate and vivid details. We meet every statement with an emphatic mental denial.
"The faithful student who has fasted and prayed (denied and affirmed), is now the embodiment of one vast negative that should wipe out the positive belief of any inharmony. The patient, being in the belief of false conditions, is of one mind with the world, and so reflects the beliefs of mankind. That we may be sure of meeting all classes of false beliefs, we deny for him the reflection of any false conceptions of himself from the race, his parents and ancestors, his friends and associates, himself and ourself, for we are still one with humanity.
"Everybody has a conscious or unconscious belief in heredity, and since it is one of, if notthemost formidable of human beliefs, we deal with it first as the possible cause of our patient's belief in suffering.
"After he has finished the statement of his condition, we say to him mentally: 'James Martin! Hear what I say, for I tell you absolute truth. Not one word of all this you have told me about dyspepsia is true, because the carnal mind, to which you have been listening, is not subject to the law of God, andyou, the spiritual, immortal you, are subject to the mind of the spirit which recognizes the spiritual creation, therefore your spiritual self can not be sick or suffer from any inharmony.
"'This carnal mind belief named dyspepsia is not a condition of your real self. The belief of the race, ancestors, daily associates, yourself or myself in heredity and the sensual appetites can not be pictured forth by your body in the form of dyspepsia, because the real you is spiritual and not subject to material beliefs. It is utterly impossible for you, who are spiritual, to be influenced by any thought that is opposite the spiritual, as it is impossible for the light to coalesce with darkness.
"'Youare God's child, made in His image and likeness, and must be perfect like Him, for His conditions are changeless and eternal. Listen to this glad message that tells you absolute Truth. Realize that as God's child you can not suffer, for spirit knows no suffering. You can not be weak, for God is your strength; you can not fear anything, for God is your refuge and fortress. 'God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of love and of power and of sound mind.'
"'Listen to me!—The 'Truth sets free.'—Now, you are free. You gladly acknowledge the truth, and prove it in every thought, word and deed. Like the Master, I say unto you, 'Lazarus, come forth!' Come out of the errors in which you have been so long entombed, throw off the grave clothes of mortal thought, and rise to new thoughts, new conditions, a new life! Rejoice that you are whole, and let the world rejoice with you.... It is finished. In the hands of omnipresent Good, in the name of immaculate Truth, I leave you.
"'So may this be established, yea, itis alreadyestablished. I thank Thee, Father, that thou hast heard me.'
"This lesson, John, is very hard to report. I find so many questions suggested to my mind, and so many if's and but's.
"Mrs. Pearl desired us each to take up a case for absent treatment, some one we would like to help, and from whom we could hear every day or so, or who would be under our personal notice. I am going to treat a little boy in the house where I board. It is quite a severe case of catarrh.
"I wish you would take a case, too. Just try this form of treatment that I have given. It may not seem clear to you at first, but it is not the words you are to remember so much as the ideas. Get the thought firmly fixed in your mind, and the words will come of themselves.
"You readily see it is using the same principle with the patient that has been applied in self training. First, the denial of all error, and then the affirmation of truth. This treatment is for any chronic condition, and is given twice a day, in the morning and at night.
"Now, I must say good-night. It is nearly eleven, and I really ought to say my denials and affirmations some more, besides giving my patient the treatment.
"With many kisses to the dear ones,
"I am your lovingMarion."
"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.
"Once let friendship be given that is born of God, nor time nor circumstance can change it to a lessening; it must be mutual growth, increasing trust, widening faith, enduring patience, forgiving love, unselfish ambition and an affection built before the Throne, which will bear the test of time and trial."
—Allen Throckmorton.
"It seems to me, Grace, you have been touching up your complexion with some of the same paint as that in your roses," exclaimed Kate, playfully, as she inspected Grace rather critically.
"Really, Kate, you must be more careful, or I shall add the sin of vanity to my other faults," answered Grace, looking out of the window and smiling pleasantly, with the least touch of absent mindedness in her manner.
