'•r-
ornia al
M
THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF
>trs.
E, F. I>ucoinnun
By RALPH WALDO TRINE. " The Life Books." I
know of nothing
literature
in the entire
more calculated
range of
to inspire the
young than the " Life Books," and to renew the soul in young and old. From a Reader.
—
WHAT ALL THE WORLD'S A-SEEKING. IN
TUNE WITH THE
INFINITE;
or,
Fulness of
Peace, Power, and Plenty.
The "Life" Booklets.
THE GREATEST THING EVER KNOWN. EVERY LIVING CREATURE. CHARACTER-BUILDING THOUGHT POWER.
THOMAS
Y.
CROWELL i
NEW
YORK.
CO.,
In tune
.^e
WITH THE
.se
^
at
INFINITE
OK
FULLNESS OF PEACE, POWER,
AND PLENTY
RALPH WALDO TRINE H^UktH yourself lift the catt<e of vuhatevtr enter t your Itff. To come into the full realization of your oivn awakened interior foiuers, is to bt able to condition your life in exact accord with %uhat you would have it. into
SiXTY-FlFTH
THOUSAND
NEW YORK THOMAS
Y.
CROWELL & COMPANY PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1897,
by
Ralph Waldo Trine.
-^.F -T
7-^,1
FULLNESS OF PEACE, POWER,
*
AND PLENTY.
PREFACE. There
a golden thread that runs through every religion
is
There
in the world*
is
a golden thread that runs through
the lives and the teachings of
all
women
and
of truly great
have ever done
lasting
or attained to has been
What one
with law.
and
has done,
and
the prophets, seers, sages,
saviours in the world's history, through the lives of
men
All that they
power.
done in
may
all
all
full
accordance
do.
This same golden thread must enter into the lives of all who today, in this busy work-a-day world of ours, would exchange impotence
for
power, weakness and suffering for
abounding health and strength, pain and unrest for perfect
and plenty.
peace, poverty of whatever nature for fullness
Each
within and
with which
and
like
building his
is
We
like
workings.
attracts like.
This
it
Everything
spiritualizing
is first
is
seen
is
is
in
worked out
in the unseen before
it
shows
The
it is
realized in the
forth in the material.
the realm of cause.
the realm of effect.
it is
The its
The
realm of the
nature of effect
determined and conditioned by the nature of
To
is
and powerful in its accordance with law and
all.
real, in the spiritual before
unseen
the force
Like builds
subtle
manifested in the seen, in the ideal before
of the
is
In the degree that thought
become more
within the power of
realm
both build from
we attract from without. Thought we build, for thoughts are forces.
spiritualized does
is
ow^n world.
always
is
cause.
point out the great facts in connection with,
and the
great laws underlying the workings of
thought
even a child can understand,
that
point
them
them, that life,
them out
forces, to point
tiie interior, spiritual,
so simply is
out so simply and so clearly that
all
so as to
and
so clearly
To
the author^s aim. all
can grasp
can take them and infuse them into every-day
mould
it
in all
its
accordance with
details in
what they would have it, is his purpose. That life can be thus moulded by them is not a matter of mere speculation or theory with him, but a matter of positive knowledge.
There
is
a divine sequence running throughout the uni-
"Within
verse.
and above and below the human will
inces-
santly works the Divine wilL To come into harmony with it and thereby with all the higher laws and forces, to come
then into league and to order that they can us, is to
come
This
the
the
is
possession
into secret
of
work
work
in conjunction
in league
and
with them, in
in conjunction
with
the chain of this wonderful sequence. of
all
unknown
success. riches,
This into
is
to
come
into
the realization
undreamed-of powers,
R. Boston, Massachusetts.
November, 1897.
W. T.
of
CONTENTS I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Prelude
9
The Supreme Fact of the Universe,
ii
The Supreme Fact of Human
i6
Fullness of Life AND Vigor
— Bodily
Life
.
Health 42
The Secret, Power, and Effects of 88
Love
VL Wisdom and VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
Interior Illumination
.
105
The Realization of Perfect Peace
.
135
Coming into Fullness of Power
.
151
c.^ all Things Prosperity
Plenty
How Men Have Become Seers, Sages,
XI.
— The
.
Law
of 176
Prophets,
and Saviours
.
194
The Basic Principle of all Religions — The Universal Religion
203
Entering Now Into the Realization of the Highest Riches ....
212
.
XII.
.
.
FULLNESS OF
AND PLENTY.
PEACE, POWER,
PRELUDE. The optimist is right. The pessimist is right. The one differs from the other as the light from Yet both are
the dark.
from
his
own
right.
Each
particular point of view,
is
and
right this
point of view is the determining factor in the It determines as to whether it is a life of each. life
of
power or
of
impotence, of peace or of
pain, of success or of failure.
The
optimist has the power of seeing things
in their entirety
and
in
their
right
relations.
The
pessimist looks from a limited and a onesided point of view. The one has his under-
standing illumined by wisdom, the understanding of the other is
darkened by ignorance. Each is from within, and the result of
building his world
the building of each.
and
is
The
insight,
is
determined by the point of view optimist,
making
by
his
degree that he makes his
his superior
wisdom
own heaven, and in the own heaven is he help-
I
o
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
ing to
make one
pessimist, his
his
own own
by
hell,
for all the world beside.
virtue of his limitations,
and
hell is
is
The
making
degree that he makes he helping to make one for all in the
mankind.
You and istics of
I have the predominating characteran optimist or the predominating char-
We
then are making, heaven or our own hell;
acteristics of a pessimist.
hour by hour, our own and in the degree that we are making the one or the other for ourselves are for
all
we
make
helping
it
the world beside.
The word heaven means harmony. hell is
from the old English
Jiell,
build a wall around, to separate to to be shut off from. Now if there ;
The word
meaning to be helled was is
such a
thing as harmony there must be that something one can be in right relations with for to be in ;
right relations with anything
with
is
to be in
harmony
Again, if there is such a thing as being helled, shut off, separated from, there must be that something from which one is held, shut off, it.
or separated.
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
1 1
THE SUPREME FACT OF THE UNIVERSE. is that great central fact of the universe Power that is back Spirit of Infinite Life and of all, that animates all, that manifests itself in
The
and through all that self-existent principle of life from which all has come, and not only from which all has come, but from which all is con;
If there is an individual life, tinually coming. there must of necessity be an infinite source of
from which
life
it
comes.
If
there
is
a quality
must of necessity be whence it comes. If wisdom, there must be the all-wise
or a force of love, there
an
infinite source of love
there
is
source back of
same
is
it
from which
springs.
true in regard to peace, the
gard to power, the call
it
same
in
same
The in re-
regard to what
we
material things.
There is, then, this Spirit of Infinite Life and Power back of all which is the source of all. This Infinite Power is creating, working, ruling through the agency of great immutable laws and forces that run through all the universe, that surround us on every side. Every act of
1
Fullness of Peace, Power,
2
and Plenty
our every-day lives is governed by these same great laws and forces. Every flower that blooms
by the wayside, springs
up, grows, blooms, fades,
according great immutable laws. snowflake that Every plays between earth and heaven, forms, falls, melts, according to certain certain
to
great unchangeable laws. In a sense there is nothing in
universe but law.
If this is true
all the great there must of
necessity be a force behind it all that is the maker of these laws and a force greater than the laws that are made. This Spirit of Infinite Life
and Power that is back of all is what I call God. I care not what term you may use, be it Kindly Light, Providence, the Over Soul, Omnipotence, I or whatever term may be most convenient. care not what the term
agreed
may be as
we
long as
God, then,
is
this Infinite Spirit
which
fills all
the universe with Himself alone, so that
from is
Him
the
live
is
in
He
and move and have our being. our
life of
received,
all
Him, and there is nothing that Indeed and in truth, then, in Him
and
outside.
we
are
in regard to the great central fact itself.
we
from Him.
life,
our very
life itself.
are continually receiving our life are partakers of the life of God
We
and though we individualized
is
We have ;
differ
spirits,
from while
Him in He is
that
we
are
the Infinite
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
1
3
Spirit including us as well as all else beside, yet in essence the life
of
identically the same,
God and the life of man are and so are one. They differ
not in essence, in quality; they differ in degree. There have been and are highly illumined souls
who
we
believe that
manner
after the
receive our
there have been and are those
our
one with the
life is
God and man
life
of a divine inflow.
are one.
life
who
from God
And
again, believe that
God, and so that
of
Which
is
right
Both
.?
both right when rightly understood. In regard to the first if God is the Infinite then Spirit of Life back of all, whence all comes,
are right
;
:
is conclearly our life as individualized spirits Infinite Source this from by tinually coming
means place,
if
divine
this
of
inflow.
In the second
our lives as individualized
spirits are di-
of rectly from, are parts of this Infinite Spirit Life, then the degree of the Infinite Spirit that is
manifested in the
life of
each must be identi-
cal in quality with that Source, the
same as a
drop of water taken from the ocean is, in nature, in characteristics, identical with that ocean, its source.
And how
could
it
be otherwise
"f
The
in this latter case,
liability to
misunderstanding however, is this in that although the life of God and the life of man in essence are identically the :
same, the
life
of
God
so far transcends the
life
1
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
4
of individual
man
that
it
includes
all else
beside.
In other words, so far as the quality of life is concerned, in essence they are the same so far ;
as the degree of
life is
concerned, they are vastly
different.
In this light
is
it
not then evident that both
conceptions are true ? and more, that they are one and the same ? Both conceptions may be typified by one and the same illustration.
There
a reservoir in a valley which receives from an inexhaustible reservoir on the supply mountain side. It is then true that the reseris
its
voir in the valley receives the inflow of the water voir
on the mountain
supply by virtue of
its
from the larger
side.
It
is
reser-
also true that
the water in this smaller reservoir
is
in nature,
in quality, in characteristics identically the
same
as that in the larger reservoir which is its source. difference, however, is this the reservoir on
The
:
the mountain side, in the amotint of
its
water, so
far transcends the reservoir in the valley that it can supply an innumerable number of like reser-
voirs
and
still
be unexhausted.
And so in the life of man.
If,
as
already agreed, however we may
I
think we have
differ in regard
to anything else, there is this Infinite Spirit of Life back of all, the life of all, and so, from
which
all
comes, then the
life
of individual
man,
Fullness of Peace, Power,
your
life
and Plenty
and mine, must come by a
inflow from this Infinite Source. true, then the
to
man
this
is
life
if
5
divine this
is
comes by this inflow same in essence as is Life. There is a differ-
that
necessarily the
Infinite Spirit of
ence.
And
1
It is
not a difference in essence.
It is
a
difference in degree.
does
If this is true,
it
not then follow that in
the degree that man opens himself to this divine inflow does he approach to God t If so, it then necessarily follows that in the degree that he makes this approach does he take on the God-
powers. does
limit,
tations himself,
And it
man
if
the God-powers are without
not then follow that the only limihas are the limitations he sets to
by virtue
of not
knowing himself
?
1
6
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
THE SUPREME FACT OF HUMAN LIFE.
From the great central fact of the universe in regard to which we have agreed, namely, this Spirit of Infinite Life that is back of all and from which
what
the
is
From what answers
all
we
are led to inquire as to great central fact in human life.
comes,
has gone before, the question almost
itself.
The great central fact in human
and
in mine, is the
coming
into
life,
in your life
a conscious, vital
realization of our oneness with this Infinite Life, and the opening of ourselves fully to this divine inflozv. life,
This
is
the great central fact in
for in this all else
is
included,
all
human
else follows
in its train. In just the degree that we come into a conscious reahzation of our oneness with
the Infinite Life, divine
inflow,
do
and open ourselves to
we
actualize
in
this
ourselves
the qualities and powers of the Infinite Life. And what does this mean } It means simply this
that
:
we
we
are recognizing our true identity, are bringing our lives into harmony with
that
the same great laws and forces, and so opening
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
1
7
same great inspirations, as have the prophets, seers, sages, and saviours in the world's history, all men of truly great and ourselves to the
all
mighty power.
For in the degree that we come and connect ourselves \vith Source, do we make it possible
into this realization this
Infinite
for the higher fest
powers to
play, to work, to mani-
us.
through can keep closed to this divine inflow, to these higher forces and powers, through
We
ignorance, as most of us do, and thus hinder or even prevent their manifesting through us.
Or we can
intentionally close ourselves to their operations and thus deprive ourselves of the powers to which, by the very nature of our being, we are rightful heirs. we can come into so vital
On the other hand, a realization of the
oneness of our real selves with this Infinite Life, and can open ourselves so fully to the incoming of this divine inflow, and so to the operation of these higher forces, inspirations, and powers, that we can indeed and in truth become what we
may well term, God-men. And what is a God-man ? One in whom the powers of God are manifesting, though yet a man. No one can set limitations to a man or a woman of this type for the only limitations ;
he or she can have are those
set
by the
self.
1
Fullness of Peace, Power,
8
is
Ignorance
and Plenty
the most potent factor in setting
limitations to the majority of the great majority of people
mankind
;
and so
continue to live
dwarfed, and stunted lives simply by virtue of the fact that they do not realize the their
little,
which they are heirs. They have never as yet come into a knowledge of the real larger
life
to
identity of their true selves. Mankind has not yet realized that self
is
one with the
life
of
God.
the real
Through
has never yet opened itself to the divine inflow, and so has never made itself its
ignorance
it
a channel through which the infinite powers and forces can manifest.
we
When we know
ourselves
accordingly, and have merely the powers of men. When we come into the realization of the fact that we are God-men, then again we live accordingly, and have the
merely as men,
powers
of
God-men.
live
In the degree that we open
ourselves to this divine infloiv are
from mere
we changed
'tnen into God-m,e7i.
A friend has a beautiful
A
lotus pond. nathis farm as he always ural basin on his estate calls it is supplied with water from a reservoir
—
—
A
some distance away. gate flow of the water from the main the regulates that conducts it from the reservoir to the pond. in
the
foothills
4
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
1
9
a spot of transcendent beauty. There, summer of the the weather, perfect through days It
is
blown upon the surface The June roses and other wild flowers are continually blooming the lotus flowers
lie full
of the clear, transparent water.
upon its banks. The birds come here to drink and to bathe, and from early until late one can hear the melody of their song. continually at
A
work
in this
garden which many kinds
beautiful grove, in
and many
berries
The bees
are
of wild flowers,
varieties of brakes
of wild
and ferns
grow, stretches back of the pond as far as the eye can reach.
Our
friend
is
a man, nay more, a God-man, a and as a consequence no notice
lover of his kind,
bearing
such
trespassing
words as
allowed,"
"Private grounds,
or
"Trespassers
will
no be
But at the prosecuted," stands on his estate. end of a beautiful by-way that leads through the wildwood up to this enchanting spot, stands a notice bearing the words "All are welcome to All love our friend. the Lotus Pond." Why }
They is
his
can't help is
it.
He
so loves them, and what
theirs.
Here one may often find merry groups of Here many times tired and children at play. and women come, and somemen weary looking how, when they go their faces wear a different
20
Fullness of Peace, Poivcr,
and Plenty
— the burden seems
to be lifted
expression,
now and then sometimes
;
and
have heard them when leaving,
I
in a faint
benediction, say,
as if uttering a bless our brother-friend."
murmur,
"God
speak of this spot as the Garden of God. calls it his Soul Garden, and he My Often have I spends many hours in quiet here.
Many
friend
seen him after the others have gone, walking to fro, or sitting quietly in the clear moonlight
and
on an old rustic bench, drinking of the wild flowers. fully simple nature.
things of
come
life
in the
perfume
He is a man of a beautiHe says that here the real to him,
and that here his
greatest and most successful plans, many times as
by a
flash of inspiration, suggest
themselves to
him.
Everything in the immediate vicinity seems to breathe a spirit of kindliness, comfort, goodwill,
and good cheer.
as they
come
of the grove
The very
cattle
and sheep
to the old stone-fence at the edge
and look across to
this beautiful
spot seem, indeed, to get the same enjoyment that the people are getting. They seem almost to smile in the realization of their contentment
or perhaps it seems so to the because he can scarcely help smiling looker-on, manifested evidence of their conas he sees the
and enjoyment
;
tentment and pleasure.
Fitllncss of Peace,
Power, and Plenty
2
1
The
gate of the pond is always open wide enough to admit a supply of water so abundant that it continually overflows a quantity sufficient to feed a stream that runs through the
fields
below, giving the pure mountain water in drink to the cattle and flocks that are grazing there. The stream then flows on through the neighbors' fields.
Not long ago our
was absent
friend
He year. to a man who, as the world goes,
rented his estate during his
for a
absence
was of a very had no time for
"
He turn of mind. " did not that bring him direct practianything " The the resercal returns. gate connecting "practical
pond was shut down, and no the had longer crystal mountain water the opand overflow it. The notice to feed portunity
voir with the lotus
of our friend,
"All are welcome to the Lotus
Pond," was removed, and no longer were the gay companies of children and of men and
A
women
seen at the pond. great change came On account of the lack of the over everything. life-giving water the flowers in the pond wilted,
and
their long
mud in swam in offensive
stems lay stretched upon the
the bottom. its
The
fish
clear water soon died
odor to
all
who came
flowers no longer bloomed on
its
that formerly
and gave an near.
banks.
The The
22
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
no longer came to drink and to bathe. No longer was heard the hum of the bees and birds
;
more, the stream that ran through the fields below dried up, so that the cattle and the flocks
no longer got water.
The
their supply of
clear
mountain
between the spot now and the pond when our friend gave it his careful attention was caused, as we readily see, by the difference
lotus
shutting of the gate to the pond, thus preventing the water from the reservoir in the hills
which was the source
And when
this,
of its
life,
the source of
from entering it. life, was shut
its
not only was the appearance of the lotus pond entirely changed, but the surrounding off,
were deprived of the stream to whose
fields
banks the flocks and In this do
cattle
came
for drink.
we
not see a complete parallel so life is concerned ? In the degree
human we recognize our
far as
oneness, our connection with the Infinite Spirit which is the life of all, and in the degree that we open ourselves to this that
divine inflow, do
we come
into
harmony with the
highest, the most powerful, and the most beautiful everywhere. And in the degree that we do this
do we overflow, so that
all
who come
in con-
tact with us receive the effects of this realiza-
tion
on our
part.
This
is
the lotus pond of our
Fullness of Peace, Power, friend,
he who
and best
we
that
in love
is
with
all
And
in the universe. fail
and
23
Plejity
that
is
in the
truest
degree
to recognize our oneness with this
Infinite Source,
and so close, shut ourselves to do we come into that state
this divine inflow,
where there seems to be with us nothing of good, nothing of beauty, nothing of power; and
when
this
is
true, those
who come
in
contact
This is with us receive not good, but harm. the spot of the lotus pond while the farm was
hands of a renter. There is this difference between the lotus pond and your life and mine. It has no power in the
opening the gate to the inflow of the water from the reservoir which is its source. In in itself of
regard to this
it
is
an outside agency.
helpless and dependent upon You and I have the power,
the power within us, to open or to close ourselves to this divine inflow exactly as we choose.
This we have through the power of mind, through the operation of thought. There is the soul life, direct from God. it
is
that relates us to the Infinite.
This
This
There
is,
it is
that relates us
to the material universe about us.
The thought
then, the physical
life
life.
connects the one with the other.
that plays between the two.
It is this
Fullness of Peace, Power,
24
Before
we proceed
and Plenty
farther let us consider very
briefly the nature of thought.
Thought
is
not,
many times supposed, a mere indefinite It abstraction, or 'something of a hke nature. as
is
on the contrary, a vital, living force, the most vital, subtle, and irresistible force there is in the is,
universe.
In our very laboratory experiments we are demonstrating the great fact that thoughts are
They have
form, and quality, and substance, and power, and we are beginning to find that there is what we may term a science of forces.
thought.
through
We the
are beginning also to find that
instrumentality
of
our
thought
we have
creative power, not merely in a figurative sense, but creative power in reality. Everything in the material universe about us,
forces
everything the universe has ever known, had From this it took origin first in thought. form. ing, its
Every
castle,
its its
every statue, every paint-
every piece of mechanism, everything had birth, its origin, first in the mind of the one
who formed
it
before
it
received
its
material ex-
The very universe in pression or embodiment. which we live is the result of the thought energies of God, the Infinite Spirit that is back of And if it is true, as we have found, that
all.
we
in
our true selves are in essence the same,
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and
and Plenty
25
one with the life of this do we not then see that in the
in this sense are
Infinite Spirit,
degree that
we come
this
into a vital realization of
we, tJiroiigh the operation
stupendous of our interior, spiritual, thougJit forces, have in fact,
like sense creative
power?
Everything exists
in
manifested or realized
the unseen before in
it
is
the seen, and in this
it is true that the unseen things are the while the things that are seen are the unThe unseen things are cause; the seen
sense real, real.
The unseen things are the things are effect. the seen things are the changing, the
eternal
;
transient.
The power of the ^^
word''
is
fact.
Through the operation
forces
we have
a
literal scientific
of our
creative power.
thought
The spoken
nothing more nor less than the outward expression of the workings of these interior
word
is
forces.
The spoken word
is
then, in a sense,
the means whereby the thought forces are focused and directed along any particular line; and this concentration, this giving
them
direction,
is
necessary before any outward or material manipower can become evident.
festation of their
Much the is
is
said in regard to "building castles in
and one who
given to this building not always looked upon with favor. But casair,"
is
26
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
ties in the air are always necessary before we can have castles on the ground, before we can have castles in which to live. The trouble with
the one
the air
who
is
gives himself to building castles in not that he builds them in the air, but
that he does not go farther and actualize in life, in character, in material form, the castles he
He
thus builds.
does a part of the work, a very but another equally necessary necessary part remains still undone. part ;
There is in connection with the thought forces what we may term, the drawing power of mind, and the great law operating here is one with that great law of the universe, that like
We
are continually attracting to us from both the seen and the unseen side of
attracts like.
life,
our
forces and conditions most akin to those of
own
thoughts.
continually operating whether we are conscious of it or not. are all living, so
This law
is
We
to speak, in a vast ocean of thought,
very atmosphere around us
is
and the
continually filled
with the thought forces that are being continually sent or that are continually going out in the form of thought waves. are all affected,
We
mors or
less,
by these thought
forces,
either
consciously or unconsciously; and in the degree that we are more or less sensitively organized,
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
27
we
are negative and so are open to outside influences, rather than positive, thus determining what influences shall enter or in the degree that
into our realm of thought,
and hence into our
lives.
There are those among us who are much As more sensitively organized than others. an organism their bodies are more finely, more sensitively constructed.
These, generally speakare who are always more or less ing, people affected by the mentalities of those with whom
they come they
in
A
are.
contact,
great journals, it
is
or in whose
friend, the is
company
editor of one of our
so sensitively organized that him to attend a gathering,
impossible for
such as a reception, talk and shake hands with a number of people during the course of the evening, without taking on to a greater or less extent their various mental and physical condiThese affect him to such an extent that tions.
he
is
for
scarcely himself and in his best condition until some two or three days afterward.
work
Some think
it
tively organized.
thing, for
unfortunate for one to be sensi-
By no means.
It is
a good
one may thus be more open and recep-
tive to the higher impulses of the soul within,
and to without.
all
higher forces and influences from may, however, be unfortunate and
It
28
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
extremely inconvenient to be so organized unless one recognize and gain the power of closing himself, of making himself positive to all detrimental or undesirable influences. This
power every one, however he
may
sensitively organized
be, can acquire.
