The living truth

Class 2

Book

Copyright N°_

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.

SARAH FRANCES MEADER

Slje SJimttg ©ruttj

BY

SARAH FRANCES MEADER

Author of
"Tiie Business Side of Tne New Tnougni,~etc.

New York

GOODYEAR BOOK CONCERN

1913

0\

Copyright, 1913, by
GOODYEAR BOOK CONCERN

DEC 26 1913

/.

©CI.A358871

x-o/

DEDICATION
As a grateful tribute to the memory of my friend,
Warren F. Evans, pioneer Teacher, Author, and
Healer, who helped me to realize the Human Trin-
ity of Body, Soul, and Spirit — the one as important
as the other — I dedicate this book.

CONTENTS

PAGE

I. God and Man : Creation 9

II. God and Man : Intelligence . . • 21

III. God and Man : Order 37

IV. Power : Knowledge Is Power ... 53
V. The Healing Power: Physical

Health 67

VI. Use 77

INTRODUCTION

There is but one Truth in the universe,
God's Truth, which is eternal and unchang-
ing. This Truth includes all things, and in
it lies the secret of human health, prosperity,
and happiness. All men are searching for
it, in some way or another, and when one
finds a clear leading, it is an occasion of
great rejoicing. After nearly thirty years
of searching as teacher and healer, I have
found an open way, and what more natural
than that I should send a cheerful hail to
my fellow searchers out in the tangled ways?
Rejoicing in the truth, I send this little
book, trusting that we together may attain
the much desired end: a life of usefulness
and peace.

LESSON I

GOD AND MAN: CREATION

In these lessons we are to study man as
body, soul, and spirit. An intelligent com-
prehension of the physical body, as related
to the mind, a knowledge of the soul as the
source of the active conscious thought, an
understanding of spirit as the life principle,
the Divine in the universe, constitutes the
equipment of one who desires to minister to
the sick, sinful, or sorrowing fellow-being
as physician or friend.

We of the New Thought practice are often
questioned as to the difference between our
doctrine and that of Christian Science. In
the first place, New Thought gives the stu-
dent the largest liberty to think from the
God within, instead of the mandatory con-
ceptions of another.

One of the first textbooks on Mental Heal-

10 The Living Truth

ing, was Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy,
who claims to be the Founder and Discov-
erer of Christian Science. One of the state-
ments of the remarkable book is: "All is
mind, there is no matter. There is no life,
substance, or intelligence in matter." (A
superfluous statement, if matter does not
exist. ) It says again, "Deny the evidence of
the Senses." Sense evidence is a lie. The
old-time students, who honestly tried to be-
lieve it, were not allowed to question, and as
a result many of the daring ones drifted
away into Divine Science, Spiritual Heal-
ing, Mental Science, Mind Cure, and other
metaphysical cults wiiich are now associ-
ated and classified under the JNTew Thought
Alliance, one of the grandest movements for
the spread of the practical Christ Teaching
in all the world.

We teach a solid truth on which we all
can meet in harmony. God created all
things. He gave an inborn intelligence to
every atom, that it might find its proper
relation to every other atom ; which relation-
ship, properly understood, would manifest
together a grand, harmonious whole.

To perfect this grand harmony, each crea-
tion is capable of its highest development,
according to the law of its kind. The soul

The Living Truth 11

that inquires, is the soul that gets wisdom.
We have the right to ask an explanation of
every phenomenon. Explain, not deny. In
this way, alone, can we get at the truth of
things. Let us inquire the meaning of every
adverse condition. Facing our difficulties
in the right spirit, we see them in a new
Light.

In its right place everything is good. But
if it brings trouble to us the relationship is
at fault, and "Get thee behind me, Satan/'
is the only attitude to take.

Let us start this study of right living on a
sure foundation. There is one thing we are
all sure of. Here am I, a living breathing
sentient creation. From whence did I come,
and whither do I tend? It will take a life-
time to work out the whole problem, but
there is a right way of getting about it.

"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free." Free from what?
From any bondage which hinders one's
progress toward the highest and best ex-
pression of one's capabilities and desires.
Truth is of God ! Let us find out first of all.
what is God, and what is our relation tc
Him. Here is a foundation thought. "Be-
cause God IS, I exist," means to stand ou1
from a Creative Cause which we call God

12 The Lwing Truth

Let us be still for a moment with, this
thought, God is everywhere and God is Here.

( Silence. )

To exist is from the Latin Ex, out from,
and Sister, to stand or cause to stand. A
word is the sign of an idea. Right words
are carefully constructed. Through the
word or symbol of the Idea there is breathed
a spirit, which gives it power. I exist or
stand apart. A being put forth from a Crea-
tive Cause. Because God is, I exist.

To learn of the Being we reverently call
God, and our relation to Him, is the first
lesson in Metaphysical Study. It is the
Basic principle on which we are to build
the fair structure of human health and hap-
piness. "Things of the Spirit must be Spir-
itually discerned," therefore, we must inter-
pret God, by the best there is in us. God is
ever the highest conception of Man's individ-
ual consciousness.

It is natural and right to reason from the
manifestation which appears, to our con-
sciousness. With the natural vision, we dis-
cern proofs of a creative force* beyond our
forces, creative and powerful. The natural
world teems with organisms having bodies
and functions of their own.

The Living Truth 13

As our consciousness unfolds, we perceive
an accuracy in form and function, which
adapts each to a harmonious action with
the other; a law which harmonizes all
created things. We learn, too, that we, as
individuals, are related by undeviating man-
ifestations, to all that is. We are one with
the universe, one with each other, one with
God. This is the basic principle of Meta-
physical Teaching, and on this principle we
must stand firmly, in order to demonstrate
health and happiness.

"God is everywhere, God is here," in every
situation. God is good, God is great, but
not too great nor too good to ignore me.
What is God to me, and what am I to God?
This is the purpose of my study. Metaphys-
ics is the study of a life principle. The word
signifies Met a, beyond; and Physics, the
science of natural things. It is a term first
used by Aristotle, the Greek philosopher,
who reasoned from things visible, or the
science of natural things, to that superior
law, the science of the Mind, or that which
is above and beyond the natural. We may
concisely define Metaphysics, then, as a
scientific interpretation of mental phenom-
ena, since it teaches us to look beyond na-
tural causes, for physical effects, and to

14 The Living Truth

draw away from the sense of outward
things, to the revealings which come of a
communion with the deep things of the
spirit.

Upon our present plane of consciousness,
we are brought face to face with much that
seems undesirable ; with that which hinders
and holds us. So much that we struggle
and fret against, and desire to be rid of.
Why is it?

If we are put forth from God, Who is
good, life must be good, and in the eternal
justice of things, there must be a way out
of troubles and trials, which ill befit a being
or a race projected from life and law.

The Law

"I am the way, the truth, and the life,"
said Jesus, the Son of God. "Ye shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make you
free."

There is an order, a law, which runs
through all the universe, harmonizing all
things. There is no conflict in this law.
There is but one law, one God, one life, one
Law of life. Man-made interpretations of
this law are changing and manifesting, but
God's Law never changes. To understand
and apply this law, is to be well, prosperous,

The Living Truth 15

and happy. Man is included in a universe
created and ruled in good, and is subject
to no law but the law of good. This law
presents five statements for our study.

1st. Creation, or a putting forth from
God. We are part of Him, or individual
manifestations — God-like.

2d. Intelligence, or a recognition of our-
selves projected from a Creative Force.

3rd. Order, or the arrangement of the
creation, according to the law of its kind.

4th. Power, which is an inherent endow-
ment of Creative energy.

5th. Use, or the purpose of Creation.

Under these captions we shall study Man,
and his relations to God, believing we have
thus systematized the study so that our les-
sons may be easily understood and applied.
What do these statements mean?

As applied to me, they mean, I am God-
created, put forth from Him, not God, but
God-like, in my nature and attributes. And
I am given Intelligence, to Manifest myself
aright. I recognize the difference between
myself and the things about me, and become
conscious of my relation to them.

In Order, I recognize the law which keeps
me true to my purpose in the Divine plan.
This law acts independent of my volition. I

16 The Living Truth

have no part in the purpose of my nature or
kind, but I know, in the Almighty Order, 1
am placed aright.

In Power, I learn my best expression, ac-
cording to my purpose.

In Use, having Life, Intelligence, Order,
and Power, I am free to live my best. I am
subject to no law but the law of good.

I am here for a purpose, as is every other
creation. There is no mistake in any created
thing. Each in its place, is a necessary part
of the Perfect Whole. If you or I were not
needed to make a perfect universe, we should
not be here, seeming imperfections, and diffi-
culties to the contrary notwithstanding.

We can not say with truth, "I am good
for nothing, or past my usefulness." God
put us here, and He is always with us, and
in our rightful place, each one is a power
for good. To ascertain our rightful place in
the universe, is the purpose of our metaphys-
ical study.

Our advent on the stage of existence was
not through our will, or indeed through any
human will. God put us here, and He is
always with us. God is always active, al-
ways creating. "For in Him we live, and
move, and have our being." David says,
"Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit, or

The Living Truth 17

whither shall I flee from Thy Presence V
Because God is, we exist. It is impossible
to think of God without His creations, or
to think of man without God. The two are
interchangeable and inseparable. This
shows the significance of the words of Jesus,
"That they may be one, as Thou, Father, art
in Me, and I in Thee, that they may be made
perfect in one." Is not this then an inspir-
ing truth that we are needed parts in his
divine universe?

Why do we not manifest divinity? Why
are we hampered by sin, sickness, poverty,
and death? Let us use our intelligence.
Does God, the All-good, impose such condi-
tions upon His children? Never. Infinite
love takes no cognizance of any such abnor-
mal conditions. "God is too pure to behold
evil." Such conditions arise from man's
misconception of his real being, and his non-
recognition of his true relation to the life
divine.

God is not a person, dwelling apart in a
place called Heaven, having a boundless
supervision, mysterious to man ; dealing out
punishment or reward according to human
merits. Out of such narrow conceptions of
the Deity comes every sort of sin and mis-
ery. We are sick, sinful, or unhappy, be-

18 The Living Truth

cause of our ignorance of our true relations
to the all-pervading Good in which we have
our rightful share! Let us get the right
idea. Reverently understand that God is
not vengeful. He has no part in suffering,
sin, or death. God is Love. God is Light.
God is Life, God is Wisdom. Everything
which is bright, holy, and true, is God. He
is the Principle including and demonstrat-
ing all good.