"No danger of that, you dear old Gracious, but if you should say secretiveness, I might be willing to stop," said Kate, boldly, yet hardly daring to look toward the window.
Grace did not answer, but continued looking out of the window for several minutes. "What makes you say that, Kate?" she asked at last, turning around soberly, while the rosy flush crept up to her temples and back of her ears.
"Oh, I don't know, Gracious, only it seems to me you are like a pure white lily bell, and I want to creep into your heart and live in its fragrance, but—" She stopped abruptly. It seemed as though the almostimperceptible veil of reserve was falling lower than ever.
Oh, why could she not gain Grace's confidence? These thoughts passed rapidly through her mind while she stood as if transfixed, waiting for Grace to break the interminable silence. If she had only known it, Grace was nearer to her at that moment than ever before, but with her eyes cast down, she saw not the yearning look on the face of her friend.
Grace spoke at last:
"But what, Kate?" she asked, taking up Kate's words where they had dropped.
"But the petals will not open, and I am left out," finished Kate, determined to be frank.
Grace looked out of the window again, and was about to reply, when a rap at the door startled them both. It was a boy with a note. "Miss Grace Hall?" he said, handing it to her.
Grace looked at the letter and then at the boy inquiringly. "I am to wait for an answer," he said.
"Oh," she murmured, in a dazed way, and hastened to find pen and paper for reply.
"More mystery! I declare, it is getting interesting," thought Kate, recovering herself, as she furtively watched the rosy face of Grace.
"Any answer?" asked the boy as he took the note.
"No." The door was shut and Grace sat down beside the picture she had been working upon, but presently arose and began pacing the room. Kate looked up at her as she passed, but said nothing. She could see that some deep thought was struggling for utterance, and wondered much.
After a few moments Grace stopped beside her. "I wish I might speak freely to you, Kathie, but—" she hesitated, "but it has never been natural for me to be confidential, and—"
She began her promenade again, but presently came back, and drawing her chair close up to Kate, told her the whole story, with long pauses and much hesitating speech.
"And now he is in the city; he—wants an answer. He has invited me to—ride with him—to-morrow."
"Surely, you will not refuse him that privilege?" cried the impetuous Kate, with visions of a romance unfolding in thrilling chapters before her very eyes.
"No, of course not," in a low tone, "but how shall I answer him?" The last was scarcely audible. It seemed almost as though she spoke to herself. With her forefinger she idly traced some hieroglyphics on her lap.
"What says your heart, my Lilybell?" asked Kate, softly, as she caressed the hand that was at liberty.
"'The prisoned bird doth ofttimes sing, but never at the bidding of its jailer,'" was the low reply, with a faint smile, but tearful eyes.
"Poor Lilybell; she can not bloom before her time. I can wait for her to open now, for I am close to her throbbing heart. Wait, dear Grace. Let us sit silently and ask the Father for guidance."
Sweet and solemn moment, when with one accord, they waited for the Spirit to pour out the full vials of love and wisdom. It was a precious time of sweet communion, of giving and receiving the best, aconsecration of self to better efforts, higher aims, holier living; a baptism of strength and peace and lovely thoughts.
Grace had entered upon a new epoch. The past, with its longings and struggles, its loneliness and bitterness, was already fading into the background of memory like some dark, ill-favored picture, and in its place came the present, with its balmy atmosphere and dainty colorings, promising joy and peace. The morning looked fair. How would be the noon and eventide?
Ah, no questioning when you ask the Father's guidance! Have you not asked, dear heart?
Wait till the answer comes. Wait till the soundless message is delivered into your heart's safe keeping....
The last beams of the setting sun came through the window and bathed them in its red-gold glory. In her exalted mood, it seemed to Kate like a heavenly vision. She saw Grace glorified with a divine radiance, baptized with a new peace. White-winged angels hovered near, like pure thoughts personified. Every glinting sunbeam seemed a golden shaft of love.
