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LIBRARY  OF  CONGRESS. 

Chap. Copvriott  No. 


UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA. 


Spiritual  Knowing 


OR 


Bible  Sunshine 

THE    SPIRITUAL   GOSPEL    OF   JESUS 
THE    CHRIST 


BY  jjV    •" 

THEODORE  F^'^SEWARD 


AUTHOR    OF 

THE  SCHOOL  OF  LIFE,"  "  HEAVEN  EVERY  DAY, 

"  DONT  WORRY,   OR  THE  SCIENTIFIC   LAW 

OF   HAPPINESS,"   ETC.,    ETC. 


FUNK  &  WAGNALLS  COMPANY 
NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 


1901 


92336 


Library  of  Congtr^nt 

Two  Copies  Recejveo 
DEC  22  1900 

SECOND  COPY 

Oe(iv««(l  to 
ORDER  DIVISION 


.-^x 


Z^"^ 


^^k"^ 


According  to  your  faith  be  it  unto  you.      All 
things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth. " 

I  pray  for   nothing   less   than  the  spiritualization  of  the 
whole  human  race. 


I  have  turned  your  attention  to  this  sublimely  affecting  subject  of  our 
vital  connection  with  God,  not  for  the  purpose  of  awakening  temporary 
fervor,  but  that  we  may  feel  the  urgent  duty  of  cherishing  these  convic- 
tions. If  this  duty  becomes  a  reality  to  us,  we  shall  be  conscious  of 
having  received  a  new  Principle  of  Life.— Channing. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


Copyright  1900,  by  Theodore  P.  Seward. 
All  rights  reserved. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Preface   v 

Introduction  ix 

Chapter  I — God  and  Man  in  the  Bible 1 

Chapter  II— What  Think  Ye  of  Christ? 11 

Chapter  III— "Spiritual   Knowing."    19 

Chapter  IV— Spiritual  Psychology.     The  People's  Gospel 27 

Chapter  V— Dominion   Through   Love 34 

Chapter  VI— The  Process  of  Resurrection 41 

Chapter   VII— Now 47 

Chapter  VIII— Our  Divine  Partnership    51 

Chapter  IX— The  Power  of  Thought   59 

Chapter   X— Importunity    64 

Chapter  XI— Life  and  Health  in  the  Bible   09 

Chapter  XII— The    New    Factor    in    Race    Development. 

Woman    76 

Chapter  XIII— As  a  Little  Child  79 

Chapter  XIV— God's    World,    but    Not   God's    Kind    of    a 

World.     Appearance  Versus  Reality  83 

Chapter  XV— God's  Law  versus  Human  Laws   87 

Chapter  XVI— Fear  Hath  Torment   92 

Chapter  XVII— Our  Divine  Heredity   95 

Chapter  XVIII— Did  Jesus  Teach  an  Individual  Gospel  or 

a  Social  Gospel?    98 


iv  CONTENTS. 

Chapter  XIX— The  Heavenly  Language   107 

Chapter  XX— The  Art  of  Letting  Go  110 

Chapter  XXI— Contagious    Greetings    114 

Chapter  XXII— The  New  Evangelism  116 

Chapter  XXIII— Obedience,  the  Chief  of  Christian  Graces... 119 

Chapter  XXIV— A  Catechism  of  Spiritual  Christianity 129 

Appendix— How  the  Bible  Grew  147 

POEMS. 

Day  by  Day  the  Manna  Fell  50 

Restless  Heart,  Don't  Worry  So  26 

Our   Resurrection    46 

The  91st  Psalm  144 

Benediction  of  Divine  Love  143 


PREFACE. 

The  American  people  are  unconsciously  arraying 
themselves  on  one  or  the  other  side  of  a  sharp  dividing 
line.  The  standard  or  ideal  of  life  on  the  one  side  is 
vigor,  energy,  activity,  dominion,  conquering  circum- 
stances by  the  strong  right  arm.  It  has  recently  coined 
a  new  phrase  to  express  its  ideal.  It  calls  upon  the 
youth  of  the  land  to  follow  "  the  strenuous  hfe,"  which  is 
an  appeal  for  the  strongest  possible  exercise  of  the 
human  will.  Its  standard  of  success  is  material  pros- 
perity. 

The  ideal  of  the  other  side  is  exactly  the  opposite  of 
this.  It  sees  in  the  history  of  mankind  a  perpetual  fail- 
ure of  the  human  will  to  give  happiness,  comfort,  peace 
or  even  permanent  prosperity.  It  sees  that  not  only  the 
teachings  of  the  world's  Saviour,  the  Man  of  GaHlee,  but 
the  analogies  of  science  show  that  the  secret  of  happiness 
lies  in  surrendering  the  finite  human  will  to  the  Supreme 
Eternal  Will,  and  that  true  success  is  not  to  be  gained  by 
a  strenuous  materialistic  life,  but  by  a  spiritual  life. 

An  essential  element  of  this  movement  is  its  larger  and 
profounder  interpretation  of  the  word  spiritual.  Its  fol- 
lowers believe  that  the  spiritual  universe  and  not  the 
material  is  the  basis  of  rational  thinking;  that,  in  truth, 
the  spiritual  or  mental  is  the  only  real   and  permanent 


vi  PREFACE. 

entity.  They  accept  the  statement  of  philosophy  which 
is  voiced  in  the  words  of  Professor  Borden  P.  Bowne 
of  Boston  University:  '' A  thought-world  is  the  only 
knowable  world;  a  thought^world  is  the  only  real 
world." 

As  materialism  has  its  watchword  in  the  phrase  "  the 
strenuous  life,"  so  the  other  movement  expresses  its 
fundamental  thought  in  the  process  described  as 
"  spiritual  knowing."  It  is  a  moderate  estimate  that 
there  are  not  less  than  two  million  people  in  America 
who  accept  that  term  as  descriptive  of  their  thought  and 
purpose. 

The  strenuous  life  is  the  law  of  material  evolution. 
It  results  in  "  the  survival  of  the  fittest."  Spiritual 
knowing  is  a  process  of  moral  and  spiritual  development. 
Its  effect  is  to  fit  the  human  race  to  survive.  It  is  a 
movement  of  the  people  and  not  of  the  churches.  But  it 
belongs  in  the  churches,  and  will  in  time  be  assimilated 
by  them.  It  is  simply  the  spiritual  gospel  of  Jesus  the 
Christ,  which  the  people  are  rediscovering  and  applying. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  new,  and  what  may  be 
called  the  scientific  conception  of  the  spiritual  life,  does 
not  belong  to  the  old  order  of  pietism  or  quietism.  It 
is,  rather,  a  strenuous  life  in  a  higher  sense  of  that 
term,  the  outcome  of  right  thinking.  In  the  recog- 
nition of  his  unity  with  God  man  gains  his  true  and  only 
potentiality.  The  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln  serves  as  an 
illustration.  It  was  a  strenuous  life,  yet  beneath  its 
assiduous  effort  and  persistent  purpose  there  was  a 
double  source  of  power — trust  in  a  divine  guidance,  and 
an  ideal  of  freedom  for  ail  and  not  for  a  favored  few. 


PREFACE.  vii 

The  choice  which  every  citizen  of  this  free  land  is 
called  to  make  is  between  a  materialistic  and  a  spiritual 
ideal.  Shall  we  obey  the  human  and  selfish  will,  or  the 
Divine  Will  of  Love?  We  must  not  only  make  the 
choice  for  ourselves,  but  we  must  decide  which  standard 
shall  be  held  before  the  children  and  youth  of  America 
in  the  homes,  the  schools,  the  universities  and  the 
churches. 

It  is  not  merely  a  religious  choice.  It  affects  educa- 
tion and  politics  as  truly  as  it  concerns  the  so-called 
religious  life.  In  fact,  the  old  division  between  the 
sacred  and  the  secular  no  longer  exists.  If  our  educa- 
tional and  political  systems  are  not  religious,  they  must 
become  so,  or  be  dropped  like  the  corn-husks  of  autumn. 
They  have  served  their  purpose,  and  must  give  way  to 
something  more  vital.  It  is  not  piety,  but  righteousness 
that  exalteth  a  nation.  Righteousness  is  the  only  true 
piety.  Love  is  a  universal  solvent.  No  problem  of 
individual  or  social  life  can  be  wrought  to  a  just  con- 
clusion without  it. 

THEODORE  F.  SEWARD, 

iNew  York  City. 
December,  1900. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  phrase  ''  spiritual  knowing "  is  the  keynote  of 
thought  and  life  in  the  twentieth  century.  It  indicates 
the  coming  of  a  new  era  when  man  is  to  enjoy 

"The  freer  step,  the  fuller  breath. 

The  wide  horizon's  grander  view; 
The  sense  of  life  that  knows  no  death, 
The  life  that  maketh  all  things  new." 

Until  the  present  time  matter  has  been  regarded  as  the 
one  substantial  reality  whose  appeal  to  consciousness 
was  unimpeachable,  the  one  element  concerning  which 
knowledge  was  supposed  to  be  definite,  accurate  and 
satisfactory.  Spirit  was  thought  of  as  something  unreal, 
df  whose  qualities  and  powers  little  could  be  known.  Its 
very  existence  was  doubted  by  many. 

Opinioi^  on  this  subject  is  now  completely  reversed. 
Spirit  is  recognized  as  the  real  and  substantial,  and  mat- 
ter as  the  unknowable.  Intuition  is  acknowledged  to  be 
a  surer  guide  than  intellect;  soul  perception  or  spiritual 
perception  a  more  accurate  source  of  knowledge  than 
sense-perception.  Instead  of  thinking  ourselves  as 
bodies  with  spirits  somewhere  inside  of  us,  we  now  real- 
ize that  our  true  being  is  spiritual,  and  the  physical  body 
is  an  evanescent  and  vanishing  element. 

The  change  of  thought  from  the  standpoint  of  matter 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

to  the  standpoint  of  spirit  is  introducing  a  new  philoso- 
phy, and  a  new  standard  both  in  the  ways  of  thinking 
and  of  living.  It  reverses  the  relationship  of  the  natural 
and  the  supernatural.  Heretofore  the  material  world 
has  been  the  nearest  to  men's  thoughts,  and  it  has  been 
called  natural,  while  all  that  belongs  to  the  spiritual 
realm  has  been  regarded  as  supernatural.  Reversing 
this  process  and  treating  the  spiritual  as  the  natural 
changes  confusion  of  thought  to  simplicity,  and  leads  to 
a  wonderful  discovery,  namely,  that,  this  is  exactly  what 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  tried  to  do  for  the  human  race  nine- 
teen centuries  ago.  He  taught  the  truth  that  the  inner 
or  spiritual  world  is  the  real  world — the  realm  of  causa- 
tion. "The  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you.  Seek  first 
the  realities  of  this  inner  kingdom,  and  the  things  of  the 
external  world  will  be  added  unto  you." 

This  declaration  confirms  the  statement  in  Genesis 
that  man  is  made  in  the  image  of  God,  and  that  he  is 
given  dominion  over  all  the  earth.  It  also  supplies  a  key 
by  which  the  Bible  may  be  read  as  a  revelation  of  pure 
love,  and  not  as  a  mixture  of  love  and  vengeance;  in 
other  words,  it  shows  the  book  to  be  a  fountain  of  pure 
sunshine. 

Very  far  from  a  book  of  sunshine  has  the  Bible  hereto- 
fore appeared  to  most  of  its  readers.  The  picture  of 
Mount  Sinai  with  its  "  clouds  and  thick  darkness  "  filled 
their  minds  so  exclusively  for  centuries  that  when  the 
Messiah  came  to  reveal  God's  light  in  its  fulness,  the 
human  race  was  in  no  condition  to  receive  it.  "  The 
light  shineth  in    darkness,    but    the    darkness    compre- 


INTRODUCTION,  xi 

hended  it  not."  Individuals  received  the  message  for 
several  centuries,  and  their  lives  were  blessed  and  trans- 
formed by  it.  But  a  spirit  of  formalism  and  materialism 
began  to  displace  the  simple  faith  of  the  early  disciples, 
and  once  more  the  world  gave  more  heed  to  the  thunder- 
ings  df  Sinai  than  to  the  tender  voice  of  love,  and  the 
Heavenly  Father  revealed  by  Jesus  Christ  was  sup- 
planted in  human  thought  by  the  stern  Judge  of 
scholastic  theology.  The  two  vital  errors  of  man-made 
theological  systems  which  have  robbed  the  Bible  of 
much  of  its  sunshine  are  (i)  a  degraded  view  of  man  as  a 
worm  of  the  dust,  and  (2)  postponing  the  consequences 
of  right  and  wrong  living,  to  a  heaven  and  hell  beyond 
the  grave. 

The  worm-of-the-dust  idea  of  man  belongs  tO'  the 
limited  condition  of  human  thought  when  it  was  sup- 
posed that  God  could  and  did  separate  Himself  from  the 
objects  of  His  creation,  as  one  can  build  a  complicated 
machine  and  set  it  in  motion.  It  was  also  a  time  when 
all  the  thinking  was  done  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
material. 

To  apply  the  law  of  spiritual  knowing  to  the  varied 
experiences  of  life,  and  to  the  interpretation  of  the 
Sacred  Scriptures,  is  the  purpose  of  the  present  volume. 


CHAPTER   I. 
GOD  AND  MAN  IN  THE  BIBLE. 

Beneath  the  various  forms  of  scriptural  writings, 
whether  olf  history,  prophecy,  poetry,  gospel  narrative  or 
parable,  one  purpose  is  never  lost  sight  of,  namely,  the 
purpose  of  revealing  God  and  man,  and  showing  their 
mutual  relation — of  God  to  man,  and  man  to  his  fellow 
man.  The  names  given  to  the  Creator  in  different  parts 
of  the  Old  Testament  are  themselves  revelations  of  differ- 
ent phases  of  Divinity.  The  Hebrew  names  for  the 
Supreme  Being  have  been  called  ''  lenses  through  which 
to  see  the  character  of  God."  It  is  interesting  and  in- 
structive to  observe  the  progressive  order  of  the  divine 
titles. 

The  first  name  that  occurs  is  "  E^ohim,*'  meaning 
"  Mighty  One,"  "  the  All-Powerful."  It  is  in  the  plural 
form,  which  is  the  Hebrew  method  of  expressing  the  idea 
of  majesty  and  power. 

The  second  Hebrew  word  for  God  is  "Jehovah- 
Elohim,"  which  is  defined  in  Exodus  as  "  I  am  that  I 
am,"  "the  Ever-Existing  One."  This  name  marks  a 
new  departure  in  revelation.  Man,  a  sinner,  finds  God- 
Jehovah  his  Redeemer.  By  this  name  God  had  not 
been  known  (Ex.  6:  3).  All  later  names  are  unfoldings 
of  this  name  as  the  redemptive  title  of  God. 

The  third  name  is  "  El  Shaddai,"  in  which  God  reveals 


2  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

himself  to  Abraham  as  working  above  nature.  Abraham 
had  passed  nature's  limit  in  begetting  children,  but  God 
shows  him  that  He  is  not  limited  to  nature. 

The  fourth  name  is  "  Jehovah-Jireh,"  God  as  a  pro- 
vider. The  revelation  of  God's  care  in  this  name  should 
lift  us  above  all  anxiety.  Christ  Jesus  emphasizes  this  in 
Luke  1 2th,  where  he  declares  that  faithfulness  in  spiritual 
things  will  bring  material  blessings. 

The  fifth  name  is  ''  Jehovah  Nissi,"  "  The  Lord  our 
banner" — indicating  protection.  The  Pslamist  says: 
"  His  banner  over  us  is  love."  His  protection  is  abso- 
lute if  we  will  but  trust  it. 

The  sixth  name  is  "  Jehovah  Raphai,"  "  The  Lord  our 
Healer."  It  is  strange  how  this  Truth  has  been  lost  sight 
of,  although  Jesus'  life  was  a  constant  exemplification  of 
it.     This  subject  will  be  considered  in  a  separate  chapter. 

The  seventh  name  is  "J^^o^ah  Tsidkenu,"  "The  Lord 
our  Righteousness  " — a  name  which  meets  and  touches 
man  in  his  infirmities  and  sins. 

The  eighth  name  is  "Jehovah  Shammah,"  "God 
everywhere  to  be  recognized."  How  often  we  have  oc- 
casion to  say  "  God  was  in  this  place  and  I  knew  it  not." 

The  ninth  name  is  "  Jehovah  Shalom,"  "  The  Lord  our 
Peace."  Peace  is  the  consummation  and  fruition  of  all 
human  desires. 

One  other  name,  "  Jehovah-Rohi,"  "  the  Lord  our 
Shepherd,"  gathers  up  and  includes  the  meaning  of  all 
the  rest. 

What  more  do  we  need  to  give  us  encouragement  and 


GOD  AND  MAN  IN  THE  BIBLE.  5 

strength  than  the  character  of  our  God  as  revealed  by 
the  foregoing  names?* 

But  the  change  of  thought  from  the  standpoint  of  mat- 
ter to  the  standpoint  of  Spirit  necessitates  a  new  and 
larger  conception  of  God  than  has  thus  far  been  generally 
held.  The  conception  of  the  Supreme  Being  has  re- 
sulted from  a  process  somewhat  similar  to  the  enlarge- 
ment of  a  photograph.  Man  has  been  taken  as  the  type 
or  norm,  and  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  expand  the 
pattern  from  the  finite  to  the  Infinite.  This  has  led  to 
what  is  called  the  anthropomorphic  or  giant-man  con- 
ception of  God. 

In  the  vastly  extended  knowledge  of  the  present  day 
this  idea  of  taking  mortal  man  as  a  type  or  pattern  of  the 
immortal  God,  the  Supreme  and  Self-existing  Jehovah,  is 
clearly  seen  to  be  unphilosophical  and  inadmissible. 
The  method  must  be  reversed.  To  gain  a  true  concep- 
tion we  must  recognize  that  God,  Love,  is  an  infinite  and 
all-pervading  Principle.  He  is  not  a  God  of  Love,  a 
Being  who  can  both  love  and  hate.  He  is  Love,  and  in 
this  Love  we.  His  children,  "  live  and  move  and  have  our 
being."  There  is  no  room  for  darkness  in  this  concep- 
tion. 

But  in  considering  this  new  standard  of  thought  our 
first  feeling  is  a  fear  that  we  are  losing  our  sense  of  God 
as  a  personal  being — the  Father  whO'  loves  and  pities  His 
children.     It  is  a  difficult  subject  to  treat,  as  it  is  neces- 


*  For  this  suggestion  of  the  progressive  order  of  the  divine 
titles  I  am  indebted  to  the  Rev.  W.  W.  Pratt,  pastor  of  the 
First  Baptist  Church  of  Passaic,  N.  J. 


4  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

sary  to  employ  finite  terms  for  the  expression  of  infinite 
ideas. 

God  is  Personal  Being.  Yes,  we  know  this  because 
we  are  made  in  his  image  and  likeness.  But  what  do  we 
know  concerning  the  nature  and  modes  of  expression  of 
an  infinite  Personality?  Our  forefathers  were  satisfied 
with  a  conception  of  personality  which  could  not,  so  to 
speak,  be  expanded  to  infinitude.  It  is  impossible  to 
start  with  man  as  the  initial  conception  and  enlarge  it  to 
a  true  idea  of  the  Infinite.  In  the  attempt  to  do  this,  the 
mind  is  inevitably  held  to  the  idea  of  corporeality.  Even 
if  God  is  described  as  being  .without  body,  parts  or  pas- 
sions," the  corporeal  concept  still  remains  to  confuse  the 
thought. 

The  mode  of  thinking  must  be  changed.  God  must 
be  thought  of  as  both  Infinite  PersonaHty  and  Infinite 
Principle.  Which  shall  come  first,  and  be  to  some  extent 
the  governing  idea?  The  "  personal  "  thought  has  pre- 
vailed entirely  in  the  past,  and  we  see  its  limitations  and 
disadvantages.  It  is  impossible  to  dissociate  it  en- 
tirely from  human  weaknesses  and  defects.  Moreover,  a 
personal  God — in  our  limited  conception  of  it — carries 
with  it  almost  unavoidably  the  counterpart  of  a  personal 
devil.  Some  one  has  said  "  Human  nature  takes  some- 
thing from  good  and  calls  it  God,  and  adds  something 
to  evil  and  calls  it  devil."  Probably  all  the  theologians 
who  feel  it  necessary  to  defend  their  notion  of  the  per- 
sonality of  God  by  rejecting  the  idea  of  Infinite  Princi- 
ple, are  no  less  strenuous  in  defending  the  personality  of 
Satan. 


GOD  AND  MAN  IN  THE  BIBLE.  5 

Against  all  this  the  lay  mind  is  beginning  to  revolt. 
God  is  Love.  Then  where  can  He  be  found  as  far  as 
each  individual  is  concerned  except  in  our  own  con- 
sciousness? 

'*  I  searched  for  God  with  heart-throbs  of  despair, 
'Neath  ocean's  bed,  above  the  vaulted  sky; 
Al  last  I  searched  myself,  my  inmost  I, 
And  found  Him  there." 

There  is  little  danger  that  the  personality  of  God  will 
ever  be  lost  sight  of,  for  the  heart  of  man  demands  it. 
His  whole  being  cries  out  for  it.  In  that  respect  we  are 
all  Jacobs  in  saying,  "  I  will  not  let  thee  go  except  thou 
bless  me."  But  the  practical  question  is,  as  already 
stated,  which  is  the  best  underlying  thought  to  hold  con- 
cerning the  Supreme  Being?  Swedenborg  says:  "In 
heaven,  by  loving  the  Lord  is  not  understood  to  love  Him 
as  to  His  person,  but  to  love  the  goodness  which  pro- 
ceeds from  Him."  Our  present  thought  of  personality 
is  associated  with  the  Giant  Being  who  has  been  rele- 
gated to  the  skies  by  formulated  theology.  We  have 
been  taught  to  look  up  in  the  sky  to  find  God.  The 
idea  of  an  Infinite  Principle  as  Love  turns  the  expecta- 
tion within.  No  one  would  dream  of  looking  up  intO'  the 
sky  for  Infinite  Principle.  It  also  places  the  mind  in  a 
totally  different  attitude  toward  the  question  of  evil.  The 
thought  of  an  Infinite  Principle  as  Love  and  Goodness  is 
comprehensible  and  uplifting.  The  thought  of  an  Infin- 
ite Principle  of  Hate  and  Evil  is  inconceivable.  The 
mind  is  thus  led  to  an  appreciation  of  the  vital,  essential 
.truth  that  Love  is  positive,  and  evil  is  negative.    Love 


6  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

is  the  Creative  Force,  but  evil  has  no  self-derived  power; 
it  can  only  have  the  influence  over  us  which  we  permit  it 
to  have.  ''  The  evil  is  null,  is  naught,  is  silence  imply- 
ing sound." 

Accepting  the  idea  of  a  Divine  Personality  and  reject- 
ing that  of  Infinite  Principle  is  equivalent  to  accepting 
the  sun  and  rejecting  the  sunshine.  Taking  the  sun  as  a 
type  or  figure  to  represent  the  Supreme  Being  helps  to 
makes  the  subject  clear.  God  as  Infinite  Principle  is 
representedii  by  the  orb.  All  our  knowledge  of 
the  sun  is  gained  by  studying  the  light  and  heat  that  it 
gives  forth,  and  all  the  benefit  we  derive  from  the  sun  is 
gained  from  the  use  we  make  of  this  light  and  heat.  So 
all  our  knowledge  of  God  must  be  dbtained  by  studying 
the  Love  and  Truth  which  emanate  from  Him,  and  all 
the  benefit  we  derive  is  from  the  use  we  make  of  this 
Love  and  Truth.  Therefore  the  introduction  of  the 
term  Infinite  Principle  should  be  welcomed  as  a  means 
of  turning  attention  from  the  abstract  and  unknowable 
to  the  concrete  and  practical. 

Emphasizing  unduly  the  personality  of  God,  in  con- 
nection with  the  anthropomorphic  idea,  has  obscured 
the  truth  of  His  being  as  including  both  the  masculine 
and  feminine  qualities.  "  God  created  man  in  His  own 
image;  in  the  image  of  God  created  He  him;  male  and 
female  created  He  them.''  Scholastic  theology  lost  sight 
of  that  truth  and  assumed  the  Divine  Creator  to  be  a 
man.  Humanity  has  always  longed  for  the  feminine  ele- 
ment in  its  thought  of  God,  and  has  tried  in  many  ways 
to  supply  it.     It  is  this  craving  which    led   the    Roman 


GOD  AND  MAN  IN  THE  BIBLE.  7 

Catholic  Church  to  the  worship  of  Mary.  Now  the 
weary-hearted  children  of  men  are  beginning  to  think 
and  speak  of  "  our  Father-Mother  God,"  and  they  are 
supported  in  this  thought  by  reason  as  well  as  by  revela- 
tion. Edwin  Markham  has  written  a  poem  entitled  "  A 
Song  to  the  Divine  Mother."  Four  of  its  seventeen 
stanzas  are  here  quoted : 

"  Come,  Mighty  Mother,  from  the  bright  abode. 

Lift  the  low  heavens,  and  hush  the  earth  again; 
Come  when  the  moon  throws  down  a  road 
Across  the  sea — come  back  to  weary  men. 

*  *       « 

"  Come  down,  O  Mother,  to  the  helpless  land. 

That  we  may  frame  our  Freedom  into  Pate, 

Come  down,  and  on  the  throne  of  nations  stand, 

That  we  may  build  Thy  beauty  in  the  State. 

*  * 

"  Come  shining  in  upon  our  daily  road, 

Uphold  the  hero  heart,  and  light  the  mind; 
Quicken  the  strong  to  lift  the  People's  load, 
And  bring  back  buried  justice  to  mankind. 

*  *       « 

"  Some  day  our  homeless  cries  will  draw  Thee  down. 

And  the  old  brightness  on  the  ways  of  men 
Will  send  a  hush  upon  the  jangling  town. 
And  broken  hearts  will  learn  to  love  again." 

One  of  the  vital  errors  of  the  past  has  been  the  beHef 
that  God  could  not  be  known  and  understood.  This  in 
the  face  of  Jesus'  specific  statement  that  a  knowledge  of 
God  is  an  essential  element  of  eternal  life.  "This  is  life 
eternal,  that  they  may  know  Thee,  the  only  true  God; 
and  Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou  hast  sent."  That  is,  know 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  revealer  of  the  only  true  God. 

The  error  arose  from  the  condition  of  the  race  in  the 


8  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

former  centuries  when  intellect  was  the  standard  and 
"  knowing  "  was  supposed  to  be  a  process  of  intellectual 
analysis.  By  that  process  God  can  not  be  known.  He 
is  Love  and  can  only  be  comprehended  through  the  logic 
of  the  heart. 

The.  statement  has  been  previously  made  (in  the  Intro- 
duction) that  ''  the  change  of  thought  from  the  stand- 
point of  matter  to  the  standpoint  of  spirit  is  introducing 
into  the  world  a  new  philosophy,  and  a  new  standard, 
both  in  the  ways  of  thinking  and  of  living."  In.  fact,  it 
must  result  in  an  absolute  revolution  and  transformation 
of  human  methods  in  individual  and  social  life.  It 
creates  a  philosophy  which  is  based  upon  a  rational  con- 
ception of  God.  All  Christians,  however  they  may  differ 
on  secondary  questions,  will  accept  the  following  state- 
ments : 

1.  God  is  Infinite. 

2.  God  is  Spirit. 

3.  God  is  Life,  Truth  and  Love  expressed  and  re- 
flected in  Wisdom,  Goodness,  Beauty  and  Harmony. 

Now,  in  the  light  of  the  highest  reason,  what  deduc- 
tions must  be  drawn  from  these  statements? 

1.  Since  God  is  infinite,  there  can  be  nothing  in  the 
universe  but  God  manifested  in  every  variety  of  expres- 
sion. 

2.  Since  God  is  Spirit,  there  can  be  nothing  in  the 
universe  but  Spirit.  All  that  appears  otherwise  is  not  a 
reality,  but  a  seeming. 

3.  Since  God  is  Love,  and  infinite,  there  cannot  be 
anything  in  the  universe  but  Love  in  its  various  manifes- 


GOD  AND  MAN  IN  THE  BIBLE.  p 

tations  of  Life,  Truth,  Wisdom,  Goodness,  Beauty, 
Harmony. 

Therefore  the  real  universe  must  be  a  spiritual  uni- 
verse, and  this  universe  must  include  Man  as  a  spiritual 
expression  of  God. 

The  intellect,  which  is  the  interpreter  of  sense-percep- 
tion, finds  it  hard  to  accept  these  truths,  but  the  heart 
accepts  them  readily  and  joyfully,  and  the  theology  that 
belongs  to  the  truths  is  that  which  Jesus  said  must  be 
received  in  the  spirit  of  a  little  child. 

Let  no  one  think  that  understanding  God  as  Infinite 
Principle  as  well  as  Infinite  Personality  will  put  Him 
away  from  us  and  make  it  harder  to  realize  His  nearness 
and  His  fatherly  care.  It  has  exactly  the  opposite  effect. 
Every  Christian  knows  how  difficult  it  is  to  bring  the 
"  Supreme  Ruler  "  down  out  of  the  sky  and  sO'  under- 
stand His  infinite  Love  as  to  rest  upon  it,  with  a  perfectly 
calm  and  peaceful  trust.  In  fact,  it  is  impossible.  Even 
the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  who  preach  self-surrender  and 
perfect  trust  do  not  enjoy  any  deeper  experience  of 
peace  than  their  unsatisfied  congregations.  I  know  of  a 
devoted  and  consecrated  preacher  who  sO'  longed  for 
"  the  peace  which  passeth  all  understanding  "  that  during 
the  course  of  his  life  he  read  the  Bible  through  seven 
times  on  his  knees,  in  addition  to  all  his  other  study  of 
the  book.     Yet  he  "  died  without  the  sight.'* 

In  fact,  it  is  the  laity  rather  than  the  clergy  who  are 
working  out  the  problems  of  faith  and  life  from  the 
spiritual  standpoint.  This  is  but  natural,  inasmuch  as 
their  minds  are  comparatively  free  from  the  limitations 
of  formulated  theology. 


10  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

There  is  a  large  and  rapidly  increasing  host  of  people 
who  believe  that  they  have  found  the  key  tO'  life,  truth, 
happiness  and  heaven  by  accepting  the  teachings  of  Jesus 
Christ  naturally  rather  than  theologically  or  ecclesiasti- 
cally. They  beheve  that  the  "  Pearl  of  Great  Price  "  lies 
in  his  Principle  of  Eternal  Life  as  being  a  present  devel- 
opment of  the  "  kingdom  within,"  which  Principle  may 
be  summarized  as  follows: 

There  is  no  reality  but  Spirit  and  no  life  but  Love. 

Love  and  not  death  is  the  gateway  to  the  Spiritual  Uni- 
verse. 

Only  through  love  of  the  Good  can  man  enjoy  his  naturaj 
dominion  and  gain  a  mastery  of  material  conditions. 

This  is  a  religion  of  the  heart  and  not  of  the  head,  and 
must  be  understood  through  the  process  of  "  spiritual 
knowing." 


WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST f''  ii 


CHAPTER  II. 
"  WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST?  " 

This  question  of  the  Master  is  still  the  perplexity  of 
Christendom.  Ecclesiastic,  scholastic  and  dialectic 
methods  of  thought  have  thrown  no  light  upon  it;  they 
have  only  added  to  the  hopeless  confusion  of  ideas. 
Yet  Jesus  said  that  the  truth  he  taught  must  be  received 
in  the  spirit  of  a  little  child.  Can  this  profound  theme 
be  presented  in  such  a  way  that  a  child's  mind  can  com- 
prehend it? 

The  confusion  of  thought  has  arisen  from  the  error  of 
looking  upon  Christ  as  one  with  the  personality  of  the 
human  Jesus.  Therefore  in  seeking  simpHcity  the  first 
thing  to  be  done  is  to  separate  the  two-  in  our  thought. 

Whatever  view  we  hold  must  be  consistent  with  his 
own  affirmation  "  The  Lord  our  God  is  one  God."  To 
wors'hip  Jesus  as  God  is  to  put  ourselves  in  opposition  to 
his  own  teaching  "  The  Father  is  greater  than  I,"  and 
much  more  to  the  same  effect.  Dr.  George  D.  Herron 
says  "  At  all  times  Jesus  strenuously  denied  having  any 
special  privilege  in  God.  He  came  to  destroy  the  gods 
of  special  privilege.  Above  all  things  he  sought  to 
keep  men  from  thinking  of  him  apart  from  the  common 
life — and  putting  him  in  some  special  category  of  his 
own.  That  would  annul  the  meaning  and  value  of  his 
coming,  for  he  came  to  bring  the  common  life  of  man 
to  light." 


12  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

Yet  his  individuality  was  in  some  way  different  from 
ours.  He  was  "  Jesus  the  Christ."  We  do  not  read  of 
"  John  the  Christ,"  or  "  Paul  the  Christ."  In  what  did 
the  difference  consist? 

The  only  rational  solution  of  the  problem  is  tO'  be 
found  in  the  truth  that  "  the  spiritual  is  the  only  real" — 
that  man  is  spiritual  and  not  material. 

By  belief  in  a  power  apart  from  God  the  human  race 
has  brought  itself  into  a  state  of  illusion — of  false  con- 
sciousness. Indulgence  in  selfishness  and  sin  has  shut 
out  the  true  consciousness  of  God  and  the  spiritual  uni- 
verse. The  world  that  is  discerned  by  the  material 
senses  is  an  unreal  world;  all  its  objects  are  inversions — 
counterfeits  of  the  realities  of  the  actual  universe,  the 
spiritual  universe.  To  this  unreal  world  belong  experi- 
ences which  cannot  possibly  exist  in  the  spiritual  uni- 
verse— evil,  sorrow,  hate,  disappointment,  sickness;  the 
whole  catalogue  of  human  miseries  ending  in  death. 

How  can  a  race  in  such  a  condition  as  this  be  re- 
deemed and  brought  out  its  illusions?  Clearly  it  can 
only  be  done  by  one  who  represents  eternal  Truth, 
eternal  Life  and  eternal  Love,  and  who  yet  is  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  deluded  people;  one  who  can  be 
"  touched  with  the  feeling  of  all  their  infirmities."  Such 
a  one  was  Jesus  the  Christ.  Jesus  was  born  of  the 
human  Mary.  But  the  Christ  in  him  was  born  of  God. 
Hence  he  could  say  on  one  side,  "  The  Father  is  greater 
than  I,"  and  on  the  other  "  Before  Abraham  was  I  am." 
He  was  the  archetypal  man.  The  Christ-thought  is  the 
image  and  likeness  of  God.     Jesus  revealed  to  the  world 


'WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST f  "  ij 

the  nature  of  Christ  or  the  Christ-spirit,  and  taught  that 
the  Christ-spirit  is  the  true  Hfe  of  man.  Jesus  the  Christ 
was  the  mediator  between  God  and  man;  as  St.  Paul 
says,  *'  There  is  one  God,  and  one  mediator  between  God 
and  men,  the  man  Christ  Jesus."  Jesus  could  perform 
this  office  because  he  included  the  two  natures.  "  In 
him  dwelleth  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily," 
says  the  Apostle  Paul,  and  immediately  adds,  "  And  ye 
are  complete  in  him  which  is  the  head  of  all  principality 
and  power."  All  that  he  had  in  his  present  realization 
we  have  potentially.  Hence  our  way  is  made  plain; 
"  As  ye  have  received  Christ  Jesus,  the  Lord,  so  walk  ye 
in  him."  How  shall  we  walk  in  him?  "  If  ye  then  be 
risen  with  Christ  seek  those  things  which  are  above, 
where  Christ  (not  Jesus,  or  Christ  Jesus)  sitteth  on  the 
right  hand  of  God."  The  "  right  hand  of  God  "  is  next 
in  Divine  order,  as  sonship,  to  God. 