What is Principle? It is the foundation
truth which harmonizes creation. It is the
arbitrary fact of existence for which we can
give no other reason than that it is so, be-
cause it is. It is something beyond all hu-
man reasoning, but so exact, so just, so true,
that by it we may test all things. It is the
essence of all right; it is everlasting truth,
everlasting justice, love, goodness ; it is God ;
of unreality and falsity it has no part. It
is perfect goodness, and perfect truth.

When we speak of God as Principle, we
do not mean a cold chill, something which
we dare not approach, but a warm, indwell-
ing life ; something we may live so near to,
that we may abide in peace; something we
feel and enjoy; yet a something so majestic
as to dominate the universe; so grand and
holy as to include immensity, and yet so

The Living Truth 19

laving and watchful, as to fold in its ben-
eficent care the worm or the atom of dust
on which we tread. Let our constant af-
firmation be, "God is all, in all, and over alL
God is everywhere, and God is here."

We have God-like attributes, held in abey-
ance it may be, never, or seldom, manifest,
but present all the same in the nature of
man. God is love, all may be loving; God
is life, all may live; not sick, nor dying.
God is truth, all may be just and true. God
is infinite, all may be free to live up to the
best of their kind, free from limitations.

There is nothing created but that which
God has a use for. Here is our lesson of
love and charity toward our fellows. God's
bounty and care are over all, but man is too
often ignorantly unreceptive.

God never leaves His creations. We are
never separate from Him. The idea of a
being cast off from God is a monstrous lie,
born of a misconception of the true God and
the true man. In reverent recognition we
unhesitatingly say God is no more a neces-
sity to man than is man a necessity to God.
We can not conceive of one without the
other.

We often hear it said, "That man is an
atheist; he does not believe in God." He

20 The Living Truth

may think he does not believe in God, but
he has a God of his own, just as large as his
unfolded consciousness can comprehend.
His governing intelligence is something just
as high as he is capable of aspiring to.
"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
Thou shalt not bow down to any graven
image." This was the first command which
came to the illuminated mind of Moses on
the Mount. It is the first command to the
illuminated mind, in all ages and conditions.
There is but the One God. "Graven images"
are not necessarily made of wood, stone,
gold, or silver. They are false ideas, or dis-
torted conceptions of the overruling Power.
It helps wonderfully to acknowledge God
"in all thy ways." It will reconcile the
seeming incongruities of life, to say again
and again, "God is everywhere; God is
here." Repeat it over and over again until
you feel the power of the living words thrill-
ing you through and through. Then will you
realize the power of the spoken word of
truth-

lessor n

GOD AND MAN: INTELLIGENCE

The Ideal and Immortal man become the
actual and conscious man.

Ps. VIII, 4-6: "What is man, that
thou art mindful of him, and the son of
man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast
made him a little lower than the angels, and
hast crowned him with glory and honor.
Thou madest him to have dominion over the
works of thy hands !"

David speaks this of the Spiritual Man,
the man whom God created. God never
created any conditions under which man
fears or suffers. His creations are Spiritual,
the result of His thought. That which fears
or suffers is not Spiritual ; it is the product
of Man's thought, which is the body.

Make this point clear, for this is the place
where man's responsibility for all that is
contrary to God, or Good, begins. Let us
start right.

The Hebrew Kabala, that system of Jew-
ish Theosophy, or God-wisdom, which claims

22 The Living Truth

to be handed down by Patriarchs and Proph-
ets, even from God Himself, says : "Thought
is the source of all that is." Showing that
our modern system of thought creation is
an old, old truth, co-eval with the primitive
man.

The Word

Genesis, I, 1. It is evident the thought
must pervade the Spoken Word. "And God
said, Let there be light, and there was light."
He spoke of light, and light was made mani-
fest. The Mosaic account of Creation, which
is the best account of it, does not conflict
with the best explanations of modern
science. We find here Intelligence, Wisdom,
and Order, unexcelled. God's thought was
Wisdom, and His Word was its orderly ex-
pression in the manifest universe. There
was nothing brought forth but that which
first had idea or form in the Infinite Mind.

Mind

Genesis n, 4-5. There is really but one
mind, which is the God Mind, or the Good
Mind. Mind is that quality which conceives,
judges, and reasons. Man being put forth
from God, is also endowed with mind, or the

The Living Truth 23

faculty which conceives, judges, and rea-
sons. Mind is God-like, pure, and true-
Idea and Thought

An Idea is that which is conceived in the
mind. Thought is the varying expression of
Ideas. The Idea is generated in the mind,
and is of the Spirit.

In the mind is the fulfillment of all we can
desire. For instance, I feel the need of a
place to rest. This is the creative Idea,
which formulates itself in the Idea of a
couch.

The active thought takes this Idea, judges
it, reasons over it, concentrates upon it, and
evolves the conception of a couch which
serves the purpose of a place to rest.

The mind is the storehouse from which
came the creative Idea, and the Thought is
the worker, or that which gives expression
or form in a tangible manner to the Idea.
The natural world, in harmony always with
the Idea and Thought, readily yields its
treasures of iron, wood, wool, and fibres;
everything needed for the perfect manifesta-
tion of the Idea.

What has all this to do with the healing
of a sick body, or the changing of an un-
happy environment? Simply this : In the

24 The Living Truth

infinite mind is the fulfillment of every de-
sire for health and peace.

Our ideas throng in obedience to our
needs, but these Ideas may be happily ex-
pressed, or sadly retarded, by the Thoughts,
which are the workers, the moulders, the
builders ; or the destroyers, or hinderers. It
is the Thoughts we think, the words we
speak, which express our ideals in perfec-
tion, or imperfection. The active, conscious
Thought may be spiritual or perfect, ac-
cording to the divine Idea in man, or it may
be the contrary. This is the law: "To be
carnally minded is death, but to be spiritu-
ally minded is life and peace." (Eomans,
VIII, 6.)

The Science of the Mind

It is to bring the thought up to the high
ideal, or idea, that we study metaphysics, or
the science of the mind. The Idea is al-
ways in advance of its expression. The Idea
is always perfect. The Thought is varying ;
rightly trained or used, it is always advanc-
ing toward perfection.

Supply and Demand Equal
Our needs demand the best ; as we obtain
a desire there is yet a prompting to some-
thing better, and this demand finds its ful-

The Living Truth 25

filment in the universal law of equality, in
demand and supply. By the unvarying law
of attraction in proportion as we desire, so
do we obtain. In the case of the couch, there
is no lack of constructive material. The
more thought we give to the construction,
the more of beauty and utility is developed.
The idea of a place to rest, grows more beau-
tiful and more restful in visible and tangible
expression.

The Idea is Eternal

The Idea is Eternal; the couch may be
defaced, or destroyed, but the improved and
ever-improving idea remains to produce un-
limited couches, each better than the last,
if the thought, the builder, keeps pace with
the eternal ideal.

Expression of Ideas

An Idea unexpressed is good for nothing.
Only when it is wrought out, in persistant
thought and the Spoken Word, does it bring
its fulfilment. Expressed in the line of
good, it brings good. Wrought out in wrong
thoughts, it can not fail to bring trouble
and inharmony.

Hum^n thought, at best, only approxi-
mates the divine ideal. The natural man,
moulded after mortal thought, is but a

26 The Living Truth

poorly expressed conception of the real man,
tlie God-made man. Just as the couch, by
the application of cultivated thought, un-
folds into a thing of grace and beauty, so
the natural man, through the exercise of
high thinking, becomes God's Man, or the
Ideal Man, through the regeneration of his
builder, the human thought.

Jesus expressed man's possibilities when
he said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as
your Father in Heaven is perfect." St.
Paul taught it when he said, "Be ye trans-
formed through the renewing of your
mind." "As a man thinketh in his heart,
so is he." Matt., V, 48. Romans, XII, 2.
Proverbs, III, 7. "In his heart" means the
deep thought which engrosses him, that ex-
pression of the mind he gives himself up to.
Such thought builds according to its char-
acter, for good or for evil.

It is the law that thought is the moulding,
formative power. As we unfold in this
course of study we shall find this to be actu-
ally true, and an unfailing law. It follows
logically then that a change in our thinking
will produce a change in our expression.
Improved ways of thinking work changes
toward health, happiness, and prosperity.
This statement is the corner stone of mental

The Living Truth 27

healing, a science as exact and scientific as
the science of mathematics.

Striving for Better Things

In our last lesson we spoke of the God
always with us. No soul so sinful but it
wants to be better. This is the divine ideal
striving for better expression. It is rare to
find any one who is wholly satisfied. To be
wholly satisfied is not a desirable state. Dis-
satisfaction, discontent, fault-finding, un-
rest, are the misdirected expressions of the
soul striving for better things.

Gail Hamilton spoke of "a divine restless-
ness7 ' different from this misguided expres-
sion, which was the God within, urging us
on to perfection. Hence, when we get rest-
less and dissatisfied, then is the time to cease
fretting and complaining, giving all our
thought to the better thing, or the better
state, which by the law of God, implanted
in the heart of man, is surely and steadily
coming to him, in answer to the thought he
sends out to meet it. Shall it be the good
thought inviting it, or the doubtful, fearful
thought, which delays and hampers its com-
ing?

Our Sins

It is the purpose of these lessons to dis-
cern the better way. It is ignorance which

28 The Living Truth

makes us sick, sinful, and dying. Our sins
are our mistakes in the pursuit of happi-
ness. Ub one sins except lie feels some
greater good to him may result thereby.
One rightly feels that the best life affords
is by right his own, an inalienable birth-
right; but there must be a recognition of
the individual rights of others, to the good
which God provides for all. God gives to
each creation all that it needs for its best
expression. The earth teems with life-giv-
ing elements, distributed impartially to the
needs of each and all. Knowing this, we
may rightfully claim we are not creatures
of circumstances, but God-like and God-
born. Within our souls we have all we need,
but Esau-like we miss the blessing, and go
into bondage to the world, because of our
mistakes in the conception of our needs.

Divine Evolution

The Scriptures teach emphatically the
evolution of the human into the Divine. The
Old Testament is full of this law, particu-
larly in the Journeyings of Israel toward the
Promised Land, the book of Job, and the
Psalms.

