Practical others how. CHARLES. To set an example. WELLES. To resist temptation and show GEORGE. To repent, and make other people. JOHN B. and AUGUSTINE. MR. ALCOTT. Obedience to Conscience. What is Conscience? JOHN B. Our Goodness. MR. ALCOTT. Is there no goodness in Conscience SAMUEL R. To be good, and do good. ELLEN. Self-sacrifice of every thing bad in us, our passions, &c. LUCIA. Sacrifice our body to our Spirits. Temperance. MR. ALCOTT. What is the name of the virtue that takes care of the body? LEMUEL. Temperance. LUCY. Self-control is the great end of life. MR. ALCOTT. Jesus said he was doing his Father's work. End of Life. Now will each of you tell me what work you are doing? CHARLES. Trying to be better; but I do not succeed. I have small works besides of a different kind. WILLIAM C. My work is play. (Almost all the rest held up hands.) MR. ALCOTT. Who live principally to gratify themselves? (Several held up hands.) Who like themselves as well as any body? (Three held up hands.) Who like others better? Diffusion of Good. (The rest.) CHARLES. What did Jesus mean by saying "One sows and another reaps"? One does right and others imitate. MR. ALCOTT. The Sower is seldom the reaper. Who is the great sower. AUGUSTINE. Jesus. MR. ALCOTT. What does the woman Self-Knowledge. mean by the words, "He told me all that ever I did"? GEORGE. The principal things in her life. MR. ALCOTT. There are some people who seem to know us, and all that is in us; such understand Human Nature the seat and source of Wisdom in the Con sciousness, CONVERSATION X X X V. QUICKENING AGENCY OF SPIRIT. REANIMATION. - - Healing of the Nobleman's Son, from the Sacred Text. Sensualism. Spiritualism. Spiritual Faith. Healing Agency of Faith. Faith and Reason. Pictures of the Curing. Revival of Consciousness. Divine Radiance. Primal Holiness or Depravity. - Sympathetic Faith. - Ideal Physician. School for Physical and Spiritual Culture. MR. ALCOTT. Jesus was going to Galilee, you know, when he stopped at the well near Sychar. He went on to Cana, where he had made the water into wine. Here the circumstance is mentioned, which I shall now read. HEALING OF THE NOBLEMAN'S SON AT CANA. Vulgar Era, 27. Julian Period, Faith. 4740. JOHN iv. 43-54. 43 Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee. 44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no Cana, in Galilee. honor in his own country. 45 Then, when he was come into Galilee, the Galilæans * Matt.xii. 7. received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast for they also went unto the feast. 1 ch. ii. 1. 11. 46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, † where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judæa into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. 48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. 49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my Cana, in Galilee. child die. 50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. 52 Then inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. 54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judæa into Galilee. SEVERAL. I was interested in the words, "Thy son lives." Sensualism. GEORGE B. I thought of the words "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe." They liked material actions, such as making the sick well. JOHN B. He thought the nobleman would not believe without some sign to his outward eyes. MR. ALCOTT. Can we depend on such signs as these ? JOHN B. Not so much as on spiritual miracles, such as giving up your body to make people better. To turn the water into wine is a material miracle. People like material miracles best generally—but they are not so real as the spiritual ones. All their use is to be signs of spiritual miracles. MR. ALCOTT. Which kind do you like best? Spiritualism. JOHN B. Spiritual; for I can understand spiritual things better than I can material things, and sometimes material miracles deceive us, because we do not know what they are signs of, but to know the spiritual things makes me understand the material. MR. ALCOTT. Who else understands spiritual things best? (Many held up hands.) Who understand material things best? (Several held up hands.) Spiritual Faith. JOHN B. The nobleman believed in spiritual things. It says he "believed with his whole house." ONE. It interested me most, that when he was going home, the servants should meet him and tell him his son was well. FREDERIC. It interested me, that the nobleman went expecting a certain sort of answer; and as he received such an one as he expected, he believed. I meant to say something else, but I have lost it. WELLES. Jesus cured the son, because he saw the father had faith. First, Jesus told him he would not believe, except he saw signs and wonders. But when he saw the man did believe, he told him to go, for the wonder was done as he would find. MR. ALCOTT. Which comes first, faith or the sign? WELLES. Sometimes one and sometimes the other. I think Jesus said that about the signs and wonders, to see what the man would say, and how much faith he had. MR. ALCOTT. Can you see any connexion Healing Agency between the faith and the curing? What acted on the child? of Faith. WELLES. The word that Jesus said; and he said the word because of the man's faith. MR. ALCOTT. What sort of word was it that was spoken? |