A felon was delivered to them for experiment to test the power of mind over body; and they did test it, and proved it. They proved it not in part, but as a whole; they proved that every organ of the system, every function of the body, is governed directly and entirely by mind, else those functions could not have been stopped by mind independently of material conditions. Had they changed the felon's belief that he was bleeding to death, removed the bandage from his eyes, and he had seen that a vein had not been opened, he would have resuscitated. The illusive origin of disease is not an exception to the origin of all mortal things. Spirit is causation, and the ancient question, Which is first, the egg or the bird? is answered by the Scripture, He made “every plant of the field before it was in the earth.”
Heaven's signet is Love. We need it to stamp our religions and to spiritualize thought, motive, and endeavor. Tireless Being, patient of man's procrastination, affords him fresh opportunities every hour; but if Science makes a more spiritual demand, bidding man go up higher, he is impatient perhaps, or doubts the feasibility of the demand. But let us work more earnestly in His vineyard, and according to the model on the mount, bearing the cross meekly along the rugged way, into the wilderness, up the steep ascent, on to heaven, making our words golden rays in the sunlight of our deeds; and “these signs shall follow them that believe; . . . they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”