The sensuous conceptions of the Koran,
the Persian Vedas, and also the doctrines of

The Living Truth 29

Confucius teach, it, but the grains of truth
are smothered in the chaff of Oriental Mys-
ticism. The higher teachings of Gautama
Buddha, and the simpler truths of Jesus the
Christ, fairly blaze with light along the way.
Read the Light of Asia, by Edwin Arnold.
Make daily companions of Jesus Christ and
the Evangels, as aids to right thinking.

Thoughts Transferred

Every effort for self -betterment resolves
finally into mental discipline, the shaping
of the thought that shapes us. If our
thought, trained and regulated, will affect
us for good or ill, is it not fair to suppose it
will affect others as well? In the very na-
ture of good one can not be benefitted with-
out helping another.

The true test of any good received is the
desire to impart that good to another. If
we desire to share the good we receive it
goes out from us in vibrations, like emana-
tions of light. Well-regulated thought can
not be otherwise than a benefit to all who
come in contact. No one lives to himself
alone, but to a greater or less degree has an
influence on those about him. Thought
transferrence is a natural law always dig-

30 The Living Truth

cerned in human intercourse. Thomas a
Kempis, hundreds of years ago, said, "He
who would impart peacefulness to others
must have peace himself/' The Metaphysi-
cal Healer must heal himself before he is
fully qualified to heal others. Helpful and
truthful thought is also reconstructive, and
that comes only from the heart of the
healer.

Mental Healing

Let us go back to the last lesson and rea-
son close to principle. Let us try our prac-
tice by the "line and plummet." Man is
God-created. God never created that which
is unlike Himself. He did not create evil,
sickness, or death. Hence, if these appear,
they are man-created, and the result of his
ignorant use of the creative thought
faculty. There is no ill which flesh
is heir to, no unhappy condition of
life but perverted thought action lies
at the base of it. It is hard for
the sick one to see this, and it is unwise for
the healer to discuss this point with the
patient. With gentleness and tact let us
try to uncover the underlying mental error,
and counteract it with the transferance of
the right thought. Apply it silently until it
touches and awakens the responsive chords

The Living Truth 31

of Spirit which, lie deep in the nature of
every created thing. Your patient may not
realize it, but it is none the less true. There
is mental error, either native or transferred,
at the bottom of all his trouble. He has
had wrong conceptions of himself and his
place in the universe, and on this founda-
tion has piled up a structure of mistakes
which are manifest in discordant physical
activities. Either he suffers from his own
discords or from the transferred discords of
another.

Naturally, man loves the right, instead of
the wrong. Perfection appeals to human
nature. If one makes a choice in temporal
things it will be that which promises the
most good. Much of what we call natural
depravity is but an undeveloped sense of
what is best.

The real man is not "born in sin, and con-
ceived in iniquity," even though he may so
appear to be. Let us then try him by prin-
ciple and "judge not according to appear-
ances," but give "righteous judgment."
Man's sins are but his mistakes in the pur-
suit of happiness. We talk of hereditary
sins. Man's heredity is from God, but this
gift, or inheritance, may be misshaped and
distorted in expression by the impure, per-

32 The Living Truth

verse thoughts of ancestry. It need not be
held in this distortion. God made him, and
His work is good. Gk>d endowed him with
all powers and capabilities, to express him-
self at the best.

Refuse to think your patient is in
bondage to heredity. "He shall know the
truth, and the truth shall set him free."
Forgive this sin of heredity, this mistake.
Release him from the bondage of this mis-
take by opening up a larger and grander
state of thinking. "Loose him, and let him
go." (John, VIII, 32. John XI, 44.)

What is forgiveness of sins? If one makes
an error in mathematics it only makes
things worse to go on with the cal-
culation. Hence, we erase, blot it out,
and start aright once more. "I will
blot out their trangressions and remem-
ber their sins no more." That is for-
giveness. If we can not forget, we can
not forgive. Teach men to forget ; refuse to
speak of sins and transgressions. This is
mental science, and true healing. Nature
soon covers the hardest fought battlefield
with the greenest verdure.

"Remember their sins no more." Let us
realize the full force of this, for it means
much. If our brother errs and becomes con-

The Living Truth 33

scious of his error, let us blot it out and
remember it no more. If we have trouble
and affliction through errors, let us blot
them out and cease to think of them. It only
keeps trouble alive to nurse it constantly in
thought and word.

The Christ law is to forgive, even to sev-
enty times seven. Only the renewed in
spirit can comprehend what this means to
do this hard thing, and it is no wonder to
such that the disciples prayed, "Lord, in-
crease our faith," this faith to forgive, or
blot out, when we reason or judge our
brother from this basic principle. We are
not only required to forgive our brother, but
we are to learn the harder lesson of forgiv-
ing ourselves. Blot out this dead and gone
mistake of ours ; remember it no more. This
is the only healthy, hearty treatment for all
the inequalities and inharmonies of the
past. (St Luke, XVII, 34-5.)

The Real Man

The real man is the sinless expression of
God. Sins are generated on the mental or
soul plan, and the mortal alone suffers.
Hence, lift first yourself and then your pa-
tient to an understanding of your true na-

34 The Living Truth

ture. Say, "You and I are God's own chil-
dren; we stand above all this semblance of
distress, doubt, and weakness, against which
our souls and bodies rebel." In this thought
of the God, or Good within us, this distor-
tion of humanity, which seems to cripple
and enslave us, rolls away like the shadows
down the mountain side, before the rising
sun. We stand erect, noble, God-born, cap-
able of dominion and power over seeming
unhappy conditions. God helps us here,
and tells us, if we ask Him, what and how to
do. We stand on the mountain top, in the
full, unclouded presence of Infinite Good-
ness. In this pure, white light of truth all
our iniquities of thought and expression are
blotted out, and all our sins (or mistakes)
are remembered no more.

Thomas Taylor, Classical Scholar

Thomas Taylor, the English Classical
Scholar, in some of his Greek translations,
found this expression: "The man that is
here, and the man which is there." The
accompanying argument was essentially
this : That in the universal essence, we pos-
sess our perfect selves. That when the im-
perfect man, or "the man who is here," de-
sires to become the perfect man, or "the man

The Living Truth 35

which is there/' he is at once surrounded
by, and conjoined to him, until he becomes
what he desires to be.

Let us note this : "He becomes what he
desires to be" and no more. He manifests his
better self, not in proportion to his ability,
but according to his thought, or desire.
This philosophy was current among the
Greeks, at least four hundred years B. C,
showing conclusively that the science of the
mind is no modern fad.

Individual Freedom

Truth is from the beginning co-eval with
God, who has in all ages revealed it to the
enlightened consciousness of His children,
and they in turn have made it manifest.

Credit is due to the man and woman of
all times who have set the world to thinking.
The doctrine of Spiritual supremacy over
bodily ills is nothing new. Work it out for
yourself, always squaring your demonstra-
tion by the living principle. You and I are
individuals, not tied to the chariot wheels
of any human leader. From Emmanuel, or
God with us, the truth is given in just the
measure of our needs. This is the law. As
we grow in knowledge of the truth our
power unfolds. (Phil., II, 12.) So far we

36 The Living Truth

have considered Creation and Intelligence.
Let us apply what we have already learned,
that the Ideal and Immortal man may be-
come the Actual and Conscious man.

Scripture Readings
Genesis, I, 4, 5. Matthew, XIX, 17. Acts,
XVII, 26. Psalms, VIII, 4, 5. John, I, 4.
Romans, VIII, 5-26. Psalms, CXXXIX, 14.
John, IV, 16, Corinthians, V, 17. Psalms,
CXIX, 18. James, I, 17, Ephesians,
XXIII, 24

lesson m

GOD AND MAN: ORDER

Order implies Government and Obedience.

"Open thou mine eyes that I may behold
wondrous things out of Thy Law," (Psalms,
CXIX, 180

The wonderful order that pervades crea-
tion manifests an all-wise God. Everything
moves according to the law of its kind.
Each kind is harmoniously related to other
kinds, and all are included as fitting parts
of a great harmonious whole. There are no
mistakes in the Divine Order, no antago-
nisms. It is God's universe, the expression
of the One Life, and the One Law.

It matters not whether the perfected crea-
tion sprang at once into being, or whether
through successive ages it slowly unfolded,
and is still unfolding. The Divine Idea is
perfect, and to perfection it is surely ad-
vancing.

58 The Living Truth

The deeper we search into the science of
visible things the more must we be im-
pressed with a reverent sense of God per-
vading all things.

Each creation is, in brief, the best expres-
sion of itself. The limitations of the visible
universe are ever receding before the search-
ing mind of man. We have the right to ask
an explanation of every phenomenon. Each
creation stands for something in God's econ-
omy which we have the right to understand,
since we, as parts of a Mighty Whole, are
related to it. Great or small, it has its use
and place. Therefore, it is right for us to
challenge and question. The God in us calls
us to do so.

With the natural vision we see but a small
part of the objective universe. Desire to
know more led to the invention of helps to
closer investigation. On the one hand, the
telescope brings distant objects near, and
opens to our wondering vision a multitude
of worlds where our unaided sight sees only
the blue arch deepening into profound dark-
ness. On the other hand, the microscope re-
veals minute worlds of life and beauty on
the things we see, taste, and feel.

It seems as if the human mind had only
to desire, and, lo, the Divine Mind, working

The Living Truth 38

through human intelligence, responds with
the means to gratify the demand, and na-
tural resources, hitherto unrevealed, are
opened up in a way to challenge our reverent
admiration.

The Law

Scientific research shows an inborn intel-
ligence in every manifestation of life, which
keeps it true to the law of its kind.

There is no break in the chain of being.
From the lowest form of active life, found
in the slow-moving slime of the ocean
depths up to the highest expression of Glo-
rified Humanity, the Living Christ, the one
life and the one law unfolds in orderly suc-
cession. It is the law that the lower should
lift up to find its full expression in the next
higher, and by that same law, that which
the higher receives from the lower, should
be and is paid for in some helpful act or
office. Nature pays what she owes, as as
right and honest

The mineral kingdom, rich in life-giving
chemicals, aspires to the vegetable kingdom
next beyond. God gives it the means to
aspire in the multitude of seeds committed
to its care. It takes the seeds, wraps them
about with the warm soil, gathers in the
moisture, stores the sunshine until the seeds

40 The Living Truth

burst their bonds, push out in tender shoots
of root and foliage from the enfolding soil,
to become things of life and beauty in the
upper air — each kind taking with it the rich
elements of the mineral matrix suited to its
peculiar need, and which will give to each
kind its best expression. Mark this : Each
only takes from this rich store "Its own"
At the very start it indicates a lesson of hon-
esty and unselfishness.