This he can acquire through the mind's action. is no habit of more value
And, moreover, there
be he sensitively or less sensitively organized, than that of occasionally taking and
to anyone,
holding himself
mind to
all
continually in the attitude of close myself, I make myself positive things below, and open and receptive to all
—
I
all things above. By taking this attitude of mind consciously now and then, it soon becomes a habit, and if one is deep-
higher influences, to
ly in earnest in regard to
it,
it
puts into opera-
and powerful influences in In this way all the desired results.
tion silent but subtle
effecting
lower and undesirable influences from both the seen and the unseen side of
life
are closed out,
while all higher influences are invited, and in the degree that they are invited will they enter. And what do we mean by the unseen side of
thought forces, the mental and emotional conditions in the atmosphere about us
life
."*
First, the
that are generated
by those manifesting on the
physical plane through the agency of physical
Fullness of Peace, Power,
from are
29
Second, the same forces generated by
bodies.
those
and Plenty
who have dropped
the physical body, or has been struck away, and who manifesting through the agency of bod-
whom
now
it
ies of a different nature.
"The individual existence of man begins on the sense plane of the physical world, but rises through successive gradations of ethereal and celestial
spheres, corresponding
with
his ever
and powers, to a destiny of unfolding unspeakable grandeur and glory. Within and above every physical planet is a corresponding ethereal planet, or soul world, as within and above deific life
every physical organism
is
a corresponding ethewhich the physi-
real organism, or soul body, of
cal is but the external counterpart
From
ized expression. planet, which
is
and material-
this etherealized or soul
the immediate
home
our
of
arisen humanity, there rises or deepens in infinite spheres within and above spheres, to
gradations
celestial heights of spiritualized existence utterly
inconceivable to the sense man.
— the
Embodiment,
physical being accordingly, so to but the temporary husk, speak, in and by ethereal which the real and permanent organism is
two-fold,
somewhat as the full corn in the ear is reached by means of its husk, for which there is no further use. By is
individualized and perfected, '
'
Fullness of Peace, Power, arid Plenty
30
means
of this indestructible ethereal
body and
the corresponding ethereal spheres of environment with the social life and relations in the spheres,
the individuality and personal
life
is
preserved forever."
The
fact of
whatever form means the
life in
life, even though the form be Life is the one eternal principle of
continuance of changed. the universe
and so always continues, even though the form of the agency through which it " In manifests be changed. my Father's house are
many
And
mansions."
individual
has dropped,
surely,
has
because the
gone out
of
the
physical body, there is no evidence at all that the life does not go right on the same as before,
—
—
not commencing, for there is no cessation, but commencing in the other form, exactly where it
has
left
off here
evolution, step
;
for all life
by step
;
is
a continuous
there one neither skips
nor jumps.
There are in the other form, then, mentalities and hence lives of all grades and influences, the same as there are in the physical form. If, then, the great law that like attracts like
ever operating, we are continually attracting to us from this side of life influences and conditions most akin to those of our
grewsome
is
own thoughts and lives. A we should be so influ-
thought that
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
3
1
enced, says one. By no means, all life is one we are all bound together in the one common and universal life, and especially not when we ;
take into consideration the fact that
we have
it
entirely in our own hands to determine the order of thought we entertain, and consequently the
order of influences
we
attract,
and are not mere
willowy creatures of circumstance, unless indeed we choose to be. In our mental lives
we can
either keep hold of
the rudder and so determine exactly what course
what points we touch, or we can fail to do this, and failing, we drift, and are blown And hither and thither by every passing breeze.
we
take,
on the contrary, welcome should be the thought, for thus we may draw to us the influso,
ence and the aid of the greatest, the noblest, and the best who have lived on the earth, whatever the time, wherever the place. cannot rationally believe other than that
We
who have
those
labored in love and with upliftstill laboring in the same
ing power here are
way, and zeal,
"And thee,
in
all
and with
probability with
more earnest
still
greater power. Elisha prayed, and said, Lord,
open
his eyes, that
he
may
see.
I
pray
And
the
Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and, behold, the mountain zvas full of ;
:
horses
and chariots of fire round about
Elisha."
Fullness of Peace, Power,
32
and Plenty
While riding with a friend a few days ago, we were speaking of the great interest people are everywhere taking in the more vital things of life, the eagerness with which they are reaching out for a knowledge of the interior forces, their ever increasing desire to know themselves and to
know
And
their true relations with the Infinite.
speaking of the great spiritual awakis so rapidly coming all over the
in
ening that
world, the beginnings of which we are so clearly seeing during the closing years of this, and whose ever increasing proportions we are to witness
during the early years of the coming century, I said, "How beautiful if Emerson, the illumined
one so far
in
advance of his time, who labored
so faithfully and so fearlessly to bring about these very conditions, how beautiful if he were
with us today to witness "
rejoice " that
"
!
he
How
it
all
!
how he would
do we know," was the
reply,
not witnessing it all ? and more, not having a hand in it all, a
is
—
he is hand even greater, perhaps, than when we saw " him here ? Thank you, my friend, for this that
reminder.
And,
truly,
"are they not
all
minis-
tering spirits sent forth to minister to those " shall be heirs of salvation 1 'T
As
science
— the today,
is
who
so abundantly demonstrating we see are but a very
things that
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
I
33
small fraction of the things that are. The real, vital forces at work in our own lives and in the
world about us arc not seen by the ordinary Yet they are the causes of which physical eye. all
we
things
Thoughts is
to determine his
Says one things
"
its
the
effects.
and
like
his thinking,
life.
deep insight into the nature of of correspondences between
of
The law
:
spiritual in
merely
like builds like,
;
For one to govern
attracts like.
then,
are
see
are forces
and material things
is
wonderfully exact by the mood of
People ruled
workings.
them gloomy things. People and despondent do not sucdiscouraged always ceed in anything, and live only by burdening gloom
attract to
some one cheerful
The
else.
attract
the
confident,
and
elements of success.
A
hopeful,
man's front or back yard will advertise that man's ruling mood in the way it is kept. A woman at home shows her state of mind in her dress.
A
slattern advertises the ruling
mood
carelessness, and lack of sysand dirt are always in the tatters, Rags,
of hopelessness,
tem.
mind before being on the body. The thought that is most put out brings its corresponding visible
and
element to crystallize about you as surely
literally as
the visible bit of copper in solu-
tion attracts to
it
the invisible copper in that
Fullness of Peace, Power,
34
solution.
A
mind always
and Plenty
hopeful,
confident,
courageous, and determined on its set purpose, and keeping itself to that purpose, attracts to itself
out of the elements things and
powers
favorable to that purpose. " of
Every thought yours has a literal value in The strength of you every possible way.
to
your body, the strength of your mind, your success in business, and the pleasure your company brings others, depends on the nature of your thoughts.
... In whatever mood you
mind does your
set
your
receive of unseen sub-
spirit
stance in correspondence with that mood. It is much a chemical law as a spiritual law. Chemistry is not confined to the elements we
as
see.
The elements we do
not
see
with
the
physical eye outnumber ten thousand times those we do see. The Christ injunction, 'Do to those who hate good you,' is based on a scientific fact and a natural law. So, to do good is
to bring to yourself
power and good.
all
the elements in nature
To do
evil is to bring the destructive elements. When our eyes contrary are opened, self-preser\'ation will make us stop
of
Those who live by hate will thought. those who live by the hate that is, by the sword.' sword will die by Every evil thought the drawn on is as a sword person to whom it is all
die
evil
'
:
Fullness of Peace, Power, and Plenty If a
directed.
sword
is
drawn
in return, so
35
much
the worse for both."
And says another who knows full well whereof he speaks " The law of attraction works universally on every plane of action, and we attract If we desire one whatever we desire or expect. :
thing and expect another, we become like houses divided against themselves, which are quickly
brought
to
desolation.
Determine
resolutely
what you desire, then you will attract only what you wish for. Carry any kind of thought you please about with you, and so long as you retain it, no matter how you roam over land or sea, you will unceasingly attract to yourself, knowingly or inadvertently, exactly and only what corresponds to your own dominant to expect only
.
.
.
Thoughts are our private property, and we can regulate them to suit our taste entirely by steadily recognizing our ability quality of thought.
so to do."
We
have just spoken of the drawing power of Faith is nothing more nor less than the mind. operation of the thought forces in the form of an earnest desire, coupled with expectation as to its
And
the degree that faith, the earnest desire thus sent out, is continually held
fulfillment.
in
and watered by firm expectation, in just that degree does it either draw to itself, or does to
Fullness of Peace Power,
36 it
^
and Plenty
change from the unseen into the
visible,
from
the spiritual into the material, that for which is
it
sent.
Let the element of doubt or fear enter in, and what would otherwise be a tremendous force be so neutralized that
will
zation.
Continually
will fail of its reali-
it
held
to
and
continually
becomes a force, irresistible and absolute,
watered by firm expectation,
it
a drawing power, that is and the results will be absolute tion as
We
it is
in direct propor-
absolute.
shall find, as
we
are so rapidly beginning to find today, that the great things said in regard to faith, the great promises made in connection
with are
are not
it,
all
mere vague
great scientific facts,
immutable laws.
sentimentalities, but
and
rest
upon great our very laboratory are beginning to discover the
Even
in
experiments we laws underlying and governing
We
now
are
beginning, some
these forces.
at least,
to use
them understandingly and not blindly, as has so often and so long been the case.
Much is
many
itself.
far as
is said It today in regard to the will. times spoken of as if it were a force in
But it is
will is a force, a
power, only in so a particular form of the manifestation
of the thought forces
the
"will
"
;
for
that thought
is
it is
by what we
call
focused and given a
Fullness of Peace, Power, and Plenty
and in the degree that thus focused and given direction, is effective in the work it is sent out to accom-
particular ft
direction,
is
thought it
37
pHsh.
In a sense there are two kinds of
human and the
may
the
will,
The human
divine.
— the
will
is
what, for convenience' sake, we term the lower self. It is the will that of
will
realm of the mental and the physical, will. It is the will of the one who is not yet awake to the fact that finds its life
there
a
is
merely
in the
— the sense
life
that far transcends
the
life
of
merely the intellect and the physical senses, and which when realized and lived, does not do away with or minify these, but which, on the contrary, brings
them
to their highest perfection
and to
powers of keenest enjoyment. The divine will is the will of the higher self, the will of the their
one who recognizes his oneness with the Divine, and who consequently brings his will to work in harmony, in conjunction with the divine will. "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty."
The human and no
will
has
its
limitations.
farther, says the law.
The
So
far
divine will
has no limitations. It is supreme. All things are open and subject to you, says the law, and so, in the degree that the human will is trans-
Fullness of Peace, Power,
38
muted comes
the
and Plenty
the degree that it with and so, acts in conjuncharmony tion with the divine, does it become supreme. Then it is that "Thou shalt decree a thing and it
into
divine, in
into
shall
be established unto thee."
secret of
life
and of power, then,
The
great
to
make
is
and to keep one's conscious connection with
this
Infinite Source.
The power of every life, the very determined by what it relates itself immanent as well
life itself, is
to.
as transcendent.
God
He
is
is
cre-
ating, working, ruling in the universe today, in
your
life
has been.
and
in mine, just as
We
much
are too apt to regard
He ever Him after
as
the manner of an absentee landlord, one who has set into operation the forces of this great uni-
and then taken Himself away. In the degree, however, that we recognize
verse,
Him we
as
immanent as well
as transcendent, are
His life and power. For recognize Him as the Infinite Spirit of Life and Power that is today, at this able to partake of
in the
degree that
we
very moment, working and manifesting in and
through
come
all,
and then,
into the
in
realization
the degree that
we
of our oneness with
we become partakers of, and so life, do do we actualize in ourselves the qualities of His this
life.
In the degree that we open ourselves
to the
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
39
inflowing tide of this immanent and transcendent life, do we make ourselves channels through which
and Poiver can work.
the Infiyiite Intelligence It is
that
we
through the instrumentality of the mind are enabled to connect the real soul life
with the physical life, and so enable the soul life manifest and work through the physical. The thought life needs coritinually to be illuto
mined from within. in
the
just
This illumination can come
degree that through the agency
mind we recognize our oneness with the Divine, of which each soul is an individual form
of the
of expression.
This gives us the inner guiding which we intuition.
" Intuition
is
call
to the spiritual nature
and understanding practically what sense perception is to the sensuous nature and understanding. It is
an inner
spiritual sense
through which
opened to the direct revelation of God, the secrets of nature is
man
and knowledge and life, and
through which he is brought into conscious unity and fellowship with God, and made to realize his
own
deific
nature and supremacy of
being as the son of God.
and
illumination
thus
Spiritual realized
supremacy
through
the
development and perfection of intuition under divine vision
inspiration,
and
direct
gives
the
insight
into
perfect
the
inner
character,
Fullness of Peace, Power,
40
properties,
and Plenty
and purpose of all things to which and interest are directed.
the attention
.
.
.
we
repeat, a spiritual sense opening inas the physical senses open outwardly; wardly, and because it has the capacity to perceive, It
is,
and know the truth
grasp,
pendent
of
external
all
tion,
we
and
spiritual
call
it
intuition.
revelations
at
first
sources
hand, indeof
informa-
All inspired teaching are based upon the
recognition of this spiritual faculty of the soul, its power to receive and appropriate them.
and
Conscious unity of man in spirit and purwith the Father, born out of his supreme pose .
.
.
and
desire
trust,
opens his
inner sense to immediate
soul
through this and en-
inspiration
lightenment from the Divine Omniscience, and the co-operative energy of the Divine Omnipo-
under which he becomes a seer and a
tence,
master.
"On in
the
attitude
this higher plane of realized spiritual life
flesh
the mind holds
the
impersonal
and acts with unfettered freedom and
unbiased vision, grasping truth at first hand, independent of all external sources of information.
Approaching all beings and things from the
divine side, they are seen in the light of
Divine Omniscience.
God's purpose and so the truth concerning them, as
in it
the
them,
rests in
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
the mind of God, are thus revealed
by
4
1
direct
ilkimination from the Divine Mind, to which the soul
is
sense
we
the
of
some
opened inwardly through call intuition."
soul
call
it
some
;
call
Some it
this
call
it
spiritual
the voice
the voice of
the sixth sense.
It
is
our
God
;
inner
spiritual sense.
we come
In the degree that tion of our
own
of the oneness of our
and
in the
into the recogni-
true selves, into the realization life
degree that
with the Infinite Life,
we open
ourselves to this
divine inflow, does this voice of intuition, this
voice of the soul, this voice of God, speak clearand in the degree that we recognize, listen ly ;
speak ever more clearly, until by-and-by there comes the time when it is
to,
and obey
it,
does
it
unerring, absolutely unerring, in
its
guidance.
Fullness of Peace, Power,
42
and Plenty
OF LIFE— BODILY HEALTH AND VIGOR.
FULLNESS
If we are the Spirit of Infinite Life. of this and have the Hfe, power of partakers ourselves to its divine inflow, it opening fully
God
is
means more,
so far as even the physical we may at first think.
life
is
For of this the life Infinite from Spirit, very clearly, its very nature, can admit of no disease; and if this is true, no disease can exist in the body where it freely enters, through which it freely concerned, than
flows.
Let us recognize
at the outset that, so far as
the physical life is concerned, all life is from There is an immutable law which within out.
"As within, so without cause, effect." says In other words, the thought forces, the various :
;
mental states and the emotions, their effects
Some one day
all
have
in
time
upon the physical body. says
:
" I hear a great deal said to-
in regard to the effects of the
the body, but I don't confidence in this."
know as Don't
brings you sudden news.
I
mind upon
much Some one
place very
you.-*
You grow
pale,
you
Fulhicss of Peace, Power,
and
Ple7ity
43
It is, tremble, or perhaps you fall into a faint. however, through the channel of your mind that
the news
is
imparted to you.
something
thing that seems very unkind.
by
it,
we
as
A
friend
says
to you, perhaps at the table, some-
say.
You
are hurt
You have been enjoying your moment your appetite is
dinner, but from this
But what was said entered into and
gone.
affected you through the channel of your mind. Look! yonder goes a young man, dragging his
stumbling over the slightest obstruction in Why is it Simply that he is weak-
feet,
the path.
.-*
minded, an
mind
of the
idiot.
is
body.
footed.
To
In other words, a fallhig state
productive of a falling conditioti of To be sure minded is to be sure be' uncertain in
mind
is
to be uncer-
tain in step.
You Again, a sudden emergency arises. stand trembling and weak with fear. Why are Why do you tremble ? you powerless to move .''
And
mind has but little yet you influence upon the body. You are for a moment dominated by a fit of anger. For a few hours believe that the
afterwards you complain of a violent headache. And still you do not seem to realize that the
thoughts and emotions have an effect upon the body.
A
day or two ago, while conversing with a
Fulhiess of Peace, Poiver,
44
friend,
we were speaking
and Plenty "
of worry.
greatly given to worry," he father is not a healthy man," is
My
I
father
"Your
said.
"
said.
He
not strong, vigorous, robust, and active." I then went on to describe to him more fully his is
father's condition
him.
He
"Why, you do I
and the troubles which
me
looked at "
replied.
not
How
in surprise
know my
father
just
told
me
father's condition its
own
I
said,
No,"
is
afflicted
.''"
In describ-
simply connected
peculiar effects."
Fear and worry have the
\f
"
that your father is When you told me
greatly given to worry. this you indicated to me cause.
ing your with the cause
" }
then can you describe so ac-
curately the disease with which he
"You have
afflicted
and
effect
of
closing
up the channels of the body, so that the life forces flow in a slow and sluggish manner. Hope and tranquillity open the channels of the body, so that the life forces go bounding through it in such a way that disease can rarely get a foothold.
Not long ago a lady was
telling a friend of a
My
friend happened serious physical trouble. know that between this lady and her sister He the most kindly relations did not exist. to
to her delineation of her
listened
attentively
troubles,
and then, looking her squarely
in
the
Fullness of Peace, Power,
45
but kindly tone said: "Forgive looked at him in
face, in a firm
your
and Plenty
The woman
sister."
"I can't forgive my sister." "Very well, then," he replied, "keep the stiffness of your joints and your kindred rheumatic surprise and said
:
troubles."
A
he saw her again. With a light step she came toward him and said: "I I saw my sister and forgave took your advice.
few weeks
later
We
have become good friends again, and know how it is, but somehow or other I don't from the very day, as I remember, that we became reconciled, my troubles seemed to grow
her.
and today there is not a trace of the old difficulties left and really, my sister and I have
less,
;
such good friends that now we can scarcely get along without one another." Again we have effect following cause.
become
We
have several well-authenticated cases of mother has been domithe following nature: nated for a few moments by an intense passion
A
of anger,
and the child
at
her breast has died
within an hour's time, so poisoned became the mother's milk by virtue of the poisonous secretions of the system w^hile under the domination In other cases it has caused of this fit of anger.
severe illness and convulsions.
The
following experiment has been tried a
Fullness of Peace, Power,
46
number
of
times
and Plenty
by a well-known
scientist:
men have been put into a heated room. Each man has been dominated for a moment by Several
a particular passion of some kind; one by an intense passion of anger, and others by different
The experimenter
other passions.
drop of perspiration
has taken a
from the body of each of
these men, and by means of a careful chemical analysis he has been able to determine the par-
by which each has been domPractically the same results revealed
ticular passion
inated.
themselves in the chemical analysis of the saliva of each of the men.
Says a noted American author, an able graduate of one of our greatest medical schools, and
one who has studied deeply into the forces that build the body and the forces that tear it down:
"The mind
the natural protector of the body. Every thought tends to reproduce itself, and ghastly mental pictures of disease, sensu.
.
is
.
ality,
and vice
of all sorts,
produce scrofula and
leprosy in the soul, which reproduces them in the body. Anger changes the chemical properties of the saliva to a It
is
well
known
poison dangerous to
that sudden
tions have not only
life.
and violent emo-
weakened the heart
in a
few
It hours, but have caused death and insanity. has been discovered by scientists that there is
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
47
a chemical difference between that sudden cold
exudation of a person under a deep sense of guilt and the ordinary perspiration; and the state
mind can sometimes be determined by
of the
chemical analysis of the perspiration of a criminal, which, when brought into contact with selenic acid, produces a distinctive pink color. It is
well
known
that fear has killed thousands of
victims; while, on the other hand, courage is a
great invigorator. "Anger in the mother
may poison a nursing Rarey, the celebrated horse-tamer, said that an angry word would sometimes raise the child.
If this pulse of a horse ten beats in a minute. true of a beast, what can we say of its power
is
upon human beings, especially upon a child } Strong mental emotion often causes vomiting. Extreme anger or fright may produce jaundice.
A violent
paroxysm
and death.
of rage has caused apoplexy
Indeed, in more than one instance, a agony has wrecked a life.
single night of mental
Grief, long-standing jealousy, constant care
and
corroding anxiety sometimes tend to develop Sick thoughts and discordant moods insanity. are the natural atmosphere of disease, and crime is engendered and thrives in the miasma of the
mind."
From
all
this
we
get the great fact
we
are
^
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
48
—
that the scientifically demonstrating today, various mental states, emotions, and passions have their various peculiar effects upon the
body, and each induces in turn, to
great extent, its
any
disease,
and these
in
own
if
indulged in
peculiar forms of
time become chronic.
Just a word or two in regard to their mode of If a person is dominated for a mooperation.
ment
by, say a passion of anger, there
is set up what we organism might justly term a bodily thunder-storm, which has the
in the physical
of
effect
souring, or rather of corroding,
the
normal, healthy, and life-giving secretions of the body, so that instead of performing their natural
become poisonous and
functions they
And
tive.
if
this
destruc-
goes on to any great extent,
virtue of their cumulative
influences, they a particular form of disease, which in turn becomes chronic. So the emotion op-
by
give rise to
posite to this, that of kindliness, love, benevolence, good-will, tends to stimulate a healthy, purifying, and life-giving flow of all the bodily secretions.
free
All the channels of the body seem the life forces go bounding
and open;
through them. into a
bounding
And
these
very forces, set time counteract
activity, will in
the poisonous and disease-giving effects of theil opposites.
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
49
A
He gives physician goes to see a patient. this Yet the very fact of no medicine morning. his
He has going makes the patient better. him the spirit of health he has car-
carried with
;
and disposition; he has into the sick carried hope chamber; he has left it In fact, the very hope and good cheer he there. has carried with him has taken hold of and has ried brightness of tone
had a subtle but powerful influence upon the mind of the patient; and this mental condition imparted by the physician has in turn
its
effects
body, and so through the of this mental suggestion the instrumentality
upon the
patient's
healing goes on. "
Know, then, whatever cheerful and serene Supports the mind, supports the body, too. Hence the most vital movement mortals feel Is hope; the balm and life-blood of the soul."
We
sometimes hear a person
" say to another,
come."
