Class ' -4Dl Book^ (J(^ yoz (flfiCSi. " # THE HEALING VOICE ON THE POWER OF PRAYER FAITH LITERATURE, AND THE SCIENCE OF HEALING, PROFING TO THE WORLD THAT A LIVING FAITH GIVES US A PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY BY ANNA J. JOHNSON BOSTON PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 1903 Copyright, 1884, By anna J. JOHNSON. B7 traiisfat PREFACE, The Healing Voice was sent forth in 1884 very much as Noah sent forth the Dove, to see if the waters of the world had abated. We rejoice to say that the Voice has brought back to us the olive branch; the evidence that God has a covenant-keeping people on this earth, in whom He is working to will and to do of His own good pleasure. We find also, as Elijah did in his day, that there are many thousands who do not bow the knee to Baal. May the readers of this, our third edition, find in this vol- ume the Spirit of union and oneness in Christ, that we have found, in all that is written therein. "That spirit of love and wisdom which scatters in Jacob, but gathers in Israel." — For in the Israel oj God all see eye to eye. — I am looking and long- ing for the appearing of the white robed throng, those who will stand together on the sea of glass, the mirror of truth, with Christ in God, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. INTRODUCTORY. The Healing Voice was first published in 1884 from the Christ Healing and Faith Training College, New York. It has carried the Voice of the Healer to the souls and bodies of the readers of nine thousand copies already published and distributed. This, our third revised edition, will carry with it a positive reahzation of a personal union and communion with God that our first two editions could not give, in their childish effort to explain and show^ forth that life which was reality in itself, yet^ without the natural language or soul power of expression to clothe and present it in, acceptably to all — for the new- tongue is only understood by those who live the Hfe, and speak the language. The zeal of the Father's house has since unfolded the soul and mind, so that the child of the Spirit has become a woman in understanding. We have now no hesitancy in saying and proclaiming to the world at large, that Christ is God, that His Holy Spirit will cleanse you from all sin, and heal you of all your infirmities to-day, if you hear His voice — for Christ the Lord is an ever-present God. Ignorance, fear, and unbelief are the only opponents — tried children of men look up and these will vanish. Read God's word with the eye single, and the vail of flesh, which separates the soul from its God, will pass away quickly. Christianity is ideal as preached and practised, simply because it is largely of the head, and when manifested from the heart, it is principally emotional. Solomon said wisely: ''Get wisdom, but with all thy getting, get understand- ing." As Christ alone gives hfe, and He alone saves life, Christ is therefore our understanding; His Spirit leadeth into 4 INTRODUCTORY. all truth. Christ Jesus, the perfect God man is our example — walking in the footsteps of Jesus we attain the image and Kkeness, as He did, of the Godhead bodily. Dearly beloved readers, in this relationship there is neither sin or sickness. The soul, mind, and body is God's earthly tabernacle; He walks in you, and talks in and through you; over such death has lost its sting. "I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death." — Hosea xiii, 14. The Healing Voice is sent forth as a verification and real- ization of the promises of God to Israel. It shows the soul's conflict and struggle between the spirit and the flesh. It dis- tinctly reveals also, the soul's victory over the world, the flesh and the diseases of the flesh, and the works of the devil. It proves beyond all question, that the children of men as teach- ers are, to a great degree, blind leaders of the blind, and that in a living faith we have the practical evidences of Christ's Gospel — which is God with us, working in and through the soul, mind, and body, building up the kmgdom of Jesus Christ on earth, the tabernacle of God with man, the Holy Spirit being the only teacher that leadeth into all truth. CONTENTS. PAGE Preface 3 Introductory 5 God's Promises for Healing , 7 The Healing Voice — A Poem 8 .\nna J. Johnson's Religious Experience and Gifts of the Spirit . 9 God Over All — A Poem 54 Comfort Ye My People 56 The Possibility of Living without Sm 57 Lift Me Up — A Poem 61 The Drtne and Human Law of Cure . 62 True and False Prophets 71 Pure Motherhood 79 The Hand that Rules the World 88 Reasons for Withdrawing from the Romish Church .... 89 Tn Perfect Peace — A Poem 93 Work Done by the Human Heart 94 The Healing and Financiai. Power of God 97 Sermon: Jesus, The Resurrection and the Life. Delivered by Mrs. A. J. Johnson 109 Stenographer's Report of the Testimonies at the Close of the Gospel Services 113 Remarkable Cures 116 Sermon: He Leadeth Me, delivered by Mrs. Anna J. Jolinson . . . . 121 Testimonies at the Close of the Sermon 123 Sermon: The Indwelling Christ — The Treasure in Earthen Vessels. DeHvered by Mrs. Anna J. Johnson 131 Testimonies at the Close of the Sermon 134 The Abiding One — A Poem . 137 Sermon: Faith, The Substance of Things Hoped for. By Mrs. Anna J. Johnson 139 Cures through Faith and Prayer 143 "The Voice of God" — Satan's Enemy — Physical Diseases Cured BY THE Laying on of Hands 144 Sermon: "For the Wrath of God is Revealed from Heaven against All Ungodliness — Romans i, iS. By Mrs. A. J. Johnson .... 146 5 6 CONTENTS. PAGE ClTRES THROUGH FaITH AND PrAYEK 151 Extract from the Boston Globe, May 14TH, 1882 158 Autumn Thoughts — A Poem » 161 Midwinter Blossoms — Bible Forget-Me-Nots 163 Correspondence 166 Pneumonia: Its Cause and Cure 177 A Talk to Girls 179 While We May — A Poem 180 Mother Love 182 Mother's Faith — A Poem 185 "For Ye Have the Poor with You Always." — Mark xiv, 7 . . 186 "Have I Been a Wilderness." — Jeremiah ii — A Poem . . 190 "Whatsoever Ye Shall Ask in My Name, that Will I Do." — - John xiv 191 God is Christ — A Poem 194 Life and Death HLath No Fellowship 195 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my sayings, he will never see death." — John \m, 51 — A Poem .... 198 God is Life 199 My Father, Thou only Omnipotent Art — A Poem 207 The Law of Love 208 The Word Became Flesh 218 God is Truth 221 Calendar of Daily Praise 223 The Sunshine of Love — A Poem 225 AT-ONE MENT 226> THE HEALING VOICE, ON THE POWER OF PRAYER. GOD'S PROMISES FOR HEALING. Pray for one another, that ye may be healed. — James v, i6. For I am the God that healeth thee. — Exodus xv, 26. Bless the Lord who healeth all thy diseases. — Psalms ciii, 3. And He healed them that had need of healing. — Luke ix, 1 1 . Breathing the Gospel and healing eveiyn^-here. — Luke ix, 6. God healed Abimelech and his wife. — Gen. xx, 17. I wdll heal thee and add to thy days. — // Kmgs xx, 5. I will forgive their sins and heal the land. — Chran. \]i, 14. Return and I will heal your backshdings. — Jer. iii, 22. Heal me, O Lord! and I shall be healed. — Jer. x\ii, 14. I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord. — Jer. xxx, 17. Jesus said, I will come and heal him. — Matthew viii, 17. The power of the Lord was present to heal them. — Luke v, 17. The Lord hearkened and healed me. — Psalms xxx, 2. He sent his word and healed them. — Psalms c^di, 20. He was bruised and ^dth His stripes we are healed. — Isaiah liii, 5. Speak, and thy servant shall be healed. — Luke \di, 7. Multitudes followed Him, and He healed them. — Luke xvi, 14. They were healed, ever>" one. — Acts v, 16. Jesus perceived that he hath faith to be healed. — Acts xiv, ig. Paul prayed, and healed the father of Pubhus. — Acts xx\'iii, 8. God wTought special miracles by the hands of Paul. — Acts xix, TI. 7 S THE HEALING VOICE. They brought the sick into the street that the shadow of Peter might fall on them and heal them. — Acts y, 15. And these signs shall follow them that believe. — Mark xvi, 17. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. — Mark xvi, 18. HeaHng all that are oppressed with the devils. — Acts x, 38. Jesus said, "Verily, I say unto you, he that belie veth on me shall do the works I do and greater. — John xiv, 12. Return Him a trespass offering; then ye shall be healed. — Sam. vi, 3. He shall cause him to be thoroughly healed. — Ex. xxi, 19. THE HEALING VOICE. A Voice swept softly, years ago. Across Judea's hills and plains, Whose echoes caught its murm'rings low And spread them far in louder strains; Till through the land and o'er the sea, Its gathered thunders surge and roll. And break in one grand symphony Over each listening soul. Think not its power was crucified — And dead and buried, in ages past; Only the human of Jesus died — Only His great heart they broke at last: His Spirit triumphantly rose, to reign While Life exists, and the world moves on, And now is with us again and again, Proved in the miracles done. God is not changed since the days of old. When He healed the sick, with His touch divine; Heaven's not farther, nor Earth more cold Than in our Saviour's time. RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. "Lo, I am with you always," He said; Then can wx doubt His Word? His Voice in the Present speaks Hfe to the dead, And sweetly its message is heard. Come unto Me, and rest from strife; Come — I will heal thy pain: Here midst the darkness and shadows of life, Lo, I am with you again. Care I not for the casket that shelters the gem? Trust utterly, heart, and be blest; Free are my promises — lean upon them; "Come unto Me, and rest." — M. Johnson^ ANNA J. JOHNSON'S RELIGIOUS EXPERI- ENCE AND GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. I WOULD gladly have all earth's children know and under- stand by experience, the love, peace, and joy in Christ Jesus that I have found. It came to me in this way. In 1870, I was, in a financial point of view, a very prosperous woman. Through energy and close attention to business for over twenty years, up to the year I speak of, 187c, I never knew what it was to fear failure. Indeed, I thought I could not fail, having in my mind a consciousness that God was all-powerful to pro- tect and sustain me in all I undertook to do. This faith and confidence in God gave me such strength in myself and de- termination to do under all circumstances whatsoever I under- took, that to others I appeared a most remarkable business woman. .Between my business cares and those of a wife and mother, I had no time for any pleasure outside of duties, and these seemed endless. But God was my beginning and my ending — my Alpha and Omega. To go back to 1870, I be- gan to realize that my strength was failing and my trials in- creasing, and God, my silent backer, less distinct. I had great 10 THE HEALING VOICE. business knowledge, but the strength to carry into execution was leaving me. My ambition led me to reach out and grasp largely more than I had strength or means to control. This was the beginning of my embarrassment, in a life of catering to the tastes and appetites of our wealthy people; still I held on for a year, struggling with difficulties. One of the greatest was a sacred and silent one for years. Now it could not be hidden. The husband and father was destroying his own life and his family's property and peace of mind. My early edu- cation under the teaching of the Catholic Church led me to feel that once a wife, a wife for all time, though I felt I was bound to a living death. How the waves of adversity lashed me on every side. Friends pitied me, yet unable to save me or my frail bark from drifting on to the rocks of desolation. I called loudly on my Saviour and my God; I sought consola- tion from my priestly advisers; I begged earnestly for light to see God in all the trials which surrounded me. They could not give me the needed comfort; they could not stay the tem- pest. I felt so in need of spiritual help that I sought it in the Episcopal Church, with no better results. I sought interviews with ministers of other denominations, feeling that I must get closer, closer to God ere the crash came. I sought in vain; I cried. Where is God, if not in the churches? What have I done that God has forsaken me? I would get along pretty well through the day, as my business kept me employed; but my nights were nights of agony and supplication. What have I done, what have I done, that my Heavenly Father has thus forsaken me? I would at times rush to the upper rooms of the house, and, looking up to the sky, cry aloud, as though God were so far removed from me, that I must cry with all my strength, so as to be heard. I consoled myself one day with the thought that I must be suffering for the sins of my ancestors, and began to look up the lives of those ' who had gone before. I remembered hearing my mother say that my great-grandfather was a severe man on the poor; so I placed the burden at his door for a few days. Thus I kept it up for months, until in one of my pleadings with God to show me what to do, a voice, as though one stood by me, said: "He RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 11 Cometh to me I in no wise cast out." Oh, I said, that is the word of God; I will trust it. It gave me new hope; it was to me God's promise; I would hold fast to it. I was not a Bible scholar; but this promise was to me so direct that I clung to it. My mother taught me in childhood to trust God fully, and to do nothing until 1 first placed myself and that which I was about to do in His care and keeping. This teaching I have always considered the secret of my success in business; and although my business was now tottering, and only kept up by borrowing at heavy rates of interest, I was hopeful that I would survive the con- flict of financial embarrassment. So I was carried along, hoping, fearing and praying, until the spring of 1871, when I discovered that men I had fully trusted in a large business transaction, were using every means they could to take from me an interest I held with them, and through which I hoped to recover myself financially. Trust- ing them, I had placed my all in their keeping. It was too true; I was helplessly in the hands of selfish men. Even my attorney was not strong enough to resist the temptation of gold. He sold the confidence I placed in him. How I prayed God to open my understanding so I could see what was best to do in the midst of these surrounding difficulties. ''I have only thee, oh God, left me!" I would cry: "I cannot trust man; speak to me and tell me what to do, my Father and my God. Thou alone can sustain me. Oh for a closer walk with thee!" While praying and pleading one day, I felt as though my angel mother stood by me. My first thought was, I am about to die; this is more than I can bear, and mother has come to warn me of it. This presence came and left so quickly, I was in doubt — could it be my mother, or was it the fancy of an over- wrought brain ? — so I questioned aU day — and the more I thought of it, the more conclusive I became that I had seen my mother. I said I was not thinking of her at the time, yet she stood be- fore me. Perhaps God has heard my prayer, and sent mother to comfort me. I wish I could see her again. I wonder if it is true that God gives his angels charge over us, and if a mother 12 THE HEALING VOICE. hovers over her child; and if so, why did I not accept her? why should I fear to see her? Then I desired, oh so much, to again have a sweet vision of her presence; but I did not see her, and yet it seemed to me as though I could feel her presence, and I was moved to write inspirationally — as if mothre would have me know that she was permitted to come and comfort me. This writing and communing filled up many an anxious hour for me. One day I said to my mother, "You must be nearer God than I am; He has permitted you to come to me; won't you ask Him to give me some evidence that I am pleasing in His sight, and that the love of God will sus- tain me through my trials?" and the reply was, "My child, you cannot expect the love of God to enter your heart until cleansed and purified." I felt keenly reproved. It seemed ta me as though I ought to have known that myself; and I said to mother, "What shall I do to prepare myself for the love of God?" I said, "Only show me the way; I will do anything to fit myself for the love of God." The reply was, "Repent of all past sins." Then commenced a revision of my entire life — taking one thing at a time, and that was accounted for and set aside before the next thing was taken up — even to an un- kind thought I had ever given to any one; and for those I had cause to feel had ever injured me, the question would be put to me, "What punishment would you have your Heavenly Father inflict upon such?" "No punishment, dear Lord," I would say, "forgive them." After I had cleared up my record with the Hving and the dead, I was very happy; my poor heart, that I had feared was diseased, became so light that it was like air; I was joyful even in my trials, which each day brought me. Mother showed that the desires of the flesh must be overcome, and one thing at a time would be brought up and put under foot, until God ruled the natural woman, and I could say His v^U be done in all things. I was a very happy woman, and felt so strong in myself that I said, "Though the world were against me, I have noth- ing to fear; I am ready to face the trials of hfe without fear; the natural house is cleansed, all things are in readiness for the Lord's acceptance; I am to be filled with the love of God; RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE, \Z no one can harm me; I shall be all His, and He will sustain me;" while, in the joy of my cleansed state, and in the antici- pation of I could not tell what, knowing nothing of spiritual experiences or change of heart — the thought that my mother was permitted to come to me as a teacher, so as to prepare me for the love of God, dehghted me, and I felt mother was surely my guardian angel, sent of God to teach me that which I could not learn from man. While I was enjoying this blessed consciousness of peace and joy, my affairs were drift- ing toward a crisis. My lawyer foreclosed a mortgage on my home, which covered all my effects, and was principally placed in his hands to protect me. Now in fervent prayer I besought God to spare me from being sold out, as it would take from me the only means of support 'I had for myself and children, and also deprive me of the means of paying my honest debts. I cannot write the varied efforts and struggles I passed through to save my worldly goods from the hands of men who had planned to impoverish me, and to obHge me to accept what they were wilHng to give me for an interest I held in other property with them. I saw my helpless state, and that nothing I could do would save me from the sale of my home, and the loss of my business reputation, which to me was sacred. My word, that must always be kept, would now be broken. My confidence had been in^God, that He never would let me fail — and here was the failure upon me! I said, "God, let me die before this sale comes off! If I live through it I will be insane; I would rather die!" And I concluded that I would die, when a voice said, "Would you fly in the face of God, and neglect the responsibilities He has placed upon you? Look at your children; who will care for them if you leave them?" I cried, "iV6>, no! I cannot die — but how am I to live? God in mercy sustain me, or I am gone! No brain can stand this strain long; I wiU lose my mind unless the Lord keep me." Then I w^ould say, "Where is God? Where is that God of love and mercy that I have been looking to?" Thus I prayed, and thus I questioned, until tired nature gave way. I wrestled in prayer until I said, ^^ There is no God! These faces which I see around mv room are the faces of lost 14 THE HEALING VOICE. souls. This is Hell! There is no God; or if there is, he has forsaken me. I cannot utter another prayer; I am nothing. O, my God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" In a moment, as it were, I was enveloped in a blaze of light; and before me lay a babe — the most perfect thing eyes ever looked upon. It seemed to me as though I had been Ufted out of the darkest dungeon into the brightest sunhght! And while I gazed on this beautiful babe, feeling that I could not see enough of its beauty, a voice at my side said, ''Fear not; thy prayers have been heard; I am thy Saviour and thou art my child. In future, be not anxious for yourself; all will be given thee that thou needest ; but thou must become, as it were, a Httle child." (Christ's own words to His apostles, "Unless ye be- come as a Httle child ye cannot, enter the kingdom of heaven.") I turned with outstretched arms to w^here the voice proceeded from, exclaiming, ''Save me, Jesus, I am thine, and for all time I will do thy will unquestioningly." I seemed instantly filled with the Holy Ghost, a joy unspeakable, filHng every part of me with a holy Hght; and I said, "The heavens and the earth are filled with God's glory; praise Him evermore!" Such an instantaneous change from utter darkness and despair to the joy and light of God's presence I Every burden gone; — nothing but the consciousness of a child resting in the arms of a loved mother, whose love and care would protect it ever- more. "My precious Saviour, my Redeemer and my God!" I would say repeatedly. It did seem as though I had no language at my command to praise God. The stillness of an unspeakable joy filled me full to overflowing. The morning sun of May the ist, 1871, rose with a light to me which has never set, nor ever can set on a soul once born into Christ's kingdom — born of God. So He has kept that which has been committed to Him. Praise Him who was, and is, and always will be. Lord God Almighty, maker of Heaven and earth, King of kings and Lord of lords! The spirit of Christ became to me a guide and director in all my matters from the moment I gave myself up. I w^ould ask the Saviour what to do, and how to do it, just as one would go to a parent or guardian. The voice of the Spirit was dis- RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 15 tinctly heard by me at all times. If I consulted and did not hear the reply, I would await the response before acting. Three days after the blessed Lord came to me, my effects were sold; and all through the sale I could hear the voice of the Comforter saying, "Be of good cheer: my child, this is all right; God will provide." So I was quite calm during the sale — or, I might say, the willful and unprincipled disposition of my property. The day after the sale I suffered considerably with a nervous headache, which continued until the following morning. I asked and prayed the Lord to show me what I had done to make my head ache, but no response until eight o'clock in the morning, w^hen I was bidden to send for my family phy- sician, Dr. S. He came and prescribed for me, saying my sickness was the result of the sale, and the medicine would help me to sleep, and that I would awake feeling all right. I felt as though I was going to sleep, but found it was a sinking away instead. This state alarmed me, and I prayed earnestly to God to tell me if I were going to die. When the voice of the Spirit said to me, "Even though it be death, cannot you trust God?^^ I said, "Lord, I have given myself to thee for all time, but I cannot say I am willing to die and leave my children." The reply was, "Your children belong to God; He will care for them as He did for you." I wanted to think so, but could not say I was willing to die. These sinking spells would come over me and I would float off until it seemed to me there was only a thread holding me. This was kept •up until I could say with my whole soul, "Thy will be done, •dear Lord, even though it be death." This giving up of my will to God fully, took from me all fear, and for twenty-six hours physicians could not tell whether I was living or dead. . Four of our best physicians were called, one after another. I was conscious of everything that was going on, but could neither move nor speak, or give any sign of consciousness. It w^as to me so strange that physicians could not see that I was be- yond the reach of medicines, and that what they gave me had no power on me one way or the other. The priest came to perform his duty, to help me find favor with God. Poor 16 THE HEALING VOICE. man! Like the physicians, he had no spiritual light. As St. Paul said, "The natural man cannot discern the things of the spirit" (spiritually bUnd). I said, "Help them. Father, to see that I am not dead; no, not even asleep, but peacefully resting in the arms of my Redeemer." When I had the power to open my eyes and ask for something to eat, it seemed as though I had returned from the dead. I had no power of utterance save when the spirit moved me, and when I spoke, it was so plain and direct — the naked truth every time — that my friends feared I had lost my mind, and, as I refused all medical aid, the physicians agreed to it that my troubles had unsettled my reason. I told them God would guide and keep me, which rriade my case even more conclusive to them. I had only escaped their burying me alive to be hurried to an insane asylum I feared, and the more I tried to convince them the Lord was all-sufficient to keep me in health and to guide me in all things, the less they could accept it as a truth. They said it was merely the wandering of a mind diseased. Even the priest would not Hsten to me, but left me in anger because I told him some plain truths that of myself I knew not, but the spirit of God was talking to him and he knew it not. I was too happy to care whether I was misunderstood or not. God's love was all-sufficient for me. I lived in such holy communion that I desired solitude; and being left with- out a home or means of doing business any more, I withdrew from the world, Hving with my children in a very plain way. My Uttle ones were too young to understand mother's great necessities. They loved and clung to me, their father, sad to say, being his own and his family's greatest enemy for years. These are domestic trials which I mil lightly touch upon. Jesus, in his mercy, took the mother and her Httle ones under the sheltering arms and mighty love of the Father. Thus I lived during the summer of 1871, providing for our simple wants by disposing from time to time of articles of dress or jewelry, as the case might be; or I would borrow a little money, leaving as collateral some loved memento of the past, hoping to redeem it in time, until everything available was parted RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 17 with. Friends urged me to get back into business, telling me that I owed it to my children, and that my withdrawing from the world was simply fooUshness on my part. I would pray and talk with God about my duty to my children, and as I lived in a state of spiritual exaltation, the people appeared to me cold and material, with no love that to me seemed gen- uine. When 1 spoke of the love of God to me, and the glori- ous illuminations that I was enjoying, and the teachings of the blessed Holy Spirit, and what God was showing me and revealing to me and requiring of me, as an obedient child and servant of the Most High God, and that each one of His little ones would have to obey to the letter, if they would know their Father who art in heaven, whose name was hallowed, and whose kingdom was coming on the earth, my friends would listen to me as though I were talking in a strange lans guage, a new tongue; and leave me, shaking their heads, a- much as to say, "Mentally she is a wreck." On the 9th of October, the date of Chicago's great fire, it came to me that I would go into a trance that night at 12 o'clock, and remain in it several days, and to send for a phy- sician. Dr. Peck came to me when sent for. I told him what I wished and explained to him my feelings when in a similar state the 6th of May previous. I gave him money to defray any expense he might be under, requiring from him a prom- ise not to have any experiments tried, nor food forced upon me. I told my children not to leave me, nor to be alarmed about me. My children's ages were nine and eleven. They retired at the usual hour, and were awakened by the cry of fire and the people in the house preparing to make their es- cape. My little son tried to arouse me, but could not; and ran as fast as he could for Dr. Peck. He came at once, and on feeling my pulse, said: "George, your mother is gone; wc must get a carriage, and have your mother and sister taken from here as quick as possible. The fire is now at Wells Street, and is coming this way very rapidly; we have no time to spare. Get a carriage, while I arrange for your mother's removal." I shall never forget my feelings, nor can I find language to express them. One of the ladies in the house .18 THE HEALIXG VOICE. helped the doctor to roll me in a blanket, head and all. I was perfectly conscious, but utterly helpless. A corpse, ap- parently, they carried me out and laid me on the outer edge of the sidewalk, awaiting the carriage; people rushing and crowding past from the fire. While the doctor and friends got a couple of