Next : The vegetable kingdom, manifest-
ing itself in grasses, shrubs, and trees, yield-
ing its plentiful harvest of fruit and foliage,
gives its sustenance and pleasure to the an-
imal kingdom, just beyond ; while the lower
orders of the animal kingdom, in food and
service, minister to man, the highest type.
Next : Man, true to his higher self, aspires
to God, the Spiritual Essence of the Mighty
Whole. The law is always the advance, and
never retrogression.

The Recompense

Now for the recompense. Man tills the
ground. He brings to light the hidden treas-
ures of the earth's deep places. Through his
ever active thought he develops each thing
to its highest use. The vegetable returns to
the mineral all that is useless to its future

The Living Truth 41

advance (another lesson in honest econ-
omy) to enrich the mineral wealth of the
world. For instance, coal, which is, in brief,
vegetable matter returned to the mineral
kingdom, is rich in stored sunshine. Here,
in the hidden laboratories of the earth, it
is again prepared to minister to human
needs in light and heat-producing elements.

The animal kingdom also returns its
wastes to the vegetable, enriching and mak-
ing it productive for new vegetation.

Next : Man, the highest form, aspires to
Spirit, and Spirit, descending through man,
and all beneath him, gives abundant life.
So the circle of existence is complete. Al-
ways acting, ever renewing, life immortal,
and unending, the lower putting forth to
the next higher, and the higher finding its
ultimate use in the welfare of the lower.

Mutual Need

God is no more necessary to His creatures
than are His creatures necessary to Him.
This is not an irreverent statement. Man
is the sum total of all that lies below him,
and the promise of all that lies beyond him.
He is the fulfilment of the law. The same
law which forms the jewels in the mine,
which holds the stars in their courses, which

42 Tlie Living Truth

tinres the ebb and flow of the tides, even the
law of Spirit, which creates and dominates
the whole, finds its expression in man, and
operates to npbnild and uphold him. God
needs him. His law needs direction, and
man is the exponent.

Man's nature is in accord with this : Law
and order, and not chaos, or destruction.
Therefore, he does not need to struggle and
strive to subdue that which seems to be evil.
Only believe! Make manifest the good, by
calmly taking hold of the next duty, know-
ing if one aspires to the good, according to
the law, the difficulty will regulate itself.

We shall not get the secret of true living
until we train the thoughts to conform to
the law of Spiritual progress. Do they take
the stately trend toward the next good, or
do they grovel and retrograde to that which
lies below? "To the next good" is the men-
tal science slogan.

According to this law of advance no one
should be wholly satisfied. To be dissatis-
fied is good, if one does not make it an occa-
sion of discord. It is the law that we should
watch for the next good, but it is conflict
with the law to give thought to the next
evil. Here comes in the Intelligence talked
of in the last lesson. Let us make no mis-

The Limng Truth 43

take in the discernment of Good. Things
change when rightly interpreted. Wealth,
power, intellect, are but means to an end;
means which must be honestly obtained, and
wisely used toward the desired unfolding
into true living. Selfishly obtained and self-
ishly used they will only result in harm.

Physical Inharmony

Hahnemann, the founder of the great
Homeopathic School of Medicine, bases this
system on his assumption: "Every mani-
festation of disease is Nature's effort toward
a cure." Their motto is "SimiMa Similibusi
Curantjr" or "like cures like.7' For spe-
cific symptoms he prescribed that remedy
which would produce the same symptoms
in a healthy subject. The more violent the
symptoms the less of the remedy, even to
the hundredth or thousandth attenuation.
A disease is a Dis-ease, or lack of ease, an
unrest, which a beneficent nature makes in
an effort to readjust. On homeopathic basis
then call it a good, strive to understand its
purpose, help it along to its purpose, and
thus cast it out.

"Agree with thine adversary quickly." In
other words, don't get disturbed over it.

44 The Living Truth

Such is all our unrest, whether it be in on*
bodies or in our environments. The perfect
Spirit of the Good within is working to ad-
just us to our perfect expression. Cease
fretting. Look for the next good. Strive
to see God even in the most unhappy condi-
tions.

"Agree with thine adversary quickly,
whilst thou art in the way with him." What
is this agreement with the adversary? Is it
to fall in with it, talking of it, thinking of
it, abiding with it, in self-pity that we are
so afflicted? Rather let us meet it with this
assertion : "What is the lesson I am to learn
from this experience? I am on my way to
something better. Lord, teach me how I
have transgressed in thought. Lead me to
the next good." In so doing we come to an
agreement. Then it follows there is no
longer an impending judgment, no paying
to the "uttermost farthing." This Adver-
sary is anything which disturbs us. The
Judge to whom we are delivered is the Law
unchanging. The officer is the combination
of unhappy events which arise to hamper
and enslave us, and to commit us to re-
straints which are the "prisons" from which
we can not emerge until we have paid the
"uttermost farthing" or the full penalty.

The Living Truth 45

Circumstances

There is a motive in every phenomenon.
It appears in obedience to the law. There
is no such thing as chance, or fate, or luck.
In the common acceptance of the term, noth-
ing ever happens. The law is unchanging.
It is God's law, and it is God's expression.
It operates just as accurately in its penal-
ties as in its benefits. Here is a point in
theology. Who punishes? "Thou art of
purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not
look on iniquity." Hab., I, 13. God does
not punish. Punishment comes because we
array ourselves in opposition to the law, in-
stead of working with it, and thus get its
penalties, instead of its benefits. Let us ex-
amine the phenomenon of physical disease.
We have proved it is the inharmonious
thought which has made the inharmonious
body. As there is a law for every mani-
festation, so is there a law which produces
this particular ill. When Mental Science
comes to be fully understood we shall be
able to trace a given disease to a given men-
tal cause, just as directly as we trace a ray
of light to the central sun.

Even current events move in obedience to
the law. "As ye sow, so shall ye reap." If
we recognize the good, as individuals, or

46 The Living Truth

nations, we shall surely reap the good in
proportion to our recognition.

" Acknowledge ELLrn in all thy ways, and
He shall direct thy paths. " How many
times we look back to some tragic event of
our lives, only to discern that that which we
then thought a calamity was but a Divine
leading to some higher and better thing ; an
altitude we could not have reached had we
not endured that specific trial, at that par-
ticular time. Our thoughts were changed,
our intelligence was awakened, our souls de-
veloped. We were made better men and
women. We see now the God-leading. It
was our uplift, instead of our downfall. "In
all thy ways" means the dark ways, as well
as the light ways.

Thoughts and ideas must be sharply de-
fined. An idea is of the mind. Mind is of
God. Hence, the idea is the God-impulse,
or the good impulse, prompting to better
things. Our thoughts are the workers or
the builders by which these impulses are
made manifest. We must not let them
waste or ruin that which would build for
happiness and prosperity. See that your
thoughts are trained to the Divine Ideal.
Then shall we accomplish with no loss of
time or wasted effort.

The Living Truth 47

All thought to the contrary is a hin-
drance, while mental expression in the line
of the law leads unerringly to the best in
the direction of our desires.

Necessity

There are arbitrary necessities of life
which may be more readily ministered to,
if we observe the law. We must have cloth-
ing or we shall suffer from exposure; we
must have food or the body will waste away.
Food needs, shelter needs, raiment needs,
are as much under God's care as are spir-
itual needs. The current of events sets so
strongly against some unfortunates that
they seem unable to fulfill their require-
ments. What is the reason? It is the out-
raged law of supply and demand. God's
bounty is for all. Man's selfish view of the
law is to grasp and get, instead of "Share
and share alike." The law is to take your
own and not that which belongs to another.
Any other interpretion of the law is false,
and is productive of all the sin and misery
in the world.

The great Industrial problems, the wide-
spread Socialistic agitations of the day, even
the bloodthirsty Anarchy and the wars, are
but the fevered manifestations or mistaken

48 The Living Truth

ways of man to express God-born impulses
toward the realization of better tilings.

The Christ Way

Men strive, fight, argue, until the world is
swept with inharmony. What is the rem-
edy? Not in resistance and strife. No
greater reformer than Jesus the Christ, no
grander exponent of Socialism, ever ap-
peared on the earth. He says, "But I say
unto you that ye resist not evil." "As ye
would that others should do unto you, do
ye even so to them." The natural impulse
is to resist, to fight. There is surely a more
excellent way. The time is at hand when
arbitration will supersede resistance. Arbi-
tration is thought directed to right ends.
Turn on the light of truth. Create a mighty
sentiment which shall touch the God in
Man. Then shall the voice of the people
be the voice of God, and there will be noth-
ing to fight about. This is the domain of
good, and the right way into it.

Attraction

It is an undeviating law of Nature that
like seeks like. We attract our own. We
get our own, always. If a handful of dif-

The Living Truth 49

ferent seeds were cast upon the fruitful soil
each seed would take from it just the ele-
ments needed for its proper development.
One comes up rich in lime, another in iron,
phosphate, or soda. One takes on a bitter
taste, another sweet, salty, or acid taste;
true to its nature ; each to express its use in
the divine economy. If a community of
men were brought to live under the same
conditions, like would seek like. A com-
munity of interests might mark the outward
man, but in a mental and moral sense they
would separate into groups of similar
thought. Such is the history of all religions,
of all social and political classifications.
Following this law into the domain of our
personal needs and surroundings, it still
holds good. This is the fixed Principle by
which the whole universe coheres. We get
that which we think the most about. This
teaches us to be watchful of our thoughts
that they do not bring us undesirable things.
All that we need for our best expression is
ours. God has given it to us. "Seek ye first
the kingdom of God, and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added onto
you." The thing we need exists as a part
of us, and not far away. Affirm, "I am a
part of that which I desire, by an unfailing

50 The Living Truth

law it gravitates toward me. I will fulfill
the condition through which it comes to me.
I am receptive, not doubting, nor unrestful."
The seeds which fell from the hand of the
sower, in the parable of Jesus, were equally
fruitful. Some fell on stony places (hard,
unreceptive natures) where they were
scorched. Some fell among thorns ( critical,
unkind thoughts), and were choked. Some
fell by the wayside (heedlessly) and the
fowls of the air ( trivial thoughts ) devoured
them. Some fell upon good ground (sin-
cere, receptive thoughts) and bore fruit a
hundred fold.