There
I
always
in
weak health when you
feel better
a deep scientific reason under" The lying the statement. tongue of the wise is
is
The power of suggestion so far as human mind is concerned is a most wonder
health."
the ful ful
and interesting field of study. Most wonderand powerful forces can be set into operation
through this agency. One of the world's most noted scientists, recognized everywhere as one of
Fullness of Peace, Power,
50
and Plenty
the most eminent anatomists living, tells us that he has proven from laboratory experiments that
human structure can be completely made over, within a period of less than changed, one year, and that some portions can be entirely
the entire
remade within a period
"Do
you mean
of a very
few weeks.
to say," I hear
it
asked, "that
the body can be changed from a diseased to a healthy condition through the operation of the interior forces ?" is
the natural
that has as
its
Most certainly and more, this method of cure. The method work the application of drugs, ;
medicines and external agencies is the artificial method. The only thing that any drug or any
medicine can do the to
life
forces
is
may
do their work.
must
to
remove obstructions, that
have simply a better chance
The real
Jiealing process
performed by the operation of the life within. A surgeon and physician of forces world-wide fame recently made to his medical " For associates the following declaration genbe
:
erations past the most important influence that plays upon nutrition, the life principle itself, has
remained an unconsidered element cal its
in the medi-
profession, and the almost exclusive drift of studies and remedial paraphernalia has been
confined
to
the
action
of
matter over mind.
This has seriously interfered with the evolution-
Fnlhu'ss of Peace, Power, atid Plenty
5
i
and ary tendencies of the doctors themselves, in factor professional consequently the psychic life is still in
a rudimentary or comparatively unBut the light of the nineteenth
state.
developed century has dawned, and so the march of mankind in general is taken in the direction of the
Doctors are now com-
hidden forces of nature.
pelled to join the ranks of students in psychology and follow their patrons into the broader field of
mental therapeutics. There is no time for lindoubt or hesitagering, no time for skepticism or
He who
tion.
lingers is
is enlisted in the I
am aware
lost,
for the
etitire
race
movement^
of the fact that in connection with
the matter we are now considering there has been a great deal of foolishness during the past few years.
Many
foolish things have but this says nothing has absolutely nothing to do with
absurd and
been claimed and done against,
the
and
great
it
underlying
same has been true
;
laws
themselves.
The
of the early days of practi-
every system of ethics or philosophy or But as time religion the world has ever known.
cally
has passed, these foolish, absurd
things
have
and the great eternal principles have more and more clearly defined. out ever stood I know personally of many cases where an entire and permanent cure has been affected, in
fallen away,
5
Fullness of Peace, Power,
2
and Plenty
some within a remarkably short period
of time,
Some through the operation of these forces. of them are cases that had been entirely given up by the regular practice, materia medica.
We
have numerous accounts of such cases times and in connection with
why exist
and
in
all
And
all religions.
should not the power of effecting such cures The power does exist, among us today
it
.''
will
be actualized
we
the
in just the
degree that
same great laws that were
recognize recognized in times past.
One person may do a very great deal in connection with the healing of another, but this almost invariably implies co-operation on the part of the
one who
is
thus treated.
In the cures that
performed he most always needed the co-operation of the one who appealed to him. Christ
His question almost invariably was, " Dost thou believe.''"
He
thus stimulated into activity the
life-giving forces within the is
in a
system
very weak is
one cured.
condition, or
exhausted, or
if
his
if
If
one
his nervous
mind through the
not so strong in its be well for him for a time to
influence of the disease
is
workings, it may But it seek the aid and co-operation of another. would be far better for such a one could he
bring himself to a vital realization of the omni-
potence of his
own
interior powers.
Fullness of Peace, Power,
One may
and Plenty
5
3
cure another, but to be permanently
must do it himself. In this way another may be most valuable as a teacher by bringing one to a clear realization of the power healed one
of the forces within, but in every case, in order to have a permanent cure, the work of the self is
necessary.
ably,
— Go and
Christ's sin
words were almost
no more,
or,
invari-
thy sins are for-
given thee, thus pointing out the one eternal and
never-changing
fact,
—
that
all
disease and
its
consequent suffering is the direct or the direct result of the violation of law, either con-
in-
or sciously or unconsciously, either intentionally unintentionally.
designed to continue only so long as sin continues, sin not necessarily in the theoSuffering
is
but always in the philosophical sense, though many times in the sense of both. The moment the violation ceases, the moment one logical,
comes
into perfect
harmony with the
law, the
cause of the suffering ceases and though there may be residing within the cumulative effects of ;
past violation, the cause is removed, and consequently there can be no more effects in the form of
additions,
and even the diseased condition
that has been induced from past violation will begin to disappear as soon as the right forces are set into activity.
Fullness of Peace, Power,
54
and Plenty
There is nothing that will more quickly and more completely bring one into harmony with laws under which he lives than this vital
the
realization of his oneness with the Infinite Spirit,
which
is
the
of
life
all life.
In this there can
be no disease, and nothing will more readily remove from the organism the obstructions that
have accumulated there, or in other words, the disease that resides there, than this full realization
and the complete opening of one's
divine inflow.
" I shall put
My
self to this
spirit in you,
and
shall live."
ye
The moment
a person realizes
with the Infinite
his
oneness
he recognizes himself as a spiritual being, and no longer as a mere physiHe then no longer makes the cal, material being. "Spirit
mistake of regarding himself as body, subject to ills and diseases, but he realizes the fact that he is spirit, spirit
be,
now
and that he
as
is
of the body, the
much
as he ever will or can
the builder and so the mastei
house
in
which he
lives
;
and
moment he
thus recognizes his power as master he ceases in any way to allow it the masthe
He no longer fears the elements tery over him. or any of the forces that he now in his ignorance allows to take hold of and affect the body. The moment he realizes his own supremacy, instead of fearing
them
as he did
when he was
out of
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
5 5
harmony with them, he learns to love them. He thus comes into harmony with them; or into rather, he so orders them that they come harmony with him. He who formerly was the slave has
now become
we come harm
the master.
to love a thing
it
The moment
no longer carries
for us.
There are almost countless numbers today, weak and suffering in body, who would become God strong and healthy if they would only give I To such work. an opportunity to do His Do?it shut out the divine inflozv. Open youranything else rather than this.
would
Do
say,
selves to
it.
Invite
it.
In the degree that you
inflowing tide open yourselves to it, course through your bodies a force so vital that the old obstructions that are dominating them " will be driven out before it. My words will
its
today are
life
to
them
that find them, and health to
all
their flesh." is a trough through which a stream of has been flowing for many days. water muddy The dirt has gradually collected on its sides and
There
bottom, and it continues to collect as long as the muddy water flows through it. Change a to the this. swift-flowing stream trough Open in a very little while and of clear, crystal water,
even the verv
dirt that
has collected on
its
sides
Fullness of Peace, Power,
$6
and Plenty
be carried away. The trough be entirely cleansed. It will present an aspect of beauty and no longer an aspect of And more, the water that now courses ugliness.
and bottom
will
will
through
it
will
be of value
it
;
will
of refreshment, of health and of those who use it.
be an agent strength to
Yes, in just the degree that you realize your oneness with this Infinite Spirit of Life,
and thus actualize your latent possibilities and powers, you will exchange dis-ease for ease, inharmony for harmony, suffering and pain for
And
abounding health and strength. degree that you realize
this
abounding health and strength
you carry tact
for
;
it
to
all
with
wholeness,
this
in yourself, will
whom you come
we must reynember
in the
in con-
that Jiealth is con-
tagious as well as disease. I
hear
crete
way
it
asked.
What
of these truths, so that
the
can be said
in a con-
in regard to the practical application
enjoyment
of
one can hold himself
perfect
bodily
in
health; and
more, that one may heal himself of any existing In reply, let it be said that the chief disease .-'
thing that can be done
underlying principle,
must make cannot well
own make this his
is
to point out the great
and that each individual one person application ;
for another.
Fullness of Peace, Power, First let
it
be
said, that
and Plenty
57
the very fact of one's
holding the thought of perfect health sets into operation vital forces which will in time be more or less productive of the effect,
Then speaking more
— perfect
health.
directly in regard to the
great principle itself, from its very nature, it is clear that more can be accomplished through the
process of realization than through the process
though for some affirmation may be a help, an aid to realization. In the degree, however, that you come into a vital realization of your oneness with the Infinite Spirit of Life, whence all life in individual form of affirmation,
is continually coming, and in the that through this realization you open degree to its divine inflow, do you set into yourself
has come and
operation forces that will sooner or later bring even the physical body into a state of aboundFor to realize that ing health and strength. this
Infinite
Spirit of Life
can from
its
very nature admit of no disease, and to realize that
this, then, is
the
oneness with
it,
in you, by realizing your can so open yourself to its you more abundant entrance that the diseased bodily
conditions
ences of or
more
self.
—
life
effects
—
its all-perfect
tardily,
will respond to the influpower, this either quickly
depending entirely upon your-
5
Fullness of Peace, Power,
8
and Plenty
There have been those who have been able
to
open themselves so fully to this realization that the healing has been instantaneous and perma-
The degree
nent. in
of intensity always eliminates
degree the element of time.
like
however, be a calm, quiet,
It must,
and
expectant intenthat is fearing, rather than an sity, intensity Then there are disturbed, and 7ion-expectant.
who have come
others
to this realization
by
degrees.
and many will be entirely healed by a practice somewhat after the following nature With a mind at peace,
Many
will receive great
help,
:
and with a heart going out the quiet of your thought, Life, the
—
I
am
life
of
spiritual being,
of
no
own
in love to
all,
go into
interior self, holding the
one with the Infinite Spirit of my life. I then as spirit, I a
my own real nature admit now open my body, in which
can in
disease.
I
disease has gotten a foothold,
I
open
it
fully to
the inflowing tide of this Infinite Life, and
now, even now,
is
in
it
and coursing
pouring body, and the healing process is Realize this so fully that you begin going on. to feel a quickening and a warming glow im-
through
my
Believe parted by the life forces to the body. Believe it, the healing process is going on. and hold continually to it. Many people greatly
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
5
9
desire a certain thing,
but expect something have greater faith in the power of They evil than in the power of good, and hence remain ill. else.
one
himself to this meditation, realization, treatment, or whatever term it mayIf
will give
seem best
to use, at stated times, as often as he
choose, and then coitinnally hold himself same attitude of mind, thus allowing the
may
in the
work
continually, he will be surprised the rapidly body will be exchanging conditions of disease and inharmony for health and
force to
how
There
harmony. for
ever,
this
is
no
surprise,
particular reason, for
in this
how-
way he
is
the Omnipotent Power to do
simply allowing the work, which will have to do
it
ultimately in
case.
any
there
If
open
is
a local difficulty, and one wants to
this particular portion, in addition to the
entire body, to this inflowing
life,
he can hold
this particular portion in thought, for to fix the
thought in this way upon any particular portion of the
body stimulates or increases the flow of forces in that portion. It must always be borne in mind, however, that whatever heal-
the
life
may be
thus accomplished, effects will not permanently cease until causes have been reIn other words, as long as there is the moved.
ing
6o
Fullness of Peace, Power, and Plenty
violatioji
of law, so long disease and suffering
will result.
This realization that we are considering have an influence not only where there is a
will dis-
eased condition of the body, but even where there is not this condition it will give an increased bodily
We
life,
vigor,
and power.
have had many cases,
in all countries, of healing
in all
times and
through the operation
of the interior forces, entirely independent
external
Various
agencies.
have
been
of
the
methods, or rather, various have been the names applied to them, but the great law underlying all
one and the same, and the same today. the Master sent his followers forth, his
is
When
injunction to them was to heal the sick and the afflicted, as well as to teach the people.
The
early church fathers had the power of healit was a part of their work.
ing, in short,
And why
should
we
not have the power today, it then ? Are the laws
the same as they had at all different
}
Identically the same.
Why,
Simply because, with a few rare exceptions here and there, we are unable to
then
get
.''
beyond
the
mere letter of and power.
into its real vital spirit
is
law the
the spirit that giveth life who becomes so indisoul Every
letter that killeth,
and power.
the It
it is
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
he breaks
that
vidualized
and enters into the
letter
6
1
through the mere real vital spirit, will
have the pozver, as have all who have gone before, and when he does, he will also be the
means
of imparting
one who
it
to others, for he will be
move and who
will
will
speak with
authority. are rapidly finding today, and we shall find even more and more, as time passes, that
We
all
practically
has
disease, with its consequent suffer-
origin in perverted emotional states and conditions.
ing,
its
mental and
The mental
attitude we take tozvard anytJmig determines to If a greater or less extent its effects upon us.
we
fear
are that
it,
it
or will
if
we
trous effects upon us.
with
it
antagonize
it,
the chances
have detrimental or even disasIf
we come
into
harmony by quietly recognizing and inwardly
asserting our superiority over it, in the degree that we are able successfully to do this, in that
carry with it no injury for us. disease can enter into or take hold of our
degree
No
will
it
bodies unless
it
sponding to itself
find therein
something corre-
which makes
it
possible.
And
same way, no evil or undesirable condition of any kind can come into our lives unless there is already in them that which invites it and so makes it possible for it to come. The sooner in the
62
Fullness of Peace Power, ,
we begin
much
for so
Plcjity
to look within ourselves for the cause
whatever comes to
of
and
us,
the better
it
we begin
the sooner will
will be,
to
conditions within ourselves such that only
make good
may enter. We, who from masters of
all
our very natures should be conditions, by virtue of our igno-
rance are mastered by almost numberless conditions of every description. Do I fear a draft There
nothing in the draft little purifying current of God's pure to cause me trouble, to bring on a cold, air .''
—a
is
—
perhaps an illness. The draft can affect me only in the degree that / inyself make it possible,
only in the degree that
me.
mere does
We
occasions. it
Two
I
allow
it
to affect
must distinguish between causes and
The
carry cause with
draft
is
not cause, nor
it.
persons are sitting in the same draft. is injuriously affected by it, the other
The one
experiences not even an inconvenience, but he rather enjoys it. The one is a creature of cir-
cumstances
he fears the draft, cringes before continually thinks of the harm it is doing him. In other words, he opens every avenue for it to enter and take hold of him, and so it ;
it,
harmless and beneficent in
itself
— brings
him exactly what he has empowered
it
—
to
to bring.
Fullness of Peace, Power,
The
and Plenty
63
other recognizes himself as the master over
He and not the creature of circumstances himthe draft. He about concerned is not puts harmony with
self into
to
it,
fort,
and instead he enjoys
him a
makes himself
it,
of experiencing
it,
and
in
positive
any discom-
addition to
its
doing
by bringing the pure fresh air from without to him, it does him the additional service
him even more
service of hardening
But
ture conditions of a like nature.
to if
any
fu-
the draft
would bring the same results to The fact that it does not, shows that both. it is not a cause, but a condition, and it brings
was
cause,
it
to each, effects which tions
it
correspond to the condi-
finds within each.
Poor draft
!
How many
thousands, nay milthe scapegoat by those
it is made who are too ignorant or too own weaknesses square in
lions of times
unfair to look their
the face, and
instead of becoming imperial
masters,
who
remain
Think of it, what it means! cringing slaves. man created in the image of the eternal God,
A
sharer
of
dominion,
His
life
fearing,
and power, shaking,
born to have
cringing before a
But scapedraft of pure life-giving air. goats are convenient things, even if the only thing they do for us is to aid us in our constant little
efforts at self-delusion.
Fullness of Peace, Pozvcr,
64
The
best
effects
it
way
and Plenty
to disarm a draft
been accustomed
has
of the
bad
to bring one,
to bring about a pure and healthy set of conditions within, then, to change one's mental is first
attitude toward itself
it
invest
it
Recognize the
Then
it,
and
will
in a draft
sit
fact that of
has only the power you
it
Thus you
with.
harmony with it.
it.
has no power,
will
put yourself into
no longer sit in fear of a few times and get
hardened to
it, as every one, by going at it j udi" But can suppose one is readily do. ciously,
in
delicate
drafts?"
health,
or
especially
Then be simply
a
subject
to
judicious at don't seek the strongest that can be found, especially if you do not as yet in your own mind
first
little
;
if you do not, it signifies that That supreme regulator of all you common sejtse, must be used here, the life, good same as elsewhere. If we are born to have dominion, and that we are is demonstrated by the fact that some have and what one /uis done, soon or attained to it,
feel equal to still
fear
it,
for
it.
— — then
late all caji do,
it is
not necessary that
we
under the domination of any physical agent. In the degree that we recognize our own interior powers, then are we rulers and able to dictate
live
;
degree that we fail to recognize them, we We build whatare slaves, and are dictated to.
in the
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
we
ever
comes
find within us
to us,
law, for
all
and
all in
natural law
The whole
of
we
;
65
whatever
attract
accordance with spiritual spiritual law.
is
human
life is
cause and effect
;
no such thing in it as chance, nor is Are we in all the wide universe. even there not satisfied with whatever comes into our lives?
there
is
thing to do, then, is not to spend time in railing against the imaginary something we
The
create and call fate, but to look to the within,
and change the causes
at
work
that things of a different nature
there will
may come,
for
exactly what we cause to come.
true not only of the physical body, but of invite phases and conditions of life.
This all
come
there, in order
is
We
whatever comes, and did we not invite consciously or unconsciously,
it
it,
eithei"
could not and
it
may undoubtedly be or even to see, at first. hard for some to believe, But in the degree that one candidly and open-
would not come.
mindedly looks
at
This
it,
and then studies into the
silent, but subtle and, so to speak, omnipotent workings of the thought forces, and as he traces
their
effects
becomes
within
him and about him, it and easy to under-
clearly evident,
stand.
And for its
then whatever does come to one depends effects entirely upon his mental attitude
66
Fullness of Peace, Power, and Plenty
toward
Does
it.
condition cause
this
or
occurrence
that
you annoyance
Very
?
or
well
;
causes you annoyance, and so disturbs your You are peace merely because you allow it to. it
born to have absolute control over your own dominion, but if you voluntarily hand over this power, even to
for a little while, to
if
some thing
else,
then you
some one or become
of course,
the creature, the one controlled. To live undisturbed by passing occurrences
you must first find your own centre. You must then be firm in your own centre, and so rule He who does not himthe world from within. self condition
circumstances allows the process and becomes a conditioned cir-
to be reversed,
cumstance. render
it
Find your centre and live in it. SurIn the to no person, to no thing.
you do this will you find yourself growing stronger and stronger in it. And how can one find his centre By realizing his oneness with the Infinite Power, and by living con-
degree that
.-'
tinually in this realization. But if you do not rule from your
own
this or that with the
centre,
power of you invest bringing you annoyance, or evil, or harm, then take what it brings, but cease your railings against the eternal goodness and beneficence of if
all
things.
Fullness of Peace, Power, "
and Plenty
67
swear the earth shall surely be complete or her who shall be complete The earth remains jagged and broken Only to him who remains jagged and broken."
I
To him
;
the windows of your soul are dirty and streaked, covered with matter foreign to them, If
then the world as you look out of them will be to you dirty and streaked and out of order.
Cease your complainings, however your "poor,
pessimism,
;
keep your
me"
unfortunate
to
winyourself, lest you betray the fact that your But dows are badly in need of something. that your friend, who keeps his windows clean, that the Eternal Sun may illumine all
know
within
and
make
visible
all
without,
— know
that he lives in a different world from yours. Then, go wash your windows, and instead of
longing for some other world, you will discover and if the wonderful beauties of this world ;
you don't find transcendent beauties on every hand here, the chances are that you will never find
them anywhere. "The poem hangs on
the berry-bush
When comes And
the poet's eye, the whole street is a masquerade
When
Shakspeare passes by."
This same Shakspeare, whose mere passing all this commotion, is the one who put
causes
68
Fullness of Peace, Power,
into
the
words
" :
mouth
The
one of his creations the
of
fault,
and Plenty
dear Brutus,
not in our
is
stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings." And the great work of his own life is right good
evidence that he realized
full well
the truth of
are considering. And again he us a truth in gave great keeping with what we are considering when he said :
the facts
we
"
And make
Our doubts
us lose the good
are traitors,
we
oft
might win
'By fearing to attempt."
There is probably no agent that brings us more undesirable conditions than fear. We should live in fear of nothing, nor will
we come
fully
to
know
French proverb runs "
we when
An
ourselves.
old
:
Some of your griefs you have cured, And the sharpest you still have survived
;
But what torments ofpain you endured
From
evils that
Fear and lack
of
never arrived." faith
go hand
in
hand.
The one is born of the other. Tell me how much one is given to fear, and I will tell you how much he lacks in faith. Fear is a most expensive guest to entertain, the same as worry is so expensive are they that no one can afford :
to entertain them.
We
invite
what we fear,
the
Fullness of Peace, Power,
same vite
as,
and
and Plenty
69
by a different attitude of mind, tve inattract the influences and conditions we
The mind dominated by fear opens the door for the entrance of the very things, for the
desire.
actualization of the very conditions
it
fears.
"Where are you going?" asked an Eastern "I am pilgrim on meeting the plague one day. going to Bagdad to
A
kill five
thousand people,"
later the same reply. "You told met the plague returning. pilgrim me you were going to Bagdad to kill five thousand people," said he, "but instead, you killed "No," said the plague. "/ fifty thousand." killed only five thousand, as I told you I would
was the
few days
;
the others died of
''
fig]it.
Fear can paralyze every muscle
Fear
in
the body.
affects the flow of the blood, likewise the
normal and healthy action of all the life forces. Fear can make the body rigid, motionless, and powerless to move.
Not only do we attract to ourselves the things we fear, but we also aid in attracting to others the conditions we in our own minds hold them This we do in proportion to the in fear of. own thought, and in the degree of our strength that they are sensitively organized and so influ-
enced by our thought, and this, although it be imconscious both on their part and on ours.
Fullness of Peace, Power,
yo
Children, and are,
especially
and Plenty
when very young,
generally speaking, more
sensitive to their
surrounding influences than grown people
Some
are veritable
little
sensitive plates,
are.
regis-
tering the influences about them, and embodying them as they grow. How careful in their prevailing
mental states then should be those
who have them
in charge, and especially how mother be during the time she carrying the child, and when every thought,
careful should a is
every mental as well as emotional state has its direct influence upon the life of the unborn child.
Let parents be careful how they hold a
child, either
younger or
older, in the
thought of This is many times done, unwittingly on fear. their part, through anxiety, and at times through
what might well be termed over-care, which fully as bad as under-care. I
has of
know
of a
number
of
is
cases where a child
been so continually held in the thought fear lest this or that condition come upon
him, that the very things that were feared have been drawn to him, which probably otherwise
never would have come at
all.
Many
times
there has been no adequate basis for the fear. In case there is a basis, then far wiser is it to take exactly the opposite attitude, so as to neutralize the force at work, and then to hold
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
y
i
the child in the thought of wisdom and strength it may be able to meet the condition and
that
master
it, instead of being mastered by it. But a day or two ago a friend was telling
me
an experience of his own life in this connection. At a period when he was having a terrific of
struggle with a certain habit, he was so continually held in the thought of fear by his mother
—
and the young lady to whom he was engaged, the engagement to be consummated at the end of a certain period, the time depending on his proving his mastery, organized,
weakening
—
that he, very sensitively
contimially felt the depressing and effects of their negative thoughts.
He could always tell exactly how they felt toward him; he was continually influenced and weakened by
their fear,
their suspicions,
all
by their questionings, by of which had the effect
of lessening the sense of his own power, all of which had an endeavor-paralyzing influence
upon him. And so instead of their begetting courage and strength in him, they brought him to a still greater realization of his own weakness and the almost worthless use of struggle. Here were two who loved him dearly, and who would have done anything and everything to help him gain the mastery, but who, ignorant of the silent, subtle, ever-working and all-
Ftdlness of Peace, Power,
72
the thought
of
power
telling
and Plenty forces,
instead
him courage, instead of adding to his strength, disarmed him of this, and then added an additional weakness from without. In this way the battle for him was made harder in of imparting to
a three-fold degree.