How  clear  all  this  becomes  when  we  have  the  key  in 
our  thought — namely,  that  man  is  a  spiritual  being  who 
only  needs  to  realize  his  own  true  nature.  The  last  quo- 
tation above  shows  the  mistake  of  supposing  that  we  can 
only  "  depart  and  be  with  Christ "  by  dying.  "If  ye 
then  be  risen  with  Christ."  If  ye  be  risen  now;  not  when 
you  have  risen  at  some  future  time.  If  we  have  risen 
and  are  striving  to  rise  above  the  false  material  con- 
sciousness into  the  true  consciousness  of  Spirit,  then  as 
Paul  further  says,  ''  ye  are  dead,  and  your  life  is  hid  with 
Christ  in  God."  And  in  one  short  sentence  he  indicates 
the  rule  of  the  new  life.  "  Set  your  affection  on  things 
above,  and  not  on  things  on  the  earth."     How  com- 


14  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

pletely  this  reflects  the  teaching  of  Christ  Jesus.  "  Seek 
first  the  inner  spiritual  kingdom  of  God." 

All  this  truth  with  reference  to  Jesus  Christ  is  an 
expression  of  spiritual  psychology,  and  should  be  read 
in  connection  with  the  chapter  on  that  subject.  Mate- 
rialism is  death.  Spirituality  is  life.  Adam  is  a  type  of 
error,  or  all  that  belongs  to  the  false  materiality.  Christ 
is  the  reality  of  Truth — of  all  that  belongs  to  the  true 
spiritual  life.  Hence  we  read  ''  As  in  Adam  (error)  all 
die,  so  in  Christ  (Truth)  shall  all  be  made  alive."  Mate- 
rialism is  death  to  the  spirit,  and  material  existence  (the 
false  material  consciousness)  is  a  dream  from  which  all 
must  sooner  or  later  awake.  Hence  we  read  again: 
"  Now  is  Christ  risen  from  the  dead,  and  become  the  first 
fruits  of  them  that  slept!'  Elsewhere  Paul  says :  "  It  is 
high  time  to  awake  out  of  sleep,  for  now  is  our  salvation 
nearer  than  when  we  believed."  This  he  says  in  con- 
nection with  his  remarkable  assertion  "  Love  is  the  ful- 
filling of  the  law."  When  we  understand  this  vital 
Truth,  our  salvation  or  awakening  is  much  nearer  than 
when  we  only  hold  vague  beliefs  about  Truth. 

In  the  light  of  these  interpretations  we  see  the  basis 
of  Jesus^  statements  concerning  man's  equality  with 
himself. 

"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto'  you,  he  that  believeth  on 
me,  the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  also  do,  and  greater 
works  than  these  shall  he  do,  because  I  go  unto  the 
Father."  John  14:  12.  This  promise  was  not  given  only 
to  the  disciples  of  Jesus'  time,  but  to  the  disciples  of  all 
time.     Why  did  the  Master  say  that  his  followers  should 


'WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST?''  i^ 

do  greater  works  than  he  did  himself?  For  two  rea- 
sons (i)  He  knew  what  the  future  history  was  to  be. 
He  foresaw  the  vast  expansion  of  the  human  or  mortal 
mind  as  we  are  witnessing  it  now,  with  its  marvelous  in- 
ventions, its  labor-saving  machines,  its  annihilations  of 
time  and  space.  He  saw  that  greater  works  would  be 
needed  to  meet  the  enlarging  comprehension  of  the  race. 
(2)  Jesus  also  knew  that  after  his  withdrawal  the  dis- 
ciples would  be  more  influenced  by  the  Christ-spirit  and 
less  by  his  human  personality.  Yet  even  since  his  time 
the  mistake  has  still  been  made  of  looking  more  to  the 
human  Jesus  than  to  the  Christ-spirit.  This  mistake  has 
led  to  unlimited  persecutions,  cruelty  and  bloodshed 
which  would  have  been  avoided  if  his  professed  follow- 
ers had  given  heed  to  the  Principle  he  laid  down.  ''  My 
doctrine  is  not  mine,  but  His  that  sent  me.  If  any  man 
will  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether 
it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself."  This  was 
the  human  Jesus  testifying  to  the  Christ-thought,  and 
teaching  that  all  who  do  God's  will  shall  understand 
that  Eternal  Truth  and  the  Creative  Power  tha/t  the 
Christ-thought  represents.  ''  The  same  was  in  the  be- 
ginning with  God.  All  things  were  made  by  Him,  and 
without  Him  was  not  anything  made  thajt  was  made." 

Failing  to  distinguish  between  the  human  Jesus  and 
the  eternal  Christ  has  led  to  the  erroneous  ideas  respect- 
ing the  "  second  coming."  Christ  never  went  away. 
"  Lo,  I  am  with  you  always,  even  unjto  the  end  of  the 
world."  Jesus,  having  demonstrated  his  perfect  mas- 
tery of  material  conditions  and  conquered  evil  in  every 


i6  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

form  of  sin,  disease  and  death,  rose  above  the  material 
plane.  He  entered  the  spiritual  kingdom  whose  laws 
he  came  to  reveal,  and  ever  sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of 
God.  The  "  right  hand  "  signifies  the  place  of  power,  as 
he  said  ''  All  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and 
earth." 

As  the  "  ascension  "  was  a  disappearance  from  the 
human  or  material  consciousness,  so  is  the  "second  com- 
ing "  a  revelation  of  the  eternal  Christ  to  the  spiritual 
consciousness.* 

The  fact  should  be  clearly  recognized  that  the  Christ 
that  is  in  the  consciousness  of  Christendom  to-day  is  not  the 
real  Christ',  it  is  a  theological  Christ,  a  creation  of  contro- 
versy. The  demand  of  this  age  is  for  a  restoration  of 
the  Christ  of  the  New  Testament.  Even  many  Jews  are 
echoing  this  call.  A  Jewish  layman,  Mr.  Louis  R. 
Ehrich,  speaks  thus  in  a  magazine  article:  "  A  cry  is 
heard  for  a  restored  Christ;  for  the  lovely,  sweetly  rea- 
sonable, all  loving,  faith-inspiring,  divine  man,  in  place  of 
the  incomprehensible,  doubt-compelling  human  God. 
Moses  was  the  law-giver;  Jesus  the  love-giver.  Here 
is  the  difference  between  the  Old  and  the  New  Testa- 


*  One  of  the  many  results  of  the  scholastic  and  mechanical 

systems  of  scriptural  interpretation  is  seen  in  the  popular  mis- 
understand of  John  5:  39,  which  has  been  read  as  if  it  taught 
that  eternal  life  is  to  be  found  in  the  Bible  itself,  as  if  Christ 
said  "  Search  the  Scriptures,  for  in  them  ye  have  eternal  life." 
What  is  the  true  rendering?  "  Ye  search  the  Scriptures  be- 
cause ye  think  that  in  them  ye  have  eternal  life;  and  these  are 
they  which  testify  of  me;  and  ye  will  not  come  unto  me  that 
ye  may  have  life."  ^ 


'WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST f  "  i; 

ment — ^the  heart  of  Jesus,  a  heart  overflowing  with  an 
ocean  of  love." 

The  restoration  of  Christ  means  the  restitution  ,to 
God  of  the  love,  homage  and  intelligent  trust  which  be- 
long to  Him.  Christ  Jesus  came  to  point  men  tO'  God, 
the  everlasting  Father,  and  to  show  them  their  inalien- 
able kinship  with  Him.  Human  theories  and  traditions 
have  done  nearly  all  that  could  be  done  to  defeat  his  pur- 
pose by  leading  men  to  transfer  their  worship  from  the 
Father  to  the  Son. 

The  question  may  be  asked,  "  Do  you  mean  to  say  that 
a  little  child  can  comprehend  the  ideas  that  are  expressed 
in  this  chapter?  Yes.  Not  in  their  fullness,  of  course. 
But  the  Truth  can  be  perfectly  adapted  to  the  child's 
mind.  It  can  be  taught  that  Jesus  was  born  a  babe  and 
grew  up  a  little  child  like  itself,  but  that  he  was  full  of 
Love,  that  there  was  no  room  in  his  heart  for  evil  of  any 
kind;  that  he  came  to  teach  Love  to  all  little  children 
and  to  help  them  to  grow  in  Love  and  kindness  and 
goodness  till  they  should  become  like  him;  that  he 
came  to  tell  us  of  the  Father  in  heaven  who  is  all  Love, 
and  who  will  come  with  the  power  of  Love  into  all  hearts 
that  desire  Him.  A  child  brought  up  strictly  under 
such  teaching  would  confound  the  exponents  of  dogmatic 
theology  exactly  as  Jesus  did  the  doctors  at  Jerusalem 
when  he  was  twelve  years  of  age.  A  remarkable  sug- 
gestion of  this  truth  is  given  by  Marie  Corelli  in  her 
book,  "  The  Master  Christian."  A  boy  of  that  age  is 
represented  as  so  reflecting  the  Christ-spirit  that  church 
dignitaries  are  silent  when  he  speaks,  and  a  healing 
power  accompanies  him  wherever  he  goes. 


i8  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING, 

In  families  where  the  law  of  spiritual  knowing  is  ac- 
cepted and  made  the  guiding  principle  of  life,  the  little 
children  receive  the  teaching  readily  and  apply  it  in  ways 
that  are  sometimes  almost  startling.  This  higher  grace 
of  the  children  lies  in  their  simplicity  of  thought  and 
embodiment  of  trust,  and  in  their  freedom  from  the  self- 
consciousness  which  obscures  the  spiritual  vision  of  the 
adult  mind. 

The  child's  way  of  thinking  indicates  for  each  indi- 
vidual the  answer  tO'  the  question,  "  What  think  ye  of 
Christ?"  Like  a  little  child,  we  will  think  first  of  the 
human  Jesus,  who  had  our  nature,  who  passed  through 
our  experiences,  and  learned  the  need  of  every  heart. 
We  will  think  of  him  as  one  who  "  learned  obedience 
through  the  things  which  he  suffered,"  exactly  as  we  are 
compelled  to  do.  That  he  conquered  where  we  often 
fail  will  not  lift  him  above  the  range  of  our  sympathy 
and  need.  It  will  rather  give  us  boundless  comfort.  It 
will  give  us  courage  to  persevere,  because  we  have 
within  us  the  same  divine  Life  that  he  had.  As  we  rise 
in  mastery  we  will  see  him  ever  before  us;  always  the 
human  friend  we  need  and  always  demonstrating  the 
power  and  dominion  which  belong  to  us. 


SPIRITUAL  KNOWING.  ip 


CHAPTER  III. 
SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

Heretofore  the  word  knowledge  has  been  chiefly- 
associated  with  the  intellect  and  its  methods.  The  mate- 
rial senses  have  been  supposed  to  afford  the  basis  of  all 
certain  and  unquestionable  knowledge.  But  this  is  now 
rapidly  changing.  It  is  found  that  sense-perception 
misleads  and  betrays  us  in  a  thousand  ways,  and  it  never 
leads  to  what  all  mankind  are  seeking,  namely,  happiness 
and  peace.  Even  from  what  is  called  the  scientific  stand- 
point this  truth  is  beginning  to  be  recognized.  The 
word  science  is  coming  to  have  a  higher  and  deeper 
meaning  than  intellectual  processes  can  give  it.  The 
meaning  of  the  word  science  is  "  to  know."  Science  is 
"  knowing."  Then  the  truest  science  must  be  that 
which  leads  to  the  best  and  most  useful  knowledge. 
Who  will  not  admit  that  the  best  and  most  useful  knowl- 
edge is  a  knowledge  of  God,  the  Creator,  the  Heavenly 
Father,  the  Supreme  Mind,  the  Infinite  Source  of  all 
things?  Even  from  the  intellectual  standpoint  it  is  now 
generally  conceded  to  be  scientific  to  beHeve  in  immor- 
tality, and  unscientific  to  doubt  it.  It  is  scientific  to 
know  (and  not  merely  believe)  that  the  universe  and 
man,  created  by  Spirit,  must  be  spiritual  and  not  mate- 
rial. This  higher  consciousness  is  what  is  meant  by 
"  spiritual  knowing,"  and  it  is  by  this  process  that  the 
human  race  will  be  regenerated. 


20  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

It  was  to  this  kind  of  "  knowing"  that  Jesus  invariably 
appealed.  His  work  and  teachings  can  only  be  fully 
understood  by  realizing  that  all  his  words  and  acts  are 
to  be  judged  from  the  standpoint  of  the  purely  spiritual. 
He  said  "  To  this  end  have  I  been  born,  and  to  this  end 
am  I  come  into  the  world,  that  I  should  bear  witness 
unto  the  truth."  Truth  is  spiritual.  The  material  world 
is  not  a  realm  of  Truth.  It  is  a  realm  of  illusion.  The 
physical  senses  are  not  to  be  depended  upon.  Their 
testimony  is  not  reliable.  Let  a  dozen  different  persons 
witness  the  same  event,  and  undertake  to  describe  it, 
and  there  will  be  as  many  different  and  varying  accounts 
as  there  are  witnesses. 

Jesus  ignored  all  the  so-called  laws  of  materiality.  He 
walked  on  the  waves.  In  feeding  the  multitudes  it  made 
no  difference  whether  the  original  supply  was  twO'  loaves 
or  five.  The  people  had  abundance  and  to  spare. 
Water  was  changed  to  wine  in  response  to  his  silent 
command.  In  his  presence  the  diseases  which  belong 
to  the  realm  of  matter  disappeared.  And  for  all  this  he 
announced  the  law  in  a  single  brief  sentence.  The 
Kingdom  of  God  is  within  you;  that  is,  within  your  con- 
sciousness. This  truth,  when  accepted,  releases  man 
from  his  bondage  to  materiality,  and  bestows  upon  him 
"  the  free  life  of  Spirit."  "  Ye  shall  know  the  Truth,  and 
the  Truth  shall  make  you  free." 

It  was  not  only  on  account  of  the  unspiritual  condition 
of  the  race  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  that  this 
Truth  was  not  more  fully  received.  There  was  no  scien- 
tific knowledge  to  support  and  confirm  it.     Such  teach- 


SPIRITUAL  KNOWING.  21 

ing  could  only  be  accepted  by  faith  in  apparent  contra- 
diction to  reason.  Man's  conception  of  the  universe  was 
chaotic  at  that  time.  Nineteen  centuries  of  painful 
growth  have  been  required  to  enable  mankind  to  realize 
that  this  chaos  is  a  cosmos — an  orderly  universe  gov- 
erened  throughout  by  orderly  laws.  The  hour  has  now 
arrived  for  understanding  that  God's  cosmos  is  spiritual 
and  not  material,  and  that  man's  true  home  is  not  in  the 
realm  of  matter,  but  in  the  realm  of  Spirit. 

Spiritual  knowing  is  knowing  God,  "  whom  to  know 
aright  is  life  eternal."  Is  life  eternal  now,  and  not  merely 
in  a  world  beyond  the  grave.  And  what  is  It  to  know 
God  aright?  It  is  to  know  that  He  is  Spirit,  that  He  is 
Infinite  and  that  He  is  Life,  Truth,  Love,  reflected  in 
Wisdom,  Goodness,  Beauty,  Harmony.  Part  of  the  pro- 
cess of  knowing  God  aright  is  knowing  our  relation  to 
Him.  We  must  know  that,  however  we  may  seem  to 
be  separated  from  Him — a  seeming  which  is  produced 
by  our  own  selfishness  and  wilfulness — ^we  are  not,  and 
cannot  possibly  be  cut  off  from  Him  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree or  for  a  single  instant.  "  In  Him  we  live  and  move 
and  have  our  being."  "  One  God  and  Father  of  all  who 
is  above  all  and  through  all  and  in  you  all,"  Eph.,  4:  6. 
"  For  of  Him  and  through  Him  and  to  Him  are  all 
things."  Rom.  11:  36.  "All  my  springs  are  in  Thee." 
Ps.  87:  7. 

One  characteristic  of  this  new  spiritual  dispensation  is 
a  new  use  of  words.  The  keyword  of  the  former  dis- 
pensation was  "  belief."  The  keyword  of  the  present  is 
^'  know."     "  Believing  "  belongs  to  the  idea  of  an  "  ab- 


22  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

sentee  God."  "  Knowing  "  belongs  to  the  truth  of  an 
immanent  or  indwelling  God  who  is  omnipotent,  omni- 
present and  omni-active  Being. 

Paul  the  theologian  has  much  to  say  about  believing. 
The  word  is  constantly  on  his  pen.  John,  the  seer,  the 
man  of  intuition,  the  most  spiritual  of  the  disciples 
always  speaks  of  "  knowing  "  rather  than  of  "  believing." 
"  Hereby  know  we  that  we  are  in  Him."  "  We  know 
that  we  have  passed  from  death  untO'  life."  "  Hereby  we 
know  that  we  are  of  the  truth."  "  Hereby  we  know  that 
He  abideth  in  us."  "  We  know  that  we  are  of  God." 
And  so  on  throughout  his  epistles. 

It  should  be  stated  with  regard  to  the  word  "  believe  " 
that  when  used  in  the  New  Testament  the  original  Greek 
word  has  a  stronger  meaning  than  we  have  heretofore 
given  to  it.  It  carries  with  it  more  of  the  idea  of  under- 
standing. Blind  belief  belongs  to  the  unscientific  condi- 
tion of  thought  from  which  humanity  is  now  emerging. 
The  confidence  of  knowing  is  a  result  of  the  new  and 
larger  comprehension  which  the  revelations  of  science 
have  given  us,  showing  that  there  are  no  laws  but 
spiritual  laws,  and  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  most  scien- 
tific man  that  ever  lived  because  he  revealed  those  laws 
as  spiritual,  applied  them  for  the  healing  of  sickness  and 
sin,  and  showed  that  they  were  for  the  salvation  and 
guidance  of  our  universal  humanity. 

Spiritual  knowing  is  the  key  to  Bible  sunshine.  It  is 
realizing  that  God  is  Infinite  Spirit  and  Infinite  Love, 
and  that  we  are  His  image  and  likeness — individualized 
expressions  and  reflections  of  His  being  and  nature.     It 


SPIRITUAL  KNOWING.  23 

is  realizing  that  we  are  spiritual  and  not  material,  as  St. 
Paul  says,  "  If  any  man  be  in  Christ  he  is  a  new  crea- 
ture; old  things  are  passed  away;  behold  all  things  are 
become  new." 

The  idea  that  God  cannot  be  known,  and  that  we  can 
only  receive  spiritual  blessings  through  blind  faith  is  a 
paralizing  error.  All  the  truth  in  the  Bible  is  an  appeal 
to  our  reason.  "  Come  now,  and  let  us  reason  together," 
saith  the  Lord;  "though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall 
be  as  white  as  snow;  though  they  be  red  like  crimson 
they  shall  be  as  wool.  If  ye  he  willing  and  obedient,  ye 
shall  eat  the  good  of  the  land."  This  appeal  shows  that 
it  is  through  man's  reason  that  his  sins  are  to  be  de- 
stroyed and  all  blessings  received.  It  is  only  by  the 
highest  reason  that  we  are  able  to  deny  the  evidence  of 
the  senses  and  look  to  the  unseen  universe  for  our  sup- 
ply. Jesus  appealed  to  reason  when  he  taught  that  even 
the  blessings  of  this  life  are  to  be  secured  by  seeking  first 
the  kingdom  of  God;  that  is  to  say,  surrendering  our- 
selves wholly  to  the  laws  of  the  spiritual  life.  The  full 
meaning  of  His  teaching  is  this :  Knowing  God  and  loving 
our  fellozv-men  puts  us  in  the  spiritual  universe,  and  gives 
us  the  blessings  of  that  universe,  and  these  blessings  will 
also  be  expressed  in  forms  adapted  to  our  present  material 
consciousness. 

This  Truth  is  the  "  Pearl  of  Great  Price,"  and  in  the 
light  of  it  the  Bible  becomes  a  source  of  sunshine  which 
will  fill  every  life  with  joy  Vv^here  the  truth  is  received  and 
lived. 

See  what  an  appeal  to  man's  reason  is  made  in  the  fol- 
lowing promises  from  the  37th  Psalm. 


24-  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

"Trust  in  the  Lord  and  do  good;  so  shalt  thou 
dwell  in  the  land,  and  verily  thou  shalt  be  fed. 

"  Delight  theyself  also  in  the  Lord,  and  He  shall  give 
thee  the  desires  of  thine  heart. 

"  Commit  thy  way  unto  the  Lord;  trust  also  in  Him 
and  He  shall  bring  it  to  pass. 

"  And  He  shall  bring  forth  thy  righteousness  as  the 
light,  and  thy  judgment  as  the  noonday." 

But  the  reality  of  our  trust  must  be  tested.  The  bless- 
ings are  not  bestowed  in  an  hour,  for  that  would  be  an  in- 
jury to  us.  Therefore  the  promises  are  followed  by  the 
injunction,  "  Rest  in  the  Lord  and  wait  patiently  for 
Him :  fret  not  thyself  because  of  him  who  prospereth  in 
his  way,  because  of  the  man  who  bringeth  wicked  de- 
vices to  pass. 

"Cease  from  anger,  and  forsake  wrath;  fret  not  thy- 
self in  any  wise  to  do  evil;  For  evildoers  shall  be  cut  off; 
hut  those  that  wait  upon  the  Lord,  they  shall  inherit  the 
earth:' 

It  is  through  waiting  upon  the  Lord  and  "  acquainting 
ourselves "  with  Him  that  we  have  spiritual  blessings 
and  spiritual  growth.  But  the  word  "  wait "  must  be 
taken  in  the  right  sense.  It  is  the  farthest  possible  from 
a  merely  passive  state  of  mind.  In  fact  it  is  best  inter- 
preted by  the  New  Testament  standard  "  Work  out  your 
own  salvation."  True  waiting  is  the  most  effective  kind 
of  working.  The  words  "Be  still  and  know  that  I  am 
God  "  are  to  be  understood  in  the  same  active  sense.  It 
is  true  that  the  phrase  "  Be  still "  does  not  seem  to  sug- 
gest activity.     But  what  is  the  purpose  of  holding  still? 


SPIRITUAL  KNOWING,  25 

That  we  may  know  God,  and  knowing  God  puts  us  in 
connection  with  the  Supreme  Energy  of  the  universe. 
We  thus  become  channels  for  the  influx  of  the  Divine 
power  for  our  own  benefit  and  for  the  good  of  our  fellow- 
men.  To  know  God  is  to  draw  upon  His  infinite  re- 
sources, which  become  ours  in  proportion  to  our  reali- 
zation of  the  truth  that  they  are  ours. 

The  difference  between  the  experience  of  spiritual 
"  knowing "  and  that  of  "  trusting  in  Divine  Provi- 
dence "  grows  largely  out  of  the  two  different  concep- 
tions of  God.  We  cling  strongly  to  our  former  ideas 
concerning  the  Divine  Personality.  Yet  if  we  have  that 
thought  without  the  accompanying  thought  of  God  as 
Infinite  Principle,  an  all-loving  and  ever-present  Power, 
we  are  so  impressed  with  the  idea  of  corporeal  limitation 
and  human  weakness  that  it  is  hard  to  hold  an  unwaver- 
ing faith  in  times  of  great  darkness  and  discouragement. 
At  such  times  we  can  do  little  more  than  cry  out  "  Lord, 
I  believe;  help  Thou  mine  unbelief.''  But  changing  our 
"  belief  "  to  "  understanding" ;  realizing  that  Love  is  an 
infinite  and  all-pervading  Power,  then  we  can  say  "  I 
know  in  whom  I  have  believed.  There  cannot  be  any- 
thing in  the  universe  but  Love.  I  cannot  escape  from  it, 
and  however  appearances  may  be  to  the  contrary,  I  know 
that  Love  is  guiding  me,  sustaining  me,  supplying  me." 

A  poem  on  the  next  page  expresses  the  spirit  of  trust. 


26  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 


RESTLESS  HEART,   DON'T  WORRY  SO. 

BY  EDITH  WILLIS  LINN. 

1 

Dear  restless  heart,  be  still;    don't  fret  and  worry  so; 
God  hath  a  thousand  ways  His  love  and  help  to  show; 
Just  trust,  and  trust,  and  trust,  until  His  will  you  know. 

2. 
Dear  restless  heart,  be  still,  for  peace  is  God's  own  smile, 
His  lovs^  eas  <^very  wrong-  and  sorrow  reconcile; 
Just  love,  and  love,  and  love,  and  calmly  wait  a  while. 

3. 

Dear  restless  heart,  be  brave;    don't  moan  and  sorrow  so; 
He  hath  a,  meaning-  kind  in  chilly  winds  that  blow; 
Just  hope,  and  hope,  and  hope,  until  you  braver  grow. 

4. 
Dear  restless  heart,  repose  upon  His  heart  an  hour; 
His  heart  is  strength  and  life,  His  heart  is  bloom  and  flower; 
Just  rest,  and  rest,  and  rest,  within  His  tender  power. 

5. 
Dear  restless  heart,  be  still;    don't  toil  and  hurry  so; 
God  is  the  silent  One,  forever  calm  and  slow; 
Just  wait,  and  wait,  and  wait,  and  work  with  Him  below. 

6. 
Dear  restless  heart,  be  still;  don't  strug-g-le  to  be  free; 
God's  life  is  in  your  life;    to  Him  you  may  not  flee; 
Just  pray,  and  pray,  and  pray,  till  you  have  faith  to  see. 


SPIRITUAL  PSYCHOLOGY.  27 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SPIRITUAL    PSYCHOLOGY  — THE    PEOPLE'S 

GOSPEL. 

Changing  the  standard  from  intellectual  knowing  to 
spiritual  knowing  creates  a  necessity  for  a  new  psychol- 
ogy- 
Psychology  is  defined  as  "The  science  of  the  human 
mind  or  soul."  Study  of  the  subject  has  heretofore  been 
little  more  than  a  process  of  mental  anatomy;  dissecting 
asd  analyzing  the  mind  by  methods  similar  to  those  em- 
ployed in  studying  the  structure  of  the  body.  The  study 
of  psychology  has  had  little  more  effect  upon  the  moral 
nature  of  the  student  than  the  study  of  physiology  would 
have. 

The  deeper  meaning  that  is  now  being  given  to  the 
word  "  science "  leads  to  the  development  of  a  new 
psychology.  The  true  science,  or  "  knowing,"  is  not  a 
cold  process  of  mental  analysis;  it  goes  to  the  inner- 
most sources  of  being — to  the  heart,  "  out  of  which  are 
the  issues  of  life."  Hence  the  new  psycholog}^  in  study- 
ing man,  begins  where  man  begins;  it  begins  with  God. 
In  treating  this  topic,  especially  in  connection  with  the 
subject  of  Bible  Sunshine,  it  is  necessary  to  call  attention 
to  the  fact  that  there  are  twO'  distinct  and  separate  ac- 
counts of  creation  in  Genesis.  The  first  chapter  and 
the  first  five  verses  of  the  second  chapter  describe  a 


28  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

spiritual  process.  It  speaks  of  ''  every  plant  of  the 
field  before  it  was  in  the  earth,  and  every  herb  of  the  field 
before  it  grew,''  clearly  indicating  the  spiritual  origin  of 
all  things.     Gen.  2:   5. 

With  the  6th  verse,  the  nature  of  the  description  is  en- 
tirely changed.  It  seems  to  represent  man's  material 
conception  or  idea.  "The  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the 
dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed  intO'  his  nostrils  the 
breath  of  life;  and  man  became  a  living  soul." 

In  the  first  account  the  process  is  represented  as  be- 
ginning with  Creative  Love  and  ending  with  spiritual 
man.  The  second  begins  with  a  material  man  and  ends 
with  sin  and  death. 

The  old  psychology  is  based  upon  the  second  account, 
and  upon  the  false  idea  of  the  soul  as  separated  from 
God.  It  accepts  the  proposition  that  God  is  Infinite  and 
that  He  is  Good,  but  its  instructions  oppose  that  truth 
by  treating  man  as  a  separate  soul,  and  evil  as  a  positive 
force.  That  is  to  say,  according  to  its  teachings  the 
universe  is  full  of  God,  or  Good,  but  it  is  also  occupied 
by  other  beings  beside  God,  and  by  another  force  op- 
posed to  the  Deific  force. 

The  new  psychology  regards  all  things  from  the 
spiritual  viewpoint.  God  is  Spirit,  He  is  Love,  He  is 
Infinite.  Man  is  His  expression,  as  rays  of  light  are 
expressions  of  the  sun.  He  is  also  His  reflection,  as  a 
mirror  reflects  objects  that  are  before  it.  His  individual- 
ity belongs  to  his  consciousness  and  is  derived  from  God. 
That  he  is  an  expression  of  God  no  more  militates 
agaiinst  his  individuality  than  does  the  fact  that  a  num- 


SPIRITUAL  PSYCHOLOGY,  29 

ber  is  an  expression  of  the  principle  of  mathematics  mili- 
tate against  the  individuality  of  the  number.  The  indi- 
viduality or  character  of  a  number  depends  upon  the  fact 
that  it  is  an  expression  of  the  principle  of  mathematics. 
So  does  a  man's  individuality  and  character  depend  upon 
the  fact  that  he  is  an  expression  and  reflection  of  God. 

The  old  psychology  is  materialistic  and  purely  aca- 
demic. It  has  no  more  tendency  to  create  a  movement 
for  moral  reformation  among  the  people  than  a  study  of 
quadratic  equations. 

The  new  psychology  is  spiritual.  It  is  vital.  It  leads 
thought  into  the  realm  of  eternal  verities.  It  is  a  Peo- 
ple's Gospel.  Its  system  of  truth  is  expressed  in  the  five 
following  propositions : 

1.  God  is  the  only  cause. 

2.  Spirit  is  the  only  substance. 

3.  Love  is  the  only  force. 

4.  Harmony,  the  reflection  of  Love,  is  the  only  law. 

5.  Now  is  the  only  time. 

These  are  not  abstract  ideas.  They  are  practical  ex- 
pressions and  applications  of  the  central  Revelation  of 
Christianity,  "  The  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you," 
and  of  the  fundamental  truth:  "In  Him  we  live  and 
move  and  have  our  being."  Let  us  examine  them  in 
the  light  of  the  above  statements: 

1.  God  is  the  only  cause.  This  is  accepted  theoreti- 
cally by  all  Christians,  and  does  not  need  to  be  dwelt 
upon. 

2.  Spirit  is  the  only  substance."^    This  is  opposed  to  the 


*  For  further  consideration  of  the  question  of  matter  see  page  35. 


30  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

testimony  of  the  material  consciousness,  (which  we  call 
our  material  senses),  but  it  is  a  necessary  corollary  of 
the  standards  (given  above)  by  which  all  our  ideas  and 
theories  must  be  tested.  The  "  Kingdom  within "  is 
certainly  not  a  material  kingdom,  nor  can  we  for  a 
moment  imagine  that  our  bodies  live  and  move  and  have 
their  being  in  God.  We  must  transfer  our  thought  abso- 
lutely from  the  material  to  the  spiritual  viewpoint.  This 
will,  of  course,  be  a  gradual  process.  It  will  require 
striving,  but  it  is  the  noblest  effort  that  a  human  being 
can  make.  By  this  striving  "  the  creature  itself  shall  be 
delivered  from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glori- 
ous liberty  of  the  children  of  God."  (Rom.  8:  21.)  It 
is  also  the  supreme  key  to  a  spiritual  interpretation  and 
understanding  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures;  a  perpetual 
source  of  Bible  Sunshine.  What  a  flood  of  light  it 
throws  upon  such  passages  as  the  following: 

"  They  that  are  after  the  flesh  do  mind  the  things  of 
the  flesh ;  but  they  that  are  after  the  Spirit,  the  things  of 
the  Spirit.  For  to  be  carnally  minded  is  death,  but  to  be 
spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace;  because  the  carnal 
(or  mortal)  mind  is  enmity  against  God ;  for  it  is  not  sub- 
ject to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be.  So,  then, 
they  that  are  in  the  flesh  cannot  please  God. 

"  B'Ut  ye  are  not  in  the  flesh,  but  in  the  Spirit,  if  so  be 
that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwell  in  you.  Now  if  any  man 
have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  his.  And  if 
Christ  be  in  you,  the  body  is  dead  because  of  sin;  but 
the  Spirit  is  life  because  o'f  righteousness.  But  if  the 
Spirit  of  Him  that  raised  up  Jesus  from  the  dead  dwell  in 


SPIRITUAL  PSYCHOLOGY,  31 

you,  He  that  raised  up  Christ  from  the  dead  shall  also 
quicken  your  mortal  bodies  by  His  Spirit  that  dwelleth 
in  you. 

"  Therefore,  brethren,  we  are  debtors,  not  to  the  flesh, 
to  live  after  the  flesh.  For  if  ye  live  after  the  flesh  (the 
material)  ye  shall  die:  but  if  ye  through  the  Spirit  do 
mortify  the  deeds  of  the  body,  ye  shall  live.  For  as 
many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  they  are  the  sons  of 
God.  For  ye  have  not  received  the  spirit  of  bondage 
again  to  fear;  but  ye  have  received  the  spirit  of  adoption 
whereby  we  cry  Abba,  Father."     (Romans  8:  5-15.) 

Let  the  reader  keep  in  mind  the  second  proposition  of 
spiritual  psychology  as  he  reads  the  Bible,  and  he  will 
see  what  an  illumination  it  continually  throws  upon  the 
sacred  pages. 

3.  Love  is  the  only  force.  This  thought  is  treated  in 
other  chapters  and  does  not  call  for  special  discussion 
here.  But  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  all  the  troubles  of 
humanity  come  from  belief  in  a  force  and  power  apart 
from  God. 

4.  Harmony,  the  reflection  of  Love,  is  the  only  law. 
Discord  is  not  a  law.  Love,  of  which  harmony  is  an  ex- 
pression or  reflection,  is  the  only  law.  Discord  is  a  vio- 
lation of  law. 

5.  Now  is  the  only  time.  Lifting  the  thought  from 
the  plane  of  the  material  to  the  plane  of  the  spiritual  takes 
us  into  "  the  timeless  region  where  one  day  is  as  a  thou- 
sand years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day."  All  our 
fears  and  anxieties  are  borrowed  from  the  past  or  the 
future.     We  worry  over  vain  regrets  for  past  mistakes  or 


32  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING, 

suffer  from  dismal  forebodings  of  future  ills.  Spiritual 
psychology  shows  that  this  is  not  only  foolish,  but  actu- 
ally unscientific.  We  are  one  with  God,  as  Jesus  taught. 
Then  live  with  Him,  rest  upon  Him,  reahze  that  "all  that 
the  Father  hath  is  mine,"  and  trust  Infinite  Love  to  sup- 
ply all  your  needs. 

The  appearance  of  darkness  in  some  parts  of  the  Bible 
has  been  a  reflection  of  the  false  ideas  concerning  God. 
Men  could  only  conceive  of  a  Supreme  Being  in  accord- 
ance with  their  own  state  of  mind.  Hence  the  Bible 
sometimes  speaks  of  God  as  a  Being  of  wrath  and  ven- 
geance. But  the  wrath  and  vengeance  were  in  the 
thoughts  of  carnal  mind  and  not  in  the  character  of* God, 
for  He  is  Love  and  only  Love. 