S elf -preparation

If we are to get returns for our desires,
we must prepare ourselves to receive by
weeding out everything which would hinder
the full enjoyment of the thing desired.
What is this thing I ask for? What will it
profit me? What is my capacity to put it
to its best uses? Am I fitted to receive it?
If not, what can I do?

The Book of Books gives an answer:
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse
(that is, the best of yourself) that there
may be meat in my house, and prove Me
now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I
will not open the windows of Heaven, and

The Living Truth 51

pour ont such a blessing that there shall
not be room to receive it."

Make God a living factor in your daily-
life. This implies that we think the good,
speak the good, and do the good, on every
possible occasion. That we guard ourselves
also from any thought or act of another,
which is counter to the good. The prayer
of Jesus for His disciples was this : "I pray
not that thou shouldest take them out of
the world, but that thou shouldest keep from
the evil." Necessarily, we are brought into
contact with much that is evil or unde-
sirable. Exercise the Principal, and over-
come. A knowledge of the law leads us to
understand how many of our failures are
due to a misdirected energy which wastes
and worries us. This waste and worry,
righty interpreted, are like the symptoms of
disease. Nature's efforts to keep us in the
right way. "If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God that giveth to all men liber-
ally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be
given him." A further condition is that we
are to "ask in faith, nothing wavering; for
he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea,
driven with the wind and tossed. For let
not that man think he shall receive anything
of the Lord. A double-minded man is un-

52 The Living Truth

stable in all his ways." (James I, 5-8.)

The law is, " Advance." There is always
good ahead. When we have reached the
point to which we aspire we shall find it an
outlook to something greater and grander
ahead. There is no weariness in this ad-
vance, no struggle to attain. Just the tran-
quil development which comes from always
being at one's best.

"I came that ye might have life, and have
it more abundantly"; knowing which, we
can realize the Life Eternal, which is now
and here. We have the promise that even
the last enemy, Death, shall be overcome.
This is the ultimate of a well-ordered exper-
ience. The order is progression, the law is
Love,

LESSON IV
POWER: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

"A wise man is strong. Yea, a man of
knowledge increaseth strength/' Prov.
XXIV, 5.

In the nature of things Power is inborn.
The creation of any object involves a mani-
fest purpose, and the ability to fulfill its
purpose in and of itself. We naturally ask
of any new thing, ''What is it made for, and
how does it operate"? All of which ques-
tioning is a tacit recognition of its ability
and utility. Power is a latent force to be
brought out and applied. There is but one
power in the universe, the God-power, or
the good-power. Power, therefore, being of
God, and like Him, is always to be depended
upon, infinite, unswerving, and unchang-
ing.

There is one power, just as there is one
light, one atmosphere, each put forth from
the one source of being. But the manifesta-

54 The Living Truth

tions of power are as many and as varied
as there are objects in the universe.

Thus far in our lessons we have consid-
ered : 1st, Creation, or a putting forth from
God. 2d, Intelligence, or that which dis-
cerns the purpose for which it was made.
3d, Order, or the law which keeps it true
to the purpose for which it was made, and
now we come to the next natural need, the
Power, or that which makes possible all that
God-wisdom process for it, as a part in the
active, vital Whole. God gives the power,
but man gives it direction through the
thought forces which are the makers and
builders. Shall we direct this God-force to
its best expression, or shall we misdirect
and waste these forces by which we live?
Knowledge is power, and it is by the know-
ing of what we say and what our environ-
ments mean that we are to direct this
power. We came out from God (Creation) .
We are assigned to our places in the divine
harmony (Intelligence). We are fitly
equipped for our purpose in life (Order).
And, in a logical sense, if in no other, we
are endowed with power to manifest our-
selves at our best. Let us be surely estab-
lished in this fact. Know it. Then may we
develop readily in obedience to the law. To

The Living Truth 55

do this demands that we recognize our God-
born selves, and appreciate the good there
is in us, and round about us. The man of
power appreciates himself, and lives up to
his best. Know this, and when tempted to
doubt, affirm, "I am one with Infinite life,
intelligence, order and power. I am created
for a purpose in God's own plan, I am Ac-
tivity, Wisdom, Strength, not irresolute, ig-
norant, or weak. I am victorious over
every difficulty."

Human power lies in mental supremacy
rather than in brute strength. If this were
not so man would indeed present a sorry
spectacle. His horse is superior in muscu-
lar strength, his dog is keener in the sense
of smell, the little ant outranks him in in-
stinct, the bee is the better builder, the
spider the more accurate geometrician.
The elements might freeze, burn, or drown
him, yet over all these he has dominion and
power, through the exercise of mental and
spiritual knowledge.

When we take the ground that everything
and everybody is in its last analysis, God-
created and spiritual, we have planted our
feet on the bedrock Principle which har-
monizes the world. There is but one power,
the God-power, or the good-power. What-

56 The Living Truth

ever comes to us not in accord with the good
is powerless in itself, and is always subject
to the good.

The evils of life are man-made conditions
to be overcome. Yet they are the lawful
manifestations of false thoughts, and false
words. We say lawful, because it is the law
that word and thought will invariably man-
ifest in conditions according to their kind.
Now we can see why knowledge is power, a
productive force derived from right think-
ing and right speaking. We also see that
the law works as positively in its penalties
as in its benefits. "My words are spirit,
and they are life," said Jesus, meaning by
this they are creative and life-giving.

Organisms are not life, but the expres-
sions of life. / am in my body, which is not
me, but my expression. God works in me.
I have nothing to do but to express the life-
giving impulse. Only to let it work un-
trammeled by any fears or doubts. To
know and practice this, means life eternal.
This explains the Christ's words: "I am
come that ye might have life, and have it
more abundantly." "To know God is life
. eternal." Christ within us is the inward
impulse to health and cure. Knowing, not
intellectually apprehending, this, and hav-

The Living Truth 57

ing faith because I know I need not be sick,
I need not be poor, I need not be sinful, nor
unhappy. These false conditions are but
expressions of abnormal thoughts and words
which I, as an expression of the Infinite
Life, have no right to entertain. These have
no power "to whom ye yield yourselves serv-
ants to obey, his servants ye are to whom
ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of
obedience unto righteousness." To know
then that God is our life, that He carries on
the secret processes of our physical exist-
ence, that he pervades all the universe, gives
no place whatever for these falsities. One
sees at once the supremacy of truth. "Ye
shall know the truth and the truth shall
make you free."

Our failure to demonstrate any scientific
principle does not impair its truth. How
often we are brought in contact with some
fatal disease, and are tempted to declare the
whole science of mental healing unreliable;
when the truth is, we, the patient, and the
people round about are not large enough to
discern the spiritual truth. Jesus and His
apostles raised the dead to life, they healed
seemingly incurable diseases instantly ; they
made the lame to walk, the blind to see, the
deaf to hear, and made no failures.

58 The Living Truth

How often we impotently pray for the
Christ-power, unmindful of the truth of an
ever-present God within, animating every
cell of the body, and Who would work
through us if we would let Him. Jesus knew
this ever-dwelling consciousness of the
Father.

We have ever this indwelling Christ, and
His assurance that "The kingdom of God is
within us." Knowledge, absolute knowl-
edge, is the measure of our power. Know-
ing, we should speak as one having author-
ity and not in the halting, doubting speech
which leads to failure. The positive recog-
nition of the Christ within is the power
against which the gates of hell shall not
prevaiL

Let us then train our erratic thought to a
full recognition of the God within. Let the
conscious spirit in me speak to the spirit
in you; let our spirit words, instinct with
God-power, fall into contact with, what to
us is this manifestation of inharmony. God
in me, who is Love and Power, speaks to the
God in you, waking the God-like reply.

Let us recognize the dynamic force of the
thoughts. What have we to contend with?
Thought is vibratory force, as much as elec-
tricity is vibratory force. In fact, it is the

The Living Truth 59

greater force, since the mind of man is
bringing out this electrical force to larger
uses, and adapting it to the commonest
needs of daily life.

It has been our custom to speak of the
material universe as "first." We speak of
the solid earth, the solid rocks, the everlast-
ing hills, but science is revealing material
things, and all forms, as orderly rates of
vibration. If we place grains of sand on a
smooth, hard surface and subject it to
vibratory force the sand will arrange itself
in undulatory lines or specific shapes, ac-
cording to the rate of vibration. If there
are imperceptible globules of moisture on
the window pane, the vibrations of the cold
air outside will arrange them into shapes
according to the intensity of the cold, the
wonderful frost shapes rivaling the artist's
pencil, in fern-like frond, star, and crys-
tal. The snowflake, which is perfectly
geometrical in its star-like beauty, is but
a drop of water subject to the vibra-
but a drop of water subject to the vibra-
tions of the frosty air. It has been demon-
strated that sound vibrations shape the
plastic material about us. A Mrs. Hughes
of London entertained scientific circles not

60 The Living Truth

long ago with, her remarkable experiments
in voice figures.

A simple instrument, consisting of a re-
ceiver and a flexible membrane, upon which
were scattered some Lycopodium Seed and
tiny dust particles, was her only aid. She
sang into the instrument, and the tiny par-
ticles assumed definite shapes, such as
spirals, stars, and wheels. On one occasion
a perfect daisy appeared. For weeks she
strove to reproduce it, and finally succeeded
in producing just the precise inflection of
the note which produced it, and was able to
form daisies at will.

Vibrations, as related to sound, unfolds
an interesting line of research, which may
reveal the direct cause of many abnormal
physical formations. The disintegrating
power of a rhythmic vibration is well illus-
trated in the passing of numbers over a
bridge. Military commands are to "Break
step" lest the rhythmic sway of the regular
step break down the bridge.

It is scientifically true that our thoughts
go out in vibratory force. Just as there are
sound waves, light waves, or heat waves, so
there are thought waves. The higher vibra-
tions of soul force, manifested in concen-
trated thought, will change form and

The Living Truth 61

structure, will dissolve hard formations;
just as the cold or heat vibrations will
change the drop of water to ice or steam.
There is no seemingly solid element in the
human body, but is amenable to this change,
even the densest structure, the periosteum,
or bone covering, is permeable.

