compel you to. Your father will be crazy when he hears about what you are doing.'

"She answered back: 'I shall not leave this sick man to die, to please you or any one else! If you send for the authorities, as you threaten, I will discharge you without a reference. This man's heart is whiter than yours, if his skin is black!'

"I could do nothing with her. She called for whatever she wanted and told us if we didn't bring it she would come after it and bring us the disease in her clothes. We dared not disobey, because we knew she would fulfil her threat. For three weeks she nursed that nigger and slept on a pile of hay covered with blankets-so he could have the bed. When he got well she fumigated the place and had him bury all the bedclothing and everything that could be infected with the disease, and kept him till the gardener got over his rheumatism. When he went away she gave him a reference (with your name signed to it) and some money, and we have never seen him since." "Was she sick afterward?" I asked.

"Not for a moment," the woman replied. "None of us were; and that is another reason why I believe the devil is in league with her."

"We take different views of this matter," I said. "I should think the child was fulfilling the commandments of the Bible by comforting and nursing the sick man; and her escaping the contagion is to me a sure sign that she was protected by a power other than an evil one."

But the woman shook her head. "No, sir, you are mistaken; I know better. You are wrong, and I am right. I know I am right," she repeated, excitedly. "If she were good she would love the catechism and Sunday-school and would not be able to see hidden things. The devil must let his agents do some good, that he may deceive people regarding his actions; and while he is making us believe in him he is setting all kinds of traps to lead us astray. No; the child has got beyond my control, and I am glad to be rid of the responsi

bility of her losing her soul. You will have more trouble with her than you imagine, and you should have one thing firmly fixed in your mind. It does not matter how good she seems to be-how charitable or how kind: her good works will not amount to one feather-weight in the Judgment Day unless she believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only Son of God, and that He died to save her. The greatest sinner in the world -one who has murdered and committed every other crime that a wicked person can do will go to heaven, if he believes in Jesus Christ, before a person who has lived an apparently good life but has not believed in Him. It is faith, not works, that saves people."

"Madam," I exclaimed, "you will excuse me if I differ with you. Have you read the passage of Scripture that says 'faith without works is dead?'"

"Yes, but do you remember where Jesus and the thief were crucified together? When the thief expressed faith by asking Him to remember him when He came into the kingdom He replied: "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise.' So you see the thief who had never done any good went to heaven with the Lord Jesus through his faith alone. You are mistaken, Doctor; the works are well enough but the faith is of more importance, because without it no man can be saved. I am sorry for you and Miss Mata-you are both so spiritually blind; but I have done the best I could. I have prayed for her every night and morning, but she still remains the same."

"It must be that your faith does not amount to much," I said, "because Jesus told his disciples that, if they 'had faith as a grain of mustard seed,' mountains could be removed and cast into the sea."

"You do not understand the Bible at all, sir," the woman replied, coldly; "you are an unbeliever yourself, and I don't wonder Miss Mata is so bad. Had I known before this morning you were so wicked I never would have stayed and worked so hard to save your child. I have no doubt that you have

been putting her up to it all. There is but one way, and that is a strait and narrow path. Any one who attempts to climb by any other road is a thief and a robber. I am right. I am always right. I was converted when but fifteen years old, was born again at that time, and have never fallen from grace. I am sanctified-I am above either the desire or the power to sin; and anybody who does not agree with me is wrong, and that is all there is about it!" And the nurse drew down the scornful expression and swept

corners of her mouth with a from the room.

I smiled. The idea of my assuming the management of a being who had the power to produce light in the midst of darkness, and could cause the gates of heaven to swing apart for me to look beyond, was certainly absurd.

(To be continued.)

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.

FOUR YEARS OLD.

IND completes the fourth year of its existence with this

MIN

number. The eight volumes thus far issued constitute quite a library in themselves, and in character and quality and spiritual helpfulness they cannot be paralleled in any other collection of metaphysical literature. This is due to the broad, comprehensive, impersonal, and unorganic nature and policy of the magazine. It includes within its scope all honest and rational attempts to reveal any aspect of Truth, whose many facets suggest the infinite variety of human life and thought. But the principle of unity that underlies all manifestations of the Real, however they may vary in appearance, it is the mission of our periodical to expound. Its supremacy in the literary field of the New Thought movement has been steadfastly maintained since its inception. As it becomes more widely known, its prosperity increases-it has never been more successful than it is to-day.

MIND is not a mere educational enterprise: it is a positive cohesive force among advanced thinkers. It is not devoted to the propagation of a single phase of thought, to the exclusion or belittling of others. Like the expanding movement it represents, the magazine deals with the fundamentals of all life and being. This publication is not the organ of a cult. The New Thought is not a sect. It is an ideal, inclusive of both theory and practise, that is

becoming ever more dominant in the minds of increasing thousands of intelligent persons. Its teachings are modifying even the dicta of material science; and when the world shall have witnessed the establishment of international peace it will concede the influence of the New Thought to have been its chief factor. In its development of a spiritual consciousness along scientific lines, it is revivifying and remodeling the religious concepts of the race. In its persistent emphasizing of the omnipotence of mind, it directs attention to the real source of sickness and all unhappiness— making the mental remedy a natural, logical, and inevitable deduction. In familiarizing thinkers with the finer forces of Nature, it is aiding in the refinement of human life and promoting the progress of invention. It would substitute knowledge for credulity, courage, for fear, and justice for "charity"-recognizing love as the vital element in all three.

Representing so great a variety of thought as is found in the new spiritual movement, we cannot yet undertake or expect to please every reader with every article, or even with all the features, of our magazine. The arguments of some of our contributors appeal with peculiar force to many of our subscribers while others are not interested. This is inevitable, since human life, like knowledge, is a growth. Yet we are convinced that everything that appears in MIND is welcomed by many, and our aim is constantly to increase the number of such appreciative readers. In the meantime we feel that if the individual subscriber finds even one article-nay, a single thought-in each copy of the magazine that sheds one ray of light on the spiral pathway of his evolution, he has received full value for his subscription.