The glory paled into a mellow twilight. The enchanting picture faded, but the essence of its beauty changed into a heart-melody of softened sacred joy. What but music could speak in this hallowed moment?
Kate's very soul would utter itself. She went to the piano as in a dream. Soft, low notes, faint and sweet, breathed of tender questionings and tremulous doubts; then a higher, more triumphant strain of victory swelled the notes that lingered but a moment, erea tone of sadness and regret struck the keys, whispering of sacred duty and solemn responsibility.... Again the music changed. Now peace and joy thrilled and rippled through the melodious chords....
Dearer than ever was the friendship thus cemented. They had been caught up to heaven, as it were, and that which had been bound on earth was now bound in heaven.
"Mystical more than magical, is the communing of soul with soul, both looking heavenward. Here, properly, soul first speaks with soul; for only in looking heavenward, take it in what sense you may, not looking earthward, does what we can call union, mutual love, society, begin to be possible."
They sat till late into the night, discussing and considering all phases of life and its problems.
Kate read Mrs. Hayden's letter, which in the agitation and excitement of the first part of the evening she had quite forgotten. Because of their deep earnestness they were well prepared to catch the healing mood. This experience seemed indeed the shower that most opened the blossom of understanding, and ere they slept, each had taken some poor suffering mortal into her care as a patient. The blessings they had received were already being passed to the waiting neighbor.
It is the deep, unselfish God-love that takes the world in its embrace. To perceive, feel, live the divine Love, is to have broken the old shell of selfishness, when we may begin to send the tender rootlets of being into the ready soil of the universe.
"The power to bind and loose to Truth is given!The mouth that speaks it is the mouth of Heaven.The power, which in a sense belongs to none,Thus understood belongs to every one."—Abraham Coles.
"Thro' envy, thro' malice, thro' hating,Against the world, early and late,No jot of our courage abating—Our part is to work and to wait."—Anon.
Marlow, October ——.
"Dear ones at home: Your letters were all received this afternoon. Am pleased to know that Mabel is so interested, for it will help her so much in her studies and work. I must begin my daily report at once, as there is not much time before class.
"There was no lesson yesterday, and about noon Mrs. Dawn came after me to go with her and Mrs. Browning, her hostess, to the dentist's, as Mrs. Browning had to have a tooth extracted. We started, treating her all the way with the quieting, reassuring thoughts that allay fear. Before she went in we agreed to hold that thought.
"When Mrs. Browning went into the office, we remained in the waiting room thinking as intently as possible:
"'There is not a thing to fear, Lida Browning, there is no tooth-ache with your real self, there is no sensationin matter. You can entertain nothing but the One Life. The One Mind thinks, and you are His idea, perfect as your Creator. Good is all, Love is all, Peace is already with you, for you are one with the Father.'
... "It was done. The dentist was so amazed that he hardly remembered to give his patient a glass of water.
"'Well, I never knew a cuspidate to come so hard. Didn't it hurt terribly?' he asked sympathetically.
"'Not a bit except when you first put on the forceps,' was her prompt reply as she rinsed out her mouth....
"I need say no more. You can imagine our pleasure at this victory. We never know how little our faith till we see how astonished we are at the demonstration.
"You ask if Mrs. Pearl has explained your queries. A few questions were handed in yesterday, but I had not time to put them in my letter. One that always puzzled us, was: What is the origin of evil? The questions are written on slips of paper and laid on the table. She answers them before giving the regular lesson. When she read this slip there was not a little stir among the fifty eager questioners. 'What is the origin of evil?' she repeated. 'It has no origin,' was the unsatisfactory answer, after a momentary silence. Oh! the blankness of those faces! 'But,' she resumed presently, 'if you ask howseemingevil originated, I may give you the ideas that came to me as a solution of that mortal mind question.'