Fear and worry and
all
kindred mental states
are too expensive for any person, man, woman, or child, to entertain or indulge in. Fear paralyzes healthy action,
down
worry corrodes and
the organism, and will finally tear
Nothing
pieces.
is
to
be gained by
it,
pulls it
to
but
everything to be lost. Long-continued grief at loss will do the same. Each brings its own any
An
inordinate love peculiar type of ailment. of gain, a close-fisted, hoarding disposition will
have kindred
effects.
continual fault-finding, peculiar
corroding,
Anger, jealousy, malice, lust, has each its own
weakening,
tearing-down
effects.
We
shall find that not only are
happiness and concomitants of prosperity righteousness, living in harmony with the higher laws, but bodily health as well.
The
great
Hebrew
—
seer enun-
wonderful chemistry of life when he "As righteousness tendeth to life, so he
ciated a said,
that
—
pursueth evil, pursueth it to his own On the other hand, "In the way of
death."
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power, righteousness is life there is no death." it
will
and
man
in
the pathway thereof
The time
be seen that this
most people dare with
;
evefi to
71
come when means far more than will
think as yet.
"It rests
say whether his soul shall be housed in a stately mansion of ever-growing splendor and beauty, or in a hovel of his own building,
to
— a hovel
at last ruined
and abandoned
to decay."
The bodies of almost untold numbers, living their one-sided, unbalanced lives, are every year, through these influences, weakening and falling
by the wayside long before poor houses
!
their time.
Poor,
Intended to be beautiful temples,
brought to desolation by their ignorant, reckless, deluded tenants. Poor houses !
A
close observer,
power
a careful student of the
of the thought forces, will soon be able to
read in the voice, in the movements, in the features,
the effects registered by the prevailing mental states and conditions. Or, if he is told the prevailing
mental
states
and conditions, he can
describe the voice, the movements, the features, as well as describe, in a general way, the peculiar
physical ailments their possessor is heir to. told by good authority that a study of
We are the
human
body,
its
structure,
and the length
Fullness of Peace, Power,
74
of time
it
takes
to
it
come
and Plenty
to maturity, in com-
parison with the time it takes the bodies of various animals and their corresponding longevity, reveals the fact that its natural age should
be nearer a hundred and twenty years than what
we commonly
find
it
But think
today.
of the
about us whose bodies are aging, weakening, breaking, so that they have to abandon them long before they reach what ought to multitudes
all
be a long period of strong, vigorous middle life. Then, the natural length of life being thus shortened, it comes to be what we might term a race
shortened period is the as a consequence many, they approach a certain age, seeing that
belief
that
natural period.
when
this
And
as a rule
people at this period of life begin to show signs of age, to break and go down hill as
we
say, they, thinking
and that
it
it
a matter of course
must be the same with them, by
taking this attitude of mind, many times bring upon themselves these very conditions long Subtle and powerful are before it is necessary. the influences of the mind in the building and As we understand them rebuilding of the body. it may become the custom for people to look forward with pleasure to the teens of their
better
second century.
There comes to mind
at this
moment
a friend,
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
a lady well on to eighty years of age.
75
An
old
lady, some, most people in fact, would call her, especially those who measure age by the num-
ber of the seasons that have come and gone since one's birth. But to call our friend old,
would be than a
am
girl of twenty-five,
glad to say, or
upon the point age. Seeking all
She is no older and indeed younger, I sorry to say, depending
to call black white.
I
am
of view, than for the
good
many
a girl of this
in all people
and
in
things, she has found the good everywhere.
The
brightness of disposition and of voice that is hers today, that attracts all people to her and that makes her so beautifully attractive to all people, has It
has
in
characterized
her
all
through
life.
turn carried brightness and hope and and strength to hundreds and thou-
courage sands of people through all these years, and will continue to do so, apparently, for many years yet to come.
No
no worry ings, no hatreds, no jealno sorrowings, no grievings, no sordid graspings after inordinant gain, have found fears,
ousies,
entrance into her realm of thought. As a consequence her mind, free from these abnormal states
and conditions, has not externalized
in
her body the various physical ailments that the great majority of people are lugging about with
'j6
Fullness of Peace, Power,
them, thinking "eternal
they are accordance with the
in their ignorance, that
natural, and that
order
is all in
it
things" that they should has been one of varied
of
Her
have them.
and Plenty
life
experiences, so that
these things would have
all
found ready entrance into the realm of her mind and so into her life were she ignorant enough to allow
them
On
entrance.
the contrary she has
been wise enough to recognize the
kingdom
at least
she
her mind, and that
is
it is
ruler,
fact that in
one
— the kingdom
of
hers to dictate as to what
She knows, moreover, that in determining this she is deterIt is mining all the conditions of her life. shall
and what
shall not enter there.
indeed a pleasure as well as an inspiration to see her as she goes here and there, to see her sunny disposition, her youthful step, to hear her joyous laughter.
Indeed
and
in
truth,
Shakspeare
—
knew whereof he spoke when he said, "It is the mind that makes the body rich." With great pleasure I watched her but recently as she was walking along the street, stopping to have a word and so a part in the lives of a group of children at play by the wayside, hastening her step a little to have a word with a washerwoman toting her bundle of clothes,
stopping for a word with a laboring man return^ ing with dinner pail in hand from his work.
Fullness of Peace, Pozvcr,
and Plenty
yy
returning the recognition from the lady in her and so imparting some of her own rich
carriage, life
whom
to all with
she came in contact.
And
as good fortune would have it, while still watching her, an old lady passed her, really
—
though at least ten or fifteen years so far as the count by the seasons is younger, Nevertheless she was bent in form concerned. old, this one,
and apparently stiff in joint and muscle. Silent in mood, she wore a countenance of long-faced sadness, which was intensified surely several
by a black, sombre headgear with an immense heavy veil still more sombre looking Her entire dress was of this deif possible. fold
scription.
By
this relic-of-barbarism garb,
bined with her
com-
own mood and
expression, she to the world two things, continually proclaimed
—
own
personal sorrows and woes, which by very method she kept continually fresh in her mind, and also her lack of faith in the eter-
her
this
nal goodness of things, her lack of faith in the love and eternal goodness of the Infinite Father.
Wrapped only ailments, and
in the
thoughts of her
own
sorrows, and woes, she received
and she gave nothing of
nothing of hope, nothing of courage, nothing of value to those whom she passed or with whom she came in contact.
joy,
But on the contrary she suggested
to
78
Fullness of Peace, Poiver, and Plenty
and helped to intensify in many, those mental states all too prevalent in our common human
all
life.
And
as she passed our friend one could
notice a slight turn of the head which, coupled with the expression in her face, seemed to indi-
—
Your dress and your cate this as her thought, conduct are not wholly in keeping with a lady Thank God, then, thank God of your years.
And may He in His great goodthey are not. ness and love send us an innumerable company of the same rare type; and may they live a thousand years to bless mankind, to impart the life-giving influences of their
the numerous ones
all
own
royal lives to so
who stand
about us
much in need of them. Would you remain always young, and would you carry
all
the joyousness and buoyancy of
your maturer years ? Then have youth how you live care concerning but one thing, This will determine all. in your thought world. into
—
was the inspired one, Gautama, the Buddha, "The mind is everything; what you said, And the same thing had think you become." "Make yourRuskin in mind when he said, It
who
—
—
None
self nests of pleasant thoughts.
yet know,
for
none
early youth, what beautiful thought,
of us
we may
palaces — proof against fairy
of us as
have been taught
in
build of
all adversity."
Fulliuss of Peace, Power,
And would you
have
the strength,
in
and Plenty
your body
all
yc)
the elas-
the beauty of your younger years? Then live these in your mind, making no room for unclean thought, and you will ticity, all
externalize
them
in
all
In the degree that
your body.
you keep young in thought
will
you remain young
And you will find that your body will body. in turn aid your mind, for body helps mind the
in
same
as
mind builds body.
You
are continually building, and so externalizing in your body conditions most akin to the
thoughts and emotions you entertain.
And
not
only are you so building from within, but you are also continually drawing from without, forces of a kindred
nature.
Your
particular kind of
thought connects you with a similar order of If it is bright, hopeful, thought from without. cheerful,
you connect yourself with a current
of
If it is sad, thought of this nature. fearing, despondent, then this is the order of thought you connect yourself with.
If
the latter
is
the order of your thought, then
perhaps unconsciously and by degrees you have been connecting yourself with it. You need to go back and pick up again a part of your child
and cheerful type of "The minds of the group of children
nature, with
thought.
its
careless
at play are unconsciously concentrated in
drawing
So
Fulhicss of Peace, Power,
to their bodies
a current
Place a child by ions,
and soon
movement.
It
it
will is
playful thought. of its compan-
it
mope and become slow
cut
thought current and
of
deprive
itself,
and Plenty
literally 'out
is
of
from that peculiar
off
of its ele-
ment.'
"You need
to bring again this current of playthought to you which has gradually been
ful
turned
off.
You
are
too
absorbed in the serious
serious
affairs of
life.
or
sad, or
You
can
be playful and cheerful without being puerile or You can carry on business all the better silly. for being in the pla}^ul is
off
your business.
mood when your mind
There
is
nothing but
ill
resulting from the permanent mood of sadness the mood which by many so and seriousness,
—
long maintained makes them to smile at all.
it
actually difficult for
"
At eighteen or twenty you commenced growing out of the more playful tendency of early You took hold of the more serious side youth. You went into some business. You of life. became more or less involved in its cares, perOr, as man or plexities and responsibilities. woman, you entered on sorn^ phase of life involvOr you became absorbed ing care or trouble. in some game of business which, as you followed Then as you associated it, left no time for play.
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
8
1
with older people you absorbed their old ideas, their mechanical methods of thinking, their
acceptance of errors without question or thought In all this you opened your mind of question. to
a
Into
heavy, this
care-laden
you
glided
current
of
thought.
That
unconsciously.
materialized in your blood and flesh. thought The seen of your body is a deposit or crystallizais
unseen element ever flowing to your body from your mind. Years pass on and you find that your movements are stiff and cumbrous, tion of the
—
you can with difficulty climb a tree, as at Your mind has all this time been fourteen. that
sending to your body these heavy, inelastic elements, making your body what now it is. "Your change for the better must be gradual, .
.
.
and can only be accomplished by bringing the thought current of an all-round symmetrical
— by
demanding of the in the best way, by be led Power to Supreme diverting your mind from the many unhealthy
strength to bear on
it,
thoughts which habitually have been flowing into it without your knowing it, to healthier ones.
.
.
.
"Like the beast, the bodies of those of our race have in the past weakened and decayed. This
will not
knowledge
Increase of spiritual always be. show the cause of such decay,
will
82
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and
will
Law
show,
how
also,
and Plenty
to take advantage of a
renew ever the and greater greater strength,
or Force to build us up,
body and give
it
using that Law or Force, as has been done in the past, to weaken our instead of
blindly
bodies and finally destroy them."
Full, rich,
and abounding health
and the natural condition of is
life.
is
the normal
Anything
else
an abnormal condition, and abnormal con-
God
a
as
ditions
never
rule
come
created
through perversions. and suffering,
sickness,
disease they are man's own creations. They come through his violating the laws under which he lives. So used are we to seeing them that we come gradually, if not to think of them as natural, then to look upon them as a matter of ;
course.
The time
will
come when the work
of the
not be to treat and attempt to physician heal the body, but to heal the mind, which in In other words, the true turn will heal the body. will
physician will be a teacher; his work will be to keep people well, instead of attempting to make them well after sickness and disease comes on ;
and
still
beyond
we
live in
own
come a time when
In the degree with the higher laws of harmony
each will be his that
this there will
physician.
Fullness of Peace Power, ^
our being, and
so, in
and Plenty
the degree that
83
we become
better acquainted with the powers of the mind and spirit, will we give less attention to the body,
— no
less care, but less atteiition.
The
bodies of thousands today would be
better cared for
if
their
much
owners gave them
thought and attention.
As
a rule, those
less
who
think least of their bodies enjoy the best health. Many are kept in continual ill health by the
abnormal
thought
and
attention
they
give
them.
Give the body the nourishment, the exercise, air, the sunlight it requires, keep it clean, and then think of it as little as possible.
the fresh
In your thoughts and in your conversation never dwell upon the negative side. Don't talk of sickness and disease. By talking of these you
do yourself harm and you do harm to those who Talk of those things that will listen to you.
make people the better for listening to you. Thus you will infect them with health and strength and not with weakness and disease. To dwell upon the negative side is always This is true of the body the same destructive. as
it is
true of
all
other things.
The
following
from one whose thorough training as a physician has been supplemented by extensive study and observations along the lines of the powers of the
Fullness of Peace, Power,
84
interior forces, are of special
and Plenty significance
and
"We can never gain health by contemplating disease, any more than we can reach perfection by dwelling upon imperfection, or harmony through discord. value in this connection
:
We
should keep a high ideal of health and harmony constantly before the mind. .
.
.
"Never
affirm or repeat about your health do not wish to be true. Do not dwell
what you upon your ailments, nor study your symptoms. Never allow yourself to be convinced that you are not complete master of yourself. Stoutly affirm your superiority over bodily ills, and do not acknowledge yourself the slave of any inferior
power.
...
I
would teach children early between themselves
to build a strong barrier
and
by healthy habits of thought, high I would teach thinking, and purity of life. them to expel all thoughts of death, all images disease,
of disease, all discordant emotions, like hatred,
would
and
sensuality, as they banish a temptation to do evil. I would
malice, revenge, envy,
them that bad food, bad drink, or bad air makes bad blood that bad blood makes bad
teach
;
tissue,
them
and bad
flesh
bad morals.
I
would teach
that healthy thoughts are as essential to healthy bodies as pure thoughts to a clean iilc. I would teach them to cultivate a strong will
Fullness of Peace Power, f
power, and
enemies
in
and Plenty
to brace themselves against I
every possible way.
85 life's
would teach
the sick to have hope, confidence, cheer. Our and are the thoughts imaginations only real limits to our possibilities.
No
man's success or
health will ever reach beyond his own confidence as a rule, we erect our own barriers. ;
"
Like produces like the universe through. Hatred, envy, malice, jealousy, and revenge all have children. Every bad thought breeds oth-
and each of these goes on and on, ever reproducing itself, until our world is peopled ers,
their offspring. The true physician and parent of the future will not medicate the body with drugs so much as the mind with principles.
with
The coming mother
will
teach
her child to
assuage the fever of anger, hatred, malice, with Love. The the great panacea of the world, will teach the people to culcoming physician
—
tivate cheerfulness, good-will,
and noble deeds
for a health tonic as well as a heart tonic
that a
merry
heart
;
and
doeth good like a medi-
cine."
The health of your body, the same as the health and strength of your mind, depends upon what you
relate
yourself with.
Spirit of Life, this
Source of
all
This Infinite Life,
can from
86
Fidbiess of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
very nature, we have found, admit of no Come then into the full, weakness, no disease. realization of your oneness with vital conscious, its
this Infinite Life, open yourself to its more abundant entrance, and full and ever-renewing bodily health and strength will be yours. "
'
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."
The whole matter may then be summed up " God is well and so are in the one sentence, You must awaken to the knowledge of you."
When this awakening comes, your real being. and will have, you will see that you have, you power to determine what conditions are You must recogyour body. must realize nize, you yourself as one with the
externalized in
Infinite
your
God's
Spirit.
will is
God's
will,
then your will with God all things
will is
and
•'
;
When we are able to do away are possible." with all sense of separateness by living continually in the realization of this oneness, not only will all
our bodily
ills
limitations along
all lines.
"delight thyself in the Lord, and He give thee the desires of thine heart."
Then shall
and weaknesses vanish, but
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
87
Then will you feel like crying all the day long, The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places •*
;
have a goodly heritage." Drop out of yea, mind your belief in good things and good events I
coming the real ize
them
you in the future. Come noiv into life, and coming, appropriate and actual-
to
noiv.
good enough
Remember for
that only the best
yours. "
is
one with a heritage so royal as
We buy ashes for bread We buy diluted wine Give me the
true,
Whose ample
—
;
;
leaves and tendrils curled
Among the silver hills of Draw everlasting dew."
heaven,
88
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
THE SECRET, POWER, AND EFFECTS OF LOVE. This
the
is
Spirit
of
Infinite
Love.
The
moment we recognize ourselves as one with we become so filled with love that we see And when we realize only the good in all. that we are all one with this Infinite Spirit, then we realize that in a sense we are all one with each other. When we come into a recognition of this fact, we can then do no harm to any one, to any thing. We find that we are all members of the one great body, and that no
it
portion of the body can be harmed without all the other portions suffering thereby. When we fully realize the great fact of the
oneness of
from
this
same
life
all
life,
—
that
all
are
partakers
one Infinite Source, and so that the is the life in each individual, then
prejudices go and hatreds cease.
Love grows and reigns supreme. Then, wherever we go, whenever we come in contact with the fellowman, we are able to recognize the God within. We thus look only for the good, and we find it. It
always pays.
t'tiUness of Feace,
There great
is
Power, and Plenty
89
a deep stientific fact underlying the "He that takes the sword shall
truth,
The moment we come perish by the sword." of the subtle powers of the into a realization thought forces,
moment we
we can
that
quickly see
of
entertain
the
hatred
any thoughts toward another, he gets the effects of these diabolical forces that go out from us, and has the same thoughts of hatred aroused in him, which
Then when we turn return to the sender. understand the effects of the passion, hatred or see anger, even upon the physical body, we can in
The expensive this is. same is true in regard to all kindred thoughts or In scorn. passions, envy, criticism, jealousy, in find that shall we the ultimate entertaining
how
how
detrimental,
feelings
of
nature
this
toward
another,
we
always suffer far more than the one toward whom we entertain them.
And
then when
selfishness
is
we
fully realize the fact that
at the root of
all error,
sin,
and
ignorance is the basis of all what with selfishness, charity we come to look of It is the ignorant man all. acts the upon
crime, and that
who
own ends
the
expense of It is the the greater whole. ignorant man, The truly therefore, who is the selfish man. wise
seeks
man
is
his
never
selfish.
at
He is
oenizes tne tact tnai he. a smele
a seer, and rec-
memoer
ot the
Fullness of Peace, Power,
90
one great body, that the entire
and P lenity
benefited in just the degree body is benefited, and so he seeks is
nothing for himself that he would not equally seek for all mankind. If selfishness is at
the bottom of
all error, sin,
and crime, and ignorance is the basis of all selfishness, then when we see a manifestation of either of these qualities,
if
we
are true to the
highest within us, we will look for and will seek to call forth the good in each individual with
whom we come
in contact.
When God
speaks
God responds, and shows forth as But when devil speaks to devil, then devil
to God, then
God.
responds, and the devil is always to pay. I sometimes hear a person say, "I don't see in him." No } Then you are no seer. Look deeper and you will find the very God m But remember it takes a every human soul. God to recognize a God. Christ always spoke
any good
to the highest, the truest,
and the best
in
men.
He knew
and he recognized the God in each He because he had first realized it in himself. ate with publicans and sinners. the Scribes and Pharisees said.
Abominable,
They were so wrapped up in their own conceits, their own self-centredness, hence their own ignorance, that they had never found the God in themselves, and so they never dreamed that it was the life of even publicans and sinners.
real
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
9
1
In the degree that we hold a person in the thought of evil or of error, do we suggest evil
and error to him.
In the degree that he
is
sen-
sitively organized, or not well individualized, and so, subject to the suggestions of the thought
forces from others, will he be influenced
;
and so
way we may be sharers in the very evilIn in which we hold another in thought. doing the same way when we hold a person in the in this
the good, and the true, righteousness, goodness, and truth are suggested to him, and thus we have a most beneficent
thought of the
influence
go out tact,
on
his life
and conduct.
in love to all
we
inspire love,
warming
with
If
our hearts
whom we come
in con-
and the same ennobling and
influences of love always return to us
from those is
right,
a deep
— precept
in
whom we
scientific
There
inspire them.
principle
underlying
the
you would have all the world love must first love all the world. you, you In the degree that we love will we be loved. If
Thoughts are forces. Each creates of its kind. Each comes back laden with the effect that corresponds to itself and of which it is the cause. "Then let your secret thoughts be fair They have a vital part, and share
—
In shaping words and moulding fate; God's system is so intricate."
Fidhiess of Peace, Power,
92 I
and Plenty
know of no better practice than that of who continually holds himself in an
a friend
attitude of
mind
that he continually sends out form of the thought, "Dear
his love in the
—
And when we realize everybody, I love you." the fact that a thought invariably produces its
effect before
we can
see
blessing not only in contact,
returns, or before
it
how he
is
ceases,
continually breathing out a all
upon
but upon
it
with
whom
he comes These same
the world.
all
thoughts of love, moreover, tokened ways, are continually
coming
to
in various
him from
all
quarters.
Even animals
Some
feel the effects of these forces.
animals are
much more
sensitively organ-
people are, and consequently they get the effects of our thoughts, our mental states, and emotions much more readily than ized than
many
many people do. Therefore whenever we meet an animal we can do it good by sending out to it these thoughts of love. It will feel the effects whether we simply entertain or whether we voice
them.
And
quickly
it
dence of
it
is
often interesting to note
how
responds, and how readily its
it gives eviappreciation of this love and con-
sideration on our part.
What be to
a privilege and
live
and walk
how
in a
enjoyable
it
would
world where we meet
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
93
In In such a world you can live. only Gods. that I For in the can live. such a world degree we come into this higher realization do we see
only the
God
human
each
in
are thus able to see
Him
soul;
and when we
every one we meet,
in
we then live in such a world. And when we thus recognize the God in every one, we by this recognition help to call it forth What a privilege, this ever more and more.
—
That privilege of yours, this privilege of mine hypocritical judging of another is something !
we can have nothing to do; for the power of looking beyond the evolving, changing, error-making self, and seeing the real, the changeless, the eternal self which by
then with which
we have
and by
will
show
forth in the full beauty of
We
are then large enough also to realize the fact that when we condemn another,
holiness.
by that very
act
we condemn
This realization so continually overflow come in contact feel
power.
These
in
fills it,
its
ourselves.
us with love that
we
with
whom we
warming and
life-giving
and
all
turn send back the same
feel-
ings of love to us, and so we continually attract love from all quarters. Tell me how much onci
you how much he has seen he loves and I will you how much he lives with God. Tell me
loves
and
of God. tell
I will tell
Tell
me how much
Fullness of Peace, Power,
94
how much he into the
and
loves
Kingdom
of
and Plenty
I will tell
harmony, he has entered, for "love filling of
And key
to
far
is
the
ful-
of
the law."
in
a sense love
life,
move the love for
how
you Heaven, — the kingdom
all
Live
and
its
world.
It is the everything. influences are those that is
Live only in the thought of will draw love to you from
and you
thought of malice or hatred, and malice and hatred will come back to you.
all.
in the
"For
evil poisons; malice shafts Like boomerangs return, Inflicting wounds that will not heal While rage and anger burn."
Every thought you entertain is a force that goes out, and every thought comes back laden This is an immutable law. with its kind. Every thought you entertain has moreover a Love and its direct effect upon your body. kindred emotions are the normal and the natural, those in accordance with the eternal order of the universe, for
"God
is
love."