Unfortunately  this  false  idea  of  God  was  not  confined 
to  the  earlier  ages  of  human  history  when  the  race  could 
not  be  expected  to  have  a  higher  ideal.  Although  Jesus 
Christ  revealed  the  Supreme  Creator  as  a  Being  of  per- 
fect love,  a  Heavenly  Father,  yet  the  heathenish  concep- 
tion was  carried  into  what  is  called  the  Christian  Era, 
and  some  of  the  darkest  crimes  of  the  later  centuries  were 
supposed  by  their  authors  and  actors  to  be  sanctioned  by 
the  Bible,  because  it  was  still  regarded  as  describing  a 
God  of  wrath  and  vengeance*.  After  Cromwell  had  taken 
the  town  of  Drogheda  in  Ireland,  'he  forbade  his  soldiers 
to  spare  any  that  were  in  arms  in  the  town,  and  they  put 
to  the  sword  over  2,000  men  after  they  had  surrendered. 
Nearly  1,000  were  killed  in  the  Church  of  St.  Peter's. 
Cromwell  writes  concerning  the  affair,  "  We  put  to  the 
sword  the  whole  number  of  the  defendants.  *  *  * 
This  hath  been  a  marvellous  great  mercy.     I  wish  that 


SPIRITUAL  PSYCHOLOGY,  J3 

all  honest  hearts  may  give  glory  of  this  to  God  alone,  to 
whom  indeed  the  praise  of  this  mercy^  belongs." 

All  misconceptions  of  the  Bible  have  resulted  from  in- 
terpreting it  in  accordance  with  the  letter  instead  of  the 
spirit,  in  spite  of  its  own  declaration  that  'The  letter 
killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life."  The  horrors  of  the  in- 
quisition were  justified  by  quoting  the  text  "Compel 
them  to  come  in."  How  many  thousands  of  innocent 
people  have  been  tortured  and  slain  by  reason  of  the  bar- 
barous law  of  an  undeveloped  people,  "  Thou  shalt  not 
suffer  a  witch  to  live." 

Spiritual  psychology  changes  darkness  to  sunshine  in 
many  parts  of  the  Bible  by  substituting  the  correct 
standard  of  Truth  and  error  for  the  false  standard  of 
good  and  evil.  Truth  is  right  thinking  about  God  and 
our  fellow-men.  Error  is  wrong  thinking.  Error, 
wrong  thinking,  can  make  evil  seem  like  a  terrible  reality 
while  Truth,  right  thinking,  can  banish  it  altogether. 
Error  or  wrong  thinking  about  God  and  his  fellow-men 
led  Cromwell  to  commit  his  cruel  acts.  Truth  or  right 
thinking  would  have  kept  him  from  committing  them. 

Spiritual  psychology  suggests  and  directs  the  true  pro- 
cess of  evolution,  of  which  material  evolution  is  only  a 
shadow  or  symbol.  The  real  evolution  is  an  unfolding  of 
the  spiritual  consciousness. 

Spiritual  Psychology;  or  the  People's  Gospel  has  this 
divine  sign  and  seal  of  Truth — it  appeals  to  little  children. 
It  is  the  condemning  quality  of  intellectual  pyschology 
and  its  accompanying  system  of  scholastic  theology  that 
it  is  not  adapted  to  the  nature  of  childhood.  This  sub- 
ject is  treated  in  a  separate  chapter. 


34  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING, 


CHAPTER  V. 
DOMINION  THROUGH  LOVE. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after 
our  likeness;  and  let  them  have  dominion  over  the  fish 
of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  the  cat- 
tle, and  over  all  the  earth,  and  over  every  creeping  thing 
that  moveth  upon  the  earth." 

Has  this  saying  been  realized  in  t\he  history  of  the 
race?  We  are  disposed  to  think  so,  because  man  has  a 
certain  ascendency  over  the  animal  creation.  But  this 
ascendency  has  been  very  far  from  dominion  in  any 
proper  sense  of  that  word.  Many  men  have  conquered 
and  killed  many  animals,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  how 
many  men  have  themselves  been  overcome  and  slain  by 
wild  beasts  of  every  sort,  by  poisonous  serpents,  yea, 
even  by  the  stinging  of  insects.  If  the  history  were  writ- 
ten from  the  side  of  the  animals  'they  could  make  out  a 
pretty  fair  showing  of  dominion  as  an  offset  to  ours. 

The  truth  is  that,  like  so  much  of  the  language  of 
Scripture,  these  words  were  prophetic  of  a  future  ideal, 
and  only  partially  true  of  the  passing  condition.  Man- 
kind did  not  possess  the  key  of  dominion.  They  sup- 
posed it  was  to  be  secured  by  force  and  self  assertion. 
Jesus  Christ  revealed  the  truth  that  it  is  to  be  gained 
through  Love  and  self-surrender. 

The  statements  of  Spiritual    Psychology    supply    the 


DOMINION  THROUGH  LOVE,  35 

key  or  clue  to  dominion.  Take  the  first  one:  "  God  is 
the  only  cause."  Can  God  be  thought  of  as  creating  the 
perishable  substance  called  matter?  No,  it  is  unthink- 
able for  three  reasons:  (i)  He  is  infinite,  and  could  not 
reduce  himself  to  anything  less.  (2)  He  is  unchange- 
able, and  could  not  express  himself  in  that  which 
changes.  (3)  He  is  eternal,  and  could  not  express 
Himself  in  that  which  is  destructible.  Therefore,  since 
we  believe  that  He  created  the  universe  and  man,  we  are 
led  irresistibly  to  the  conclusion  that,  as  God  is  Spirit, 
the  real  universe,  and  the  real  man  must  be  spiritual  and 
not  material. 

What  place,  then,  has  matter  in  the  new  psychology? 

It  is  a  truly  remarkable  fact  that  just  as  the  people  are 
asking  this  question  from  the  purely  practical  side, 
science  is  reaching  the  conclusion  that  matter  and  not 
Spirit  must  be  called  "  the  unknowable."  The  closest 
search  for  the  final  atom  fails  to  reveal  it,  and  scientists 
now  acknowledge  that  in  its  place  they  can  only  discern 
a  theoretical  *'  point  of  force "  or  "  center  of  force." 
Matter  is  called  substance,  yet  even  this  word  bears  tes- 
timony to  its  unreality.  It  is  substance,  that  which  stands 
under.  It  is  defined  as  "  That  which  underlies  all 
outward  manifestation;  that  which  is  real  in  distinction 
from  that  which  is  apparent."  In  other  words,  the  real 
is  not  *'  the  outward  manifestation,"  but  "  that  which 
underlies  it."  What  can  we  conclude  from  all  this  but 
that  the  spiritual  is  the  only  real  and  the  supersensible  is 
the  only  natural?  * 


*  Some  of  the  utterances  of  the  late  Professor  Max  MuUer  on 


36  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

Dominion  through  Love  and  self-surrender  is  the  cor- 
ner-stone of  Christianity.  In  'fact,  it  is  the  only  Christi- 
anity. But  when  the  truth  was  announced  by  Christ 
Jesus,  nineteen  centuries  ago,  the  world  was  not  in  a 
condition  to  receive  and  apply  it.  Hence  the  Master 
was  obliged  to  say,  '*  I  have  other  things  to  say  to  you, 
but  ye  cannot  bear  them  now." 

In  the  larger  comprehension,  which  the  race  has 
gained  through  its  long  period  of  discipline  and  growth, 
we  are  able  to  see  that  the  self-denial  taught  by  Jesus  is 
a  denial  of  all  that  belongs  to  the  sense-life — the  material 
sense  of  being. 

The  world  was  not  without  witness  for  spiritual  domin- 
ion in  its  earlier  history.     What    saved    Hagar    in    the 

the  subject  of  matter  are  so  striking  that  a  few  brief  extracts 
are  here  quoted: 

"  To  speak  of  matter  or  substance  as  something-  existing  by 
Itself  and  presented  to  the  senses  is  mere  mythology.  *  •  • 
Matter  is  a  word  and  concept  of  our  own  making,  and  it  con- 
tains neither  more  nor  less  than  we  have  put  into  it.  *  *  • 
From  this  point  of  view  I  call  materialism  no  more  than  a 
gn'ammatical  blunder.  It  is  the  substitution  of  a  nominative 
for  an  accusative,  or  of  an  active  for  a  passive  verb.  At  first 
we  mean  by  matter  what  is  perceived,  not,  indeed,  by  itself, 
but  by  its  qualities;  but  in  the  end  it  is  made  to  mean  the 
very  opposite,  namely,  what  perceives,  and  is  thus  supposed  to 
lay  hold  of  and  strangle  itself.  *  *  *  It  is  admitted  on  all 
sides  that  there  never  could  be  such  a  thing  as  an  object  or  as 
matter  except  when  it  has  been  perceived  by  a  subject  or  a 
mind.  And  yet  we  are  asked  by  materialists  to  believe  that 
the  perceiving  subject,  or  the  mind,  is  really  the  result  of  a 
long  continued  development  of  the  object,  or  of  matter.  This 
is  a  logical  somersault  which  it  seems  almost  impossible  to 
perform,  and  yet  it  has  been  performed  again  and  again  in  the 
history  of  philosophy."  (From  "Three  Introductory  Lectures 
on  the  Science  oif  Thought.") 


DOMINION  THROUGH  LOVE,  37 

wilderness?  "  God  opened  her  eyes,  and  she  saw  a  well 
of  water."  She  was  permitted,  centuries  in  advance  of 
most  of  her  fellow-mortals,  to  enjoy  the  experience  of  a 
spiritual  law  which  Jesus  revealed  in  its  fulness.  So  was 
the  young  man  with  Elisha,  "  The  Lord  opened  his 
eyes,  and  behold  the  mountain  was  full  of  horses  and 
chariots  of  fire  round  about  Elisha."  So  was  Daniel 
when  the  power  of  the  Spirit  bound  the  mouths  of  the 
lions.  If  we  live,  move  and  have  our  being  in  God,  then 
it  must  certainly  be  true  that  God's  power  is  our  power 
in  proportion  as  we  have  understanding  to  receive  it. 
The  Apostle  Peter  had  a  moment  of  faith  which  enabled 
him  to  walk  on  the  water.  His  faith  failed  and  he  sank, 
but  the  law  of  spiritual  dominion  did  not  fail.  It  was 
there  for  his  benefit  if  he  had  understood  it. 

With  reference  to  the  general  subject  of  "  dominion  " 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  even  in  the  ordinary  process 
of  development  man  is  daily  gaining  more  and  more  of 
his  rightful  heritage.  Through  electricity  he  has  already 
annihilated  time  and  space,  and  it  is  beyond  question  that 
he  will  continually  rise  in  his  mastery  of  the  so-called 
"  laws  of  nature,"  which  are  the  laws  of  God — His  meth- 
ods of  operation.  Man  is  now  subject  to  the  law  of  grav- 
itation, which  often  leads  to  his  injury  or  his  destruction. 
But  there  is  an  opposite  principle  of  levitation  that  he  will 
learn  to  utilize,  and  when  that  is  mastered  man  can  rise 
from  the  earth  and  move  through  the  air  at  will.  It  is 
said  to  have  been  scientifically  demonstrated  that  the  spe- 
cific gravity  of  the  body  is  changed  by  the  mind;  one 
who  is  in  a  high  spiritual  state  being  perceptibly  lighter 


38  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

while  in  that  condition.  This  points  clearly  to  the 
natural  order  of  miracles  or  the  naturalness  of  the  super- 
natural or  supersensible.  When  the  race  becomes  per- 
fectly spiritualized,  people  can  walk  on  the  water  as 
Jesus  did.  His  dominion  came  from  His  selfless  life,  and 
He  showed  the  way  which  all  may  follow.  The  highest 
scientific  authorities  now  admit  that  miracles  are  not  vio- 
lations of  law,  but  are  the  result  of  laws  not  yet  under- 
stood. Huxley  says:  'T  am  unaware  of  anything  that 
has  a  right  to  be  called  an  impossibility.  There  are  im- 
poss)ibilities  logical  (for  instance,  "a  round  square"  or  a 
"present  past"),  but  not  natural.  Walking  on  the  water, 
turning  water  into  wine  or  raising  the  dead  are  plainly 
not  impossibilities  in  the  logical  sense." 

A  passage  lin  the  Psalms  (the  8th)  which  proclaims 
man's  dominion  has  heretofore  been  usually  quoted  for 
exactly  the  opposite  purpose,  namely,  to  support  the 
worm-of-the-dust  idea  of  man.     Let  us  examine  it : 

"  When  I  consider  Thy  heavens,  the  work  of  Thy 
fingers,  the  moon  and  the  stars  which  Thou  hast  or- 
dained, what  is  man  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him,  and 
the  son  of  man  that  Thou  visitest  him?  " 

That  is  to  say  (as  we  have  usually  read  it),  what  a 
miserable  little  insignificant  creature  is  man!  But  what 
are  the  words  that  follow  ?  How  unreasonable  it  is  to 
read  the  passage  as  if  it  stood  alone. 

"  For  Thou  hast  made  him  but  little  lower  than 
God  (Revised  Version)  and  hast  crowned  him  with  glory 
and  honor.  Thou  madest  him  to  have  dominion  over  the 
works  of  Thy  hands ;  Thou  hast  put  all  things  under  his 


DOMINION  THROUGH  LOVE  39 

feet;  all  sheep  and  oxen,  yea,  and  the  beasts  of  the 
field,  the  fowl  of  the  air  and  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  what- 
soever passes  through  the  paths  of  the  sea." 

The  Psalm  not  only  gives  an  exalted  conception  of 
God's  glory,  but  also  of  man's  dignity  and  power. 

But  we  cannot  have  dominion  unless  we  claim  it. 
And  we  cannot  claim  it  if  we  hold  ourselves  in  material 
limitations.  With  our  lips  we  say,  "  Thine  is  the  king- 
dom." But  God's  kingdom  is  spiritual  and  not  material, 
and  our  words  are  rendered  null  and  void  if  we  make  a 
reality  also  of  the  kingdom  of  matter.  With  our  lips 
we  say,  ''  Thine  is  the  power."  But  our  words  are  "  as 
sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal "  if  we  recognize 
evil  as  a  power,  or  if  we  look  to  any  source  but  God  for 
the  help  we  need.  Dominion  is  to  be  exercised  through 
Love,  and  we  shall  have  dominion  in  proportion  as  we 
realize  that  Love  is  infinite,  and  therefore  there  is  noth- 
ing in  God's  universe,  the  spiritual  universe,  our  uni- 
verse, but  Love  and  its  infinite  forms  of  expression. 

Dominion  through  Love  is  one  phase  of  the  question 
of  the  power  of  thought.  If  we  are  obHged  tO'  live  in  fre- 
quent association  with  some  one  who  has  an  unfriendly 
feeling  toward  us  and  does  not  hesitate  to  express  it,  how 
is  such  a  one  to  be  conquered?  Certainly  not  by  antag- 
onism. We  know  that.  But  we  are  not  quite  so  clear 
that  it  cannot  be  done  by  words  of  some  kind — words  of 
expostulation,  of  argument,  perhaps  even  of  entreaty. 
Very  rarely  does  that  method  succeed,  for  the  act  of 
voicing  the  error  is  apt  to  only  increase  it.  There  is  a 
method  that  cannot  fail.     "  Prophecies  will  fail ;  tongues 


40  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

will  cease;  knowledge  will  vanish  away.  But  Love 
never  faileth."  We  must  first  conquer  our  own  preju- 
dice, for  there  is  always  some  wrong  on  our  own  part. 
Say  to  yourself  "  I  can  love  him,  I  will  love  him,  I  do 
love  him."  Say  it  frequently,  day  after  day,  if  need  be 
till  your  feeling  of  antagonism  is  mastered.  Then  hold 
the  same  thought  for  the  other  one.  "  He  can  love  me, 
he  will  love  me,  he  does  love  me."  Thoughts  are 
things,  and  if  you  persevere  in  this  there  is  no  power  in 
the  universe  that  can  keep  you  from  winning  his  love. 
And  in  the  struggle  to  overcome  your  erring  self  you  are 
doing  a  work  for  your  own  spiritual  growth  the  value  of 
which  cannot  be  expressed  in  words.  It  is  a  process  of 
resurrection  which  will  be  considered  in  the  following 
chapter. 


THE  PROCESS  OF  RESURRECTION.  41 


CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  PROCESS  OF  RESURRECTION. 

What  an  amazing  truth  is  this  which  is  now  dawning 
upon  human  consciousness.  There  is  but  one  real  uni- 
verse, a  spiritual  universe,  which  expresses  the  Being  and 
essence  of  God — Life,  Truth  and  Love  reflected  in 
Goodness,  Beauty,  Harmony.  Man  also  is  spiritual  and 
only  spiritual.  He  is  now  living  in  a  false  state  of  con- 
sciousness which  he  calls  a  material  world  and  a  material 
universe.  The  way  to  pass  from  the  material  world  to 
the  spiritual  universe  is  not  by  dying,  but  by  obeying  the 
laws  of  the  spiritual  universe,  that  is  to  say,  by  following 
the  principle  of  Life,  Truth  and  Love. 

This  is  the  key  and  the  only  key  to  the  life  and  teach- 
ings of  Jesus  Christ.  The  law  of  life  He  gave,  "  Deny 
self,"  means  to  deny  the  whole  false  consciousness  of 
material  existence,  and  live  for  the  spiritual  alone.  Only 
by  this  key  can  we  understand  a  statement  for  which 
scholastic  theology  has  no  interpretation.  "  If  any  man 
keep  my  saying  he  shall  never  see  death."  When  man 
has  attained  the  complete  self-mastery  which  is  his  birth- 
right, he  will  have  passed  through  the  process  of  resur- 
rection. Like  Enoch,  he  will  walk  with  God,  "  The  last 
enemy  that  shall  be  destrpyed  is  death." 

This  stupendous  truth  has  always  been  near  to  the 
thought  of  highly  spiritualized  men  and  women,  and  has 


42  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

found  partial  expression  in  the  words  of  many  poets  and 
seers.     Milton  said: 

"  What  if  earth 
Be  but  the  shadow  of  heaven,  and  things  therein 
Each  to  each  other  like,  more  than  on  earth  is  thought." 

Charles  Kingsley  said,  "  The  belief  is  becoming  every 
day  stronger  with  me  that  all  symmetrical  objects  are 
types  otf  some  spiritual  truth  or  existence.  Everything 
seems  to  be  full  of  God's  reflex  if  we  could  but  see  it. 
Oh!  to  see,  if  but  for  a  moment,  the  whole  harmony  of 
the  great  system;  to  hear  once  the  music  that  the  whole 
universe  makes  as  it  performs  His  bidding!" 

These  are  foregleams  of  an  experience  which  must  and 
will  go  on  to  perfection  as  humanity  rises  to  its  true 
estate.  The  point  is  now  reached  where  Hfe  can  be 
understood  as  a  process  of  resurrection.  The  elements 
of  Life,  which  are  also  Truth  and  Love,  cannot  be 
assimilated  at  once,  but  as  they  are  mastered  and  wrought 
into  being,  we  are,  to  the  extent  of  the  mastery  lifted 
above  the  domination  of  the  material.  Every  faculty  we 
possess  must  be  born  from  the  lower  to  the  higher,  from 
the  domain  of  the  human  to  the  realm  of  the  divine,  from 
self  as  the  object  of  thought  and  center  of  life  to  God  or 
Good  as  the  object  of  thought  and  center  of  life. 

Selfhood  belongs  as  truly  to  the  material  plane  as  mat- 
ter does.  Hence  overcoming  self  in  the  use  of  any 
faculty  or  power  lifts  that  faculty  or  power  from  the 
plane  of  the  material  to  the  plane  of  the  spiritual.  It  is 
a  resurrection. 

This  truth  underlies  much  of  the  teachings  of  St.  Paul. 


THE  PROCESS  OF  RESURRECTION.         43 

"  I  die  daily,"  said  the  noble  apostle.  Did  Paul  have  a 
funeral  every  day?  Far  from  it.  Although  he  used  the 
word  "  die,"  yet  it  is  certain  that  what  he  had  in  mind 
was  the  resurrection  from  the  death  of  one  appeal  of  his 
carnal  nature  after  another.  The  law  "  As  he  thinketh 
in  his  heart  so  is  he  "  is  eternal  and  absolute,  and  without 
limit  in  its  appUcation.  As  long  as  we  believe  in  the 
power  of  the  material,  just  so  long  shall  we  be  under  its 
dominion.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  just  so  far  as  we 
believe  in  the  supremacy  of  the  spiritual,  and  demon- 
strate this  belief  by  self-mastery,  just  so  far  shall  we  con- 
trol the  forces  of  the  universe.  One  who  had  gained  this 
power,  meeting  a  tiger  in  the  jungle,  stood  facing  the 
animal  till  it  turned  away  and  slunk  into  the  thicket. 
When  asked  how  he  was  able  to  exert  such  control,  he 
replied,  "  Because  I  have  conquered  the  tiger  in  my  own 
nature." 

Jesus  said  "  He  that  loveth  his  life  shall  lose  it,  and  he 
that  hateth  his  life  in  this  world  shall  keep  it  unto  life 
eternal."  Is  not  this  principle  the  basis  of  Schopen- 
hauer's philosophy,  showing  that  his  so-called  pessimism 
involves  a  profound  truth?  Shopenhauer  has  been  con- 
demned for  saying  that  this  world  is  the  worst  kind  of  a 
world,  and  that  the  one  task  man  has  to  accomplish  is  to 
overcome  what  he  calls  "the  will  to  live";  that  is,  the 
will  or  desire  to  be  in  and  of  this  world.  But  is  not  this 
the  true  meaning  of  Christ's  words,  "  He  that  hateth  his 
life  shall  keep  it."  He  opposes  the  lower  and  keeps  the 
higher.  He  refutes  the  material  and  temporal  and 
keeps  the  spiritual  and  eternal. 


44  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

The  law  of  spiritual  regeneration  can  mean  nothing 
less  than  this — 'that  obeying  the  rule  of  Love  and  self- 
denial  begins  an  actual  process  of  dematerialization. 
The  material  concept  decreases  and  the  spiritual  in- 
creases. Selfishness  is  materialism.  It  belongs  to  the 
realm  of  the  material  and  not  to  the  realm  of  the 
spiritual.  Hence  in  our  victories  over  self  and  sin  we 
are  pass'ing  through  an  actual  and  final  resurrection 
from  a  material  condition  to  a  spiritual  existence. 
That  we  are  not  yet  conscious  of  the  stupendous  fact 
does  not  affect  its  truth.  "  What  we  know  not  now  we 
shall  know  hereafter." 

Does  this  idea  seem  fanciful  and  unpractical?  It  is 
the  most  intensely  practical  truth  in  the  universe.  It 
cannot  appear  otherwise  to  one  who  understands  it.  A 
victory  over  an  evil  habit  or  tendency  is  a  victory  to  all 
eternity.  Is  there  anything  unpractical  in  that?  Every 
wrong  propensity  mastered  and  overcome  is  an  actual 
building  of  the  spiritual  body.  Is  not  that  a  "  business  " 
which  makes  buying  and  selling  and  money-getting 
appear  smaller  than  the  most  trifling  games  of  child- 
hood? And  the  glory  of  it  is  that  the  very  buying  and 
selling  becomes  by  this  law  the  creator  of  divine  and 
eternal  realities.  Flour  and  sugar  and  shoes  are  not 
heavenly  objects,  but  to  sell  them  in  honesty,  justice  and 
love  brings  heaven  down  into  the  marts  of  trade. 

If  any  readers  are  puzzled  by  what  seems  to  them  a 
metaphysical  subtlety  or  useless  theory  concerning  the 
relation  of  Spirit  and  matter,  let  them  not  be  confused  or 
discouraged.     Practically  it  amounts  to  just  this,  that 


THE  PROCESS  OF  RESURRECTION.  45 

we  should  make  as  much  as  possible  of  the  spiritual  and  as 
little  as  possible  of  the  material.  We  need  to  surrender  the 
human  standard  of  life  and  conduct,  and  accept  the 
Christ  standard  instead.  What  is  this  standard?  "Love 
God.  Love  man.  Keep  the  commandments.  Live  in 
the  unseen  universe.  Trust  it  as  your  source  of  supply." 
Carrying  out  these  precepts  is  a  practical  denial  of  self 
and  there  is  no  other  kind  of  self-denial  but  it.  To 
those  who  live  such  a  life  the  words  are  spoken,  "  If  ye 
abide  in  me,  and  my  words  abide  in  you,  ye  shall  ask 
what  ye  will  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you." 

But  there  is  a  condition  to  fulfil  on  our  part.  "  What 
things  soever  ye  desire  when  ye  pray,  believe  that  ye 
receive  them  and  ye  shall  have  them."  This  is  not  an 
arbitrary  rule.  The  action  of  electricity  furnishes  a  very 
helpful  illustration  of  the  rule  of  trusting  and  receiving. 
If  we  could  imagine  a  trolley  wire  as  not  beheving  that 
the  electric  fluid  could  pass  through  it,  we  can  see  that 
this  lack  of  faith  would  hinder  or  stop  the  vibrations. 
Thought,  based  upon  reason  and  understanding,  is  a  re- 
ceptive attitude  of  the  mind  which  establishes  a  connec- 
tion with  the  source  of  supply. 

Jesus  Christ  demonstrated  the  truth  that  man  can  live 
in  conscious  union  with  God,  and  enjoy  an  actual  resur- 
rection apart  from  the  realm  of  the  material  and  in  the 
realm  of  the  spiritual,  and  control  the  material  through 
the  higher  laws  of  the  sp-iritual. 

The  process  of  resurrection  is  beautifully  expressed  by 
the  following  verses  by  an  unknown  writer: 


46  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

OUR  RESURRECTION. 


Out  of  the  sordid,  the  base,  the  untrue. 
Into  the  noble,  the  pure  and  the  new; 
Out  of  all  darkness,  and  sadness  and  sin. 
Spiritual  harmonies  to  win, 

This  is  our  resurrection. 

2. 

Out  of  all  discord  and  toil  and  strife. 
Into  a  calm  and  perfect  life. 
Out  of  all  hatred  and  jealous  fear 
Into  love's  cloudless  atmosphere. 
This  is  our  resurrection. 


Out  of  the  narrow  and  cramping  creeds 
Into  a  service  of  loving  deeds; 
Out  of  a  separate,  limited  plan. 
Into  the  Brotherhood  of  Man, 

This  is  our  resurrection. 

4. 

Out  of  our  weakness  to  conscious  power, 
Wisdom  and  strength  for  every  hour, 
Out  of  our  doubt  and  sore  dismay 
Into  the  faith  for  which  w:S  pray. 
This  is  our  resurrection. 


Out  of  the  bondage  of  sickness  and  pain, 
Out  of  poverty's  galling  chain, 
Into  the  freedom  of  perfect  health, 
Into  the  blessings  of  fadeless  wealth. 
This  is  our  resurrection. 


Out  of  this  fleeting  mortal  breath, 
Out  of  the  valley  and  shadow  of  death, 
Into  the  light  of  the  perfect  way, 
Into  the  freedom  of  endless  day. 
This  is  our  resurrection. 

7. 

Out  of  the  finite  sense  of -things, 
Into  the  joy  the  Infinite  brings. 
Out  of  the  limits  of  time  and  space. 
Into  the  boundless  life  of  the  race, 
This  is  our  resurrection. 


NOW.  47 


CHAPTER  VII. 
NOW. 

The  keynote  of  Jesus  Christ's  message  to  the  world 

is  in  the  Httle  word  now.     The    brief    statement    "  The 

kingdom  of  God  is  within  you  "  was  a  proclamation  of 

emancipation    for    the    human  race.     It  abolished    the 

limitations    of   time,    and    introduced    the    freedom    of 

eternity. 

"How  far  from  here  to  heaven?    Not  very  far  my  friend; 
A  single  hearty  step  will  all  thy  journey  end. 
Hold  there,  where  runnest  thou?    Know  heaven  is  in  thee, 
Seekest  thou  for  God  elsewhere,  His  face  thoul't  never  see." 

Enslaved  people  are  never  ready  for  freedom  when  it 
first  comes  to  them.  This  was  especially  true  of  man- 
kind when  the  law  of  liberty  was  announced  by  the 
Divine  Emancipator.  Mental  and  spiritual  fetters  are 
not  easily  put  aside.  Moreover,  the  law  of  eternal  life 
involves  principles  that  the  world  was  not  prepared  to 
understand.  A  Httle  child  can  understand  them,  yes; 
but  the  race  had  outgrown  the  simplicity  of  childhood. 
It  was  in  the  self-satisfied  stage  of  immature  youth. 

The  Divine  Teacher  did  not  fail  to  reveal  the  liberat- 
ing principle;  "the  Truth  shall  make  you  free."  Yet 
when  Pilate  asked  the  question,  ''  What  is  Truth?"  he 
gave  no  answer.  "  Jesus  the  Christ  knew  the  human  in- 
telligence too  well  to  feed  it  upon  dry  formula  that 
should  take  the  place  of  living  thought.     He  would  not 


48  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

think  for  his  followers.  He  required  that  they  should 
think  for  themselves."*  He  did  not  need  to  define 
Truth.  His  whole  life  was  an  exposition  and  demonstra- 
tion of  it.  Yet  he  did  explicitly  announce  the  principle 
of  freedom  in  these  words :  "  This  is  life  eternal,  that 
they  might  know  thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus 
Christ  whom  thou  hast  sent."  This  does  not  mean  that 
we  are  to  know  two  persons,  God  and  Christ,  but  to 
know  Christ  as  a  revelation  and  interpretation  of  God  as 
Love. 

The  edict  of  human  emancipation  was  proclaimed 
nineteen  centuries  ago.  Why,  then,  is  slavery  still  so 
universal?  Few  are  the  Christians  who  are  not  living  in 
a  prison-house  of  bondage  to  weakness,  to  fear,  to  limi- 
tations of  every  kind. 

It  is  because  matter  has  been  believed  to  be  as  real  as 
Spirit,  and  evil  as  potent  as  good.  While  those  two 
errors  remain  in  the  mind,  absolute  freedom  is  impos- 
sible. 

Modern  science  has  prepared  the  way  for  breaking  the 
last  fetters  of  man's  enslavement,  first  by  admitting  the 
non-substantiality  of  matter,  and,  second,  by  recognizing 
intuition  instead  of  intellect  as  the  true  guide  and  moni- 
tor of  man.  This  recognition  confirms  the  teachings  of 
Jesus  concerning  the  inner  kingdom  of  Spirit,  and  shows 
the  Man  of  Nazareth  as  the  supreme  scientist  of  the  ages. 

Here,  then,  we  have  the  vast  significance  of  the  word 
now.  All  things  are  ours  in  proportion  to  our  faith  and 
understanding.     But   we    must    believe   and   trust.     In 


*  Rev.  Algernon  S.  Crapsey. 


NOW.  49 

finding  God  we  find  everything,  but  we  cannot  find  Him 
when  we  are  impatient,  anxious  or  depressed.  Hence 
the  numberless  injunctions  to  "  trust  in  the  Lord" ;  "  wait 
on  the  Lord";  "rest  in  the  Lord";  "be  not  anxious"; 
''  beHeve  that  ye  have  and  ye  shall  receive,"  etc.,  etc. 

Every  blessing  that  is  promised  as  a  reward  of  faith  is 
promised  now.  We  do  not  have  to  wait  for  it  for  an 
hour.  If"  it  does  not  come  at  once,  it  is  because  our 
doubts  still  prevail,  even  when  we  think  we  have  con- 
quered them.  Many  texts  in  the  Bible  which  seem  to 
refer  to  the  future  have  a  present  meaning  when  rightly 
understood.     A  few  illustrations  may  be  given: 

"  We  know  that  when  he  shall  appear  we  shall  be  like 
him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is."     i  John  3  :2. 

The  true  appearing  of  Christ  is  when  he  is  revealed  to 
our  consciousness.  When  we  see  him  in  our  own  hearts 
and  are  conscious  of  being  joined  to  him  as  the  branch  is 
joined  to  the  vine,  and  when  we  prove  this  by  '"  doing 
his  commandments,"  then  we  shall,  indeed,  be  like  him. 
I  once  heard  a  minister  pray  thus:  "  Help  the  pure  in 
heart  to  see  God."  This  Avas  a  needless  prayer.  The 
pure  in  heart  cannot  be  kept  from  seeing  God,  for  by 
their  purity  they  are  taken  out  of  the  realm  of  matter 
into  the  realm  of  Spirit  where  God  dwells. 

"  I  shall  be  satisfied  when  I  awake  with  thy  likeness." 
Ps.,  17  :  15.  Then  the  thing  to  do  is  to  wake  up  now. 
Dying  cannot  help  us  if  we  have  not  already  acquired 
somewhat  of  the  likeness  to  God.  It  should  be  a  matter 
of  present  cultivation  and  not  merely  of  future  hope. 

"  Having  a  desire  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ,  which 
is  far  better."    Phil,  i  :  23.    Whatever  Paul  meant  by  this, 


50  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

we  may  and  should  cultivate  a  desire  to  depart  from  the 
things  of  self  and  sense  and  dwell  now  with  Christ  in  the 
realm  of  Spirit,  which  is,  indeed,  far  better  than  the  best 
that  flesh  can  give. 

The  truth  is  that  there  is  not,  and  cannot  be  any  time 
but  now.  Now  is  God's  time.  Yesterday  and  to-mor- 
row belong  entirely  to  man's  limited  thought.  "Acquaint 
thyself  now  with  God  and  be  at  peace;  thereby  good 
shall  come  unto  thee."  I  formerly  supposed  that  the 
word  now  in  this  text  was  superfluous,  and  often 
omitted  it  in  quoting  the  verse.  It  was  a  great  mistake. 
The  reason  why  so  many  human  hopes  totter  and  fall  to 
destruction  is  that  they  are  not  built  on  God's  eternal 
now.  "  The  hour  is  coming  and  now  is  when  the  dead 
shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  they  that  hear 
shall  live." 

1. 

Day  by  day  the  manna  fell; 
Oh,  to  learn  this  lesson  well! 
Still  by  constant  mercy  fed, 
Give  me,  Lord,  my  daily  bread. 

2. 
"  Day  by  day,"  the  promise  reads, 
"  Daily  strength  for  daily  needs, 

Cast  foreboding  care  away, 

Take  the  manna  for  to-day." 

3. 
Lord,  my  times  are  in  thy  hand; 
All  my  sanguine  hopes  have  planned 
To  thy  wisdom  I  resign, 
And  would  mould  my  will  to  thine. 

4. 
Thou  my  daily  task  shall  give; 
Day  by  day  to  Thee  I  live; 
So  shall  added  years  fulfil 
Not  my  own,  my  Father's  will.  * 


Josiah  Conder, 


OUR  DIVINE  PARTNERSHIP.  ^i 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
OUR  DIVINE  PARTNERSHIP. 

If  God  is  an  infinite  Being  expressing  Himself  in  the 
universe  and  in  man,  it  is  certain  that  there  can  be  no 
business  in  the  universe  but  God's  business.  We  see 
this  clearly  with  reference  to  inanimate  things,  but  not  so 
clearly  where  we  are  personally  concerned.  It  is  God's 
business  to  keep  the  planets  in  their  orbits,  but  is  it  His 
business  to  keep  our  affairs  in  order?  It  would  he  if  we 
would  let  Him.  He  is  our  Divine  Partner,  and  He  is  the 
most  satisfactory  partner  we  could  possibly  have,  for  He 
is  not  only  wilHng,  but  anxious  to  assume  entire  respon- 
sibility for  the  success  of  the  firm.  All  He  asks  of  us  is 
absolute  confidence  in  the  Senior  Partner;  perfect  sur- 
render to  His  judgment  in  conducting  the  business. 

The  first  stipulation  He  makes  is  that  we  shall  keep 
the  rules  of  the  house.  They  may  be  found  on  every 
page  of  the  Day  Book: 

Love  God. 

Love  Man. 

Deny  Self. 

