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 firs
t 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.