These have a
life-
giving, health-engendering influence upon your body, besides beautifying your countenance, en-
riching your voice, and making you ever more And as it is true that attractive in every way. in the degree that you hold thoughts of love for
Fullness of Peace Power, ^
all,
you
and Plenty
95
the same from them in return, and
call
upon your mind, and mind upon your body, it is as so through your as these have a direct effect
much
force added to your own from withare then continually building this into
life
You
out.
both your mental and your physical your life is enriched by its influence.
Hatred and
its
all
life,
and so
kindred emotions are the
unnatural, the abnormal, the perversions, and so, out of harmony with the eternal order of the
For
universe.
then these,
its
the fulfilling of the law, opposites, are direct violations of if
love
is
and there can never be a violation without its attendant pain and suffering
law,
form or another.
And what violation
}
is
one
no escape from this. of this particular form of
There
the result
When
of law in
is
you allow thoughts of anger,
hatred, malice, jealousy, envy, criticism, or scorn
exercise sway, they have a corroding and poisoning effect upon the organism they pull it
to
;
down, and tear
it
allowed to continue will eventually to pieces by externalizing themselves in if
the particular forms of disease they give rise to. And then in addition to the destructive influences
from your own mind you are continually calling the same influences from other minds, and these
come
as
destructive
forces
augmenting your
own, thus aiding in the tearing
down
process.
Fullness of Peace, Power, and Plenty
96
And
love
so
love;
inspires
Love and good
hatred.
hatred
will stimulate
breeds
and build
up the body; hatred and malice corrode and tear it down. Love is a savor of life unto life; hatred
is
a savor of death unto death.
" There are loyal hearts, there are spirits brave, There are souls that are pure and true ;
Then
give to the world the best you have, And the best will come back to you.
"Give
love, and love \.o yoicr heart will flow, strength in your utmost need Have faith, and a score of hearts will show
A
;
Their faith xxvyour word and deed."
I
hear
it
me
bears
said,
— How
in
hatred, towards
regard to one
whom
who
have enter-
I
no such thoughts and feelings, and so have not been the cause of his becoming my tained
enemy.-*
This
that
will
you
may be
true, but the
have but few enemies
nothing of an antagonistic nature
mind and
heart.
this nature.
chances are
But
Be if
sure there
if
there
is
your own
in is
nothing of
hatred should
come from
another without apparent cause on your part, then meet it from first to last with thoughts of love and good-will. speak, so neutralize
In this its
way you
effects that
reach you and so cannot harm you.
can, so to it
cannot
Love
is
Fullness of Peace, Power, afid Plenty
and stronger than hatred.
positive,
ahvays be conquered by
On
97
Hatred can
love.
you meet hatred with you simply intensify it. You add fuel to the flame already kindled, upon which it will feed and grow, and so you increase and intenthe other hand,
if
hatred,
sify
the
gained by
conditions.
evil
everything
it,
Nothing
is
to
be
lost.
is
to
By
be
send-
ing love for hatred you will be able so to neutralize it that it will not only have no effect
upon you, but will not be able even to reach But more than this, you will by this you. course sooner or later be able
literally to trans-
Meet hatred Meet with hatred and you degrade yourself. hatred with love and you elevate not only mute the enemy
yourself hatred.
but
into the friend.
also
the
one
who
bears
you
Persian sage has said, "Always meet petulance with gentleness, and perverseness
The
with kindness.
A
an elephant by a
gentle hand can lead even Reply to thine enemy
hair.
with gentleness. Opposition to peace is sin." The Buddhist says, " If a man foolishly does me
wrong
I will
ungrudging
return him the protection of love.
The more
evil
my
comes from
*<The him, the more good shall go from me." wise man avenges injuries by benefits," says the
Fullness of Peace, Power,
98
"
Chinese.
Return good
and Plenty
for
evil,
overcome
hatred never ceases by hatred, anger by but by love," says the Hindu. love
The
;
truly wise
man
or
woman
will recognize
no one as an enemy. Occasionally we hear the " Never mind I'll expression, get even with ;
Will you And how will you do it You can do it in one of two ways. You can, as you have in mind, deal with him as he deals, or him."
.'*
.-*
apparently deals, with you, say, in his
own
coin.
If
— pay
you do
him, as
this
you
we will
get even with him by sinking yourself to his level,
and both of you
will
suffer
by
it.
Or,
you can show yourself the larger, you can send him love for hatred, kindness for ill-treatment,
and so get even with him by raising him to the But remember that you can never higher level. another without help by that very act helping and if forgetful of self, then in most yourself ;
cases the value to you is greater than the If you are ready service you render another. to treat him as he treats you, then you show all
clearly that there is in you that the hatred and ill-treatment to you
which draws
you deserve what you are getting and should not complain, nor would you complain if you were wise. By following the other course you most effectually accomplish your purpose, you gain a ;
—
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
C)C)
victory for yourself, and at the same time you do a great service for him, for which it is evident he stands greatly in need.
Thus you may become his saviour. He in turn may become the saviour of other errorand
making,
care-encumbered
consequently
men and women. Many times the are greater than we can ever know.
struggles
We
need
more gentleness and sympathy and compassion in
our
common human
ing or condemning the more we will
we
Then we
life.
neither blame nor condemn. will
will
Instead of blam-
sympathize, and
all
" Comfort one another, For the way is often dreary,
And the feet are often weary, And the heart is very sad. There
is
When
it
a heavy burden bearing, seems that none are caring, And we half forget that ever we were glad.
"Comfort one another With the hand-clasp close and tender, With the sweetness love can render,
And
Do
the looks of friendly eyes. not wait with grace unspoken,
While
life's
daily bread
Gentle speech
When we come that all evil
is
is
oft like
broken
—
manna from
the skies."
fully to realize the great fact
and error and
sin with all their conse-
I
oo
Fiilbicss of Peace, Pozuer, ajid Plenty
quent sufferings come through ignorance, then wherever we see a manifestation of these in
whatever form,
our hearts are right,
if
we
will
have compassion, sympathy and compassion for the one in whom we see them. Compassion will
then change
manifest divine
itself into love,
kindly service.
in
itself
And
method.
and love
Such
is
will
the
instead of aiding in
so
trampling and keeping a weaker one down, we will hold him up until he can stand alone and
become the master.
But
all life-groAvth is
from
within out, and one becomes a true master in the
degree that the knowledge of the divinity of his own nature dawns upon his inner consciousness
and so brings him to a knowledge of the higher laws and in no way can we so effectually hasten ;
this
dawning
in
the
inner consciousness
of
another, as by showing forth the divinity within ourselves simply by the way we live.
By example and
not by precept. By living, not by preaching. By doing, not by professing. By living the life, not by dogmatizing as to how it
to
should be the
lived.
There
contagion of
that shall
we
life.
also reap,
is
no contagion equal
Whatever we sow, and each thing sown
W^e can kill not only by another doing bodily injury directly, but we can kill and we do by every antagonistic thougnt produces of its kind.
Fullness of Peace Pozvcr, y
Not only do we thus suicide.
a
Many
kill,
man
and Plenty
i
OI
we kill we made sick by number of people
but while
has been
having the ill thoughts of a centred upon him; some have been actually Put hatred into the world and we make killed. it
a literal
heaven with a
Put love into the world and
hell. all its
beauties and glories becomes
reality.
Not
to love
not to
is
The ing death. is the life that is
life
live,
or
it is
to live a
liv-
that goes out in love to
all
and rich, and continually Such is the and in power. expanding beauty life that becomes ever more inclusive, and hence full,
in
larger in
the
man
The larger scope and influence. and the woman, the more inclusive
its
they are in their love and their friendships. The smaller the man and the woman, the more
dwarfed and dwindling their natures, the more they pride themselves upon their "exclusivecan be ness." Any one a fool or an idiot
—
—
exclusive.
It
comes
easy.
It
takes and
it
sig-
nifies a large nature to be universal, to be inclusive. Only the man or the woman of a small,
personal, self-centred, self-seeking nature is exThe man or the woman of a large, clusive. royal,
unself-centred
small nature for effect.
is
The
nature
never
is.
The
the one that continually strives The larger nature never does.
1
02
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
one goes here and there
order to gain recoghimself to the world. nition, in order to attach The other stays at home and draws the world
The one
him.
to
loves merely himself.
the world
all
Verily, then, the
;
more one loves the nearer
he approaches to God, for God infinite
of
the
is
And when we come
love.
realization Spirit,
The
but in his larger love the world he finds himself included.
other loves for all
in
our oneness
then divine love so
with fills
this
spirit of
into
the
Infinite
us that, enrich-
ing and enrapturing our own lives, from them flows out to enrich the life of all the world.
it
In coming into the realization of our oneness
with the Infinite Life, we are brought at once into right relations with our fellowmen.
We
are brought into harmony with the great law, that we find our own lives in losing them in the are brought to a knowlservice of others.
We
edge
of the fact that all life
is
and so that
one,
one great whole. We then realize that we can't do for another with-
we
are
all
parts of the
out at the same time doing for ourselves. also realize that
we cannot do harm
We
to another
without by that very act doing harm to ourselves. realize that the man who lives to himself
We
alone lives a
little,
dwarfed, and
because he has no part
stunted
life,
in this larger life of
Fullness of Peace, Power,
humanity.
But the one who
and Plenty in
1
03
service loses
own
Hfe in this larger life, has his own life increased and enriched a thousand or a million his
and every joy, every happiness, everything of value coming to each member of this greater whole comes as such to him, for he has a part in the life of each and all. And here let a word be said in regard to true service. Peter and John were one day going up to the temple, and as they were entering the gate they were met by a poor cripple who asked them for alms. Instead of giving him something to supply the day's needs and then leaving him in the same dependent condition for the morrow and the morrow, Peter did him a real service, and a real service for all mankind by saying. Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give unto thee. And then he made him whole. He thus brought him into the condition where he could help himself. In other words, the greatest service we can do for another is to help him to help himself. To help him directly might fold,
be
weakening,
though
not
necessarily.
It
depends entirely upon circumstances. But to help one to help himself is never weakening, but always encouraging and strengthening, because it
him to a larger and stronger life. There is no better way to help one to help
leads
1
Fullness of Peace, Power, a7id Plenty
04
himself than to bring him to a knowledge of There is no better way to bring one himself. to a knowledge of himself than to lead him to a
knowledge within his
of the
own
powers that are lying dormant There is nothing that will
soul.
enable him to come more readHy or more completely into an awakened knowledge of the
powers that are lying dormant within his own soul, than to bring him into the conscious, vital realization of his oneness with the Infinite Life
and Power, so that he may open himself to it in order that it may work and manifest throiigh him.
We
will find that these same great truths lie the at very bottom of the solution of our social
and we will also find that we will full and permanent solution of it are they fully recognized and buUt upon.
situation
;
never have a until
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
105
WISDOM AND INTERIOR ILLUMINATION. This
is
the Spirit of Infinite
v the degree that
the
we open
wisdom
highest
Wisdom, and
ourselves to
manifest
itself
it
in
does
to
and
We
can in this way go to the very heart of the universe itself and find the mysteries hidden to the hidmajority of mankind, us.
through
—
den
to them,
though not hidden of themselves. In order for the highest wisdom and insight
we must have guiding
one
us,
else.
absolute confidence in the Divine
but not through the channel of some And why should we go to another for
knowledge and wisdom of persons.
second hand
own
}
With God
is
no respect
we seek these things should we thus stultify our Why should we not go
Why Why
innate powers } to the Infinite Source
direct
man
.?
should
lack
wisdom
itself.? "If any him ask of God." "Beanswer, and while they are
let
fore they call I will
yet speaking,
When we Source
itself
I will
hear."
thus go directly to the Infinite
we
are
alities, institutions,
no longer slaves
or books.
We
to personshould always
1
06
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
keep ourselves open to suggestions
of truth
from
We
these agencies. should always regard them as agencies, however, and never as sources.
We
should never recognize them as masters, but With Browning, we must simply as teachers. the fact that recognize great
—
"Truth
is
within ourselves; it takes no rise things, whate'er you may believe.
From outward There
Where
is
an inmost centre in us
all,
truth abides in fullness."
There is no more important injunction in all the world, nor one with a deeper interior meaning,
than
"To
thine
own
self
other words, be true to your
be true."
own
soul, for
In it is
through your own soul that the voice of God speaks to you. This is the interior guide. This the light that lighteth every man that cometh This is conscience. This is ininto the world. is
tuition.
This
is
the voice of the higher
self,
the
"Thou voice of the soul, the voice of God. This shalt hear a voice behind thee, saying: is the way, walk in it." ye
When Moses was
on the mountain it was after the various physical commotions and manifestations that he heard the "
the voice of his finite
God was
own
soul,
speaking.
still,
small voice,"
through which the If
we
will
In-
but follow
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power, this voice of intuition,
it
clearly and more plainly, be absolute and unerring
107
speak ever more
will
by and by
until
will
it
The
in its
guidance. great trouble with us is that we do not listen to and do not follow this voice within our own
and so we become as a house divided
souls,
that,
We
itself.
against
are pulled
way and
this
and we are never certain of anything.
have a friend who
listens
I
so carefully to this
inner voice, who, in other words, always acts so quickly and so fully in accordance with his intuitions,
and whose
lutely guided
by
as a consequence is so absothem, that he always does the
life
and
right thing at the right time
He
way. to act,
always knows when
and he
is
and how
never in the condition of a
house divided against itself. But some one says, " May for us to act always
pose we
in the right
to act
it
upon our
not be dangerous intuitions
Sup-
'^.
should have an intuition to do harm to
some one
"
We need
this,
how-
ever, for the voice of the soul, this voice of
God
.''
not be afraid of
speaking through the soul, will never direct one to do harm to another, nor to do anything that is
not in accordance with the highest standards
of right, and truth, and justice. any time have a prompting of
that
it is
And
if
you
this kind,
not the voice of intuition
;
it
is
at
know some
io8
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
characteristic of your lower self that
is
prompt-
ing you.
Reason
not to be set aside, but
is
is
it
to be
continually illumined by this higher spiritual perception, and in the degree that it is thus
become an agent of light and one becomes thoroughly individpower. ualized he enters into the realm of all knowledge illumined will
it
When
and wisdom and to be individualized is to recognize no power outside of the Infinite Power that ;
is
back of all. When one recognizes this great and opens himself to this Spirit of Infinite
fact
Wisdom, he then enters upon the road
to the
true education, and mysteries that before were closed now reveal themselves to him. This must
indeed be the foundation of
all
true education,
from within, this evolving of what has been involved by the Infinite Power. All things that it is valuable for us to know
this evolving
come
we
but open ourselves to It is thus that the voice of this Infinite Spirit. will
to us
we become
if
seers
will
and have the power
of seeing
There are no into the very heart of things. new stars, there are no new laws or forces, but
we can nite
so open ourselves to this Spirit of Infithat we can discover and recognize
Wisdom
those that have not been this
known
way they become new
to us.
before
;
When
and
in
in this
Fullness of Peacet Power,
way we come
into a
and Plenty
knowledge
of truth
1
09
we no
longer need facts that are continually changing. can then enter into the quiet of our own
We
We
can open the window and look out, and thus gather the facts as we choose. " Wisdom is the knowlThis is true wisdom. interior selves.
edge of God."
Wisdom comes by
intuition.
It
Great knowledge, knowledge. of knowledge many things, may be had by virtue far transcends
It comes simply of a very retentive memory. wisdom But far transcends knowltuition. by
edge, in that knowledge
is
a
mere incident
of
deeper wisdom. He who would enter into the realm of wisdom
this
must first divest himself of all intellectual pride. He must become as a little child. Prejudices, preconceived opinions and beliefs always stand in
the
way
are always
of true
wisdom.
suicidal
in
Conceited opinions
their influences.
They
bar the door to the entrance of truth.
about us
we
men
the religious world, in the world of science, in the political,
All
in the
social
world,
see
in
who through
intellectual
pride are so wrapped in their cwn conceits and prejudices that larger and later revelations of
truth
can
find
no
entrance
to
them
;
and
instead of growing and expanding, they are be-
coming dwarfed and stunted, and
still
more
in-
1 1
o
Fullness of Peace, Power,
mid Plenty
Instead of actively capable of receiving truth. aiding in the progress of the world, they are as so many dead sticks in the way that would retard the wheels of progress.
This, however, they
Such always
can never do.
time get bruised, broken, and left behind, while God's triumphal car of truth moves steadily onward. in
When
the steam engine was still being experimented with, and before it was perfected sufficiently to come into practical use, a well-
known Englishman circles
tific
— well known then
— wrote
an extended
in scien-
pamphlet
proving that it would be impossible for ever to be used in ocean navigation, that in a
trip involving the crossing
of the
it
is,
ocean,
it would be utterly impossible for any vessel to carry with it sufficient coal for the use And the interesting feature of of its furnace.
because
the whole matter was that the very first steam that made the trip from England to
vessel
America, had first
among
its
cargo a part of the
edition of this carefully prepared pamphlet.
There was only the one edition. Many editions might be sold now. This seems indeed an amusing fact but far more amusing is the man who voluntarily closes ;
himself to truth because, forsooth,
come through
it
does not
conventional, or orthodox, or here-
Fullness of Peace Power, y
and Plenty
or because accepted channels not be in full accord with, or possibly
tofore
;
opposed
may may be it
established usages or beliefs.
to,
the contrary — " Let there be
That
many windows
in
your
1 1 1
On
soul,
the glory of the universe May beautify it. Not the narrow pane Of one poor creed can catch the radiant rays That shine from countless sources. Tear away
The
all
blinds of superstition
:
let the light
windows, broad as truth itself Tune your ear And high as heaven. To all the worldless music of the stars And to the voice of nature, and your heart Shall turn to truth and goodness as the plant Turns to the sun. A thousand unseen hands
Pour through
fair
.
Reach down
And
all
to help
.
.
you
to their
peace-crowned heights,
the forces of the firmament
Shall fortify your strength. Be not afraid thrust aside half-truths and grasp the whole."
To
There
coming or a
is
a great law in connection with the
of truth.
woman
It
is
this
:
Whenever a man
shuts himself or herself to the en-
trance of truth on account of intellectual pride, preconceived opinions, prejudices, or for what-
ever reason, there truth in
its
is
a great law which says that come to that one from
fulhiess will
And on woman opens
when a man
no source.
the other hand,
or a
himself or herself fully to
the entrance of truth from whatever source
may
come, there
is
it
an equally great law which
1 1
Fullness of Peace, Power,
2
and Plenty
says that truth will flow in to him or to her
from
all
sources,
comes the
free
the
that
truth
from
all
Such
quarters.
man, the free woman, for
makes
us
The
free.
beis
it
other
remains in bondage, for truth has had no vitation
and
will not enter
where
it
in-
not fully
is
and freely welcomed. And where truth is denied entrance the rich blessings it carries with it cannot take up their abode. On the contrary, when this is the case, it
sends an envoy carrying with
ease, death, physically intellectually.
And
and
the
atrophy, disspiritually as well as it
man who would
rob an-
other of his free and unfettered search for truth,
who would stand as the interpreter of truth for another, with the intent of remaining in this position, rather than endeavoring to lead
him
to
the place where he can be his own interpreter, more to be shunned than a thief and a robber.
is
The
injury he works
is
far greater, for
he
is
do-
and positive injury to the very life of the one he thus holds. Who has ever appointed any man, whoever
ing direct
he
may
be, as the
dispenser indeed are
of
keeper,
God's
moved and
ers of truth
;
the custodian, the
illimitable
truth
.-•
Many
so are called to be teach-
but the true teacher will never
stand as the interpreter of truth for another. The true teacher is the one whose endeavor is
Fiilhiess of Peace, to bring the of himself
1
1
3
one he teaches to a true knowledge
and hence
own interior powers, own interpreter. All
of his
may become
that he
Power, and Plenty
his
others arc, generally speaking, those animated
by purely personal motives, self-aggrandizement, or personal gain. Moreover, he who would truth and the only truth, is a bigot, a fool, or a knave. In the Eastern literature is a fable of a frog.
claim to have
all
The
frog lived in a well, and out of his little well he had never been. One day a frog whose home was in the sea came to his well. Inter-
ested in
you
the well.
" I
the sea."
"Thesea.-'
that
is
" .*
went
things, he
all
Where do you
.-*
am
" It
not far away."
live
which they were in it
"
which
that
.''
is
in
Where
.-*
big as this
"How much
my home
a very large body of water, and " " " How Oh, big is your sea big as this
very big." little stone lying near.
As
is
are
the frog in
is
"As
"
said
so and so, and
What
"Who
in.
" t
" .''
" .-'
pointing to a
"Oh, much
bigger." pointing to the board upon "
sitting.
Oh, much bigger."
bigger, then.?"
"Why,
the sea
bigger than your entire well would make millions of wells such as yours." I live is
Nonsense, nonsense
falsifier.
well.
I
as you."
vGet out of
want nothing
;
you are a deceiver and a my well. Get out of my
;
to
do with any such frogs
114
Fullness of Peace, Power,
"Ye
know
shall
and Plenty
the truth and the truth shall
make you free," is the promise. Ye shall close yourselves to truth, ye shall live in your own conceits, and your own conceits shall make fools and
would be a statement
idiots of you,
and
cable to not a few,
to not a
appli-
few who pride
themselves upon their superior intellectual attainments. Idiocy is arrested mental growth. Closing one's
self for
whatever reason to truth and
hence to growth, brings a certain type of idiocy, though it may not be called by this name. And
on the other hand, another type is that arrested growth caused by taking all things for granted, without proving them for one's self, merely because they come from a particular person, a par-
This is book, a particular institution. caused by one's always looking without instead of being true to the light within, and care-
ticular
tending
fully
it
that
it
may
give
an ever-
clearer light.
With brave and
intrepid should all be able to say "
From
this
hour
aginary
Going where
I
—
Walt Whitman, we
ordain myself loos'd of limits and im
lines, I
list,
my own
master
total
and absolute,
Listening to others, considering well what they say, Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating. Gently, but with undeniable will divesting myself of the holds that would hold me."
Fnlbicss of Peace, Pozver, a?ul Plenty
i
i
5
Great should be the joy that God's boundless truth
is
open to
open equally to
all,
make each one
all,
and that
dwelling place in proit and opens himas he desires portion earnestly it
will
self to
its
it.
And
regard to the wisdom that guides us life, there is nothing that it is right and well for us to know that may not be known in
in our daily
recognize the law of its coming, and Let us know that all are able wisely to use it.
when we
ours as soon as
are
things
we know how
to
appropriate them. "
I
hold
as a changeless law, soul can sway or swerve, have that in us which will draw it
From which no
We
Whate'er we need or most deserve."
If
the times
come when we know not what when we know not which way
course to pursue, to turn, the fault lies
in
lies in
ourselves.
ourselves then the
unnatural condition
If
correction
lies also in
the fault of
ourselves.
this It is
never necessary to come into such a state if we are awake and remain awake to the light and the
powers within
us.
The
the only thing that
it
light is ever shining, is
necessary for us
and dili-
this gently to see to is that we permit neither the us and between to come light. thing nor that
1 1
"
6
Fullness of Peace, Power,
With Thee
is
the fountain of
life
;
in
Thy
light
we
see light." Let us hear the words
shall
and Plenty
of
one of the most
highly illumined men I have ever known, and one who as a consequence is never in the dark,
when to do
the time comes, as to what to do and it.