trunks and a mattress on the carriage, I lay on the curbstone. Some dear good soul, in all her haste to es- cape, stopped, and placing her hand under my head, said, ''Poor woman I" and pillowed my head with her hand until they were ready to put me in the carriage. In my heart I said, *'God bless you, sister!" and I am sure God's angels were ministering to me through that stranger — that tender, lo\dng woman; and should this meet her eye, she will remem- ber the circumstance, that terrible night of horror. I was taken beyond the fire limit, to the house of a Mr. S., on Michigan Avenue, where I remained until Tuesday afternoon. Mr. and Mrs. S. notified the physician that I must be taken from there, as they needed their room. When the doctor came to take me elsewhere, I felt in myself as though I must ha\'e the full use of my faculties, and in prayer and inner supphcation I worked, apparently to those around me as in a spasm, and came out of this state which had all the appearance of death. I was taken to a church, where I remained until Thursday- The church was taken by Mr. Fargo for an express office; so I was told to get out of the way of the freight. I w^as then taken to the house of a friend, where I remained one night and a day. I was carried into the house, not having been able to stand, from weakness. The first night there I slept very Httle, and imagined I heard some one trying to get in the house, and managed to walk to the next room, by holding to chairs and door-posts, to tell the lady of the house what my fears were. When she saw me, she screamed out: "Merciful God! Mrs. Johnson, you look hke a spirit!" and became alarmed to have me in her house. She said I did not look as though I belonged to earth. That evening I managed, with the aid of my children, to dress myself for the street, and had them prepare to go with me, and with a prayer to God for strength and guidance, we went out of this house. I said, RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 19 ''Come, children, God will take us to where we can rest in peace. These people are timid and superstitious; they do not know God/' So w^e left Mrs. M.'s, on Cottage Grove Avenue, near Douglas Place, trusting God to guide and strengthen us. I walked clear to Hyde Park before stopping — over two miles. I was led to the house of J. W., where I was well received and cared for. I remained several days, feeling that I must settle some matters and go East, and get away from Chicago and the excitement attending the fire. This I did, taking my children with me. I felt so little understood by the people of the world, my life being hid with Christ in God. All my means, pretty much, were taken from me, and I could not see just what was the will of God for me to do. On my return to Chicago, some months afterw^ard, friends urged me to get back into my old business, but that seemed impossible. All my thoughts ran on spiritual subjects: soul-life with God, im- mortahty, Christ, the Resurrection and the Life. My mind was so very much exercised one day that I prayed earnestly to God to take me out of the body. I said: "Father, take me to yourself, I am unfit to live here, — unable to practically take care of my children, — and if I were dead, friends would come forward and see to them. O God," I said, "take me, take me to yourself, my friends know me not as they once did. They know Thee not, O God, else they would know Thy child. Take me to Thyself, I pray Thee! I beseech Thee, Lord Jesus, to grant my prayer." The words were distinctly said to me: "Child, your place is not here, it is there," pointing to the world-at-large. Go forth and give to my people the truths I have given thee; and the love you have for God give to His children. Fear not, I am ahvays with theef' "O Father in Heaven," I exclaimed, "1 obey Thee, I will obey Thee; / will serve Thee when I serve others. Thy angels minister to- the needy. Help me to understand how to do this, O my Jesus and my God!" This was to me Hke being in Heaven, and sent back to earth to hold the Hght of God's truth so high that all might see and accept it. I was so happy to feel that I was to be made strong in the Lord; to serve Him here; to- tell of Jesus and His love and his saving power, and the "Home 20 THE HEALING VOICE. over there," which He had shown me in spiritual vision — which was so glorious I wanted to go there and Uve. But He said, "The things I have shown thee and taught thee, go forth and teach to others, and the love you have for me, give to my children. I am always with thee." The world looked brighter to me, yet I could not understand how 1 was to go forth in the service of my Master. In a few weeks from the time of which I am writing, I was brought in contact with a sick lady, who was apparently be- yond the reach of medical skill, — her physician had no hope of her restoration, — when I was bidden of the Lord to lay my hands on her in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and she immediately exclaimed, "Mrs. Johnson, you are inspired by the Lord. Every particle of the disease has left me! I am well I I want to get up and dress myself." I simply said, " I only did for you what the Spirit of Christ bade me do. It is God who has healed you — give Him the glory." This was the first evidence of my earthly work, which, at the present time of writing, is most wonderful and blessed — Praise the Lord, O my soul! My gift of healing the sick was a great delight to me, and filled my soul wdth so much zeal that I wanted to heal the nation. I offered the blessed gift of health to every one I met that was sick. Some received and others rejected; many scoffed and questioned. Still, I was doing my Master's work, and told them daily the old, old story of Jesus and His love, and what He had done for me, and what He would do for all who would receive Him and those sent by Him. Very often, when alone with God, I would have such holy visions that my life was more of heaven than earth. One day, while meditating on many of the obstacles in the way of my convincing the people that I was ordained of God to minister to the needy in soul and body, also the great ne- cessity of sustaining myself and children by the only way I could see that the Lord had pointed out for me to walk in, I could not fix a moneyed price on God's gifts to man or woman; so I worked, looking to God for a hving. Some of those who received gave free-will offerings, others took all and gave noth- RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 21 ing; and at times it was difficult for me to see or know just what the Lord intended me to do. Very often my children suffered for the comforts of life. This day I speak of, I was sorely tried, and concluded I would write to a friend, asking for help. To my" great surprise, instead of writing as I sat down to do, I wrote a prayer. The words were these: "Home, where art thou? cries the weary wanderer. O God, in mercy sustain Thy child, for all is gone I have had to live for; take, oh, take me from this weary wild!" In reply I wrote: Poor fooUsh child! have you forgotten that nature forms its own decree. And that naught's created but has its mission, and, till it's ended, hath no place for thee? Since nature fits you for a life of duty, until you have finished there's no wages due; Be true and faithful to God's knovvm duty, for He a record keeps of you. Do not fear you will be forgotten, e'en though you think you have called in vain, His Holy Hand is ever near to ward from you all earthly pain. When the soul is strong in its round of duty, no work seems hard for the mind to do,, The hallowed light of satisfaction is the just reward of the good and true. I was so happy and overjoyed to find my God talking to me in rhyme, that if I had known that poverty was to be my earthly lot, I would have said, "Give me poverty or riches, whatever God wills, I am content.'* I never in my life put words to- gether before, and you, dear friend, can imagine my feelings. I wrote several stanzas, on various topics, all entrancing to me, feeling that it was direct from God. It lifted the burden from me for days. Finally the path cleared, so I could see God in the cloud that hovered over me. Between my writings and my heahng the sick, my time was quite taken up; my daily walk was, as it were, pointed out to me; my work and 22 THE HEALING VOICE. my teachings daily corresponding with the written Word. The Bible was to me a sealed book before I knew the Lord Jesus. The one promise I held fast to until He came: "He who cometh to me,'* etc. And here let me assure you, and all who may read these pages, that whoever takes God at His word and holds Him by His promises, Vv^ill prove to himself that God's word cannot pass away. Each day He gave me from the written Word that which appHed to me. I found I could rarely commit it to memory, but my life and the Word each day agreed. This is the way the Lord taught me to read as I ran, and how glorious the Word would light up to me! Often I have taken up the Bible, not knowing why, and turn over leaf after leaf, until that which the Lord wished to teach me was found. A clergyman once asked me how I managed to get hold of the Scripture which applied to the subject on v/hich I was speaking. I replied, "The Holy Spirit gives it to me. It is not I who speak, but the Spirit of my Father which speak- eth through me." One other remarkable feature about God's teaching to me is this: when He gave me the gift of healing, I obeyed the Spirit in all things; later I was taught anatomy, cause and effect. My spiritual sight being opened, I saw the different parts of the body and their relations to each other, and the inaction of one part impairing the action of the whole. My understanding has been opened to the natural house, and its relation to the mind, and the relative position of mind and body, — to the mind of God. This is why I say, come to God as little children, and learn of Him who said, "Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." This school of Christ is the only one which teaches the nat- ural laws of Hfe from the true standpoint. Physicians study nature from the natural school, and base their knowledge on the experimental treatises of the leading minds of the past and present day. Consequently they are dealing w^ith eft'ects, in- stead of causes, and, sad to say, many lives, old and young, pass away, that if properly understood, would Hve to bless themselves and others. They are being cut down simply by malpractice. The Lord has shown me this so clearly. Oh, RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 23 for a thousand tongues to proclaim this truth to the world! Most physicians hold the people in ignorance of themselves, for the' sole purpose of controUing them for selfish ends. Many ministers hold their followers in the same grasp of selfishness. They would not have you attend any other church but theirs, even though they knew your salvation depended on it. True, there are exceptions, and the man who is bold enough to grant these privileges cannot be bounded in by sectarianism. There is freedom in Christ Jesus. There is love and charity, which seeth all things, and knoweth all things, and forgiveth all things; this Elder Brother, in whom dwelleth the wisdom of the Father. The religion of Jesus Christ was love; love to God the Father, and to thy neighbor as thyself, even love unto death. In which of our churches do we find this religion? They have in part; but w^hen that which is perfect has come, that which is in part will have passed away. Praise God, the dawning of a new day is upon us; a new heaven and a new earth. The old will have passed away. Heaven and eartti may pass away, but God's word abideth forever. His king- dom come, and His will be done in earth as in heaven. Our blessed Lord said: "Behold, the kingdom of God is within you." Our natural life given to God the Father, through Christ the Son, will establish a heaven in each heart, in each home, in each temple consecrated to God's use. I know^ that if we have the Spirit of Christ in us, we have the Father. ''At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you" {John xiv, 20). "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me, the works I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go to my Father" (John xiv, 12). "The prayer of faith shall save the sick; and if he hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven him" (James y, 15). These truths have been gloriously manifested to me, in the healing of the sick and ministering to the needy, the Spirit of God revealing to me the w^ants and weaknesses of his people, and empowering me to supply these wants where the need presented itself. I have said, like Peter and John, " Gold and silver have I none, but such as I have give I unto thee." My 24 THE HEALING VOICE. greatest trial has been to convince the people God was ready and willing to heal in these days just as fully as in the days of the apostles; "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." I know in whom I have believed, and through whom I have been united to God. I know I am redeemed. I know 1 am God's, and His life, love and wisdom maketh me what I am. The things I do, my God doeth in me and through me. The truths I speak, I receive from my Father. I cannot doubt God's word, for He has proved Himself to me, and to others through me. He has Hfted the vail which separated me from Himself. He has also abolished all the legal and ceremonial worship, w^hich the vail of ignorance, blindness, and hardness of heart had put upon me, which hindered me from understanding the spiritual meaning of the law, and from seeing that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. He became my law and my Lord: the only master I was to know in this world, or in the worlds in space which I would travel through with Him. This cove- nant went into force on the 6th day of May, 1871. I then died to my own will, to my human loves, to my animal and human propensities. I refer to it now, so as to show the life of our spirit after passing through what is called death, the death of the flesh. In other words, the entire yielding up of the human will, with all its human attributes, to "The Will of God;" receiving in return the Spirit of Divine Love and Wis- dom. The vail of the Temple was rent in twain when Jesus gave up the ghost. Thus the earthly tenement or Temple of God, the human body, when surrendered by the spirit of the flesh to the God v/ho made it, the vail of this earthly temple is rent from top to bottom; then He who is your Almighty quickens the mortal body, just as He did the body of Jesus, and this mortal puts on immortality — the robe of righteousness. Then the spirit is in you which raised up Christ from the tomb, and that spirit works in your human body to will and to do of God's own good pleasure. The earthly house has in- deed become the Temple of the living God. This is the word made flesh, the resurrection of the body from the dead, and the ife everlasting to you has come. RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 25 This is all so clear to mt now, but in May, 187 1, it was a sweet joy and peace. I had not the garments then of under- standing to clothe the language of my new found Father's love and revealed will to me. I thank Him, I praise Him with all the power of my nature! While I lay in that deathlike state, I seemed to move forward through space, feet foremost, to the graves of those who had passed away of my own kindred — first, my children; then the grave of the husband; next, my parents; and so on in the order of relationship. It seemed to me I was bidding good-bye to earth and all that remained of my loved ones in the earth. I was painfully conscious of all this apparent separating of myself from earth, yet no regrets. This all passed from before me, and I was again in motion for a brief time, when I realized myself sitting on terra firman but the earth, as far as I could see, was barren, not a blade of grass nor a shrub in sight; the thought entered my mind of the Desert of Sahara that I had read of. I seemed fully myself, yet I thought I was dead and that God was taking me where- soever He willed. I sat contentedly looking at this barren waste of land, when I noticed a white statue of a woman, so white that it looked like the very finest Parian marble. As I gazed at it, I noticed that fine white rain was falling straight down upon the figure. I looked up to the sky to see w^here the rain came from, and saw a round opening in the heavens. As my eye distinctly saw this, I found myself passing up through this circular opening and I was led along a passageway, which terminated in an open plane, divided into difi'erent spaces, or compartments, and I saw people at work in each of these. I was taken from one to the other and sho^\ai the nature of their work and its uses, and told why there were so many busily employed, as no one seemed to notice our passing from one place to another. I was told that this was the plane of duty, or school of thought, in which the spirits of those who had left the body were employed. When I saw all that was to be seen on that plane, I was told to follow my Lord, as I must go up to the next. Here again I saw the same activity, each ear- nestly employed and so intent on what they were doing, yet all so peaceful that the air was fragrant. I was made to see and 26 THE HEALING VOICE. understand by the teachings of the Lord with me, that those on each plane, beginning with the first, had to understand the order and lessons perfectly which were taught on their respec- tive planes before they could ascend to the next above, and if one attained to this knowledge and did not ascend to the next in order, he became hstless and nerveless immediately, as if all ambition had exhausted itself, and until the next plane was reached there was no aspiration or inspiration which could be called out of that individual on that plane of thought. But as soon as he reached the next plane all life again bloomed forth, asserting itself, until in like manner all knowledge there was obtained, then onward to the next. In this way I was carried through the spheres, beginning with the first up to the seventh, having each one explained to me as I passed up through it, revealing to me the special de- grees of learning taught and attained to by each. When the seventh plane was reached, the Lord said to me: "These are the just made perfect. They have come up into understanding through the leadings of my spirit. These just souls return to earth, when the tried spirit of the flesh is willing to take God as a full and complete Saviour of soul and body, willing to live or die as He wills. When souls are brought, as you were, to this state of mind, they become earthly magnets, making a direct demand on God's word and His promises, which He answers by giving, as it reads: His angels charge over that earthly nature, that tried and troubled soul, to bring it up into the same developed .understanding which the just soul has reached through the progressive school of spiritual study, whereby it becomes the representative power of the Divine will to man — the Saviour, the Christ of God, the love and wisdom of the Father." It was told me that very few^ of these just souls returned to the earth as sa\dors and divine teachers, because the children of earth are so engrossed with the teachings of men, and their human loves are so strong, that death in reaHty comes to the body, and the grave claims its ow^n native dust and the spirit returns to the God w^ho gave it, weak and crippled by the imperfect understanding of its mission on this earth, only RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 27 awakened by death to the unprofitable use made of the glorious opportunities so often offered while in the body. "These are they whom ye saw on the first plane," saith the Lord to me, those who, while in the body, came to an entire submission of their will to God's will, to be guided, kept, and sustained by the spirit of God Himself. Such souls draw down the spirit ■of power from the very Holy of Holies — not the angels who have never known earth life and the conflict which goes on between the spirit and the flesh during the development of the human soul and the maturing of the natural mind. No! no! not such, but the just souls made perfect; men and women who have lived in the body and have come up through great tribulations to where they stand before the throne of God, perfected lives in the sunshine of His love and in the wisdom of His greatness. All this was shown me on the seventh plane, and I might say like St. Paul, I heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter. It was also said to me by the Lord, that as each plane had its own limit of knowledge, so it had a limited time to give wisdom and to retain souls thereon. That the seventh had its fullness like the rest. That the greatest joy of those who had come up through tribulation to the glo- rious fullness of a life in and with God, was to return to the earth and lead other souls up to the same knowledge of God in the body which they had attained to out of the body, so that the established word of God — His kingdom come — might be lived out on the earth. Then it was shown and told me that if these just souls were not called back to earth by the direct need or cry of submissive ones, then their desire to re- main as individuals ceased, and that they gave up their indi- viduality. As this was told me, I seemed to stand in the shadow of a great golden sun which filled all the eastern heav- ens, and as I looked from one to another of those glorified ones, so full of perfect happiness and absolute wisdom and knowledge, one of them verged from individuality into one blaze of golden sunlight, passing before my eyes into this great body of light. As I gazed, I was drawn myself into this golden light, which might be Hkened unto a sea of fire. 28 THE HEALING VOICE. 1 lost all consciousness, and knew nothing until I realized myself resting on the inclined rays of the natural sun, grad- ually nearing the earth. Then I realized I had been out of my body, for before me was the sandy desert again and my human body awaiting me'; a moment more and I was con- scious of the presence of the Lord, and all that I saw was explained to me more fully. I was made to understand that I had been in the presence of God and had bathed in the sun- light of His glory. I was also taught to understand how the spiritual sun was reflected in the natural sun, and made to understand that nothing can live without sunlight, neither beast, bird, nor human, and that in vegetation we get all the properties essential to the sustaining of natural life. In Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Ox}'gen, and Carbon, are the varied expressions of the sun's rays returning to us out of the earth and its foliage in the form of air, food, fuel, and water; all of which w© And in its varied expression of God's pro\'idences. The trees and shrubs confirm this in their bloom and fruitage. The coal mines and peat fields acknowledge it. Lead, silver, and gold mines endorse it. Man must admit that the great God of this universe shines always, whether man sees Him or not, and the earth and all fife thereon belongs to Him, whether man admits it or not — whether man glorifies Hun in these fruitful \dneyards or not. He is the Supreme Life, and bounti- ful Giver of all life, and all that makes fife a blessing on this earth, or a joy in heaven. God has shown me that men are vers' much like Jacob before he had the dream. {Gen. xx\iii, 12.) They do not comprehend Him in these providences. It is in the tried hour, when the sun is set and they make themselves pillows of stones and lie ^own on them to sleep; in this sleep of angtiish they dream as Jacob did, and with their eyes opened toivards Heaven^ see as he did, the ladder which reaches from earth to Heaven, and the angels ascending and descending on it, and the Lord standing above it, sa}dng: "I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. To the west, to the east and to the north and south; and in thee, and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 29 When this sleep of death — the death of self — is reached, men are no longer Jacobs, but Israels ; they awaken to a con- scious knowledge of God in themselves and in all Hfe on the earth, in the earth, and above the earth; this knowledge is a blessing from God, which descends to the children and to the children's children to the fourth generation. We see only a few links of this grand chain, yet we know 'that the Supreme Mind of the Creator embraces all and con- nects us with the planetary worlds, soul with soul, generation with generation, although gulfs seem to separate them by the steady stream of hfe flowing out through the river of deaths yet death to me is swallowed up in victory. I see it does not break the chain. Our imperfect understanding or lack of com- prehension hides the chain which connects the two worlds — one called Life and the other Death — as the ocean cable is hidden from the view of those who sail over it, unconscious of its perfect connection and correspondence between the two continents. Both worlds are held as in the hollow of the Hand of the Almighty Father of the Universe. When the vail is Hfted which separates the natural world from the spiritual, we see and recognize their reciprocal dependence and hidden relations. Oh, how the emotional nature expands with more love to Thee, O God, than can be expressed, as we are carried into the deep things, seeing the economy of God in this world. Then we soar in spirit to another world, comparing the action of the one towards the other, the hght of God's word reveahng the different objects under observation and investigation, car- r)dng the mind also into the know^ledge of physics, geology, astronomy, and the other natural sciences ; more than all, is that which makes us one with God in spirit, that which enables us to follow the Lamb of God, the spirit of His Will in all domains of thought, witnessing to the truth the connecting line between the end and the beginning, penetrating, by the power of His Spirit in us, even beyond all the planetary worlds into the presence of the King of Kings, contemplating the august throne of the Ancient of Days, seeing all the mighty impulses of His hands, hearing the acclamations of the saints and angels in thanksgiving and adoration to the King of Kings, 30 THE HEALING VOICE. the God of Glory, until the oppressed sense of one's own nothingness causes one to cry out, "Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Hosanna in the highest, King of angels and of men!" No pen can portray what the eye sees and the heart feels in the presence of Deity. From the time of Christ's revealed will to me, I have prayed, like Daniel, with my face toward Jerusalem. The natural sun was to me the greatest \isible power of God's presence that I could see in tliis world; although I heard His voice and felt the power of His spirit as my life and my strength, I talked openly with Him in the sun. I love to look into it, and can readily do so at 12 o'clock in the day, no matter how powerfully it shines; my soul looks at it, and my eyes, instead of being weakened, are strengthened. I bless and praise His Holy Name whenever and in whomsoever He re- veals Himself. I can worship \\ii\\ all who worship the true and K^ing God. Spiritually I am free in Christ the Lord; spiritually I am clear in my mind ^^'ith regard to the ancient religion of Sun Worship among the primitive people whose custom dates back to the origin of himianity. It seems to me, God took me out of the teachings of my childhood, so as to give me a general outline of what the true worship of God was and is. Jesus said the first commandment was, to love God wdth the whole heart, mind and strength, and the second was, to love thy neighbor as thyself. This embraces the whole law and the gospel — peace on earth, good-will toward men. My great desire has been to bring the children of men into their true relation to God as sons and daughters; to give them the benefit of all God has taught me as I came up through the deep waters of afiliction into the light of His august presence; to teach them how to come to Him as a Sa\iour, a loving Father, a Teacher, and as their God; how to understand His pro\'idences, so as to escape the pitfalls I had through ignorance fallen into. Christ Jesus has so blessedly broadened my understanding, that I see, within the reach of all, the blessing of health and strength both for soul and body. His Holy Spirit is near each one to bless, preserve, guide, and teach them. But they cannot see RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 31 Him; they need the eyes of their understanding opened to the true and Hving way — the holy spirit of peace. Many fear to accept the leadings of the Spirit, fearing they may be led by the false rather than the true; but those who accept Christ as a Saviour need not fear; He is able to keep that which has been committed unto Him. I am His witness that He has blessedly kept me from sin and taught me to live the Lord's Prayer — Give us this day our daily bread. Thus far I have not wanted: my God has