The Pastor's Son Part 14

"Mrs. White, I would be pleased to take your advice, but I haven't enough money to carry me for six months without a salary."

"G.o.d is your supply, trust Him fully," said Mrs. White.

"Father, have no fear, G.o.d is all good, all love, and I know He will not see us want, if we will only trust Him."

"Walter, my son, I will take your advice and trust it all to G.o.d."

Then, after a moment, he looked at Mrs. White and said, "Now, Mrs.

White, let us talk of my dear wife's illness; I suppose Walter told you she has been suffering from tuberculosis of the lungs for many years. Do you think she can be healed?"

"Mr. Williams, do you think an all-powerful G.o.d could heal her? For it is not myself that does the healing, but G.o.d."

"Yes, I know that G.o.d can heal her if He will."

"Have you ever asked Him to?"

"Many hundreds of times have I asked, prayed, begged, and beseeched Him."

"What did you expect to accomplish by your begging and beseeching?"

"I do not understand what you mean, Mrs. White."

"Did you think you could influence a good and just G.o.d by your begging and beseeching, to be more than good and just?"

"Oh, I did not wish to influence G.o.d," said the pastor.

"Then what did you expect to accomplish by begging and beseeching?"

As the pastor did not answer, Mrs. White continued:

"A good and just G.o.d could not be less than good and just, and if this be true, what could we expect to accomplish by begging and beseeching?

Mr. Williams, the reason your prayers have not been answered, is that you don't know how to pray aright, besides you have been praying to a false G.o.d, an idol of your own making."

The pastor's back stiffened up perceptibly, as he said rather cooly, "Mrs. White, don't you think your accusations are a little unjust? You must remember I am an ordained minister."

"Mr. Williams, don't think I am alluding only to you; almost the whole human race has made the same mistake. I am free to confess that I did not know how to pray aright until after I had studied 'Science and Health.' If you will allow me, I will try to prove my a.s.sertions."

"Please proceed."

"Mr. Williams, when you pray, do you or do you not have a mental picture of your G.o.d in mind?"

"Yes, most generally I do." "Will you please describe this mental picture?" asked Mrs. White.

"When I close my eyes in prayer, I usually see the spirit of G.o.d as though He was appearing through the clouds," said the pastor.

"Does this spirit of G.o.d, as you call it, have a human face?"

"Yes, Mrs. White, a face that is radiant with goodness and love."

"Mr. Williams, don't you see that this is a G.o.d of your own making, an imaginary creature of your own mind?"

"I don't quite understand," said the pastor, somewhat confused.

"When you close your eyes to pray, you imagine you see the face of a man, appearing through the clouds. You know this is not real, but the face appears only in your imagination, and when your congregation close their eyes, they each have an imaginary picture of some kind before them, or else a void, and if you were to compare notes, you would find no two persons to have the same picture or idol. Are there so many G.o.ds as that? If not, which one of the congregation has the right one?

The fact is, most people pray to a G.o.d of their own making, a man-made G.o.d, a thing that does not exist, except in their own imagination, and then wonder why their prayers are not answered. Have I proven my a.s.sertion, Mr. Williams?"

"Yes, Mrs. White, you have, but you have also robbed me of my G.o.d, and now I am entirely at a loss."

"Better no G.o.d at all than a false one," said Mrs. White.

"That may be true, Mrs. White, but you do not wish to intimate that there is no G.o.d?"

"Most a.s.suredly not, have I not told you that G.o.d heals the sick, that G.o.d is Good, that G.o.d is Mind? If I have robbed you of your false G.o.d, I have done a good work, for then you are ready to seek the true G.o.d.

I recommend that you carefully study 'Science and Health.' In it I found who and what the true G.o.d is. If you will read this book, in connection with the Bible, you will find that it will unlock the mysteries of the Bible, and you will come into possession of that peace that pa.s.seth all understanding." "I shall certainly do as you suggest, Mrs. White; for I have determined to find the true G.o.d."

"Now, Mr. Williams, do you wish me to give your wife treatment?"

"Yes, I have determined to give Christian Science a fair trial."

"As it is getting rather late, I will not see your wife to-night, but will treat her absently as soon as I get home. I would also suggest that you acquaint her with the fact that I will see her tomorrow evening."

"But I have not asked her whether she is willing to take science treatment," said the pastor.

"Father, that has all been arranged, as I have asked her; all that mother wanted was your sanction. Otherwise she would not take the treatment, and I had acquainted Mrs. White with the facts before she came."

"I am pleased to hear that your mother is willing to try these treatments, as we have tried everything else, and now this is our last and only hope."

"When it should have been your first; yet that is the way of mortals, they try everything else first and G.o.d last, nevertheless G.o.d is ever ready to help man when man turns to Him, no matter what has gone before," said the pract.i.tioner.

"Mrs. White, your words give me great hope, yet my wife's case seems hopeless."

"Mr. Williams, why should you think it strange that a good, and loving, and all-powerful Father should be ever ready to help His children?"

"I know not, unless it is because He did not answer my prayers, and this may have weakened my faith," meekly said the pastor.

"But you did not pray to an all-good, loving, and all-powerful G.o.d, or you would surely have been answered; you were praying to a false G.o.d, even one of your own making."

"Yes, I know now that there was something wrong, and I supposed it was because G.o.d did not wish to help; but you have shown me that the fault was not with G.o.d, but with myself."

"Well, Mr. Williams, I am glad that the light of understanding is coming to your consciousness, and now I must be going. I have no special directions to give you regarding your wife except that I don't want you or Walter to tell a single person that your wife is receiving Christian Science treatment, and you may rest a.s.sured that I shall not tell any one."

The pastor was very much relieved to hear Mrs. White say she would tell no one, and supposing she did not wish to jeopardize his position as minister, he said, "I thank you very much, Mrs. White, for being so solicitous of my position."

Mrs. White's answer rather surprised him. She said: "When I told you to tell no one, I did not have you or your position in thought, I was simply thinking of the welfare of your wife. Now good-night, and you may expect me at the same hour to-morrow evening."

The pastor and his son bade her a hearty goodnight, then returned to the library. As soon as they arrived there the pastor turned to his son and said, "Walter, what other reason could Mrs. White have in bidding us say nothing of the treatments, excepting my position?"

"Father, I do not fully understand why this is done, but I have heard that they request this in all cases. I think it is for the same reason that Jesus Christ told them He healed, to go and tell no man."

The pastor looked at his son and said, "It may be for the same reason, although both are a mystery to me, at any rate this disproves the a.s.sertion the Rev. Jones made in regard to these lady pract.i.tioners being pleased to tell their business to everybody. Why, any one could be healed by Christian Science and no one be the wiser. I wonder if this does not account for the mysterious recovery of Mr. Anderson. You remember the paper stated that he was given up by the physicians, and that he could not live more than twenty-four to thirty-six hours; then to the surprise of everybody he began to mend rapidly, and in six week's time no one would think that he ever had a sick day in his life.