"
Whenever you
how
are in doubt as to the
course you should pursue, after you have turned to every outward m.eans of guidance, let the inward eye see, let the inward ear hear, and allow this simple, natural, beautiful process to
unimpeded by all
questionings or doubts.
go on
... In
dark hours and times of unwonted perplexity to follow one simple direction, found, as
we need all
needed directions can be found,
in the
dear
old gospel, which so many read, but alas, so few Enter' into thine inner chamber and interpret. '
shut the door.'
Does
this
mean
that
we must
betake ourselves to a private closet with If it did, then the command a key in the door could never be obeyed in the open ajr, on land
literally
.''
or sea, and the Christ loved the lakes and the forests far better than the
cramping rooms of
city dwelling houses
his counsels are so
;
still
wide-reaching that there is no spot on earth and no conceivable situation in which any of us ma)-
be placed where we cannot follow them. " One of the most intuitive men we ever met
Fullness of Peace, Power,
had a desk
in a city
office
and Plenty
1 1
7
where several other
gentlemen were doing business constantly and often talking loudly. Entirely undisturbed by the many various sounds about him, this self-
man would, in any moment of curtains of privacy so comdraw the perplexity, him that he would be as fully about pletely in his own psychic aura, and thereby as enclosed effectually removed from all distractions as centred, faithful
some primeval wood. him into the mystic a direct question, to which answer, he would remain the reply came, and never
though he were alone
Taking
in
his difficulty with
silence in the
form of
he expected a certain utterly passive until
many years' experience did he find Intuitive perhimself disappointed or misled. ceptions of truth are the daily breach to satisfy once through
our daily hunger they come like the manna in the desert day by day; each day brings adequate ;
supply for that day's need only.
They must be
followed instantly, for dalliance with them means their obscuration, and the more we dally the
more we
invite erroneous impressions to cover
intuition with a pall of conflicting moral phan-
tasy born of illusions of the terrence will. " One condition is imposed by universal law,
and
this
save the
we must one
obey.
desire
to
Put
know
all
wishes aside
trutJi ;
couple
1 1
Fullness of Peace, Power,
8
with
this
one demand the
determination to follow what
and Plenty consecrated
fully is
distinctly per-
ceived as truth immediately it is revealed. No other affection must be permitted to share the field
own
with this all-absorbing love of tnith for its Obey this one direction and never
sake.
forget that expectation and desire are bride and bridegroom and forever inseparable, and you will
soon find your hitherto darkened way grow luminous with celestial radiance, for with the
heaven within, all heavens without incessantly This may be termed going into the co-operate." This it is to perceive and to be the guided by light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. This it is to listen to "silence."
and be guided by the voice of your own soul, the voice of your higher self. The soul is divine and in allowing it to be-
come translucent all
things
to
to the Infinite Spirit
us.
As man
the Divine Light do
all
it
reveals
away from things become hidden. turns
When the nothing hidden of itself. all sense is then it transcends opened, spiritual the limitations of the physical senses and the in-
There
tellect.
is
And
in the
degree that
get away from the limitations
set
we
by them, and
realize that so far as the real life is is
one with the Infinite
are able to
Life, then
concerned
it
we begin
to
Fullness of Peace Power, y
and Plenty
1
19
the place where this voice will always speak, where it will never fail us, if we follow it, and as a consequence where we will always have
reach
the divine illumination and guidance. this
and to
heaven hereafter, but to live and now, today and every day. in
No human
To know
realization is not to live
live in this
in
heaven here
soul need be without
When
it.
we
turn our face in the right direction it comes as simply and as naturally as the flower blooms
and the winds blow. with
money
or with
It
is
price.
not to be bought It is a condition
waiting simply to be realized, by rich and by
by king and by peasant, by master and by
poor,
servant the world over.
And
it.
a
life
so the peasant,
far transcending
power the find
it first,
life
All are equal heirs to if
in
of his king.
lives a life
he find
it first,
beauty and
The
servant,
surpassing the
lives
in real
life
if
he
of his
master.
If
you would
the richest
life
find the highest, the fullest,
and
that not only this world but that
any world can know, then do away with the sense of the separateness of your life from the life of God. Hold to the thought of your oneness. In the degree that you do this you will find yourself realizing it more and more, and as this
I20 life
Fullness of Peace, Power, of realization
is
lived,
and Plenty will
you
find that
no
be withheld, for all things are Then it will be yours, without fears or forebodings, simply to do today what
good thing
will
included in
this.
your hands find to do, and so be ready for tomorrow, when it comes, knowing that tomorrow will bring tomorrow's supplies for the mental, the spiritual, and the physical
Remember,
life.
however, that tomorrow's supplies are not needed until If
tomorrow comes. one
Law, the
is
willing to trust himself fully to the
Law
will
never
fail
him.
It
is
the
that brings uncertain, results. so, unsatisfactory Nothing is firmer
half-hearted trusting to
it
and It will never fail the and surer than Deity. one who throws himself wholly upon it. The secret of
life
realization,
then,
is
to live continually in this
whatever one
may be
doing, wher-
may be; by day and by night, both It can be lived in while and sleeping. waking we are sleeping no less than when we are awake. And here shall we consider a few facts in conever one
nection with sleep, in connection with receiving instruction and illumination while asleep t During the process of sleep it is merely the physical body that soul life with all
Sleep
is
is
its
at rest
and
activities
in quiet;
the
goes right on.
nature's provision for the recuperatic!"
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
of the body, for the rebuilding
replacing of the waste that
is
1
2
1
and hence the
continually going It is nature's
on during the waking hours.
If sufficient sleep is not allowed great restorer. the body, so that the rebuilding may equalize the wasting process, the body is gradually depleted and weakened, and any ailment or malady,
when it is in this condition, is able to find a more ready entrance. It is for this reason that those who are subject to it will take a cold, as we term it, more readily when the body is tired or exhausted through loss of sleep than at most any other time. The body is in that condition
where outside influences effect
upon
if,
-can
than when
it is
have a more ready in its normal con-
And when
they do have an effect they always go to the weaker portions first.
dition.
Our
bodies are given us to serve far higher Espurposes than we ordinarily use them for. pecially
is
the body that
this true in the
is
master of
we come
its
numerous cases where In the degree
owner.
into the realization of the higher
powers of the mind and
spirit, in
that degree does
the body, through their influence upon it, become less gross and heavy, finer in its texture and form.
kingdom
And of
then,
because the mind
enjoyment in itself, it becomes related
higher things
finds
a
and
in all the
to,
excesses in
1
22
Fullness of Peace, Power,
eating and drinking, as well as
and
own accord
and Plenty all
others, natur-
away. There the desire for the heavier, away grosser, less valuable kinds of food and drink, such as ally
of their
fall
also falls
the flesh of animals, alcoholic drinks, and
all
things of the class that stimulate the body and the passions rather than build the body and the brain into a strong, clean, well-nourished, enIn the degree during, and fibrous condition.
body thus becomes less gross and in its texture and form, is there heavy, less waste, and what there is is more easily replaced, so that it keeps in a more regular and even condition. When this is true, less that
the
finer
sleep
is
amount
And even the actually required. that is taken does more for a body of
finer type than other nature.
this
it
can do for one of the
As
the body in this way grows finer, in other words, as the process of its evolution is thus accelerated, it in turn helps the mind and the soul
in
the realization of ever higher percep-
and thus body helps mind the same as It was undoubtedly this mind builds body.
tions,
fact that
Browning had "
Are
in
mind when he
Let us cry 'All good things
ours, nor soul helps flesh, Than flesh helps soul.' "
more now,
said
:
Fullness of Peace, Power, Sleep, then,
for the resting
is
The
of the body.
soul needs
and Plenty
1
23
and the rebuilding no rest, and while
the body is at rest in sleep the soul life is active the same as when the body is in activity. insight into the
There are some, having a deep soul's activities, sleep.
who
say that
we
travel
when we
are able to recall and bring over
Some
waking life the scenes visited, the information gained, and the events that have Most people are not able to do this transpired. into the conscious,
and so much that might otherwise be gained
is
They say, however, that it is in our power, in proportion as we understand the laws, to go
lost.
where we
will,
scious,
waking
gained.
Be
tainly
is
and to bring over into the conlife
this,
all
the
however,
thus
experiences as
it
true that while sleeping
may,
it
we have
cer-
the
power, in a perfectly normal and natural way, to get much of value by way of light, instruction,
and growth that the majority
now
miss.
If
the soul
life,
of
people
that which relates us to Infinite
is at always active, even while the body conditions direct so mind the not why may
Spirit, is rest,
as one falls asleep, that while the body is at rest, it may continually receive illumination from
the soul and bring what it thus receives over This, indeed, into the conscious, waking life .?
Fullness of Peace,
124
Power and Plenty y
can be done, and
is done by some to great ad van and many times the highest inspirations from the soul come in this way, as would seem most natural, since at this time all communica-
tage
;
tions enter.
from the outer, material world no longer I know those who do much work during
sleep, the
same as they get much light along deBy charging the mind on going to
sired lines.
sleep as to a particular time for waking, it is posas many of us know, to wake on the very
sible,
Not infrequently we have examples
minute.
of
problems, problems that defied solution during waking hours, being solved during sleep. friend, a well-known journalist, had an difficult
A
extended
newspaper article worked out for her
clearly
and com-
She way. pletely She frequently calls this agency to her aid. was notified by the managing editor one evening in this
to have the article ready in the morning,
— an
more than ordinary care, and one in which quite a knowledge of facts was It was a matter in connection with required. which she knew scarcely anything, and all her efforts at finding information regarding it seemed to be of no avail. She set to work, but it seemed as if even her own powers defied her. Failure seemed immiAlmost in desperation she decided to nent. article requiring
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
1
25
retire, and putting the matter into her mind in such a way that she would be able to receive the greatest amount of aid while asleep, she fell
When asleep and slept soundly until morning. she awoke her work of the previous evening was She thing that came into her mind. she and as for a few minutes, lay lay quietly there, the article, completely written, seemed to
the
first
She ran through it, before her mind. and without dressing took her pen and transcribed it on to paper, literally acting simply stand
arose,
as her
own amanuensis.
The mind line
will
acting intently along a particular continue so to act until some other
object of thought carries it along another line. And since in sleep only the body is in quiet while the mind and soul are active, then the
mind on being given a certain direction when one drops off to sleep, will take up the line along which it is directed, and can be made, in time, to bring over into consciousness the results of Some will be able very soon to its activities.
get results of this kind for some it will take Quiet and continued effort will increase longer. ;
the faculty.
Then by power
we
virtue of the law
of mind, since the
mind
of the is
drawing
always active,
are drawing to us even while sleeping, infK.
1
26
Power, and Plenty
Fiilbiess of Peace,
ences from the realms kindred to those in which
we
in
thoughts are Hving before we fall In this way we can put ourselves into
our
asleep.
what ever kinds
relation with
of influence
we
choose and accordingly gain much during the In many ways the interior process of sleep.
more open and receptive while we Hence sleep than while we are awake.
faculties are
are in
the necessity of exercising even greater care as to the nature of the thoughts that occupy the
mind as we enter into sleep, for there can come to us only what we by our own order of thought
We
attract.
And
have
for the
it
entirely in our
same
reason,
—
own
hands.
this greater
gree of receptivity during this period,
de-
— we are
by understanding and using the law, to gain much of value more readily in this way than when the physical senses are fully open able
to the material world about us.
a practice of value :
somewhat
When
you
it
is
will
find
light or information is desired
along any particular feel
Many
after the following nature
line,
light
right and wise in
as, for
or information
for
you
to have,
regard to an uncertain
example, light course of action, then as you retire, first bring your mind into the attitude of peace and good-
will
for
all.
You
in
this
way bring
into an harmonious condition, and
in
yourself turn attract
Fullness of Peace, Poiver, to yourself these
and Plenty
1
27
same peaceful conditions from
without.
Then
resting in this sense of peace, quietly
and calmly send out your earnest desire for the needed light or information; cast out of your
mind
all
fears or forebodings lest
for " in quietness
and
it
come
not,
be your Take the attitude of mind, strength." expectant and that when firmly believing expecting you
awake the desired
in confidence shall
results
will
be with you.
Then on awaking, ities
before any thoughts or activfrom the outside world come in to absorb
the attention, remain for a little while receptive to the intuitions or the impressions that come. When they come, when they manifest themselves clearly, then act upon them without delay. In the degree that you do this, in that degree will the
power
of
doing
it
ever more effectively
grow. if for unselfish purposes you desire to and grow develop any of your faculties, or to increase the health and strength of your body,
Or,
take a corresponding attitude of mind, the form of which will readily suggest itself in accordance
with your particular needs or desires.
way you
will
open yourself
yourself with, and
within
you
yourself, the
will
to,
you
set
will
In this
connect
into operation
particular order of forces
128
Fullness of Peace, Power,
that
will
make
for
these
and Plenty
results.
Don't
be
In this way you set into operation vibratory forces which go out
afraid to voice
your desires.
and which make
their impress felt
somewhere,
and which, arousing into
activity or uniting with other forces, set about to actualize your desires.
No
good thing
lives
shall
be withheld from him
with
in
the
who
laws and
higher harmony There are no desires that shall not be satisfied to the one who knows and who wisely uses the powers with which he or she is
forces.
endowed.
Your
more
and peaceful, and refreshing, and so your power increased mentally, physically, and spiritually, simply by sending out as you fall asleep, thoughts of love and good-will, thoughts of peace and harmony In this way you are connecting yourfor all. self
sleep will be
with
for peace
all
quiet,
the forces in the universe that
make
and harmony.
A friend
known the world over through his work along humane lines, has told me that many times in the middle of the night he is
who
is
awakened suddenly and there comes
to his mind,
as a flash of inspiration, a certain plan in conAnd as he lays there nection with his work. quietly and opens himself to it, the methods for its successful carrying out all reveal themselves
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
1
29
In this way many plans are to him clearly. entered upon and brought to a successful culmination that otherwise would never be thought of,
plans that seem, indeed, marvelous to the world He is a man with a sensative organism,
at large.
his life in thorough harmony with the higher laws, and given wholly and unreservedly to the work to which he has dedicated it. Just how and from what source these inspirations come he
does not fully know. Possibly no one does, But this have his theory. each though may
we need to know now, that to the one who lives in harmony at least, with the higher laws of his being, and who
we do know, and
—
it
is all
opens himself to them, they come. Visions and inspirations of the highest order will
come
the
right
in the
we make for them One who has studied "To in hand has said
degree that
conditions.
deeply into the subject receive education spiritually while the body :
is
resting in sleep is a perfectly normal and orderly experience, and would occur definitely and satisfactorily in the lives of all of us, if we paid more
attention to internal and consequently less to external states with their supposed but unreal necessities.
we
.
.
.
Our thoughts make us what
are here and hereafter, and our thoughts are
often busier by night than by day, for
when we
1
30
Fullness of Peace, Power,
und Plenty
are asleep to the exterior we can be wide awakr to the interior world; and the unseen world is a substantial
place, the conditions of
which are
entirely regulated by mental and moral attainments. When we are not deriving information
through outward avenues of sensation, we are receiving instruction through interior channels
and when this fact is understood what it is worth, it will become a universal custom for persons to take to sleep with them the special subject on which they most earnestly of perception,
for
desire particular instruction. The Pharaoh type of person dreams, and so does his butler and
baker; but the Joseph type, which
is
that of the
both dreams and interprets." had not Pharaoh the power of
truly gifted seer,
But why
his
dreams
Why
was
Josephthe type of the "truly gifted seer.-"' Why did he not only dream, but had also the power to interpret both his own dreams and the dreams interpreting
of others.-*
.-*
Simply read the
lives
He who
runs
after
living the life that tells.
all,
may
read.
In
all
of the two.
true
power
And
it
is,
in pro-
portion as one lives the life does he not only attain to the highest power and joy for himself,
but he also becomes of ever greater service to all the world. One need remain in no hell longer than
he himself chooses to; and the
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
131
moment he chooses
not to remain longer, not all the powers in the universe can prevent his One can rise to any heaven he himleaving it. self
chooses
and when he chooses so to
;
rise, all
the higher powers of the universe combine to help him heavenward.
When
one awakes from sleep and so returns life, he is in a peculiarly receptive
to conscious
and impressionable
state.
All
relations with
the material world have for a time been shut off,
the
mind
a freer
in
is
and more natural
resembling somewhat a
state,
sensitive plate,
where impressions can readily leave their traces. This is why many times the highest and truest impressions come to one in the early morning hours, before the activities of the day and their
attendant distractions have exerted an influence.
This
is
one reason
their best
But
work
this fact
why many
people can do
early hours of the day. also a most valuable one in
in the is
connection with the moulding of every-day life. The mind is at this time as a clean sheet of paper.
We
can most valuably use this quiet,
by wisely directof mind the the activities ing along the highest and most desirable paths, and thus, so to speak, receptive, impressionable period
set the pace for the day.
Each morning
is
a fresh beginning.
We
are,
Fullness of Peace Power,
132 as
^
and Plenty
We
were, just beginning life. And entirely in our own hands. it
morning with
its
have
when
it
the
fresh
beginning comes, all should be yesterdays yesterdays, with which we have nothing to do. Sufficient is it to know that the
way we
mined
lived our yesterday has deter-
for us our today. morning with its fresh
And,
again,
when the
beginning comes, tomorrows should be tomorrows, with which
all
we
have nothing to do. Sufficient to know that the way we live our today determines our tomorrow.
"
Every day is a fresh beginning, Every morn is the world made new; You who are weary of sorrow and sinning, Here is a beautiful hope for you, A hope for me and a hope for you.
"All the past things are past and over, The tasks are done, and the tears are shed. Yesterday's errors let yesterday cover; Yesterday's wounds, which smarted and bled, Are healed with the healing which might has shed
"Let them go, since we cannot relieve them, Cannot undo and cannot atone. God in His mercy receive, forgive them! Only the new days are our own. is ours, and today alone.
Today
Fullness of Peace, Power, attd Plenty
"Here
are the skies
all
1
33
burnished brightly;
Here is the spent earth all reborn Here are the tired limbs springing lightly To face the sun and to share with the morn In the chrism of dew and the cool of dawn. ;
"Every day Listen,
And,
a fresh beginning,
is
my
soul, to the glad refrain,
spite of old
sorrow and older sinning,
And
puzzles forecasted, and possible pain, Take heart with the day and begin again."
its
Simply the first hour of this new day, with all richness and glory, with all its sublime and
eternity-determining possibilities, and each succeeding hour as it comes, but not before it comes. This is the secret of character building. This
simple method will bring any one to the realof the highest life that can be even conceived of, and there is nothing in this conization
nection that can be conceived of that cannot be realized
somehow, somewhen, somewhere.
This brings such a of all, for there if
he
really
for
is 710
desires
a
highest there should be,
life
one, it,
within the possibilities really in earnest and
if
who cannot
single hour.
live to his
But even though
he is only earnest in Ids endeavor, then, through the law that like builds like,
he
will
if
be able to come a
little
nearer to
it
1
34
Fidbiess of Peace, Power,
the next hour, and
still
nearer the next, and the
next, until sooner or later it
becomes the
and Plenty
natural,
comes the time when and any other would
require the effort. In this way one
becomes in love and in league with the highest and best in the universe, and as a consequence, the highest and best in the universe becomes in love and in league with him.
They aid him at every turn they seem literally to move all things his way, because forsooth, he has first moved their way. ;
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
i
35
THE REALIZATION OF PERFECT PEACE. This
moment comes is
the Spirit of Infinite Peace, and the we come into harmony with it there
is
to us an inflowing tide of peace, for peace
A
harmony.
To
meaning underlies spiritually minded is life
interior
deep
the great truth, "
To be
and peace." spirit, and to
live in this
ually minded,
and so to be
recognize the fact that in
is
care, troubled
we
and
ill
are
to be spirit-
harmony and
men and women
Oh, the thousands of
weary with
thought,
all
peace.
about us
at ease, run-
ning hither and thither to find peace, weary in body, soul, and mind going to other countries, ;
traveling the world over,
not finding it
Of
it.
and they never
coming back, and
colirse
will find
still
they have not found in this way, because
it
they are looking for it where it is not. They are looking for it without when they should look within.
Peace
unless one find at
is it
found only within, and there he will never find it
to be
all.
Peace
lies
within one's
not in the external world.
own
soul.
We may
It lies
travel
over
Fullness of Peace, Power,
136
many seek
and Plenty
different avenues in pursuit of
it,
we may
through the channels of the bodily appetites and passions, we may seek it through all it
the channels of the external, we may chase for it hither and thither, but it will always be just our we because are grasp, beyond searching for
where
it is not. In the degree, however, that order the bodily appetites and passions in accordance with the promptings of the soul it
we
within will the higher forms of happiness and peace enter our lives but in the degree that we ;
in
doing this content enter in.
fail
will disease, suffering,
and
dis-
To be at one with God is to be at peace. The child simplicity is the greatest agency in bringing this full and complete realization, the child simplicity that recognizes its true relations with
the Father's
life.
There are people
I
know who
have come into such a conscious realization of their oneness with this Infinite Life, this Spirit of Infinite Peace, that their lives are fairly bub-
bling over with joy.
I
have particularly
in
mind
moment
a comparatively young man who was an invalid for several years, his health comat this
pletely broken
with
nervous exhaustion, who life worth living
thought there was nothing in
whom
everything and everybody presented a gloomy aspect, and he in turn presented
for,
to
Fullness of Peace, Power, a
and Plenty
1
37
gloomy aspect to all with whom he came Not long ago he came into such a
in contact.
vital realization of his
oneness with this Infinite
Power, he opened himself so completely to its divine inflow, that today he is in perfect health, and frequently as I meet him now he cannot resist the
impulse to cry out, "Oh,
it
is
a joy
to be alive."
on our police force who has told me that many times when off duty and on his way home in the evening, there comes to him such a vivid and vital realization of his oneness I
know an
ofificer
with this Infinite Power, and this Spirit of Infinite Peace so takes hold of and so fills him, that
seems as
if his feet could scarcely keep to the so and so exhilarated does he pavement, buoyant of this become by reason inflowing tide.
it
He who comes into this higher realization never has any fear, for he has always with him a sense of protection, and the very realization of this it is
makes
true,
—
"
his protection complete.
No weapon
thee shall prosper;"
that
"There
is
Of him
formed against no ill come
shall
"Thou shalt be in league nigh thy dwelling;" with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the
field
shall
be at peace with thee."
These are the men and the women who seem to live charmed lives. The moment we fear
1
38
Fidhiess of Peace Power, ^
anything
we open
and Plenty
the door for the entrance of
the actuahzation of the very thing we fear. An animal will never harm a person who is absolutely fearless
to
in regard
it.
The
instant
he fears he opens himself to danger; and some animals, the dog for example, can instantly detect the
element of
fear,
and
this gives
them the
In the degree that we realization of our oneness with
courage to do harm.
come this quiet,
into a full Infinite
Power do we become calm and
undisturbed by the
little
disappointed
in people, for
occurrences that
We
before so vex and annoy us.
are no longer
we always
read
them
We
have the power of penetrating into aright. their very souls and seeing the underlying motives that are at work there.