pro- vided enough, and to spare. I have had no means of support but what the gospel of healing by faith and prayer and obedi- ence to God's direct leadings has brought me. The touch of the hand, the words spoken by me, were divinely given; the means used by me, whenever there were means used, were in direct obedience to God. I have not been able to discern any selfhood in me separated from my God. I am not denominational. God has shown me that denominations have no life in them but what He has given them, and there can be no spiritual life in a church or people where they fear to be led by His Holy Spirit. The natural man, with all his human selfhood, will die out, but the spirit of Christ in you, and manifesting itself through you, is a living power, working in and through you on this earth. This makes you an Individual Church, or, in other words, a member of the Church of the living God. In my infancy I was, according to the Roman Catholic faith, sprinkled. When the baptism of the Holy Spirit came to me, it seemed to supply all the consolation of an interior peace, and open communion with the Lord. Still, each time I talked with Baptists I was severely reproved because I did not fulfil all the requirements of the gospel. Immersion they said was essential. I could not be cleansed without it. The water and the blood were the two witnesses. For two years these good people talked to me in vain. I told them I could not see wherein I needed to go down under the water, after the Holy Ghost with power had come to me. I said, "Until my Heavenly Father bids me go under the water, and shows me that it is essential, I cannot do it." Still they persisted in following me with the cry of immersion, tell- 32 THE HEALING VOICE. ing me it would be so much better to be immersed and to be connected also with the church, as it would keep me from falling from grace. I was so conscious that God had kept me for seven years, that I told them I did not need the church to keep me, for God by His spirit did that, and I had no fear. But they said, you need sympathy, and the people of the church will give you that. Again I had to answer them out of the fullness of my soul, saying: How could the church people sympathize with me, when they did not understand my spirit, and did not believe it possible to have the clear, distinct lead- ings of the Holy Spirit — His will done in the earth as in Heaven? Much more was said than I can write here; suffice it to say that they gave me no peace, until one day I turned to God with an earnest prayer, asking Him to reveal to me why the Baptists were allowed to torment me so over that one hobby of theirs, immersion. I said, ''Dear Lord, is there any lesson for me to learn through it? Tell me, I pray Thee, if this body needs to go down under the water after Thou hast baptised me with Thine own Holy Spirit, and with fire?" I went on in my prayer to tell God all He had done for me and through me, when I heard the words distinctly spoken, "Have you anything that Jesus did not have?" A solemn silence came over me, and I was able to say, "No, Lord God, I have nothing that He did not have, for He had Thine own spirit from the beginning." "Nevertheless," continued the Lord, "before He became a mouth-piece for the Father, He went under the water." As these words were said to me, it seemed as if a curtain was rolling away from before my eyes, and with the fullness of my soul I cried out, "Dear Lord God, I will go under the water gladly!" I lost no time in making ar- rangement to do so. I found a Freewill Baptist minister, a man of God, of Chicago, who was willing to baptise me with- out requiring me to join his church. He said, "Mrs. Johnson, where do you wish to be baptised, in the church, or in the lake?" I told him it must be in the lake, as God had shown me that those who followed Jesus must go with Him down into death, that the physical body might be resurrected in new- ness of life; dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto righteousness. RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 33 the body containing the spirit of the God who made it, so those who come up into newness of hfe w^ould put on Christ, walk with Him and reign with Him here on this earth. God per- mitted the Baptists to trouble me, so that through it, I might receive in reality the ideal life of which the form is only the symbol. I am now a Baptist after the manner of Baptists. I am a Catholic after the form of sprinkling. I see the human effort to carry into effect the true teachings of Christ, after the varied efforts of the human school of thought. I see that children ought to be offered up to God, in infancy, by parents or god-parents. The sprinkling of clean water, as a symbol of the pure Water of Life which they invoke God to pour out upon the young soul in order to preserve and keep it, while growing up to maturer years, is to me a beautiful form of consecrating the young; but when the child grows to be a man or a woman, it must answer for itself. Then I can see where immersion, or the full submission of the human will to God's will, is in the true order of Baptism. Thus when the Catholic and the Protestant shall become reconciled to each other, through the truth, each will see that the other has part of the truth, and that it takes both parts to make the whole. Im- mersion brought to me the Holy Dove of Peace, that spirit which enables me to see the spirit of earnest desire to please God, in all the different forms of religion; and I can say to each, ** May God in his infinite mercy keep thee in all thy wander- ings through the wilderness of human mysticisms, in the varied paths in which people are led to walk in their search after truth." The Holy Spirit of truth reveals to me the causes which produce warfare, strife, and discord in the human family. Un- fortunately there is much of this confusion among Christians, owing to bigotry, superstition and theology, creed bond- age, etc. When the love of God fills souls with tenderness toward each other, these things pass away. Creeds and dogmas of man's making find no place in the true Christian's heart. All who will, may come to the same table, and partake of the bread of life, the heavenly manna, receiving the Holy Spirit of peace, 34 THE HEALING VOICE. which Christ promised to give to those who asked the Father for it. There is no close communion at the Father's table; "all who will, may come and drink of the water of life freely." My experience in regard to immersion led me to ask my Heavenly Father many questions regarding various points of faith. I attended services in the Baptist church one day, and find- ing it communion Sabbath, I was quite exercised in my mind. I prayed the Lord earnestly to tell me if He wished me to com- mune with the Baptist brethren. I said, dear Lord, what am I to do ? Please tell me before it is passed to me ; thou know- est I cannot take this bread and wine in remembrance of Thee for to me Thou hast come; oh please, dear Lord, I said, tell me quickly before it is passed to me. As the brother who was passing it neared the pew I was in, the Lord said to me, *' Child, we will take it together, and as we take it together here to-day, so shall we take it in the Kingdom of the Father." Such a wave of peace and holy joy as passed over me and through me, no language can convey! It was like being lost in the life of that Holy One himself. It was to me a glorious evidence of his personal presence. I still realize what it is to receive holy communion as I did that day; all my life it was to me a holy ordinance. I have asked my Heavenly Father many questions with regard to the sac- raments. Is the breaking oj bread a sacrament instituted by Christ ? Is the body and blood oj Christ in the sacrament ? The answer came to me from the Lord very blessedly. The bread and wine were to be used as a salutation with Christ's apostles, whenever they met after that Last Supper, or between His leaving them in person and returning to them in the spirit of the Comforter, the Holy One who was to abide with them forever. As He said, "Take this in remembrance of me till I come." The Holy Spirit came upon the apostles in great power after Christ's Ascension. That was Christ's spiritual return {John xvi, 8). "And when he is come, he \\ill reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin. RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE 35 because they believed not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father and ye see me no more; of judgm.ent, be- cause the prince of the world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them nov^. How- beit when he, the Spirit of Truth is come, he will guide you into all truth and he will show you things to come." All through this chapter we have the evidence that what Christ • could not say to the apostles then, was to be taught them by the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who would come in Christ's name and abide with them forever. Christ also told them to remain in Jerusalem until endowed with power from on high, and as they were gathered together in one place and were of one mind, the Holy Spirit came upon them, filling them, empowering them to go forth with the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all the world, reproving and rebuking the world of sin and unbelief, just as Christ told the apostles His spirit would do when he returned. Thus the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon the children of earth since that day, striving with the people to fit them for His personal coming and reign upon the earth. It reads in Corinthians ii, 24-30, "And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you ; this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood; this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come ; wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh con- demnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." Paul's words were spoken to confirm in the minds of the people what Christ had already said. The bread when broken by Christ, saying, "This is my body which is broken for you," signifying his death on the Cross — "Remember this of me; " 33 THE HEALING VOICE. and again He says, " I am the bread of life, he that eatcth of this bread shall live forever," {John vi). Also v^hen He took the cup, saying, " this is the new testament m my blood " — signifying by both symbols, that the spirit of the new testa- ment is to us the blood of Christ and the words of Christ, written therein is His body, so that, literally, when God's word is lived by us, Christ's spirit has entered in the individaal so living and doing His will, the word having become flesh, Christ's Spirit formed in you ; as He said, '' you are flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone." Christ's true meaning -was, that those who came after Him should live His words, which is the will of the Father done in them. His commandments written in their hearts, His love fill- ing their entire being; His spirit and power filling every portion of their bodies, making them His earthly temple. His Tabernacle and His covenant with man. Such as have attained to this relation, have no need of bread and wine to remand them of Christ's suffering as an atonement for their sins. He is dwell- ing in them and they are obeying Him in spirit and in truth. No doubt each of these liberated souls partook of the bread and wine until He came to dwell in them. For example : A child cries for its absent mother, but w^hen that mother comes into the child's presence and takes it up, soothes and comforts it, giving it all it needs, the child is satisfied and rests peacefully. Thus it is with those who cry to the Father, plead in prayer while they wrestle with difficulties in which the vari- ous forms of sin and unbelief assail them, until Jesus Christ comes in power and speaks the word — "Be still; I am thy Saviour and thy God ; fear not." The body and blood of Christ is truly a sacrifice ofi^ered to God the Father for human- ity — but neither Christ's body or His blood is partaken of in the daily sacrament, which church forms have promulgated. "For by one offering, *he' hath perfected forever, them that are sanctified." " This is the covenant that I will make with them, after those days," saith the Lord : " I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them, and. their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." " Now, where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 37 Christ's life, death, and resurrection have opened wide the way from Earth to Heaven, a path on which all must walk, so as to reach a fullness of Godliness in a life hidden with Christ in God; and that fullness is within you if Christ be in 'you. "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men." Therefore, the people of God do not go back to the doctrines of men. The "confessional" bought "pardons," and "reconciliations with God through human agencies;" these belong to the form of godliness, which denies the power thereof; from such we turn away. For confessing sins to a man and being forgiven by a man, has had the tendency in the past to strengthen people's evil nature rather than to repress it. We have know^n persons who regularly confessed, were forgiven by the priest, received com- munion, which is represented as the body and blood of Christ, and in many instances have gone forth and committed the same sins over again — perhaps greater. This is truly licens- ing evil, putting a tax or premium upon it. This is of all religious garbs the most dangerous. That which teaches people that if they sin, they can confess to a priest and be forgiven. When we have but one mediator, Jesus Christ, the Righteous : He who has given the correct form of . con- fession, says, "When ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any, that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses; but if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in Heaven forgive your tres- passes." We see from the word of God that we are to con- fess to God and to forgive others if we would have Him forgive us. This is love to God and love to the neisjhbor. This is the only sacrament which brings peace and good- will to the soul, mind, and body of an individual. This is eating the bread of life, the word of life, the spirit of life, causing the body and blood of the human to be justified in God. It is clearly shown to me, that the breaking of bread, love- feasts, so called, and formal sacrificial offerings to God, is mockery, when the heart is far from Him, full of selfishness, jealousy, and hate. This is Satan robing himself as an angel of light- Such things are dishonoring to God, because it mis- 38 THE HEALING VOICE. leads His little ones, teaching them to accept the jorm of god- liness, yet denying the power thereof. This is "professional" Christianity. Christianity, as revealed in Jesus, made manifest by His life, in all who receive Him, hath in it the Spirit of Love, Wisdom, and Power. This Spirit casts out devils; it gives Satan no hiding place in either the soul or body. The prince of this world is judged, the sick are healed, and the dead in trespasses and sins are cleansed and made alive in God. The church seems to have forgotten that "God's Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." God talks with us, as friend with friend. One day as I seated myself on the ferryboat, on my way to visit a sick per- son in Hoboken, I felt a severe pain in my head. I instantly said. Dear Lord, what is the matter with me? The answer came. Nothing. By this time the boat was out in the stream and I heard whistles blowing, bells ringing, and on looking out I discovered there was a thick fog; then I knew what my headache meant. I closed my eyes as if to shut myself in with God, and prayed Him to tell me if there was danger and if the pain in my head was to warn me of it; the word of the Lord came to me. No danger. Yet, at that instant, I saw distinctly in vision, a boat crossing the bow of the steamboat I was on; I held my breath, for it looked as if both boats were touching each other, and that there must be a collision; finally the boats seemed clear of each other, and I drew a long breath of relief, saying. Dear Lord, that was very close to danger — so near and yet so far. All the passengers by this time were on the forward part of the boat looking anxiously at each other; several men stood talking of the uncertainty of life, of their plans thus hindered; nervous women were grouped together. I overheard one say, "How sorry I am that I came! Oh, I wish I had stayed at home, I am so fearful." I looked in her face saying, "Have faith in God." She smiled and said, "Yes, I will." Just then we heard the paddle wheels of a steam- boat, close to us, yet could not see her. Our boat was stopped RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE.. 39 bells were rung by both boats, and whistles blown ; then a large steamer sailed across the bow of our vessel just as I had seen it in my vision. There was a breathless silence for a few mo- ments, then all was hopeful as the ferry house came in view. My feelings of gratitude to God were unbounded. I exclaimed, How good Thou art to me, oh God, to forewarn me, so that when the very appearance of danger came, I was prepared to meet it calmly! I looked back to my past life and said, Dear Lord, what have I not suffered from fear on the water, and on the land, before Thou didst reveal Thyself to me! I write this to show how close God comes to us, and how watchful He is, and how plainly Christ's words, "I am with you always," are confirmed to us; also, that "His yoke is easy and his burden is light." I will mention another similar circumstance. I started for Boston a few winters ago, leaving New York on the night boat. Although the afternoon was rainy, I did not think of fog until it was so dense over the river that they had to cast anchor, waiting for it to lift before they could sail through Hell Gate. Again I appealed to the Lord with re- gard to the safety of our sound steamer and all on board, when the dear Lord showed me the steamboat all covered with the light of the Spirit, and out on the bow stood a tall white form, as if on the outlook; I was made to understand that no harm could come to the boat, as the spirit of the Lord was between her and all danger. I said to some anxious friends with me. We have nothing to fear, the Lord is our Captain; nothing can approach us without His knowledge, neither front nor aft. This gave me all the consolation I needed. In an hour or so, the fog lifted, and we had a safe and pleasant night on the sound. I have often thought since, would those terrible accidents happen, which do occur, if God's people would only commit their way wholly to Him who holds the winds and waves subject to His control? Would the ill-fated Narraganset have burned, and the many lives perished, if to God had been given the charge of boat, crew, cargo, and people? My trip to Boston was in obedience to the Lord. I was led 40 THE HEALING VOICE. to feel He had a work for me to do there. Before our train reached Boston, I asked the Lord where I should stop, as I was almost a stranger, having only been there once before, and that for a short time. I was clearly directed in my mind where to stop, but a most remarkable revelation came to me, in seeing rays of light going from me and resting over a large building on Tremont Street, opposite the Common. I prayed for wisdom with regard to it. 1 said, dear Lord, do you mean me to stop there? That must be a business block. I did not understand why the light of His spirit should go before me, and into, and over, that building, until after reaching Boston. When speaking of the work of the blaster, w^hich I was en- gaged in, the Women's Industrial Union Rooms were ofifered rtie, to speak in, the following Sabbath and after^^ard. Here was the very building where the light of God's spirit shone so brightly to me while on the train. This w^as the beginning of a glorious w^ork in Boston, which is still flourishing in the different hearts and minds where the seeds of full salvation were sown. Frequent letters from there keep that delightful visit fresh before me, reminding me, that the God who guided Moses by the pillar of fire by night, and the cloud by day, is with me, and with all who walk in obedience to Him. I will mention another instance of God's revealed presence to me on New Year's morning, 1878. I awakened about day- light — my first thought was, praise the Lord, for His watchful care during the night! My next thought was, may this "New Year" bring to me and my children innumerable blessings, temporal and spiritual. I said, dear Lord! I have no one except my children to give me a New Year's present; won't you, dear heavenly Father, please give me one? Oh, do re- veal thyself to me. I was moved to tears as I talked with God. As I opened my eyes, the w^hole room was filled with the brightest sun- light. I was obhged to close my eyes, the brilliancy was so great, and God's presence was so pow^erful. I said within my- self, I have asked for more than I can bear; forgive me. As I opened my eyes again, the light was less intense. I could see RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE.' 41 through it a tall Form in white raiment, standing by the foot of my bed, with scales in His hands. I saw Him raise them up and down, showing me they were so evenly balanced, that in moving them they were not unbalanced. Then I saw gold put in one scale, and silver in the other; these balanced each other. Then this tall, white robed Form came toward the head of my bed, and standing by me, held the scales before me, saying to me these words — " Go forth, my child, and as you go, weigh my words, as the world weighs gold and silver. I am ever and always with you." The Form vanished, but the conscious Presence remained with me. I find each new year brings me the visible presence of God in greater wisdom and understanding than I had the previous one. As I revise the Healing Voice, twelve years since that vision, I am made to understand it. It is shown me, that the world's people weigh gold and silver with the utmost careful- ness, because they value it, and what is valuable to them they love. But in my case, I have loved the word of God, and weighed it so carefully, that the w^orld's gold and silver has not been accepted or taken by me in exchange for it. God's revelations to me are better felt than told. The only object in publishing them, is to awaken faith and hope in the minds of God's people for similar blessings in them- selves. "God is no respector of persons." He is as real to me as He ever was to those who have left their written testi- mony in the Old and New Testaments. We never can believe fully the writings of the apostles, prophets, and seers of old until w^e see, feel, and know God's spirit for ourselves, until we walk and talk with Him as they did. If we are His con- sciously, we will realize continually that He speaks in us, and to others through us. If we are His obedient children, His spirit witnesses with ours. The questions put to us by children often astonish and con- found us. The human mind cannot answer them, because it is often a prompting of the Spirit, through the child to awaken the natural mind of the listener. For example — Jesus, the Christ-child, talked to the learned Doctors of the Law, when He was twelve years old, asking questions which confounded 42 THE HEALING VOICE. them, showing that a child could not have thought so deeply as to ask such questions, and that they must be inspired thoughts. We read that the mothei; of Jesus "kept all these sayings in her hreart ; " which means, that between her and her God there was an open communion. She knew the spirit which prompted her Son's thoughts and words. Would that we had more mothers in the will of God! How rapidly children would develop in understanding, and the earth bloom out in righteousness ! I have heard many mothers speak of the peculiar position their children placed them in by asking questions they could not answer. A mother was healed by prayer through me. She desired to walk in God's will, keep His statutes, yet was sensitive in praying aloud, also in asking a blessing at the family meal. She was astonished one day when her little girl said to her, as she raised her head after asking a silent blessing at the table, "Mamma, what do you say when you talk to your plate?" The mother replied, "I am asking God to bless us all, and to bless this food to our use, my dear." "Mamma, I want to hear you talk to God; won't you say it so I can hear it ? " After that the mother prayed aloud, and asked the bles- sing aloud at the table, no matter who w^ere present. God, through the lips of the child, took the lead off the mother's mouth. "A little child shall lead you." How blessed it would be if mothers could, by the consciousness of God's spirit in themselves, answer all questions put to them by young and old wdth regard to God's dwelling-place. The spirit of the Father speaking in us gives all a local heaven; as Jesus Christ said, "The kingdom of God is within you." Verily, God speaks to us in various ways, as one day a drunken man preached to me a sermon that I shall never forget, for I knew God was rebuking me openly through the man. I attended a religious meeting, and during the meeting the spirit of the Lord moved me to speak. There were many rough men and boys there, that my words seemed to quiet down. They had been disturbing the meeting previously; now all was attention, and several of them came forward RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 43 afterwards, asking for prayer. I was moved to attend a "holiness" meeting at the same hall, the following day at 3 P.M. When I reached the door of the hall, two drunken men stood there waiting for the door to be opened. I stood aside to avoid them, when one of them came towards me, saying, "You need not fear us or turn away, for you are the one we came to hear." He said, "I was here last evening, and heard you speak, and I wanted to hear you again, and I wanted my friend who is with me to hear you also; you speak so well you ought to talk all the time." By this time I was thoroughly aware of my withholding the very words of life which God had put in me; I feared the faces of the people, and preferred, through sensitiveness and natural diffidence, to shut up within myself the light of His spirit. From that day I resolved to let the Lord have His way with me. I have also realized that He is the great Teacher, and He is working in and through all, and it is in our personal contact that He causes one to speak the word that blesses the other. It may not always seem a blessing at the time; never- theless, the concussion of a word which leaves either pleasure or pain, has its purpose to fulfill. God makes us polish one another, and rub off each other's sharp corners, as diamond cuts diamond. When we get where we can see ourselves, and the purposes of God in bringing together certain elements, congenial and uncongenial, we will be able to stand still and see the salvation of God. The dross will be very thoroughly purged, separated from the pure gold. God's spirit in us will then rule and regulate our material form, and those in our surroundings — through us. Until we attain to this state of spiritual understanding there will be more or less conflict within us. Enlightenment on this subject would be very help- ful to all, as the pure spirit of intelligence in human form is the highest possibility of the human soul. Man perfected is God manifested. This is a glorious thought, that the life of man is the eternal seed, which, if kept under proper cultiva- tion, will grow up into the full, ripened bloom and fruitage of a perfected manhood, fulfilling the Scripture, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." 