The most powerful forces are light and
heat vibrations, their correspondences in the
spiritual realm are Intelligence and Love,
which practically means the knowing and
the doing.

In recognition of this lies man's power.
This brings fearlessness and freedom. We
do not have to beseech and pray to a higher
Power afar off to give us efficiency. We are
already equipped with all the power we can
use, and every aid we need is fully given in
the natural use of the things at hand. "All
things are possible to them that believe."
"Commit thy works unto the Lord (that is,
the operative force of God's Law) and thy
thoughts shall be established." The great
forces of nature are the silent forces. We
are not to struggle for power. It is ours
already. The only striving is for self -con-
quest, that we may bring our untrained
minds into recognition of our birthright, as
children of the Omnipotent God. And we

62 The Living Truth

must never feel driven to anything. This
puts us in bondage. Power does not lie in
the enforced will, but in an intelligent com-
prehension of our fitness. Helen Van Ander-
son gives this affirmation: "God works in
me to will and to do all that is necessary for
me to do." Is it necesswry for my well-
being or that of another that I should do
the things presented? If so, then I have
the power, the way of accomplishment will
unfold. This makes us watchful of oppor-
tunities, and keenly alive to the ordinary
happenings. Many an opportunity for bet-
terment offers, which we, through ignorance,
or indifference, let pass. We see its value
only when another takes it profitably from
us.

"I have the power to accomplish within
myself. God aids me to express myself at
my best. I am at one with God and His
Law. Nurturing my lower qualities I come
in conflict with the law, and suffer thereby."
Will-power is exhaustive. Understanding is
helpful and recreative. Will-power, as con-
trasted with understanding, is like the
foamy rush of troubled waters, compared to
the silent, even, and irresistible flow of the
mighty river. Will-power is aggressive.
It is the burlipg of one's self against a cii|s

The Living Truth G3

rent of circumstances and environment.
Understanding takes one aloft, to a level
above contention and strife, into the higher
atmosphere of steadfast freedom. I never
need force myself. Let me take up each
duty knowing I have the power to fulfill. I
am only to do the best I know for the pres-
ent moment, understanding that the best
method of successful performance will plac-
idly unfold as the work goes on. I can not
fail. I am capable of my best expression.

A knowledge of this bit of Mental Science
goes far in the demonstration over physical
weakness and bodily decay. "They that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run and not be weary, they shall
walk and not faint."

Power is developed by concentration.
There is no royal road to the development
of power. It is not what another helps us
to do that give true power, it is the individ-
ual effort or exercise that makes us truly
strong. When we want a thing, or to do a
thing, it is no effort to concentrate.

The point of power is The Silence reached
in that wonderful repose, where the thought
is held in abeyance, and the mind energy is
directed along the line of action where we

64 The Living Truth

can scarcely think at all. Once having felt
this wonderful thrill of spiritual exultation
one can never forget its power. We know
then what it can do for us. It is then that
the thought goes out in waves, sweeping all
before it. Its mission is to readjust and
renew all that is abnormal and unhealthy.
If it is unhappy environment, or disagree-
able conditions, it places us in such relations
to them that they are powerless to harm. It
is the soul victory, which comes through a
new consciousness of powers we hitherto
had not known. Here is absolute calm. We
think only good thoughts, have only visions
of good things. Here we are willing to leave
all to the undeviating law of spirit.

"Cast thy burden on the Lord ( Law) , and
He shall sustain thee !" "Commit thy way
unto Him, and He shall bring it to pass."
This is no lazy shifting of responsibility on
the Almighty, but a calm and tranquil as-
sumption of our duty, sure of Divine help
and guidance. Concentrated thought is al-
ways calm. A resolute calmness under
difficulties is always power.

Go into the sickroom with a calmness
born of conscious nearness to the Divine,
and you can not help doing good. With a

The Living Truth 65

right understanding of the direction of your
forces your place is as helpful and as legit-
imate as that of any physician with a uni-
versity diploma. Do not assure what you
do not know, but dignify your honest effect
as it deserves.

To control the thought, and to send its
forces to the side of unchanging good, is
power.

It gives such a sense of dominion to feel
that all things are true to an Infinite plan ;
a plan which includes life, health, and hap-
piness, instead of the poor apologies for the
same, with which the Metaphysician so often
comes in contact.

LESSON V
THE HEALING POWER: PHYSICAL HEALTH

If we have faithfully studied the preced-
ing lessons, we are now prepared to make
a fundamental statement: "Life is deeper
than the outward manifestation." It is not
the organism which sustains and maintains
the life process. What matters it then if
the leg is lame, or the heart weak, or any
organic function disturbed? Even though
Medical Science has passed the fatal ver-
dict we know that Spirit, underlying every
manifestation, is ever present to create
anew. It does create anew. Proven in
thousands of cases beyond a doubt.

Mental Science, as a means of healing, is
no longer an experiment, but an established
fact. No school of medicine exceeds its
cures, no system of philosophy discredits its
wisdom. It invites the broadest investiga-
tion of every phenomenon ; it points the true
way out of all sickness, sin, and death, not

68 The Living Truth

by an illogical denial, but by a knowledge of
the truth. "Ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free," All the ab-
normal conditions do exist on the mortal
plane, but only as stages of growth. "I am
come that ye might have life and have it
more abundantly." If we have learned our
lessons thus far as we should we are pre-
pared to say with confidence, "nothing
exists for us except through our recognition
of it." Hence, as we no longer see disease
and discomfort as the necessary factors in
human experience, we are no longer in
bondage to them. Our part in life is to
manifest God, or Good. When we know our
place in the perfect plan, when we under-
stand the construction of these physical
temples in which we dwell, when we under-
stand the constructive or the destructive
power of the active, conscious thought, then
do we hold the key to life eternal, as well
as here and now. This is the ground where
you may have oft-repeated argument with
the patient. Are you so well-grounded in
the truth that you can deal wisely and well
with the impaired organism before you?
Let us explain :

What is the source of Life and Power?

How is it evolved?

The Living Truth 69

What is the reconstructive force, and how
applied?

Where is this pain and weakness?

Why did these particular organs manifest
inharmony?

What is your mental remedy?

These questions are more fully answered,
especially the last two, in the advanced
course, The Physical Body, and its Relation
to the Mind. But through the instruction
already given it is easy to give a mental
treatment. The advanced course more
clearly designates the special treatment for
given diseases. Go over the ground
patiently, Body, Soul, and Spirit, until the
truth dawns on each particular aspect.
Heart and Soul aglow with Divine Truth
get into that place where you, your patient,
and GOD are all alone. Hold steadfastly
there, in that pure Presence, until all ab-
normal conditions are shut out from your
consciousness, and the whole reconstructed
body stands pure and healthy before your
mental vision. Hold steadily there, refus-
ing to recognize anything but health and
peace. Be positive! Think only of that
which God has abundantly given you for
your best expression.

70 The Living Truth

Affirmation is the strongest denial. Af-
firm the good and there will be no chance
to consider the evil. Let your patient tell
the whole story of the malady as it appears
to him. What he thinks is as important to
you, as the opinions of the doctors. Give
helpful, not pitiful, sympathy. Tell as much
by tactful questioning, or by encouraging
information, as will explain your under-
standing of the case. Do not make an effort
to win his confidence. Be yourself, and true
to your own convictions. His confidence is
his own subservient to nobody's opinion.
The Mental Healer has often been charged
with Hypnotism, which is malicious, and
untrue. Never coerce the thought of an-
other. Simply show the more excellent way
of thinking and acting.

It is never wise to antagonize a patient.
Far better say nothing. Let the higher
thought vibrations fill your own soul. Then
will they flow out to his life centers like
vital currents from a battery, until both are
filled. Then will the nerve-centers respond
in full and free vitality. Medical Science
has given the disease a name and such a
symptomistic classification as will make it
intelligible to the studied practitioner.

The Living Truth 71

Sometimes this frightens the patient, and
added suffering is the result of the fear.

Christened with a many-syllabled name,
and prescribed for in unintelligible Latin,
sometimes makes a mountain out of a mole-
hill.

The Metaphysician, who knows the pa-
tient as body and soul, may safely place
reliance upon the natural healing power of
Nature, directed by the intuitive perception.

Material medicines are always experi-
mental. That which helps one often fails
with the other, because of the tempera-
mental differences. Again, the so-called
specifies of one generation are ruthlessly set
aside by the discoveries of the next. Each
era of medical practice has its fads.

The Metaphysician is seldom equipped
with the technique of the medical schools.
Still, as the real doctor is not alone the
polished output of the university, but funda-
mentally endowed by Dame Nature, the hon-
est mental healer may win an honorable title
to public respect. Stand your ground !

We study the human body as a unit. With
us there is no complication of diseases, as
entanglements to be adjusted. The mental
cause, which lies deeper than the physical

72 The Lwing Truth

manifestation, is our point of attack. To
uncover the disturbing thought often re-
quires both tact and skill. We find the force
of the Master's Words : "A new command-
ment give I unto you, that ye love one an-
other."

Through an understanding of Truth it is
ours to know how to calm the destructive
fears and anxieties, to sweep away false
ideas of self, and to use with understanding
the silent thought-forces which renew and
reconstruct. We speak to the God-born,
healthy creature who stands behind this ap-
pearance of disease. We break the chains
of this mortal belief. We speak to the souls
in prison, we let the oppressed go free.

This is no mere sound of words, but the
active, living Principle, which our faithful-
ness to the Truth will render wonderfully
effective.

Power

You have all the power you can use, but
only an understanding of Truth makes it
available. In the Christ with us is the true
light which 'lighteth every man that cometh
into the world."

In this light we have always our full meas-
ure of knowledge and power. We may get

The Living Truth 73

in-for-mation, or that which, formulates the
idea from others, but until the Natural In-
telligence answers with its flash of light we
are still in the dark. St. John says, "If
the anointing ye have received from Him
abideth with you, ye need not that any
man should teach you/' which means, if
we live in the truth, speak the truth, think
the truth, the inward Wisdom will surely
respond. Again he says, "Ye have an unc-
tion from the Holy One, and ye know" Not,
ye shall know sometime, but ye know now.

Hence, in any time of doubt ye may truth-
fully say: "I know the right way, I have
the God-wisdom right with me now. Let
me think according to principle, and God
will certainly show me the way." The true
Metaphysician lives the truth day by day.

