On the following Sunday evening Carol started at the usual time for Mr.
Higgs' cottage, carrying with him the little, much-valued book and with
it the current _Quarterly_ which Miss Desmond had also sent him. His
surprise was great, on arriving at the cottage, to find Mrs. Burton and
Eloise there. They knew the prohibition was removed, and Carol was free
to read and study _Science and Health_.
"We thought you would come, Carol," Eloise exclaimed. "We wanted to
hear you read the Lesson-Sermon. It will be quite a little service,
won't it?"
"Yes, dear Carol; we thought we should like to join you this evening,"
Mrs. Burton said. "We are only the 'two or three gathered together,'
but we are all of one mind. So it will be a little service, as Eloise
says."
Presently Mr. Higgs' daughter and his little grand-daughter came in.
It was arranged for Mrs. Burton to read the Bible verses, and for Carol
to read the quotations from _Science and Health_. At the close of the
Lesson-Sermon Carol and Eloise sang together, from the Christian Science
Hymnal, the hymn which both knew and loved,--
"Shepherd, show me how to go."
The beauty of the words, and the young voices blending in perfect
harmony, brought tears of emotion to the old man's eyes.
"Aye, ma'am," he said to Mrs. Burton afterwards, "who but the Shepherd
himself, is leading us into those green pastures where the fetters that
bound us are loosed? There's a many things I can't pretend to
understand, and the old beliefs grip hard, but I just hold on, and know
it must be the Truth which the Master promised should make us free.
It's the tree that is known by its fruits. I'm sorry Rector's so set up
against it. But there, it was the priests and scribes who persecuted
the Master himself. Seems to me it would not be the Truth if the world
received it gladly."
"I believe you are right in thinking that, Mr. Higgs. In whatever
period of the world's history Truth has been recognized, and
demonstrated, its adherents were always persecuted and stoned. Jesus
reminded his persecutors that they stoned the prophets which were before
him."
"Yes, ma'am, I know it is the glorious Truth which has loosed my
rheumatiz, and made me free, and I am just ashamed to confess to you and
Master Carol that just lately thoughts I can't get rid of come
tormenting me. In this way: I go sometimes to church, but I feel no
pleasure in the service. It has lost its hold o' me. Then I think o'
Father and Mother, o' blessed memory. They lived and died with no
thought o' beyond what the Rector could give them. It sort o' troubles
me to think I am going away from what they trusted to. The Rector then
was an old man. Why, ma'am, if ever a saint o' God walked this earth,
he was one. If he passed down the village street, you'd see all the
children run to him, clustering round him. When he looked at you, it
didn't seem to need any words: it was just as if he said, 'God bless
you.' His smile was a blessing. So I just ask myself, Why wasn't the
sick healed when he prayed for them, if it was right and God's will for
them to be healed? Surely, he was a servant of God."
"I propounded a similar question, Mr. Higgs, to the lady I have been
staying with in Devonshire, Carol's cousin, Miss Desmond. It has been my
great privilege to know many saintly characters, whose lives testified
to their faith. My own mother was such a one. Yet, for many years, she
was a great sufferer. I asked Miss Desmond why such loving faith in God
and Jesus the Christ, had not always brought physical healing. What we
call the orthodox church, also Non-conformity, has nurtured souls for
heaven. We cannot, therefore, condemn its teaching. Miss Desmond said it
is not for us to judge or to criticise either individuals or other
churches. We all, individually and collectively, can only grasp the
truth as far as we apprehend it, and we must not harbor a troubled
thought that in becoming Christian Scientists we are leaving any church
to which we once belonged. We are simply moving forward--stepping
upward to a higher platform. It is the law of progression. A child at
school does not regret being moved to a higher class. Neither have we
anything to regret, even if we entirely sever our connection with the
church of our childhood. Even now, for the most advanced Christian
Scientists there is yet a higher platform to be reached, since Mrs. Eddy
says, in _Science and Health_, 'All of Truth is not understood.' All we
have to do at the present is to live up to--to demonstrate, the highest
that we know. You in your walk of life, I in mine; and these dear
children, who, spiritually, have touched the hem of Christ's garment and
have been healed, in theirs."
"Thank you, ma'am, I'll try to think of it, as you've kindly explained
it. There's another old belief I can't see clearly to get rid o' yet,
though Master Carol tried to make me see it's wrong, and that is 'Thy
will be done,' on the tombstones in the churchyard. I can see that sin
and disease can never be God's will; but death may sometimes be a sort
o' messenger from God to call us home."
Mrs. Burton smiled.
"Yes; many poets have eulogized death as a 'bright messenger.' But in
the light of Christian Science we know it cannot be: evil can never
under _any_ circumstance change into good--an enemy--the last
enemy--into a friend. Think for one moment how Jesus taught us to pray
'Thy will be done on earth _as it is in heaven_.' Then ask yourself: Is
death God's will in heaven? If not, then it cannot be on earth. I
quite see now why many petitions have failed to bring an answer. The
pleading lips have besought God to reverse 'His decree,' the decree that
never was His. We learned that, Eloise, darling, did we not, in
Devonshire?"
"Yes, Mother; and when we quite understood why my lameness was never
God's will for me, I lost it."
"So the world, Mr. Higgs, must change its old belief, and realize that
death is an enemy which inevitably will one day be destroyed. In God's
spiritual Kingdom, sin, disease, and death find no place. Now I think
we must all bid you good-night, or it will be dark before Carol reaches
the Manor. The evenings draw in so quickly, now. We will walk part of
the way with you, Carol," Mrs. Burton said as they left the cottage.
They had not gone very far when they met Mrs. Mandeville.
"Auntie," Carol exclaimed joyfully, "were you coming to meet me?"
"Yes, dear. I found you had not returned. As I did not quite like your
coming alone through the park, I came to meet you."
After a little conversation with Mrs. Burton and Eloise, Mrs. Mandeville
and Carol walked home together, Carol clinging affectionately to his
aunt's arm.
"It is nice to have you to walk home with me, Auntie; but I wish you
would never have a thought of fear for me."
"I'll try not to another time, darling. As I walked along I remembered
something, Carol. Since that day when you came to my room I have never
had one of my old headaches. They used to be so painfully frequent. Did
you charm them away?"
"No, Auntie; but I knew you had not learned how to 'stand porter at the
door of thought.' So I just stood there for you; and error cannot creep
back when the sword of Truth is raised against it."
Mrs. Mandeville's only answer was to stoop and kiss the boy's upturned
face. The words, so simple, grave, and sweet, had gone straight to her
heart.