44 THE HEALING VOICE. On the other hand, through ignorance and imheakhy sur- roundings, a man may grow up a dangerous individual, a poisonous plant, ripening in evil or error; denying that there is a God; saying, if there is one. He is found in Nature. We have a large class of such men at the present day, who sow the seeds of materiahsm broadcast. A man of this school came to me on crutches one day, suf- fering from almost all phases of disease, mental as well as physical. He said to me: "I have heard of your work; I am a brokendoTVTi man; can you do anything for me?" He said he had suffered ^^^l]l rheumatic gout until he had little or no power in his Hmbs ; that his eyes were almost blind ; and added : "My mind is almost gone; I am nearly crazed. I am wealthy, yet my o^n family have tied lip my means so I cannot have the handling of my o^m money. I am wretched. What can you do for me ? And what is your method of treatment ? " I told him faith in God was essential on the part of the patient* "Then there is no help for me," he said, "for I have no faith in a God, unless Nature is God. When we die, that is all there is to us; I don't believe in a hereafter; neither a hell nor a heaven." I said to him, "My good man, you cannot doubt the existence of a hell, for you are in one every day of your life; you are haA-ing hell on this earth, and nothing but the power of God can take you out of it." He looked steadily at me, as if grasping a new thought, and then wept like a child, saying, "I beHeve you are about right." It was very tr}TQg to see that large man shake and tremble in an agony of mind and body, as one tortured. At length he exclaimed, "Can I be helped through your faith?" I said, "Yes, if you will ask God to have mercy on your soul and body, and kneel here by this chair." He said, "I cannot kneel. I should never be able to get up if I did." I urged him to trust in God. So he walked to the chair, using his crutches, and finally got down, buried his face in his hands, and cried aloud for mercy. I wept tears of sorrow for him, and prayed as earnestly for him as ever I did for a human soul. I told him to arise, in the Name of the Lord! He got up and walked to where his crutches stood, ^ith a calm RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 45 peace and a joy in his heart, which he never knew before in his hfe. He became Hke a child in submission. He prayed as well as he could, after this, and came to me some ten days for Bible instruction. This was a glorious victory over error, sin, and sickness. All glory to God! The Episcopal and other clergymen tried many times to make this man see the error of his ways, but without effect. The understanding prayer of faith is the great lever which moves even the infidel heart. "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed." We must admit that there are a great many formal prayers, which go unanswered, and apparently very many sincere ones also. For example, during the time of President Garfield's illness, prayers were going up to God for him all over this country, and in other nations as well. Yet he died. At no time during his sickness did I feel moved to pray for him, asking God to spare his life, although requested by friends to do so time and time again. You will naturally ask why, I will tell you. At the time President Garfield was shot, I was living at Asbury Park. When the sad news came, it gave me great sorrow of soul and mind, and also severe pain through my vitals. I prayed the Lord to reveal to me why I had this tremor all through me with such severe pain, and I seemed to see distinctly the White House in Washington, with crape on the door. I said, "Dear Lord, Mr. Garfield is not dead; why do I see mourning?" Then I could see it about to be taken off, then put on again. I said, "Dear Lord, what does that mean?" The words came to me, "hope and despair." Then I saw it put on the door and firmly fastened, and the ends which hung down fluttered with the breeze, and the word came to me, "The end is death, and the news will be given to the world." This took from me all the burden ex- cept that of sadness. When people came to me, urging me to pray for the President, I said, "I cannot pray for him; he will die." At our prayer meeting others prayed for him, but my prayer, the only one I could make, was, "Dear Heavenly Father, make this affliction, I pray Thee, a blessing to our nation." Several who had been healed through me and knew 46 THE HEALING VOICE. my faith, came, urging me to go and see the President. I told them all I had no faith for his recovery. How could I pray God to change the result which he had shown me was inevitable? Yet, in prayer to God for wisdom in the matter, it was revealed to me, that, understanding faith in God, and obedience to His will on the part of the President, would save him; that he could be raised up to perfect health and strength, and also to an open walk with God. (The spirit directing me to the 33d chapter of Job.) When this was made clear to me, a lady friend and myself went to the Elberon cottage, hoping to be allowed to see the President, but that was denied us. The doctor's orders must be obeyed, and military guards paced backward and forward before the entrance, so as to carry out their orders. Here was man's wisdom. President Garfield was considered a man of faith for his soul, but like King Asa (// Chron. xvi, 12, 13), when sickness came to his body, he turned to his physicians for healing, instead of trust- ing his God. Consequently, he, like King Asa, "slept with his fathers." Very many times during the President's illness, I asked my Heavenly Father if I was the only one whose spir- itual eyes were opened to the divine Law of Cure, and to the opposing forces in nature which hindered the blessing; for although all Christendom, apparently, were united in prayer for his recovery, I saw distinctly it would be of no avail. The people were praying to God to heal the President, while the doctors were in possession of his body, probing the wound in search of the pistol ball, in an opposite direction from the course it had taken. Thus he was subject to the mind of men, who had no real knowledge of his case, and were torturing rather than curing him. These are some of the opposing elements in nature — ignorance putting on the ap- pearance of knowledge. From such deliver us! It is shown me how essential it is that the spiritual eyes of our under- standing should be opened, so as to withstand the evils of unbelief, scepticism, and infidelity, w^hich at the present time are rising up, gradually but surely, fed by the incoming streams of these varied elements of discordant thoughts, the outgrowth of ignorance and disobedience. RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 47 The Christian who claims Christ as a Saviour, yet has eyes closed to the spiritual laws of his God in nature, is blind in- deed, groping in darkness. He cannot see his own way clearly; he knows not what he ought to pray for. Not having the witness of the spirit in himself, he is at the mercy of every tidal wave of thought; is building on a sandy foundation, having only a bhnd faith. We see many such Christians drowning in the sea of worldly thought, with a line around their middle, the other end tied to the Rock, Christ Jesus. That Rock cannot be moved, but the man who is at the end of the line may be drowned in the floods of infidelity and doubt, through blindness and self-effort to save himself. He, through hope, is saved spiritually, but the natural man (like the house built on the sand) is swept away. This is Chris- tianity without an enlightened faith. This is Christianity ■** having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof." {II Tim. iii, 5.) Such Christians are "reeds shaken by the wind." Christianity is that which knows the spirit of the life which it embodies — "Christ in you." It has a perfect under- standing of the laws of its existence; it knows itself, and be- comes its own law and order principally through love — God is Love — that great spirit which created it, and enlightened it. This is the spirit which witnesses always with our spirit, en- abling us to understand the voice of God. The Holy Spirit which makes intercession for us — the Saviour, the mother and guardian angel over our entire life, from the cradle to the judgment, or to the adjusting of all our earthly interest. This judgment is called the separation from self; the reconciliation of man with his God. "The Lion of the tribe of Judah hav- ing prevailed to open the Book of Life," which is the mystery of godliness — to the human mind. Surely this is the eternal promise of God, that in that day "they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it." (Micah iv, 4.) The Old Testament confirms the New, and the New en- dorses the Old. Micah, the 'prophet and seer, heard the voice of the Lord of Hosts in his day. John, the beloved 48 THE HEALING VOICE. disciple, heard, saw, and rejoiced in what was in store for the children of God vv^ho would live in the revelation of Christ's love, which would be manifested in the hearts and minds of God's people when the seventh angel sounded. John saw the heavens opened, and the angel going forth with the everlasting Gospel of the Son of God. "The lion of the tribe of Judah having prevailed to open the Book of Life and to loose the seven seals thereof." {Rev. v, 5.) The whole of this chapter plainly sets forth the day in which we live. Having His Spirit witnessing with ours, we know that .He has cleansed the soul from sin, and the body from the effects of sin. That He has enlightened the minds of those who walk in obedience to Him, leading them into the love and wisdom of the Father. They are taught by Him to un- derstand how the law of the spirit, of love in Christ Jesus has set them free from the law of sin and death. This knowledge is now made manifest in the hearts and minds of at least enough of His followers, to set up His kingdom of righteousness on this earth — the fulfilled word of His promise. Each having had his eyes opened, sees that each line of truth centres in Jesus Christ, each standing in his true place, represents in the natural what John saw, and Micah heard; so that the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwells righteousness, wiH become visible to all those prepared to enjoy it with God and His angels. These witnesses for the truth may be likened to the four and twenty elders whom John saw prepared to recog- nize the lion of the tribe of Judah — "the Lamb of God who was slain from the foundation of the world" — which was God's word crucified. His spirit rejected, now in the fulness of time made manifest by the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth ; the seven horns of the lamb having pierced and penetrated all human obstacles (all restrictions overcome), hence the seven eyes of the lamb have become an illuminated Gospel. Christ is now claiming out of the seven churches the first love or life of their being. The spirit which was breathed into man in the beginning, returning to Him in the new song of the soul, saying, "Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 49 US to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, as He has revealed them to me. As I have walked in the light with Him, the eyes of my understanding have been opened to the human laws; those which the natural man has been required to keep; those which, if neglected or disregarded, bring to the individual suffering, sorrow, and the pains of death — the penalty of the curse of disobedience. Having lived myself forty years in this wilderness of doubt and fear, hope and despair, before the light came to me, try- ing to keep the law, yet invariably breaking it, desiring to keep the commandments, yet conscious that I was failing to do so, my thoughts could not obey the instincts of my soul, neither could the tongue be silenced by the wdsdom of my better understanding; so that often my thoughts, words, and acts brought my human nature under the condemnation of my truer and higher nature. Prayer was my refuge; I hoped God would some time save me from myself. Finally the day came, when the death sentence was, by physicians, passed on this human body. I realized, in myself, that the human life was at its lowest ebb; that the power of the human nature was of no more value to me. My faith and hope were all that remained conscious. Then, as the body seemed dead to all appearances, Jesus Christ touched me and I became a living soul, a quickened substance; I felt, for the first time, that God was the very life of my soul and body. I had been taught to believe that God was a Spirit, and those that knew Him in spirit, must serve Him in spirit and in truth. But until He gave me life, I never knew Him, except in blind faith and hope; now my hope was realized, for instead of pass- ing out of the body, I knew my God as the life of my soul and the life of my body. Since then, Christ Jesus has prevailed in opening to me the Book of Life — the mystery of godhness. He has taught me how the human becomes entangled in the wilderness of self-knowledge and human interests. He has blessedly carried me, in spirit, through the school of natural study, teaching me the principles underlying the laws of nature, 50 THE HEALING VOICE. and the causes which produce the varied conditions from which the human family has suffered through the bondage of spiritual darkness, all down the ages to this present day. Christ has also taught me by His Spirit, that the natural laws are often and almost always broken through ignorance, or the sins of ignorance, earthly inheritances which God does not condemn, unless the understanding light of His Spirit is set aside — resisted. This brings the soul under condemnation. He has blessedly revealed to me that the light of His Spirit is reflected on temporal matters, as well as spiritual; that His Spirit is the life-principle, on which the human laws are established; that from within, the soul works out all purposes for which each nature is adapted or calculated. It was shown to me that surrounding influences have a ten- dency to stimulate or repress the growth of that nature. As the absence of sunlight will cause a plant to droop and die, so will the presence of it give life. Evil or ignorance in one's surroundings will stifle the growth of a Christian soul. In this wilderness of human entanglements and attachments, the con- flicting conditions are such, that many who are quickened by the Holy Spirit, brought into the light of His revealed word, if obliged to live under material thought and rule, the Spiritual Spring of their nature dries up, and the crystal fountain of God's love in their soul is quenched. God has blessedly kept me under the shadow of His great love, so that, while I have had to go with Him in spirit into all phases of human suftering, I have felt no fear that He would ever leave me or forsake me. He has brought me in contact with all manner of disease, showing me the origin of it, even to the first cause, back in the ancestry; also allowing me to feel the eft'ects of these diseases in my own body and mind, proving to me, conclusively, that the law of sympathy carries disease from one to another con- tinually, although it is the natural exchange of vital force as well. It was also revealed to me that antagonism among those who are obliged to live together is calculated to produce dis- ease, mental suffering especially. Where there is antagonism, it is usually the result of positive temperaments meeting, by RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 51 which a friction is produced which will in time exhaust one or both. Here we have two causes which produce clashing ef- fects, each ignorant of the courtesy which is due to the other; and as each claim the right of way, the result is, of course, disastrous, especially to the weaker. These two principles, positive and negative, are essentially from God, being the laws which govern the human life — the exchange of vital forces, in attraction and repulsion. These are called by intellectual and scientific thinkers, evolution. This is natural comprehension of the working of these laws; but there is no natural law but what has its origin in the Divine. The natural man, subject to the natural understanding of these things, would say. Why does not God better the condition of His people if He is all- powerful? This is a rebellious spirit, and one of the general remarks of those who scoff at the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When the spirit o£ Christ's gospel is lived out, and men and women look to God for wisdom and understanding rather than to each other, these laws will be understood, and the element which we have been speaking of will have no power over us, to either organize through us a spirit of warfare, or disorganize our individual forces, centred in the law or will of our God. It is because we are not fully given to God, living in obedi- ence to Him, that these elements disturb and distract. Obedi- ence, in the human mind, brings the human will to a receptive attitude to the Divine law of love, which is the great regulator of both these laws that we have been talking about. Love binds the laws of God together, it holds them firmly in God's Order, until love becomes wisdom, and her children under- stand the very principle which binds. It is because these opposites do not know why they exist, that they contend v^ith each other. Self-preservation has been the human educator. It comes from the natural selfishness of moral cowardice. It is not of God. Justice, equally pro- portioned, is God's order. Man has usurped God's place as a teacher. If fragments of His love and wisdom have expressed themselves through man, he has given them forth as his own wisdom, so that man looks to man instead of the Spirit which 52 THE HEALING VOICE. has prompted him. Jesus was especially careful to say, "The Father worketh, and I work also." "He who has seen me, has seen the Father." It also reads in Holy Writ, that Jesus was made perfect through suffering. Jesus is the natural man; Christ is the spirit of the Father in man. The wisdom of the Father cannot be intelligently demonstrated through the human nature, until the human mind has Hved and suffered all these things which persecute the flesh, and crucify it, enlightening the understanding of the human mind thereby ; but the human understanding cannot bear these crucifying lessons, unless it has been submitted to God the Father; then grace abounds; patience has its perfect work, which goes on in the perfecting of the human in the will and wisdom of the Divine. This is why Jesus was made perfect through suffering. This is the knowledge which was taught in the schools of the prophets. We have two schools to learn from : one is the natural school, the other is the Christ school. If we were born right we would begin in the Christ school, and finish in it, as it embraces all knowledge. "The first would be last, and the last would be first" {Matthew xix, 30). The following was a lesson taught me by the Lord. It may help the readers of the Healing Voice to understand what I have already written on the laws Divine and human, and how fully I have had to Hve God's word, — "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ" {Galatians vi, 2). One day I became weary in well-doing, and said, " O Lord God, my Father, tell me how to keep disease from resting on me, and entering into me from others." The word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Daughter, you have in you My Spirit, which holds all power over your human body. Christ alone keeps you, and seals you unto Himself ; your will, being subject to His, keeps your mind, soul, and body. No element of disease can enter into you unless your God permits it. You are being taught to understand the laws of attraction and re- pulsion. This is why you feel so keenly the disturbed mental and physical state of others, that you may comprehend the causes of suffering. When you understand the law of love and hate, you will not be disturbed by them, and your presence RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 53 will blend with the good, and control the evil. Those who dwell in love, dwell in God. Such will be in affectionate sym- pathy with you. Those who dwell in hate or self-love, bring to you envy, strife, and discord; these are contagious elements, causing sickness in individuals, somng the elements of disease wherever they go, as discordant minds, unhappy souls, who carry and leave that spirit with all whom they come in con- tact with. Immorality \^'ill, also in thought and word, con- vey itself to the mind of others as the seeds of death, both in soul and body, unless the mind is positive to it, being estab- lished in God. But bear this in mind, my child, that no sick- ness can come to you from a loving heart, which God does not permit. The burdened, loving souls. He sends to you, that you may comfort them, and practically lift the burden from them, by bringing them to an understanding faith in their Maker and Creator, God. As soon as you have enlightened these souls the burden is lifted from them and you. None suffer after Christ has come into His Holy Temple, for His Spirit in you is life, love, peace, and joy in the Lord. This is the spirit of goodness which goes forth as God's angel to min- ister to those who are heirs of salvation. Those w^ho are in self-love and hate, unreconciled to God and their fellow-crea- tures, are, consequently, not receptive to the good, being the wilHng servants of sin, and unless they repent, and desire to serve God, by doing His will, rather than the will of the flesh, they are unworthy, being only vampires, who rob God of His glory, and His messengers of that life of God which they em- body. This is why Christ said it was not proper to give the children's meat to the dogs. 'Give not that which is holy unto the dogs; cast not your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you* (Matthew vii, 6). Jesus the Christ is the example to all who follow in His footsteps. He forgave sin, and then removed the effects of sin, which was disease, and said, ' Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.' Daughter, repentance and consecration is the first act of the sick or troubled soul, and God says, 'Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' 54 THE HEALING VOICE. *' No repentant soul can come to God without receiving. His word cannot he broken. I am the Almighty, I change not. Therefore, disease shall have no power over you to hurt you. Goodness, truth, and love cannot be overcome. After that understanding has come to those possessing these qualities^ fear not, you cannot be moved; because He cannot be moved;. His word is in you, and when spoken in mortal hearing it brings light to their souls. Those who call on you come for this light, and those who are in darkness God does not con- demn; but after the light has been given them, they are judged according to the light received. " Those who send to you for w^ords of comfort, you are to- give as God directs. Those who send for you to visit them for the purpose of receiving the heahng power, you will an- swer in person, or by verbal or wTitten message as God directs. This keeps you in God's will, wherein you will not be subject to the human will; this keeps you from useless burdens, or rather from bearing the burdens of those who will not obey God, who merely desire to be free from suffering, that they may return to the enjoyments of the carnal mind. From such turn away, having told them why they cannot be healed;, then, if they go on in sin, they have the understanding that God was more willing to give than they were to receive. In time the words of truth spoken will bring them understanding^ to where God can and will iielp them. Be patient! and thy strength will be equal to the demand made upon you. I am always with you. Amen. After receiving this Lesson, my attention was called to the following poem, which filled my cup to overflowing. GOD OVER ALL. Know well, my soul, God's hand controls Whate'er thou fearest; Round Him in calmest music rolls Whate'er thou hearest. GOD OVER ALL. 55 What to thee is shadow, to Him is day, And the end He knoweth, And not on a blind and aimless way The spirit goeth. Nothing before, nothing behind; The steps of Faith Fall on the seeming void, and find The rock beneath. The Present, the Present is all thou hast For thy sure possessing; Like the patriarch's angel, hold it fast Till it gives its blessing. O restless spirit! wherefore strain Beyond thy sphere? Heaven and hell, with their joy and pain, Are now and here. Back to thyself is measured well All thou hast given; Thy neighbor's wrong is thy present hell, His bliss thy heaven. And in life, in death, in dark, in light, All are in God's care; Sound the black abyss, pierce the deep of nighty And He is there! All which is real now, remaineth And fadeth never; The Hand which upholds it now, sustaineth The soul forever. Leaning on Him, make with reverent meekness^ His own thy will; 56 THE HEALING VOICE. And with strength from Him, shall thy utter weakness, Life's task fulfil. And that cloud itself, which now before thee Lies dark in view, Shall with beams of light from the inner glory Be stricken through. — Whittier, ^'COMFORT YE MY PEOPLE, SAITH YOUR GOD.''— Isaiah x\, i. I have set before thee an open door. — Rev. iii, 8. God opened her eyes. — Gen. xxi, 19. Lord, that our eyes may be opened. — Matt, xx, ^^. The Lord shall open unto me His good treasure. — Deut, xxviii, 12. Open Thou my lips; and my mouth shall praise Thee. I will speak, I will open my lips. — Job xxxii, 20. He shall open, and none shall shut. — Isa. xxii, 22. The heavens were opened. — Ezek. i, i. The eyes of the blind shall be opened. — Isa. xxxv, 5. I will open rivers in high places. — Isa. xli, 18. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. — Matt, vii, 7. He opened the ears of men. — Job xxxiii, 16. He opened their ears in oppression. — Job xxxvi, 15. Then opened He their understanding. — Luke xxiv, 45. The windows from on high are open. — Isa. xxiv, 18. That thine eyes may be opened toward this house. — Kings viii, 29. The angel by night opened the prison doors. — Acts v, 19. He opened the rock, and the waters gushed forth. — Psalms cv, 41. Have the gates of death been opened to thee ? — Job xxxviii, 17. The Lord hath opened this armour and brought forth. — Jer. Ivi, 25. Thy Father shall reward thee openly. — Matt, vi, 4. THE POSSIBILITY OF LIVING WITHOUT SIN. 57 He Himself seeketh to be known openly. — John vii, 4. Jesus said, I speak openly to the world. — John xviii, 20. All things are naked and open to Him. — Heb. iv, 13. Open rebuke is better than secret love. — Prov. xxvii, 5. AVhen I speak with thee I will open thy mouth. — Ezek. iii, 27. Praying that I may open my mouth boldly. — Eph. vi, 19. That God would open to us doors of utterance. — Col. iv, 3. Who is worthy to open the book. — Rev. v, 2. No man in Heaven or Earth w^as able to open the book. — Rev. V, 3. Behold the Root of David prevailed to open the book. — Rev. V. 5-9- Thou art worthy to take the book and open the seal. — Rev. V, 5- THE POSSIBILITY OF LIVING WITH- OUT SIN. Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. — Mat- thew Ix, 13 " I WOULD ask, my Father, why so many profess to be fol- lowers of Christ, yet are not free from sin? Will you please explain the position taken by people calling themselves Chris- tians, and yet doubting the word of promise? " "Daughter, while the Apostles walked with Jesus, they often questioned His sayings, and failed to comprehend Him, and many who walked with Him, left Him; even Peter, who pro- fessed so much faith and love for Him, denied Him. The flesh is weak. Very many, down deep in their hearts, desire above all things to love God, but they fail to act out that love by words and deeds. They are under bondage to the spirit of the flesh; they fear to speak their minds, as Peter feared the people when he denied knowing his Master. It is the fear of the opinion of the people which holds in check the interior witness, the * still, small voice,' prompting them to proclaim their God in words and acts. Human nature is weak; and the effort to hold fast to God, and mammon, causes very many to lean on 58 THE HEALING VOICE. the arm of flesh, the moneyed party, and thereby become as Judas. They receive the thirty pieces of silver, sometimes more than that, sometimes less, with the same condemnation in their souls that Judas had — their peace has fled, they have sold their life, their birthright, which is a part of God, for money; the interior voice (conscience) reminding them, that if they had listened to the voice obediently, it would have saved them from sin, sorrow, and condemnation. ''This, my daughter, explains the many unconverted Peters at the present day, who profess great faith and love for the Saviour, who, when tested by trials and temptations, waver, falter, and fall into sin, and then say it is impossible to live without sinning, while subject to the temptations of the flesh. This class of Christians (in name only) are hoping for salva- tion; they are sinning and repenting, being self- condemned like Peter; but when their repentance is sincere, they are re- warded as Peter was, and sealed with the holy spirit of promise, the earnest of their inheritance, having the eyes of their under- standing enlightened, that they may know what is the hope and the riches of the glory of that inheritance with the saints. There are also repentant ones who wrestle with the spirit of the flesh in vain, striving to regain their lost peace by sub- duing the 'flesh, keeping it under. This is human reason rul- ing, and endeavoring to save itself, to purify itself. The strug- gle goes on, until, hke Judas, self destroys itself. **You ask, my daughter, if Kving without sin is possible. God's word is true. 'Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for His seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.' Again it reads, *The soul that sinneth, it shall die.' Die to self, and when dead to self, it is alive to God, walking in obedience to Him in all things; this is a hfe of righteousness in the flesh." I said, "My Lord and my God, I thank Thee for this clear revelation of the struggle which is going on in the world through sin. I see it is truly -a warfare between good and evil. How clearly Peter sets it forth in the second chapter of second Peter; how great was Peter's faith and understanding when he wrote that Epistle, how different from what it was when he denied THE POSSIBILITY OF LIVIXG WITHOUT SIN. 59 his Master! We have no evidence that Peter sinned in word or deed, after the endowment of power, which came upon him and others, in the upper chamber in Jerusalem." "Daughter, neither can the soul born of God sin after the new birth." " Then, dear Lord, how few are born again! Oh, give me understanding, I pray Thee, that I may see things as they are, and judge of them with a righteous judgment before I speak of them. Lord, keep Thy child!" " Daughter, thou art mine; fear not. The minds subject to God's will cannot judge with an unrighteous judgment, for mercy, grace, and truth abound in -them. It is not you that speak, it is the spirit of truth which is in you and with you. This is the Christ spirit which manifested itself in Jesus, say- ing, 'They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous but sinners to re- pentance.' This, my child, is the mission of each one who has entered into life eternal. It is to hold The Light of The Spirit, as they have received It, before others. Those w^ho have entered in, are with you in spirit; those who have put on the Christian garment without the spirit of the meek and lowly Jesus, are sick, whether they admit it or not ; they need the Ministering Spirit of ' the Great Physician, whether they re- ceive Him or not. 