526 TALKS ON (< AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER 9?

realise that -we have no separate personality in
opposition to Him. You see He works by means
always, and His Ministers, the Great Occult Hierar-
chy, work by means also. No doabt they could work
all' sorts of miracles, in the form of direct action, on
all sorts of people, but it would use up a great amount
of Their force unnecessarily. So They work through
the means They have arranged. It is exactly the
same with the Sacraments of the Church—the Sacra-
ments which the Christ ordained for His Church for
example. He arranged certain ways through which
His grace, His spiritual power, could most easily be
poured out, and He expected His people to take
advantage of these. There have been many people
(it is part of what is called the Protes1?ant spirit) who
say: <( Why should I need any means ? I do not
want anything between me and Him "—which of
course involves the assumption that you are able to
reach Him on the higher planes, a thing which is not
so, which is not true in the least. And so people
often decline these mean? which have been provided ;

they say : (e I do not want anything of that sort, I
can go straight to God," and perhaps sometimes
you may evoke a Divine response in that way.
Only, just think what you have done. If you
look at it reasonably, you have put Him to much
more than the necessary amount of trouble. In
order to help you, He Himself has arranged the
most easy and natural way, and yet some people