uch_ a mistake; and I haven't a bit of use
for it," she continued. "It's like making mistakes in music, or
mathematics. Now when we make mistakes in those, we never stop to
discuss them. We correct them. But, dear me! The world has nearly
talked its poor old head off about the mistakes of sickness and death.
It never seems to occur to the world that Jesus always associated
sickness with sin. You know, the Rabbis of his day seem to have hit
upon a great truth, although they didn't make it really practical.
They maintained that a sick man could not be healed of his diseases
until all his sins had been forgiven. And so they attempted to forgive
sins and make men clean by their elaborate ceremonies. But they missed
the mark, too. And nobody got to the root of the difficulty until
Jesus came. He forgave sin by destroying it completely. And that cured
the disease that was the manifestation of sin. Now I ask, why do you,
nearly two thousand years after his time, still do as the old Rabbis
did, and continue to treat the body--the effect--instead of the mental
cause? But," looking down in meditation, "I suppose if you did that
the people would cry, 'He hath a devil!' They thought I was a witch in
Simiti."

"H'm!" returned the doctor. "Then you do not believe that disease is
caused by microbes, I take it?"

"Disease caused by microbes? Yes, so it is. And the microbe? It is a
manifestation of the human mind again. And, as with typhoid fever,
diphtheria, and other diseases, the human mind applies its own
cherished, ignorant beliefs in certain methods, and then renders
innocuous its own manifestations, microbes. The human mind makes its
own diseases, and then in some cases removes the disease, but still by
human, material methods. Its reliefs are only temporary. At last it
yields itself to its false beliefs, and then goes out in what it calls
death. It is all a mental process--all human thought and its various
manifestations. Now why not get beyond microbes and reach the cause,
even of them, the human mind itself? Jesus did. Paul did. Others have
done so. Why do not you men of science do likewise?"

Doctor Morton himself took the chair which he had set out for the
girl. "What you say," he replied slowly, "is not new to me. But I can
only answer that the world is not ready yet for the great change which
you suggest."

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "What cant! What mesmerism you are laboring
under! Was the world ready for Jesus?"

"No.