'Let your light so shine that others may see it.' This will bring the understanding, day by day, which you so much desire. The scribes and Pharisees may murmur, as they did in the past, but heed them not, for I am thy life, thy strength, and thy reward. Christ's advent brings war upon the world. It is the Spirit of Truth, the sword which proceeds out of the mouth; the testimony of His word, which calls for the centring of all the individual life, love, and affec- tions, on a new relationship, one which sunders for a time all kindred ties, and requires the keeping of oneself unspotted from the world. Christ said, 'Come thou and follow me.' This separation does not necessarily call for a recluse life of pious devotion to sect or creed. It is simply walking in obe- dience to God, letting His Holy Spirit shine out through you in all vour words and acts. Such souls never label themselves 60 THE HEALING VOICE. 'holier than thou,' neither are they known by the cut and color of their garments, nor the yea or nay of speech; but in their meek and thoughtful consideration for the welfare of human- ity, and the salvation and regeneration of the souls and bodies of every child of earth. These are Christians after God's own heart. As each child of earth attains this oneness of spirit with the Master, they go forth with Him to make war with the powers of darkness, the prince of this world who reigns over the children of men, through their ignorance, unbelief, and disobedience. ''There are many who have fought the good fight of faith for themselves and others, still the battle rages between Christ and Antichrist. Christ's foes are those who say they believe His Word, and that He is their Saviour, yet are rebels at heart — antichrists who sin, and say it is impossible to live without sinning. '' Such serve two masters. These are they of whom Peter speaks (// Peter xi, 22), who get washed and then go back, and wallow in the mire. Daughter, there is but one religion, one commandment, embracing the law and the gospel — 'Love God with thine whole heart, and thy neighbor as thy- self.' This is union with God, which brings into the human mind and soul at all times love to the neighbor. This spirit of a religious life leads into all truth. This is Christianity as Christ revealed it — a holy, catholic, universal sisterhood and brotherhood in Christ. The fatherhood and motherhood of God, with Christ as the living head. Christ the spirit of both, expressing itself in the human family in love and wisdom, under different degrees of grace and development. Christ's Gospel was for the uplifting of the race. By classifying under- standingly, the adaptability of each to the best interests of each, for the ultimate good of all. By the harmonizing of the whole world into ripened godliness; Christ's visible kingdom on the earth, which is love and wisdom united; God^s govern- ment resting on the shoulders of men and women capable of ruling in love and wisdom. This is the righteous reign of God in human form on the earth." LIFT ME UP. 61 LIFT ME UP. Out of myself, dear Lord, O, lift me up! No more I trust myself, in life's dim maze, Sufficient to myseK in all its devious ways. I trust no more, but humbly at Thy throne Pray, "Lead me, for I cannot go alone." Out of my weary self O, lift me up! I faint, the road winds upward all the way, Each night but ends another weary day. Give me Thy strength, and may I be so blest As "on the heights" I find the longed-for rest. Out of my selfish self O, lift me up! To live for others, and in living so To be a blessing wheresoe'er I go, To give the sunshine, and the clouds conceal, Or let them but the silver clouds reveal. Out of my lonely self O, lift me up! Tho' other hearts with love are running o'er, Tho' dear ones fill my lonely home no more, Tho' every day I miss the fond caress. Help me to join in others' happiness. Out of my doubting self O, lift me up! Help me to feel that Thou art always near. That tho' 'tis night and all around seems drear, Help me to know that tho' I cannot see. It is my Father's hand that leadeth me. — C. F. Parker. 62 THE HEALING VOICE. THE DIVINE LAW OF CURE. Blessed is the man who has his delight in the Law of the Lord. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters, that bringeth forth fruit in his season, his leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. — Fsalm I . The Law, Divine and Human, is the life principle which manifests itself in human form. Human reason comprehends not the Divine Law. It may admire and glorify the grandeur of Divine Law and order in the universe, but it is in itself powerless to define what it sees and feels, unless taught by the spirit of the Divine. Human reason must admit that the perfect law of motion, existing in the greater, is as complete in the less. We find in men and women the impress of their , Maker and Creator, God^ and so we read they were the last and most perfect of His creation. We find in human nature, light and darkness, in other words, ignorance and intelligence; we find also heat and cold, the positive and negative forces — life and death. These principles are the same that exist in the heavenly bodies, which revolve in their own orbits; the greater embodying the less, yet each in itself complete. Thus we see that each human nature, individually, is com- plete, when the Di\dne will or law of their being is manifested in the human. We are individually threefold, having in us all that makes us Godlike, and all the possibilities in nature's laboratory. In its infinitesimal form molecular, in its excres- cence animalcular, embodied in mass, and distributed equally by sympathetic laws, causing man in his attributes to com- mune with all formations of life, animal, human, and Divine, €ither ignorantly or intelligently. Animal life, being the first form of creation, is the basis on which the Human law rests. Animal law is second in degree, and subject to the Human law. When human reason attains its true aspect, it rules and regulates animal life. But if the animal is permitted to rule human reason, the human laws are broken, and men and women live on the animal plane, some- times lower even than the brute. This is why there is so THE DIVINE LAW OF CURE. 63 much suffering in all the domestic relations of life, sickness in every form, sorrow, degradation, and death. We see a great deal of human reason rioting with this unrighteousness, and failing to govern or control it, simply because the human rea- son has not become subject to the Divine law — the law of God — which gives human wisdom and understanding in all matters of life and death. Human reason is God's earthly throne. It is the table of stone on which Jehovah wrote, through Moses, the Ten Commandments. It is God's foot- stool; and when men and women are willing to bow before it, they will receive the right to reason with God, as He said, ^'Come, let us reason together," and also receive the impress of the seal of the Divine law, stamped upon their hearts, fore- heads, and affections. Thus all the human faculties will be consecrated to God's use alone. We will then be able to see animal Hfe in its true relations (serving, yet subject to the human), thus bringing both animal and human, subject to the Di\dne. This is the true order of natural life. This is the spirit of Three in One, the Trinity. This is the perfect Law of Liberty. The Divine Human; — showing a perfect creation, wherein the animal and human are embraced and embodied in the Divine. This explains Christ's words: "I in them and thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one." We see clearly by this, that the Divine life, which is the law of the spirit, is the motive power underlying all life, and man- ifesting itself in the Healing power. We read in / Corinthi- ans, 1 2th chapter, that there are diversities of gifts, but all from the same spirit, and there are differences of operations, but the same Lord worketh all and in all. To one is given faith, to another wisdom, to another knowledge, to another prophecy, to another the discerning of spirits, to another the interpretation of tongues, to another healing, to another mir- acles. These are the expressions of God's Spirit as it mani- fests itseff in the human. As it reads, "His Spirit is given to all to profit withal." In Jesus, the man of God, the world has had the fullest manifestation of Divine power, in what is called miracles. We know there is no miracle in God, all knowledge is in Him ; 64 THE HEALING VOICE, and as Jesus said, '' It is the Father in me that doeth the works.'* Jesus also said, '^My Father and I are one; because He works, I work also." Consequently, there was no miracle to Jesus in the works He did, for He had the Spirit of the Father wit- nessing with Him. He knew the wants of the people, and healed those who came to Him, in faith believing. Miracles are evidences of God's power. They are beyond the compre- hension of the people, and that is what constitutes a miracle. The people recognized in Jesus a greater power than had ever been given to the world through man. That is why He was called the son of the Highest ; and He is the example given to the world, of the possibihties of the Human ndii-aiQ when sub- mitted to the will of the Divine. In the spring of 187 1 I was boarding with a lady who had been given up by her physician. I had been about one year in the keeping of Christ. He directed me to go to the sick- room. I did so, and, placing my hands on the su£ferer, was greeted by the exclamation, "You are inspired by the Lord. Every particle of the disease has left me. I am well, and wish to be dressed;" and on the return of the physician he found her awaiting his coming in the adjoining room. This was to her and her family a miracle. When I asked my God to re- veal to me what it meant, it was said, "These signs shall follow them that believe." A mother then brought to me her son, suffering from heart disease, and I laid my hand on his head and prayed over him; the young man became perfectly ■free from pain and from all the elements of evil which were taking his breath from him; he was obliged to sit by an open window before this, in order to breathe at aU; and in one instant he was given all the breath and even more than he could well contain, and he went about showing how great his strength was. This, to all who knew of it, was a miracle. And when I laid my hand on a cancer, praying God to relieve and comfort the sufferer — without hope of its being removed — it dropped away on the third day, to the astonishment of all who knew of it. Many other cases of cancer have been entirely removed, showing clearly that God's Word is an ever- lasting Word, and cannot pass away. Chills and fever of long THE DIVINE LAW OF CURE. 65 Standing have been, by a single prayer, and a resting of the hand on the head, cast out forever. These are the evils or poisons to which so many are in bondage. Fits of all kinds have been entirely removed by the power of God through me; to the people this work has been considered miraculous; but to me it is not miraculous; His Spirit witnessing with mine, I know that The Power is of God. Faith-healing is another phase of the working of God's Spirit. Many believe that if they ask in faith they shall receive that for which they ask. The promise of God is, that if we abide in Him, and His Word abide in us, we may ask what we will, and it shall be done unto us. I know^ that the individual who abides in His Will cannot possibly ask anything but what is in accordance, as the desires of the heart are the promptings of His Divine Law or Will in the soul. But, if guided by human reason or the spirit of the flesh, we often ask selfishly, so as to gratify the fleshly mind. Such prayers are often offered for the healing of the body and soul, also for the temporal blessings — and if not answered, it is because we ask amiss. Very many, having an intellectual knowledge of the letter, claim the promises of God, and if their prayer is not answered they become rebel- lious, setting aside the promises as not belonging to this day. We have preachers who do not believe that God answers prayer for the removal of diseases, and if the prayers prove blessings in the way of healing diseases, they account for it on natural principles. Such praying and preaching is dishonoring to God, and confounds His people in the knowledge of His word. The child of God has all the natural and spiritual advan- tages — as the two natures combined make a pure channel through which the will and the wisdom of the Father flow in acts of love, in healing the sick, comforting the afflicted, speak- ing words of counsel and encouragement to those who have grown weak and weary under the burdens of the day. Thus- the child of God who lives in the will of the Father, hath His Spirit witnessing with their own continually, so that in a case of sickness either of body or soul, wisdom is given of the Father in directing what to do, w^hat to say; whether the case is cur- able, or if it is a sickness unto death, or if there are hindrances, 66 THE HEALING VOICE. and if so, how removed. All this is possible with the child of God, who walks after the spirit and not after the flesh. In this way the Lord has in the past, and is now revealing Him- self to the children of men. The prayer of faith shall heal the sick, and if they have committed sins they shall be for- given them, in accordance with the promise in James v, 15. Many have gifts of healing, but their faith only proves itself occasionally. This comes from lack of understanding. An understanding faith is an open walk with God, and is attained through deep experiences wherein God has opened the bhnd eyes and spiritual understanding; then it is said we become co-laborers with God. Children no longer, but men and women in Christ. Great blessings and revelations are coming to the world through such precious souls. These are individ- uals in whom the Law, Divine and Human, is manifested. Every good and perfect gift comes from above, — from the Father of Light, in whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning {James i, 17). The church having set aside the gifts of the spirit, we find them promiscuously manifesting themselves in the world to- day to the confusion and evil of some, and to the good of others. The law of sympathy, operating through human and animal natures, is quite extensively practised, as Animal Magnetism, Mesmerism, Psychology, Swedish Movement Cure Massage, and so forth. The spirit of good in all this comes from God. But human reason is operating blindly and experimentally, doing some good and much harm. Animal Magnetism is a life-giving power, and many are strengthened by it, and become dependent on its continued use. It is like electricity; a little stimulates, but continued use and taken to excess, weakens, bringing human reason and one's higher na- ture subservient to the animal nature. This is degenerating, going down and backw^ard, instead of upward, to the Divine, which is the creative force in life, which never dies, never loses its power, being eternal. It is the human and animal nature which dies. Divine life. The Law of Love, is eternal. Why do men and women go blindly into the use of these means of cure? Why not look up and live? Instead of this THE DIVINE LAW OF CURE. 67 they depend on human intellect and reason, leaning on the opinions of men, and wallowing in the mire of human grati- fications, which in the end is death. Another dangerous point in the receiving of animal magnetism is this: The sensitive subject is invariably negative to the manipulator, so that human reason is subject to the animal law, or mind of the operator. The results are disastrous, if the mind of the operator is gross or impure, as impure thoughts and motives, also impure blood, are imparted. There is a current of exchange passing from the positive to the negative, while in sympathy, to the extent of stimulating to a dangerous degree or exhausting the animal and human nature of the receiver, to say nothing of the sad state of a spiritual nature under such methods of cure. I would rather call it killing than curing. Mesmerism is the next in order. This may be used with profitable results in reheving headaches and other difficulties, especially mental ones; that which soothes and lulls the mind, relieves for the time; and when one feels so pure of heart that they can impart help in this way, it is good. But when it is done to serve a selfish end, where the mesmerist does it to control your will, to establish or demonstrate power of mind over mind, it is evil to the object controlled, and is often at- tended by a loss of will power, that none save God can restore. It is sad to see mesmerists exhibiting this power for the amuse- ment of people, compelling those brought under their control, men, boys, and girls, to do the most ridiculous things. This is not all. They can directly communicate with these sub- jects, mentally, at any distance. This is the evil mixed with the good. Psychology is another form of good and evil. We see the good, in strong, pure minds, powerful leaders in social life, for the advancement of truth and the salvation of souls; minds w^ho forget self in their effort to help others; bearing the bur- dens and looking after the interests of the weaker ones. This is as it should be. There are always clinging vines that need an elm or an oak to twine around. So far so good. But when we see strong men and women use their will power and individuaHty to oppress the weak, to sway popular opinion 68 THE HEALING VOICE. for selfish gain, to prey on the Hfe and interests of those who are unsuspecting, not aware of the evil po\ver to which they are yielding, then we see the evil resulting from the power of those unprincipled people, and %how much suffering is caused to the innocent and pure in heart. Many are deceived and betrayed in confiding and intrusting all their earthly posses- sions to such, and often, in some cases, their souls and bodies, only to discover, when too late to retrace their steps, or retrieve the past, a ruined life, and obliged even to witness the seeds of that ruined life repeating themselves in the life of their off- spring. Yet we see the spirit of truth, the healing spirit of good, running like a silver thread through animal magnetism, mesmerism, and psychology, also its opposite error, and evil — the natural elements contain the wheat and the tares. We have a large expression of healing under the head of Spirit- ualism. This is the voice or spirit of the human repeating itself, as it reads, "The spirit of those who are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and live" {John v, 25). The awakening power is going forth, although all do not yet know His voice. We find the spiritualists alw^ays willing to hear what the spirit saith. They listen and obey the voice of their famihar spirit. Healing mediums are subjected to the control of some one who has lived in the body. Usually the spirit is represented as ha^dng been a prominent physician while in the body, and the medium is subject to the will and purposes of the spirit. We know, of a truth, that there has been good done to sick people, and that many have been helped, some cured or raised up. So that we must admit the con- tinuation of the silver thread of Divine Hfe. But the point in \'iew is this: here are healing mediums w^ho would not be will- ing to be under the mesmeric and psychologic powTr of indi- viduals in the body, yet are willing to be under the influence of a spirit who has passed out of the body, and may or may not be what it purports to be. At all events, w^e recognize this fact, that the same principle is again repeating itself: the animal and the human in Hfe controUed by the spirit of the human — the spirit of the flesh. Neither the animal mag- netist, the psychologist, the mesmerist, nor the heaHng spir- THE DIVINE LAW OF CURE. 69 itualist, claim to be led or directed by God. Therefore, they are the servants of whomsoever they obey. Such healing is simply nature endeavoring to restore nature, and this is largely the bhnd leading the blind. There is very little permanent good done, but a great deal of the social mingling, which tends to confusion, darkness, sin, and suffering. The silver thread of Divine life and love, coming out from the Divine in the beginning, must return to Him. That which came out from God to man must and will return to God through the regen- erated human. This can only be done through the spirit of truth as a revealed teacher, presenting itself in the Divine human, whose human nature is entirely ruled and regulated by the Divine law — the law of Love — the law of God. The individual who has attained to this relationship with God the Father, hath in them the perfect law of liberty, the Divine, which enables them to enter into all the discords in which the human family are entangled, and from which nothing save the power of God can extricate ; and there shed upon these turmoils the light of Divine truth, in its blessed effulgence, that Light which lighteth every one that cometh into the world. This is the Christ spirit which enables us to stoop down to the lowest hell, and hold the Gospel of peace there, also to ascend into the highest heaven where all is glory. This spirit has the power to enter all the creeds of Christendom, and connect the truth which each contains with the Divine, removing the differences which have arisen through ignorance, pride, and selfishness. Truth is the umpire which changes hate to love, and the earthly hell into a heaven'. It is the silver thread or chain of life which connects each one with God and with each other ; healing all the maladies to which flesh is heir, binding up the wounds received in the house of their friends. This brings us where there is but one form of healing. That is the Divine, which is understanding love towards one another, each having the spirit of truth. What one needeth the other hath, and that which he or she hath will be freely given. This sounds very much like the millennium, where pure science and Christ's religion become one, where love and wisdom are united in the Divine, and the spirit of law and order mani- fests itself in the flesh. 70 THE HEALING VOICE. The "Boston School of Christian Science " (so called) pre- sents another phase of healing. If I am rightly informed, this school does not teach that Jesus is essentially necessary as a Saviour, or as the "Teacher" sent of God, through whom we are enabled to know "The Father." The students are told to get away from the dream of matter, into God's sphere, which is the sphere of infinite goodness, and keep there, and no mat- ter shall come in their way, or such sophistry as they have to meet with. They are told to stand their ground, and they cannot help succeeding. That it is only in falling out of this sphere, that they lose their power to heal. That matter has no real existence, and that disease is a delusion of the mind — incorrect thinking. While I accept truth, I must point out the error. Truth is congenial. It cannot war with itself. God is Love; and when truth and love become individualized life in human form, "we shall see God manifest in the flesh;" seeing with the eyes of our understanding that the very highest con- ception of God must embrace the very lowest strata of ma- teriality. That to recognize the creative forces of God in na- ture, we must recognize matter, in all its material uses, for God made man out of the dust of the earth, and breathed into him the breath of life, and he became a living soul; here is the divine use of matter. And although we read, that this body returns to dust, and the spirit to the God who gave it, a finite mind cannot possibly, even when illuminated, do away with the very natural means which God has ever employed,, and will to the end of time make use of. Daily we see flesh and bone moving about, performing their uses, which, in time, we know will be motionless — the spirit having gone to its God — yet, in the present, we must admit them to be realities to us, and to themselves; and according to God's word, these bodies are Christ's house, the temple of the Living God. "Christian Science" (so-called) cannot truthfully call these bodies a non-entity; neither can they call the diseases from which so many suffer, delusions of the mind. There can be no effect without a cause. Diseases are the result of ignorance, people not knowing how to live so as to TRUE AND FALSE PROPHETS. 71 avoid them. Solomon said, wisely, '* Get understanding above all things." This school will find it impossible to build a scientific highway to God, by which people can approach through an intellectual conception of the workings of His Holy Spirit. Its students must be born again, before they can live in God's Holy Presence, so as to command the evils, or devils, to pass out of those sick ones who come to them daily, seeking deliverance. Jesus cast them out of those who came to Him, and we shall also cast them out when we have His Spirit dwelling in us. Christ Jesus came to fulfil the law ; and through perfect obedience to the laws of God, The Will of The Father, He became conversant with the laws, and greater than the laws, in His becoming equal with the Father, The Law- giver. If we, like Jesus, live the law of obedience to God, we shall become wise rulers over the destiny of others; (meaning) the natural law of individual souls, so as to bring them sub- ject to the di\dne law of cure. We state frankly and boldly^ that ''Christian Science" (so-called) cannot make Christ-like healers out of men and women who only learn the system for the money they may make out of it. There may be excep- tions, but all must admit this school to be known by its proper name — School of Intellectual Psychology — mind over mind. This is the only evidence of its fruits that we can find. If it were Christian science in reality, it would be the gospel of Jesus Christ, in full bloom. As it is taught and practised, it is a measure of knowledge in the hands of very many unprin- cipled people w^hich can work very little lasting good, but a great deal of harm. TRUE AND FALSE PROPHETS. Communing with God in spirit one day, I said, My Father,, please tell me of Thy direct life and covenant with man. Daughter, God has had direct lives that have walked with Him since the beginning. Man is the candle of God — His eternal torch. Thus direct lives have existed, and will con- tinue to exist until the darkness of sin which came through disobedience is overcome. 72 THE HEALING VOICE. Pardon me, my Father, if I fail to see it in the hopeful light in which you reveal it. It has taken ages and ages to bring civilization to where it is, and when I consider all the sacrifice of life and time up to the present epoch, I cannot span the future. Daughter, all through the past ages, even when men and nations warred against righteousness, God's voice, through the mouths of his prophets, spake to the people, and the people regarded it in fear and trembling, and many obeyed it, and even through the wickedness of those times, the Lord God was merciful. Every age has had its lights, its Godly men, its rulers, and although these rulers did not always sit on thrones as kings, yet kings sought counsel from them, so that the wisdom of God has always been with the children of men, and although God's prophets were persecuted, as it reads in the words of Elijah, I Kings xix, 10-18, "And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts: for the children, of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." And the Spirit said to him, "Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still, small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy cove- nant, throv^m down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wdlderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: TRUE AND FALSE PROPHETS. 