A
gentleman approached a friend the other and with great show of cordiality grasped day, I him by the hand and said, Why, Mr. '*
,
am
so glad to see you." Quick as a flash my friend read him, and looking him steadily in the eye, replied, "No, you are mistaken, you are
not glad to
see
disconcerted, so
me; but you are very much much so that you are now
blushing in evidence of
it."
The gentleman
"Well, you know in this day and age of conventionality and form we have to put on replied,
the show and sometimes
make
believe
what we
Fullness of Peace, Power,
do not
him
in the face
taken.
advice
My
really feel."
:
and
and Plenty
friend once
said,
me
give you one
You
will
always fare
39
more looked
"Again you
Let
1
are mis-
word of better and will little
think far more of yourself, always to recognize and to tell the truth rather than to give yourself to
any semblance
of
it."
As soon as we are able to read people aright we will then cease to be disappointed in them, we will cease to place them on pedestals, for this
can never be done without some attendant
The fall will necessarily come, disappointment. sooner or later, and moreover, we are thus many times unfair to our friends. into
harmony with
this
When we come
Spirit
of
Peace, evil
reports and apparent bad treatment, either at the hands of friends or of enemies, will no
longer disturb us. When we are conscious of the fact that in our life and our work we are true to that eternal principle of right, of truth, of justice that runs through all the universe, that unites and governs ally prevails,
all,
that always eventu-
then nothing of this kind can come will always be
and come what may we and undisturbed. tranquil nigh
us,
The
things that cause sorrow, and pain, and bereavement will not be able to take the hold of us they
now
take, for true
wisdom
will
enable us
1
40
Fjiliness of Peace,
Power, and Plenty
to see the proper place and know the right relations of all things. The loss of friends the
by
we
call
death
will not
the soul that has
come
into this higher realiza-
transition
he knows that there
tion, for
cause sorrow to
is
no such thing
as death, for each one
is not only a partaker, eternal partaker, of this Infinite Life. knows that the mere falling away of the
but an
He
physical body life.
faith
With a he can
by no means tranquil
spirit
realize for himself,
strong he can say "
affects the real soul
—
born of a higher and to those less
Loving friends be wise and dry Straightway every weeping eye !
;
What you
left
upon the bier
Is not worth a single tear 'Tis a simple sea-shell, one Out of which the pearl has gone. The shell was nothing, leave it there; ;
And
so
The
pearl
far
as
— the soul — was
all, is
here."
the element of
concerned, he realizes that to
separation is spirit there are no
bounds, and that spiritual communion, whether between two persons in the body, or two persons, is
one
in the
body and one out
within the reach of
all.
of the body, In the degree that realized can there be
the higher spiritual
life is
this higher spiritual
communion.
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
1
4
1
The things that we open ourselves to always come to us. People in the olden times expected and they saw them; but there is no more reason why they should have seen them than that we should see them now; no more reason why they should come and dwell with to see angels
them than
that they should
us, for the great
come and dwell with
laws governing
all things are the same today as they were then. If angels come not to minister unto us it is because we
invite them, it is because we keep the door closed through which they otherwise might
do not enter.
In the degree that we are filled with this Spirit of Peace by thus opening ourselves to its it pour through us, so that we carry with us wherever we go. In the degree that we thus open ourselves do we become magnets
inflow does it
to attract peace from all sources; and degree that we attract and embody it
selves are
We
we
able to give
it
the
in in
our-
forth to others.
way become such
perfect embodiments of peace that wherever we go we are But a day continually shedding benedictions.
can
in this
saw a woman grasp the hand of a showed the indwelling God),
or two ago
I
man
face
(his
saying,
you.
"Oh, I
it
does
have been
me
so
much good
in an.xiety
to see
and almost
in
Fullness of Peace, Power,
142
and Plenty
despair during the past few hours, but the very sight of you has rolled the burden entirely
There are people
away."
all
around us who
are continually giving out blessings and comfort,
persons whose mere presence seems to change sorrow into joy, fear into courage, despair into hope, weakness into power. It is the one who has come into the realiza-
own true self who carries this power who radiates it wherever he goes, one who, as we say, has found his centre.
tion of his
with him and
— the And
in all
the great universe there
— the
Infinite
Power
that
is
but one
working in and through all. The one who then has found his centre is the one who has come into the centre,
realization
of
his
is
oneness with this
Infinite
who recognizes himself as a for God is spirit. spiritual being, Such is the man of power. Centred in the Power, the one
he has thereby, so to speak, connected himself with, he has attached his belts to, the Infinite,
great power-house of the universe. stantly drawing power to himself
He
is
from
conall
For, thus centred, knowing himself, conscious of his own power, the thoughts that sources.
go from
his
mind are thoughts
of strength
;
and
by
virtue of the law that like attracts like, he
by
his thoughts
is
continually attracting to him-
Fullness of Peace, Pozver,
from
self
all
quarters
and Plenty
the aid
of
all
143
whose
thoughts are thoughts of strength, and in this way he is linking himself with this order of in the universe.
thought
And
so to
him that hath,
to
him
shall
be
This is simply the working of a natural given. His strong, positive, and hence construclaw. tive thought is continually working success for
him along all lines, and continually bringing to him help from all directions. The things that he
sees, that
he creates
in
the
ideal,
are through
the agency of this strong constructive thought continually clothing themselves, taking form, Silent, manifesting themselves in the material. unseen forces are at work which will sooner or
later
be made manifest
Fear and
in the visible.
thoughts of failure never suggest themselves to such a man or if they do, they are immediately sent out of his mind, and so he is not influenced by this order of thought from all
;
without.
He does
not attract
it
to him.
He
is
in another current of thought. Consequently the weakening, failure-bringing thoughts of the fearing, the vascillating, the pessimistic about
him, have no influence upon him. The one who is of the negative, fearing kind not only has his energies and his physical agents weakened, or even paralyzed through the influence of this
1
44
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
kind of thought that is born within him, but he also in this way connects himself with this order
And
of thought in the world about him.
in
the
degree that he does this does he become a victim to the weak, fearing, negative minds all
around him.
Instead of growing in power, he increases in weakness. He is in the same order
of thought with those of
whom
is
it
true,
— and
even that which they have shall he taken away from them. This again is simply the working of a natural law, the lest
Fearing in
away
I
lose
same as
even what
a napkin.
Very
is
I
well.
its
opposite.
have I
I
hide
it
must then
"
pay the price of my fearing lest I lose." Thoughts of strength both build strength from within and attract it from without. Thoughts of weakness actualize weakness from within
age
And
and attract
begets so
failure.
it
strength,
from fear
without.
begets
Cour-
weakness.
courage begets success, fear begets It is the man or the woman of faith,
who is the master of circumstances, and who makes his or her power felt in the world. It is the man or the woman who lacks faith and who as a con-
and hence
sequence
of
is
forebodings, occurrences.
courage,
weakened and crippled by
who
is
the creature of
fears
all
and
passing
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
1
45
Within each one lies the cause of whatever comes to him. Each has it in his own hands to determine what comes. Everything in the visible, material
world
has
its
in
origin
the
This unseen, the spiritual, the thought world. is the world of cause, the former is the world of
The
effect.
accordance
What one he
nature of the effect
with
the
nature
is
of
lives in his invisible,
always in
the
cause.
thought world,
continually actualizing in his visible, material world. If he would have any conditions is
different in the latter
sary change
in
of this great fact
sands of
now
he must make the neces-
the former.
A
clear realization
would bring success
men and women who
all
to thou-
about us are
It would bring the depths of despair. health, abounding health and strength to thousands now diseased and suffering. It would in
bring peace and joy to thousands
and
ill
And
now unhappy
at ease.
oh, the thousands all about us
who
are
the slavery of fear. The within that should be and spirits strong powerful, are rendered weak and impotent. Their energies continually living in
are crippled, their efforts are paralyzed. "Fear is fear of fear of want, starvation, everywhere,
—
fear of public opinion, fear of private opinion, fear that what we own today may not be ours
Fullness of Peace, Power,
146
and Plenty
tomorrow, fear of sickness, fear of death. has become with miUions a fixed habit.
Fear
The is thrown The thought thought everywhere. upon us from every direction, ... To hve in is
continual dread, continual cringing, continual fear of anything, be it loss of love, loss of money, loss of position or situation, is to take the readiest
means
to lose
what we
fear nothing
By
is
contrary, everything
fear
we
shall."
on the
to be gained, but is
to be lost.
"I
know
true," says one, "but I am given to fear; Can't it's natural to me and I can't help it." In saying this you indicate one help it!
this
is
great reason of your fear by showing that you do not even know yourself as yet. You must know yourself in order to know your powers,
and not until you know them can you use them Don't say you can't help it. wisely and fully.
you think you can't, the chances are that you If you think you can, and act in accordcan't. If
ance with this thought, then not only are the chances that you can, but if you act fully in accordance with it, that you can and that you
an absolute certainty. in describing the crew which will is
win the
race, said of them,
of
mind
in
was Virgil who his mind would
— They can
because
In other words, this very on their part will infuse a
they think they can. attitude
It
Fullness of Peace Power, ,
and Plenty
147
spiritual power into their bodies that will give them the strength and endurance which will enable them to win.
Then
take the thought that you can; take it merely as a seed-thought, if need be, plant it in your consciousness, tend it, cultivate it, and it
reach out and gather strength It will focus and make posiquarters.
will
gradually
from
all
tive
and active the
that
is
draw to
now
scattered and of
to itself force
your
own
spiritual force within
from without.
nature,
minds that are
draw
It will
aid the influence of other
minds
fearless,
you
It will
little avail.
of its
strong,
You will thus draw to yourself courageous. and connect yourself with this order of thought. If earnest and faithful, the time will soon come when
all
fear will loose its hold
;
and instead of
being an embodiment of weakness and a creature of circumstances, you will find yourself a tower of strength
We
and a master of circumstances.
need more
faith in every-day
life,
—
faith in
the power that works for good, faith in the Infinite God, and hence faith in ourselves created in
His image.
may seem
to go,
And however
things at times
however dark
at times appear-
knowledge of the fact that "the Supreme Power has us in its charge as it has the suns and endless systems of worlds in
ances
may
be, the
Fullness of Peace, Power,
148
and Plenty
space," will give us the supreme faith that all is well with us, the same as all is well with the
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee." There is nothing firmer, and safer, and surer world.
than Deity. Then, as we recognize the fact that we have it in our own hands to open ourselves ever more fully to this Infinite Power, and call upon it to manifest itself in and through us, we will find in ourselves
For
power.
in this
an ever increasing sense of
way we
junction with it, and conjunction with us. full
it
We
are working in con-
turn
in
is
working
in
are then led into the
realization of the fact that all things
work
together for good to those that love the good. the fears and forebodings that have domi-
Then
in the past will
nated us faith,
and
faith
rightly used
is
when
be transmuted into
rightly
understood and
a force before which nothing can
stand.
Materialism leads naturally to pessimism. And could it do otherwise knowledge of the
how
A
.-*
Spiritual
Power working
in
and through us as
well as in and through all things, a works for righteousness, leads to
power that optimism.
Pessimism leads to weakness. Optimism leads The one who is centred in Deity is to power. the one
who
not only outrides every storm, but
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
149
who through the faith, and so, the conscious power that is in him, faces storm with the same calmness and serenity that he faces fair weather; for he knows well beforehand what the outcome will be. He knows that underneath are the
He everlasting arms. truth of the injunction,
it
who
is
"Rest
realizes
in the
the
Lord, wait
patiently for Him and He shall give thee thy All shall be given, simply heart's desire." Can given, to him who is ready to accept it.
anything be clearer than this } In the degree, then, that we work tion with the
Supreme Power do we need the
concern ourselves about
less to
in the full realization of this
attends peace,
it
—
in conjunc-
brings peace, a
a peace that
results.
fact full,
and rich,
To live all
that
abiding
makes the present com-
and that, going on before, brings back the assurance that as our days, so shall our strength The one who is thus centred, even in be.
plete,
the face of us,
all
the unrest and the turmoil about
can realize and say
"I stay I
my
haste,
I
—
make
delays,
For what avails this eager pace? stand amid eternal ways, And what is mine shall know my
face.
I
50
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
"Asleep, awake, by night or day, The friends I seek are seeking me No wind can drive my bark astray,
Nor change
"
"
;
the tide of destiny.
The waters know their own, and draw The brooks that spring in yonder height So flows the good with equal law Unto the soul of pure delight. The stars come nightly to the sky The tidal wave unto the sea Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high. Can keep my own away from me." ;
;
[
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
l
5
i
COMING INTO FULLNESS OF POWER. the Spirit of Infinite Power, and in the degree that we open ourselves to it does
This
is
power become manifest
—
are
in
that
us.
With God
all
in
conjunction possible, things The true with God all things are possible. secret of power lies in keeping one's connection with the God who worketh all things and in the is,
;
degree that
we keep
literally to rise
this
connection are
we
above every conceivable
able
limita-
tion.
Why, thither
then, waste time in running hither to
acquire
power.-*
Why
and
waste time
with this practice or that practice.'' Why not go directly to the mountain top itself, instead of
wandering through the by-ways, in the valleys, and on the mountain sides.? That man has as taught in all the scriptrue not of physical man, There are many animals, man. but of spiritual for example, larger and stronger, over which
absolute dominion, tures of the world,
is
from a physical standpoint he would not have dominion, but he can gain supremacy over even
1
Fullness of Peace, Power,
52
and Plenty
these by calling into activity the higher mental, psychic, and spiritual forces with which he is
endowed.
Whatever be done
can't be
portion as a
and in
done
in the physical
And
the spiritual.
in
man
in direct
can pro-
recognizes himself as spirit, he able to transcend
lives accordingly, is
power the man who recognizes himself merely
as material.
All the sacred
literature of the
teeming with examples of what we call miracles. They are not confined to any par-
world
is
times or places. There is no age of miracles in distinction from any other period that may be an age of miracles. Whatever has ticular
been done
the world's history can be done again through the operation of the same laws and forces. These miracles were performed not in
by those who were more than men, but by those who through the recognition of their oneness with God became God-men, so that the higher forces and powers
For what,
worked through them. us ask,
let
is
a miracle
Is
.*
it
in
something supernatural Supernatural only the sense of being above the natural, or rather, .-'
above that which ordinary less
than
state. this.
A
is
natural
to
man
in
his
nothing more nor One who has come into a knowl-
edge of his true
miracle
is
identity, of his
oneness with
Fullness of Peace, Power, the
all
makes
-pervading it
possible
and Plenty
153
Wisdom and for
laws
Power, thus higher than the
ordinary mind knows of to be revealed to him. These laws he makes use of the people see the ;
results, and by virtue of their own limitations, call them miracles and speak of the person who performs these apparently supernatural works
as a supernatural being. But they as supernatural beings could themselves perform these
supernatural works if they would open themselves to the recognition of the same laws, and consequently to the realization of the same possibilities
and powers.
And
let
us also re-
member
that the supernatural of yesterday becomes, as in the process of evolution we advance
from the lower to the higher, from the more material to the more spiritual, the common and the natural of today, and what seems to be the supernatural of today becomes in the same way the natural of tomorrow, and so on through the Yes, it is the God-man who does the ages. things that appear supernatural, the man who by virtue of his realization of the higher powers transcends the majority and so stands out among
them.
human
But any power that soul
is
laws operate in every
women
of
is
possible to one
The same men and be men and women
possible to another. life.
power or we can
We
can be
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
154
The moment one
of impotence.
the fact that he can rise he will
vitally grasps
rise,
and he can
have absolutely no limitations other than the limitations he sets to himself. Cream always rises to the top.
the nature of
We
hear
need to
It
cream
much
rises
simply because
it
is
to rise.
said of "environment."
realize that
We
environment should never
be allowed to make the man, but that man should always, and always can, condition the environment. that
many
selves out
cause
When we
times of
we may
it
is
realize this
we
will find
not necessary to take our-
any particular environment, beyet have a work to do there; but
by the very force we carry with us we can
so
and change matters that we will have an entirely new set of conditions in an old environ-
affect
ment.
The same traits
and
is
true in regard to "hereditary" sometimes hear the
We
influences. " Can
question asked, they the one who doesn't Only yet ask a question such as this.
and
be
overcome
" .''
know himself can If we entertain
the belief that they cannot be overcome, then the chances are that they will always remain. The moment, however, that we come live in
into a realization of our true selves,
and so
the tremendous powers and forces within,
of
— the
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
i
5 5
—
powers and forces of the mind and spirit, hereditary traits and influences that are harmful in nature will begin to lessen, and will disappear with a rapidity directly in
proportion to the
completeness of this realization. "
There
is
no thing we cannot overcome
Say not thy Or that some
;
evil instinct is inherited, trait
inborn makes thy whole
life
forlorn,
And "
calls
down punishment
that
is
not merited.
Back of thy parents and grandparents lies The Great Eternal Will That too is thine !
—
Inheritance, strong, beautiful, divine, Sure lever of success for one who tries.
"There
is
no noble height thou canst not climb may be thine in Time's futurity. ;
All triumphs If,
whatso'er thy
fault,
But lean upon the
thou dost not faint or halt;
staff of
God's
security.
"Earth has no claim the
soul cannot contest; thyself part of the Eternal Source; Naught can stand before thy spirit's force:
Know The
soul's
Divine Inheritance
Again there are many who are
is
best."
living far
below
their possibilities because they are continually
handing over their individualities to others. Do you want to be a power in the world } Then be
I
Fullness of Peace, Power,
56
Don't class yourself, don't allow your-
yourself. self to
and Plenty
be classed among the second-Jiand, among
the they-say people. Be true to the highest within your own soul, and then allow yourself to be governed by no customs or conventionalities or arbitrary man-made rules that are not
founded upon prmciple. Those things that are founded upon principle will be observed by the right-minded, the right-hearted in
man
or
woman,
case.
any Don't surrender your individuality, which is your greatest agent of power, to the customs and conventionalities that have gotten their life from the great mass of those who haven't enough force to preserve their individualities,
who
in other
— those
words have given them over as "mush of concession" which
ingredients to the
one of our greatest writers has said characterizes If you do surrender your our modern society. individuality in this way,
creasing the
undesirable
you simply
aid in in-
conditions;
in
pay-
you become a slave, and the chances are that in time you will be unable to hold even the respect of those whom you in
ment
this
for
way
this
try to please.
you preserve your individuality then you become a master, and if wise and discreet, your If
influence and
power
will
be an aid
in
bringing
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
i
57
about a higher, a better, and a more healthy set All people, moreof conditions in the world. will think more of over, you, will honor you
more highly
for doing this than if you show weakness by contributing yourself to the your " same " mush of concession that so many of
are contributing themselves to. With all classes of people you will then have an in-
them
fluence.
"
A
great style of hero draws equally
extremes of society to him, till we the say very dogs believe in him." To be one's self is the only worthy, and by all
all classes, all
means the only
satisfactory, thing to be.
"
May
not be good policy," says one, "to be gov" erned sometimes by one's surroundings } it
What
is
good policy
?
To be
yourself,
first, last,
and always.
—
"This above all, to thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."
"When we life
is
appeal to the Supreme and our governed by a principle, we are not
governed either by fear of public opinion or loss of others approbation, and we may be sure that the Supreme try to
live
will sustain us.
to
suit
others
If in
any way we
we never
shall suit
them, and the more we try the more unreason-
158
Fullness of Peace, Power,
able
and
exacting of
do
your Hfe
and Plenty become.
they
The
a matter
that lies government entirely between God and yourself, and when your life is swayed and influenced from any other source you are on the wrong path."
When we
is
kingdom within and become centred in the Infinite, then we become a law unto ourselves. When we become a law unto find the
ourselves, then
knowledge or
many
we
are able to bring others to a than they are governed
of laws higher
times even enslaved by.
When we
have found
this centre,
beautiful simplicity, at once the
power our
of a truly great personality, enters into
lives.
Then
indicator of
power, is
so
then that
charm and the
—
is
striving for effect,
all
—
that sure
weakness and a lack of genuine This striving for effect that absent.
common
is
always an indicator of a lack of
It brings to mind the man who something. Conscious of rides behind a dock-tailed horse.
the fact that there
is
attract attention, in
not enough in Jiimsclf to with a number of
common
other weaklings, he adopts the brutal method of having his horse's tail sawed off, that its unnatural, odd
appearance
may
attract
people the attention that he of himself
is
from unable
to secure.
But the one who
strives for effect
is
always
Fullness of Peace, Power,
more than he succeeds
fooled
The man and
the
woman
mid Plenty
1
59
in fooling others.
of true
wisdom and
in-
sight can always see the causes that prompt, the motives that underlie the acts of all with whom " He is he or she comes in contact. great who
what he
is
is
from nature
who never
and
reminds us of others."
The men and to the
real
the
women who
powers
within
are truly awake are the men and
little, yet who much. so in reality are doing They seem to be doing so little because they are working with
women who seem
to be doing so
higher agencies, and yet are doing so much because of this very fact. They do their work on the higher plane. They keep so completely their connection with the Infinite Power that //
does the work for them and they are relieved of the responsibility. They are the care-less people.
They
nite
Power
are care-less because that
is
with this Infinite
is
it
the Infi-
working through them, and
Power they
are
simply co-
operating.
The
simply the uniting of the outer agencies of expressioji with the
secret
Power
of the highest power
that zvorks
Then
from
withiti.
is
Are you
a
the degree that you open painter the to power of the forces within will yourself you become great instead of mediocre. You .-'
in
1
6o
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and
Pleiity
can never put into permanent form inspirations higher than those that come through your own In order for the higher inspirations to
soul.
come through it, you must open your soul, you must open it fully to the Supreme Source of all Are you an orator In the degree inspiration. that you come into harmony and work in con.''
junction with the higher powers that will speak through you will you have the real power of
moulding and
If you use moving men. merely your physical agents, you will be simply If you open yourself so that the a demagogue. voice of God can speak through and use your
of
physical agents, you will become a great and true orator, great and true in just the degree that you so open yourself. let
Are you a singer } Then open the God within pour forth in
You
song.
will find
it
yourself and the spirit of
a thousand times easier
your long and studied practice without and other things being equal, there will
than
all
this,
come
you a power of song so enchanting and so enrapturing that its influence upon all who to
hear will be
irresistible.
When my during the of a forest, cot
in the
I
has been pitched the edge or in the midst
cabin or tent
summer on
have sometimes
lain
awake on
my
early morning, just as the day was
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
1
61
Silence at first. Then an beginning to break. intermittent chirp here and there. And as the
unfolding tints of the dawn became faintly perceptible, these grew more and more frequent,
by and by the whole
until
forest
seemed
to
burst forth in one grand chorus of song. WonIt seemed as if the very derful wonderful !
!
every grass-blade, as if the bushes, the very sky aljovc, and the earth beneath, had Then, as I part in this wonderful symphony. trees, as
if
have listened as
it
went on and
I
on,
What
have
a study in the matter of song thought, but learn from the birds. If we If we could !
could but open ourselves to the same powers and allow them to pour forth in us, what singers, what movers of men we might have Nay, !
what singers and what movers
of
men we wou^d
have !
Do you know
the circumstances under which
Mr. Sankey sang for the first time " The Ninety " and Nine Says one of our able journals .''
