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

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

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

"By the positive denial of a lie we annul the lie; by the positive affirmation of truth we establish truth, or rather our consciousness of truth is established; thus, as we deny error or affirm truth, are we carried forward and upward. These are the 'wonderful words of life' that clothe us with righteousness.

"The words that we use first are statements of fundamental Truth, acknowledging who and what G.o.d is, what we are, and in what relation we stand to our Father.

"1. G.o.d is Life, Truth, Love, Substance.

"2. G.o.d is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent.

"3. I am the idea of G.o.d, and in Him I have my being.

"4. G.o.d is my sufficiency in all work and my will in all ways.

"5. I am subject to G.o.d's law and can not sin, suffer or die.

"Over and over again we speak the words, and by marvelous law new meanings flash upon us, new thoughts are born, new interpretations come to efface the more obscure ones of the past. It may be easier to follow every denial with its corresponding affirmation; if so, study the lesson that way.

"_Hold to each affirmation till it yields its pearl._ Take the first, 'G.o.d is Life;' say the words over and over, think of them in every conceivable way. Make every tiny leaf and slender blade of gra.s.s tell you something of the infinite Life. Bear in mind that every where life is manifested, whether in plant, animal or man, wherever we look there is omnipresent Life.

"G.o.d is Life. This same Life is our life, which can not be taken away from us. This Life is good, and in It we live even as G.o.d lives in us.

Oh, wondrous life that flows on and on, without beginning, without end, even as the river sings: 'Men may come and men may go, but I go on forever.'

"G.o.d is Truth, all truth, wheresoever or by whomsoever recognized, is the everlasting Truth that must forever be.

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

"'Truth is always present, and we only need to lift the iron lids of the mind's eye to read its oracles,' said Emerson. When the 'iron lids' are lifted we shall see as one, we shall belong to the Church of the universe and the oracle shall reveal to us its deepest secrets and most sacred mysteries.

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

"G.o.d is Love. To realize the mighty sea of omnipotent Love that enfolds and blesses humanity, would be to plunge into the healing waters of Bethesda. Like the sick man, we wait until the majestic Christ commands us to arise--help ourselves, instead of waiting for others to put us into the cleansing current. Let us recognize, then, the allness, the tenderness, the sacredness of this divine Love by submerging ourselves in it, until all thoughts of evil, suffering or hatred are lost in its embrace.

"'Lift up the gates that the king of glory may enter in,' sang David, and we too cry aloud with earnest aspiration that the gates shall be lifted away, that into our consciousness may come the high tide of omnipresent Love. 'Love alone is wisdom, love alone is power, and when love seems to fail it is where self has stepped in and dulled the potency of its rays.'

"G.o.d is our substance. True substance alone is reliable. G.o.d is our rod and our staff. Firmly relying on the Rock of substance which is G.o.d, we can not be shaken, can not be destroyed. Though all seeming powers totter and fall around us, the One is ever the same, indivisible, unchangeable I Am. When we are one with the eternal Substance, weakness, danger, failure shrink into cowering nothingness.

"Study to know, and know to live, should be our motto. Deny all error and affirm all Truth is the way to appropriate whatsoever we desire to manifest. Deny weakness and affirm strength, deny discord and affirm harmony, deny sickness and affirm health. Why? Because we erase the false beliefs of weakness, discord, sickness, by the denial, and appropriate strength, harmony, wholeness by affirmation.

"Can the spiritual self be ignorant, weak, sick or sinful? we argue.

Impossible, for G.o.d is our sufficiency, is all there is. We refuse to admit any belief of dullness and ignorance, but gratefully acknowledge our likeness to G.o.d our Wisdom. We refuse to entertain anything contrary to the Good, but fellowship only with G.o.d-like qualities. They are ours by right of inheritance. We gladly claim them and prove our claim by our manifestation.

"Cleansing our consciousness from false conceptions, what wondrous power may we not reflect! Our sufficiency is of G.o.d, not of ourselves, and to Him we ascribe all honor and glory.

"The Master taught the divineness of yielding our will wholly to G.o.d, 'Not my will but thine be done,' He prayed. This is the highest conception of the denial of self. The mortal self is to be set aside, our immortal consciousness awakened into oneness with the Father.

"MacDonald has beautifully said, 'Oneness with the mighty All is the one end of life--G.o.d or chaos is the only alternative.' We say G.o.d works through man to will and to do, and implicitly trust the divine Intelligence that guides every waiting child.

