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LESSON XII

 

FORMULAS, THEIR USE AND VALUE

 

            AS we have already given the general outline of both the theory and practise of metaphysical science as applied to healing in its widest sense, we shall only in this last lesson briefly review the ground already traversed, and try to help you to see the value of those much controverted formulas which, while nothing in and of themselves, are nevertheless as forms of sound words, calculated to confer inestimable benefit on those who use them understandingly, or who are led by hearing them or seeing them in print, to meditate carefully upon the ideas they so tersely embody. You must all have noted many times in your experience how vividly you have been struck and deeply impressed by some words you have heard, not, perhaps, meant for your ears, or by some motto you have seen upon the wall of some railway waiting room. We have known of cases where a scripture text or other motto has prevented suicide. One case in particular we will relate as a sample instance, and we are sure many of our readers can easily collect similar anecdotes. A young woman quite alone in the world, without any settled religious belief or conviction of any kind, poorly educated and inured to neglect and misery, was driven to the utmost verge of

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desperation by the coldness and unkindness of those who ought to have befriended her. She was travelling in search of work; everything looked blank before her, and as the train stopped at a side station where she was expecting to find some employment, but where no one met her, she sat down in a dreary waiting room alone and hungry to await the coming of a woman who had written to her to accept a hard situation for very little pay, and revolved it in her mind whether she had not better end her miserable existence in the river which was close at hand. Without trust in God or man, or in any form of spiritual protection, her eyes seemed suddenly fascinated by a hitherto unrecognized text upon the wall, “The Lord will provide,” the word will particularly struck her; it shone out, a certain declaration, no faltering may, but a decisive will. As she gazed spell-bound at the words, which all the while seemed as though they were being burned into her consciousness by some invisible agency, the wall seemed to grow transparent, and through the apparently diaphanous substance she saw a figure pointing to a pleasant villa residence on the bank of the river farther up the stream, (which was a winding one) than the ordinary eye of a spectator could behold.

 

            It seemed to her as though a beautiful lady was holding the text in one hand over her head, and with the other beckoning the girl to follow. So deeply impressed was the girl with this vision, which lasted for fully half an hour, that when it faded and the room resumed its previous bare appearance, she went out of the station and followed the course of the river a considerable distance without seeing any house at all

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resembling the villa of her vision. When almost ready to abandon what promised to be a fruitless search, and attribute her strange experience to hallucination, the effect of weariness, she saw rising before her in a most picturesque region a house identical with the one which had created so forcible an impression on her inner consciousness. Hurrying toward it, running to the door and eagerly ringing the bell, she found herself at once asking the neat young woman who answered the door whether the lady of the house was in search of some one to do plain needlework or assist in the housework. Before the girl had time to reply, a clear, commanding, yet gentle voice, said, “Show the stranger into the parlour; I wish to see her.” On entering the room, she stood face to face with a beautiful lady in middle life, but looking much younger than her years, who said, “So you have answered my call, have you? Is it not better to come here and work for your living in is pleasant place, where you will always be well cared for, than go out alone among persons who do not even keel their appointments to meet strangers at the depot?” And then, looking very steadfastly at the girl, she said, with intense but most kindly emphasis, “The Lord did provide not a grave in the river, but a home in the valley, for His tired and sorrowing child.” At these words the girl, who had been standing silent and motionless while the stately lady was addressing her, impulsively burst forth into eager questioning: “But, madam, how could you know what my thoughts were, or anything about me; you have never been to Binghamton, where I was born and reared – have you?”

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The lady replied, with a sweet and knowing smile, “No, my child, I have never been to Binghampton, and I never saw you until to-day, but there are many ways of getting acquainted with people, of which you, as yet, know nothing. But you must rest to-night after you have had some refreshment. Louisa, the young woman who answered the door, will provide you with all you require, and at nine o’clock to-morrow morning I wish to see you and tell you many things it is important for you to understand, with reference to the position I offer you in my household. I know you are willing to perform its duties and will serve your employers faithfully.” With many protestations of fervent gratitude, the weary, but now hopeful and almost happy girl, left the presence of her mysterious benefactor, and after a good wholesome supper retired to bed and went to sleep in the prettiest room she had ever occupied. The apartment was simply and inexpensively, but beautifully because artistically furnished. Everything spoke of order and method, but not an unnecessary article could be detected anywhere.

