' BRING your chair closer, please, Miss Gilman. I like to watch you when you talk." The voice was earnest as the wistful eyes sought her com panion.n6439 ¶1
' But what was that you said? Oh, yes," in a wrondering tone, " dying will not make me well " —a pause— " and I am just as near to God now as I would be then."n6439 ¶2
The blue eyes looked bewilderingly into the brown ones. " I've been prajang to die. Do you think that is wrong? " she asked, softly.n6439 ¶3
Gloria looked into the patient, little face.n6439 ¶4
' But Jesus the great Teacher never taught that one must die in order to be well, or to go to heaven."n6439 ¶5
" Ah! Christ had power to make one well be fore he reached heaven; but, Miss Gilman, I know that I never can be well until I reach there."n6439 ¶6
' Where do you think heaven is, dear? "n6439 ¶7
The thin, little face looked troubled, as she replied : " Why — I never really asked myself that. It is up there, isn't it? " pointing to the beautiful, blue sky.n6439 ¶8
' Neither shall they say, Lo, here ! or, Lo, there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is withinn6439 ¶9
' Then there would be no heaven for me," groaned the quivering lips.n6439 ¶10
"Oh, yes! We each have the same right to gain heaven, if we will but follow Jesus' teachings. It has been the popular belief that in order to enter heaven we must die, but ' the kingdom of heaven is at hand' right here, not off in the sky somewhere."n6439 ¶11
"But what do you think heaven is?" asked the sick girl in astonishment.n6439 ¶12
Gloria's expressive eyes brightened, and she said, after a moment's hesitation:n6439 ¶13
' I believe that heaven is not a locality, but a condition of thought. Heaven is harmony — the realization of love, health, holiness, and perfection. It is not dying, but living in the highest sense that enables us to enter this happy condition."n6439 ¶14
"All! How beautifully you talk! Yes, it would be heaven to me right now if I were well. But " —tremulously — " I can't live."n6439 ¶15
" God is Love, and you need not die," said Gloria softly.n6439 ¶16
Muriel stretched out both little hands, and Gloria clasped them warmly while her loving eyes searched the yearning face bent toward her.n6439 ¶17
"But what is there to keep me alive? Last night I looked up at the beautiful, twinkling stars and prayed as never before that God would send me light — something to tell me how to think. I think all day; I think all night, and, ah, it is all so mixed — this pain, this beautiful world, and God! Don't mind how I talk, Miss Gilman, for my thought is so confused. Ah, what is God and what am I? " Here the little form shook and hot tears streamed down the hollow cheeks. Gloria wound her arms around the slender figure and, with swimming eyes, said :n6439 ¶18
" Dear heart, God is Life, and you are His perfect child."n6439 ¶19
The sobs stopped. " God is Life, and you said before that I belong to God and couldn't die. It sounds different from anything I have ever heard — more comforting. But where did you learn it? " asked the girl, the tears still wet on her cheeks.n6439 ¶20
" I learned these truths through the study of Christian Science."n6439 ¶21
" Christian — Science? " and the words fell slow ly, softly from the quivering lips. " What beautiful words! I never heard them used togethern6439 ¶22
"You never heard of Christian Science!" in amazement.n6439 ¶23
" No/' and now Muriel looked up wonderingly. " What is Christian Science? "n6439 ¶24
Gloria's heart pulsated with joy as she thought, " What a vista lies before this dear girl! "n6439 ¶25
" Christian Science is the religion of the Bible, dear."n6439 ¶26
Ah, the gentle purity in the depths of those eyes as they looked with child-like trust into Gloria's radiant face!n6439 ¶27
"The religion of the Bible— then it heals?" The words came hesitatingly, tremulously.n6439 ¶28
' Yes, Christian Science is the spiritual science of treating sin, sickness, and disease," answered Gloria, a happy ring in her voice.n6439 ¶29
" But how can one know about it? I don't understand."n6439 ¶30
For answer Gloria opened the small, silk bag which she had on her lap, and taking out a little book, handed it to Muriel, who grasped it eagerly. " Cleanse the lepers — cast out demons — heal the sick — raise the dead," she read, as her ringers fol lowed the gold letters. ' That is what Jesus said." * Yes, and Jesus said also, ' Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.' 'n6439 ¶31
" And does this book say that these works can he done now? "n6439 ¶32
" Who does them? "n6439 ¶33
" Anyone who understands and obeys the teach ings of the Master, as explained in Science and Health:, can heal the sick; and hundreds have been healed by merely reading the book."n6439 ¶34
" Healed by reading this book! " exclaimed the sick girl, as if she had not heard aright.n6439 ¶35