To live the truth is to make it so vital
that we can not live without it. There is
no other way to get the needed direction in
time of trouble. We have each, doubtless,
had some experience with that intuitive
flash of intelligent action which comes in
time of danger. We say, "I do not know
why I did it, but it was just the thing to
do." This experience is no mere happen-
ing. It is the outward manifestation of in-
ward wisdom.

74 The Living Truth

Sincerity

We must be honest and earnest, diligent
in our business, and staunch, to our under-
standing of truth. This not only gives us a
needed dignity among our fellows, but it
helps us to avoid insincerity in word and
deed. It is far easier to deceive others than
to deceive ourselves. Mental science brings
us often to our own judgment seat, where
we pay our penalties in hard experience.

It pays to watch for the little helps by
the way which are so often unheeded. With
our awakened perceptions we are often sur-
prised at the inspiration we receive from
the little things close at hand. The still,
small voice of ordinary events, the timely
word from an unexpected source, the in-
sistent under-current of our own thoughts
are each and all indices of the great law by
which "All things work together for good/'
to those that love the good.

Consecrated to a pure purpose our every
experience is helpful. We do not need to
struggle to get into our right place. We
are in the right place now. Just be ready
to do the next good thing. If it be the hard
place, when we have filled it as we should,
we shall be taken out of it, into the larger
and better field of action. Acknowledge,

The Living Truth 75

thankfully, the little helps. Do not mourn
the loss of place or opportunity, which may
seem wrested from you by cruel fate. Cling
all the closer to Principles, and know that
God wants you in the best place you are
capable of filling.

As a result of our study we grow indiffer-
ent to many things we once thought neces-
sary to our happiness. Little annoyances
no longer held us in bondage. We grow very
indifferent to the little frets of life.
Through spiritual understanding we are
lifted into that higher atmosphere where
such trifles do not come. This getting into
the higher place does not mean the neglect of
the smallest duty, for this would not be
right. We feel rather a finer perception of
duty, and are the more careful to fulfill our
obligations.

Again : We have no false ideas of labor
or self-sacrifice. We do things not because
they are expedient, but because they are
right. We discern the best methods of doing
things, and thus avoid a waste of energy.
We now know it is because of wasted, ig-
norantly wasted, constructive energy that
we grow old and pass away. "Because he
hath known my name he shall call upon me,
and I will answer him; I will be with him

t6 The Living Truth

in trouble, I will deliver Mm and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him, and show
him my salvation," was spoken only to
those who have set their love on the good.
From this high standpoint we shall regard
things "by and large," as the seamen say.
Evil will be lost sight of in the larger good
which is ours. It will become a thing we
can best deal with by letting it alone. By
refusing to consider evils we cut the cords
which bind us to them, and are set free to
follow goodness and truth. Remember al-
ways that which we do not recognize, we do
not have. This is Power. This dual life of
what seems to be, and what we desire to
be, becomes as one. We are able to work
peacefully out of hard places. Our watch-
word is: "Advance to the next good."
Forgetting the things that are behind, and
reaching forth unto the things that are be-
fore. I press forward to the mark of the
high calling in Christ Jesus. We know
there is no such thing as luck or chance,
only Law. Work with the Law. Work with
the Law, and not against it. Herein is
power manifest in a hundredfold return in
Health and Happiness,

LESSON VI

USE

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty where-
with Christ hath made us free and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
Gal., V, 1.

Our full development into the freedom of
the sons of God depends upon the use we
make of our understanding. In the line of
the Law there is a perpetual unfolding,
something good to learn throughout
Eternity.

In the order of our study we have ac-
quired a fair conception of the fundamental
facts of existence. Creation, Intelligence,
Order, Power, and now we come to Use, as
the practical embodiment of our newly de-
veloped understanding.

We know that we exist, or stand out from
God, and to be God-like or good is our
birthright, not a something to be learned
or imparted to us. We are endowed with In-
telligence to express our purpose in the Di-
vine Plan. We know our relationship with

78 The Living Truth

every other manif estation of created Energy
is of an orderly, lawful nature and there
need be no clashing of interests in the divine
order.

We know we are, by right of our God-
born heritage, endowed with all we need for
our best expression as sons of God. All we
have to do is to live in harmony with the
God Law.

Our lessons are now narrowed down to
personal application. The question to con-
sider closely is, "What is my part in the
Divine Economy, and how may I best per-
form it?" Emerson says, "There is a guid-
ance for each one of us, and by lowly listen-
ing we shall hear the right words."

There are no wastes or burdens in the
right use of our faculties. Hence, as an
economic factor in the expenditure of our
life forces, we should understand clearly
what the right use means. And here comes
in that lowly listening of which Emerson
speaks. In our last lesson we spoke the
Christ indwelling wherein "were hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge." This
is the Monitor to Whom we are to incline
the listening war.

It is not always pleasant to take a retro-
spective view over the life path we have

The Lwiny Truth 79

trodden. It is marked and marred too many
times by the mistakes which have only
brought us pain and sorrow. Our forward
path is henceforth to be bright with our
newly acquired understanding of truth. We
know, indeed, that straight is the gate and
narrow the way that leadeth unto life. It
is hedged on either side by undeviating prin-
ciples, but "its ways are ways of pleasant-
ness and all its paths are peace."

It is a mental conquest we are from
henceforth to achieve. Happiness, health,
and prosperity are all included in the power
and capability of a well-ordered mind.
Think rightly and all things will work to-
gether for good.

Take time for mental cultivation. It is
one's privilege to often be alone, in the si-
lence, with God. The strength we need to
meet the duties of the day is surely to be
gained when we wait in expectant silence
for the direction of the inner voice; or as
Geo. Fox, the Quaker, called it: "The In-
ward Light." Here, again, is Emerson's
lowly listening, and it is what Jesus meant
when He said, "When thou prayest, enter
into thy closet (the secret place) and when
thou hast shut the door (that is, when all
intruding things have been shut out) pray

80 The Living Truth

to thy Father, which is in secret (the God
within), and the Father which seeth in se-
cret shall reward thee openly." This means
that the teaching of the silence shall be
made practical in better modes of living.
It is not always easy to get into the silence.
To banish confusion of thought take,
and hold, some strong statement. "Be
still and know that I am God." "The Lord
is in His Holy Temple. Let all the earth
keep silence before Him." "Peace, be stilL"
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give
unto you, not as the world giveth, give I
unto you."

Wait here until the senses are subordinate
to a sense of waiting. Until it seems as if
you were alone in the desert at midnight,
with only the silent wastes of sand beneath
your fed: and the starless sky overhead.
Nothing but yourself and God. After a time
it will seem as if the stillness was alive with
soundless vibrations of the Spirit. Father
Ryan, a Southern Priest, wrote a beautiful
poem.

The Valley of Silence

I walk down the Valley of Silence,

The dim, distant valley alone,
And I heed not the sound of a foot step

Around me, save God and my own,

The Living Truth 81

And the hush of my heart is as holy
As ever the angels have known.

In the heart of the Valley of Silence
I dream all the songs that I sing,

And the music floats down the dim valley
Till each thought finds a word for a wing,

That to man, like the dove of the Deluge,

A message of peace it may bring.
Far out on the deep there are billows

That never shall break on the beach.
And I have had thoughts in the silence

That never shall float into speech.
And I have had dreams in the silence

Too lofty for language to reach.

Hold yourself profoundly in the silence
and ask what you most desire. The answer
may not be immediate. You may fall asleep.
But never mind, try again. Refuse to be
disturbed. Say to these wayward thoughts,
"Go thy way, and when I have a more con-
venient season I will call on thee."

Then will the perplexities resolve them-
selves into calmness. Then will the clear
thoughts from the higher plane come in.
Then will just the word you are waiting to
hear come to give the necessary direction,
the word it is safe to follow.

82 The Living Truth

"Acknowledge me in all thy ways, and I
will direct thy paths." Prov., Ill, 6.

The answer will surely come. Sometimes
it comes with the first waking thoughts of
the early morning. Sometimes in the hurry
and rush of the day's work. Sometimes in
the still, small voice which interweaves it-
self through our varying thought like the
thread of a song. You will know it to be the
inward truth, for it will be sharply defined
from ordinary thinking.

This is more than common perception.
"Out of the depths have I called to thee and
thou hast heard my voice." These inward
promptings are not to be discarded. Jesus
Christ referred to this when He said to cred-
ulous people: "Ye discern the face of the
sky and of the earth, but how is it that ye
do not discern this time? Yea, and why
even of yourselves judge ye not what is
right?" Luke, XXII, 56-57. There are
those so in harmony with this inward teach-
ing that they direct successfully the sim-
plest affairs of life by its dictation.

By cultivating our highest impulses we
shall find out just what we are good for and
along what lines we may be the most suc-
cessfully employed. We shall prove the
truth of our basic statement.

The Living Truth 83

"We are put here for our specific purpose
in the Divine Plan.

"We are fully equipped for our own par-
ticular duties,

1 We are given the requisite wisdom to dis-
cern the best way to perform successfully
all that is required of us."

It is human to plan, to question, to doubt.
It is divine to look up, to believe, to trust.
By this aspiration, belief and trust, we,
come into right relation to the "Soul of
things," as Prof. Denton called it. This
"Soul of things" answers to the call of our
own souls, responding in the fulfillment of
desire.

"Before they call I will answer : and while
they are yet speaking, I will hear." Isa.,
LXV, 24.

The highest evidence of spiritual advance-
ment is the change in our desires. We rise
above so much that once was, or seemed to
be, necessary to our happiness. In the
clearer light of the New Thought they seem
like the veriest trifles, too small to waste
thought upon.

We see the world with broader vision.
This boundless universe of which this vast
earth is so small a part; this great multi-
tude of humanity to which I am related;

84 The Living Truth

this law of harmony which orders the
mighty whole ; myself a constant revealing ;
God over all, and in all; I belong to them
and they to me. All that I need is mine and
close at hand. "Seek, and ye shall find/'
It is mine to claim and use, but not if I
agree to its opposite.

"Son thou are ever with me and all that I
have is thine."

