“Inconsistent! What a charge for an orthodox preacher to bring! Let us see: You say that the Scriptures teach that God made man in His image and likeness––the image and likeness of spirit. Very well. Spirit, God, is eternal, immortal. Then while He exists can His image fade away, or die? Can or would God cause it to do so? Can or would He destroy His own reflection? And could that image, always being like 58 Him, ever change, or manifest sin, or disease, or evil, unless God first manifested these things? And if God did manifest them, then, perforce, the image would have to do likewise. But, in that case, could God justly punish His image for faithfully reflecting its original? Consistent! Oh, it is you preachers, lacking sufficient spirituality to correctly interpret the Scriptures, who are wildly, childishly, ignorantly inconsistent!”
Carmen rose and faced the clergyman. “I did not mean to condemn you, Doctor,” she said earnestly. “I wage no warfare with persons or things. My opposition is directed only against the entrenched human thought that makes men spiritually blind and holds them in the mesmeric chains of evil. I am young, as you reckon years, but I have had much experience in the realm of thought––and it is there that all experience is wrought out before it becomes externalized. I have told you, my teacher was God. He used as a channel a priest, who came years ago to my little home town of Simití, in far-off Colombia. His life had been wrecked by holding to the belief of evil as a power, real and intelligent. He began to see the light; but he did not overcome fear sufficiently to make his demonstration and break the imaginary bonds which held him. He saw, but he did not prove. He will, some day. And, Doctor, you and everybody else will have to do the same. For, unless Jesus uttered the most malicious falsehoods ever voiced, every human being will have to take every step that he took, make every demonstration that he made, and prove all that he proved, before mortals will cease to consume with disease, perish miserably in accidents, and sink with broken lives into graves that do not afford a gateway to immortal life! My God is infinite, eternal, unchanging mind. The god of the preachers, judging from their sermons preached here, is a human, mental concept, embodying spirit and matter, knowing good and evil, and changing with every caprice of their own unstable mentalities. My religion is the Christianity of the Master, love. Oh, how this poor world needs it, yearns for it! The love that demonstrates the nothingness of evil, and drives it out of human experience! The love that heals the sick, raises the dead, binds up broken hearts! The love that will not quench the religious instincts of children, and falsely educate them to know all manner of evil; but that teaches them to recognize it for what it is, the lie about God, and then shows them how to overcome it, even as Jesus did. My God is truth. Is truth real? Ah, yes, you say. But error is the opposite of truth. Then can error, evil, be real? No, not if you will be consistent. Again, God is infinite. But God is spirit. Then all is spirit and spirit’s manifestation––is it not true? What, 59 then, becomes of the evil that men hug to their bosoms, even while it gnaws into their hearts? It is the opposite of good, of mind, of truth, God. And the opposite of truth is supposition. Is it not so? And the supposition is––where? In your mentality. And you can put it out whenever you are willing to drop your ceremonials and your theories, and will open your mentality to truth, which will make you free, even as the Master said. That is my religion, Doctor. Those are the religious views which you have been sent by Madam Elwin to investigate. Am I a heretic? Or unevangelical?”
She waited a few moments for the doctor to reply. Then, as he remained silent, she went up to him and held out her hand.
“You do not care to talk with me longer, I think,” she said. “Perhaps we may meet again. But, as regards Madam Elwin’s wishes, you may tell her that I shall leave the school.”
“Have you––have you been fitting yourself for any––ah––particular work––ah––for your support, that is?” inquired the doctor gravely, as he took the proffered hand. He had been swept off his feet by the girl’s conversation, and he had not the temerity to combat her views.
“Yes,” replied Carmen. “I have been working daily to gain a better understanding of the teachings of Jesus, and through them, of God. My single aim has been to acquire ‘that mind which was in Christ Jesus.’ And I have no other business than to reflect it to my fellow-men in a life of service. That is my Father’s business, and I am working with Him. My mission in this world is to manifest God. I am going out now to do that, and to show what love will do. God will use me, and He will supply my every need. And now, good-bye.”
She turned abruptly from him and went to the organ. Soon the same song which he had heard as he entered the room rose again through the stillness. A strong emotion seemed to possess him. He started toward the girl; checked himself; and stood hesitating. Then his lips set, and he turned and walked slowly from the room.
In the hall two women were approaching, and as they drew near he recognized one of them.
“Why,” he exclaimed with enthusiasm, holding out both hands, “my dear Mrs. Hawley-Crowles! It is not so long since we met at the Weston’s. But what, may I ask, brings you here?”
“This is my sister, Mrs. Charles Reed, Doctor Jurges. We have come to, make a duty call on Mr. Reed’s protégée, the little South American savage, you know. Madam Elwin said she was up here with you?”