' Yes, hundreds have been healed simply by reading Science and Health'' reiterated Gloria, with simple positiveness.n6439 ¶36
Muriel opened the book, a strange tremor tak ing possession of her. A question had come into her mind ; but, no, it couldn't be true, she told her self — she must not ask it. Her eyes caught the words, " Key to the Scriptures" ' Yes, that is what I need," she said, repeating the words aloud. " I do love my Bible, Miss Oilman, but somehow I cannot understand it. Will this explain it ton6439 ¶37
' Yes, that will give you a clear and practical understanding of the Bible."n6439 ¶38
Muriel tried to raise herself, and Gloria quickly rendered assistance, bolstering the head with the pretty, soft cushions. ' There, now, I can think better. Thank you so much," as she began turn ing the leaves of the flexible, little book.n6439 ¶39
Suddenly she paused and read aloud these words: "It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harn6439 ¶40
"Does that mean, 'makes you well'?" de manded the trembling voice.n6439 ¶41
' Yes. It is because we have all thought wrong about God for so many years that we have been sick," explained Gloria; " and as soon as we under stand Him — come to see that He is Love, Life, Mind, Truth, and never causes sickness or sorrowwhy, this understanding does away with our sick ness, discord, or sadness, just the same," con tinued the sweet voice, " as light dispels dark ness, or understanding does away with igno rance."n6439 ¶42
" I am full of darkness," said the sad voice, anxiously.n6439 ¶43
" But you won't be any longer, dearie, because the light is there," pointing lovingly to the book, now clasped in the little, white hands, " and whenn6439 ¶44
* " Science aud Health," p. 390.n6439 ¶45
you see the light all the pain and sadness will leaven6439 ¶46
Yes, yes, she must ask the question. Her breath came in little pants, while the thin frame shook with the rapid beating of the throbbing heart. Then, as if she could stand the suspense no longer, she turned her eyes appealingly uponn6439 ¶47
'If I found the light in this book, would — would it heal me — make me well? "n6439 ¶48
" Make me walk? "n6439 ¶49
' Yes," with a positive shake of the head, as she brushed the happy tears from her starry eyes. " Make you every whit whole."n6439 ¶50
" Oh! " she gasped, breathlessly. " I do really feel as if it were true."n6439 ¶51
" It is as true as truth itself."n6439 ¶52
" But who wrote these wonderful things? " giv ing attention again to the book.n6439 ¶53
" Over forty years ago, Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, a Xew England woman, through prayer and a conscientious study of the Bible, discovered the principle of Christian healing and made it known to humanity."n6439 ¶54
' How good and pure she must have been to have God reveal such wonderful things to her! I love her already," she murmured, softly. ' Then this is what makes you so happy and glad," she continued, as she looked into the radiant face of her companion. " And I shall look that way, too— I shall be well, and I shall have glad eyes," she repeated, as if to sustain a wild hope. ' It must be right to be well, then," she said, starting a new trend of thought.n6439 ¶55
' Indeed it is. Jesus taught that man has a perfect, unquestioned right to be well. You re member that he destroyed the works of the devil? "n6439 ¶56
' Then you think that sickness is the work of the devil? " asked the girl, as if this logic were al together new to her.n6439 ¶57
" An evil thing must surely come from an evil source. No one believes that sickness is intrinsic ally good. When Jesus healed the crooked woman he did not say that she was suffering from rheu matism, but spoke of her as one whom ' Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years.' Man is made per fect, to have dominion over everything. Jesus never would have healed the sick were it not right for them to be well."n6439 ¶58
' Yes, I'm sure it must be right to be well," said Muriel, hopefully. ;' But how is the healing accomplished? "n6439 ¶59
' Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,' and, ' Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.' 'n6439 ¶60
" I know that Jesus healed, because he was the Son of God. He gave his disciples this power, too " —and here the voice was unspeakably sad— " but the healing work stopped when Jesus went away."n6439 ¶61
' It was not the bodily presence of Jesus that healed the sick or saved the world, Miss Lee. It was the mind in Christ Jesus that was the world's redeemer. The healing did continue for about three hundred years after Jesus' time; but because of departure from the high spiritual understand ing which made this healing possible, it fell into disuse, excepting for the occasional instances of the healing of the sick through prayer."n6439 ¶62
" But my sickness seems such a part of me, Miss Gilman; and the doctors — the very best ones — say that it is incurable."n6439 ¶63