 

            The following morning she awoke precisely at seven o’clock hearing, her name called, “Marie Florence Hepworth, it is time for you to rise.” Here was another surprise. How could anyone in that locality know her name? She had always been called Mary, occasionally her ears hid been offended by that grating mispronunciation of the soft and lovely Italian Maria which seems to be spelt Mayryre, but Marie Florence carried her back on the swift wings of childish recollection to a delightful little chateau in Normandy

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where a tender mother, who passed to the unseen state when she was less than five years of age, said with departing breath, “God bless my little Marie Florence and keep her forever true to truth.” As she was dressing these words repeated themselves again and again to her inward ears, true to truth. What a sublime and comprehensive expression! She resolved to relate her experience of this morning to the kind lady in whose house she was for the first time in fifteen years beginning to feel what truth expressed through love might mean. At breakfast, which she took with the servants almost in silence, for her heart was too full for many words, she seemed to feel a presence looking at her and almost touching her, and as she felt that presence beside her or bending above her, her food seemed filled with, a subtle essence of life-giving power food had never possessed for her before. She felt palpably stronger with each mouthful, and her mind seemed to grow clearer with every particle she partook of. After finishing her meal she went into the large and beautiful garden which skirted the river, and enjoyed the songs of birds, the perfume of flowers and the general loveliness of the almost enchanted scene until the clock on the village church rang out nine, when she immediately returned to the house and presented herself to the noble lady to whom she was already so deeply indebted, and toward whom the deepest and tenderest emotions of gratitude were already stirred in her bosom. The lady received her with a gracious smile and inviting her to be seated said, “Now we are ready for serious conversation, and as I have much to say to you, I have given orders that we shall be quite undisturbed for

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at least two hours. Come with me to my private apartment where I do all my specially important work, we can there talk without fear of interruption. Entering the charming boudoir, fitted up with that peculiar grace and elegance which seems the natural habitat of truly refined people, the girl was at once struck with a magnificent illumination between the windows, “The Lord Will Provide.” These words stood out in flashing brilliancy, as though traced in letters of moving fire. From the earthly standpoint only a cunning contrivance of the decorator’s art, but when viewed spiritually, capable of opening up a field of mystical research which ages can not fully unravel. Taking the girl very gently by the hand and kissing her softly on the brow, the lady seated her in a chair exactly in front of these wonderful words, and requesting her to remain quite passive for a few moments, said, “relate whatever impression or vision comes to you” After about five minute’s silent gazing upon the words which riveted the attention of eyes and mind at once, she started visibly, and exclaimed, “Why, Madam! I see a thin, white, shining cord running through the air all along the road between here and the railway station, and it ends just with these same words traced upon the wall of the waiting-room where I sat yesterday and felt you calling me, for it must have been you, or I should never have been led as I have been, to this beautiful house.” Finding that the girl was truly receptive to mental influence of a high and practical order, the lady gave her valuable directions and much advice of inestimable worth, warning her of the danger of dabbling with occult forces for vain and sordid purposes, but dwelling chiefly upon the

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tremendous power for good inherent in thought, which is the greatest of all forces, and of which electricity is the first born child; she then proceeded to explain how concentration of gaze helps concentration of thought, and how it is possible to establish psychical connection between distant persons and places by means of what is sometimes called occult telegraphy. The telephone, microphone, audiphone and other marvels of nineteenth century skill are all products of a spiritual wave of enlightenment now sweeping over the earth and inciting inventive genius to outwardly portray in some degree the mighty silent power of intelligence which, in its higher modes of manifestation, accomplishes by invisible methods what physical inventions feebly externalize to the perception of mortal sense.

 

            As we have no space to continue this narrative which will be published in full in a story (1) setting forth the practical workings of the mental telegraph we must ask our readers to content themselves with pondering over this mystery of the connection between the texts in the lady’s boudoir and the depot waiting room. While cabalistic incantation, crystal seership and other marvels and mysteries of ancient occultism may be disregarded by multitudes to-day as degrading superstitions or devices of the evil disposed to lure the unsuspecting to their doom, we ought never to forget that the vilest form of black magic is nothing but a reversal of the purpose of beneficent mental operation. As you do not advise the destruction of the tongue or any other member of the human body because of its frequent

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perversion, so we are foolish indeed if we raise a cry of alarm either at the approach of spiritualism or theosophy, for both those systems contain so much of truth, and are expressions of so much hidden power in nature, that because the unscrupulous abuse their gifts and the ignorant sometimes get into trouble, is no reason whatever why intelligent people of every phase of opinion should not unite to clarify the air of mental pestilence by vigorously setting to work to comprehend and utilize the divine power of thought ever at their command. If the unscrupulous do occasionally deceive the unwary, if mercenariness does sometimes eclipse sense of duty in those who make gold their idol, the great majority of those who are practically engaged in the work of teaching and healing by mental methods are striving to obtain a clearer insight ‘than ever before into the mystic law of spirit which is fathomable by us only as we knock on the door of the temple of knowledge by earnest longing to bless rather than to be blessed.