73 And Jehu, son of Nimshi, shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and EHsha, son of Shaphot of Abel-meholah, shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword ■of Hazael shall Jehu slay, and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. My daughter, you see that God had many direct lives in the past, and has many in the present ; but as wickedness wars with righteousness, we see and hear the strife and conflict between spirit and matter, between God and man; but, like Ehjah, man will hear the still, small voice, when the Master, the ^lediator, and the Father calls him. My Father, I thank thee for so clear an explanation of thy ways. I know Thou art with us, and, like Elijah, those that are Thine will hear the still, small voice. Daily I know I am guided and directed by it. But, like Elijah, I am jealous of Thy glory: I feel as though I want to work continually in bringing other souls to feel Thy love and care. Daughter, your zeal is beyond your understanding. Be patient, and each day will bring to you needy souls, or you v^ll be taken to them, just as the Lord wills. Each day's work well done brings a night of rest and peace in God, to fit you for the morrow. Days of work in God's ser\dce will be- come weeks, and weeks become months, and months become years. Each has its limited knowledge to be attained to. At first God desires your thoughts, words, and actions; when you can give them to Him daily for weeks, you get where you can give them to Him for months; and when you have overcome for months, you will overcome for years. Thus, you desire to go forth in the Master's work before you are fitted for it. Be patient, and you will be taught in a manner satisfactory to yourself, beneficial to others, and, above all things, glorifying to God. I see, my Father, that I am still a child, and that I must grow by degrees into the knowledge of the truth as it is in 74 THE HEALING VOICE. Christ Jesus, and have this truth estabHshed in me, before I can become a light to others. Help me, dear Lord, to know Thy will, and to do Thy will; let no voice but Thine direct or lead me! Fear not, my daughter; nothing can pluck out of Christ's hand that which the Father hath committed to His care. But, my Father, we read there were false prophets in Elijah's time, — please tell me of them. Daughter, the people who worshipped Baal consulted the prophets of Baal; and we find that when Baal's prophets failed them, or deceived them, they were obliged to call on the prophets of the Lord God. We read in / Kings, xxii, how the king of Israel was ad- vised by Jehoshaphat to inquire of the Lord whether he should go to battle with the king of Syria: "Then the king of Israel brought the prophets of Baal together, about four hundred men, and said unto them: Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or forbear? And they said. Go up, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king." And Jehoshaphat said, *'Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we might enquire of him?" And the king said, "There is yet one man, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, by whom we may en- quire of the Lord; but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." Then the king of Israel called an officer and said, "Hasten hither Micaiah." And the mes- senger said to Micaiah, "The other prophets have declared good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of each one of the others. Speak that which is good." And Micaiah said, "As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me that will I speak." So he came to the king. And the king said, "Micaiah, shall we go against Ra- moth-gilead to battle, or shall we forbear?" And he said, "I see all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have no shepherd; and the Lord said, They have no master; let every man return to his own house in peace." And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not tell thee he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?" And the king of Israel said, "Take Micaiah to the governor of the city, TRUE AND FALSE PROPHETS. 75 Joash, the king's son, and say, Thus saith the king; put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread and water of affliction until I come in peace." Micaiah said, If thou re- turn at all, the Lord has not spoken by me. The king went to battle, was wounded, and died the same day. My daughter, this clearly shows you that the Spirit of God rules the destinies of kings, and that man has been His mouth- piece and prophet from the beginning. My Father, why could not the four hundred other prophets see and foretell as Micaiah did? Daughter, prophets are only men who speak. as their guides direct or tell them. If the four hundred were the foUow^ers of Baal, they could not see the things of God; they could not receive the truth of God. "Ye are the servants of whomso- ever ye obey." I perceive these truths, my Father. Christ said, "ye cannot draw salt and fresh water from the same well." We are either the children of sin or the children of God. If the latter, we are pure channels filled with truth, which is the water of life. If the former, we are impure channels filled with the filthiness of the flesh, the fleshly mind in us, deriving its nour- ishment from kindred minds. That born of the flesh is flesh, but that born of the spirit is spirit. You are quite correct, my child. When born of the spirit, the guiding influences of God's Holy Spirit is always by you, with you, in you, directing your thoughts, guiding your actions, bringing about in you God's will in all things which tend to make you perfect, and through you make His ways plain to others. "Make straight the way of the Lord." In this man- ner, God's Spirit has ministered through all ages. My Father, we have another evidence of the false prophets and the true, in // Kings, ist chapter — "when Ahaziah fell sick, and sent messengers to Baal-zebub, the God of Ekron, to see whether he would recover of his disease. But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king, and say unto them, "It is because ye know not the God of Israel, that ye enquire of Baal-zebub ? 76 THE HEALING VOICE. Thus saith the Lord, Thou shah not come down from the bed on which thou Heth, but shall surely die. And Elijah departed. So he did according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken." My Father, have we not the evidence of God's power through Elijah that we have had in Christ? Daughter, as I have said to you repeatedly, the Spirit of the Father has walked the earth in man and woman, since the formation of the earth; or, as it reads, since God formed man out of the dust of the earth, and breathed into him the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Yet, my Father, the spirit of God in man seems like a vague and visionary mirage, as men view God's spiritual dealings with the natural man. See even the enlightened minds of to- day! Those who accept Christ as their Saviour and their Guide, do not live Christ-like. They do not love God with all their heart, and their neighbor as themselves, as Christ did and taught us to do; and the Bible teaches us that he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? This contemplation of mine makes it seem to me as though the people of the present day know no more of God than the people of Elijah's day. Daughter, Elijah was to the people of that day what Moses was to the people of his day, and Christ was the successive and perfect life of God in man to the people of His day, and for: all succeeding days of time; for in Him we have had the old law and the new, the direct life of God in man, the cove- nant made with Abraham fulfilled, with the knowledge of how the bondwoman's sons may become heirs v^th the children of the free woman. In Him was the life of man complete. In Him law became subservient to love. In Him God's Spirit of intelhgence has become the ''still small voice" saying to all. Forsake sin, and follow in the light which Christ has left in the world, the path of righteousness! You say, my daughter, that God's dealings with man are mystified. The scriptures are clear to those who have the understanding to read them. Isaiah xliii, i, 2, 3, reads, ''Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Israel! fear not, for TRUE AND FALSE PROPHETS. 77 I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; the rivers shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee; for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." Isaiah xli, lo, ii, reads, "Fear thee not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I \\ill help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness; behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded; they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.'' Isaiah xlii, 5-9, reads, ''Thus saith God the Lord, He that created the heavens, and stretched them out; He that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein; I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and I will hold thine hand and Ts-ill keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a Kght to the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. I am the Lord; that is my name; and my glor}' ^ill I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them." Isaiah hdi, 19-21, reads, "I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him." But the wicked are Kke the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God to the wicked. Isaiah hiii, 2-12, reads, "Yet they seek me daily, and de- light to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God; they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching God. WTierefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afl^cted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold! in the day of your fast ye find pleasure 78 THE HEALING VOICE. and exact all your labors. Behold, ye fast for strife and de- bate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the hea\y burdens, and to let the oppressed go free; and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house ? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy re- ward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer. Thou shall cry, and he shall say, 'Here I am.' If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy hght rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday, and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in droughts and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." Daughter, these portions of Scripture show God's dealings vdth man, also God's requirements from man; and as Christ Jesus has lived these requirements, and has done the Father's mU on earth, and has left his title clear to a heavenly mansion. He also has promised to guide, direct, and lead all who will, to the same heavenly home, the same source and fountain of life, from which springs peace, joy, love, ^dsdom, and knowl- edge, to the full extent of man's capacity to hold it. Man has no excuse if he knows not God; if he is not learned in the way of godliness. The in\itation is given to all, "Come to me aU ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;" also, he who lacks wisdom let him ask of God, who giveth liberally to all men, and upbraideth not. Let man live the commandments of God, and he \\ill have God's word in him; and he who liveth The Word will have the ^^dtness of the Spirit in himself — Christ in you the hope of glory. Let man examine himself, and see if this faith or light be in him. Prove PURE MOTHERHOOD. 79 thyself. Know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God. I St Epistle of John iv, 2 : And he who keeps the com- mandments hath the Spirit of the Father and the Son dwelling in them. Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? I will walk in you, and talk in you, I will be your God and ye shall be my people. Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them and they shall be His people ; and God Himself shall be with them, as their God, and teach them by His Spirit, to know Him in spirit and in truth, by revelations in dreams and visions, each having the spirit of prophecy as the oracle of God; also, the written word of His promise to guide the mind, and confirm the prophetic vision, or revelation given for the individual good and that of others. Thus, my daughter, God by His Spirit speaks to the people of this day more universally than in the past. Fear not to speak as He prompts thee, giving the revealed word of life as He has given it to you. That which has blest holy lives in the past, has blest you in the present; let your light shine forth in the brightness of His revealed life in you: it will an- swer your own question as regards 'direct life with God.' His covenant is with you, and with others through you. PURE MOTHERHOOD. This is the great problem to be solved by God's people: How men and women are to be helped, or made to see their own good, and God's plan of salvation, in its pure and true form, and its simplicity? All are well aware that pure motherhood holds the principle or method of child culture. Jesus Christ made this beautiful truth very plain in His reply, when told that His mother and His brethren stood without, waiting to see Him. He answered them, saying, "Who is my mother or my 80 THE HEALING VOICE. brethren?" and He looked around on them which sat about Him, and said, ''Behold, my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother and my sister and my mother " {Mark iii, 33-35). Conse- quently, woman can only become pure and perfect through doing the will of the Father. Not in some things, but in all. This was the obedient spirit in Christ — the Father's will done in Him. Christ's saying reveals to us that all who become heirs with Him are His brothers and sisters. Christ's expression did not lessen His love for His own mother or His brethren. But in the grandeur of the thought of His inheritance, and the in- heritance of all God's children who were and would be joint heirs with Him, He exclaimed. Who is my mother and my sister and brother? whosoever doeth the will of my Father. By this we see that the Christ-love can only be comprehended by those who have come into the Christhood relationship to God the Father, and can say as Christ said, "Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, my sister, and my mother." The world needs pure motherhood. It needs mothers who can give to their children God's spirit and word as a gift, a birthright, and who will nurse the babe of God's own spiritual unfoldment (His gift to them) into manhood or w^omanhood, as the blessed Mary did the promised Messiah, that they may go forth as He did, one in whom God's Will is done, and through whom God's truths are given. His love manifested. His wisdom proclaimed, and His heaven estab- hshed on the earth. While this pictures to our mind the pure motherhood of Christ, and the pure motherhood in Christ, I cannot see why woman does not claim her true position, free in Christ, so as to realize her true relation to God and to humanity. It is a fact beyond question, that if we had more true wives and mothers, we would have more pure, true, and perfect lives in men and women. By this we see that regeneration truly comes to the world through the Christ woman; she is, when in her true relation to God, the mould through which the germ of God's Spirit-Life is cast into the natural form; she is the mother, PURE MOTHERHOOD. 81 the nurse, the teacher, the director, the ministering spirit and guardian angel over that child's life. The germ of God's Holy Spirit, incarnate in the flesh. We read, Samuel was a child given to his mother, Hannah, by the Lord, in answer to her prayer, and Hannah consecrated Samuel to the Lord from his birth for all the days of his life (/ Samuel i, 27, 28). We have also God's words to Jeremiah — chapter i, 5th verse of the book of Jeremiah — ''Before I formed thee, I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." These are only two of the m.any e\ddences given in the Old Testa- ment, of God's direct Hfe through woman. Motherhood, in the order of God, is a solemn and glorious state, an inter- mediate state between the infinite and the finite, between spirit and matter, between God and man. It is equally terrible to become a mother in the order of lusting after the flesh; and the great question in my mind is, How Avill woman lift herself out of this slough of bondage in which she has wallovv-ed all these years, until earth is peopled by a generation w^ho know not God? Yet we know that pure motherhood is. the great and grand spiritual teacher under God. This truth m^ust be given more fully to the world, and impressed upon the minds of the people, — that mother, home, and heaven are closely related ; for example, when a mother leaves her home, whether for a long or short period of time, her teachings remain there, and her memory is sacredly bound by the silken cords of affection and respect, holding the minds of her children firmly fixed in the truths of all her teachings, so that her hfe and their lives are sealed in one eternal life of love and wisdom v/ith God the Father, who is the life giver, receiver, and im- f older, through the instrumentality of His own plan of salva- tion and reincarnation, also regeneration by means of pure wom.an in her natural motherhood. We have been speaking of this Divine life through pure motherhood, but have said little or nothing regarding the natural fatherhood. No one should be ignorant respecting the laws of life under love. We see that pure maidenhood is God's earthly throne 82 THE HEALING VOICE. in a special sense. As an illustration, take human nature as existing in a pure maiden. She is God's vessel of honor: her aspirations are, first of all, the love of God; second, her love of righteousness. These combined, embrace the whole law and the Gospel given us by Christ. When God gives to this maiden the husband of her choice, whom she truly loves sec- ond to God, the children of this union will be pure, true, and holy. Here we have the natural marriage in God's order: the children of this union will be gifts from God, the fruits of the Spirit. The natural father and mother, having the spirit which makes the third person in the trinity — in other words, the husband and wife being one — the child is the tie which binds on earth that which God has bound in heaven. And that which God has joined together, no man has power to put asunder. This beautiful illustration of the true marriage makes the man and woman one, in the love of God and of each other. And where this union is, there must be unity, peace, and power — God's footstool truly. Yet it is difficult to understand why this true union has not been universally understood and lived out practically in the world. We are' aware that many are born under bondage, grow up in bondage, or in ignorance of these truths. They marry and bring children into life, who in their turn marry, and do likewise, until the bondage or sins of the first parents are transmitted to the third and fourth genera- tion. These are called the children of the bondwoman, the slaves of natural propensities, the children of disobedience. Thus comes the question, W^hy does God permit this disobedi- ence to His will to exist? Here again we see God's mercy. Our Heavenly Father does not condemn ignorance nor the sins of ignorance, for God is love, and God's love is charity. We read, in the beginning: "God created man in His own image; male and female created he them; and God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it^^ {Genesis i, 27, 28). The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, how the earthly serpent beguiled Eve, and she disobeyed God, and how she tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit, and he ate also. x\nd PURE MOTHERHOOD. 83 unto the woman God said, **I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." And unto Adam God said, ** Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of w^hich I commanded thee, saying. Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life " {Genesis iii, i6, 17). This is the old state of things. God has given us a new covenant, and that embodies the old. The old being God's first covenant made with man and woman, His heavenly mar- riage, when He blessed them and said unto them, ^'Be fruit- ful; multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it." In Christ's human nature, the temptations of the flesh were over- come. He was the first man in whom The Will of the Father was made complete. Christ is, then, the only guide and life example by which the children of Adam and Eve can become the sons and daughters of God — direct lives with Him — co- workers with Him — co-equal with Him as Christ was, and as we will be when Christ's spirit is embodied in us. Christ's mind, our mind ; His reasoning powers, our reasoning powers ; and His righteousness, our righteousness. Then we shall be as the Garden of Eden was, when God placed Adam and Eve in it. As the Garden of Eden is figurative of the mind, soul, and body of an individual ; or two in one, which is the old man, Adam, serving the new man, Christ Jesus. The subjection of all the old nature to God's Holy Will, brings us into the knowledge of all things. Natural and Spiritual. The curse of disobedience will be felt, as God said it would be, by both man and woman, until all are under subjection to Christ's Spirit, the Mediator, the Saviour, and the Light of God's Truth to the children of men. Again we ask, why has not this clear view of God's truth, been taught and lived by the people in all these past ages ? We see, that man has not had the knowledge or understand- ing of these truths, save when taught them by the Holy Spirit ;; and if man is not walking in obedience to God's Holy Spirit,, he cannot comprehend the things of God; and as woman has 84 THE HEALING VOICE. been subject to man, and ruled by his understanding, as part of her penalty or portion of the curse — she being the weaker one, and the one through whom Adam fell, and by whom all are born in sin — it has placed man and woman's knowledge of Divine life in embryo. Why has this truth, of our true relation to God, so long remained a mystery? How is woman to be lifted out of this' darkness and disobedience, and bondage to the flesh, which is the curse and besetting sin of the world? We know that disobedience in woman has come largely through ignorance, and not knowing what God's will ^consisted of, and being taught, religiously and socially, obedience to man's will and his superior judgment. Her mind and her un- derstanding of her true relation to God is so warped and sup- pressed by human rules, that her position is like that of a caged bird, having become, through the customs of generations, so dependent on man, that she is only strong when under his protection. This bondage to forms and laws made by the natural man, or the sins and desires of the flesh, has caused man to lose sight of God's gift to him — Woman. He has fashioned her after his own natural heart, as a toy or play- thing. And we might say of some men, that he does consider her practically a convenience, thus he has so overshadowed her, that he has come between her and her Maker, God. Hence both have largely lost sight of their true relation to God and to each other, and to their true mission as man and .woman on the earth. We perceive so much darkness, that we ask, Will this deplor- able state of things on this planet, earth, ever be overcome? Will man and woman be brought to their true relation to God and to each other? We know that all things are possible, and all things are known to God. His laws have always existed. His direct life through woman has never ceased to exist; and as obedi- ence in woman makes her subser\dent to God's will, in her regenerated state she will bring into life children born of the spirit, and kept by the powxr of the spirit. For that which is born of the spirit is spirit, and that which is born of the flesh PURE MOTHERHOOD. 85 is flesh. This fleshly house, when purified, is the Temple of God. Manhood with all its human possibilities must come, sooner or later, to a conscious subjection of all its faculties to the will of God. God has given me this understanding, that chil- dren born in sin are not held responsible; but it is a sad in- heritance, which God's love and mercy can alone remove, through the teachings of His Holy Spirit awakening the human understanding to a consciousness of God's power to save and redeem from all sin. It is shown me also, that in His earthly vineyard are the seeds sown which bring forth fruits bitter as well as sweet. That the sun shines on the evil as well as the good. That the rain falls on the just as readily as on the unjust, in the night as well as in the day-time. That darkness is of the Lord, as well as the light. And that darkness was on the face of the €arth before God said, "Let there be light." Knowledge comes out of ignorance, as light came out of darkness. And God has placed recorded landmarks all along the Old Testa- ment and the New, beginning with Cain, by forbidding that any one should slay him, which shows that the tares are to grow with the wheat until the harvest. God's harvest time is upon us, — the ripeness of the age of reason. We have had God's word declaimed by men since the Abrahamic age; we have had also the Abrahamic lineage of the perfect man in Christ Jesus. And since His day, His life and teachings have been theorized, and taught by intellectual rather than heart knowledge, until at present the earth is threatened with a deluge of infidelity. Thus woman has been taught and enslaved by the teachings of the son of the bondwoman. It is now her privilege and prerogative to so enter into her true position, and her true re- lation to God as child and daughter, living so fully in the will of the Father, that she becomes the teacher and the saviour of man. She is by right the medium between God and man, the mother in Israel. She has been the weaker and lesser part. She is to become the greater, since, through her purity, she is wedded to God, and has been the producing principle — the 86 THE HEALING VOICE. earthly mother, while the seeds of eternal life proceed from the Creator and Father of all, God. We have two birthrights, and, as we have shown, the natural union is on the animal plane, and the life production, by mutual consent, creates only the higher order of animals. Since the beginning, there has always existed a Spiritual Union, a Divine supply, a direct flow of Divine life from the Throne of God to woman, which in these later days has been poured out upon the handmaidens and the children of men as an Aw^akening Power. Humanity is all more or less actuated by it, as wt see many crude and imperfect organisms used to perform deeds of love and valor, and influenced in many instances by the Holy Spirit, who afterwards relapse back to their old natural feelings. "The Lord can take a w^orm, and thrash a mountain with it." Only those who are quickened, or spiritually conscious of its presence and power, and illuminated by it, can walk in the Hght of it. To such it is like dew from Heaven — it stimulates our grovnh in Godliness ; moulding and expanding our ideas, iUuminating our understanding, to the direct work given us to do. This explains the difference betw^een the natural man and the spiritual man; and although we have had God's w^ord taught and His spirit manifested through man, since the earli- est record we have of the creation, there has been but one man who manifested the fulness of the true spirit of the great Je- hovah. That man was Christ. He came to fulfil aU right- eousness: He was born of woman w^hose nature was pure and undefiled. He represented to the world the perfect man in God, the human nature fiUed with the Divine. His life and doctrines have been taught for over eighteen hundred years: where are His disciples? Christianity claims to follow Him, but its fruits are not altogether Christ-like, and He said, "By their fruits shaU ye know them." AU this shows man's im- perfect teaching. We are now entering into Woman's Christian Era, revealed to us by St. John, in the 12th chapter of Revelation: "And there appeared a wonder in heaven; 'a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a PURE MOTHERHOOD. 87 crown of twelve stars; and she being with child cried, travail- ing in birth, to be deHvered." This child spoken of by St. John is the truth in woman as it w^as in Christ.