"You know we might ask questions of each otherforever, but unless our thoughts are tinged with same quality, or run in the same direction, the satisfactory answer to one may not be at all satisfactory to another. In other words, we will not recognize the same phase of truth, unless we are in the same stage of development, so if you are not willing to take my explanation as true, it may be that you are not yet where you can perceive it, or it may be, you require a different illustration to convey the same thought, or, there may be innumerable reasons, but of this one blessed fact be assured: if you hold yourself in the receptive attitude, and sincerely expect to be guided by the spirit of truth, some day the answer will come to you with such irresistible force and plainness that you can not forget it, or ever be in doubt upon that point again.
"It was in this way the light came to me. That question had puzzled me more than all else, and I asked every healer whom I met as to the correct solution. For several months I pondered and fretted over it. At last, in despair, I let it alone, resolving I would not be further troubled. But one day it unfolded itself so clearly and beautifully I was completely satisfied.
"Here it is: Taking the first account of creation, we find man made in the image and likeness of God, given dominion over all things. If we believe man to be spiritual and not material, if we know that spiritcan notchange its character or quality, we must know that spiritually man never fell, but that heseemedto fall through our misconception and misunderstanding of appearances.
"Man now manifests what he believes in; his consciousness of truth is not fully developed and he mistakes appearances for realities. Having all possibilities of recognizing only the good, he is perfect. For every mistake that is made he manifests error, the fallen, or rather the undeveloped state. The Truth and Love that he manifests in his life, is the revealment of his God-like nature. In the glimpses of his true self he recognizes his inheritance of power, and in his mistaken conceptions forgets to acknowledge God. He then judges according to appearances, and says things are true because they appear true to the senses.
"The creating principle of life is perfect, but man neglects to acknowledge this divine power in proportion to his selfishness. It is therefore his selfishness that prevents him from recognizing the Good, and causes him to see, name and believe in matter and its consequences; and he thus becomes materially minded, and is known as the 'Adam' in 'whom all die.'
"Adam signifies error, clay, unreality. Christ signifies Truth, Spirit, Reality. If we believe in things that appear to be the creation, we are believing in nothingness, which so proves itself by death and disintegration. If we believe appearances to be thesignof the real, we are acknowledging the spiritual to be the all, hence it proves itself by making even the body its sign, manifest life, health, perfection.
"If we cast out all selfishness, pure love takes its place. We must be purified from the beliefs of the world in selfishness and its consequences by recognizing that our 'sufficiency is of God.'
"This was very plain to me, John, and I hope you will find it so too, but if you do not, wait, and as soon as you are ready for it, the answer will come to you.
"The lesson to-day was on deception and personal influences. The whole world has been deceived into believing man is fleshly instead of spiritual, so many false thoughts and beliefs have arisen, which are the cause of all disease and trouble. Universally we are deceived, individually we are deceived, and it is not only because we are making our beliefs visible on the body, but because we suffer from them mentally and physically that it is necessary to discover what they are and cast them out.
"The term deception will cover the mistakes believed and made in ignorance, and deceitfulness will include the beliefs in and expression of deceitfulness. On the second day the patient is treated for the world's next greatest beliefs, which are deception and deceitfulness, and as before, we set him free from this belief, as possibly reflected or absorbed through one or more or all of these five avenues we mentioned in the first treatment.
"Because the world has admitted the first great lie, that the material creation is the true one, or synonymous with the true, we have 'yielded ourselves servants to sin,' hence will see the consequences of such false conclusion, until we deny the lie and affirm the truth.
'Oh what a tangled web we weave,When first we practice to deceive,'
is a couplet I remember learning long ago, when I was a child, and how applicable it is to this problem ofdeception. Truly, it is a tangled web, and the only way to get it untangled is to break off the thread and go back to the beginning where we can truly say, I am created free and perfect and whole in His image, and can not be influenced by anything different from Him.
"This isalwaysspiritually true, but if we deal with the worldly beliefs, we find that according to appearances, we are under the influence of our own and every other person's wrong thought. We say of some people, 'how happy I am in their company, how it uplifts me to be in their presence.' With others we feel a nameless depression, a fearful, unhappy feeling, and shun their company. As Emerson so aptly says: 'With some I walk among the stars, whilst others pin me to the wall.'