Keep  the  Commandments. 

The  only  stipulation  beyond  this  schedule  is  that  we 
shall  believe  and  act  fully  up  to  the  belief  that  He  is  man- 
aging the  business  for  the  best  interest  of  all  concerned. 

The  terms  of  the  partnership  are  expressed  by  St. 


5^  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

Paul,  "  Work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and 
trembling,  for  it  is  God  who  worketh  in  you  both  to  will 
and  to  do  of  His  good  pleasure."  But  under  the  worm- 
of-the-dust  idea  of  scholastic  theology,  the  emphasis  has 
mostly  been  given  to  the  first  half  of  the  statement,  and 
the  blessed  fact  of  the  partnership  has  been  lost  sight  of. 
Christians  have  been  so  strongly  impressed  with  the  idea 
that  they  must  "  work  "  and  "  fear  "  and  "  tremble  "  that 
the  strength  and  consolation  of  the  second  clause  have 
been  almost  wholly  lost.  To  remove  this  wrong  impres- 
sion, let  us  reverse  the  form  of  the  statement  and  read  it 
thus :  "  Since  it  is  God  who  worketh  in  you  both  to  will 
and  to  do  of  His  good  pleasure,  therefore  work  out  your 
own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling." 

The  words  ''  fear  "  and  "  trembling  "  must  have  a  new 
interpretation  under  the  conception  of  God  as  Love,  and 
man  as  His  child,  made  in  His  image  and  likeness. 
"  Fear  "  cannot  imply  any  cringing  or  shrinking  sense 
of  inferiority  such  as  one  would  feel  in  the  presence  of  a 
mighty  potentate.  True  fear  of  God  is  a  feeling  of  rev- 
erence. In  its  practical  effect  it  is  also  a  watchful  care 
lest  we  fail  to  trust  our  Divine  Partner  perfectly.  He 
says  that  if  we  want  to  succeed  in  business  we  must 
transfer  our  attention  from  outward  or  material  things 
to  inner  and  spiritual  things.  Only  in  this  way  can  the 
outward  things  be  properly  secured.  In  other  words, 
cease  worrying  about  the  outward  things  and  give  atten- 
tion wholly  to  obeying  the  four  business  rules,  and  the 
material  things  will  be  suppHed. 

This  is  a  wonderful  law.  It  is  not  strange  that  the 
world  has  been  nineteen  centuries  in  learning  the  lesson. 


OUR  DIVINE  PARTNERSHIP,  53 

Nor  is  it  strange  that  when  the  truth  is  presented  it  does 
not  find  quick  acceptance. 

Emerson  was  one  of  the  heralds  and  prophets  of  the 
new  order  of  Hfe.  That  he  was  misunderstood  in  his 
day  and  generation  goes  without  saying.  His  ideas 
were  supposed  to  be  in  the  clouds,  and  to  have  no  more 
relation  to  the  practical  side  of  life  than  a  beautiful  sun- 
set has  to  the  growth  of  vegetables  in  a  garden.  But 
the  world  is  growing  wiser.  Emerson  was  first  mis- 
understood, then  admired  for  his  beautiful  thoughts, 
and  finally  accepted  as  an  interpreter  of  spiritual  truths. 
But  that  his  most  transcendent  teaching  was  the  most 
practical,  that  in  it  he  gave  a  firm  and  fixed  foundation 
for  the  stern  realities  of  life  was  not  known  or  suspected 
till  the  law  of  Spiritual  knowing  was  revealed,  giving 
form  and  meaning  to  that  which  before  had  seemed  but 
the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision. 

How  vague  and  visionary  his  language  seems  to  the 
materiaHst,  but  how  sensible  and  practical  it  appears  to 
one  who  realizes  "  the  allness  and  everywhereness  of 
God."  Listen  to  his  words:  "Man  is  a  stream  whose 
source  is  hidden.  Always  our  being  descends  into  us 
from  we  know  not  where.  I  am  constrained  every 
moment  to  acknowledge  a  higher  law  for  events  than  the 
will  I  call  mine.  From  within  or  from  behind  a  light 
shines  through  us  upon  all  things,  and  makes  us  aware 
that  we  are  nothing,  but  the  light  is  all.  *  *  *  Your 
isolation  must  not  be  mechanical,  but  practical.  At 
times  the  whole  world  seems  to  be  in  conspiracy  to  im- 
portune you  with  emphatic  trifles.  Friend,  client,  child, 
sickness,  want,  charity,  all  knock  at  once  at  thy  closet 
door,  and  say, '  Come  out  unto  us,* 


54  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

"  Do  not  spill  thy  soul.  Do  not  descend.  Keep  thy 
estate.  Stay  at  home  in  thine  own  heaven.  Come  not 
for  a  moment  into  their  facts,  into  their  hubbub  of  con 
fiicting  appearances,  but  let  in  the  light  of  thy  law  on 
their  confusion." 

What  does  all  this  mean,  practically?  It  means  just 
what  Jesus  meant  when  he  said  that  the  real  kingdom  is 
spiritual  and  not  material.  "  It  is  within  you.  Live  in 
it  and  for  it  and  the  outer  needs  will  be  supplied." 
"What,"  says  the  farmer,  the  merchant,  the  housekeeper, 
"am  I  to  go  into  that  kingdom  to  plow  my  field,  to  sell 
my  goods,  to  manage  my  household?"  Yes.  Your  life 
is  in  God.  You  cannot  perform  the  simplest  act 
without  the  aid  of  your  Divine  Partner,  and  He  can  only 
be  found  in  your  inner  world. 

There  were  many  who  understood  the  Divine  Partner- 
ship after  the  departure  of  Christ,  and  they  realized  the 
ascendency  over  the  flesh  that  was  originally  promised. 
But  when  Christianity  was  made  a  state  religion  by  Con- 
stantine,  formalism  began  to  take  the  place  of  vital  faith. 
God  was  taken  out  of  man's  inner  temple,  where  Christ 
showed  He  was  to  be  found,  and  was  transformed  into 
an  austere  autocrat  ruling  mankind  from  a  throne  in  the 
distant  skies.  The  work  of  this  generation  is  to  restore 
Him  to  His  proper  throne,  the  heart.  There  He  rules, 
not  as  a  potentate  to  make  man  a  slave,  but  as  a  Father 
to  make  His  children  free ;  to  restore  the  lost  heritage  of 
dominion  to  which  he  was  originally  born. 

Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  the  keynote  of  this  domin- 
ion is  surrender.  Only  in  being  willing  to  give  up  all 
things  do  we  become  worthy  to  have  all  things.  Let  us 
consider  the  principle  in  the  light  of  an  illustration: 


OUR  DIVINE  PARTNERSHIP.  55 

A  father  says  to  a  young  son:  "  I  have  deposited  a 
milHon  dollars  in  the  bank  for  your  use.  But  you  have 
not  yet  had  enough  experience  in  life  to  enable  you  to 
draw  it  out  in  proper  sums  or  to  use  it  wisely.  I  will 
therefore  apportion  it  to  you  myself  from  day  to  day. 
I  do  not  wish  to  do  this  in  a  stinted  way.  There  are  rea- 
sons why  I  prefer  to  have  you  use  it  freely,  even  lavishly. 
But  one  thing  must  not  be  lost  sight  of.  The  money 
must  ever  be  a  means  of  increasing  your  love  and  respect 
for  me,  and  of  drawing  us  together  in  closer  bonds  of 
sympathy.  In  fact,  the  amount  you  receive  from  day  to 
day  will  depend  upon  the  honor  you  do  me  by  the  up- 
rightness of  your  life  and  the  degree  of  loving  confidence 
you  manifest,  showing  the  world  how  much  you  love  me 
and  how  truly  you  believe  in  me." 

This  brief  outline  of  the  illustration  is  sufficient.  Its 
application  is  obvious.  Not  a  million  dollars,  but  a 
million  million  blessings,  covering  every  possible  need 
of  mankind  and  every  craving  of  the  heart,  has  God 
placed  at  our  disposal.  And  His  purpose  is  that  we  shall 
be  drawn  into  an  eternal  partnership  with  Him  by  the 
mutual  process  of  bestowing  and  receiving  these  gifts. 
I  do  not  say  into  eternal  imion  with  Him,  for  that  exists 
already.  The  partnership  is  created  by  our  recognition 
and  acceptance  of  the  union.  Our  part  is  to  accept  the 
fact  of  the  union  and  thus  establish  the  partnership. 

Although  our  Divine  Partner  agrees  to  assume  all  the 
responsibility  of  the  business,  yet  our  part  is  not  easy  at 
first.  It  would  be  easy  if  we  would  accept  the  fact  and 
rest  upon  it — 'trust  it  perfectly.  But  we  are  not  only 
partners,  we  are  also  children  whom  God  the  Father  is 


5(5  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

training  for  His  eternal  companionship  and  for  eternal 
usefulness  in  His  kingdom.  Therefore  our  faith  is  put 
to  many  and  severe  tests.  The  million  dollars  may  be 
in  the  bank,  but  very  little  of  it  is  in  evidence.  Our  divi- 
dends seem  very  small,  and  we  begin  to  doubt  Whether 
they  may  not  fail  entirely  to-morrow  or  next  week. 
Here  is  where  we  make  our  great  mistake.  We  are  not 
content  to  accept  the  supply  for  to-day,  and  so  by  our 
doubts  we  cut  off  or  diminish  the  supply  for  to-morrow. 
"  Open  thy  mouth  wide  and  I  will  fill  it."  But  our  lack 
of  understanding  leads  us  to  say,  "  O,  no,  I  must  be 
modest.  I  must  not  presume  upon  God's  goodness.  I 
will  not  make  too  great  demands  upon  His  generosity; 
I  will  open  my  mouth  a  little  way."  And  all  the  while 
our  Father  and  partner  is  saying,  "  try  me  now,  and  see 
if  I  will  not  open  the  windows  of  heaven  and  pour  you 
out  a  blessing  that  there  shall  not  be  room  enough  to 
receive  it." 

The  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  to  encourage  all  whose 
desire  is  to  do  good.  To  them  the  assurance  may  be 
made  without  reservation :  Your  business  is  God's  busi- 
ness. He  is  your  Partner,  and  the  divine  resources  are 
your  capital.  All  He  asks  is  your  unquestioning  confi- 
dence; a  trust  that  accepts  His  guidance  every  moment 
without  an  anxious  thought.  If  you  are  in  trouble.  He 
asks  you  to  realize  that  He  is  your  source  of  help  and 
not  any  fellow-mortal. 

"  Cursed  be  the  man  that  trusteth  in  man  and  maketh 
flesh  his  arm,  and  whose  heart  departeth  from  the 
Lord.     For  he  shall  be  like  the  heath  in  the  desert,  and 


OUR  DIVINE  PARTNERSHIP,  57 

shall  not  see  when  good  cometh;  but  shall  inhabit  the 
parched  places  in  the  wilderness,  in  a  salt  land,  and  not 
inhabited.  Blessed  is  the  man  that  trusteth  in  the  Lord, 
and  whose  hope  the  Lord  is.  For  he  shall  be  as  a  tree 
planted  by  the  waters,  and  that  spreadeth  out  her  roots 
by  the  river,  and  shall  not  see  when  heat  cometh,  but 
her  leaf  shall  be  green,  and  shall  not  be  careful  in  the 
year  of  drought,  neither  shall  cease  from  yielding  fruit." 
Jere.  17  :  5-7. 

Observe  the  striking  statements  that  they  who  trust 
in  man  "  shall  not  see  when  good  cometh,"  while  those 
who  trust  in  the  Lord  shall  be  Hke  a  tree  that  is  uncon- 
scious of  the  drought  and  "  shall  not  see  when  heat 
cometh."  Those  who  trust  the  external  world  will  be- 
come so  blind  in  their  judgment  that  they  cannot  dis- 
cern God's  blessings  when  He  sends  them,  and  they  who 
trust  the  unseen  will  be  so  secure  that  they  will  not  be 
disturbed  by  the  appearance  of  limitation  or  misfortune. 
They  will  know  that  God's  power  cannot  fail,  and  there- 
fore they  will  not  be  "  careful,  neither  shall  they  cease 
from  yielding  fruit." 

The  experience  of  George  MuUer  confirms  this  truth. 
When  a  young  man  he  became  impressed  by  the  idea 
that  if  he  would  go  directly  to  God  for  aid  in  carrying  on 
his  work,  the  means  would  be  forthcoming  in  answer  to 
prayer  without  appealing  to  his  fellow-men  for  help. 
He  held  rigidly  to  the  principle,  and  received  by  free 
contributions  during  the  course  of  his  life,  and  ex- 
pended for  his  orphan  as3dums,  more  than  seven  million 
dollars.     Many  times  the  larder  was  entirely  empty,  with 


S8  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

no  knowledge  as  to  where  the  next  meal  would  come 
from.  At  such  times  Mr.  Muller  instructed  his  assis- 
ants  to  be  especially  careful  not  to  let  their  situation 
become  known,  and  there  was  never  a  time  when  food 
was  not  supplied  by  the  time  it  was  needed.  His 
Divine  Partner  never  failed  him.  I  remember  well  hear- 
ing Mr.  Muller  say  in  a  public  address  during  one  of  his 
American  visits :  "  I  am  not  tired  of  the  ways  of  God." 
No  one  can  ever  become  tired  of  the  ways  of  God.  But 
we  get  very  tired  of  our  own  ways.  Then  let  us  exchange 
them  for  God's  way.  "  Commit  thy  way  unto  the  Lord; 
trust  also  in  Him  and  He  shall  bring  it  to  pass."  Not 
at  the  first  moment,  perhaps.  Not  when  our  impatience 
demands  it.  When  we  are  impatient  we  may  know  to 
a  certainty  that  it  is  our  way  and  not  God's  way  that  we 
are  seeking.  "  Intensity  is  greed."  That  is  to  say, 
when  we  follow  any  purpose  with  intense  eagerness,  in- 
stead of  a  spirit  of  waiting  on  the  Lord,  it  shows  that  we 
are  grasping  after  some  gain  for  ourselves,  however  we 
may  imagine  that  we  are  working  for  God  and  our 
fellow-men.  The  following  lines  are  a  wholesome  anti- 
dote for  intensity: 

My  hand  had  grown  all  feverish. 

And  cumbered  with  much  care; 
Trembling-  with  haste  and  eagerness, 

Nor  folded  oft  in  prayer. 
The   Master   came   and   touched   my   hands 

With  healing  in  His  own; 
And  calm  and  still  to  do  His  will 

They  grew,  the  fever  gone. 
"  I  must  have  quiet  hands,"  said  he, 
"  Wherewith  to  work  My  works  through  thee."  • 


Author  unknown. 


THE  POWER  OF  THOUGHT.  59 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE  POWER  OF  THOUGHT. 

Thought-force  is  the  only  force  in  the  universe. 
We  sometimes  speak  of  material  laws,  but  there  are  no 
material  laws.  Gravitation,  cohesion,  the  falling  of  an 
apple,  the  swinging  of  a  planet  through  space — these 
and  all  other  so-called  natural  phenomena  are  but  the 
manifestation  of  thought-force. 

In  the  development  of  life  and  character  the  power  of 
thought  is  absolutely  without  limit.  "  As  he  thinketh  in 
his  heart,  so  is  he." 

"And  good   may   ever   conquer  ill, 

Health  walk  where  pain  has  trod; 
As  a  man  thinketh,  so  is  he; 
Rise,  then,  and  think  with  God." 

Shakespeare  expresses  the  truth  in  a  different  form. 
"  There  is  nothing  either  good  or  bad,  but  thinking 
makes  it  so." 

The  law  has  no  limit.  We  are  not  merely  strongly 
influenced  by  our  thoughts,  we  are  actually  formed  and 
created  by  them.  If  we  hold  high  and  noble  thoughts, 
we  will  inevitably  become  high  and  noble.  If  we  hold 
low  and  groveling  thoughts,  our  own  natures  will  gravi- 
tate irresistibly  to  the  low  and  groveling. 

The  reason  it  is  hard  for  us  to  believe  in  the  absolute 
power  of  thoug'ht  is  that  we  have  not  dared  to  fully  com- 
mit ourselves  to  it.     Appearances  are  against  it,  and  it 


do  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

is  hard  to  resist  the  impression  of  appearances.  The 
words  of  Jesus  go  vastly  deeper  than  we  suppose — 
"  Judge  not  according  to  the  appearance,  but  judge 
righteous  judgment."  Dr.  George  D.  Herron  says, 
"  The  Godhood  of  human  Hfe  is  the  fact  that  spiritual 
evolution  is  slowly  bringing  to  light.  Evolution  and 
history  join  with  Jesus  in  pointing  to  the  coming  of  a 
common  divine  manhood  Which  shall  be  God's  real  and 
visible  presence.  From  this  inwardly  masterful  and 
elemental  manhood,  emancipated  from  every  outward 
master  and  from  every  form  of  fear,  each  man  will  rise 
to  see  and  individualize  God  for  and  in  himself." 

That  is  to  say,  each  will  see  that  he  is  individualized 
in  God,  and  will  thus  find  the  secret  of  his  power. 

But  he  must  understand  that  there  is  no  real  power 
but  Love.    This  must  be  true,  or  God  is  less  than  infinite. 

Where,  then,  does  evil  get  its  appearance  of  power,  a 
power  so  great  that  it  often  pushes  its  victim  to  destruc- 
tion, or  seems  to  do  so? 

It  gets  its  power  from  our  own  thought.  It  has  all 
the  power  that  we  concede  to  it  in  our  thought  and  no 
more.  Love  or  goodness  is  a  positive  force.  Its 
source  is  in  God  and  therefore  its  power  is  irresistible. 

Light  is  a  positive  force.  It  is  the  medium  for  creat- 
ing all  the  life  there  is  on  earth.  Darkness  is  not  a  posi- 
tive force;  it  is  only  the  absence  of  light.  Bring  light 
and  darkness  disappears.  So  with  evil,  the  negative,  and 
good,  the  positive. 

We  see  the  tremendous  power  of  thought  in  that  it 
can  admit  the  idea  of  evil  and  thus  for  the  time  we  be- 


THE  POWER  OF  THOUGHT,  6i 

come  slaves  to  it.  But  this  is  the  negative  side,  and  we 
should  now  and  forever  turn  away  from  the  negative  to 
the  positive.  There  is  the  real  power,  for  it  is  God — 
"  the  Eternal  Goodness,"  as  Whittier  expresses  it.  It 
is  ignorance  of  the  nature  of  God  that  leads  us  to  turn 
our  thought  away  from  Him,  and  hence  we  read  in 
Hosea  6:8:  "My  people  are  destroyed  for  lack  of 
knowledge."  If  we  know  that  God  is  infinite,  omni- 
potent and  omni-present  Good,  and  that  we  are  an  ex- 
pression of  His  being,  then  there  can  be  no  practical 
limit  to  the  beneficent  outgoings  of  our  lives,  nor  to  the 
love,  joy  and  peace  that  will  flow  into  us.  "  Whosoever 
drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  never 
thirst." 

But  we  must  use  this  truth  rationally  and  wisely.  If 
any  one  thinks  that  watchfulness  is  made  unnecessary  by 
the  discovery  that  evil  is  not  a  positive  force,  but  has 
only  the  power  we  concede  to  it,  he  makes  a  prodigious 
mistake,  as  he  will  sooner  or  later  find  to  his  cost. 
Which  is  the  worst  enemy,  a  Satan  in  hell  after  the  Mil- 
tonic  pattern,  or  a  subtle  devil  in  our  own  heart,  created 
by  our  own  lack  of  understanding  of  the  Eternal  Good- 
ness? Thoughts  are  things.  The  Divine  Teacher  said 
that  harboring  a  lustful  thought  virtually  changes  it  to 
a  criminal  act.  We  take  pains  to  guard  our  pocket- 
books,  but  it  is  infinitely  more  important  to  guard  our 
thoughts.  We  repel  tramps  from  our  door,  but  admit 
any  number  of  tramp  thoughts  into  the  mind.  St.  Paul 
has  given  us  the  rule:  "Whatsoever  things  are  true, 
whatsoever  things   are   honest,    whatsoever   things    are 


62  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are 
lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report;  if  there  be 
any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on  these 
things." 

And  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  thinking  of  high  and 
noble  things  is  a  building  process.  It  is  a  construction  of 
our  own  eternal  mansion.  Not  only  our  mansion  in 
Heaven,  but  right  here  in  our  present  life.  Then  let  us 
turn  our  thought  resolutely  from  the  wrong  to  the  right, 
from  the  human  to  the  Divine,  and  hold  it  firmly  there 
against  every  temptation  of  the  lower  nature.  We  must 
realize  that  we  are  children  of  God,  made  in  His  image 
and  likeness,  and  that  we  share  His  dominion.  His 
power  is  ours,  we  need  not  be  weak.  His  life  is  ours,  we 
need  not  be  sick.  His  riches  are  ours,  we  need  not  be 
poor.  Let  our  mental  pictures  be  wholly  of  life,  health, 
abundance,  and  those  gifts  will  certainly  be  ours,  for 
God  is  Love,  and  His  law  of  Love  is  perfect. 

But  we  must  remember  the  Master's  words,  "  Believe 
that  ye  have,  and  ye  shall  receive."  When  we  pray  we 
must  change  the  thought  of  need  to  a  thought  of  posses- 
sion. If  we  still  keep  the  thought  of  need,  it  shows  that 
we  are  not  "  believing  that  we  have."  By  holding  the 
thoug^ht  of  possession  we  become  partakers  of  all  that  is 
His,  for  He  is  ours;  our  Father,  our  God,  our  Good, 
and  nothing  else  is  present  to  be  ours.  Sowing  such 
thoughts  we  shall  reap  the  reality  in  our  experience,  for 
"  as  a  man  soweth,  so  shall  he  also  reap."  If  we  sow 
thoughts  of  omnipotent  Good,  we  shall  reap  a  very  har- 
vest of  good  things.     The  sowing  of  spiritual  thought 


THE  POWER  OF  THOUGHT.  63 

is  the  prayer;  the  reaping  is  the  answer.  If  we  sow  a 
fear,  we  cannot  reap  a  joy.  A  sense  of  possession  is 
spiritual  ascendency,  and  spiritual  ascendency  breaks 
every  bond  that  hinders  progress. 


64  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 


CHAPTER  X. 
IMPORTUNITY. 

For  many  years  the  parable  related  by  Jesus  to  illus- 
trate and  encourage  importunity  in  prayer  was  a  puzzle 
to  me.  It  seemed  inconsistent  with  the  teachings  con- 
cerning the  fullness  of  God's  love,  and  His  desire  to 
bless  His  children.  But  the  law  of  spiritual  knowing 
makes  it  clear,  as  it  does  all  other  spiritual  problems. 
God's  love  is,  indeed,  perfect,  and  His  gifts  are  to  be  had 
for  the  asking.  "  Before  they  call  I  will  answer,  and 
while  they  are  yet  speaking  I  will  'hear."  But  we  are 
so  under  the  dominion  of  material  sense,  and  so  far  from 
a  true  realization  of  the  spiritual,  that  we  sometimes 
need  to  ask  long  and  often  before  we  are  in  a  condition 
to  receive  the  gift  we  ask  for,  or  even  to  perceive  that  it 
is  within  our  reach.  "  Ye  ask  and  receive  not,  because 
ye  ask  amiss."  We  think  our  motives  are  right,  and 
perhaps  they  are,  as  a  whole,  yet  they  are  so  alloyed  and 
corrupted  by  our  carnal,  material  selfhood  that  we  are 
not  in  a  condition  to  receive  the  blessing  we  desire,  or 
to  be  truly  benefitted  by  it  if  we  had  it. 

God  is  obliged  to  speak  to  us  as  He  did  to  the 
Children  of  Israel,  to  whom  He  said  at  the  close  of  their 
pilgrimage,  "  Thou  shalt  remember  all  the  way  which 
the  Lord  thy  God  led  thee  these  forty  years  in  the 
wilderness,  to  humble  thee,  and  to  prove  thee,  to  know 


IMPORTUNITY.  65 

what  was  in  thine  heart,  whether  thou  wouldst  keep  His 
commandments  or  no." 

Take  the  question  of  poverty.  It  is  not  possible  that 
our  Heavenly  Father  wants  us  to  be  poor.  It  is  utterly 
contrary  to  His  nature.  Poverty  may,  indeed,  be  a 
blessing  to  us  because  it  forces  us  to  turn  to  Him.  But 
here  is  the  point  at  which  we  are  likely  to  stumble.  We 
think  we  are  turning  to  God  when  we  are  only  turning 
away  from  poverty.  We  want  abundance,  but  we  do 
not  yet  want  God.  If  we  did,  we  could  have  Him,  and 
have  abundance  also.     The  promise  is  sure. 

"  If  thou  return  unto  the  Almighty,  thou  shalt  be 
built  up,  thou  shalt  put  away  iniquity  far  from  thy  taber- 
nacles. 

"  Then  shalt  thou  lay  up  gold  as  dust,  and  the  gold 
of  Ophir  as  the  stones  of  the  brook. 

"  Yea,  the  Almighty  shall  be  thy  defence,  and  thou 
shalt  have  plenty  of  silver. 

"  For   then    shalt   thou     have    thy    delight    in   the 
Almiglity,  and  shalt  lift  up  thy  face  unto  God. 

"  Thou  shalt  make  thy  prayer  unto  Him  and  he  shall 
hear  thee,  and  thou  shalt  pay  thy  vows. 

"  Thou  shalt  also  decree  a  thing,  and  it  shall  be  estab- 
lished unto  thee,  and  the  light  shall  shine  upon  thy 
ways."     Job  22  :  23-28. 

Here  is  surely  a  mine  of  golden  promises;  riches, 
honor,  prosperity,  dominion.  What  is  the  key  to  this 
storehouse  of  mercies?  If  thou  return  unto  the  Almighty, 
and  put  away  iniquity  far  from  thy  tabernacles.  It  is  a 
fair  bargain,  and  God  will  never  fail  to  keep  His  part 
of  it. 


66  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING, 

But  there  are  many  who  earnestly  desire  and  strive  to 
turn  to  God,  and  to  banish  iniquity  from  their  hearts  and 
Hves,  who  yet  come  far  short  of  "  inheriting  the  prom- 
ises.'*    Why  is  this? 

It  can  only  come  from  lack  of  a  true  understanding. 
Jesus,  the  Divine  Teacher  and  Guide,  says  that  in  order 
to  receive  the  thing  we  ask  for  we  must  believe  that  we 
have  it.  But  our  false  and  belittling  ideas  of  God  make 
it  almost  impossible  to  do  this.  It  is  like  learning  a  dif- 
ficult lesson.  And  here  is  where  we  need  to  practice  im- 
portunity, not  to  make  God  more  willing  to  bless  us,  but 
to  prepare  ourselves  to  receive  the  blessing.  A  sense  of 
poverty  shuts  out  God's  riches  as  surely  as  a  feeling  of 
hatred  shuts  out  His  love.  We  must  cultivate  a  sense 
of  the  abundance  we  have  in  God,  and  then  it  will  begin 
to  flow  toward  us  and  enrich  us. 

And  the  same  rule  applies  to  all  our  necessities.  The 
truest  prayer  is  not  begging  God  to  bestow  His  gifts. 
He  is  willing  to  do  this.  He  wants  to  do  it.  He  is 
more  anxious  to  bestow  His  mercies  than  we  are  to  re- 
ceive them.  It  is  the  law  of  spiritual  knowing  that  we 
are  to  claim  the  gifts  of  God  as  rights.  When  this  idea 
was  first  suggested  to  me  it  seemed  presumptuous  and 
wrong.  But  I  soon  saw  my  mistake.  We  are  children 
of  a  King.  In  which  way  do  we  most  honor  our  Divine 
Sovereign,  by  failing  to  claim  our  rig'hts,  and  even 
doubting  whether  they  belong  to  us,  or  by  asserting  our 
privilege  as  children  of  the  royal  family  and  demanding 
the  rights  which  belong  to  our  heirship? 

Let  us  rise  to  our  high  privilege  as  children  of  God. 


IMPORTUNITY,  67 

We  need  love.  We  need  patience.  We  need  health. 
We  need  money.  Let  us  be  bold  and  importunate  in 
claiming  these  gifts,  and  asserting  that  nothing  in  the 
universe  can  keep  them  from  us. 

But  we  must  not  forget  that  the  necessity  for  impor- 
tunity grows  out  of  our  own  unfaith  and  lack  of  under- 
standing, and  not  from  any  lack  on  God's  part.  Claim- 
ing His  gifts  is  a  way  of  trying  to  realize  that  they  are 
already  ours. 

The  case  of  wrestling  Jacob  is  an  encouraging  illus- 
tration of  wise  importunity.  The  words  "  I  will  not  let 
thee  go  until  thou  bless  me,"  seem  too  presumptuous 
for  a  child  of  earth.  It  was  not  the  child  of  earth  that 
spoke.  It  was  not  the  selfish,  carnal  Jacob;  it  was  the 
real  child  of  God  beneath  the  mortal  consciousness, 
claiming  his  divine  birthright.  And  how  richly  was  his 
importunity  rewarded?  The  wrestler  became  such  a 
prevailer  that  his  whole  nature  was  changed,  and  a  new 
name  was  given  to  him.  Jacob  the  herdsman  became 
Israel,  a  Prince. 

It  is  sometimes  said  of  those  whose  lives  are  based  on 
the  Christian  principle  of  spiritual  knowing  that  while 
they  deny  the  existence  of  a  personal  devil  (which  they 
must  do  if  they  believe  that  a  good  God  is  infinite  and 
omnipresent),  yet  they  have  created  a  devil  that  they 
call  "  Evil "  or  "  Error,"  or  "  Animal  Magnetism,"  and 
this  new  devil  seems  to  be  as  strong  and  as  hard  to  man- 
age as  the  old  one. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  error,  or  wrong  thinking 
has  had  possession  of  the  human  mind  for  untold  ages. 


68  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

It  has  almost  complete  control  of  the  consciousness  and 
will-power  of  the  race.  Even  religion  has  done  much 
to  confirm  this  condition,  because  it  has  so  largely  pre- 
sented the  idea  of  an  anthromorphic  or  man-like  God. 
Evil,  error,  wrong  thinking  are  not  the  expression  of  the 
divine  in  man,  but  of  the  carnal  mind,  envy,  jealousy, 
hate,  ambition,  lust,  covetousness,  of  all  wrong  and 
selfish  propensities.  It  is  the  sum-total  of  ^accumulated 
falsity  which  now  fills  human  consciousness,  and  may 
well  be  called  a  devil,  as  Jesus  himself  sometimes  did,  a 
liar  and  a  murderer.  It  miust  be  treated  as  an  aggres- 
sive force  because  it  is  active  in  the  carnal  mind,  and  is 
always  roused  by  the  presence  of  Truth.  It  is  an  unseen 
but  ever  present  enemy.  St.  Paul  says  (Eph.,  6  12,  13), 
"  We  wrestle  not  against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against 
principalities,  against  powers,  against  the  rulers  of  the 
darkness  of  this  world,  against  spiritual  wickedness  in 
high  places.  Wherefore,  take  unto  you  the  whole 
armour  of  God,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  withstand  in  the 
evil  day,  and  having  done  all  to  stand."  His  familiar  de- 
scription of  the  spiritual  armor  need  not  be  quoted  in 
full.  It  closes  with  a  strong  plea  for  importunity. 
*'  Praying  always  with  all  prayer  and  supplication  in  the 
Spirit,  and  watching  thereunto  with  all  perseverance,  and 
supplication  for  all  saintsJ' 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH  IN  THE  BIBLE.  69 


CHAPTER  XI. 
LIFE  AND  HEALTH  IN  THE  BIBLE. 

The  Bible  is  often  called  a  ''  Book  of  Life,"  but  the 
thought  of  life  has  been  chiefly  of  the  life  beyond  the 
grave.  "  As  he  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he."  If  we 
think  of  life  only  as  a  gift  in  a  future  world,  we  cannot 
enjoy  the  full  inflowing  here.  But  no  such  limitation 
belongs  to  the  living  Word.  Right  here  and  now  is  the 
privilege  to  be  enjoyed. 

Jesus  Christ  said,  "  I  am  come  that  they  might  have 
life,  and  that  they  might  have  it  more  abundantly." 
What  kind  of  life  did  he  mean?  He  meant  every  form 
that  life  can  assume  for  man's  growth,  development  or 
happiness.  He  meant  the  life  that  expresses  itself  in  art 
through  Raphael,  in  music  through  Beethoven,  in  litera- 
ture through  Shakespeare,  in  kindly  deeds  through 
Florence  Nightingale;  the  life  that  enables  us  to  visit 
the  sick  and  the  prisoners,  to  carry  a  cup  of  cold  water 
to  a  thirsty  disciple. 

The  words  "  more  abundantly  "  have  a  depth  of  mean- 
ing which  cannot  be  grasped  by  a  mere  passing  thought. 
The  phrase  is  a  door  opening  out  into  the  realm  of  the 
Infinite.  It  belongs  with  the  other  statement  of  Jesus 
and  with  its  limitless  suggestiveness :  "  I  have  other 
things  to  say  to  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear  them  now." 
It  is  a  part  of  the  revelation  of  our  at-one-ment  with 


70  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

God,  and  of  our  privilege  of  drawing  upon  His  infinite 
resources. 

A  growing  belief  that  the  word  life  includes  bodily 
health  is  creating  a  new  order  of  Christian  teaching  at 
the  present  day.  Dr.  Francis  E.  Clark,  the  founder  of 
the  Christian  Endeavor  movement,  says,  "  I  devoutly 
believe  that  too  little  has  always  been  thought  of  the 
hygienic  efifect  of  communion  with  God.  I  devoutly  be- 
lieve that  a  multitude  of  physical  diseases  might  be 
arrested  and  a  multitude  more  healed  by  the  constant, 
habitual  practice  of  the  presence  of  God."  But  if  a 
"  multitude  of  diseases,"  why  not  all? 

A  flood  of  light  is  thrown  upon  the  subject  by  observ- 
ing the  fact  that  the  words  "  health,"  ''  wholeness  "  and 
"  holiness  "  are  all  derived  from  the  same  primitive  root. 
Health  is  wholeness  of  mind  and  body.  This  prin- 
ciple was  the  basis  of  all  the  healing  work  of  the  Great 
Physician.  He  observed  no  other  lav/.  His  appeal  was 
ever  to  the  mind  of  the  patient.  His  work  embraced 
wholeness  in  its  double  sense.  It  apparently  made  no 
difference  to  him  whether  he  said  '*  Thy  faith  hath 
healed  thee  "  or  "  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee."  Hudson 
says  in  his  "  Law  of  Physic  Phenomena":  "  It  is  a  mar- 
velous fact,  and  one  which  constitutes  indubitable  evi- 
dence of  the  truth  of  Jesus'  history,  that  in  no  instance 
have  they  related  a  single  act  performed,  or  a  word 
spoken  by  him  that  does  not  reveal  his  perfect  knowl- 
edge of  and  compliance  with  the  laws  of  mental  thera- 
peutics as  they  are  revealed  in  modern  times  through 
experiment  and  the  process  of  inductive  reasoning." 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH  IN  THE  BIBLE.  Ji 

If  we  live,  move  and  have  our  being  in  God,  where  is 
the  source  of  our  weakness  or  sickness?  Where  can  it 
be  except  in  our  own  lack  of  realization  of  the  truth  that 
our  life  is  a  continual  outcome  from  the  Hfe  of  God?  In 
Eph.  2  :  10  the  statement  "  Ye  are  God's  workmanship  " 
may  also  be  translated  ''  Ye  are  God's  poem."  God's 
standard  for  His  children  is  health,  harmony,  beauty, 
perfection.  The  time  will  no  doubt  come  when  it  will 
be  regarded  as  dishonoring  God  for  a  Christian  to  be 
sick. 