 

            A formula or set form of words should always accord fully with the convictions of those who employ it or it cannot be faithfully made use of. In treating general cases, and in striving to keep yourselves fortified, terse, simple, comprehensive formulas are often useful.

 

NEGATIONS

 

            God is Omnipresent Good, therefore there is no evil.

 

            Matter has neither intelligence, sensation nor substance.

 

            There is neither sin, sickness nor death in Real Being.

 

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            God is working through me both to will and to do His good pleasure, therefore I need fear no evil.

 

AFFIRMATIONS

 

            God is Omnipresent Good.

 

            God is infinite love, wisdom and truth.

 

            God is Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Omnipotent. God is infinite life and substance.

 

            God is our Father and Mother.

 

            God fills all time, space and place

 

            I am in God.

 

            At the center of my being I am one with God.

 

            As man or woman I cannot get out of God.

 

            In the Real Being I am Well, because God is my health – and He is working through me to will and to do His good pleasure.

 

            These sentences, most of them compiled or selected by Mrs. Sara Harris, of Berkeley, Cal., are a good sample of formulas of value.

 

            Our special word of exhortation shall be: Do not permit yourselves to be blindly led by any human authority, however admirable. Remember that every great man and woman the world has ever seen was in one sense an original theorist. Imitators and copyists have never been the great ones in the ranks of science, literature or art. And as we admire originality wherever we find it, as original genius, rather than imitative, places the crown of unfading glory upon the brow of those who have possessed it, while we do well to pay deferential heed to all who would bring us words of truth or encouragement, let us acknowledge divine principle and not outward appearance, as our guide and director at all times and in all things.

 

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            With love and good will toward all, and malice toward none, realizing that the weapons of our warfare are spiritual and not carnal, let us go forward in our work, hand to hand, shoulder to shoulder and heart to heart, and let us ever remember that in union, but not in uniformity, there is strength. We do not desire all voices to sing anthems in unison, but we all desire to weave glorious harmonies in the anthem of our work. We desire to create symphonies rather than for all to carry the air. When we learn to symphonize; when we learn to harmonize, and thus fill in the different parts in the song, and play the different instruments of the orchestra; when we can be like great organs with many stops and pedals, producing many variations in sound – now soft as the gentlest zephyr, and now wild as the roar of the ocean on the occasion of some great storm; when we learn to appreciate the bright red of the poppy and the geranium, the purity of the white lily, the modest purple of time violet, and the. lovely family characteristics of the lily of the valley and the little blue forget-me-not; when we can learn to appreciate and imitate the grain of mustard seed, which is the tiniest of all seeds, and know that from the smallest, beginning the greatest result may be evolved, then, never faltering, but always pressing on, we forget the things behind, we forget all discouraging circumstances, and bravely press ahead to the radiant goal of perfection, which enamours our delighted vision, and spurs us on to the overcoming of the gravest difficulties, if we do but keep our mental gaze riveted upon it. We implore you not to look back, but to ever look forward.

 

            When the hosts of Israel had crossed the Red Sea, and had placed their feet upon the borders of another

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country, the words came from Jehovah to Moses, “Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.” Not that they look backward, nor that they stand still, nor even that they look, forward, but that they go forward. Let us take this motto for all our work: “Go forward,” and let us remember that while in the letter it may be an allegory, in the spirit it is al ways a fact that Lot’s wife, who looks back, is converted into a pillar of salt, a warning to those who come after her. Do not let us put our hands to the plow and then look back, and thus become unfit for the heavenly kingdom, but let our career be a continual forward march, and if it is such our success is inevitable.

 

            If any one character in poetry represents true metaphysicians more than another, it is Longfellow’s Alpine climber, who, in that charming lay, “Excelsior,” represents the true and glorious child of God and nature, who presses on to ultimate conquest, even over seeming total defeat. Longfellow’s “Excelsior,” is the representative of all true, noble workers. It stands for every true worker and his enterprise. The youth sees a high mountain before him; he determines to climb it. The worldly wise come to him and say: “Try not the pass.” They speak with the wisdom of age and experience, and they say: “Other people have been dashed to pieces; try it not! It is mad folly to attempt it.” The girl who loves him represents the affections of the lower nature. She comes with all the allurements of earthly affection, and urges him to desist from his enterprise, and rest with her, enjoying the sweets of life on an earthly plane. He is deaf to the entreaties alike of the sage and of the maiden, and pressing on and on,

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he still holds in his hand “The banner with the strange device, Excelsior.” He still sings that song, “Higher ever higher.”