"Now, in reality, no good ever comes from personal influence, although in the first instance it might seem so. Personal, from the wordpersona, a mask, is only applied to the physical self or carnal mind; therefore we can receive no benefit from thepersonalquality of our friend, but we are benefited and uplifted by his freedom from personality, or in other words by the divine individuality flowing through him and expressed by his benevolence, his love, his cheerfulness, his wisdom. Inasmuch as he is free from personal or selfish thoughts, he is filled and permeated with gifts from the divine Fountain ofallbenevolence,alllove,allcheerfulness,allwisdom.
"There is a difference between personality and individuality which most people do not recognize.Personality only pertains to the physical, while individuality is the term properly applied to the spiritual self. 'There is but one Mind, the Universal Mind, which, if we can lay hold on, will give us all knowledge, wisdom and power,' said Emerson.
"When we can throw aside a belief in personality, or personal influence, we will be free. The negative thoughts sent out by the world have no power over one who has become filled with positive thoughts of righteousness. When we trust wholly to the Good, and become wholly at one with the Good, recognizing the supremacy of the Good, we are free from all belief in miseries or burdens. We breathe purer air, which is invisible but life-giving; we feed on heavenly manna, the true word that is divinely nourishing; we escape the awful bondage of fear, knowing the perfect love that casts out fear. We can not fear any false beliefs or wrong thoughts, for we are so filled with true thoughts, no such falsities can enter our mind.
"Some people talk as though we have great cause to tremble at this awful counterfeit power of mortal mind, but if they would not talk of it, nor fear it as having power, it would vanish as mist before the morning sun.
"The great sin is in admitting a lie. Admit the belief of sickness as a reality and you will see many witnesses to prove it. 'Agree with thine adversary quickly, lest he turn and rend thee,' means make haste to dispose of the lie that will throttle you, if you fellowship with it ever so little. Let us not be deceived, but let us 'awake to righteousness and sin not.'
"Another question, and a very important one, was: 'What is the difference between the different teachers of Christian Healing?' I can best give the substance of Mrs. Pearl's reply by reference to Mrs. Fuller, the healer from Trenton.
"You remember when she gave her parlor lecture at Mrs. Haight's, she said: 'Everything that did not come from her teacher was mesmerism, that it was altogether false, and it was so much of a power that it was indeed to be feared, for there was no telling what its subtlety and cunning would suggest and execute; that no cure effected by it was permanent, but that the patients would sooner or later be worse than before.'
"Oh, dear, I must not rehearse it, for of course you remember how my old headache overtook me when I got home, and how wrought up I was all night. Now I know what caused it, andnowI know the difference.
"In the first place, these people are taught the pure and beautiful foundation of pure Christian Healing, but instead of holding to their premise that all is good, they begin to talk about people and things that arenotgood, imputing false motives, and giving false power to those who, as they say, are not in the truth.
"If they would only remember that counterfeits can have no power except as it is delegated to them, that unreal thoughts must disappear in the presence of true thoughts, they would not be troubled and puzzled. Adhering to the law, they would recognize and talk about the Good only.
"Ah, John, here is the secret of Jesus' words, 'Resist not evil.' If we resist anything, we recognizeit as something. If we regard evil as an entity, we can not help fearing or fighting it, but if we know it is nothingness claiming to be something, we deal with it accordingly.
"Whoever resists evil or calls evil a power, has not denied the reality of evil faithfully enough. To talk of anything as having power, is to believe in the power and become entangled in its meshes. That explains Mrs. Fuller's remark that she was 'actually afraid to meet one of those false teachers on the street, and always took pains to warn people against them.' I speak of Mrs. Fuller because you know so well what she did and said, that you will understand this explanation better.