By  the  Jewish  law,  the  sick,  the  infirm,  the  maimed 
and  crippled  were  excluded  from  the  Temple.  Hence 
those  who  were  healed  by  Jesus  or  the  disciples  were 
always  outside  of  the  sacred  edifice. 

Even  in  the  Old  Testament  the  healing  of  the  body  is 
a  more  prominent  thoug'ht  than  we  realize  unless  we 
make  a  special  study  of  the  subject.  The  fact  has 
already  been  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter  that  one  of 
the  names  of  God,  "  Jehovah  Raphai,"  signifies  "  The 
Lord  our  Healer."  And  the  truth  expressed  by  the 
name  is  exempified  in  many  ways.  "  I  am  the  Lord  that 
healeth  thee."  Ex.  15  :  26.  "Who  forgiveth  all  thine 
iniquities,  who  healeth  all  thy  diseases."  Ps.  103  : 3. 
*'  I  will  cure  them,  and  will  reveal  unto  them  the  abund- 
ance of  peace  and  truth."  Jer.  33  :  6.  "  My  son  attend 
to  my  words ;  incline  thine  ear  unto  my  sayings ;  for  they 
are  life  unto  those  that  find  them,  and  health  to  all  their 
flesh."  Prov.  4  :  20,  22.  "  I  will  restore  health  unto 
thee  and  I  will  heal  thee  of  thy  wounds."     Jer.  30  :  17. 

It  is  needless  to  multiply  the  quotations.      No  one 


'jB  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

doubts  the  power  of  God  to  heal.  The  question  that  is 
just  now  agitating  the  churches  is  with  regard  to  Jesus' 
teaching  on  the  subject.  Did  he  instruct  his  followers 
as  to  the  nature  of  the  healing  power  for  permanent 
exercise  by  them?  For  many  centuries  the  Church 
has  answered  this  question  in  the  negative.  But 
when  we  look  for  any  scriptural  ground  for  their 
adverse  decision  it  cannot  be  found.  The  words 
of  the  Divine  Healer  were  expHcit,  and  leave  no 
margin  for  mental  reservation  of  any  kind.  "  Go  ye 
into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  crea- 
ture. And  these  signs  shall  follow  them  that  believe: 
In  my  name  shall  they  cast  out  devils;  they  shall  speak 
with  new  tongues;  they  shall  take  up  serpents;  and  if 
they  drink  any  deadly  thing  it  shall  not  hurt  them;  they 
shall  lay  hands  on  the  sick  and  they  shall  recover."  The 
words  "  them  that  believe  "  show  clearly  that  the  gifts 
were  not  to  be  limited  to  the  disciples  to  whom  the  in- 
junction was  immediately  addressed.  The  extension  of 
the  privilege  is  still  more  emphatically  expressed  in 
John  14  :  12:  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you  that  He 
that  believeth  in  me,  the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also; 
and  greater  works  than  these  shall  he  do  because  I  go 
unto  the  Father."  Dr.  Joseph  Parker  of  London,  puts 
the  case  conclusively,  as  follows: 

"  If  we  believe  'the  New  Testament,  we  beheve  that 
men  were  once  *  made  whole '  without  medicine  or  doc- 
tor. If  this  was  a  fact  in  New  Testament  times,  why 
may  it  not  become  a  fact  in  the  present  day.  If  it  is  a 
fact,  it  is  the  most  beneficent  fact  in  history,  and  being 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH  IN  THE  BIBLE.  /j 

such,  it  ought,  if  possible,  to  be  recalled  and  re-estab- 
lished. To  grasp  the  question  wisely  and  thoroughly, 
we  must  go  back  to  Christ's  own  time  and  think  with 
him.  Did  Christ  heal  men?  Yes,  he  did.  Did 
Christ's  Apostles  heal  men?  Yes,  they  did.  Was  the 
healing  mechanical,  surgical,  medicinal?  No,  it  was  not. 
Was  the  healing  spiritual,  sympathetic,  mental?  Yes,  it 
was.  Is  Christ  the  same  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever? 
Yes,  he  is.  Does  Christ  still  work  and  reign?  Yes, 
he  does.  That  settles  it.  Suffering  is  the  same,  Christ 
is  the  same.  Love  is  the  same.  Then  what  is  wanting? 
Just  what  vv^as  wanting  in  Christ's  own  day.  Dost  thou 
believe?  Believest  thou  that  I  am  able  to  do  this  thing? 
All  things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth.  He  could 
not  do  many  mighty  works  there  because  of  their  unbe- 
lief. We  must  simply  and  heartily  adopt  the  belief — 
most  rational  belief — 'that  the  things  which  are  impos- 
sible with  men  are  possible  with  God.  That  is  all.  The 
belief  must  not  be  mere  assent;  it  must  be  the  ruling 
and  ever-active  principle  of  the  life.  The  curing  of  dis- 
ease is  a  paltry  matter.  To  cure  the  disease  of  distrust 
of  God  is  the  supreme  miracle." 

Christian  pastors  who  oppose  the  principle  of  Mental 
Therapeutics  surely  cannot  be  aware  that  moral  purity  is 
the  very  foundation  and  cornerstone  of  the  system.  In 
the  various  medical  systems  drugs  are  often  employed  to 
heal  the  body  of  the  debauchee  that  he  may  return  to  his 
sensual  life  again,  but  the  metaphysical  or  spiritual 
healer  gives  no  promise  of  cure  except  in  turning  from 
sin  and  following  the  ways  of  righteousness. 


74  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

In  an  essay  entitled  "  The  New  Revival,"  which  was 
read  before  the  Illinois  State  Congregational  Associa- 
tion by  the  Rev.  Quincy  L.  Dowd,  pastor  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church  of  Winnetka,  the  speaker  said: 

"  A  demand  rises  now  that  a  gospel  be  given  which 
offers  a  spiritual  hygiene.  God's  tidings  of  gladness  to- 
day, as  at  the  first,  come  to  sick,  aiHng  and  harassed  peo- 
ple. Are  we  not  told  to  restore  men  and  women, 
bringing  them  into  health  of  mind?  Much  of  what 
Christian  Science  stands  for  Christian  pastors  should 
attend  to  in  the  regular  course  c^f  their  work.  It  may 
come  to  pass  that  Seminaries  for  training  ministers  will 
have  a  professor  of  pathological  and  spiritual  diagnosis. 
Healing  of  the  mind  is  the  pastor's  forte.  His  message 
or  advice  misses  the  mark  unless  it  brings  some  reviving 
to  mortal  flesh  along  with  an  awakening  of  the  immortal 
spirit." 

A  writer  says  in  a  religious  paper:  "  When  one  takes 
a  dose  of  medicine,  he  helps  or  harms  only  himself.  But 
he  who  takes  into  his  mind  that  which  makes  for  the 
healing  of  his  own  soul,  by  the  same  potion  ministers  to 
all  those  who  are  about  him.  A  merry  heart  gives  light 
to  a  whole  roomful  of  melancholy  saints.  Courage  dif- 
fuses courage;  hope  creates  hope;  confidence  generates 
confidence;  and  fidelity  to  a  good  cause,  bravely  main- 
tained by  one  human  being,  sets  the  pitch  of  fidelity  for 
many  others." 

Jehovah  Raphai!  "  The  Lord  our  Healer!  "  Can  it 
be  possible  that  we  may  accept  this  title  in  its  full  mean- 
ing, and  that  God,  the  infinite  Creator,  will  heal  all  our 


LIFE  AND  HEALTH  IN  THE  BIBLE.  75 

diseases,  will  visit  the  hospitals,  the  '  shut-ins,'  the  homes 
for  the  incurable,  and  will  '  cure  them,  and  reveal  unto 
them  the  abundance  of  peace  and  truth?'  Yes,  this  was 
the  message  of  His  Son  to  the  world.  "  The  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because  He  hath  appointed  me  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor.  He  hath  sent  me  to  heal 
the  broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliverance  to  the  cap- 
tives, and  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at 
liberty  them  that  are  bruised."  In  God's  kingdom  there 
are  no  "  incurables."  We  are  *'  shut  in  "  only  by  the 
dark  cloud  of  error  that  has  been  created  by  the  sick  and 
dying  thoughts  of  humanity  for  ages.  But  the  hour  of 
emancipation  has  struck  at  last.  The  message  of  Truth 
to  this  generation  is  in  the  words  of  the  prophet,  "  Arise, 
shine,  for  thy  light  has  come,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord 
has  risen  upon  thee." 

Some  who  read  these  pages  have  been  under  the 
claim  of  disease  for  years.  At  first  thought  they  can- 
not believe  it  possible  that  the  gift  of  health  and  full 
vigorous  life  may  be  theirs  once  more.  Let  them  re- 
member that  this  unfaith  has  been  wrought  into  our 
natures  by  human  theories,  without  one  word  in  the 
Bible  to  sustain  them.  Dismiss  these  theories.  Take 
the  promises  of  the  Bible  as  literally  and  absolutely  true, 
and  to  be  relied  on.  If  we  have  a  machine  for  which 
power  is  needed,  and  the  electrician  says,  "  You  may 
trust  the  power-house.  It  has  all  the  force  you  require, 
and  a  thousand  times  more,"  we  believe  him.  So  let  us 
believe  the  words  of  scripture.  Infinite  Love  is  our 
power-house.  "  Trust  ye  in  the  Lord  forever;  for  in 
the  Lord  Jehovah  is  everlasting  strength." 


76  SPIRITUAL   KNOWING. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  NEW  FACT.OR  IN  RACE  DEVELOPMENT. 

If  Jesus  Christ  revealed  the  nature  of  God  and  the  Prin- 
ciple of  Eternal  Truth,  then  the  methods  of  extending  His 
kingdom  must  be  completely  reversed.  They  have  here- 
tofore been  carried  on  in  the  masculine  way.  They  must 
now  be  pursued  in  the  feminine  way.  The  masculine  way 
is  the  way  of  the  intellect.  The  feminine  way  is  the  way 
of  the  heart.  In  presenting  the  Principle  of  eternal  life, 
the  Divine  Teacher  made  no  more  appeal  to  the  brain 
than  if  the  organ  had  no  existence.  His  attention  was 
wholly  given  to  the  moral  and  spiritual  nature  of  man. 
For  nineteen  centuries  the  effort  has  been  made  to  extend 
His  kingdom  by  intellectual  processes.  It  is  not  strange 
that  this  generation  is  confronted  by  the  question  "Is 
Christianity  a  failure  ?  "  There  is  but  one  answer  to  be 
given :    "  It  has  never  been  tried." 

If  Jesus  taught  a  system  of  truth  and  life  which  repre- 
sents and  appeals  to  the  feminine  element  of  our  nature, 
why  did  he  choose  men  as  his  disciples,  and  commission 
men  to  carry  on  his  work?  Because  he  knew  that  the 
race  would  have  to  pass  through  an  intellectual  stage  be- 
fore it  would  be  ready  for  the  intuitional  and  spiritual 
stage. 

Even  during  his  ministry  the  higher  spiritual  quality  of 
woman  was  continually  in  evidence.    His  most  sympathetic 


ri-IE  NEW  FACTOR,  77 

resting-place  was  in  the  home  of  Mary  and  Martha. 
Women  were  last  at  the  cross  and  first  at  the  tomb.  After 
the  resurrection  the  first  commission  was  given  to  women : 
"  Go  and  tell  the  disciples  that  he  is  risen  from  the  dead." 

What  was  the  history  of  society  and  of  religion  in  the 
past  when  men  had  complete  control?  Bad  men  created 
a  hell  of  selfishness  and  sensuality  in  this  world,  and  good 
men  invented  a  hell  of  eternal  torment  in  the  next  world 
to  punish  them  for  it.  Neither  of  these  things  would 
women  have  done  even  in  the  lowest  stage  of  racial  devel- 
opment. 

Women  are  the  natural  teachers  of  the  race.  A  promi- 
nent educator  says  "  it  is  easy  enough  to  find  scholars 
among  the  men,  but  for  teachers,  we  must  go  to  the 
women."  The  history  of  the  kindergarten  is  an  illustra- 
tion. The  kindergarten  was  evolved  by  a  man,  for  man  is 
the  natural  creator  and  originator,  but  it  was  the  women, 
and  only  the  women  who  saw  its  spiritual  meaning  and 
recognized  its  educational  value.  For  nearly  a  century 
women  have  applied  the  kindergarten  principle  and  demon- 
strated its  efficacy  in  child-training  ,and  only  within  a  few 
years  have  the  masculine  educators  realized  its  full  value, 
and  accepted  it  as  the  basis  of  all  education,  supplying  prin- 
ciples that  are  to  be  carried  through  all  the  stages  of 
growth  and  development. 

The  new  translation  of  Psalm  68 :  1 1  is  an  interesting 
illustration  of  the  changed  ideas  concerning  woman  and 
her  mission.  In  the  Old  Version  it  reads :  "  The  Lord 
gave  the  word ;  great  was  the  company  of  those  that  pub- 
lished it."     In  the  New  Version  it  is  given  as  follows: 


78  SPIRITUAL   KNOWING. 

"  The  Lord  giveth  the  word ;  the  women  that  pubHsh  the 
tidings  are  a  great  host."  The  translators  of  King  James's 
time  could  not  believe  that  God  intended  to  put  woman 
forward  so  prominently,  and  therefore  they  calmly  omitted 
the  word.  But  woman's  prominence  in  spiritual  things 
belongs  to  her  nature  irrespective  of  human  edicts  or 
human  opinions. 

Observe  that  the  statement  is  not  that  women  are  to 
displace  men  in  the  spiritual  leadership  of  the  world,  but 
that  the  woman's  method  must  supplant  the  man's  method. 
Woman's  way  is  a  way  of  loving  deeds.  Man's  way  is  a 
way  of  dogmas  and  creeds.  In  the  practical  work,  the  two 
will  combine,  as  God  meant  them  to  do.  And  this  combi- 
nation will  not  be  limited  to  so-called  religious  questions. 
In  reality  there  are  no  questions  but  religious  questions.* 
Women  are  as  much  needed  in  the  halls  of  legislature  as 
they  are  in  the  churches.  The  masculine  law-maker  votes 
millions  of  dollars  for  the  care  of  criminals.  The  femi- 
nine law-maker  would  provide  a  system  of  kindergartens, 
and  save  the  next  generation  from  becoming  criminals. 
To  cover  this  branch  of  the  subject  by  a  single  illustration : 
men  build  an  expensive  hospital  at  the  foot  of  a  precipice, 
amply  supplied  with  surgeons,  ambulances,  and  other 
equipments.  Women  would  build  a  fence  at  the  top  of  the 
precipice,  and  neither  hospital,  surgeon,  nor  ambulance 
would  be  needed. 


*  I  believe  the  industrial  question  is  a  religious  question.  I  believe  every- 
thing that  has  to  do  with  the  welfare  of  man  in  politics,  in  industry,  is  a  religious 
question  ;  everything  shows  our  relation  to  one  another,  and  our  relation  to  the 
Father  of  Life.  We  have  committed  the  Golden  Rule  to  memory ;  now  let  us 
commit  it  to  life. — Edwin  Markham, 


"AS  A  LITTLE  CHILD r  r9 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
"  AS  A  LITTLE  CHILD." 

The  teaching  of  Jesus  concerning  childhood  has  had  no 
place  in  the  various  systems  of  formulated  theology.  The 
essential  distinction  between  his  message  and  that  of 
Buddha,  Confucius,  and  all  other  founders  of  religions  is 
right  at  this  point.  They  told  the  children  that  they  must 
become  like  their  disciples.  Jesus  told  his  disciples  that 
they  must  become  like  little  children.  "  Verily,  verily,  I 
say  unto  you,  whosoever  shall  not  receive  the  kingdom  of 
God  as  a  little  child,  he  shall  in  no  wise  enter  therein." 
This  shows  that  there  is  no  gateway  from  the  realm  of  the 
material  to  the  realm  of  the  spiritual  but  the  gateway  of 
a  childlike  spirit  and  disposition. 

What  are  the  characteristics  of  childhood  which  are  es- 
sential to  spiritual  life  ? 

1.  The  characteristic  of  unconsciousness,  self-forget- 
fulness  and  absolute  trust.  T.he  mature  Christian  is  told 
that  he  must  attain  a  state  of  complete  surrender,  but  the 
little  child  is  in  that  condition  by  nature.  It  is  entirely  free 
from  the  self-imposed  limitations  of  adult  thought. 

2.  An  open  and  unprejudiced  mind.  A  modern  writer 
speaks  of  the  slow  development  of  the  race  as  resulting 
from  "  the  infinite  capacity  of  the  human  mind  to  resist  the 
introduction  of  new  ideas."  But  this  conservatism  does 
not  result  so  much  from  a  positive  resistance  as  from  the 


8o  SPIRITUAL   KNOWING. 

fact  that  the  adult  mind  is  already  occupied.  It  is  like  a 
citadel  whose  occupants  repel  indiscriminately  all  who  ap- 
proach it,  treating  all  alike  as  intruders  and  enemies.  But 
the  child's  mind  is  free ;  ready  to  receive  impressions  and 
giving  an  equal  welcome  to  all. 

3.  A  capacity  for  other-worldliness.  Little  children 
live  in  a  world  of  their  own — a  world  of  imagination.  To 
the  boy  the  hobby-horse  is  a  real  horse  on  which  he  makes 
real  journeys  to  far-off  cities  and  countries.  To  the  girl 
the  doll  is  a  real  child  which  is  petted,  scolded,  sent  to 
school,  introduced  into  society.  To  both  boy  and  girl  the 
fairy  world  is  a  real  world  peopled  with  real  beings.  It 
has  heretofore  been  supposed  that  the  faith  of  childhood 
in  a  fairy  world  belongs  only  to  that  period  of  life,  and 
should  disappear  in  the  process  of  a  normal  development. 
But  in  the  light  of  this  new  spiritual  dispensation,  we  see 
the  error  of  this  thought.  Little  children  live  in  an  unseen 
world,  peopled  with  the  creatures  of  their  imagination, 
because  man  is  spiritual  and  is  created  to  live  in  an  unseen 
world — the  realm  of  spirit.  The  fairyland  of  the  child's 
mind  is  intended  to  be  replaced  by  the  spiritual  home  of  the 
adult  mind.  If  we  learn  aright  the  lessons  taught  by  our 
own  childhood,  we  shall  know  that  "  the  things  which  are 
not  seen  are  eternal." 

4.  The  ability  to  live  in  the  present,  or  by  the  moment. 
God  is  an  Eternal  Now,  and  there  is  where  He  wants  us  to 
live  with  Him.  The  child  does  this,  and  lives  with  God 
in  a  timeless  region  of  realities.  The  adult  creates  for  him- 
self a  nondescript  state  of  unreality  which  is  a  mixture  of 
regrets  for  the  past  and  dread  of  the  future.    The  present 


''AS  A   LITTLE   CHILD/'  8i 

moment  is  therefore  to  him  a  brooding  nightmare,  hatching 
out  an  endless  series  of  imaginary  evils. 

Children  are  naturally  spiritual  until  we  train  them  into 
our  own  materialistic  ways  of  thinking.  Hence  the  parents 
who  are  trying  to  live  in  the  light  of  spiritual  rather  than 
intellectual  truth  find  the  little  ones  of  their  household 
beautifully  responsive  to  their  suggestions.  T.he  idea  of 
an  unseen  guidance  is  native  to  their  being.  That  the 
heavenly  Father  should  answer  prayer  and  fulfill  His 
promises  literally  is  to  them  a  matter  of  course.  The  fol- 
lowing incident  illustrates  the  point : 

The  oldest  son  in  a  certain  spiritually  minded  family 
had  gone  to  the  Spanish  war.  It  was  known  that  an  im- 
portant battle  was  to  occur  on  a  certain  date.  Notwith- 
standing the  faith  of  the  family  in  spiritual  things,  their 
hearts  were  on  that  day  filled  with  natural  fears  and  fore- 
bodings which  they  could  not  refrain  from  expressing.  In 
the  midst  of  a  conversation  on  the  subject,  the  pet  of  the 
household,  a  boy  of  about  five,  slipped  out  of  the  room. 
Presently  he  returned  and  said  with  great  confidence, 
"  It's  all  right.  I've  been  praying  for  Harry,  and  I  know 
that  he  won't  be  shot." 

The  event  proved  that  he  was  correct.  When  the  son 
returned  home  they  felt  some  hesitation  about  speaking  to 
him  of  the  incident,  as  he  was  not  usually  interested  in 
religious  ideas.  But  they  decided  to  do  so  and  to  their 
surprise  he  said,  "  Yes,  I  believe  that.  The  bullets  were 
flying  thick  around  me  that  day  when  all  at  once  I  felt  a 
consciousness  that  I  was  protected.  All  my  fear  passed 
away,  and  I   went  through  the  battle  like  one  with  a 


82  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

charmed  life/*  The  little  boy  was  then  asked  what  he  said 
when  he  prayed  for  Harry.  He  replied,  "  Oh,  I  went 
by  myself  and  I  just  keep  saying  over  and  over,  '  A  thou- 
sand shall  fall  at  thy  side,  and  ten  thousand  at  thy  right 
hand,  but  it  shall  not  come  nigh  thee,'  and  by  and  by 
something  told  me  that  he  wouldn't  be  hit." 

The  prayer,  "  Now  I  lay  me,"  that  is  so  universally 
taught  to  the  little  children  has  one  undesirable  feature. 
It  introduces  the  idea  of  death  at  the  earliest  period  of  the 
child's  conscious  thought,  and  fixes  it  in  the  mind  by  daily 
repetition : 

Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep; 

I  pray  thee,  Lord,  my  soul  to  keep, 

If  I  should  die  before  I  wake, 

I  pray  thee,  Lord,  my  soul  to  take. 

Why  may  it  not  be  changed  from  the  thought  of  death  to 
the  thought  of  life,  and  of  God's  constant  presence  and 
protecting  care  ?    I  suggest  the  following  form : 

Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep; 
I  pray  thee.  Lord,  my  soul  to  keep; 
Thy  love  be  with  me  through  the  night, 
And  bless  me  with  the  morning  light. 


GOD'S  WORLD.  83 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

GOD'S  WORLD,  BUT  NOT.  GOD'S  KIND  OF  A 
WORLD.    APPEARANCE  VERSUS  REALITY. 

It  seems  at  first  sight  like  a  contradiction  of  terms  to 
say  that  this  is  God's  world  but  not  God's  kind  of  a  world. 
The  thought  can  be  made  clear  by  an  illustration. 

Let  us  suppose  an  immense  factory  built  by  Edison  to 
be  run  by  a  certain  method  of  using  electricity.  The  suc- 
cess of  the  establishment  depends  entirely  upon  this  special 
method  of  employing  the  electric  fluid.  Let  us  suppose 
that  the  manager  of  the  building  is  a  secret  enemy  of 
Edison,  who  succeeds  in  reversing  the  electric  currents, 
and  thus  throws  all  the  machinery  into  confusion  and  pre- 
vents it  from  accomplishing  the  various  results  for  which  it 
is  designed.  Would  it  not  be  entirely  correct  to  say  of 
that  establishment  that  it  is  Edison's  factory,  but  not 
Edison's  kind  of  a  factory?  He  built  it  and  he  owns  it, 
yet  it  in  no  sense  represents  his  ideas. 

Just  as  truly  can  we  say  that  while  this  is  God's  world 
it  is  not  God's  kind  of  a  world.  He  made  the  world  to  be 
ruled  and  governed  by  Love.  But  an  influence  which  is 
the  exact  opposite  of  Love  has  in  some  way  gained  posses- 
sion, and  the  result  is  unspeakable  confusion  and  incalcu- 
lable injury.  God  Himself,  the  Love  principle,  is  the 
motive-power  in  His  world,  and  man  has  introduced  the 
element  of  selfhood,   which   is   the   opposite   of   Love. 


84  SPIRITUAL   KNOWING, 

Substituting  the  ways  of  selfhood  for  the  ways  of  Love 
has  so  bhnded  humanity  to  its  own  true  interest  that  it  has 
fallen  into  a  state  of  illusion.  The  injunction  of  our 
Lord  :  "  Judge  not  according  to  the  appearance,  but  judge 
righteous  judgment,"  has  a  far  deeper  meaning  than  is 
usually  given  to  it.  It  has  been  supposed  to  refer  chiefly 
to  the  indulgence  of  unjust  or  censorious  judgments  con- 
cerning our  fellowmen.  "  Judge  not  according  to  the  ap- 
pearance, but  wait  till  you  understand  the  case  better,  that 
your  judgment  may  be  just."  Such  has  been  a  common 
idea  of  the  text.  But  the  meaning  is  infinitely  deeper  than 
this.  It  was  spoken  with  reference  to  the  healing  of  the 
impotent  man  on  the  Sabbath,  for  which  the  Pharisees  con- 
demned Jesus,  and  wished  Him  to  be  put  to  death.  "  It  is 
true  that  in  doing  this  on  the  Sabbath  I  have  broken  one  of 
your  technical  laws,  but  I  have  obeyed  a  higher  law  of  God 
in  healing  one  of  His  children.  Judge  not  according  to  the 
appearance,  but  judge  righteous  judgment." 

The  principle  applies  to  our  whole  concept  of  life,  and  to 
all  that  belongs  to  our  life.  Righteous  judgment  means 
right  judgment,  and  the  only  right  judgment  is  that  which 
is  based  upon  the  eternal  truth,  "  The  kingdom  of  God  is 
within  you."  God's  kingdom  is  a  spiritual  kingdom,  and 
since  He  is  infinite,  there  can  be  no  realm  of  realities  but 
His  inner  spiritual  kingdom. 

The  appearance  is  that  we  are  living  in  a  material  world 
which  is  subject  to  decay  and  death,  and  that  we  ourselves 
are  material,  and  subject  to  decay  and  death.  The  reality  is 
that  we  are  spiritual  beings,  expressions  and  reflections  of 
God,  and  that  our  true  home  is  where  Jesus  declared  it  to 


GOD'S  WORLD,  85 

be — in  the  '^  kingdom  within."  Our  home  is  not  there 
only  prospectively  in  a  world  beyond  the  grave,  but  now, 
at  this  present  moment.  St.  Paul  said :  "  Our  citizenship  is 
in  heaven."  We  are  in  heaven  now  in  proportion  as  we 
obey  its  one  law — the  Law  of  Love.  Nothing  is  real  that 
is  not  an  expression  of  that  law,  for  nothing  else  is  eternal. 
That  which  is  perishable  has  not  even  a  temporary  reality. 
It  has  a  temporary  seeming — that  is  all. 

Take  a  ten-dollar  gold  piece  as  an  illustration.  To 
human  sense  it  seems  the  very  embodiment  of  reality,  for 
it  represents  food,  clothing — all  the  essentials  of  life  and 
comfort  in  the  world.  Is  it  a  reality?  No.  The  one  who 
holds  it  may  have  a  heart  full  of  sadness  and  bitterness. 
Merely  owning  the  gold  piece  will  not  abate  one  jot  or 
title  of  the  sadness.  It  is  true  that  the  coin  may  be  imme- 
diately transmuted  into  reality.  It  may  be  used  to  pay  a 
debt  which  the  law  of  Love  requires  us  to  pay.  It  may  be 
spent  for  the  relief  of  a  needy  family.  It  may  purchase  an 
article  of  value  for  ourselves.  In  such  ways  it  may  become 
a  source  of  joy  to  its  possessors — Jesus  said:  "  Make  to 
yourselves  friends  of  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness." 
This  is  another  way  of  saying  transmute  the  appearances 
of  the  external  world  into  the  realities  of  Love  and  Life. 
"  Love  not  the  world,  neither  the  things  that  are  in  the 
world.  If  any  man  love  the  world,  the  Love  of  the  Father 
is  not  in  him.  For  all  that  is  in  the  world,  the  lust  of  the 
flesh  and  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life  is  not 
of  the  Father,  but  is  of  the  world ;  and  the  world  passeth 
away  and  the  lust  thereof,  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of 
God  abideth  forever."    John  2: 15-17. 


86  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

In  the  last  declaration :  "  He  that  doeth  the  will  of  God 
abideth  forever,"  we  have  again  an  occasion  for  remem- 
bering the  injunction :  "  Judge  not  according  to  the  ap- 
pearance." The  external  world  appears  so  substantial,  so 
strong,  so  enduring ;  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked  seems  so 
enviable ;  our  own  experiences  are  so  trying.  We  can  but 
echo  Jacob's  despairing  cry :  "  All  these  things  are 
against  me."  Right  here  is  where  we  must  hold  firmly  to 
the  unseen  realities,  and  by  holding  to  them  in  our 
thought  we  will  surely  receive  them.  As  sure  as  God  is 
God  the  day  will  come  when  we  can  say  with  the  prophet : 

"  He  will  swallow  up  death  in  victory ;  and  the  Lord 
God  will  wipe  away  tears  from  off  all  faces ;  and  the  re- 
buke of  His  people  will  He  take  away  from  off  all  the 
earth :  for  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it.  And  it  shall  be  said  in 
that  day,  Lo,  this  is  our  God;  we  have  waited  for  Him, 
and  He  will  save  us :  this  is  the  Lord ;  we  have  waited  for 
Him,  we  will  be  glad  and  rejoice  in  His  salvation." 
(Isaiah  25:8,  9.) 

"  We  have  waited  for  Him."  This  is  the  keynote  of 
victory.  It  is  judging  not  according  to  appearance,  but 
judging  righteous  judgment. 


GOD'S  LAW  VERSUS  HUMAN  LAWS.     87 


CHAPTER  XV. 
GOD'S  LAW  VERSUS  HUMAN  LAWS. 

God  governs  the  universe  by  a  single  law.  Human 
society  seeks  to  manage  its  discordant  elements  through 
a  multiplicity  of  laws.  Fourteen  thousand  one  hundred 
and  fifty-nine  new  laws  were  enacted  in  the  United  States 
in  the  year  1899,  in  addition  to  the  numberless  edicts  that 
were  already  recorded  on  the  statute  books. 

But  the  restrictive  enactments  of  legislation  are  as  noth- 
ing in  comparison  with  the  fetters  with  which  the  human 
mind  binds  itself.  The  laws  of  fashion  lead  millions  of 
people  to  sacrifice  their  comfort,  yes,  far  more  than  com- 
fort, their  peace  of  mind,  their  bodily  health,  and  often  life 
itself  is  laid  upon  the  altar  of  this  Moloch. 

Superstition  also  has  innumerable  forms  of  slavery 
even  in  this  enlightened  age.  As  this  chapter  Is  being  writ- 
ten the  newspapers  report  the  case  of  a  man  who  was  so 
fearful  of  seeing  the  new  moon  over  his  left  shoulder  that 
he  walked  backward  off  the  piazza,  injuring  himself 
severely.  Many  of  those  who  are  in  bondage  to  supersti- 
tious ideas  deny  the  existence  of  the  chains,  and  profess  to 
treat  the  subject  as  a  jest.  Yet  they  show  their  subjection 
in  countless  ways.  They  do  many  things,  and  leave  many 
other  things  undone  that  they  would  treat  very  differently 
if  they  were  free  from  this  bondage. 

In  the  matter  of  health,  what  a  dismal  code  man  has 


88  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

created  for  his  own  enslavement :  "  As  fie  thinketh  in  his 
heart,  so  is  he."  He  has  built  a  vast  hospital,  a  gloomy 
prison,  to  which  he  condemns  himself  by  a  thousand  laws. 
The  law  that  dampness  brings  rheumatism,  that  sitting  in 
a  draft  induces  a  cold,  that  eating  certain  kinds  of  food  will 
cause  dyspepsia,  that  breathing  the  air  of  a  certain  locality 
will  produce  malarial  fever,  that  being  in  the  company  of 
one  who  has  imprisoned  himself  with  smallpox  will  re- 
sult in  the  same  penalty — a  volume  would  be  needed  to 
record  the  list  of  laws  that  mankind  have  created  for  their 
own  affliction  in  the  way  of  sickness. 

Then  there  is  an  endless  schedule  of  what  may  be  called 
personal  laws — laws  of  temperament,  laws  of  environment, 
laws  of  heredity  (treated  elsewhere  in  a  separate  chapter) 
— laws — but  why  continue  the  doleful  catalogue  ?  Let  us 
turn  away  from  the  dark  picture  of  human  slavery  and 
contemplate  the  supernal  glory  of  "  the  liberty  wherewith 
Christ  hath  made  us  free." 

The  simple  declaration,  "  the  Truth  shall  make  you 
free,"  is  an  edict  of  emancipation  from  every  self-created 
fetter  of  the  human  mind,  because  it  opposes  to  all  human 
laws  the  one  divine  law  of  Love. 

Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law.  Notice  the  word  full- 
filling.  It  fills  full.  Not  partly  full,  or  half  full,  or  nearly 
full,  but  full — absolutely  full.  And  what  is  filled  full  by 
Love?  All  things;  everything;  the  universe,  including 
man.  "  All's  law,  but  all's  love."  "  The  law  of  gravita- 
tion is  one  with  justice,"  says  Emerson. 

God,  Love,  is  All.  Love,  God,  is  Law.  There  is  no 
other  law.    "  He  that  loveth  another  "  {"  the  other,"  mar- 


GOD'S  LAW  VERSUS  HUMAN  LAWS.      8p 

ginal  reading)  "  hath  fulfilled  the  Law."  He  has  filled  it 
full. 

The  word  law  has  been  used  in  many  ways.  St.  Paul 
often  employs  it  in  a  theological  sense.  But  no  one  has 
ever  had  a  clearer  view  than  the  great  Apostle  of  the  ab- 
soluteness of  the  law  of  Love.  His  declaration :  "  Xhe 
law  of  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  hath  made  me  free 
from  the  law  of  sin  and  death/'  is  of  infinite  application. 
It  is  cosmic  in  its  comprehensiveness. 

The  meaning  of  the  word  sin  is  "  to  miss  the  mark." 
The  laws  of  the  carnal  or  mortal  mind  miss  the  mark  every 
time.  God's  one  law  of  Love  never  fails.  We  fail  con- 
stantly because  we  do  not  utilize  the  law.  Love  is  life. 
It  was  because  Jesus  revealed  the  perfect  Law  of  Love, 
that  he  said :  "  I  am  come  that  they  may  have  life,  and 
that  they  may  have  it  more  abundantly."  Love  and  Life 
are  interchangeable  terms.  Whoever  surrenders  himself 
to  the  law  of  Love  holds  the  issues  of  life,  and  may  speak 
with  authority  as  Christ  Jesus  did.  "  Verily,  I  say  unto 
you,  whatsoever  ye  shall  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in 
heaven,  and  whatsoever  ye  shall  loose  on  earth  shall  be 
loosed  in  heaven."  Why?  Because  Love  is  the  law  of 
heaven,  and  whoever  holds  the  key  of  Love  holds  the  key 
of  heaven. 

This  truth  indicates  the  correct  interpretation  of  Jesus's 
saying:  "  If  two  of  you  shall  agree  on  earth  as  touching 
anything  that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  them  of 
my  Father  which  is  in  heaven,  for  where  two  or  three 
are  gathered  together  in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst 
of  them." 


90  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

But  when  did  two  human  beings  ever  agree  under  the 
laws  of  the  carnal  mind  ?  The  judges  in  human  courts  are 
continually  called  upon  to  settle  disputes  between  people 
who  tried  to  agree  and  utterly  failed  to  reach  a  common 
decision.  Human  laws  are  an  element  of  disagreement, 
and  not  of  agreement.  But  if  we  agree  with  God,  if  we 
put  ourselves  under  His  law  of  Love  by  surrendering  our 
will  to  His,  then,  indeed,  we  may  ask  for  anything,  and  it 
shall  be  given  unto  us.  And  if  "  two  or  three  "  are  agreed 
in  doing  this,  God  is  in  the  midst  of  them  ;He  is  one  with 
them. 