 

            It seems at last as if he were utterly defeated, but when the monks, engaged in their devotions, and the dogs which are employed to ferret out travellers who fall asleep in the snow among the Alps, find the body of the beautiful boy, stiff and cold, ere they bury it there comes a voice from the heavens above, with all the light and brilliance of a descending star, and the word “Excelsior” is echoed from the heavens. Thus, from the uttermost confines of seeming defeat, the shout of eternal victory rends the air with the old glad note of triumph.

 

            That same old word which the boy sang in sadness and joy and in every hour of loneliness, we too, may sing as we press to the same dizzy, but glorious, height he so nobly won: In the final verse of Longfellow’s “Excelsior” are expressed the reward and certain victory of all true workers, embodied in the sweetest song. All works and all workers, who will place before them the highest and the noblest and the best, whatever their earthly end may be, whatever the seeming victory or defeat, must eventually triumph. Of one thing we may be sure, that all true, valiant heroes, all noble, conscientious, never-to-be-dismayed workers, become at length like Longfellow’s melodious star, whose shining gives light unto others, and encourages with the glorious notes of accomplished victory, bidding them ever to come higher, because, even though it be through earthly defeat, genuine victory is sure, and though earthly things may fail us, we enter

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through true devotion the light which ne’er grows dim.

 

            Let us take for our motto, then, “Excelsior.” And when that word enters into the very fiber of our thought, and becomes one with the very blood and sinew of our enterprise; when we are no longer content with lower things, and never gaze backward, but always forward; then for each and all, helping on the good work everywhere, victory of the only kind that can be loved and appreciated by true lovers of humanity is a foregone conclusion, an inevitable certainty. And thus let us endeavour to consecrate ourselves and make our homes places where the silent influence of uplifted thought may bless all who cross the threshold; let us all follow our highest inward light. Be true to the noblest within you; look to things eternal, and not to things temporal; delight in service to humanity, and not in present and private gratifications; and love not too well the things which perish in the using.

 

            Hearing one day a company of fashionable people discussing a musical entertainment given the previous evening before a large and brilliant throng composed chiefly of the élite of a fashionable society in a great and wealthy city, we were particularly struck with a criticism passed upon the performance of a young artist, whose rendering of an old, well-worn ballad was such as to give the old, familiar air a new and deeper meaning than it had ever seemed capable of conveying before. As he proceeded with his solo, he introduced some charming variations, which, to the quick ear of the very few present who had known what it was to be introduced in some slight measure to the inner sphere of music, (of which mechanical performers

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and professional critics know nothing,) he interpreted divinely beautiful thoughts never before associated with the song. “I should never have known it,” was the remark made by several who were commenting upon the performer’s skill, but how different a meaning did the same words convey uttered by two persons who both ventured to pass an opinion on a rarely beautiful musical effort – an effort in which inspired genius blended with the results of careful study and diligent application to technique.

 

            In one case the hard, cold, metallic, musical mechanician demurred at anything she could style an interpolation or change of original score; on the other hand, a perception, in some degree, of the spirit, rather than the letter, of harmony, enabled the other critic, who might more justly and reasonably be called a grateful and sympathetic disciple of genius, to respond to the electric thrill which always vibrates through an atmosphere pervaded with a subtle -force, generated only when combinations of sound are effected by a performer who transcends the stereotyped limits of technical exactitude.

 

            When the mind is enveloped in a thick shadow of externalism, higher voices than one is accustomed to hear produce the rather disagreeable effect of thunder on a nervous ear, and this rumbling noise causes aversion rather than promotes delight.

 

            To all who are seeking to work in harmony with superior thought, our counsel is, do not estimate your success in any measure by the amount of appreciation you win from a mixed multitude. If you succeed in reaching an unusually high goal or summit of attainment,

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you will not be appreciated by the masses as well as though you stood on a lower level, and were nearer their plane of thought; but it is only by reaching this sublimer elevation you can scientifically demonstrate that all disorders of the mind and body can be successfully vanquished through the operation of a power entirely beyond the physical. When you reach nearer than the multitude to this high station, your presence will heal all who are ready to receive a blessing through the introduction of purer thought into their mental sphere.