The Pastors Son | Page 5

and said, "Well, I am going to read it.
That lady said reading 'Science and Health' cured her, and I am going to
see if it will cure me if I read it. I suppose the place to start is Chapter
I."
Walter began to read to himself: "Science and Health. Chapter I,
Prayer.
"_For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this
mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not
doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith
shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say
unto you, what things whatsoever ye desire when ye pray, believe that
ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Your Father knoweth what
things ye have need of before ye ask him. Christ Jesus_."
Then he stopped and said, "Why that is just the same as I read in our
Bible; there certainly can be no bad in that. But maybe they only
printed that so as to ridicule it farther on in the book; anyway, I wonder
what Jesus Christ meant, when he said, '_therefore I say unto you, what
things whatsoever ye desire when ye pray, believe ye shall receive
them and ye shall have them_.' Oh, how often and how earnestly have I
prayed for health, with tears running down my cheeks, but my prayers
never seem to have been answered; now I wonder why, for I know that
what Jesus Christ said must be true, for He was the Son of God, and
would not deceive us; why, oh why, doesn't God answer my prayers?"
He stopped to consider for a moment, then turned pale as death, pressed
his thin hands to his breast, as a new thought came to his consciousness,
then he gasped in a whisper, "I--believe--I--know." He paused a
moment, then continued, "It must be that--I see it all now; I see my
mistake. I prayed to God for health, and in the next instant doubted
Him, doubted that He would heal me. In fact, I never really believed
that He would heal me, and Jesus said, 'Believe that ye receive.' Oh,

can this really be true. I am so excited I can hardly think. Here I am
again, this time doubting the word of Christ." Then he jumped up with
the exclamation, "I must tell father, for his prayers are not answered,
and it must be for the same reason. No, I don't mean that. My father is a
minister and he could not doubt God. But why aren't his prayers
answered? I don't know what to do. If I tell father or mother, they may
take the book away, and then my last hope would be gone. I think I will
read it first." So saying, he sat down in an easy rocker, and was soon
absorbed in what he was reading, nor did he notice how the time flew
until he heard his mother's anxious voice and knock at the door.
He answered at once, and hastily put the book back in his trunk, then
went to the door and opened it.
His mother greeted him with, "Why, Walter, what is the matter? Since
when have you taken to locking your door in the daytime? You look so
flushed and excited, and we haven't heard a sound from you all the
afternoon. We were beginning to get alarmed about you, so I came up
to see what was the matter, and to tell you that supper was ready. What
have you been doing? Don't you feel as well as usual? Tell me, Walter,
are you worse?"
"No, mother, I am not worse, I only became so absorbed in reading that
I forgot all about time, and also that I had locked the door."
His mother did not think to ask him what he was reading, as she had
always been very careful to see that no reading matter that was at all
questionable was brought into the house, so she had no idea that he had
been reading anything but what she had read and deemed proper.
"We had better hurry down, Walter, as father is waiting for his supper."
They both started down the stairs, his mother still talking to him; but he
scarcely heard a word she said, for his thoughts were still centered on
what he had read. And now that his excitement had abated, there
seemed to be a hopeful gleam in his eyes. As soon as they entered the
room, his father noticed that his eyes were brighter, but took it as a bad
sign.

All through the evening meal they had to address him several times
before he would answer, and his father's heart grew heavy as he noticed