God's  law  of  Love  is  the  law  of  man's  dominion.  In 
this  external  realm  of  material  illusions,  man  is  the  slave 
to  his  own  innumerable  laws.  In  the  realm  of  spiritual 
realities  he  is  master  of  God's  law.  Every  evil  that  hu- 
manity suffers  from  is  a  reflection  of  a  vital  error  in 
human  thought.  Lightning  kills  and  destroys.  When  the 
horrible  killing  thought  is  eliminated  from  human  con- 
sciousness, that  experience  will  be  known  no  more.  Fero- 
cious beasts  and  venomous  reptiles  do  not  belong  in  God's 
universe.  They  are  expressions  of  man's  evil  thoughts. 
The  condition  in  the  future  when  Love  is  to  rule  the  uni- 
verse is  thus  described  by  the  prophet  Isaiah  (ii  16-9)  : 
"  The  wolf  also  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the  leopard 
shall  lie  down  with  the  kid,  and  the  calf  and  the  young  lion 
and  the  fatling  together ;  and  a  little  child  shall  lead  them. 
And  the  cow  and  the  bear  shall  feed ;  their  young  ones  shall 
lie  down  together ;  and  the  lion  shall  eat  straw  like  the  ox. 
i\nd  the  sucking  child  shall  play  on  the  hole  of  the  asp, 
and  the  weaned  child  shall  put  his  hand  on  the  cockatrice's 


GOD'S  LAW  VERSUS  HUMAN  LAWS.        91 

den.  They  shall  not  hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  my  holy  moun- 
tain, but  the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
Lord  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea." 

Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord 
(or  "  Jehovah/'  as  the  Revised  Version  renders  it)  is  a 
knowledge  of  Love — nothing  more  and  nothing  less — for 
God  is  Love,  and  "  everyone  that  loveth  is  born  of  God 
and  knoweth  God."  God's  one  simple  Law  of  Love  will 
eventually  supersede  all  the  complex  laws  of  man's  inven- 
tion. 


92  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING, 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
"  FEAR  HATH  TORMENT/' 

A  recent  writer  says :  "  Fear  is  my  devil."  This  is  an 
effective  way  of  stating  a  universal  experience.  In  the 
final  analysis  it  will  be  found  that  all  fear  comes  from 
belief  in  separation  from  God.  Belief  in  separation  from 
God  is  the  Evil  One,  or  the  one  evil.  But  actual  separation 
from  God  is  impossible,  because  we  live,  move,  and  have 
our  being  in  Him.  This  shows  the  groundlessness  of  fear, 
and  the  profound  philosophy  of  the  statement :  "  There 
is  no  fear  in  love,  for  perfect  love  casteth  out  fear."  Per- 
fect love  comes  from  ^n  understanding  that  an  omnipotent 
and  omnipresent  God,  whose  being  is  Love,  can  not  allow 
the  slightest  harm  to  come  to  His  children.  "  There  shall 
no  plague  come  nigh  thy  dwelling."  This  declaration 
seems  to  be  contradicted  by  experience,  for  plagues  in- 
numerable have  entered  the  dwellings  of  good  and  devoted 
Christian  people. 

But  we  must  remember  to  whom  this  promise  is  ad- 
dressed. It  is  to  the  one  "  that  dwelleth  in  the  secret  place 
of  the  Most  High."  The  most  timorous  soul  can  realize 
that  no  plague  can  come  nigh  that  dwelling.  Evils  come  to 
us  because  we  fear  them.  "  The  thing  which  I  greatly 
feared  has  come  upon  me,"  says  Job,  and  so  it  will  be  to  the 
end  of  time. 

Yet,  beneath  all  other  causes,  the  one  fundamental  cause 


"FEAR   HATH    TORMENT."  pj 

of  fear  is  selfishness  or  self-consideration.  Selfishness  or 
selfness  shuts  out  the  consciouness  of  God,  and  thus  opens 
an  avenue  for  every  fear.  In  reality  there  is  no  true  life 
but  the  selfless  life.  An  absolutely  selfish  fife  is  a  Godless 
life.  It  is  a  state  of  illusion,  of  disappointment,  of  bitter- 
ness, of  haunting  fears,  of  seeking  happiness,  and  never 
finding  it.  Joy,  to  such,  is  an  ignis  fatuus,  ever  floating 
before  the  vision,  but  never  attained. 

It  has  become  a  maxim  of  society  that  happiness  can 
not  be  secured  by  direct  efifort;  it  only  comes  in  uncon- 
scious moments  when  v^e  are  seeking  other  ends.  Why 
is  this?  It  is  because  seeking  happiness  is  an  act  of  self- 
hood; hence  it  destroys  the  very  object  it  is  striving  to 
attain. 

But  is  not  the  desire  for  self-preservation  a  divine  in- 
stinct? Yes,  but  it  must  seek  its  end  by  divine  methods. 
The  motto :  "  Look  out  for  number  one,"  embodies  the 
highest  v^isdom  if  we  will  but  remember  that  God  is  Num- 
ber One  in  the  eternal  series  to  which  man  belongs.  Look- 
ing out  for  Number  One,  in  the  light  of  this  truth,  will 
draw  every  blessing  that  man  is  fitted  to  enjoy,  and  will 
bring  us  into  normal  relations  with  all  the  other  numbers. 
Looking  out  for  number  two,  that  is  to  say,  for  our  own 
selfish  selves,  puts  us  out  of  joint  with  the  entire  universe. 
God  is  dismissed,  and  the  devil  of  fear  takes  possession. 
Emerson  says :  ''  One  thing  fear  always  teaches,  that 
there  is  rottenness  where  he  appears.  He  is  a  carrion 
crow,  and  though  you  see  not  well  what  he  hovers  for, 
there  is  death  somewhere." 

The  "  carrion  crow  "  is  selfishness,  whose  fruit  is  death. 


P4  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

This  Is  a  problem  that  all  must  work  out  for  themselves. 
But  with  the  golden  key  of  Love,  victory  is  sure.  The 
joy  of  loving  will  displace  the  torment  of  fearing. 

I  will  not  extend  the  discussion,  but  close  with  a  few 
quotations. 

"  Depression  and  low  spirits,  when  yielded  to,  become  a 
species  of  death." — Mathew  Arnold. 

"  The  plague  killed  five  thousand  people.  Fifty  thou- 
sand died  of  fear." — Oriental  Proverb. 

"  Fear  is  a  greater  pain  than  pain  itself.  O,  thou  of  lit- 
tle faith,  what  dost  thou  fear  ?  Let  the  world  be  turned  up- 
side down,  let  it  be  in  utter  darkness,  in  smoke,  in  tumult, 
so  long  as  God  is  with  us." — St.  Francis  de  Sales. 

The  philosophy  can  be  given  in  a  nutshell : 

We  are  living  in  God's  spiritual  universe,  where  exactly 
the  right  thing  invariably  occurs  at  exactly  the  right  mo- 
ment.   Fear  blinds  us  to  this  truth. 


OUR  DIVINE  HEREDITY,  p3 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
OUR  DIVINE  HEREDITY. 

One  of  the  crudest  forms  of  human  slavery  is  the  fear 
that  is  caused  by  the  prevalent  ideas  concerning  heredity. 
One  family  is  in  bondage  to  a  supposed  heredity  of  con- 
sumption, another  of  insanity,  another  of  what  is  called  the 
alcoholic  habit,  and  so  on  through  the  whole  sad  catalogue 
of  human  infirmities.  This  fear  seems  to  be  justified  by 
the  second  commandment  of  the  Decalogue,  where  God  is 
spoken  of  as  "  visiting  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers  upon  the 
children  unto  the  third  and  four  generation  of  them  that 
hate  Me." 

The  fact  has  been  lost  sight  of  that  this  law  was  after- 
ward abrogated  and  annulled,  as  we  read  both  in  Jere- 
miah and  Ezekiel. 

*'  What  mean  ye,  that  ye  use  this  proverb  concerning  the 
land  of  Israel,  saying:  The  fathers  have  eaten  sour 
grapes,  and  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge  ?  As  I  live, 
saith  the  Lord  God,  ye  shall  not  have  occasion  any  more 
to  use  this  proverb  in  Israel.  Behold,  all  souls  are  mine ; 
as  the  soul  of  the  father,  so  also  the  soul  of  the  son  is 
mine;  the  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die." — Ezekiel  i8  12-4. 

Language  could  not  be  more  explicit  in  stating  and  de- 
claring tHat  heredity  is  no  longer  a  law ;  it  is  displaced  by 
the  understanding  that  our  individuality  is  derived  from 
God. 


p6  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

.  Personal  and  individual  responsibility  is  the  basic  prin- 
ciple of  all  biblical  instruction.  In  one  form  or  another  it 
reflects  the  injunction  of  St.  Paul :  "  Work  out  your  own 
salvation  with  fear  and  trembling."  The  supplementary 
truth,  "  for  it  is  God  who  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and 
to  do  of  His  good  pleasure,"  does  not  lessen  the  force  of 
the  teaching  as  to  individual  responsibility;  it  rather 
strengthens  and  confirms  it.  God  worketh  in  you  and  not 
in  your  father  or  your  grandfather. 

The  teachings  of  Jesus  not  only  imply  the  complete  re- 
sponsibility of  the  individual  and  ignore  the  idea  of 
heredity,  but  he  destroyed  its  supposed  law  forever  by 
saying :  "  Call  no  man  your  father  upon  the  earth,  for  one 
is  your  Father,  which  is  in  heaven."  This  is  a  necessary 
corollary  to  his  teaching  that  man  is  spiritual  and  not  ma- 
terial. *'  God,  Spirit,  is  your  Father.  Your  home  is  in  the 
spiritual  kingdom.  Your  life,  health,  strength,  supply, 
your  all  comes  from  that  kingdom.  Give  your  whole 
thought  to  it.  Expect  nothing  from  earthly  sources,  not 
even  from  the  nearest  and  dearest  of  earthly  relationships." 

What  a  rich  store  of  hope  and  courage  is  this  truth  to 
those  who  have  supposed  themselves  to  be  under  a  pitiless 
law  of  heredity,  and  that  the  taint  of  some  disease  is  in 
their  blood.  "  God  is  my  Father.  He  is  my  Healer.  No 
power  in  the  universe  can  keep  His  life  from  me  if  I  will 
receive  it.  In  fact,  there  is  no  other  power  in  the  universe, 
for  He  is  all  in  all."  This  truth,  if  fully  realized,  will  do 
more  for  the  health  than  all  the  drugs  and  medications  that 
human  ingenuity  can  devise. 

Man's  true  heredity  is  clearly  shown  in  John  i :  12,  13 : 


OUR  DIVINE  HEREDITY.  ^7 

"  As  many  as  received  Him,  to  them  gave  He  power  to 
become  the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that  beHeve  on  His 
name ;  which  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the 
flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God/' 

The  true  man,  the  spiritual  man,  is  not  born  of  flesh  and 
blood — of  material  substance — nor  of  human  doctrines  and 
theories.  He  is  born  of  God.  The  realization  of  his  divine 
birthright  comes  through  acknowledging  Truth  as  Jesus 
taught,  and  obeying  the  law  of  self-denial  thaf  he 
showed  to  be  the  principle  of  the  spiritual  life.  This  denial 
of  the  material,  or  sense-life,  restores  man  to  his  normal 
condition  as  a  child  of  God,  and  "  if  children,  then  heirs ; 
heirs  of  God,  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ  to  an  inheritance 
incorruptible,  and  undefiled,  and  that  passeth  not  away." 
"  When  this  corruptible  shall  have  put  on  incorruption,  and 
this  mortal  shall  have  put  on  immortality,  then  shall  be 
brought  to  pass  the  saying  that  is  written :  Death  is  swal- 
lowed up  in  victory.  '' 

One  of  the  greatest  evils  of  a  belief  in  mortal  heredity 
in  place  of  the  true  immortal  heredity  is  the  encouragement 
it  gives  to  self-deception.  Human  nature  is  ever  seeking 
excuses  for  self- justification,  and  there  are  no  excuses  that 
appeal  more  plausibly  to  the  mind  than  the  idea  that  cer- 
tain sins  and  indulgences  are  the  result  of  inherited  ten- 
dencies, 


98  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING, 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

DID  JESUS  TEACH  AN  INDIVIDUAL  GOSPEL 
OR  A  SOCIAL  GOSPEL? 

That  the  churches  are  losing  their  hold  upon  the  masses 
of  the  people  is  evident  from  many  signs.  Yet  at  the  same 
time  the  Founder  of  Christianity  is  gaining  a  new  vogue 
and  popularity  among  them.  "  The  people  turn  doubting 
from  church  altars  to  cheer  in  the  streets  the  name  of 
Jesus."  This  arises  from  their  belief  that  he  taught  a 
social  gospel  of  universal  justice  and  universal  brother- 
hood. 

That  he  did  teach  and  demonstrate  such  a  gospel  is  be- 
yond question.  The  Golden  Rule  is  the  corner-stone  of  his 
moral  code,  the  spirit  of  the  Rule  permeates  all  his  in- 
structions, and  the  all-inclusive  word  "  our,"  which  be- 
gins the  form  of  prayer  given  to  his  disciples,  places  the 
law  of  Human  Brotherhood  upon  eternal  foundations  by 
recognizing  all  men  as  children  of  the  one  Universal 
Father. 

It  is  usually  assumed  by  those  who  regard  Christianity 
as  the  foundation  of  a  social  gospel  that  the  idea  of  an  in- 
dividual gospel  is  opposed  to  that  of  a  social  gospel.  One 
of  the  leaders  of  the  socialistic  movement  who  is  pastor  of 
a  Christian  church  states  his  view  as  follows : 

"  I  regard  the  attempt  to  regenerate  society  by  first  of  all 
trying  to  regenerate  the  individuals  composing  it  as  a 


DID   JESUS    TEACH?  pp 

nightmare,  as  being  opposed  to  the  only  sane  philosophy 
I  am  acquainted  with.  I  believe  that  this  talk  about  ap- 
pealing to  men's  spiritual  natures  is  misleading  and  vain — 
that  it  overlooks  facts  and  principles  that  are  fundamental, 
and  that  to  any  longer  follow  the  method  which  it  implies, 
is  to  part  company  with  reason  and  chase  a  will-o'-the- 
wisp.  I  deny,  and  I  can  not  too  emphatically  do  it,  that  a 
man  will  find  within  himself  the  cause  of  his  woes.  It  is 
time  that  hideous  philosophy  were  abandoned.  I  believe 
in  men.  And  I  hold  that  to  profess  belief  in  God  which 
does  not  involve  the  greatest  possible  belief  in  men  is  a 
contradiction  in  terms.  I  hold  that  the  very  deepest  foun- 
dation-stone of  anything  worthy  to  be  called  religion  is 
belief  in  men." 

This  writer  makes  the  very  grave  mistake  of  supposing 
the  former  idea  of  individualism  to  be  the  only  standard 
of  individualism.  Having  been  brought  up  under  the 
shadow  of  the  "  soul-saving  "  notion  of  salvation,  he  has 
concluded  that  that  is  the  only  conception  of  an  individual 
gospel,  and  that  a  social  or  communistic  gospel  is  the  only 
alternative.  He  evidently  is  not  aware  that  many  have 
reacted  against  the  selfishness  of  soul-saving  who  have  not 
been  led  by  this  reaction  to  renounce  the  idea  of  individual- 
ism. It  has  led  them  to  see  that  a  true  individualistic  life 
is  the  only  basis  for  a  true  socialistic  life,  and  that  no  re- 
former has  ever  shown  the  principle  so  clearly  as  did  Jesus, 
the  Carpenter. 

The  difficulty  arises  from  that  old  foe  to  clear  religious 
thinking,  the  forensic  "  plan  of  salvation  "  based  upon  the 
anthropomorphic  conception  of  God.    The  idea  of  an  In- 

LofC, 


100  SPIRITUAL   KNOWING. 

finite  Being  can  only  be  suggested  to  the  finite  mind  by- 
analogies. 

The  relation  of  individualism  to  socialism  is  made  very 
clear  by  employing  the  analogue  of  mathematics,  or  the 
department  of  mathematics  which  is  expressed  by  num- 
bers. God,  the  Supreme  Origin  of  all  things,  is  repre- 
sented by  the  infinite  principle  of  mathematics ;  humanity 
is  represented  by  the  different  numbers.  Each  number  is 
an  individual  expression  of  the  principle  of  mathematics, 
and,  as  the  expression  of  this  principle,  each  number  has 
a  certain  meaning,  character,  and  value.  Also,  the  rela- 
tion of  each  number  to  all  the  others  depends  upon,  or 
grows  out  of,  its  relation  to  the  universal  principle. 

Now  let  us  suppose  the  whole  family  of  numbers  as 
being  in  a  state  of  insanity.  They  have  lost  all  conscious- 
ness of  their  relation  to  their  Father,  the  infinite  principle  of 
mathematics,  and  all  proper  sense  of  their  own  abstract 
value.  They  suppose  that  their  value  depends  upon  the 
objects  with  which  they  are  associated.  Five  does  not 
realize  itself  as  5  unless  it  is  associated  with  some  special 
object.    And  so  with  all  the  others. 

This  would  represent  a  condition  of  absolute  material- 
ism. We  can  carry  the  illustration  still  further.  We  can 
imagine  the  numbers  as  making  a  great  difference  among 
themselves  corresponding  to  the  objects  with  which 
they  are  associated.  Those  connected  with  insignificant 
objects  are  thought  meanly  of.  Those  which  count  or  ex- 
press more  important  things  feel  themselves  superior  to 
the  others,  while  those  that  are  associated  with  money  or 
property  claim  and  are  accorded  a  very  special  importance. 


DID   JESUS   TEACH?  loi 

and  are  permitted  to  rule  all  the  others.  Quarrels,  wars, 
bloodshed  become  universal  in  the  family  of  numbers. 

Now  suppose  a  Saviour  is  sent  from  the  Mathematical 
All-Father  to  heal  these  divisions  and  restore  the  quarrel- 
ing family  to  a  state  of  sanity.  Would  not  his  first,  and  in 
an  important  sense,  his  only  work,  be  to  lead  the  numbers 
to  realize  their  relation  to  the  universal  principle  from 
which  they  derive  their  being?  Could  he  do  any  real  good 
by  going  about  among  the  numbers  and  endeavoring  to 
lead  them  to  a  better  mutual  understanding,  except  by 
showing  their  relation  to  the  universal  principle?  Sup- 
pose, on  the  other  hand,  he  could  succeed  in  leading  every 
number  to  an  appreciation  of  its  true  meaning  and  value  as 
an  expression  of  the  universal  principle.  Would  not  his 
mission  be  completely  fulfilled  ?  Would  not  all  mutual  re- 
lations be  immediately  established  and  adjusted? 

Or,  if  the  reform  is  gradual,  and  he  is  compelled  to 
spend  much  time  in  working  among  the  deluded  children, 
what  would  be  the  nature  of  his  work  ?  Would  he  spend 
his  time  in  trying  to  heal  breaches  and  patch  up  quarrels  ? 
Of  what  avail  would  this  process  be  while  the  lack  of  ad- 
justment between  the  numbers  and  their  Mathematical 
Father  still  continued?  If  any  of  the  family  came  asking 
him  to  do  that  kind  of  work,  would  he  not  say :  "  Who 
made  me  a  judge  or  a  divider  over  you  ?  Seek  ye  first  the 
kingdom  of  your  Father  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added 
unto  you." 

Does  not  this  illustration  convey  its  lesson  without  need 
of  comment?  The  Christian  Socialists  are  right.  Jesus, 
the  Master  Reformer  of  the  ages,  did  come  to  adjust 


102  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING, 

human  rights  an^  to  establish  universal  brotherhood ;  to  in- 
troduce the  ideal  condition  "  when  business  will  be  friend- 
ship, and  government  will  be  love  ?  " 

But  he  understood  the  eternal  law  of  Life.  He  was  too 
wise  to  substitute  effects  for  causes.  "  Love  your  fellow- 
man,"  he  said.  "  Deny  yourself  for  him.  Feed  him 
when  hungry.  Clothe  him  when  naked.  Comfort  him 
when  afflicted."  But  not  one  word  did  he  ever  say  to  jus- 
tify the  idea  that  human  relations  could  be  set  right  till 
divine  relations  are  properly  adjusted.  As  numbers  can 
not  add,  subtract,  multiply  our  divide  correctly  till  they 
are  properly  related  to  the  infinite  principle  that  creates 
them,  no  more  can  man  deal  justly  with  his  brother  ex- 
cept in  so  far  as  he  is  in  proper  relations  with  the  Infinite 
Father.  Jesus  said :  "  The  first  of  all  the  commandments 
is  Hear,  O  Israel,  the  Lord  our  God  is  one  God,  and 
thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  with  all  thy 
strength.  "  He  then  repeats  the  statement :  "  This  is  the 
first  commandment."  And  adds,  "  the  second  is  like, 
namely  this:  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself. 
There  is  none  other  commandment  greater  than  these." 

It  may  be  claimed  that  some  who  do  not  profess  to  love 
God — who  do  not  even  believe  in  His  existence — are  more 
righteous  in  their  lives,  and  more  just  in  their  dealings 
with  their  fellow-men  than  others  who  acknowledge  God 
and  profess  to  love  and  obey  Him. 

It  is  not  a  question  of  profession  or  even  of  recognition 
and  acknowledgment.  Anyone  who  believes  in  right- 
eousness and  lives  it,  behoves  in  God,  whether  he  knows  it 


DID   JESUS   TEACH?  103 

or  not.  T.here  can  not  be  any  goodness  in  the  universe  that 
does  not  come  from  Him.  People  who  love  goodness  and 
practice  righteousness  have  not  rejected  God;  they  have 
only  rejected  the  false  God  of  human  conception.  In  pro- 
portion as  they  love  goodness  and  righteousness  they  love 
God,  although  they  may  not  realize  it.  Therefore,  instead 
of  being  evidence^  against  the  rule  that  man  must  love  God 
first  and  the  fellow-man  afterward,  they  are  living  wit- 
nesses in  its  favor.  We  may  say  to  them  as  St.  Paul  did 
to  the  Athenians :  "  Whom  therefore  ye  ignorantly  wor- 
ship. Him  declare  we  unto  you." 

The  rank  injustice  of  industrial  conditions  ought  to  stir 
every  heart  with  deepest  indignation  and  pity.  The  fact 
that  millions  of  our  fellow-men  have  not  the  privilege  of 
earning  their  daily  bread,  and  that  those  who  have  this 
privilige  are  subject  to  innumerable  limitations  and  dis- 
advantages by  the  evils  of  the  existing  social  order — what 
right-minded  child  of  the  race  can  withhold  his  sympathy 
or  fail  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  alleviate  this  condition — 
to  right  the  grievous  wrong. 

The  Literary  Digest  of  September  22,  1900,  gives  the 
following  description  of  industrial  conditions  in  Italy, 
translated  from  the  Frankfurter  Zeitung: 

"  A  perusal  of  the  rules  for  the  workingmen,  which  are 
posted  in  the  leading  factories,  shows  how  unmercifully 
the  workingmen  and  women  are  treated.  Work  in  both 
winter  and  summer  begins  at  six,  and  care  is  taken  that 
no  one  dare  be  late  even  a  second.  T.ardiness,  even  to  the 
slightest  degree,  is  fined  ten  centesimi  (two  cents),  and 
double  this  sum  if  it  takes  place  on  a  Monday.    On  every 


104  SPIRITUAL   KNOWING. 

repetition  of  such  tardiness  the  fine  is  doubled.  In  the  silk 
factories,  during  the  season,  the  hours  of  labor  are  six- 
teen, namely,  from  4  a.m.  to  8  p.m.,  while  the  average  pay 
is  only  half  a  lira  (10  cents). 

"  The  least  inattention  is  severely  fined.  It  is  utterly  im- 
possible to  sit  at  a  weaver's  bench  for  twelve  consecutive 
hours  without  speaking  a  word;  yet  if  detected  in  the  act 
the  culprit  is  fined.  No  time  is  given  to  the  women 
workers  for  their  duties  at  home,  and  if  one  of  them  re- 
mains at  home  a  few  hours  for  such  a  purpose,  she  is  fined 
two  lira  (39  cents) — a  large  sum  under  the  circumstances. 
Leaving  one's  chair  without  the  best  of  reasons  brings  a 
fine  of  50  centesimi  (10  cents).  Any  break  in  the  ma- 
chines must  be  paid  for  by  the  workman,  although  he 
may  be  entirely  without  fault." 

If  it  be  alleged  that  it  is  unfair  to  borrow  an  illustration 
from  the  country  where  the  industrial  conditions  are  at 
the  very  worst,  the  answer  is  that  the  business  creed  which 
leads  to  those  conditions  is  dominant  in  America,  although 
not  carried  to  such  extreme  results.  The  creed  is :  "  Get 
all  you  can  and  give  as  little  as  possible." 

But  the  value  of  sympathy  depends  entirely  upon  the 
effectiveness  of  its  expression.  As  a  mere  sentiment  it  is 
worthless.  And  taking  the  term  "  Christian  Socialism  " 
as  indicating  the  best  effort  of  men  to  release  their  fellow- 
men  from  all  evil  social  conditions,  who  is  the  best  Chris- 
tian Socialist,  one  who  strikes  the  evil  at  its  root,  and  seeks 
to  introduce  at  the  foundation  a  Principle  that  will  reach 
the  heart  and  change  the  nature  and  motives  of  both  em- 
ployer and  employed  (because  the  Principle  of  Love  ap- 


DID   JESUS   TEACH?  105 

plies  equally  to  both),  or  one  who  gives  his  attention  to 
external  reforms;  pruning  and  lopping  off  the  diseased 
branches  ?  The  social  reformers  are  indeed  doing  a  noble 
work  in  their  efforts  to  secure  justice  in  the  industrial 
world.  But  they  should  remember  the  words  of  the  Mas- 
ter Reformer :  "  these  ought  ye  to  have  done,  and  not  to 
leave  the  other  undone." 

Love  is  a  universal  solvent.  It  is  the  only  cure  for  the 
ills  of  humanity.  Not  human  love  as  a  sentiment,  but 
Divine  Love  as  an  active  force,  expressed  in  righteousness, 
justice,  unfailing  consideration  for  "  the  other  one."  And 
it  must  be  remembered  that  every  spiritual  reality  has  its 
counterfeit  in  the  unreal  realm  of  human  selfishness. 
Every  activity  of  life  is  the  expression  of  love,  either 
human  or  divine.  A  great  city  like  New  York  or  London, 
is  only  what  love  has  made  it.  Love  of  home,  love  of 
friends,  love  of  action,  love  of  success,  love  of  applause, 
love  of  art — man  expresses  himself  through  his  various 
forms  of  love,  and  if  the  fruits  of  love  should  be  elimi- 
nated, there  would  be  no  New  York  or  London  left.  Now 
let  all  that  is  human  in  this  love  be  changed  to  the  divine, 
and  heaven  would  be  here.  Joy  and  peace  would  reign 
in  every  heart. 

And  this  is  exactly  the  figure  that  is  employed  by  St. 
John  in  his  revelation  of  the  ideal  future : 

"  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth ;  for  the  first 
heaven  and  the  first  earth  were  passed  away;  and  there 
was  no  more  sea  (no  more  error  or  unrest).  And  I,  John, 
saw  the  holy  city,  New  Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God 
out  of  heaven,  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  hus- 


io6  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

band.  And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  heaven  saying, 
Behold  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  He  will 
dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall  be  His  people,  and  God 
Himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their  God.  And  God 
shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes ;  and  there  shall 
be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow  nor  crying,  neither  shall 
there  be  any  more  pain,  for  the  former  things  are  passed 
away." 

This  is  a  picture  of  the  future  New  York  and  Lon- 
don when  they  have  been  emancipated  from  selfishness  and 
sin,  and  spiritualized  by  Love.  The  heavenly  Jerusalem  is 
a  type  of  the  earthly  city.  "  Jerusalem,  which  is  above  is 
free,  which  is  the  mother  of  us  all." 

And  since  it  is  a  spiritual  city  we  are  building,  it  is  an 
unspeakable  comfort  and  encouragement  to  know  that 
every  act  of  kindness,  justice,  and  unselfishness  on  our 
part  is  adding  to  its  beauty.  Even  our  loving  thoughts 
are  helping  to  build  the  New  Jerusalem,  for  thoughts  are 
things,  and  "  the  things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal." 


THE  HEAVENLY  LANGUAGE.  107 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
THE  HEAVENLY  LANGUAGE. 

A  correspondent,  writing  with  reference  to  a  treatise  on 
a  spiritual  subject,  says :  "  It  is  written  in  the  heavenly 
language  in  which  is  written  the  '  new  name,'  which  *  no 
man  can  read  save  he  to  whom  it  is  given.'  " 

The  idea  of  a  "  heavenly  language  "  has  lingered  in 
my  mind  like  a  strain  of  sweetest  music.  T,he  "  new 
name  "  is  Love,  and  the  heavenly  language  is  the  language 
of  Love. 

"  The  wise  men  ask  what  language  did  Christ  speak  ? 

They  cavil,  argue,  search  and  little  prove  ; 
O  sages,  leave  your  Syriac  and  your  Greek — 
Each  heart  contains  the  knowledge  that  you  seek: 

Christ  spoke  the  universal  language,  love."  * 

Spiritual  psychology  is  introducing  a  new  language 
into  the  world,  and  it  is  a  heavenly  language.  It  is  an  ex- 
pression of  the  spiritual  truth  which  Jesus  taught  concern- 
ing the  unseen  spiritual  world  as  the  world  of  realities. 
Turning  the  thought  to  that  world  we  find  there  an  infinite 
Heavenly  Father  whose  very  substance  is  Love,  and  this 
love  is  imparted  to  everyone  who  obeys  its  laws.  But  the 
material  must  be  sacrificed  to  the  spiritual.  ''  Ye  can  not 
serve  God  and  mammon."  All  anxiety  must  be  given  up, 
and  our  lives  must  be  committed  to  the  unseen  realm  with 


*  Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox. 


io8  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

the  trust  of  a  little  child.  Then  "  all  things  shall  be  added 
unto  you  "  for  the  higher  or  spiritual  consciousness  con- 
trols the  lower  or  material  consciousness.  Harmony  within 
will  express  itself  by  harmony  without.  In  proportion  as 
we  realize  love,  joy,  and  peace  in  our  inner  being,  the  dis- 
cords of  the  external  life  will  disappear.  God  is  Spirit  and 
He  is  Love.  Live  with  Him,  rejoice  in  Him,  surrender 
your  will  to  His  will,  and  Heaven  will  take  possession  of 
your  being.  But  we  must  trust  and  rest,  and  live  for  the 
highest  things.  Only  the  pure  in  heart  can  see  God,  and 
only  the  trusting  heart  can  find  peace  in  Him. 

The  phrase  "  heavenly  language  "  is  a  useful  addition  to 
religious  terminology.  It  is  needed.  People  are  coming 
into  the  new  spiritual  conception  of  life  in  so  many  ways 
and  from  so  many  different  starting-points,  that  they  are 
often  unconscious  of  the  change  themselves,  and  also  un- 
conscious of  the  new  bond  of  sympathy  with  others.  Now 
let  them  observe  whether  their  friends  begin  to  speak  the 
heavenly  language.  If  they  express  in  any  form  the 
thought  that  God  is  all,  that  Spirit  is  all,  that  Love  is  all, 
then  we  may  respond  in  like  terms  and  find  that  we  and 
they  are  in  the  "  unity  of  the  spirit  and  the  bond  of  peace." 

The  phrase  affords  a  helpful  suggestion  to  the  clergy. 
Many  of  them  are  in  large  sympathy  with  the  principles 
of  spiritual  knowing.  But  their  sermons  are  not  yet  clearly 
expressed  in  the  heavenly  language.  Or,  perhaps,  they 
preach  a  sermon  in  the  language,  and  some  of  their  hun- 
gry people  go  home  delighted.  But  the  next  Sunday  the 
sermon  will  be  filled  with  the  old  scholastic  terms,  and  the 
comfort  of  the  sympathetic  hearer  is  lost.    The  theological 


THE  HEAVENLY  LANGUAGE.  lop 

seminaries  will  never  be  wholly  right  till  they  teach  the 
heavenly  language,  and  the  gulf  between  the  preachers  and 
the  masses  will  only  disappear  as  that  language  is  learned 
and  employed. 

Yet  it  is  not  really  a  new  language.  Five  thousand  years 
ago,  while  the  priests  were  ministering  in  the  name  of 
polytheism  because  the  masses  of  the  people  were  not  pre- 
pared for  anything  higher,  many  of  them  secretly  held  to 
one  God.  The  following  statement  was  a  part  of  the  form 
for  initiating  the  favored  few  into  "  the  unutterable  mys- 
teries " :  ''  God  is  the  One,  the  All,  the  Father,  the  Source 
of  Life,  the  Sustainer  of  Life." 

The  Hebrew  Scriptures  are  full  of  the  heavenly  lan- 
guage, but  it  has  not  had  its  full  heavenly  interpretation. 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  makes  it  a  part  of  his  great  commis- 
sion as  recorded  in  Mark  i6 :  17 :  "  In  my  name  shall  they 
cast  out  devils ;  they  shall  speak  with  new  tongues."  The 
early  church  obeyed  the  commission  literally,  healing  the 
sick,  and  speaking  the  heavenly  language.  When  the 
power  was  lost  through  worldly  ambitions  and  worldly 
methods,  a  few  faithful  ones  still  used  the  language,  and  it 
diffused  some  light  even  in  the  darkest  ages.  Now  it  is  re- 
appearing in  the  fullness  of  its  power,  and  blessed  are  they 
who  understand  and  use  it. 

We  sometimes  speak  of  dead  languages,  but  the  truly 
dead  language  is  that  which  expresses  a  dead  theology. 
The  heavenly  language  is  the  dialect  of  Love ;  the  vernacu- 
lar of  Eternal  Life. 


no  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  ART  OF  LETTING  GO. 

The  art  of  arts,  the  hardest  for  human  nature  to  learn, 
is  the  art  of  letting  go.  It  is  not  so  in  the  rest  of  the  uni- 
verse, outside  of  human  kind.    Why  is  it  that 

"the  earth  whirled  amid  the  stars, 

Wakes  not  a  nested  bird  or  slumbering  child  ?  ** 

It  is  because  our  planet  has  "  let  go  "  absolutely  and 
perfectly,  and  surrendered  itself  to  the  care  of  God.  God 
says  to  the  circling  stars :  "  Underneath  are  the  everlast- 
ing arms."  They  believe  His  word,  and  yield  themselves 
to  His  perfect  care,  and  a  harmonious  Cosmos  is  the  re- 
sult. If  but  a  single  atom  in  a  single  star  failed  to  yield 
itself  in  absolute  trust  to  all  the  laws  that  govern  it,  order 
would  be  changed  to  chaos.  The  universe  would  become  a 
diverse, 

God  says  to  man:  "  Underneath  are  the  everlasting 
arms."  Man  stops  to  doubt  and  question,  and  thus  de- 
stroys his  own  peace.  Here  are  some  wise  and  helpful 
words  on  the  question  of  letting  go : 

"  When  we  look  into  faces  around  us  we  find  traces  of 
anxiety  and  care  in  all.  Anxious  thought  has  written  its 
mark  over  most  faces. 

