ANDREW. Religion, Divinity, and Humanity. LEMUEL. How faith cures the body. JOSIAH. The influence of Nature over Prayer. MR. ALCOTT. We have spoken of how the sense of the divine exalts man, interprets and overpowers NaHave you been interested in the Conversation? (They all signified that they had.) ture. Remarks. RECORDER. You left the subject of curing disease too much without qualification, I think. MR. ALCOTT. Perhaps so; but it was qualified in the last Conversation. It is the tendency of faith to lift up and restore the body from disease; (and this truth is practised upon by physicians ;) though after a certain physiological point of decay, it is not done, as restoration is impossible. RECORDER. Was it good advice to sanction, by your example, the yielding to the influences of the season, passively? MR. ALCOTT. I did not mean to say that I yielded to the depressing, but to the renovating influences of the seasons. The transitions of Nature, and especially of the seasons, are, I conceive, intended to work out their influence on the Soul of man; and we should yield to them for this end. They quicken, diversify, renovate, and strengthen the Soul." CONVERSATION XLII. SPIRITUAL PURIFICATION. FAITH. Review. Faith. The Cleansing of the Leper, from the Sacred Text. Efficacy of Idea of Compassion. -Illustrations. Misapprehension of Ho- Spiritual Influence.. Human Electricity. - Instances. - Theory and Cause of Leprosy. Homage. - Emblem of Humility. - Subject. liness. Review. MR. ALCOTT. What did we talk of last? JOHN D. About Jesus going into the solitary place to pray - and then going into other towns to preach. MR. ALCOTT. In what place was he? JOSIAH. the names. In a town near the lake, I don't remember MR. ALCOTT. In Capernaum. He went all about Galilee, preaching in synagogues; and it is not known in which place the leper, that I am now going to read about, came to him. He read THE CLEANSING OF THE LEPER. MATT viii. 2-4. MARK i. 40-45. LUKE V. 12-16. Luke v. 12. Mark i. 40. Luke v. 12. Matt. viii. 2. Luke v. 12. Matt. viii. 2. Mark i. 42. Matt. viii. 4. Mark i. 43. Mark i. 45. Luke v. 15. Mark i. 45. Luke v. 16. Vulgar Era, 27. Julian Period, 4740. a man full of leprosy, who seeing Jesus, and worshipped him, and besought him, and saying unto him, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him, See thou say nothing unto any man, but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer, for thy cleansing, those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. And he straightway charged him, and forthwith sent him away. But he went out and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him, and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed; and they came to him from every quarter. MR. ALCOTT. Now, what have these words waked up in your minds? what picture, feeling, thought, principle? Efficacy of LUCIA. I liked the leper's coming and kneeling and saying that Jesus could make him clean. I liked his faith. MR. ALCOTT. And what always comes of faith? Good or bad? and what in particular? LUCIA. Good, but I do not know what in particular. FRANKLIN. I think his praying helped the cure, for it was a prayer of faith. And I liked Jesus for having compassion. MR. ALCOTT. Did Jesus have faith? FRANKLIN. Yes; and the leper bad faith; and their faiths joined in the Spirit. Whenever Jesus cured he prayed, I think. MR. ALCOTT. Faith is a prayerful sentiment; and there can be no prayer without faith. But what had the compassion to do with the cure? Idea of GEORGE K. The sores excited his com passion; so he wanted to cure them. MR. ALCOTT. What is the meaning of the word compassion? MARTHA. The passion that helps another. FRANKLIN. Passion is a desire for ourselves; and compassion is a desire for others. JOSIAH. We say Jesus' sufferings were his passionhis compassion (He stopped, stammering.) MR. ALCOTT. And compassion is suffering for others? Let us analyze compassion now, and see what it had to do with the cure. What is there in compassion? I FRANKLIN. Love, Faith, Charity, Humanity. think Jesus looked mild, and beautiful, and innocent, when he touched the leper. MR. ALCOTT. Did you ever feel compassion? ELLEN. Yes; when I went home yesterIllustrations. day from school, I saw a man hurting a boy; and I thought that he hurt him too much when I saw him cry; I felt there was something wrong in it. GEORGE K. Last week, when it was so cold, I saw the birds flying, and felt compassion that they were so disappointed and cold; and could not get any thing to eat. ANDREW. Once I saw some children tying a string to a very small puppy too small; and it tormented him. LEMUEL. I saw a man, yesterday, whip his horse, and felt pity for the horse, and felt that the man was cruel. (Franklin also told a story of a horse.) ANDREW. I saw a little boy, yesterday, without any fingers, and felt pity. GEORGE B. He was born so. W. AUGUSTUS. I saw a dog harnessed into a little cart, and made to drag something too heavy, and whipped. ELLEN. I saw, too, in a paper, a story of a negro's being burnt alive. He was bad; but I thought his punishment was too great. MR. ALCOTT. Do you like to feel compassion? MR. ALCOTT. Is compassion a common sentiment? MR. ALCOTT. What would the world be if there were enough compassion? ELLEN. There would be nothing to pity. MR. ALCOTT. I read the other day of a child found in Charles street - a baby who was left there on purpose all alone in the world, without any friends to take care of it; and it was heard to cry in the night; and at last somebody went and took it in ; and as it had no friends, it was sent to South Boston. I felt compassion for that poor little baby. Are there any of you who never felt compassion? Such may rise. (Nathan, William C., and Josiah rose.) Well! you seem to be deficient in sensibility — all of you; you need to feel more. NATHAN. I never felt compassion. JOSIAH. Nor I; I never saw or heard of any suffering that made me feel compassionate. MR. ALCOTT. Did you feel nothing about the baby that I just spoke of? |