"Another remark she made was, that 'this power of mortal mind is wholly ignored by these false teachers, although they secretly use it so effectually and disastrously.' Because they do not talk so much of evil, she thinks they ignore it, while really they silently but earnestly and vigorously deny it, thereby getting a sure control over it. She was taught to call this seeming power of mortal thought Mesmerism, and Animal Magnetism, and after giving it such formidable names, and so mighty a place, it is most natural for her to say that it affects herself and family or her patients, causing them to be slow in yielding to treatment. Thus you can readily see how she accounts for her failures.
"Mrs. Pearl teaches that we can deal with this influence of carnal or mortal mind, by denying for the patient the conscious or unconscious reflection of itfrom these five different sources. To the patient who is ignorant of truth, mortal thought has a power, because he has acknowledged it as having power, but in our silent conviction of its powerlessness, we speak the true word that sets him free. The whole secret lies in our own freedom from belief in this false power.
"The name Mesmerism or Magnetism makes it seem like some awful monster, lurking in every corner, ready to devour us, while, as Mrs. Pearl says, we go our way, quietly denying all appearance of evil, proving the law of Good by recognizing only the Good in thought and speech.
"How beautiful this teaching is! and how wonderfully the spirit leads us into all truth. But it can not teach us if we talk error, or deliberately judge others. Never till we are faithful in acknowledging the one Principle of Life will it prove itself the only power over us.
"After the questions, Mrs. Pearl spoke of the third treatment. We treat for everything we might have missed in the first two treatments. Sometimes this is called the sin treatment, for it takes up so many things that belong more or less to everybody, according to the world's belief. A more explicit naming is selfishness.
"Selfishness is the beginning, the mother of all the rest. It reminds one of the seven devils from which poor Mary Magdalen was freed. It is not unlikely these were their names: Selfishness, pride, envy, avarice, jealousy, malice and cruelty. This we deny for the patient through the five different sources, and you can see how apt it will be to touch him, for who is thereof all earth's children that is perfectly free from any of these qualities. With our strong faith in the law and power of the word, we sturdily deny everything that might be the shadow obstructing his light.
"As we go on in this study, we learn the meaning of these outshowings of disease. Every visible thing is the expression of a thought, whether God-given or man-supposed. We look into a patient's face and read or interpret the signs of his thought. Is he selfish, unkind or severe in his disposition, there are the lines and expressions that betray him. Is he lovely, gentle and kind, a nameless feeling of peace and trust steals over us.
"In the moments or times of silence that every healer should seek, there may come something to hint of the truth, some word or text or mind-picture that will teach what no book or teacher could tell, for 'the spirit of truth leads us into all truth,' and the ways and means are varied according to our capacity to receive.
"A mind-picture is a symbol representing some thought. For instance: Suppose while I sit in the silence, there comes to my consciousness a fragment of landscape, a child's face, a storm, a sun. These are ideas symbolized. If it be a pleasant scene, it may be to me a glimpse of the 'green pastures and still waters' that David sang about when depicting the life of the righteous. It would mean peace for my patient. If the symbol be a child's face, it may mean that I must become as a little child in order to be led into the kingdom. A storm may signify that my patient is passing through a crisis of mental commotion, in which case I must use the invariable rule, deny the false and affirm the true.
"On the other hand I may never see a symbol, but some suggestive text may come into my mind. If I were depressed or discouraged, these words might give me new courage and hope: 'Fear not, for I am with thee;' 'wait patiently on the Lord, and He will give thee the desires of thine heart.'
"Or I might not be conscious of anything while I am sitting thus in the silence. The answer to my silent question may come to me in the most commonplace way days or weeks after it is asked. Some person may say something that will be the very clue I am seeking. We are not to be anxious or troubled if many questions perplex us, or many problems seem insoluble, but wait, trusting that 'he is faithful who promised.' We must not be wishing for the same signs or powers that others have, but appreciate what is given to us, for faithfulness shall receive its full reward in due time 'if we faint not.'
"No more to-day. Love to the babies. How glad I am to know they are so well and happy.
"Faithfully,Marion."