- God sent His son as a Light to the children of men, that all who believed might w^alk in the Light as He was in the Light. They have heard His word, but they have not lived it. Woman, freed from the bondage of the flesh, purified by the spirit, is the coming dispensation, showing in her maidenhood, wifehood, and motherhood her relative status to God and man. This is the babe born of woman. This is the great Light, dawning upon us. It will reveal the Heavenly or the Holy Spirit, placing it where it truly belongs, as the life, love, and wisdom of God the Father, incarnated in woman. When this truth reveals itself fully, grossness and ignorance, and the fallen state of humanity, will have passed away, and be among the dark ages of the past. Woman, in her true position, shall stand before the world as the representative of God in purity, in fidelity, and conformity to the Will of the Father, and in regenerative power over the human race. She shall represent both the male and female power of God upon the earth — Christ in Woman. In her shall the tree of knowledge bloom, bearing its twelve manner of fruits. And the leaves or life of this tree shall be for the healing of the nations; just as the Spirit of God the Father found expression through Christ the Son, so wiU the same Spirit find expression in and through the daugh- ter. Woman purified "is the Bride of Christ, the Lamb's Wife, *' the Holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, ^'Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel" {Rev- elation xxi, 9-12). *'I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star" {Revelation xxii, 16). 88 THE HEALING VOICE. THE HAND THAT RULES THE WORLD. Blessings on the hand of Woman! Angels guard its strength and grace In the palace, cottage, hovel — O, no matter where the place! Would that never storms assailed it, Rainbows round it gently curled: For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world. Infancy's the tender fountain: Power may with beauty grow; Mother's first to guide the streamlets, From them souls unresting grow, Grow on, tho' for the good or evil, Sunshine streamed, or darkness hurled. For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world. Woman, how divine your mission Here upon our natal sod! Keep, O, keep the child-soul open Always to the breath of God! All true trophies of the ages Are from Mother-love impearled, For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world. Darling girls, with Eden music Warbling yet in each young heart, Learn and treasure household knowledge Precious in life's future part, When you'll too, exulting mothers, Bravely boyed and gently girled, Feel the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world. WITHDRAWING FROM THE ROMISH CHURCH. 89 Blessings on the hand of woman! Father, sons, and daughters cry; And the sacred song is mingled With the worship in the sky, — Mingled where no tempest darkens, Rainbows evermore are curled. For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world. — William Ross Wallace. REASONS FOR WITHDRAWING FROM THE ROMISH CHURCH. I SAID, My Father, if it please Thee, I would like to ask why Thou hast taken me out of the Roman Catholic Church? "Daughter, Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the teacher, and beside Him there is none other. In Ro- manism, Christ's teachings have been modified into what man thinks, and what man's power can do on God's earth. His rounded universe. Romanism is claimed by its Hierarchy to be God's representative power, His church on earth, and that the Pope is the earthly head of that church, and its people are the members of his Headship. This is Catholic doctrine; he who will not believe this doctrine, is accursed by the church, and the gates of Heaven are closed against Him by the author- ized claim of Popery. This man-power in the church does not come from God, it is the outgrowth of man's intellectual power of governing men for selfish purposes and ends. Christ is the only representative of God's power, and man's guide from childhood to manhood, in his progressive path, or growth in the knowledge of God's ways, and the unfolding of the man- nature through its various changes and stages of growth. Christ is God's church or covenant with man, and every man and woman must be subject to the teachings of Christ's holy doctrine; Christ the head of every man, and every member of the man obeying the head, and this Christ is God; and thus 90 THE HEALING VOICE. each individual, under Christ's method of teaching, becomes a law unto himself, a self-governing principle, an individual church, in whom dwelleth the righteousness of Christ, in whom the love of the Father is supreme, and the love of the neighbor is equal with himself; this is becoming Christ's House. 'Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the living God, and the spirit of God dwells in you, and he who defiles the temple^ him will God destroy? ' " *' Daughter, you have been taken out of the church called Roman Catholic, to become an individual church in and with God; to walk with Him, to talk with Him, and learn from Him, the same truths given to the world by Jesus Christ the Right- eous. All who would know God in spirit and in truth, must come out from under the slavish will of earthly supremacy, which the Romish Church has claimed, and with which she is self-endowed. By her human influence she has oppressed and' suppressed the minds and bodies, and above all the soul's salvation of her foUow^ers; as man- power, separated from the Holy Spirit, is satanic. God says to all His children in that church and in other churches, as He has said to you, my child, 'Come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing.' " " My Father, I earnestly thank Thee for the understand- ing Thou hast given me. Having grown up to womanhood under those teachings, I see so plainly the errors in them, and the false positions which its leaders take, and how its people are held by the opinions and judgments of men who claim infallibility, and whose lives are so inconsistent. How often have I said to priests. Why do you not practise what you preach ? God help those in that church and other churches, that take the position as teachers of God's holy word, and have not the Living Word in themselves, nor Christ's love toward humanity, nor His sacrificing spirit, but are merely fitted edu- cationally to preach an intellectual salvation as a profession." " My daughter, the tares were to grow with the wheat until the harvest. We are in the harvest, God's reaping time, when the chaff will be separated from the wheat, and the straw and stubble will be burned, for the Hght of God's Holy Spirit is WITHDRAU'IXG FROM THE ROMISH CHURCH. 91 being poured out upon His people, and the darkness of igno- rance, sin and sickness is being overcome. The spirit of Christian Judaism planted in the mother church will be rooted up and separated from the false attachments that have taken the robes of Righteousness and wrapped themselves therein. Nevertheless the Life Principle is positively buried underneath all the false show and parade of Roman Catholicism. But the form supersedes the spirit. This false growth shows itself both in the mother church and in her descendants. Protestantism, and those who protest against her, are equally chained to the bondage of forms, all of which must pass away. Only those who know Him in spirit, and serve Him in spirit and in truth, are the children of God." " But, my Father, is there not humihty and sincerity, also purity of heart in many of the followers of Roman Catholi- cism?" " Yes, my child, humble, earnest faith is always rewarded by the presence of His Spirit which said, I am with you alway. Christ is with all who call on Him, who trust Him, who obey Him. Christ's Spirit is the Father's Spirit. It has ever ex- isted, and will always exist. Those who have the germ of His •eternal life in them, are a part of Himself. The life of God in the soul always aspires toward Him in faith, in hope, in acts •of love and kindness toward humanity, in respect and venera- tion for all that is good and God-like. There are those, my daughter, who know^ not Christ as He is preached as the Chris- tian's God. Yet they have written on their hearts the moral law, which is an interior light that works outwardly, in acts of well-doing. They may have no defined knowledge of God, beyond this inward prompting. God sees the interior life, and the end from the beginning; He judges in righteousness. It is human rule and the love of rule that is keeping His spirit, this inner guide, conscience, the still small voice, in bondage. The natural man studies the outer appearance of things, and intellectually fits himself to teach and preach the way of life. No one can preach with profit to others unless they have the inner experience for themselves. 'Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh.' This is why the worship of God, 92 THE HEALING VOICE. when confined to forms and emblems, is only of use as a re- minder of our duty to Him, who is and has been so mercifuL God's promise is, that to him who keeps His commandments, the Spirit of the Father and the Son will enter, making their abode with Him. His word fulfilled, 'I will walk in you and talk in you; I will be your God, and you shall be my people.' This indwelling spirit of peace came to you, my child, in the Roman Catholic Church, at least, while a member of it. God led you by His Spirit to ask wisdom from the Bishop of your diocese. He would not receive your testimony as a direct message from above; he said that, if you remained in the Church, you must obey the laws of the Church, which are, to hear what the priest says, and only say what the priest tells you is right to say. This, my child, you could not do, as the Spirit of the Lord had spoken to you, and you had heard the voice, and had entered into a covenant with God, to walk in obedience to His Spirit all the days of your life. Thus you obeyed God rather than man. Had you remained in that Church your spirit would have been quenched. God could not have lib- erated you from the bonds of ignorance, prejudice, supersti- tion and bigotry, as He has. All that is of God in that Church is still in sympathy with you. Love is life. It is truth. These elements never disagree. Consequently, you are still a holy Catholic. You belong to a holy priesthood, where all are chil- dren of the King, with one faith and one baptism of holy love in the spirit of the Father. This is the rock on which Christ built His Church; this is the only Church against which the gates of hell cannot prevail. Apostles, Peters, Johns and Pauls, are needed in this day as much as in the past, so as to demon- strate by their lives the true spirit of a living God, the spirit that was manifested in Jesus Christ and His disciples. They were the true descendants of Abraham, fulfilling the covenant God made with him, that in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed. The only true Church on earth is the Church of the Living God; The Church of Christ Triumphant. The Jewish Messiah became the Christian's God, and the wise virgins who waited in that day for the coming of the bride- groom, having their lamps all trimmed and burning, entered IN PERFECT PEACE. 93 into the marriage supper, and have gone into the resurrection life. But the foohsh virgins are still knocking, with their lamps untrimmed, waiting for the next dispensation, when both Jew and Gentile will gladly receive the Messiah as He is, Jehovah, Christ, the Lord." IN PERFECT PEACE. Like strains of music soft and low That break upon a troubled sleep, I hear the promise old and new, God will His faithful children keep "In perfect peace." From out the thoughtless, wreck-strewm past, From unknown years that silent wait. Amid earth's wild regret, there comes The promise with its precious freight, "In perfect peace." Above the clash of party strife, The surge of life's unresting sea. Through sobs of pain and songs of mirth, Through hours of toil, it floats to me: "In perfect peace." It stills the questionings and doubts, The nameless fears that throng the soul, It speaks of love unchanging, sure. And ever more its echoes roll : "In perfect peace." And through the glad eternal years Beyond the scorn and blame of men. The hearts that served Thee here may know The rest that passeth human ken, "Thy perfect peace." — Standard. 94 THE HEALING VOICE. WORK DONE BY THE HUMAN HEART. It would appear, from an account given in the publication called Mechanical Money-Saver^ of the work of the human heart, that we carry within us a power whose scope is almost incredible. It is said that the total daily work of the human heart is equivalent to 124,208 tons of 2,240 pounds each, hfted one foot. The daily labor of a workingman, deduced from long- continued observation of various kinds of labor, is found to be equal to 354 tons lifted through one foot during the ten hours. This is less than three times the work done by a single heart, beating day and night for twenty-four hours. It is said, if the heart should expend its entire force in Hfting its own weight vertically, it could raise that weight 19,754 feet in an hour. It is said, "When the railroad was built from Trieste to Vienna, a prize was offered for the locomotive engine that could hft its own weight through the greatest height in one hour. The Bavaria, which won the prize, Hfted itself 2,700 feet in one hour. This is only one-eighth part of the me- chanical force of the human heart, proving that the heart is the most wonderful of machines. Its energy equals one-third of the daily force of all the muscles of a strong man. It ex- ceeds by one-third the labor of the muscles in a boat-race, estimated by equal weight of muscles; and it is twenty times the force of all the muscles used in climbing, and eight times the force of the most powerful engines which the art of man has yet invented." If this be the true calculation of the power of the human heart, how very essential it is that the sole motive which keeps the heart active should be for the elevation of itself, and for the elevation of the human race. We know^ that the law of sympathy has its direct avenues to all souls through the holiest emotions of the human heart. All must feel the truth of this down into the inmost depths of their being. The heart has its corresponding signals in each nerve-centre, thence to the muscular centres, and connecting, like a telegraphic netw^ork, WORK DONE BY THE HUMAN HEART. 95 with every part of the system, so that in the twinkHng of an eye the whole army of human subjects are awakened, and each organ of the body called into action; proving that the heart is a kingdom in itself. It supplies the blood or life to all the organs of the body, thereby controlling and holding all subject to itself. Thus the heart is sustained in engineering its own forces by the unity and power of its members. The law of sympathy draws to itself at will, on the same principle that the law of repulsion repels at will, proving that the heart and human will, when united, becomes a visible power beyond the calculation of man, because it is infinite. The king who rules over the kingdom of the human heart is the Holy One Him- self — the Spirit of God which "worketh in us, to will and to do of His own good pleasure." In the first place, for the individual good; second, the good of others; third, for the revelation and manifestation of Himself to man, as the silent and unseen force which moves and propels all worlds, and the systems revolving in and around each. All persons must admit that no engine, however powerful, would be available without steam, or a propelling force, to enable it to lift its own weight to great heights. Thus the life of the blood, being the spirit of Him who created all things, is the great human motive power which attracts and repels, and, when concentrated, either for or against, becomes un- limited in power. The Creator has made the hearts of man- kind, male and female, to be the great human representatives of the Heart of God, He whose love embraces all things, prov- ing that love is life, and life is power, and that the human heart is God's engine, the corporeal body the locomotive that carries the train of His thoughts in all languages, compre- hensible to all who in spirit know their God. Calculate, if you can, what the heart of man will accomplish when the mind of man understands his possibilities in and with God as a co-laborer. Only think what one human soul in this relationship might do in hfting the hearts and minds of the human family towards their God and each other in love! We have had a manifestation of this power in Jesus the Christ. All the powers of the earth combined could not move His 96 THE HEALING VOICE. heart from doing the will of His Father. What think you was the weight which rested on Him, when he was so over- powered with love towards humanity, that He sweat great drops of blood ? This gives us a conception of what Jesus, the burden-bearer, means; He who came to save His people from their sins. Oh, the value of a human soul! Who can calculate what power it requires to raise a soul from the lowest depths of crime, and from the lowest strata of ignorance, despised by the world, and lost in its own estimation? Yet Jesus said to the thief on the cross who repented, '^This day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." This Christ-saying proves clearly to us that Paradise is on this earth, and that Christ Jesus remained forty days on the earth after this saying before He ascended to the Father, returning on the day of Pentecost, as the revealed Comforter, the spirit of truth to man, to remain until He re- stores the kingdoms of the earth to the Father. This king- dom of God is revealed within, to those who have accepted Him as the Saviour and Redeemer, and out of the heart flow the issues of Hfe. The great heart of Jesus Christ was and is willing to lift up all that are willing to be hfted to one com- mon plane of purity, love, and truth, into the love and wisdom of the Father. And the question is put now to all His pro- fessed followers, ''Are you willing to have your hearts tested, that you may know how much your human nature can bear of the pressure of God's love — that great lever which moves the universal hearts of all in love towards God and towards each other?" This is a spiritual prize offered to those who wish a spiritual and physical blessing, that they may go forth tested and sealed for the Master's use. This is the testing time. God is weighing the hearts of His people. He says, "All souls are mine," and that ''Judgment begins at the house of God." It began over nineteen centuries ago with the Jew- ish race, the seed of Abraham. Jehovah tested them by send- ing them a Messiah, a Saviour, and a Teacher, one who would lead them safely through the valley and shadow of the death of self, into the marvellous light of an intelligent walk with God here on this earth, so as to enjoy the promise made to THE HEALING FAITH AND POWER OF GOD. 97 Abraham and his seed forever. But they rejected the Son and Sa\iour, and have been in spiritual darkness ever since. A few of the Jews and Gentiles, the sons of the bondwoman, received Him, and thus the light which He gave to the world was not lost. The seed of His Gospel has been sown by His followers over many nations. He has many called by His name. Those who claim Him are about to be tested, so that each heart may be labelled as becometh its own measurement : thus God will have a people on the earth, proved and found worthy to represent Him; delegates from on high, on whose shoulders the government of God can rest; the visible power of justice, equity, and truth — the righteous reign of the King of Kings. This equitable adjustment on the earth v^dll test both Jew and Gentile; it will prove the genuine from the counterfeit, separating the lambs from the wolves, causing the purified finite soul to express the infinite love of the Father to its fullest capacity. This would be the Kingdom of Heaven on this earth, when hearts and hands unite in proving how much each one can lift of the pressure which weighs down the hearts and heads of their fellow-mortals. THE HEALING FAITH AND FINANCIAL POWER OF GOD. Made Manifest at the Christ Healing Institute and Faith Teaining College, Conducted Seven Years at 200 W. 59TH St., New York City. By Anna J. Johnson. This Godly House w^as opened on purely naked Faith, ha\ing only sufficient money on hand to pay the first month's rent, and one small payment on the carpets and furniture of the house, which w^ere bought on the instalment plan. Such an undertaking seemed to my friends as a certain failure, and they discouraged me very much in regard to it. I told them Paul had lived two years in his own hired house, why couldn't 98 THE HEALING VOICE. I do the same thing? They said, "Paul, if he Uved to-day, with all his zeal and earnestness would never undertake such a thing in New York City, where money to such an extent is needed, and sought after more than God. "Besides this, people have beeii taught that the days of miracles had gone by when God healed the bodies of His people — and what are you to do, when your rent is due, and other expenses have to be met? You will find, dear Mrs. Johnson, that it will be only those who have no money to pay physicians, who will come to you, as the rich are under the control of physicians, and if they come to you at all, would only come under cover, as Nicodemus came to Jesus. On the other hand, professing Christians are under the teaching and direction of the ministers, who preach away the very hope you are holding up, of God's willingness, in this day, to heal the body as well as the soul. Here you see, my friend, you have only the poor with you, and while they may love you for the good you do them, and pray God to bless you abundantly, they cannot help you, in fact will only burden you. Financially, we cannot see how you are to succeed. God does not send dovv^n manna in these days, nor do greenbacks flow to us, unless through the natural channels of merchandise, or com- mercial exchange. "Real faith is not a marketable commodity. People will have to be brought where you were brought, before they can comprehend your spirit and your work. Do w^hat you can for humanity, but do not assume hea\^ responsibilities, I beseech you, for if you do, you will be sorry, and the cause of the pure Gospel v^U suffer. If you had ten thousand dollars that you could afford to give to the experiment, then it would be well enough to try it; or if a certain number of moneyed people would subscribe to the support of such a house, so that you could be free from care, I have no doubt a good work might be done; but you have neither of these supports, therefore, my advice is, be careful, and let it alone." This was the friendly caution which came to me daily, while considering the renting of this house. Strange to say, their words had no effect upon me, but rather urged me on. I said THE HEALING FAITH AND POWER OF GOD. 99 to myself, This is only worldly wisdom, I must not listen to it. God, my Father, who has healed me, taught me that He is more willing to give His Holy Spirit to those who ask, than parents are to give good gifts to their children; and I know that His Spirit is life and health, and that I must place myself where I can prove this fact to the people of the world. I must go on in the way which God has opened for me to walk in. Thus I reasoned, and concluded I would call on a prom- inent clergyman who had encouraged me in my work in the past, by saying: "I beheve that God is as able and as willing in this day to bless His people as He was in the past." I found him in his study. I told him of my plans and my hopes, saying, ''I feel it is the direct message of God to me." He said: ^'Follow your leadings, Mrs. Johnson; ask some others to help you in this matter, and rely on me as one who will help you financially." This gave me the "inflatus" I needed. I said, all ministers are not against us; here is one wilhng to help. I felt as if I must call on every minister in New York. I wanted them to accept God as the revealed Saviour and •Physician of both soul and body. But I think a more weary task was never undertaken by woman! I found, on talking with one after another, that they had no real faith in the word they were preaching, save as a legend of what had been done by Jesus and His disciples. They said it would be denying God to doubt the past. I agreed with them, but I said, It is as great a sin to deny that the God of the past is not the God of the present. To say that His power has lessened, that His word is broken, is sinning against the Holy Word wherein He says, '^I am the Lord God who changeth not." Jesus is the I am, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. I finally con- cluded to give up the ministers to their own blindness. I took the house, gave, as one of my references, the minister that said he would help me — but strange to say, that minister failed me. A man of the world, a real- estate owner, not a professing Christian, vouched for the honesty and integrity of the woman, saying, "I do not think Mrs. Johnson has much means, but she is one who will undertake nothing but what she can and will accomplish. If I had a house vacant and she LofC. 100 THE HEALING VOICE. wanted to rent it to-day, I should not hesitate to give it to her." This settled the matter of rental, also the friendship and help of ministers (as not one hand has been extended to me by them unless to hinder) in this Gospel Work which God has given me to do in this house. I am giving a plain statement of facts, for the encouragement and enlightenment of those who are coming up after me, in the light of the New Gospel, or rather the old made new to us, by the light of His Spirit shed abroad in our souls. With a hopeful and thankful heart to God, and the sympathy of those who have aided me, the house was opened the first Sunday in November, 1882. A notice was put in the newspapers, that a Gospel Meeting, free to all, would be held every Sunday at three o'clock, in the parlors, setting forth the Gospel of full salvation for soul, body and spirit: also services Thursday evenings at 8 o'clock. This an- nouncement brought to the house many inquiring souls — and very many through curiosity — still, each had the message of glad tidings made plain to them, none came and were sent empty away; thus each day brought needy souls. Some left a freev^ll offering; others did not; nevertheless, not the slight- est discouragement entered my mind. When the question of money would come up, the consciousness that God would supply was the inmost thought of my soul, and crowded out all human fear. The spirit of the flesh would often say. Where is your rent coming from ? I would answer, God knows, that is enough for me. I am resting in Him. About the 2 2d of the first month, I received a letter from a dear Christian friend who had been healed through me, of dropsy of the heart, some years pre- vious. When I opened the letter, imagine my surprise when a fifty-dollar bill presented itself to me. The letter read : — ''Dear Mrs. Johnson, I send you this, directed of God, feeling that you are in need of money. I had a most peculiar dream this morning before I wakened; I saw myself standing alone on the bank of a clear lake of \^'^ter. Everything looked beau- tiful to me, and as I stood in admiration of the landscape and scenery on either side of this beautiful lake, my attention was THE HEALING FAITH AND POWER OF GOD. 101 cMled to an object out in the centre of the lake. I looked intently to see more clearly what it was, and discovered it was the hand and arm of a woman in the act of drowning, for I could see the sleeve and well-rounded arm and hand distinctly. But oh, the terrible feeling that came over me as I stood there, helpless, looking at that hand extended to heaven for help — and I could not reach her! I awakened trembling all over, and in earnest supplication to God besought Him to help me to understand the dream. I feared that either one of my daughters was in danger, and I have held them in prayer be- fore God since I awoke; but when I read your letter, dear Mrs. Johnson, although you do not speak of yourself as needy, I feel that it is not my daughter who is in the depths of drown- ing, but you, and I send you this fifty dollars without a mo- ment's delay. Write me please, and tell me all." I wrote this dear friend a letter of thankfulness, telling her that the fifty dollars gave me enough with what I had to pay my rent on the first of the month, also a httle over — that I saw God very blessedly in her dream, that I reaHzed I was out in the clear water of the river of life, apparently out of reach of those on the material shore ; nevertheless. He has His watch- men on the walls of Zion to see that nothing is lost. They will bring to the rescue such as can and will sustain me. I shall never drown, dear friend. His life-boat is ever near — He has made you His messenger this time to row me ashore. He will send some one else to the rescue undoubtedly when the next need presents itself. May He ever find you waiting and watch- ing with your lamp trimmed and burning, waiting to be led by Him. Every day I saw God's hand in sustaining and directing the workings of that house, in the Divine Revelations of His love and wisdom at all times. It has been to me a blessed school, in which I learned, through tried and severe experi- ences, the conflict which is going on between spirituality and materialism, between selfishness and unselfishness, between health and strength and its opposite, sickness, weakness, and suffering. Each lesson has contained volumes to me, books full of wisdom, that in the future will bring fight to humanity, 102 THE HEALING VOICE. and glory to the God of all truth. Rut I am getting away from the working record of the Institute. Suffice it to say, that each month's expenses were invariably provided