"  What  are  we  anxious  about  ?  Some  fear  haunts  us. 
We  seem  afraid  of  so  many  things.     Afraid  of  falling 


THE  ART  OF  LETTING   GO.  iii 

into  something  that  will  hurt  us,  or  somebody  else.  Sup- 
pose, now,  that  we  just  let  ourselves  fall.  Rest  awhile  by 
saying :  '  I  have  no  concern  about  what  happens.  I  am 
not  anxious.'  It  will  be  well  for  us  to  try  falling  for  a 
time.  We  have  been  on  such  a  strain,  trying  to  hold  our- 
selves up,  to  keep  from  falling.  Let  us  now  yield,  give  up 
the  strain,  fall.  What  then?  Where  is  there  to  fall  but 
into  God? 

" '  Underneath  are  the  everlasting  arms.'  We  have 
never  rested  upon  them,  because  we  have  been  trying  to 
keep  ourselves  up.  When  we  let  go  we  shall  feel  these 
strong  arms  all  about  us.  All  threats  of  what  may  happen 
to  us  will  be  proved  powerless  when  we  give  up  resistance. 
Let  come  what  will,  for  only  God  can  come. 

"  We  may  begin  to  destroy  claims  of  fear  and  anxiety 
by  saying  often :  '  I  am  not  afraid,  for  there  is  nothing  to 
be  afraid  of — ^God  hath  not  given  me  a  spirit  of  fear. 
Perfect  love  casteth  out  fear.* 

How  can  we  carry  out  the  "  let  go  "  gospel  ?  In  other 
words,  what  shall  we  let  go  of  ? 

I.  Since  God  is  Infinite  Love,  let  go  of  the  idea  that  sin, 
evil,  hate,  discord,  sickness,  etc.,  are  realities  in  any  such 
sense  as  their  opposites  are  realities.  They  are  realities 
only  to  the  extent  that  we  hold  them  in  our  thought  as 
realities.  Let  go  of  the  thought  of  evil,  and  hold  the 
thought  of  goodness;  of  envy,  and  hold  the  thought  of 
Love;  of  discord,  and  hold  the  thought  of  harmony;  of 
sickness,  and  hold  the  thought  of  health,  and  so  on  through 
the  entire  catalogue. 


*  Mrs.  Fannie  B.  James. 


112  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

2.  Let  go  of  all  that  is  earthly.  Then  we  shall  begin  at 
once  to  rise.  Material  gravitation  is  downward,  but  spirit- 
ual gravitation  is  upward.  Letting  go  is  like  cutting  the 
ropes  of  the  balloon  and  allowing  it  to  rise  into  its  native 
element.  Remember  that  "  it  is  the  father's  good  pleasure 
to  give  us  the  kingdom."  We  do  not  have  to  beg  and 
plead  for  it.  Only  let  go  of  the  things  that  belong  to  earth 
—the  lower  self — and  we  shall  rise  into  the  upper  region 
of  Love,  Joy,  and  Peace. 

3.  Give  up  worrying  because  others  insist  on  traveling 
toward  Heaven  a  different  way  from  ours.  "  Some  peo- 
ple collect  a  bag  of  prejudices  and  call  it  conscience."  And 
they  are  just  the  people  who  judge  others  by  their  own 
little  standard.  It  is  well  to  imitate  the  Episcopalian 
brother  who  was  asked  whether  a  floating  chapel  in  which 
he  was  interested  was  "  High  Church  "  or  ''  Low  Church." 
"  It  depends  on  the  tide,"  was  his  reply. 

4.  Give  up  the  personal  will.  Ah !  here  is  the  supreme 
test.  Many  readers  of  these  lines  can  conscientiously  and 
truthfully  says :  ''  I  have  been  trying  all  my  life  to  do 
this,  and  I  have  not  succeeded."  Do  not  be  discouraged. 
A  new  hope  is  coming  into  the  world  through  the  law  of 
spiritual  knowing.  Our  efforts  in  the  past  have  been  on 
the  platform  of  blind  belief.  Now  we  are  seeing  that  we 
are  called  (as  Christians  have  been  for  nineteen  centuries, 
but  few  have  understood  it)  to  the  higher  privilege  of 
knowing.  But  we  can  not  change  the  habit  of  thought 
in  a  moment.  It  is  like  a  new  lesson  to  be  learned,  and  it 
can  not  be  mastered  without  constant  effort.  Practice 
daily  the  effort  of  holding  the  thought :    I  am  a  child  of 


THE  ART  OF  LETTING   GO.  113 

God,  made  in  His  image  and  likeness.  I  have  no  will  but 
His.  I  am  spiritual  and  I  do  not  live  in  or  for  the  ma- 
terial. I  do  not  yield  to  error.  The  greatest  error  is  to 
doubt  God.  I  can  and  do  deny  error  and  selfishness.  I 
can  and  do  rest  in  the  Lord.  Not  my  will,  but  thine, 
O  Lord,  is  done. 

A  layman,  a  successful  man  of  affairs,  has  stated  the 
truth  clearly  and  strongly,  as  follows: 

"  Christ's  prayer,  '  Not  my  will,  but  thine  be  done,'  ex- 
cludes all  sense  of  personality  or  self-gratification.  Did 
you  ever  think  that  all  the  poverty,  want,  in  fact,  every 
form  of  evil,  with  its  inevitable  results,  sickness,  sorrow, 
and  death  comes  from  that  little  word  mine?  Well,  it 
does,  every  bit  of  it.  And  when  we  learn  to  substitute 
the  word  '  God's '  for  '  mine,'  all  sickness,  sorrow,  and 
friction  of  every  kind  will  gradually  drop  out  of  our  lives, 
and  Heaven — harmony — will  be  a  veritable  reality.  Make 
it  a  settled  fact  in  your  life  that  your  will  is  to  be  in  com- 
plete subjection  to  the  divine  will  in  every  word,  thought, 
and  act.  This  means  m.uch,  but  it  is  the  '  only  true  way,' 
and  your  reward  will  well  repay  the  effort.  You  will  be 
a  constant  surprise  to  everyone,  and  a  greater  surprise  to 
yourself.  Are  you  weak?  You  will  become  strong.  Are 
you  sick?  You  will  become  well.  Are  you  poor?  You 
will  become  rich — rich  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  for  then 
you  will  begin  to  manifest  the  kingdom  of  heaven  which 
is  '  within  you.'  Then  '  God  will  dwell  in  you  both  to  will 
and  to  do  of  His  good  pleasure/  " ''' 


*  Lincoln  G.  Backus, 


114  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
CONTAGIOUS  GREETINGS. 

A  vast  amount  of  harm  is  done  by  the  unfortunate  form 
of  greeting  which  prevails  among  all  English-speaking 
people.  "  How  do  you  do  ?  "  we  say,  with  the  kindest 
possible  intention.  But  the  question  has  a  most  undesir- 
able and  mischievous  effect.  It  brings  before  the  mind 
the  one  subject  which  ought  to  be  kept  in  the  background 
■ — ^the  ills  of  the  flesh.  In  accordance  with  some  element 
of  perversity  in  human  nature  the  question  does  not  call 
up  a  vision  of  health,  but  rather  brings  out  the  latent 
thoughts  of  infirmity  and  disease. 

The  evil  is  not  a  slight  one.  Now  that  the  governing 
effect  of  mental  action  is  beginning  to  be  realized,  it  be- 
comes an  important  duty  to  change  or  modify  a  custom 
which  develops  a  destructive  force  whenever  two  friends 
chance  to  meet.  Thoughts  are  things.  Our  sympathetic 
greetings  are  actually  contagious.  We  throw  sickly  ideas 
like  pestilent  pellets  at  one  another's  heads. 

There  is  a  form  of  greeting  that  is  natural  and  un- 
forced, and  that  produces  an  effect  which  is  as  favorable 
in  the  right  direction  as  the  other  is  in  the  wrong.  "  Good- 
morning  !  How  is  your  thought  to-day  ?  "  The  essential 
difference  between  the  trend  of  materialism  and  the  trend 
of  spirituality  is  well  illustrated  by  the  opposite  effect  of 
the  two  questions.    "  How  is  your  health  ?  "  is  an  appeal 


CONTAGIOUS  GREETINGS.  115 

to  the  material  side,  and  brings  up  thoughts  of  sickness. 
Even  if  we  feel  well  when  the  question  is  asked,  the  ten- 
dency is  to  remember  that  we  had  a  headache  yesterday 
or  are  dreading  the  dyspepsia  to-morrow.  "  How  is  your 
thought  ?  "  emphasizes  the  optimistic  and  not  the  pessi- 
mistic side.  It  arouses  an  immediate  desire  to  improve 
the  thought,  and  to  press  more  resolutely  in  the  direction 
of  Truth  and  Life. 
Let  us  banish  all  contagious  greetings. 


Ii6  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
THE  NEW  EVANGELISM. 

Evangelism  is  defined  as  "  the  preaching  or  promulga- 
tion of  the  gospel."  Gospel  means  "  good  news "  or 
"  glad  tidings."  But  what  has  been  called  the  gospel  in 
the  past  has  been  partly  good  news  and  partly  bad  news. 
The  good  news  was  the  teaching  that  God  is  Love,  and 
that  Jesus  Christ  came  to  reveal  His  love,  and  to  lead  men 
to  know  the  Heavenly  Father.  The  bad  news  (proclaimed 
by  the  same  "  evangelists "  who  proclaimed  the  good 
news)  was  that  God  is  also  a  relentless  Monarch,  who 
would  not  forgive  His  rebellious  subjects  (as  they  were 
called)  until  His  son  died  as  a  punishment  for  their  sins, 
and  until  they  believed  this  teaching  and  accepted  the 
death  of  Jesus  Christ  as  an  expiatory  sacrifice  made  in 
their  behalf.  The  bad  news  also  included  the  idea  of  a 
hell  of  eternal  punishment,  where  a  large  share  of  the 
human  race  were  destined  or  (as  many  taught)  pre- 
destined to  go. 

Churches  and  institutions  which  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  do  evangelistic  work  are  now  anxiously  consid- 
ering what  form  of  appeal  can  be  made  in  the  light  of  the 
New  Dispensation — ^the  Dispensation  of  Love.  The  ap- 
peal to  fear  has  lost  its  power. 

Can  there  be  any  doubt  on  this  question?  Can  any 
power  equal  the  power  of  Love  and  Truth?     Love  is 


THE  NEW  EVANGELISM.  117 

infinite.  Truth  is  omnipotent.  They  are  really  one,  for 
Truth  is  Love  demonstrated,  and  the  combination  is  ir- 
resistible. "  Ye  shall  know  the  Truth,  and  the  Truth 
shall  make  you  free." 

The  present  revival  of  New  Testament  teaching,  freed 
from  the  human  traditions  which  have  gathered  around  it 
during  the  intervening  centuries,  changes  the  gospel  of 
good  and  bad  news  to  a  gospel  of  good  news  only.  How 
may  we  know  that  this  is  a  pure  gospel?  It  is  a  pure 
gospel  because  it  is  universal.  It  applies  equally  to  the 
learned  and  the  unlearned ;  to  the  very  poor  and  the  very 
rich;  to  the  hopeful  optimist  and  the  despairing  pessi- 
mist. It  appeals  to  the  simplest  mind,  yet  satisfies  the 
wisest  philosopher.  It  holds  the  terrors  of  the  law  equally 
over  those  who  are  drunk  with  alcohol,  and  those  who  are 
drunk  with  spiritual  pride,  announcing  the  one  universal 
and  inexorable  law  for  all :  "  Be  not  deceived.  God  is 
not  mocked,  for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he 
also  reap." 

The  New  Evangelism  announces  the  message  that  God 
is  Love,  and  only  Love.  Some  earnest  but  conservative 
Christians  are  fearful  that  the  presentation  of  this  truth 
will  give  the  sinner  a  license  in  self-indulgence.  It  can 
not  do  so,  if  the  case  is  properly  presented.  Sin  is  in- 
sanity. Is  there  anything  more  awful  than  insanity — 
the  delusion  and  darkness  of  a  diseased  mind?  Show 
the  sinner  that  he  is  under  the  terrible  law  "  to  whom  ye 
yield  yourselves  servants  to  obey,  his  slaves  ye  are  to 
whom  ye  obey."  This  is  the  true  rendering  of  the  text. 
Show  him  that  he  must  remain  a  slave  till  he  renounces 


Ii8  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

his  sin,  and  that  his  taskmaster  will  become  more  relent- 
less and  more  cruel  the  longer  he  remains  under  his 
power.  Then  show  him  that  he  can  break  the  shackles 
and  escape  from  the  bondage  at  once  if  he  will  accept 
the  law  of  emancipation :  "  I  can  do  all  things  through 
Christ,  who  strengtheneth  me."  "  As  far  as  the  east  is 
from  the  west,  so  far  hath  he  removed  our  transgres- 
sions from  us."  This  separation  is  simply  a  reversal  of 
one's  course. 

Spiritual  knowing  shows  that  this  declaration  applies 
not  only  to  sin,  but  also  to  the  consequences  of  sin,  and 
to  the  weakness,  disease,  and  misery  it  entails  upon  its 
victims.  God  not  only  "  forgiveth  all  our  iniquities,"  but 
He  "  healeth  all  our  diseases."  Evil  habits,  appetites,  and 
passions  are  overcome.  The  children  of  wretchedness 
and  despair  "  come  to  themselves."  They  "arise  and  go 
to  the  Father."  There  they  find  that  He  has  always  been 
waiting  for  them,  ready  at  any  moment  to  go  out  and 
meet  them,  to  welcome  them,  to  take  them  into  His  home 
and  give  them  an  abundance  of  joy  and  peace  forever- 
more. 


OBEDIENCE,  119 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

OBEDIENCE,   THE  CHIEF  OF   CHRISTIAN 
GRACES. 

Though  he  were  a  Son,  yet  learned  he  obedience  by 
the  things  which  he  suffered ;  and  being  made  perfect,  he 
became  the  author  of  salvation  unto  all  that  obey  him. 
Heb.  5 : 8,  9. 

Obedience  is  the  chief  of  Christian  graces,  because  it 
includes  all  the  others.  It  includes  Love,  for  the 
obedience  of  fear  is  not  obedience  in  the  true  sense  of  the 
word.  It  includes  humility,  for  an  obedient  disposition 
is  the  fruit  of  self-forgetfulness  and  self-surrender.  And 
so  on  through  the  list  of  Christian  qualities. 

Like  all  other  religious  questions,  that  of  obedience 
must  now  be  considered  or  reconsidered  in  the  light  of 
true  science  or  spiritual  knowing.  The  idea  of  obedience 
to  a  person  must  give  place  to  the  idea  of  obedience  to  a 
principle.  This  is  the  message  of  the  new  dispensation 
to  the  children  of  the  old  dispensation,  and  it  disturbs  us 
not  a  little.  Human  nature,  especially  in  its  undeveloped 
stages,  always  clings  to  the  concrete  rather  than  the  ab- 
stract. Personality  is  concrete;  it  appeals  to  the  primi- 
tive consciousness.  Principle  is  abstract,  it  must  be 
sought  for  and  studied ;  its  unseen  laws  must  be  grappled 
with,  and  in  some  degree  comprehended. 

The  higher  must  be  cultivated,  and  it  must  eventually 


120  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING, 

prevail  in  all  the  relations  of  life.  The  wise  teacher  who 
so  trains  his  pupils  that  they  will  maintain  the  same  good 
order  in  the  schoolroom  when  he  is  absent  as  when  he  is 
present,  is  teaching  them  the  lesson  of  obedience  to  prin- 
ciple instead  of  obedience  to  a  person.  This  one  illustra- 
tion is  sufficient  to  suggest  the  application  of  the  law  in 
the  realm  of  education. 

In  applying  it  in  the  religious  field  we  seem  to  be 
checked  at  the  outset  by  the  very  text  that  has  been 
chosen  to  introduce  the  discussion.  Do  we  not  read  "  he 
became  the  author  of  salvation  unto  all  them  that  obey 
himf  How  could  personality  be  more  strongly  em- 
phasized than  it  is  in  this  declaration? 

Let  this  question  be  answered  by  asking  a  counter 
question.  How  does  it  happen  that  the  so-called  Chris- 
tian nations  that  have  accepted  the  Bible  as  a  revelation 
from  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Son  of  God,  the 
Saviour  of  the  world — how  does  it  happen  that  while  pro- 
fessing to  follow  him  and  to  obey  his  teachings,  they  have 
so  largely  done  the  things  he  told  them  not  to  do,  and  left 
undone  the  things  he  told  them  to  do  ?  It  is  because  their 
attention  has  been  occupied  with  personality  rather  than 
principle.  He  revealed  God  as  an  infinite  Father  whose 
nature  and  being  is  Love,  and  said  "  do  not  trouble  your- 
selves about  doctrines ;  do  the  Father's  will,  obey  the  law 
of  Love,  and  you  will  know  the  doctrine,"  and  the  world 
has  been  neglecting  the  law  of  Love  and  fighting  over 
doctrines  ever  since.  The  outcome  of  this  devotion  to  the 
personality  of  Jesus  rather  than  to  the  principle  he  taught 
was    well    expressed    by    the    late    Prof.    Roswell    D. 


OBEDIENCE,  121 

Hitchcock :  "  After  nineteen  centuries  of  propagandism, 
Christianity  is  now  compelled  to  apologize  for  Christen- 
dom." Also  by  Dean  Milman :  "  Christianity  has  been 
tried  for  1900  years.  Perhaps  it  is  now  time  to  try  the 
religion  of  Jesus." 

If  we  are  to  reconsider  the  law  of  obedience,  we  must 
give  our  thought  to  its  widest  range  and  its  deepest  sig- 
nificance. What  are  we  as  children  of  God  called  to 
obey?  We  are  called  to  obey  the  unseen  guidance  of  a 
Power  which  is  Love,  the  infinite  and  absolute  principle. 
We  must  surrender  ourselves  to  it  with  what  Emerson 
describes  as  "  the  negligency  of  trust  that  carries  God 
with  it." 

One  cause  of  the  difficulty  we  have  in  doing  this  arises 
from  our  imperfect  concept  of  the  word  "  infinite."  We 
associate  it  with  the  idea  of  vastness,  immensity,  forget- 
ting that  it  includes  the  infinitely  small  as  well  as  the  in- 
finitely great.  We  see  God  in  the  heavenly  constella- 
tions, but  do  not  see  Him  in  the  trifles  of  our  daily  lives. 
This  is  where  the  thought  of  principle  rather  than  per- 
sonality will  help  us.  Is  there  any  object  so  small  that  it 
is  not  governed  by  the  law  of  gravitation?  Neither  is 
any  experience  so  trifling  that  it  does  not  come  within 
the  range  of  Infinite  Love.  Impatience  with  any  ex- 
perience is  disobedience  to  the  unseen  Power  that  is 
guiding  us.  We  miss  a  train  and  are  vexed  beyond  meas- 
ure by  the  occurrence.  Infinite  Love  has  not  deserted  us. 
This  is  just  the  time  to  turn  our  thought  toward  the  un- 
seen, and  realize  that  God  is  All  in  all.  Nothing  else  is 
present  or  has  power.    Perhaps  the  trouble  came  from  our 


122  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

own  carelessness,  but  vexation  only  makes  it  worse.  I 
know  a  bright  and  cheerful  man  who  always  says  "  Praise 
the  Lord  "  whatever  happens.  Would  he  say  it  if  he 
should  fall  and  break  his  arm?  I  think  he  would.  But 
we  must  remember  that  if  we  have  the  spirit  of  praise  in 
our  hearts  every  moment  we  shall  be  saved  from  accident. 
"  No  evil  shall  befall  thee,  neither  shall  any  plague  come 
nigh  thy  dwelling."  Many  accidents  befall  good  people, 
but  it  is  only  because  they  have  not  believed  in  the  law  of 
Love,  and  surrendered  their  hearts  and  lives  wholly  to  it. 
A  God-loving  pastor  in  a  German  village  was  repri- 
manded by  a  neighbor  for  not  putting  bars  across  the 
second-story  window  to  keep  his  little  child  from  falling 
out.  He  reminded  her  of  the  promise :  "  He  shall  give 
his  angels  charge  over  thee,  to  keep  thee  in  all  thy  ways. 
They  shall  bear  thee  up  in  their  hands  lest  thou  dash  thy 
foot  against  a  stone."  One  day  the  child  did  fall  out  of 
the  window.  The  pastor  calmly  told  his  daughter  to  go 
and  pick  it  up.  She  did  so,  and  found  it  unhurt.  The 
next  day  his  neighbor's  child  fell  from  a  chair  to  the 
floor  and  broke  its  arm. 

To  return  to  the  question  of  personality  and  principle. 
It  is  a  distinction  which  belongs  to  the  law  of  spiritual 
knowing.  Our  thoughts  are  not  yet  fully  adjusted  to  it. 
But  is  it  not  true  that  personality  is  the  cause  of  most  of 
our  sorrow  in  the  world?  We  have  misunderstandings 
with  our  dearest  friends.  Friendship  should  be  one  of  the 
greatest  privileges  of  our  lives,  but  is  it  not  really  the 
source  of  our  most  painful  disappointments?  Spiritual 
knowing  changes  the  character  and  quality  of  our  friend- 


OBEDIENCE.  123 

ships.  Those  who  are  striving  to  obey  the  Infinite  Prin- 
ciple of  Love  have  a  bond  of  sympathy  that  nothing  else 
can  give.  No  Masonic  Brotherhood  or  other  human  or- 
ganization can  compare  with  it.  Those  who  recognize 
spiritual  life  as  the  only  life  have  in  their  friendship  the 
element  of  eternity. 

Do  friends  vex  us,  and  circumstances  excite  and  annoy 
us  ?  This  is  an  inevitable  fruit  of  disobedience  to  the  In- 
finite Principle  of  Love  which  contains,  sustains,  and 
maintains  us.  Failing  to  realize  the  perfection  of  this 
loving  care,  we  must  live  in  a  state  of  perpetual  unrest. 
Now  change  the  thought  from  ignorant  doubt  to  an  intel- 
ligent understanding  and  reception  of  the  fact  that  trust 
is  obedience  and  anxiety  is  disobedience,  and  our  lives 
will  be  transformed  within  and  without. 

"  Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace  whose  mind  is 
stayed  on  thee :  because  he  trusteth  in  thee." 

"  He  that  believeth  shall  not  make  haste." 

Ingratitude  is  another  form  of  disobedience.  We  have 
not  thought  of  our  lack  of  gratitude  as  a  lack  of  obedience, 
but  spiritual  knowing  shows  it  to  be  one  of  the  worst 
manifestations  of  a  disobedient  spirit,  bringing  the  great- 
est harm  to  ourselves.  It  may  almost  be  said  that  in- 
gratitude is  the  cause  of  all  human  troubles.  It  impairs, 
and,  if  persisted  in,  ultimately  destroys  our  conscious- 
ness of  the  Infinite  Love  that  is  guiding  and  supplying 
us,  and,  therefore,  it  shuts  out  the  blessings  that  this 
Love  seeks  to  impart.  It  is  one  of  the  evil  fruits  of  self- 
consideration,  and  it  can  only  be  overcome  by  turning  our 
thoughts  resolutely  away  from  that  imperious  ruler  of 


124  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING, 

our  carnal  mind,  that  pampered,  exacting,  merciless  auto- 
crat, King  Self,  and  fixing  our  attention  upon  God,  the 
Eternal  Goodness,  with  a  desire  to  be  used  as  a  channel 
for  conveying  His  blessings  to  our  fellow-men. 

Realizing  the  scientific  truth  that  our  home  is  in  Mind 
and  not  in  matter  will  help  us  to  overcome  the  grievous 
fault  of  ingratitude.  In  the  realm  of  Mind  there  is  noth- 
ing but  good,  for  God  is  that  Mind,  which  we,  as  indi- 
vidualized expressions  of  His  Being  are  reflecting. 

The  mainspring  of  obedience  is  love  for  the  good.  The 
more  spontaneous  the  love,  the  nearer  to  absolute 
obedience  we  are.  Self-consideration  in  any  and  every 
form  is  disobedience,  and  disobedience  is  slavery. 
"  Know  ye  not  that  to  whom  ye  yield  yourselves  servants 
to  obey,  his  slaves  ye  are  to  whom  ye  obey,  whether  of 
sin  unto  death,  or  of  obedience  unto  righteousness." 

Mention  should  be  made  of  one  more  fallacy  that  re- 
sults from  dwelling  upon  the  thought  of  personality 
rather  than  principle.  In  the  oriental  imagery  which  is 
employed  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  to  describe  the 
process  of  creation,  God  is  represented  as  working  six 
days  and  resting  on  the  seventh.  This  description  was 
adapted  to  the  only  conception  of  the  Supreme  Being 
that  the  race  was  then  prepared  to  understand.  To  rid 
our  minds  of  this  false  idea,  we  must  realize  that  God,  as 
Infinite  Principle,  could  never  cease  working,  and  could 
never  need  to  rest.  Suppose  the  law  of  gravitation 
should  take  a  day's  vacation,  what  would  become  of  the 
universe?     Absurd  as  the  idea  is,  it  is  no  more  so  than 


OBEDIENCE.  125 

that  which  has  hitherto  been  held  concerning  the  cessa- 
tion of  the  Almighty's  labors. 

This  false  notion  has  encouraged  Christians  in  their 
erroneous  thought  of  eternal  rest  in  Heaven.  What  a 
miserable  condition  this  would  be  if  it  were  possible! 
What  we  gain  by  realizing  our  at-one-ment  with  God  is 
not  the  privilege  of  taking  an  eternal  vacation,  but  the 
privilege  of  drawing  upon  the  original  and  inexhaustible 
Source  of  power,  and  thus  enjoying  the  freshness  of 
perennial  youth.    As  Goethe  says: 

"  Rest  is  not  quitting 
This  busy  career, 
Rest  is  the  fitting 

Of  life  to  its  sphere." 

Jesus  says :  "  My  father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I 
work."  That  is,  as  God  works  "  without  haste,  without 
rest,"  so  are  we  to  go  through  life,  ever  doing  the 
Father's  will,  divinely  active,  yet  ever  allied  to  "  the  cen- 
tral stillness."  It  is  true  that  there  is  an  occasional  hint 
of  weakness  and  weariness  in  the  New  Testament  de- 
scription of  Christ  Jesus's  earthly  career,  for  he  was 
"  touched  with  the  feeling  of  all  our  infirmities."  But 
he  learned  obedience  through  the  things  which  he  suf- 
fered," and  he  grew  in  realization  and  power  as  we 
grow,  and  left  for  us  the  divine  injunction,  "  Follow 
me."  To  follow  him  is  to  do  as  he  commanded,  to  obey 
the  law  of  Love,  and  to  seek  first  the   kingdom  of  God ; 


126  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

that  is,  to  give  our  time,  thought,  and  affection  to  spirit- 
ual things  and  not  to  material  things. 

What  is  the  Heavenly  Father's  promise  to  those  who 
have  an  obedient  spirit? 

Listen  to  His  words : 

"  /  will  instruct  thee  and  teach  thee  in  the  way  which 
thou  shalt  go:  I  will  guide  thee  with  mine  eye" — Psalm 
32:8. 

"  Behold,  I  send  an  angel  before  thee,  to  keep  thee  in 
the  way,  and  to  bring  thee  into  the  place  which  I  have 
pre^pared. 

"  And  ye  shall  serve  the  Lord  your  God,  and  He  shall 
bless  thy  bread,  and  thy  water,  and  I  will  take  sickness 
away  from  the  midst  of  thee" — Exodus  23  : 20y  25, 


A  CATECHISM 
OF  SPIRITUAL  CHRISTIANITY. 


A    LAYMAN'S     CATECHISM     OF    SPIRITUAL 
CHRISTIANITY. 

"It  is  the  Spirit  that  quickeneth;  the  flesh  profiteth 
nothing:  the  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are 
Spirit,  and  they  are  Hfe." 

(Note. — This  catechism  is  derived  from  the  teachings 
of  the  Bible  interpreted  by  the  logic  of  the  heart.  The 
logic  of  the  intellect  has  filled  the  world  with  hate, 
bloodshed  and  misery  for  nineteen  hundred  years.) 

1.  What  is  Spiritual  Christianity? 

Spiritual  Christianity  is  loving  God  and  loving  man. 

2.  What  is  God? 

God  is  Infinite  Spirit,  Infinite  Life,  Infinite  Love,  In- 
finite Truth,  expressed  and  reflected  in  all  wisdom,  good- 
ness, beauty  and  harmony. 

3.  What  is  Spirit? 

Spirit  is  the  substance  of  all  that  exists.  Spirit  is  God 
in  universal  activity  of  expression. 

4.  What  is  the  Universe? 

The  Universe  is  God  expressed  and  reflected  in  the 
infinite  Cosmos,  which  is  represented  fully  in  man, 
the  image  and  likeness  df  God. 

5.  Why  is  not  this  definition  pantheistic? 

Because  pantheism  teaches  that  God  is  in  the  material 
universe,  and  there  is  no  material  universe. 

6.  What  is  the  miscalled  material  universe? 


ISO  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

The  material  universe  is  a  false  material  sense  or  con- 
cept of  the  real  spiritual  universe. 

7.  Who  revealed  this  truth? 

Jesus  the  Christ  revealed  and  demonstrated  it  by  over- 
coming sin,  sickness  and  death,  and  all  material  condi- 
tions. 

8.  What  is  the  proof  that  this  doctrine  is  true? 

The  fact  that  little  children  receive  and  understand  it. 
This  is  the  test  that  was  given  by  Jesus.  Little  children 
cannot  understand  dogmatic  theology. 

9.  What  is  dogmatic  theology? 

Dogmatic  theology  is  a  set  of  theories  which  have  been 
substituted  for  the  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ. 

10.  Why  are  so  many  people  leaving  the  churches,  or 
failing  to  unite  with  them? 

Because  God  is  more  clearly  revealed  out  of  the 
churches  than  in  them. 

11.  Why  is  this? 

Because  the  creeds  of  the  churches  are  expressions  of 
dogmatic  theology  and  not  of  the  living  Christ. 

12.  Why  are  not  people  who  are  dissatisfied  with 
dogmatic  theology  drawn  into  the  protesting  or  "liberal" 
churches  which  have  rejected  it? 

Because  the  people  care  no  more  for  a  dogmatism  of 
protest  than  they  do  for  a  dogmatism  of  dogma.  They 
demand  the  Realities  of  Life,  Love  and  Truth  as  taught 
and  manifested  by  Jesus  the  Christ. 

13.  What  is  the  receiving  of  those  Realities  into  the 
individual  consciousness  and  life? 


A  CATECHISM.  131 

It  is  the  Second  Coming;  the  coming  of  the  eternal 
Christ,  the  Spiritual  Christ. 

14.  What  institutions  are  doing  the  most  to  hinder 
the  coming  of  the  eternal,  spiritual  Christ? 

The  Theological  Seminaries. 

15.  Why  is  this  true? 

Because  they  unfit  their  students  for  presenting  the 
eternal,  spiritual  Christ. 

16.  Why  is  this  the  case  when  they  teach  so  much 
that  is  true? 

Because  the  anthropomorphic  conception  of  God  is 
still  the  foundation  of  their  theological  systems. 

17.  Do  they  not  teach  the  immanence  of  God? 
Some  of  them  do,  but  their  teaching  is  pantheistic  be- 
cause they  beheve  the  universe  to  be  material. 

18.  What  is  the  most  important  thing  for  a  young 
pastor  to  do? 

To  correct  the  errors  he  learned  at  the  Theological 
Seminaries. 

19.  In  what  respect  must  he  change  his  speech? 

He  must  substitute  the  heavenly  language  ("  the  new 
tongue  ")  for  the  language  of  scholastic  thought. 

20.  What  is  the  heavenly  language? 

The  heavenly  language  is  the  language  which  ex- 
presses the  Truth  that  God,  Love,  is  omnipotent,  omni- 
present, omniscient  and  omni-active  Being;  and  that 
nothing  but  Love  is  present  in  the  universe. 

21.  Are  there  three  Gods  or  one  God? 

"  Hear,  O  Israel,  the  Lord  our  God  is  one  God." 

22.  Is  there  a  Trinity  in  God? 


132  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING, 

God  is  a  Tri-unity  of  Love,  Life  and  Truth,  expressed 
or  symbolized  as  the  Father,  the  Son  and  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

23.  What  is  the  Father? 

The  Father  is  Infinite  Love,  which  includes  Life  and 
Truth. 

24.  What  is  the  Son? 

The  Son  is  Love  manifested. 

25.  What  is  the  Holy  Ghost? 
The  Holy  Ghost  is  Love  unfolding. 

26.  Is  God  to  be  thought  of  as  Infinite  Personality  or 
Infinite  Principle? 

God  is  to  be  thought  of  as  both  Infinite  Personality 
and  Infinite  Principle. 

2y.  Why  is  God  to  be  thought  of  as  Infinite  Per- 
sonality? 

Because  He  is  Infinite  Love,  and  is  therefore  present 
to  all. 

28.  Why  is  God  to  be  thought  of  as  Infinite  Prin- 
ciple? 

Because  in  the  universe  there  is  an  infinity  of  ideas  ex- 
pressing the  presence  of  a  Principle. 

29.  Which  should  be  the  more  prominent  in  our 
thoughts,  the  fact  that  God  is  Infinite  Personality,  or 
that  He  is  Infinite  Principle? 

The  fact  that  He  is  Infinite  Principle. 

30.  Why  is  this,  when  our  natural  craving  is  for  a 
personal  Father? 

Because  finite  mind  cannot  comprehend  Infinite  Per- 
sonality as  a  whole.  The  effort  to  do  so  leads  to  the 
error  of  regarding  God  as  a  corporeal  Being.    Thinking 


A  CATECHISM,  133 

of  God  as  an  infinite,  all-pervading,  ever-active  Prin- 
ciple of  Love  leads  to  a  constantly  enlarging  comprehen- 
sion of  His  Infinite  Personality.  Through  obedience  to 
the  Principle  we  cannot  fail  to  please  God. 

31.  What  is  evil? 

Evil  is  the  suppositional  absence  of  Good. 

32.  Can  Good  be  really  absent? 

It  cannot,  for  it  is  the  omnipresent  Principle  of  Love. 

33.  What  is  the  devil? 

The  devil  is  the  sum  of  all  human  beliefs  about  evil; 
a  liar  from  the  beginning,  and  a  murderer,  as  Jesus  said. 

34.  Has  the  devil  or  evil  any  actual  power? 

It  has  only  the  power  that  we  concede  to  it  or  permit  it 
to  have.  Resist  the  devil,  or  belief  in  evil,  and  it  will  flee 
from  you. 

35.  What  is  it  to  be  a.  Christian? 

To  deal  justly,  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with 
God. 

36.  Can  the  carnal  mind  do  this? 
It  cannot. 

37.  In  what  respect  must  the  carnal  mind  be 
changed? 

It  must  be  born  again. 

38.  What  is  the  nature  of  the  new  birth? 

It  is  "putting  off  the  old  man  with  his  deeds,"  and 
"putting  on  the  new  man  which  is  renewed  in  knowl- 
edge after  the  image  of  Him  who  created  him." 

39.  Can  one  be  a  Christian  while  violating  the  princi- 
ples of  righteousness  and  justice? 

He  can  not. 


134  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

40.  Did  Jesus  teach  an  individual  gospel  or  a  social 
gospel? 

He  taught  both.  He  showed  that  the  regeneration  of 
society  is  to  be  accomplished  through  the  regeneration 
of  the  individual. 

41.  What  is  sin? 

Sin  is  belief  in  a  power  apart  from  God. 

42.  What  are  sins? 

Sins  are  the  violations  of  the  law  of  Love. 

43.  When  are  sins  forgiven? 

When  they  are  renounced  and  discontinued. 

44.  What  is  heaven? 
Heaven  is  Love. 

45.  Where  is  heaven? 
Heaven  is  where  love  prevails. 

46.  What  is  hell? 
Hell  is  fear. 

47.  What  is  fear? 

Fear  is  yielding  to  belief  in  a  power  apart  from  God. 