" A similar verdict has been pronounced on hundreds of cases that have afterward been healed through Christian Science. This truth heals, even though human knowledge affirms the case to be fatal. There is a divine remedy for all the dis cords of earth. It is the privilege of all to learn of this remedy and to experience its healing, saving power.n6439 ¶64
" Jesus fulfilled the law of God, and he healed the sick as well as the sinful. He said : ' I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly,' and Paul tells us that ' the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.' 'n6439 ¶65
Every word fell with gentle benediction from the confident, calm lips, while the white, transpar ent face of the invalid seemed illumined as she em braced the inspiring thoughts.n6439 ¶66
" And for forty years people have been using this method of healing, and I have never heard of it ! " exclaimed the girl, sadly. The next moment a sunny smile, like the burst of sunshine from under a cloud, broke over Muriel's face as she added confidently: ' But I have heard of it now, and I am going to search for the light until I find it."n6439 ¶67
'"Whoso findeth me, findeth life,'" quoted Gloria, gently. " Have you a Bible handy, Miss Lee?"n6439 ¶68
' Yes, there it is on the table," pointing to a small stand near the couch.n6439 ¶69
Gloria took the book and handed it to her com panion. 'Will you please find Psalms 118, and read the seventeenth verse? "n6439 ¶70
Slowly and with tremulous lips came the words:n6439 ¶71
' I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.' "n6439 ¶72
A little silence fell between them.n6439 ¶73
At last the sick one lifted her sweet, blue eyes and pushed back the yellow, tumbled hair. A rap turous, ecstatic smile played about her pale lips. " I feel that you have told me the truth, and that I shall find the light. What wonderful words they are! " reading the verse the second time. " I want to know God better. I shall seek with such ear nestness that only God can know." A holy, in spired look animated her face as she clasped the little, black book to her bosom.n6439 ¶74
Gloria was deeply touched by the girl's great fervency and child-like trust. Taking the lighted face within her palms, she said: "And I am sure it will not take you long to find the healing light. Spiritual healing is not the perquisite of any one ; it is the privilege of every one to know and prove this living truth. And now I'm going to leave you with your little treasure."n6439 ¶75
" Oh! must you go? " said Muriel regretfully, as Gloria rose. " How good you have been to me! I love you already," she murmured, softly, as she caught Gloria's hand and kissed it repeatedly. ' But you will come again? I shall count the hours till I see you."n6439 ¶76
" Of course," answered Gloria, seating herself on the edge of the couch and clasping the little hands warmly in her own, " I shall come again— and I am sure I shall find you improved."n6439 ¶77
' You look so young to know so many wonder ful things. I am older than you are, and see how little I know! Will you tell me how old you are? "n6439 ¶78
"Twenty-two."n6439 ¶79
" And I'm twenty-four. Only two years' dif ference."n6439 ¶80
Gloria could see the traces that pain and de spair had marked on the pretty face, which looked childish in spite of its years. The hair fell in soft, little ripples around the temples, and the fluffy rows of lace vainly endeavored to hide the thinness of the white neck.n6439 ¶81
"Just to think, to wear a dress once more!" and a touchingly wistful look came across the sunken cheeks. ;' I have not been dressed nor have I stood on my feet in seven years! "n6439 ¶82
' But you will he dressed, and you will walk, too," Gloria assured her, " when you have found the light."n6439 ¶83
' It would make me so happy if I might call you ' Gloria.' "n6439 ¶84
' You certainly may, Muriel."n6439 ¶85
'Will you — may I kiss you?" pleaded the tremulous voice. She was hungry for love. She lifted her pale face to the radiant one looking down at her. Gloria warmly returned the caresses.n6439 ¶86
" Now good-by, Muriel, dear. Remember you live in God, you move and have your being in Him ; and it is your perfect right to reflect all that He bestows upon us — all health, joy, and happiness. I know that you will find the light," her eyes lin gering with a sacred look upon the sick one. With a parting smile she had gone, closing the door softly behind her.n6439 ¶87
" God's child has liberty, freedom, and bound less bliss," she thought as she walked swiftly home ward.n6439 ¶88
" If we could all have such beautiful, child-like trust as Muriel Lee ! c And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.' 'n6439 ¶89
Here her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of quick footsteps behind her.n6439 ¶90