for, through that which was given as freewill offerings by those who were healed, so that, at the end of the first year, the house was out of debt — the furniture and carpets were all paid for. Six months later, the adjoining house was rented and con- nected with 200, with the additional faith and hope that the God who had so bountifully provided means to do so much good in the past year and a half, would sustain and fill with needy souls, both houses for His own glory and the good of His suffering children. * I found it hard to make my friends see that this second house was not too great a venture. Two thousand dollars a year rental, besides all your other expenses! they would say: my dear Mrs. Johnson, are you quite sure God wants you to do this? I told them yes; if I knew my God, and I had cause to believe I did, T am quite sure I heard His voice telling me to take the second house, which I have taken, and furnished like the first. There have been times during the occupancy of those two houses when it did seem as if the spirit of unbelief and persecution which has followed me, would overwhelm me, and ingulf this Gospel Ship, and all on board would go down into the depths of despair, and the cause would be buried be- neath infidelity and scepticism; yet through it all God has allowed me to feel charitably towards all, especially for the unconverted ministers, who hold in themselves the spirit of jealousy and hate toward others, especially women, who have left all to follow Christ Jesus. These men are in the gall and bitterness of the flesh, and this is the Dragon's spirit spoken of in Revelation, persecuting the woman and her child, — the Truth. They cannot hurt nor harm one hair of the head of those who are hid with Christ in God. Christ said, "In this world ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace." The Healing Voice, published from the Institute beginning with October, 1884, was a heavy source of expense, and also a blessed outlet for the truth, giving the varied workings of God's THE HEALING FAITH AND POWER OF GOD. 103 Holy Spirit, in healing the sick souls and bodies of His people, and giving them understanding with regard to their privileges in Christ. It carried the light of the Spirit, the Gospel of full salvation, to many homes. It is difficult for me to say whether the Healing Voice or the houses blest me the most; both were all that I could struggle under, spiritually and financially. They seemed to me at times more than I could possibly bear, yet God was waiting neap, as if hiding behind the dark, heavy clouds, until through human experience my soul, mind, and body were so expanded in faithfulness toward Him, that each burden brought to me the visible presence of His Spirit in power, lifting from the soul the earthly burdens of responsibility. This made me strong in faith, and wise in Him, more capable of going out farther and farther into the mysteries of life revealed through pure, unfaltering faith; yes, carried out into the ocean of God's love. I find, dear friends, that our spiritual educa- tion is attained through the trying school of explorations in this spiritual life of faith. The eye of faith leads the way into this unknowable land, rich and rare in treasures yet untold. We must be willing to go down into the depths and up into the heights of God's mysterious universe of worlds. A prac- tical knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ is learned through walking with Him through the vale of tears, also up into the glories of Mount Sinai; and unless we have been down into the deepest and darkest place, and feel and see Him there, and know beyond all question that His Spirit" sustains, having come up with Him into the highest effulgence of His glory, receiving understanding^ all that the eyes of our soul can bear, and are proved and tested, and thereby taught in every par- ticular, we cannot understand the heights and depths of the joy, peace, and power which is in store for those who love God, and are to enjoy with Him the unspeakable riches of His glory. The Christ Healing Institute has been a very blessed school to me, although I often felt as if I had gone back to the serving of tables, owing to the amount of domestic cares which rested upon me. I wish to say for the glory of God, that His work has been 104 THE HEALING VOICE. miraculous. I saw His power as visibly with us, as it was at the marriage at Cana of Galilee, when He turned the water into wine. I had also the clear evidence that Christ is as able to-day to feed five thousand people on five loaves and a few fishes as He was by the shores of Galilee. He has fed thou- sands with the bread of life, in and through this work which was begun in so small a way, with a few dollars blessed by Him. The few dollars, Hke the loaves and fishes, increased in the seven years, to where were gathered up very many baskets full of the fragments left us from the feast God enabled us to spread before the New York people, and also the nations. The Healing Voice has gone forth on its mission of love, carrying the everlasting Gospel of the Son of God, to the people of every land. We shall never know in this world how many souls were fed through this small beginning. Like the mustard seed the man sowed in his field, it became in time a tree, where the fowls of the air came and built their nests within its branches. May many souls find through our ex- perience, and the workings of the Holy Spirit through us, a resting-place under the shadow of the Father's Almighty Love ! Child of My love, lean hard, And let Me feel the pressure of thy care: I know thy burden, child; I shaped it, Poised it in Mine own hand, made no proportion In its weight to thine unaided strength: For even as I laid it on, I said, "I shall be near, and while she leans on Me, The burden shall be mine, not hers. So shall I keep My child within the circling arms Of mine own love." Here lay it down, nor fear To impose it on a shoulder which upholds The government of worlds. Yet closer come — Thou art not near enough. I would embrace thy care, So I might feel My child reposing on My heart. Thou lovest Me? I know it. Doubt not then, But loving Me, lean hard. — Selected. CURED THROUGH FAITH AND PRAYER. 105 CURED THROUGH FAITH AND PRAYER. Mrs. K., a lady of middle age, paralyzed for two years, was brought to the Institute for healing. She was unable to stand alone, and her right arm was helpless. I prayed for her, laying my hands on her head, after which she was able to walk, without assistance, back and forth across the room, raising the helpless arm to her head, and using it in various ways, showing she had been given the full use of it. She left the house, walking unaided, to the great delight of her daugh- ter and grand-daughter, who rejoiced with her and acknowl- edged God as the only physician (all others having failed in her case). Mrs. K , of Brooklyn, a lady between sixty and seventy years of age, had been paralyzed three years on one side. I was called to see her at her own home, as she was not able to be brought to me. I prayed for her, laying my hands on her head. After the prayer, I said to her. Now let me help you walk across the room, in the name of the Lord. We walked together a few times, and then she tried it alone, and for the first time in three years, walked in freedom. At first it was a little tottering, but step by step she gained strength and confidence in herself and in her God. I left her full of praise and thanksgiving. The next day, her son brought her to me, over six miles, by carriage. She remained one week, her improvement during that time being something marvellous. Before I prayed with her, it took two persons to support her up one flight of stairs, but while at the Institute she walked up and down stairs with no other assistance than my walking beside her. Surely, no power save that of Almighty God could give this remarkable strength to nerves and muscles so long weakened by disease and disuse. Mrs. M suffered with attacks of severe headache for years, was cured, the cause of the headaches removed, and her soul baptized with the Holy Spirit. Mrs. D. G , cured of liver and stomach trouble of years' standing. 106 THE HEALING VOICE. Mr. L brought his son, who had suffered for nine years from epileptic fits, to the Institute for healing. The young man's mind was weakened by the disease, and at times he would be so unruly that nothing could be done with him. The family at such times feared violence from him, and often had to go out of his reach. The father told me of his son's sufferings (he would have these fits as often as twice a day), and of the continual anxiety he gave his father and mother, and begged me to pray God to heal him. I was shown the scars where, during one of his fits, the young man had fallen upon the stove and been burned, and his father said to me, ''It is like the case they brought to Jesus, of the young man who was possessed with devils; can they be cast out of my son?" I had faith given me to beheve they could, and I prayed for him. From the first prayer, he was a changed being; he had no more fits, and his mind became so clear, and his spirit so prayerful, that he now sings praises to God, instead of giving utterance to the visible power of evil spirits. His father told me he ate enough for three persons — could not apparently get food enough to satisfy him — I replied, "Through your son you must have fed legions of them!" Mr. Peter H , of Brooklyn, came into the Institute hobbling, leaning on a heavy cane. He told a pitiful story of ten years' suffering from rheumatism, and his drawn face and bent form attested the truth of his words. I asked him if he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. He replied that he did for his soul, but he did not fully for his body. I was able to show him by the word of God, that the same power that saved the soul could heal the body, and, glad to be taught his rights as a Christian, he humbly prayed God to forgive him all his past sins, and to heal him of his present afflictions. I fervently united my faith and prayers with his, and had the satisfaction of seeing an immediate answer to our petitions, and God's powers manifested in the body of this feeble brother. When he entered the house he was too weak to stand,- unless sup- ported by his stick; now he walked the room praising God, with a face radiant with new hope and joy, too happy to touch CURED THROUGH FAITH AND PRAYER. 107 his cane. *'No, no," he said as he was leaving, "I will not take it with me; I might be tempted to turn to it, in a moment of weakness, and I am going to trust in God only." He has visited the house, attending our meetings, since, still in the spirit of praise and thanksgiving for the health, and strength, and peace of God, which he possesses. Miss M. G , of Brooklyn, came, leaning on a stout cane, having suffered for eight years with a violent pain in the knee. At times, she said, the knee was so tender that she could not bear any covering on it. She wore, by ad^dce of her physician, an elastic stocking. This I removed, laying my hand upon the knee in the name of the Lord. All pain instantly vanished from it, and since that prayer she has had no trouble with it. A young lady. Miss J^ , of Saratoga, was cured of epilepsy over two years ago; she has never had a return of the fits. Praise God for the great evidence we have that He is the same Almighty Saviour. Mrs. W , of Newark, came, in the last stages of con- sumption, having been given up by physicians. I prayed with her, and at the close of the prayer she exclaimed, "I am healed! I know it," and she certainly seemed to have taken a new lease of life. Strength was visibly given her, and her mother and son wept over her tears of joy. She visited me daily for eight days, coming from Newark, N. J., to New York each day. This shows that consumption is as readily controlled by the Great Physician as any other disease. "All power is given me," Jesus said, "in heaven and on earth." "Ye are my witnesses saith the Lord." I am astonished that people do not awake to a consciousness of their privileges in the Lord, and be well and strong and happy. Another case of consumption was brought to the Institute — a young lady of twenty years of age, in the last stages of the disease. She w^as unable to turn in bed, with the pain and soreness in her lungs. I talked with her, instructing her in faith. She was willing to learn the wav of the Lord, so that 108 THE HEALTXG VOICE. she might be in a proper spirit to be prayed for. She was very- anxious to live, if God would only spare her lifel I prayed with her, and for her, and then said, ''Now trust God ixn- phcitly, and when you feel as if you would like to turn in bed, ask Him for Christ's sake to take away your pain, and you will have your prayer answered. I left the room, and in less than an hour I w^as called back to hear the good news that all the pain and soreness was gone, and that the patient could help herself and move about in bed without suffering. She said, "I am healed and am sure God has healed me." Certainly, from that time she had no more pain, nor the old racking cough. AVhen she raised phlegm, it was without any apparent effort. Finally even that ceased, and she sang hymns of praise to God as sweetly and loudly as anyone in the house. She left for her home three weeks afterward, having the spirit of the Lord witnessing with her spirit. She w^as a professor of religion before she came to the Institute, — she left it, a possessor. St. Paul tells us, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for," but he also says, "when ye have received that which you hoped for, it ceases to be hope; it is a reaHty." Thus when professing Christians come to be healed, they need to be brought into their true relationship to God through Christ the Lord, wherein they become possessors as well as professors, and when they go away it is as living Christians, children of God, walking in obedience to the Voice of EQs Spirit, finding in Him a present Sa\dour, — One who has saved them and they know it; One who is keeping them from sin and sickness. They know this. It is no longer a hope, but a reality. To them Christ has revealed Himself as the Saviour of their souls, and the healer of their bodies, and this consciousness makes them li\'ing witnesses of the truth, and endues them with His Spirit of Peace and Rest. JESUS, THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. 109 JESUS, THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. A Sermon Delivered by Mrs. Anna J. Johnson, at the Christ Healing Institute, Sunday, October 5TH, 1884. " Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha." — St. John xl. This chapter reveals the mission of Jesus, the power of Jesus, and salvation through Jesus. His mission was to re- deem the people. The same spirit that manifested itself in Jesus in that day, is to manifest itself at the present time; the same gospel that was preached through Jesus in that day, must be preached through His followers at the present time; the same spirit that Hved in Jesus then, must live in the human nature that claims Christ as a Saviour. The same spirit that came forth from the Father, manifesting itself in the earthly nature of Jesus revealing the incarnate God, will be revealed in the human souls that walk in the will of the Father at the present time. The same spirit that manifested itself in Jesus being manifested in us, has the same power to-day that it had in that day; it can say as Jesus did: "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God." Why is the revealed will of the Father in this day ques- tioned? Because it was questioned in that day. Martha said unto Jesus, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know that even now, what- soever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee." Jesus saith unto her, "Thy brother shall rise again." Martha saith unto Him, "I know that He shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus said unto her, "I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Behevest thou this?" She saith unto Him, "Yea, Lord: I beheve that thou art the Christ." But when Jesus led the way to the tomb, and com- manded them to roll away the stone, she said, "Lord, by this 110 THE HEALING VOICE. time he stinketh for he hath been dead four days." Jesus saith unto her, "Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst be- lieve, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" Then Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth," and Lazarus came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes. The Christ that called Lazarus forth knew when He talked with Mary and Martha, that it was a sickness not unto death, but for the glory of God. Jesus saw that He had to go away for a time, to let the man die apparently, that others might believe He was the Christ. Jesus knew He might stay away until He was moved by the Father to return to Martha and Mary, and then to reveal to them and to the Jews, and to His dis- ciples, that He was the Jesus, the Son of the Living God. Although Martha and Mary loved Him, yet they could not believe until they had the evidence, and so it is with the people of this day, they cannot believe these things until they have the evidence, and even after they have it, many do just as the Jews and Pharisees did in that day — although they see it, some doubt. About three years ago I felt that the Lord wanted me to go to Newark, N. J. There was but one person in Newark that I knew, a lady who was healed through me at Ocean Grove. I could not quite understand why the Lord should want me to go and see her. She had not wTitten as often as she said she would, and I wondered and reasoned, until I became confused. I said to my daughter, "I don't know why it is, but my mind is very much divided, as to whether God wants me to go to Newark or Boston." She said to me, "Why don't you ask the Lord which place He wants you to go?" After asking, I said, "Daughter, the Lord shows me a very dark way before me, but beyond it a bright light like the light of His coming. It seems as though it was the kingdom of Jesus Christ on the earth, it is so brilliantly clear." "Whatever the trials, or the dark way may be, it is so bright beyond that it will more than make up for the trials that I may have to pass through." I said to my daughter, "If you come home and find me away, you may know the Lord has taken me, and I will telegraph you from whatever point I am at." The following day on JESUS, THE RESURRECTION AND THE LITE. Ill crossing Sixth Avenue about Eighth Street, it was said, " Take the Christopher Street car to the ferry." I said, '^Lord, is it Newark?" and the words came, "It is Newark." After I got on the other side of the river and took the train, we had gone but a Httle way when it became very dark — having entered the tunnel. I knew nothing of the tunnel, and I said, '^Dear Lord, is this the darkness? If so, it is not so great a trial after all." The train went on, and I was peaceful and happy. Arriving at Newark I inquired the way to my friend's house, and strange to say, everybody I met had the shadow of death resting upon them, like a pale white veiling, and I said, "Dear Lord, what is the matter with Newark? There is death here. Is this lady I am going to see sick unto death? Oh I what is the matter?" There was no reply. Still every one that I looked at seemed to have this shadow resting over them. I went on to the house, rang the bell; it was answered, and they told me this lady was at her sister's, whose husband was dying. I stood still for a moment, and said, "Lord, what does this mean? Have I been mistaken in coming here?" While I was considering it, the person who opened the door said, "I will point out the house, it is very near; you can call there and see her." She pointed it out, and I felt I was to go to the house. She was rejoiced to see me, and said, "I am so glad, Mrs. Johnson, you came at this time. My brother-in-law is dying; come in." I hesitated, and said, "Lord, am I to go into this house of mourning and death?" I was moved to follow her into the parlor, and she beckoned her sister in the back parlor to come there, and said, "This is Mrs. Johnson, through whom I was healed." She took me by the hand, and said, "Come into the other room." I followed them, and found before me the substance of the shadow, a man dying. I stood transfixed before death, and in communion said: "Lord Jesus, Thou art the resurrection and the life. You have brought me face to face with death; what is Thy will concerning this man?" The Lord showed me that the man's lamp was trimmed and burning. I turned to the wife and said, "He is prepared, his lamp is trimmed and burning." 112 THE HEALING VOICE. She said, ''I feel that he is, he has made his peace with God." Then I was led to remove my mantle and bonnet, and lay my hand on the man's head. Not praying with the man, but talking with God, His Spirit revealing to me the nature and condition of the man's soul and body. The man drew a long deep breath three times. He said, "I have not breathed that way in a long time." I did not feel moved by it. His wife and sister stood looking on, and as I sat there a few minutes longer, a cloud of darkness came from the man over me, cause- in g me to almost lose consciousness. I could not see the Light of the Lord, nor the will of the Lord; I felt I must walk out in the open air. I did so, and his wife followed me, and said, "Mrs. Johnson, what do you think of my husband?" I replied, "I believe the Lord will spare him to you." She said, "He has been a good husband," and I again rephed, "He will be a truer man, a better husband than he has ever been before." After we had talked a little I went back, and sat down again by the side of the man, feeling free and clear in the Lord, and while I sat there the man became so wxU and strong in himself that he said, "I feel able to be dressed.'^ I left the house, and went with my friend to her own home; and the man arose and dressed himself, and walked that house in the strength of the Lord, in the power of His Spirit, praising God in the fullness of his nature, so filled with the glory of God that there was nothing in him but praise. Thus this human nature was resurrected and came forth from a living death. When his physician, Dr. Hagar, heard it, he came hurriedly to the house saying, "I heard outside that Mr. Williams had recovered, walked the room." The Doctor talked with him and said, "This is of God, Mr. Wil- Hams, all of God, for this morning when I left you, there was no medicine that could have done anything for you, nor was there power in man to do an3^thing; this is the power of God." Is not this the spirit of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost manifesting itself in the human soul, raising the dead at the present day, as it did over eighteen hundred years ago? This same Gospel that was revealed in Christ Jesus is to be lived out in men and women now. And when that Gospel is REPORT OF TESTIMONIES. 115 thus revealed, we shall have Christ's human nature mani- fested in us. No sick or troubled one who comes to us in faith beheving, but what will be delivered from the power of sin^ and the evil in this w^orld; because this Gospel is the power of God unto salvation — it is the glory of the Truth — it is the resurrection power, the Hfe of the Spirit — the risen Christ. This is Christianity as Christ taught it ; this is the only Chris- tianity that honors Him; this is the way in which the Will of the Father is to be revealed, the manifestation of His Word — the living principle and power of Christ's Gospel, revealed in the soul, mind, and body of the human "sons and daughters of God." REPORT OF THE TESTIMONIES AT THE GOSPEL SERVICES. Mrs. Johnson said: — "It is helpful to each of you to tes- tify; it will strengthen and bless you, and make room in your heart for more peace and joy." Le Grand B. C n, cured of morphine, liquor and tobacco habit. I was taken sick about four weeks ago. Dr. L. (my mother's family physician for twelve years) gave me medicine, which I took — without benefit. I was growing worse all the time, w^hen an old friend called upon me, and said, "You are not taking the right kind of medicine for your disease; what you want is 'blackberry brandy;' that will cure you." So I took one quart a day — for five days — and, of course, it made me worse. I called on my physician, and he said, "I must give you morphine." He gave me morphine for twelve days. Dr. Lawrence, a friend of mine, called in one Sunday morning. I was still under the effects of the drug. He said, "Come, get up, and go to meeting with me." I said, "Don't talk about meeting; it is just about time for another dose." "Well," said he, "take another dose, and it will kill you; get up! We are going into Mrs. Johnson's meeting this after- noon." "Oh, they will think I am crazy, or an old dead beat," I repHed. "Well," he says, "you and I will go." So 114 THE HEALING VOICE. I came in, and heard Mrs. Johnson read a chapter in the Bible. At the close she prayed for me, and taught me to pray for myself, and / have had no desire since that Sunday afternoon for morphine or liquor. My physician said to me, "Where have you been? hiding away from me?" I said, "Dr. Lawrence wouldn't let me take any more morphine," and I told him about my visit to Mrs. Johnson. He looked steadily at me and said, "LeGrande, I have heard about the power of prayer, but I never have seen such a specimen of it as you are. You were filled with mor- phine; you got down on your knees and begged for it, so that I had to give it to you. Now I have the living evidence in you that what you say is true." Mr. D. testified: "I praise God for the blessing that I have received since I have been trusting God. "I have suffered greatly from what physicians called lum- bago. They gave me no help. I came to Mrs. Johnson's, and learned how to put myself in God's hands and I became well, and I praise God to-day for it." Miss J., cured of paralysis, said: "Each day I am strength- ened, and feel that all Mrs. Johnson teaches us, the Lord will do; and He is teaching me as a little child to trust Him." Mr. H. v.: "I can certify to the powxr of the Lord that cured me of dysentery. I used medicine for eight days, and gave up the medicine entirely because it did me no good. I came here to Mrs. Johnson, and was cured entirely of that disease. "I have trusted God every day since, and I hope the Lord will keep me, both soul and body." Rev. Mr. S., of this city: "I did not come here to say any- thing, Mrs. Johnson, I came rather to Hsten. However, I will say that I have very great faith; I have absolute faith in the power of the Lord to keep fully the soul and the body. The truth of the doctrine has grown upon me the last year or two with very great power, and I noAv can scarcely see how anyone who reads the Scripture, can have any doubt of it at all. The doctrine about the forgiveness of sin seems to cover it entirelv. REPORT OF TESTIMONIES. 115 "As soon as we put ourselves in such an alliuide towards God that His Hfe-giving power can flow into us, then He forgives us our sins. He never holds them against us. We never treasure up the sins of our children. "When they brought him that was sick to Christ to be healed, He said unto him, 'Thy sins be forgiven,' and when questioned. He said, 'Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, arise and walk. But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins. Then saith he to the sick of the palsy. Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thine house.' This shows that the forgiveness of sins is for the soul, and all that is neces- sary for us is to give ourselves up to the Lord so completely, to lose our life in His so fully, that His hfe can flow into and through us." Laura G. H. said: "Having been under the care of doctors for several years, without receiving much benefit, I had al- most lost hope, when my attention w^as called to Mrs. John- son last June. I ^^sited her, and had her assurance she could cure me. I continued my visits for seven days, and found more rehef in those seven days than I ever had during my entire sickness. I improved so rapidly and felt so well that I left the city to make a long ^dsit, and during that time I strayed away from Mrs. Johnson, and, in a great measure from God. On my return to the city I was taken very sick from inhaling stove gas, resulting in pneumonia. I w^anted the best medical skill I could get, and knew of no place better than St. Vincent's Hospital. My husband being absent at the time, I sent for a friend, and was taken to the hospital on Wednesday. I knew,, after I had been examined by the doctors, that they did not understand my disease, and I grew w^orse every hour. On Friday my husband came, and when he saw me, he had no- hope of my recovery. On Saturday night about 12 o'clock I felt a change, but did not know^ what it w^as at first, but soon felt it was death. I was all alone in the room, as the nurses only visit twice in the night. I prayed for some one to come to me, but no one came. I w^as in that sinking condition for nearly an hour; all hope of ever seeing my husband or chil- 116 THE HEALING VOICE.