48.  Can  fear  be  banished,  and  hell  thus  be  conquered? 
It  can. 

49.  How? 

"There  is  no  fear  in  love.  Perfect  love  casteth  out 
fear." 

50.  What  is  the  Bible? 

The  Bible  is  a  revelation  of  Life,  Love  and  Truth  to 
the  human  race. 

51.  How  has  it  been  given  to  the  race? 
Through  inspired  men  in  all  ages. 


A  CATECHISM.  135 

52.     What  is  the  purpose  of  the  Bible? 

The  purpose  of  the  Bible  is  to  reveal  the  nature  of 
God,  the  nature  of  man,  the  relation  of  God  to  men  and 
of  men  to  one  another. 

513.  If  God  is  Love,  why  does  He  sometimes  appear 
in  the  Bible  as  a  Being  of  wrath  and  vengeance? 

Because  it  was  written  by  men,  and  reflects  the  imper- 
fect concepts  of  men. 

54.  How  can  all  wrath  and  vengeance  be  eliminated 
from  the  Bible? 

By  interpreting  it  spiritually. 

55.  What  is  the  key  to  the  spiritual  sense  of  the 
Scriptures? 

The  law  of  Mind. 

56.  What  is  the  law  of  Mind? 

"  Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap." 
"  As  he  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he." 

57.  Who  or  what  are  the  enemies  against  which  our 
wrath  may  be  kindled? 

Evil  thoughts. 

58.  If  evil  is  not  a  positive  force,  how  are  we  to  think 
of  the  contrast  which  we  have  heretofore  called  good 
and  evil? 

It  is  the  contrast  between  Truth  and  error. 

59.  What  is  Truth? 

Truth  is  right  thinking  demonstrated. 

60.  What  is  error? 
Error  is  wrong  thinking. 

61.  What  expresses  the  sum  of  human  error? 
Adam,  the  carnal  or  mortal  mind. 

62.  What  expresses  the  sum  of  Truth? 


136  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING, 

Christ  the  spiritual  man. 

63.  How  is  the  human  race  to  be  regenerated? 

"  As  in  Adam  (error)  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ  (Truth) 
shall  all  be  made  alive." 

64.  Who  and  what  was  Jesus  Christ? 

He  was  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  human  as  the  son  of  Mary, 
and  divine  as  the  Son  of  God. 

65.  In  what  respect  was  he  the  son  of  man? 
In  that  he  partook  fully  of  the  human  nature, 

66.  In  what  respect  was  he  the  Son  of  God? 

In  that  he  contained  and  expressed  the  eternal  Christ- 
idea. 

67.  What  was  the  nature  of  his  sacrifice? 

It  was  the  sacrifice  or  denial  of  sense  for  Spirit,  of  self, 
to  reconcile  man  to  God. 

68.  What  is  meant  by  the  blood  of  Christ? 

By  the  blood  of  Christ  is  meant  the  life,  of  which 
blood  is  the  type. 

69.  What  was  the  nature  of  Christ  Jesus'  atonement? 
He  revealed  man's  unity  or  at-one-ment  with  God. 

70.  What  was  His  ascension? 

It  was  his  disappearance  from  human  consciousness; 
His  ascension  from  the  realm  of  the  material  to  the 
realm  of  the  spiritual. 

71.  In  what  respect  are  we  to  imitate  and  follow 
Him? 

In  all  respects. 

72.  Did  He  say  that  we  are  to  heal  as  He  did? 
He  did. 


A  CATECHISM.  137 

73.  Did  He  say  that  our  power  could  equal  His? 

He  did,  and  more  than  this,  for  He  said  *'and  greater 
works  than  these  shall  ye  do.'^ 

74.  What  was  the  condition? 

That  we  should  practice  love  and  exercise  faith. 

75.  How  should  the  word  faith  now  be  used? 

It  should  include  the  idea  of  understanding,  or  realiz- 
ing the  allness  of  God  or  Good. 

76.  Why  is  not  healing  instantaneous  by  the  Christ- 
method  of  realizing  the  allness  of  God? 

It  is  sometimes  instantaneous. 

yy.    Why  is  it  not  always  so? 

Because  human  consciousness  lacks  childlike  and  re- 
ceptive thought,  and  believes  in  the  necessity  of  sickness 
and  death. 

78.  What  is  saving  faith  in  Jesus  Christ? 

Saving  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  is  so  realizing  the  truth 
He  taught  and  the  spirit  He  manifested  that  we  are  led 
to  keep  His  commandments. 

79.  What  are  His  commandments? 
Deny  self,  love  God,  love  man. 

80.  What  is  it  to  deny  self? 
The  91st  Psalm. 

It  is  to  deny  the  material  consciousness,  the  carnal  or 
mortal  mind,  which  is  enmity  against  God. 

81.  Did  Jesus  Christ  organize  a  Church? 
He  did  not. 

^2.     What  did  he  found? 

He  founded  a  spiritual  kingdom  to  be  ruled  by  love. 


iS8  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

83.  What  is  God's  standard  for  the  human  race,  His 
children? 

His  standard  is  perfection.  "  Be  ye  perfect  even  as 
your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect." 

84.  Do  sickness,  suffering,  poverty,  death  belong  to 
God's  kingdom? 

They  do  not. 

85.  Why  are  they  here? 

Because  of  human  belief  in  a  power  apart  from  God. 

86.  How  may  they  be  eliminated? 

By  faith  in  God  based  upon  the  understanding  and 
realization  of  His  infinite  Love. 

87.  What  are  miracles? 

What  are  called  miracles  or  marvels  are  the  effects  or 
results  of  laws  not  yet  understood. 

88.  Are  miracles  violations  of  the  cosmic  order? 
They  are  not. 

89.  Who  can  work  miracles  as  Jesus  did? 
All  who  realize  God's  love  and  power  as  he  did. 

90.  How  can  this  realization  be  attained? 
By  leading  a  selfless  life,  as  Jesus  did. 

91.  What  is  selfishness? 
Selfishness  is  suicide. 

92.  Why  is  it  suicide? 

Because  it  shuts  out  the  consciousness  of  God,  and  of 
the  spiritual  universe  which  is  the  realm  of  Hfe  and  causa- 
tion. 

93.  Who  are  the  sons  of  God? 
All  men  are  the  sons  of  God. 


A  CATECHISM.  139 

94.  Can  any  man  be  lost? 
No. 

95.  Why  not? 

Because  man  can  have  no  existence  apart  from  God. 

96.  What  can  man  lose? 

He  can  lose  the  belief  of  his  sonship. 

97.  How  must  he  be  saved? 

By  regaining  the  belieif  of  his  sonship,  and  living  in 
accordance  with  that  belief. 

98.  What  is  psychology? 

Psychology  is  the  science  of  Soul  or  Mind. 

99.  What  is  the  error  of  the  current  systems  of 
psychology. 

In  treating  of  individualsouls  as  separated  from  God? 

100.  Are  there  not  different  souls? 
There  cannot  be,  if  God  is  infinite. 
loi.     What,  then,  does  man  possess? 

He  possesses  consciousness  and  individuality,  emanat- 
ing from  the  one  Soul  or  Mind.  He  expresses  and  re- 
flects God. 

102.  In  what  respect  can  man  grow? 
He  can  unfold  a  higher  consciousness. 

103.  Will  this  tend  to  his  final  absorption  in  the 
Supreme  Soul  or  Mind,  or  to  the  state  which  is  some- 
times called  Nirvana? 

Just  the  contrary. 

104.  Why  is  this? 

Because  his  increasing  consciousness  of  God  and  his 
enlarging  capacity  for  understanding  Him  develop  a 
higher  and  stronger  individuality. 


140  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 

105.  Why  will  he  not  then  finally  be  equal  with  God? 
Because  his  consciousness  is  a  reflection  of  God. 

106.  What  is  the  basis  of  the  true  spiritual  psychol- 
ogy. 

Spiritual  psychology  is  based  upon  the  allness  of  God 
as  expressed  in  the  following  propositions: 

There  is  hut  one  fact  in  the  universe. 

That  fact  is  God. 

It  is  a  spiritual  fact,  for  God  is  Spirit. 

It  is  an  ethical  fact,  for  God  is  Love,  Truth,  Wisdom, 
Righteousness,  the  Supreme  Source  of  all  Morality. 

It  is  an  aesthetic  fact,  for  God  is  Form,  Order,  Beauty, 
Sublimity,  Harmony,  the  Supreme  Source  of  all  Art. 

It  is  a  scientiiic  fact,  for  God  is  omnipotent,  omniscient 
and  omnipresent  Life,  the  Supreme  Source  of  all  Being  and 
all  Knowing. 

The  universe  is  an  outflowing  from  or  expression  of  the 
Transcendent  God — of  Life,  Truth,  Love,  Wisdom,  Order, 
Beauty,  Harmony.  This  expression  in  the  universe  is 
spiritual  and  not  material,  for  Spirit  could  not  create  any- 
thing less  than  itself  or  opposite  to  itself. 

Man,  made  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God,  is  also 
spiritual,  and  includes  the  universe.  Hence,  he  is  given 
dominion  over  all  things  in  the  universe. 

107.  What  is  the  working  formula  of  spiritual 
psychology? 

The  working  formula  of  spiritual  psychology  may  be 
presented  in  five  postulates,  as  follows: 
I.    God  is  the  only  cause. 


A  CATECHISM.  141 

2.  Spirit  is  the  only  substance. 

J.  Love  is  the  only  force. 

4.  Harmony,  the  reflection  of  Love,  is  the  only  law. 

5.  Now  is  the  only  time. 

108.  What  effect  does  spiritual  psychology  have  upon 
those  who  study  it? 

It  increases  their  intelligence,  deepens  their  spiritual 
natures,  develops  their  love  and  forbearance,  and  reveals 
their  at-one-ment  with  God. 

109.  What  is  the  relation  of  spiritual  psychology  to 
the  Bible? 

It  eHminates  the  darkness,  and  shows  it  to  be  a  book  of 
pure  sunshine. 

no.  Which  chapter  of  the  Bible  do  the  students  of 
spiritual  psychology  adopt  as  being,  in  some  sense,  their 
Divine  Charter? 

The  91st  Psalm.  In  the  light  of  spiritual  psychology 
every  statement  of  this  psalm  is  seen  to  be  literally  and 
absolutely  true. 


Note.— In  the  present  struggle  between  materialism  and 
spirituality,  there  is  a  movement  which  is  having  a  rapidly- 
growing  influence  on  the  side  of  the  latter.  It  is  known  as  the 
Christian  Science  movement,  and  it  grew  out  of  and  is  repre- 
sented by  a  text-book  entitled  "  Science  and  Health  with  key 
to  the  Scriptures,"  written  by  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy.  As  is  the 
case  with  every  protest  against  the  prevalent  ideas  and  the 
existing  order  of  things,  both  the  book  and  the  movement  are 
very  much  misunderstood. 

From  the  text-book  of  Christian  Science  has  come  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  title  "  Spiritual  Knowing,"  and  the  underlying 
principle  of  this  science  or  "  knowing  "  is  expressed  in  the  fol- 
lowing quotation  from  another  volume,  "  Miscellaneous  Writ- 
ings" by  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy:     (page  123.)  , 


142  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING, 


"  Divine  Science  has  rolled  away  the  stone  from  the 
sepulcher  of  our  Lord;  and  there  has  arisen  to  our  awakened 
thought  the  majestic  atonement  of  Divine  Love.  The  at-one- 
ment  with  Christ  has  appeared — not  through  vicarious  suffer- 
ing whereby  the  just  obtain  a  pardon  for  the  unjust,— but 
through  the  eternal  law  of  Justice;  wherein  sinners  suffer  for 
their  own  sins,  repent,  forsake  sin,  love  God,  and  keep  His 
commandments,  thence  to  receive  the  reward  of  righteous- 
ness; salvation  from  sin,  not  through  the  death  of  a  man,  but 
through  a  Divine  Life,  which  is  our  Redeemer. 

The  last  act  of  the  tragedy  on  Calvary  rent  the  veil  of 
matter  and  unveiled  Love's  great  legacy  to  mortals:  Love 
forgiving  its  enemies.  This  grand  act  crowned  and  still  crowns 
Christianity:  it  manumits  mortals;  it  translates  love;  it  gives 
to  suffering,  inspiration;  to  patience,  experience;  to  experience 
hope;  to  hope,  faith;  to  faith,  understanding;  and  to  under- 
standing. Love  triumphant." 

"Christian  Science  demonstrates  that  none  but  the  pure  in 
heart  can  see  God,  as  the  Gospel  teaches.  In  proportion  to  his 
purity  and  perfection  is  man  in  the  proper  order  of  celestial 
Being,  and  able  to  demonstrate  Life  through  Christ,  its 
spiritual  idea,  even  as  Jesus  did."— Science  and  Health,  page 


^43 


BENEDICTION  OF  DIVINE  LOVE. 

Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled,  neither  let  it  be  afraid. 

Lo,  I  am  with  you  always — in  all  ways — even  unto  the  end 
of  the  world. 

In  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation,  but  be  of  good  cheer; 
I  have  overcome  the  world. 

Beloved,  let  us  love  one  another,  for  love  is  of  God,  and 
every  one  that  loveth  is  born  of  God,  and  knoweth  God. 

Now  unto  him  that  is  able  to  keep  you  from  falling,  and  to 
present  you  faultless  before  the  presence  of  his  glory  with 
exceeding  joy,  to  th»5  only  wise  God  our  Saviour,  be  glory  and 
majesty,  dominion  and  power,  both  now  and  ever.    Amen. 


144  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING. 


NINETY-FIRST  PSALM. 


1.  He  that  dwelleth  In  the  secret  place  of  the  Most  High 
shall  abide  under  the  sh".dow  of  the  Almighty. 

2.  I  will  say  of  the  Lord,  He  is  my  refuge  and  my  fortress; 
my  God;    in  him  will  I  trust. 

3.  Surely  he  shall  deliver  thee  from  the  snare  of  the  fowler, 
and  from  the  noisome  pestilence. 

4.  He  shall  cover  thee  with  his  feathers,  and  under  his 
wings  Shalt  thou  trust:  his  truth  shall  be  thy  shield  and 
buckler 

5.  Thou  Shalt  not  be  afraid  for  the  terror  by  night;  nor  for 
the  arrow  that  flieth  by  day; 

6.  Nor  for  the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness;  nor  for 
the  destruction  that  wasteth  at  noonday. 

7.  A  thousand  shall  fall  at  thy  side,  and  ten  thousand  at  thy 
right  hand;    but  it  shall  not  come  nigh  thee, 

8.  Only  with  thine  eyes  shalt  thou  behold  and  see  the 
reward  of  the  wicked. 

9.  Because  thou  hast  made  the  Lord,  which  is  my  refuge, 
even  the  Most  High,  thy  habitation 

10.  There  shall  no  evil  befall  thee,  neither  shall  any  plague 
come  nigh  thy  dwelling. 

11.  For  he  shall  give  his  angels  charge  over  thee,  to  keep 
thee  in  all  thy  ways. 

12.  They  shall  bear  thee  up  in  their  hands,  lest  thou  dash 
thy  foot  against  a  stone. 

13.  Thou  Shalt  tread  upon  the  lion  and  adder,  the  young  lion 
and  the  dragon  shalt  thou  trample  under  feet. 

14.  Because  he  hath  set  his  love  upon  me,  therefore  will  I 
deliver  him:  I  will  set  him  on  high,  because  he  hath  known  my 
name. 

15.  He  shall  call  upon  me,  and  I  will  answer  him:  I  will  be 
with  him  in  trouble;  I  will  deliver  him,  and  honour  him. 

16.  With  long  life  will  I  satisfy  him,  and  shew  him  my 
salvation. 


APPENDIX 

HOW  THE  BIBLE  GREW 


HOW   THE  BIBLE   GREW.  147 


HOW  THE  BIBLE  GREW.* 

The  Bible  is  a  collection  of  many  books.  It  contains  his- 
tories, sermons,  poems,  prophecies,  allegories,  letters, 
embracing  nearly  every  style  and  variety  of  literature. 
From  the  time  of  the  first  attempt  at  compilation  till  it 
assumed  its  present  form  is  supposed  to  have  been  about 
a  thousand  years. 

When  or  how  the  earliest  portions  were  written  is  en- 
tirely unknown.  They  were  derived  from  very  ancient 
sources  which  are  called  "  the  primitive  ballads,"  "  the 
primitive  traditions,"  and  ''  the  primitive  laws." 

The  first  five  books  of  the  Bible  are  called  the  Penta- 
teuch, a  word  which  means  five.  When  and  by  whom  they 
were  compiled  is  unknown.  T.hey  have  been  called  the 
books  of  Moses,  but  it  is  certain  that  he  did  not  write  all 
they  contain,  as  they  give  an  account  of  his  own  death. 
The  book  of  Joshua  is  now  believed  to  belong  with  the 
first  five,  and  the  six  books  are  called  the  Hexateuch. 

As  the  Bible  is  a  collection  of  many  books,  so  are  some 
of  the  books  themselves  now  found  to  be  compilations 
from  various  sources.  The  books  of  the  Old  Testament 
were  not  arranged  in  the  same  order  at  the  time  of  Jesus 
that  they  are  now.  All  these  questions  of  external  ar- 
rangement are  of  absolutely  no  importance  as  regards  the 
spiritual  value  of  the  teaching.  As  the  critics  and  scholars 
are  not  yet  agreed  among  themselves  as  to  the  authorship 
and  arrangement  of  some  of  the  books,  it  is  useless  to  puz- 
zle the  reader  with  their  various  guesses.     The  one  im- 

*  This  synopsis  is  partly  derived  from  the  volume  by  Prof.  Walter  A 
Adeney,  M.A.,  of  London,  entitled  "The  Construction  of  the  Bible,"  published 
by  Thomas  Whittaker,  New  York. 


148  SPIRITUAL   KNOWING. 

portant  question  for  each  one  of  us  is  with  regard  to  the 
spirit  in  which  we  read  the  book.  If  we  read  it  to  find  sup- 
port for  a  doctrinal  system,  it  will  do  us  but  little  good. 
If  we  read  it  to  find  Love,  Truth,  and  Life,  it  will  be  a 
fountain  that  faileth  not.  The  special  method  of  inspira- 
tion is  also  a  fruitless  question.  D.  L.  Moody  said :  '*  X 
believe  the  Bible  to  be  an  inspired  book  because  it  inspires 
me.''  The  wit  and  wisdom  of  the  ages  could  not  give  a 
better  reason  than  this. 

XHE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

The  first  part  of  the  New  Testament  to  be  written  was 
the  Epistle  of  St.  James.  St.  James  did  not  believe  in  his 
brother's  mission  till  after  the  resurrection.  He  was  then 
made  president  of  the  Christians  at  Jerusalem.  His  let- 
ter has  not  been  as  highly  esteemed  among  the  theologians 
as  those  of  St.  Paul,  because  it  contains  but  little  doc- 
trine. Luther  called  it  *'  an  epistle  of  straw."  But  it  is 
full  of  echoes  and  reminiscences  of  the  teachings  of  Jesus, 
and  contains  instruction  of  the  highest  value  for  the  de- 
velopment of  Christian  character.  It  is  a  source  of  much 
comfort  and  help  to  the  spiritually  minded. 

The  next  writings  in  order  of  appearance  were  the  let- 
ters of  St.  Paul.  They  are  grouped  into  four  distinct 
periods.  The  first  period  gives  the  two  Epistles  to  the 
T.hessalonians,  written  about  the  year  53.  The  Thessa- 
lonian  church  was  composed  mostly  of  working  people — 
weavers,  fishermen,  and  dock  laborers.  Hence,  these  let- 
ters do  not  deal  much  with  doctrines  or  speculative  ques- 
tions. The  people  had  the  idea  that  Christians  were  not 
to  die,  and  when  deaths  occurred  they  were  perplexed. 
They  also  expected  Christ's  early  reappearance,  and  feared 
that  their  friends  would  miss  the  joy  of  the  Lord's  advent. 
St.  Paul  reassures  them  on  that  point.  Some  believers  in 
the  reappearing  made  their  faith  an  excuse  for  idleness, 
and  ceased  working.    St.  Paul  rebukes  them  for  this,  and 


HOW   THE  BIBLE   GREW.  149 

gives  much  spiritual  counsel,  which  is  of  value  for  all 
time. 

An  interval  of  four  or  five  years  followed  these  epistles, 
during  which  St.  Paul  greatly  extended  his  evangelistic 
work,  and  also  began  a  controversy  with  some  who  tried 
to  introduce  Judaizing  influences  among  the  Christians. 
Four  epistles  belong  to  this  group,  all  written  in  the  year 
57-58.  They  are  First  and  Second  Corinthians,  Galatians, 
and  Romans,  and  are  called  "  St.  Paul's  most  vigorous  and 
significant  works."  They  set  forth  the  Gospel  that  he 
believed  he  had  received  from  God — **  the  Gospel  of  free 
grace  for  every  individual  irrespective  of  nation,  race,  or 
privilege."  The  exposition  in  these  epistles  was  called 
forth  by  the  attacks  of  opponents  who  taught  that  the 
Gentiles  must  become  Jews  in  order  to  come  into  the 
Christian  Church;  that  they  must  be  circumcised,  and 
keep  the  law  as  Jews.  This  made  Christianity  only  a 
branch  of  Judaism,  and  Christ  a  Jewish  Messiah — not  a 
Saviour  of  the  world,  but  only  a  second  Moses,  a  Judge 
and  Ruler  of  the  people.  Paul  opposed  this  teaching  with 
the  doctrine  of  salvation  on  the  simple  condition  of  faith. 
"  He  had  to  contend  single-handed  against  a  host  of  bigots, 
the  twelve  apostles  giving  him  no  material  assistance; 
perhaps  not  wholly  sympathizing  with  his  daring  innova- 
tions." Galatians  and  Romans  are  the  epistles  which  set 
forth  St.  Paul's  teaching  on  this  question  most  clearly  and 
forcibly.  But  the  two  are  very  different.  The  Galatians 
were  his  old  converts  in  the  cities  of  his  first  missionary 
journey — Antioch,  Iconium,  Derbe,  and  Lystra.  These 
had  been  his  most  devoted  disciples.  But  they  had  been 
much  upset — "  bewitched  " — by  the  Judaizing  teachers. 
They  had  taken  up  some  Jewish  practices,  and  were  some- 
what estranged  from  their  spiritual  father,  Paul — as  if 
converts  of  an  evangelical  mission  should  fall  into  the 
hands  of  Jesuits  and  be  led  into  Catholicism.  The  apostle 
was  justly  indignant,  and  wrote  warmly. 


ifio  SPIRITUAL   KNOWING. 

But  the  author  of  the  letter  to  the  Romans  writes  in  a 
more  deliberate  style,  and  tries  to  explain  his  own  views 
rather  than  controvert  the  opinions  of  others.  Yet  the 
doctrine  is  the  same — free  grace  on  God's  side,  faith  on  the 
part  of  man. 

In  writing  to  the  Corinthians,  while  Paul  treats  some- 
what of  the  same  doctrines,  he  also  takes  up  the  question  of 
certain  evils  that  have  arisen  in  the  church — party  divi- 
sions, immorality,  litigations,  greediness,  and  even  intoxi- 
cation at  the  love  feasts  among  the  rich,  while  the  poor  are 
neglected.  The  Christians  were  called  saints,  but  the 
church  at  Corinth  was  surrounded  by  the  vices  of  a  most 
corrupt  pagan  civilization.  The  congregation  did  not  ex- 
pect such  a  letter.  They  had  written  to  St.  Paul  asking 
advice  about  certain  questions  of  conscience — the  ad- 
visability of  marriage,  the  eating  of  food  that  had  been 
offered  to  idols,  etc.  The  apostle  treats  of  the  more  im- 
portant subjects  first,  and  then  turns  to  their  questions, 
and  answers  them  with  great  consideration  for  their 
weaker  consciences  and  narrower  judgments. 

The  second  epistle  is  written  a  few  months  later  than 
the  first,  and  is  less  pressing.  Also,  the  riot  at  Ephesus 
has  occurred  in  the  meantime,  and  St.  Paul's  work  had 
been  broken  up.  The  Corinthians  also  have  suffered. 
Hence,  the  second  letter  is  one  for  troubled  souls,  touching 
the  deepest  things  of  experience,  and  pointing  to  the  high- 
est consolations  of  Love.  The  apostle  speaks  of  his  own 
experience,  his  hardships,  his  escapes,  his  joy  in  suffering 
for  Christ's  sake. 

T.he  third  group  of  St.  Paul's  epistles  dates  from  the 
period  of  his  imprisonment  in  Rome.  They  were  written 
a  little  after  the  year  62,  and  consist  of  Philippians,  Ephe- 
sians,  Colossians,  and  Philemon.  The  apostle's  conflict  is 
now  over.  Peace  and  joy  reign  in  his  heart.  Yet  he  is  a 
prisoner,  about  to  appear  before  Nero,  and  doubtful  as  to 
the  result  of  the  trial. 


HOW   THE   BIBLE   GREW.  151 

Christ  is  the  center  of  each  of  these  epistles.  The  letter 
to  the  Philippians  reveals  the  joy  and  strength  of  personal 
union  with  Christ,  that  to  the  Ephesians  the  blessedness  of 
the  Church's  connection  with  Christ,  that  to  the  Colossians 
the  supremacy  of  Christ  in  all  creation.  The  letter  to 
PVilemon  is  a  request  for  the  pardon  of  an  escaped  slave — 
Onesimus.  It  is  regarded  as  a  model  of  a  Christian  letter 
in  the  tactful  and  loving  consideration  with  which  the  re- 
quest is  made. 

The  fourth  and  last  group  consists  of  the  letters  to 
Timothy  and  Titus.  They  are  called  *'  Pastoral  Epistles," 
because  they  deal  with  the  duties  of  the  Christian  minis- 
try. The  authenticity  of  these  three  epistles  has  been 
questioned  more  than  any  other  of  St.  Paul's  writings. 

It  is  now  regarded  as  certain  that  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews was  not  written  by  St.  Paul.  The  famous  Professor 
Harnack,  of  the  University  of  Berlin,  has  recently  shown 
that  there  are  strong  reasons  for  believing  that  it  was  writ- 
ten by  Priscilla,  Aquila  also  having  some  part  in  it.  Its 
purpose  is  to  reassure  the  faith  of  those  Jews  who  for 
their  allegiance  to  Christianity  had  been  expelled  from 
the  synagogue.  The  writer  shows  that  the  privileges  they 
had  lost  were  but  the  shadows  of  better  things  of  which 
Christians  already  possess  the  reality. 

The  epistles  of  St.  Peter  come  a  little  later  than  St. 
Paul's.  "  The  first  is  rich  in  the  very  juice  and  marrow 
of  Christian  truth."  The  authorship  of  the  second  has 
been  more  doubted  than  that  of  any  other  book  of  the  New 
Testament.    It  produces  most  of  the  Epistle  of  Jude. 

The  three  epistles  of  St.  John  come  last  of  all.  They 
were  written  toward  the  close  of  the  first  century,  and  ex- 
press the  latest  and  deepest  convictions  of  the  aged  saint. 
Love,  love,  love,  is  the  endless  theme — love  for  God,  and 
love  for  man  as  evidence  that  the  love  for  God  is  genuine. 

The  epistles  were  not  put  together  at  first.  They  were, 
as    the  word    indicates,  merely  letters  sent    to  difi^erent 


152  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING, 

churches  or  to  private  individuals.  The  writers  had  no 
idea  that  they  would  ever  be  regarded  as  inspired,  or  be 
published  for  the  whole  world  to  read.  "  No  doubt  the 
authors  would  have  been  amazed  if  they  had  foreseen  the 
minute  study  to  which  their  fugitive  writings  were  des- 
tined to  be  subjected  by  many  minds  in  many  ages.  But 
God  was  using  these  writers  not  merely  for  the  sake  of 
the  temporary  purposes  they  had  in  view.  Unknown  to 
themselves  their  inspired  words  were  fitted  to  serve  in 
later  days  for  the  instruction  in  Christian  Truth  of  na- 
tions concerning  the  very  existence  of  which  they  could 
have  had  no  conception." 

The  four  gospels  were  all  written  later  than  most  of  the 
epistles.  But  they  are  rightly  placed  first,  as  they  record 
the  events  that  preceded  the  epistles.  Professor  Adeney 
calls  them  "  the  four  golden  spires  of  the  great  Temple 
of  Literature."  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke  are  called 
*'  The  Synoptic  Gospels,"  because  they  all  take  a  common 
view  or  survey  of  the  subject.  Mark  was  written  first,  and 
constituted  the  basis  of  the  other  two.  Frequently  the 
other  two  follow  Mark  word  for  word.  Where  they  do  not 
do  this,  they  absorb  so  much  that  only  two  or  three  inci- 
dents in  Mark  are  not  found  in  one  of  the  others.  From 
Papias  and  Irenaeus,  who  lived  in  the  middle  and  latter 
half  of  the  second  century,  we  learn  that  Mark  was  a 
disciple  of  Peter,  and  wrote  down  the  contents  of  his 
master's  preaching.  Mark's  gospel  is  a  little  shorter  than 
the  others,  not  by  reason  of  abbreviations  so  much  as  omis- 
sions. He  omits  the  account  of  the  birth  and  infancy  of 
Jesus.  He  does  not  record  lengthy  discourses.  He  gives 
only  specimens  of  parables  where  others  give  several,  and 
treats  of  the  life  of  Jesus  rather  than  His  teachings.  But 
his  accounts  are  more  in  detail,  and  more  richly  colored. 

It  is  not  known  whether  Matthew  or  Luke  was  written 
first,  but  it  is  thought  that  both  were  written  about  the 
time  of  the  fall  of  Jerusalem.    They  both  give  much  that 


HOW   THE  BIBLE   GREW.  153 

is  not  found  in  Mark.  Whence  they  derived  it  is  not  cer- 
tain. Matthew  makes  most  frequent  use  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, appeahng  to  prophecy,  and  pointing  out  its  fulfill- 
ment in  Jesus  Christ.  But  its  supreme  value  is  in  the  full- 
ness of  the  report  of  his  teachings. 

Luke  says  that  he  was  led  to  write  his  book  by  the  irre- 
sponsible treatises  that  were  appearing,  and  that  he  wrote 
*'  accurately  from  the  first."  His  style  is  superior  and  at- 
tractive. As  a  physician  he  was  probably  better  educated 
than  the  other  evangelists.  He  was  a  native  of  Macedonia, 
and  knew  the  Greek  language.  His  quoting  the  Hebraistic 
hymns  in  the  early  part  of  his  gospel  is  an  indication  of  his 
accuracy. 

Luke's  treatise  is  "  a  gospel  of  grace  for  all."  It  shows 
Christ  Jesus  especially  as  a  friend  of  sinners.  He  alone 
gives  the  story  of  the  outcast  woman  washing  Jesus's  feet 
with  her  tears,  of  Zachseus,  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  and  of 
the  Good  Samaritan.  He  also  shows  great  sympathy  for 
the  poor.  Luke  usually  gives  the  sayings  of  Jesus  in  con- 
nection with  the  occasions  out  of  which  they  grew,  while 
in  Matthew  they  more  often  appear  as  parts  of  larger  dis- 
courses. 

The  book  of  "  Acts  "  is  a  continuation  of  Luke's  writ- 
ings— a  second  volume.  It  treats  of  two  special  subjects, 
first,  a  history  of  the  early  apostolic  church,  and,  second, 
an  account  of  Paul's  journeys,  some  of  which  he  shared. 
The  narrative  ends  with  Paul's  imprisonment  in  Rome. 
It  is  to  be  observed  that  Luke  always  shows  the  Roman 
government  and  the  characters  of  the  centurions  in  as  fa- 
vorable a  light  as  possible.  This  was  natural,  as,  until 
Nero's  persecutions  began,  Rome  had  always  been  the 
protector  of  the  Christians  from  the  rage  and  jealousy  of 
the  Jews. 

St.  John's  gospel  was  considerably  later  than  the  other 
three — not  appearing  till  toward  the  end  of  the  first 
century.    As  a  record  of  historical  facts  it  differs  in  its 


154  SPIRITUAL  KNOWING, 

style  and  treatment  from  the  others.  John  is  peculiarly 
precise  in  his  accounts  of  events.  He  gives  time  and  place, 
day,  hour,  and  locality  more  in  detail  than  the  others,  as 
when  he  speaks  of  ''  Bethany  beyond  Jordan,"  etc.  He 
does  not  give  the  parables  as  fully  as  the  others,  but  he 
quotes  the  figurative  names  employed  by  Jesus,  "  the 
door,"  "  the  good  Shepherd,"  "  the  bread  of  life."  He 
does  not  report  so  much  of  the  public  teaching  of  Jesus  as 
of  His  discussions  with  those  who  opposed  Him,  and  the 
private  instruction  of  individuals,  such  as  Nicodemus,  and 
the  woman  of  Samaria,  and  the  training  of  the  twelve 
Apostles. 

But  St.  John's  message  is  above  all  things  a  spiritual 
message.  ''  St.  John,  the  spiritual  evangelist,  introduces 
us  most  intimately  to  the  heart  and  soul  of  the  life  and 
teachings  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  For  this  reason,  the 
book  will  always  be  prized  as  the  inner  shrine  of  all 
Scripture.  It  is  as  the  Christian's  experience  deepens 
that  the  exceeding  preciousness  of  this  book  grows  upon 
him,  and  he  learns  more  and  more  to  draw  from  it  the 
sustenance  of  his  better  thoughts. 

"  St.  John's  three  epistles  go  with  the  gospel.  Similar 
in  style,  of  the  same  date,  breathing  the  same  spirit,  they 
are  like  a  threefold  echo  back  from  the  heart  of  the  apostle 
of  the  teachings  of  his  Lord  which  he  has  recorded  in  his 
gospel." 

The  Revelation  of  St.  John  has  been  the  least  under- 
stood of  all  the  Bible  literature  until  now,  when  the  highest 
Christian  thought  sees  in  its  symbolic  phraseology  a 
graphic  picture  of  the  great  struggle  between  Truth  and 
error  in  human  consciousness,  the  final  overcoming  of 
error  individually  and  collectively,  and  the  ultimate  reali- 
zation of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  within,  as  Jesus  fore- 
told. 

The  first  two  verses  of  the  last  chapter  reveal  the 
apostle's  clear  understanding  that  there  is  no  death,  but 


HOW   THE  BIBLE   GREW,  155 

only  a  pure  river  of  Life  of  which  there  was  no  "  other 
side,"  but  the  same  Life  is  '*  on  either  side."  He  saw  a 
perpetual  Life  or  Principle  "  proceeding  out  of  the  throne 
of  God  and  of  the  Lamb."  This  was  further  symbolized 
by  "  the  tree  of  Life,  whose  leaves  are  for  the  healing  of 
the  nations." 

And  there  shall  he  no  more  curse;  hut  the  throne  of 
God  and  of  the  Lamb  shall  he  in  it,  and  his  servants  shall 
serve  Him: 

And  they  shall  see  His  face,  and  His  name  shall  he  in 
their  foreheads. 

And  there  shall  he  no  night  there;  and  they  need  no 
candle,  neither  the  light  of  the  sun;  for  the  Lord  God 
giveth  them  light:  and  they  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever. 

Blessed  are  they  that  do  His  commandments,  that  they 
may  have  right  to  the  tree  of  Life,  and  may  enter  in 
through  the  gates  into  the  city. — Revelations  22  :  j-5,  i^. 


EC  22  ^^no 


Deacidified  using  the  Bookkeeper  process. 
Neutralizing  agent:  Magnesium  Oxide 
Treatment  Date:  April  2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

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