"We choose the Good and reverently await our leadings. In every stormy trial, in every doubtful moment, in every hard-pressed circ.u.mstance we stand aside and let the divine will work through us. There can be no mistaking this standing aside. It is not to sit down idly with no thought of responsibility or effort, but it is to do the best we can so far as we know, constantly awaiting more knowledge of G.o.d's will and more strength to do.

"When the will of man is at one with the will of G.o.d, when man realizes his mortal nothingness and the allness of G.o.d, there is divine and perfect healing. The poet was right when he wrote,

'Our wills are ours we know not how, Our wills are ours to make them Thine.'

"'I am subject to the law of G.o.d and can not sin, suffer nor die.' The real _I_ is governed by spirit, as an idea is governed by the mind that thinks it. The real creation, being spiritual, can not be subject to mortal beliefs or 'carnal mind which is at enmity with G.o.d.' With spirit there can be no sin, sickness nor death, for these are enemies to be overcome by the Son of G.o.d, the Christ within. 'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.' 'The last enemy (belief) to be overcome is death.'

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

"When we recognize the Christ or G.o.d principle within, we are then truly the sons and daughters of G.o.d. Spiritual insight gives a logical and to some, a new meaning to the term Christ. Christ means Truth and Truth means G.o.d. 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with G.o.d and the Word was G.o.d, and the Word was made manifest in the flesh, or the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.'

"'Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth.' Jesus said of Himself, 'I am the way, the truth and the life.' But He did not speak this of His physical body, He referred to the spirit or Christ within, which was one with the Father, that was and is, literally the way, the truth and the life. If you will subst.i.tute Truth for Christ any place in the Bible, with this understanding, you will be able to read and apprehend as never before. In this line of thought read the thirty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, the t.i.tle of which is 'The joyful flourishing of Christ's (Truth's) kingdom.' With this understanding, we so much more clearly see what Paul meant when he said such things as 'Your life is hid with Christ in G.o.d,' 'Christ in you, the hope of glory,' 'Until Christ be formed in you,' and many other similar expressions. In the eighth chapter of Romans, especially the first verse, it is much clearer by reading with this new spiritual signification. 'There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus (Truth), who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.' Who could ever believe the physical Jesus was meant? No: Christ was exactly what the first chapter of John says He was, the Word (or Truth) made manifest in the flesh, and the name of the flesh was Jesus.

"Jesus Christ means Jesus, the manifestation of Truth, and this explains many hitherto obscure pa.s.sages, which are exceedingly hard to understand, when the flesh and spirit are regarded as one.

"What vast possibilities unfold to the human being persistent in his search for truth! What a glorious realm of knowledge, what wonderful power, what blissful peace, for he will have 'put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that creates him.' He will have attained the clear vision of liberty, for he will no longer be bound to the 'letter that killeth' but be filled with the 'spirit that giveth life.'

"The silence at the close seemed like a baptism of peace. To me came the realization of the intimate relationship of G.o.d's children to their Father, whose love ever comes as a benediction to those who will or can, recognize and appropriate it.

"With love to you all, I am,

"YOUR MARION.

"P. S. I take great pains to have the quotations accurate, and fortunately I have made the acquaintance of the shorthand reporter in the cla.s.s who sits next to me; she takes notes and as a special favor, reads the quotations for me after the cla.s.s is dismissed.

"Once more, good-bye. M."

CHAPTER XVIII.

"Got but the truth once uttered, and 'tis like A star new-born that drops into its place, And which, once circling in its placid round, Not all the tumult of the earth can shake."

--_Lowell._

"How are you getting on in your study of Christian Healing?" asked Mr.

Hayden, meeting Kate as he was going home, and handing her the letter.

"It is getting plainer, but Grace seems to catch the reason of things much more readily than I. In fact, I am afraid I should have given up in disgust had not she helped me out, for some of the statements seemed so unreasonable."

"They are rather inconsistent in some respects, I must admit; but if we will only be patient, and not allow prejudice to color our judgment, everything will straighten out," replied Mr. Hayden, smiling. "You notice Marion is careful to warn me not to judge hastily. She knows how I am in religious matters, always insisting on the one interpretation.

But I am growing some, I hope, so I trust my judgment is broad enough to make a fair and impartial investigation."

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