Not by a jealous comparison with some
one seemingly more fortunate than ourselves
are we to recognize our own, for in that way
we are acknowledging a lack. Rather let us
affirm : "I am of God, I have enough." "I
am satisfied with the bounty of my God."
"Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

By affirmation and acknowledgment we
come into relation with the real quality of
the thing we desire, just as surely as the
needle of the compass is drawn to the un-
seen attractive force beneath the Polar Star.
Everything in natural form or entity
exists first in the spiritual form or the idea,
and also in the human mental concept be-
fore it is wrought out in the material.
Hence, the truly successful one in any line
is the one who gets closest to the spiritual
concept by the clear, steady thought.

The Living Truth 85

We have learned the law that the natural
takes on the quality of the thing which at-
tracts it. If we believe in old age and de-
crepitude, then shall we attract and possess
all that tends to materialize the condition.
Little ills creep in upon us and we unthink-
ingly let them come. Little cares accumu-
late, and we tell them over and over as if
loth to let them go. The plastic muscles
lose their tone, the flesh grows flabby and
wrinkled, the voice gets thin, the eyesight
fails, while we neglect the tonic, thought,
until the years which should have brought
us added graces have made us infirm and
old. "The inward man is renewed day by
day." II Cor., IV, 16. "As in Adam all die,
so in Christ shall all be made alive."

The place to begin the new life is here
and now. The charm of this New Thought
Life is that we do not have to be qualified
by stages of preparation for its practice.
Every act of your life has fitted you for
the place you now occupy. With all its mis-
takes and all its blessings let it drift away.
Take a New Thought of things from this
time on. Perform the next duty in the very
best way. Find out just what you desire
to do, think it over and over again. Eealize
that you lack neither the ability nor the

86 The Living Truth

wisdom to do it in the right way. Keep at
it in thought and mark how the inspiration
to successful performance unfolds out of
sometimes barren conditions.

"Whatever thy hand flndeth to do, do with
thy might."

That is the way. In an old English
Church there is this inscription in the
quaint lettering of centuries ago, "Do ye
nyxt thynge," which is helpful coun-
sel. Wisdom comes through concentrated
thought in the line of duty. How are we
to know what is duty?

Think about it. If it is a duty then will
the right direction be given so that it is
easily performed. The unfolding of the way
will be like something we have forgotten and
desire to recall. We keep the mind upon
it and soon we strike trains of thought which
will lead up to it, or touch something re-
lated to it. Suddenly, while we are about
the business of the day, it flashes upon us
and the way is plain. The reason of this is,
in the real Mind, the realm of ideas, is stored
all that pertains to us and our work in life.

Our standard of excellence is the good,
pure life lived not from expediency, but
because it is good and pure. By such an

The Living Truth 87

ideal we stimulate ourselves and become a
stimulus to others.

We can not force others to live better
lives. The choice is with the individual.
St. Paul said: "Behold, I show you the
more excellent way." This is all we may
lawfully do, except to remove or, better still,
to help them to remove obstacles from the
way. One's own thought must unbar the
doors to truth and freedom. This is the
law.

Man's first, last, and only lesson is to get
acquainted with himself, with his own soul.
Then may we act and think according to
Principle. To be yourself and not the weak
copy of another, to believe in and cultivate
the best in yourself is to help everybody.

Such is the relation of man to man and
to the universe that the excellence of one
helps all the rest. Self-cultivation does not
mean selfishness, but the broadest love.

It is the law that we always get our own.
Our own comes to us whether we will or
not. We should, then, be watchful that we
do not get title to things undesirable.
Thought is formative as we are attractive.
No disease will take root in the body except
the soil is prepared for the reception. No
sick bodies, no disturbed conditions, no false

88 The Living Truth

environment, comes to us except we are neg-
atively prepared for it. "Thou wilt keep
Mm in perfect peace whose mind is stayed
on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee."
This, the law as well as the Gospel. Perfect
peace means life and health.

Jesus said at the Well of Samaria : "Who-
soever shall drink of the water that I shall
give him shall never thirst, but it shall be
in him a well of water springing up into
everlasting life." Every generation of life
in truth adds one to the physical growth and
activity. The allotted "Three score and ten"
is an exploded fallacy.

"Ye ask and receive not because ye ask
amiss, that ye may consume it upon your
lusts." What are lusts? Inordinate desire
not in accord with the God-given purpose of
life. We have no right to that which must
be taken from another's rightful share to
enrich us. Such a misappropriation can
only make us poorer in the end. In some
way or another there will come into our
lives a most bitte* lack which hurts where
we are the most sensitive. Mankind is one.
Out of the All-providing Good each may
take his own, but nothing more.

To level up this universal supply is not
the dole of charity nor the chill act of duty,

The Living Truth 89

but just the sunny cheer of loving kindness.

In doing good we should not limit its
meaning to the benevolent act or intention,
in the sense of helping with sympathy or
substance one seemingly more unfortunate
than ourselves. Never do a loving kindness
with a sense of our abundance and their
emptiness, or feel that a kind Providence,
Good Luck, or so-called Fortune, had failed
them and lavished upon us. God is no re-
spector of persons. His Providence is for
all. Let us then supply the temporary need
with a sense of stewardship. Let us silently
or audibly awaken them out of their de-
pendent sense of non-recognition. Speak to
them mentally of their own share in the
boundless goodness of the Infinite which it
is their privilege to enjoy, each according to
the need, but which is given only through
recognition and receptivity.

Receptivity means the persistent thought
toward a definite end. This explains why
the worldly successful gets the money, the
position, the fame so persistently sought
for; while the one who takes less thought
for worldly benefits gets the hard knocks,
the poverty, and the toil.

According to this same law, the per-
sistent seeking for the higher life rarely

90 The Living Truth

fails to get temporal, as well as spiritual,
blessings. "Seek first tlie kingdom of God
and his righteousness and all these things
shall be added unto you." You will tell me
of many royal souls who lived up to a high
standard and yet were overthrown because
they could not command the money and
means to realize their hopes. This is un-
deniably true, but it is none the less true
they neglected their own rights in the Al-
mighty Plan.

They failed to observe the laws of their
own bodies through which their lofty souls
were to function, laws which are as im-
mutable as any universal law. They
neglected to "Kest in the Lord," to wait
patiently for Him that He might give them
the desire of their hearts. They carried
burdens they need not have carried had they
fully realized "Not I, but the Father that
worketh in me, He doeth the work."

The solution of the great social question,
"How to get rid of Poverty," is stirring the
world. Equal distribution through anarchy
and war will never solve the problem. It
will come only through the knowing of what
God is, and the understanding of the two-
fold nature of Brotherly Love.

"If ye abide in me, and my words abide

The Living Truth 91

in yon, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall
be done unto you," To live or abide in the
spirit, which is in the Christ word, is to
keep in the current of good things. It is
to get in close touch with the substance or
substantial things of Universal Good.
Spirit means life, and life means manifest
relations to all created things. It also means
the mighty moving Principle which orders
the flow of events, just as the unseen and
unfelt motion of the earth controls the
mighty flow of the ocean currents.

Through these lessons we have acquired a
New Thought of God and Man. We know
now that the ignorant abuse of God-given
faculties is the sum and substance of all sin.
Some of the most dangerous traits of char-
acter, if rightly used, would be admirable
and powerful for good. Let us then try to
understand the lawful use and not the abuse
of individual characteristics. Our education
as the competent physician requires that we
know the body as well as the soul. That
we understand the nature and office of every
part and how this splendid mechanism may
be helped or hindered by the individual
temperament. We do not need to change
characteristics, but to direct them aright.
Ours is a moral work as well as the physi-

92 The Living Truth

cal. Spirit does not need our help. TMs is
of God and always perfect, as God is perfect.

The true Metaphysician should be able to
trace closely God's plan. You, my stu-
dents, know the "Mark of the calling."
Press forward to it if you would be effective
in your chosen work.

One of the greatest helps is the constant
realization of the Presence of God and his
Kingdom within. This gives a new inter-
pretation to the prayer "Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in
Heaven."

This kingdom is the divine center from
which we live. "To come" means the reveal-
ing of it to our consciousness. On earth
means our bodies and all that pertains to
natural things, and Heaven means God's
own peace.

The kingdom within is the divine center
from which we live. Still, as we may stand
in the sunlight with eyes wilfully closed and
realize only darkness, so by doubts, fears,
and any wrong thoughts we may bar the
gates to the kingdom.

"Open thou mine eyes that I may behold
the wondrous things out of Thy Law." Af-
firm, "I will see the light, and Uve the
truth." Ps., XXXVI, 9.

The Living Truth 93

I know I am defended from sickness for
Spirit is the regeneration and reconstructive
power." John, VI, 63. James V, 15,

"I am not poor for The Almighty is my
defence and I shall have plenty of silver."
Job, XXII, 25.

"I can not be unjustly spoken of for
"They shall be hid from the scourge of the
tongue." Job, V, 2L

"I can not faint or die, for Christ came
that I might have life, and have it more
abundantly."

If we cultivate a stubborn faith, the calm-
ness of a well-balanced mind, a self-respect
from moral strength and purity of purpose,
a clear hand in time of danger which is best
acquired by a knowledge of that with which
we have to deal, the faculty of adapting
one's self to the needs of all, a love of doing
good for the sake of good, a spirit of kind-
ness which is above all preference or preju-
dice, then may we safely and confidently
assume the title and office of Metaphysician.

94 The Living Truth

SLUMBER SONG

Now I lay me down to sleep,

The weary day is done.

I know the Lord my soul will keep

The Lord the Loving One,

The care-worn garments of this day

I gladly lay aside.

I know no fear since Thou art near;

In safety I abide.

I hear the sea waves on the sands

In slumbrous cadence fall

Like pulse beats of the One Great Heart

Whose life includeth all.

I hear the night winds through the trees

Respond to restless deep,

Thy voice Lord calling through the dark

My child lie down and sleep.

The Living Truth 95

The soft gray shadows close me in,

My weary eyelids close.

I know the Eye that never sleeps

Shall guard my night's repose.

I know Thine all-enfolding care

O'er me and mine will keep

A shepherd's watch, in love and trust

I lay me down to sleep.

Lord Thou art with me all the night

As Thou art everywhere,

And I shall wake to see the light,

Still folded in Thy care.

Oh, blessed faith! Oh, Holy trust!

My heart forever keep.

I know no fear since Thou art near,

I lay me down to sleep.

—SARAH F. MEADER.

Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process.
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide
Treatment Date: Nov. 2004

PreservationTechnologies

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive
Cranberry Township, PA 16066
(724)779-2111