"At Ira
:
a great meeting recently in Denver, Mr. Sankey, before singing 'The Ninety
W.
and Nine,' which, perhaps, of all his compositions is the one that has brought him the most fame, gave an account of its birth. Leaving Glasgow for Edinburg with Mr. Moody, he
stopped at a news-stand and bought a penny
62
1
Fullness of Peace, Power,
religious paper.
on the
Glancing over it as they rode on a few little verses in
cars, his eye fell the corner of the page.
he
'
said,
I've
Moody was
and Plenty
Turning
found
my
to Mr.
Moody
But Mr.
hymn.'
busily engaged and did not hear a
Mr. Sankey did not find time to make a tune for the verses, so he pasted them in his music scrapbook. word.
"
One day they had an in
meeting
in
Edinburg, spoken with great effect
At the
herd.'
beckoned to
unusually impressive
which Dr. Bonar had on The Good Shep'
close of the address Mr.
Moody
He
his partner to sing.
thought of nothing but the Twenty-third Psalm, but that His second thought was he had sung so often. to sing the verses he
had found
in the
news-
paper, but the third thought was, how could it Then a fourth be done when he had no tune.
thought came, and that was to sing them ajiyHe put the verses before him, touched way. the keys of the organ, opened his mouth and sang, not knowing where he was going to come out.
He
silence. if
finished the first verse
He
he could
He
amid profound wondered
took a long breath and sing the
second the
same way.
and succeeded after that it was easy When he finished the hymn the to sing it. meeting was all broken down and the throngs tried
;
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
1
63
Mr. Sankey says it was the most Mr. Moody said he intense moment of his life.
were crying.
like it. It was sung at was soon and going over the every meeting,
never heard a song
world."
When we
open ourselves to the highest
rations they never
we
this
inspi-
to do
fail
attaining the highest
in
fail
When we
fail us.
results,
whatever the undertaking.
Are you a
Then remember
writer.''
the one great precept underlying ful
work
literary
heart
and
loyal
to
write.
is,
Be
Look
into
Be
trne.
all
that
success-
thine
fearless.
own Be
promptings of your own sojil. that an author can never write
the
Remember
more than he himself is. If he would write He is simply more, then he must be more. his
own amanuensis.
himself into his book. into If
it
than he himself
he
is
He in a He can
sense
writes
put no more
is.
one of a great personality, strong
in
to the
in
feeling, open always purpose, deep highest inspirations, a certain indefinable something gets into his pages that makes them breathe
forth a vital, living power, a
power so great that
each reader gets the same inspirations as those that
spoke through
the
written between the lines
author. is
many
That
that's
times more
164
Fullness of Peace, Power,
than that that's written
the Hnes.
in
It is
the
the author that engenders this power. that gives that extra twenty-five or
spirit of It is
and Plenty
this
thirty per cent that takes a called
medium and
—
lifts
it
book out
into the
of the class class called
that extra per cent that makes it the one of the hundred that is truly successful, superior,
while the ninety-nine never see more than their first edition.
same
It is this
spiritual
power that the author
personality puts into his work, that to go so rapidly from reader to reader
of a great
causes
it
;
way that any book circulates in the from mouth to mouth, any book that
for the only
ultimate
is
reaches a large circulation. It is this that many times causes a single reader, in view of its value to himself, to purchase others.
about
"A
numbers
of copies for
good poem," says Emerson, "goes
world offering itself to reasonable men, who read it with joy and carry it to their Thus it draws to it the reasonable neighbors. the
wise and generous souls, confirming their secret thoughts, and
through their sympathy really
pti blish ing itself.
This
is
' '
the type of author
who writes
not with
the thought of having what he writes become but he writes with the sole thought of reaching the hearts of the people, giving them
literature,
Fullness of Peace, Power, of vital
and Plenty
165
something that will broaden, sweeten, enrich, and beautify their lives; something
that will lead
and with joys. if
it
value,
them to the finding of the higher life the higher powers and the higher
most always happens, however, that
It
he succeeds
thus reaching the people, the somehow takes care of
in
literature part
becoming itself, and
far
better than
if
he aimed for
it
directly.
,The one, on the other hand, depart from beaten paths,
who
who
fears
to
allows himself to
be bound by arbitrary rules, limits his own creative powers in just the degree that he allows himself so to be bound, of the greatest of of the pines
"My
book," says one " shall smell
modern authors,
and resound with the
The swallow
over
my window
hum
of insects.
shall interweave
that thread or straw he carries in his
my web it
also."
Far
bill
into
better, gentle sage, to
have
smell of the pines and resound with the hum than to have it sound of the rules
of insects
that a smaller type of man gets by studying the of a few great, fearless writers like your-
works
and formulating from what he thus gains a handbook of rhetoric. "Of no use are the men self,
who study
to do exactly as
was done before, who is a new day!'
can never understand that today
When
Shakspeare
is
charged with debts to
1
66
Fullness of Peace, Power,
Landor
his authors,
replies:
and Plejity
"Yet he was more
He breathed upon original than his originals. dead bodies and brought them into life." This the type of man who doesn't move the world's way, but who moves the world his way. I had rather be an amanuensis of the is
God, as it is my than a slave to
Infinite
to
ally
rules of
be,
of
any
any and
over to
rhetorician,
the
critic.
over!
them
that
the opinions people, the people
or
to
me
common
something every-day
something that
life,
sweetness here, a
something that kind, and gentle
there,
formulated
give the lighten
will
struggles of our will add a little
ful,
Oh, Let
will
liter-
privilege
the
little
hope
make more thought-
this thoughtless,
animal-
natured man, something that will awaken into activity the dormant powers of this timid, shrinking
little
ened
be
will
that will
surprise even
something that edge
woman, powers
irresistible
will lead
of the divinity of
that
when awak-
in their influence
and
me
give
herself.
Let
each one to the knowl-
every
human
soul,
some-
thing that will lead each one to the conscious realization of Ins own divinity, with all its
—
let attendant riches, and glories, and powers, me succeed in doing this, and I can then
well afford
to
be careless as to whether the
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
i6y
If it is praise or whether they blame. under these circumstances it is as then blame, sticks of a few dead on the the cracking ground below, compared to the matchless music that
critics
the soft
spring gale
great pine
is
breathing through the
forest.
Are you a minister, or a religious teacher of Then in the degree that you free any kind from the man-made theological dogmas yourself .-*
that have held and that are holding and limiting so many, and in the degree that you open your-
the Divine Breath, will you be one who In the degree that speak with authority.
self to
will
you study the prophets less and be in the way becoming a prophet yourself. The way is open for you exactly the same as it
you do
this will
of
has ever been open for anyone. If when born into the world you came into a family of the English-speaking race, then in
To be a probability you are a Christian. Christian is to be a follower of the teacliings of
all
Jesus, the Christ
same laws he to
live his
life.
teaching was
;
harmony with the harmony with in brief,
to live in
lived in
The
:
great central fact of his
this conscious
union of
man
with
was the complete realization of this oneness with the Father on his part that It was through this made Jesus the Christ. the Father.
It
1
68
Fulhiess of Peace, Power,
that he attained to the
power he attained
man
that he spake as never
and Plenty to,
spake.
He never claimed for himself anything that " The he did not claim equally for all mankind. mighty works performed by Jesus were not exceptional, they were the natural and necessary concomitants of his state he declared them to ;
accordance with unvarying order; he spoke of them as no unique performances, but as the
be
in
outcome
of a state to
As
they chose.
which
all
might attain
if
a teacher and demonstrator of
according to his own confession, he did nothing for the purpose of proving his solitary
truth,
The life and triumph of Jesus divinity. formed an epoch in the history of the race. His coming and victory marked a new era in .
human
.
.
affairs
;
he introduced a new because a
more complete ideal to the earth, and when his three most intimate companions saw in some measure what the new life really signified, they fell to the earth, speechless with awe and admiration."
By coming his
oneness
into this
with
complete realization of
the
Father, by mastering, absolutely mastering every circumstance that crossed his path through life, even to the death of the body, and by pointing out to us the great laws which are the same for us as they were for
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
him, he has given us an ideal of for us to attain to here
and now,
not have without him.
One has
all
life,
that
an
169 ideal
we could
conqicered first ;
completely realizing it first for himself, and then by pointing out to others this great law of the at-one-ment
may conquer
By
afterward.
with the Father, he has become probably the world's greatest saviour.
Don't mistake his mere person for his life his teachings, an error that has been made
and in
connection with most
all
great teachers by
And if you their disciples over and over again. have been among the number who have been preaching a dead Christ, then for humanity's sake, for Christ's sake, for God's sake, and I
speak most reverently, don't steal the people's time any longer, don't waste your own time more, in giving them stones in place of bread, In his dead form for the spirit of living truth.
own
words, "let the dead bury their dead." Come out from among them. Teach as did Jesus, the living Christ. Find the Christ within.
Teach as did
Jesus,
this in all its trans-
—
find it as Jesus cendent beauty and power, found it, then you also will be one who will
speak with authority. to lead large
This
is
numbers
Then you
will
be able
of others to its finding.
the pearl of great price.
1
70 Fullness of Peace, Power, and Plenty It is
the type of preacher whose soul has never
as yet even perceived the vital spirit oi the teachings of Jesus, and who as a consequence instead of giving this to the people,
forms and dogmas and
giving them old
is
who
speculations,
is
emptying our churches. This is the type whose chief efforts seem to be in getting men ready to die. The Germans have a saying, Never go to the will
second thing
teach us
invariably precedes that when we once
We
first.
how
first
men who
need
to live.
Living quite This also is true,
dying.
know how to live, and live in accordance with what we know, then the dying, as we term it, will in a wonderfully manner take care
beautiful fact
the only
care
of.
It
is
in
way
on account of
churches, for tiring of
the
of itself.
which this
it
It
in
be taken
can
Ci-nptying
reason that
is
our
of
the people are
mere husks, that many short-sighted
people are frequently heard to say that religion How can Religion dying out dying out.
is
.-*
anything
die before
it is
really born
?
far as the people are concerned, religion
And is
so
just
being born, or rather they are just awaking to a vital,
We
are just beginning every-day religion. the mere letter into its real, vital beyond
to get spirit.
Religion dying out
.''
Impossible even
Fullness of Peace, Power, to conceive
the
7
1
soul as
And
of God.
1
Religion is as much a part of the human soul is a part
of.
human
and Plenty
God and
as long as
human
the
soul exist, religion will never die. Much of the dogma, the form, the ceremony, the mere letter that has stood as religion, and
—
honestly, say,
—
many
this,
times,
thank God,
never so rapidly as it is
let
it
There
dying.
is
is
us be fair enough to rapidly dying out, and
today, By two methods a large class of peo-
is, first,
ple tired of or even nauseated with
conscientiously prefer to
than
this.
same
They
class in
There
spring
pushing the
And
off the old, the
newly awakened
is stirring,
all its
beauty and redeeming power. is
second, a large
is,
the Divine Breath
are finding the Christ within in
life
who
are simply abandoning it, the its leaves when the
comes.
whom
all,
abandons
as a tree
early winter
it
have nothing rather
matchless this
same as in
life
who
in
the
new the tree
pushes off the old, lifeless leaves that have clung on during the winter, to make place for the new ones.
And
the
being pushed
way
off
this old
dead
on every hand
leaf religion is
is
indeed most
interesting and inspiring to witness. Let the places of those who have been empty-
ing our churches by reason of their attempts to give stones for bread, husks and chaff for the
172
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
life-giving grain, let their places
for but a
be taken even
who
few times by those
are open and
and then
alive to these higher inspirations,
let
us again question those who feel that religion is "It is the live coal that kindles dying out.
Let their places be taken
others, not the dead."
by those who have caught the inspiration of the Divine Breath, who as a consequence have a message of mighty value and import for the people, who by able to present
virtue it
of
this
same
fact
are
with a beauty and a power it takes captive the soul.
so enrapturing that Then we will find
the
that
churches that
a few today are dotted here and there with dozen people will be filled to overflowing, and there will not be even room enough for all who
would pearl
may
We
appear."
tions as yet. spirit of those
time,
"Let the
enter.
We
when we
shell
perish that the
need no new revela-
need simply to find the
we
already have. are ready for them,
vital
Then in due new ones will
come, but not before.
"What
the
human
soul, all the world over, " is not to be har-
Pulsford,
needs," says John angued, however eloquently, about the old, accepted religion, but to be permeated, charmed,
and taken captive by a warmer' ajid more Breath of
God
than they ever felt before.
potejit
And
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Poiuer, I
1
73
should not be true to
if
did
I
Breath
ments
is
my personal experience not bear testimony that this Divine as exquisitely adapted to the require-
of the soul's nature as a
June morning to
Nor does the morning breath leave the planet. to delight themselves and develop freer the trees themselves under of
God
allows
influence than the Breath
its
human
each
according to its genius. tral
wheel of the soul
The whole man
is
mind
Nothing like the
to
stirs
unfold
the cen-
Breath of God.
quickened, his senses are
new emotions
senses, his emotions
;
new
his reason,
his affections, his imagination, are all new-born.
The change
greater than he knows; he marvels at the powers in himself which the Breath is is
opening and calling
He
forth.
to be an unutterable thing
;
he
finds his nature is
sure therefore
that the future
must have inconceivable
prises in store.
And
which
I
commend
to
herein
my
lies
sur-
the evidence,
readers, of the exist-
ence of God, and of the Eternal human Hope. Let God's Breath kindle new spring-time in the soul, start into life its
in heaven's
evidence of universe
deeply buried germs, lead
summer you will then have as clear God from within as you have of the ;
from without.
Indeed, your internal
experience of life, and illimitable Hope in God will be nearer to you, and more prevailing, than
1
Fullness of Peace, Power,
74
all
and Plenty
your external and superficial experience of
nature and the world."
There is but one source of power in the universe. Whatever then you are, painter, orator, musician, writer, religious teacher, or whatever may be, know that to catch and take captive
it
the secret of power is so to work in conjunction with the Infinite Power, in order that it may con-
work and manifest through you. doing this, you fail in everything.
tinually
If
fail in
If
you you
doing this, your work, whatever it may be, will be third or fourth rate, possibly at times second rate, but it positively never can be first
fail
in
rate. Absolutely impossible will ever to become a master.
it
be for you
Whatever estimate you put upon yourself will determine the effectiveness of your work along any
line.
As
long as you live merely in the
physical and the
intellectual,
to yourself that will hold live.
you
set limitations
you as long as you so
When, however, you come
into the real-
your oneness with the Infinite Life and Power, and open yourself that it may work through you, you will find that you have entered ization of
upon an
entirely
new phase
of
life,
and that an
ever increasing power will be yours.
Then
it
be true that your strength will be as the strength of ten because your heart is pure. will
Fullness of Peace, Poiuer, "
O God
!
I
am one
and Plenty
forever
With Thee by the glory of birth The celestial powers proclaim it
To "
I
the utmost
bounds of the
;
earth.
think of this birthright immortal,
And my being expands like arose, As an odorous cloud of incense Around and above me flows.
"A
glorious song of rejoicing
In an innermost spirit
And
I
hear,
sounds like heavenly voices. In a chorus divine and clear.
-'
it
And
I feel a power uprising, Like the power of an embryo god With a glorious wall it surrounds me. ;
And
lifts
me up from
^SS^^^-^t-:
the sod."
175
I
^6
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
PLENTY OF ALL THINGS — THE LAW OF PROSPERITY. This
is
the Spirit
of
Infinite
Power that has brought, that
Plenty,
the
is
continually bringing, all things into expression in material form. He who lives in the realization of his
oneness with this
Power becomes a
Infinite
magnet to attract to himself a continual supply of whatsoever things he desires. one hold himself
in the
thought of poverty, be poor, and the chances are that he will If he hold himself, whatremain in poverty. If
he
will
ever present conditions may be, continually in the thought of prosperity, he sets into operation forces that will sooner or later bring him into The law of attraction prosperous conditions.
works unceasingly throughout the universe, and the one great and never changing fact in connection with it is, as we have found, that like attracts like.
Power,
this
If
we
are one with this Infinite
source of
degree that we
live
in
all
things, then
in
the
the realization of this
oneness, in that degree do we actualize in ourselves a power that will bring to us an abun-
Fullness of Peace, Power,
dance of
all
things that
is
it
and Plenty 177
desirable for us to
In this way we come into possession of a have. power whereby we can actualize at all times those conditions that we desire. As all truth exists now, and awaits simply
our perception of it, so all things necessary for the present needs exist now, and await simply power in us to appropriate them. God holds all things
My
in
child,
His constant word
His hands.
acknowledge me
in all
is,
your ways, and
degree that you do this, in the degree that you live this, then what is mine is yours. in the
Jehovah-jireh,
— the
Lord
will
provide.
"He
men
liberally and upbraideth not." He giveth liberally to all men who put themselves in the right attitude to receive from Him.
giveth to all
He
forces no
good things upon any one. somewhat prevalent idea of godliness and poverty has absolutely no basis for its existence, and the sooner we get away from it It had its birth in the same way the better. that the idea of asceticism came into existence, when the idea prevailed that there was necessarily a warfare between the flesh and the spirit. It had its origin therefore in the minds of those
The
old and
who had
a distorted, a one-sided view of
True godliness wisdom.
is
in
life.
a sense the same as true
The one who
is
truly wise,
and who
178
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
uses the forces and powers with which he is endowed, to him the great universe always opens The supply is always equal her treasure house. to the
demand,
demand comes
is
— equal
to the
rightly, wisely
demand when the
made.
When
one
into the realization of these higher laws,
then the fear of want ceases to tyrannize over him.
Are you out
of a situation
.-*
Let the fear
not get another take hold of and dominate you, and the chances are that it may that
you
will
be a long time before you will get another, or the one that you do get may be a very poor one
Whatever the circumstances, you must you have within you forces and that powers you can set into operation that will triumph over any and all apparent or temporary losses. Set these forces into operation and you will then be placing a magnet that will draw to
indeed. realize
that
you a situation that may be far better than the one you have lost, and the time may soon come when you will be even thankful that you lost the old one.
Recognize, working in and through you, the
same
Infinite
Power that
creates and governs all
things in the universe, the same Infinite Power that governs the endless systems of worlds in space.
Send out your thought,
— thought
is
a
Fullness of Peace, Power, force,
and
portions
— send
it
and Plenty
1
79
has occult power of unknown prorightly used and wisely directed,
when
out your thought that the right situawork will come to you at the
tion or the right
right time, in the right way,
recognize
it
when
it
thought, never allow
and that you
comes. it
Hold
to
will
this
to weaken, hold to
it,
with firm expectation. You in this way put your advertisement into a psychical, a spiritual newspaper, a paper that
and continually water
it
has not a limited circulation, but one that will make its way not only to the utmost bounds of the earth, but of the very universe
itself.
It is
an advertisement, moreover, which if rightly placed on your part, will be far more effective than any advertisement you could possibly put into any printed sheet, no matter what claims are
made
in regard to its
vertising medium."
come
In
into this realization
being "the great adthe degree that you
and
live in
harmony
with the higher laws and forces, in that degree will you be able to do this effectively. "
" want you wish to look through the columns of the newspapers, then do it not in Put the higher forces into the ordinary way. If
operation and thus place it on a higher basis. As you take up the paper, take this attitude of
mind
:
If
there
is
here an advertisement that
i8o it
Fullness of Peace, Power,
be well for
will
come
to
it I
lieve
it,
expect
me
moment
to reply to, the
will recognize If
it.
and Plenty
Affirm
it.
you do
I
this, be-
this in full faith
you will somehow feel the intuition the moment you come to the right one, and this intuition will be nothing more nor less than your own soul speaking to you. at once.
you get the
If
to
When
situation
speaks then act
it
and
it
be exactly what you want,
does not prove
if
feel
you
that
you are capable of filling a better one, then the moment you enter upon it take the attitude of
mind
that this situation
that will lead
Hold
this
you
to
is
the stepping-stone
one that
will
thought steadily, affirm
and
be it,
still
better.
believe
it,
the time be faithful, absolutely in which you are at to the situation faitJiful
expect
it,
all
If you are 7iot faithful to it present placed. then the chances are that it will not be the
stepping-stone to something better, but to someIf you are faithful to it, the time thing poorer.
may soon come when you thankful,
when you
will
will
be glad and
rejoice, that
you
lost
your old position. This is the law of prosperity: When apparent adversity comes, be not cast down by it, but make the best of it, and always look forward for better thin^rs. for conditions
more prosperous.
and Plenty
1
hold yourself in this attitude of mind
is
Fullness of Peace, Power,
To
set into operation subtle, silent,
forces
that
and
sooner or later will
8
1
to
irresistible
actualize
in
form that which is today merely an But ideas have occult power, and ideas, when rightly planted and rightly tended, are the material
idea.
seeds that actualize material conditions.
Never give a moment to complaint, but utilize the time that would otherwise be spent in this
way
looking forward and actualizing the con-
in
you desire. Suggest prosperity to yourself. See yourself in a prosperous condition. Affirm that you will before long be in a prosAffirm it calmly and quietly, perous condition. but strongly and confidently. Believe it, be-
ditions
lieve
it
absolutely.
Expect
it,
— keep
tinually watered
with expectation.
make
magnet
that
yourself a
you
desire.
to attract
it
You
con-
thus
the things
Don't be afraid to suggest,
these things, for by so doing you put forth an ideal which will begin to clothe itself in material form. In this way you are
to affirm
agents among the most subtle and If you are parpowerful in the universe. utilizing
ticularly desirous for
anything that you feel it and for good right you to have, something that will broaden your life or that will increase is
your
usefulness
to
others,
simply hold
the
1
82
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
thought that at the right time, way, and
through
there will
come
for
you I
the
right
in
the right
instrumentality,
you or there will open up you the way whereby you can attain what to
desire,
know
of a
young lady who a
short time ago
wanted some money very badly. She wanted it for a good purpose she saw no reason why she shouldn't have it. She is one who has come into an understanding of the power of the in;
She took and held herself in the mind we have just pointed out. In
terior forces.
attitude of
the morning she entered into the silence for a few moments. In this way she brought herself into a
more complete harmony with the higher Before the day closed a gentleman of a family with which she
powers.
member
called, a
was acquainted. He asked her if she would do for the family some work that they wanted done. She was a little surprised that they should ask her to do this particular kind of work, but she I will respond said to herself, " Here is a call. will lead to." She undertook and see what it the work.
completed
amount
of
expected. large for
SJie
did
it
zvell.
When
she had
there was put into her hands an money far beyond what she had
it
She felt that it was an amount too the work she had done. She protested.
Fullness of Peace, Power,
They
"No; you have done
replied,
vice that transcends offer to
pay you."
more than
and Plenty
in
1
us a ser-
value the amount
The sum thus
sufficient for the
83
w'fe
received was
work she wished
to
accomplish.
This
is
but one of
many
instances in con-
nection with the wise and effective use of the It also carries
higher powers. fold
a lesson,
— Don't
your hands and expect to see things drop
into your lap, but set into operation the higher forces and then take hold of the first thing that
Do what
offers itself.
and do
it well.
If this
your hands find to do,
work
is
not thoroughly
satisfactory to you, then affirm, believe,
pect that
it
something the best of
and
ex-
the agency that will lead you to " The basis for better. is
attracting
the world can give to you is to first surround, own, and live in these things in All mind, or what is falsely called imagination. all
so-called imaginings are realities
and forces of
unseen element. Live in mind in a palace and gradually palatial surroundings will gravitate to But so living is not pining, or longing, or you. It is when you are complainingly wishing. 'down in the world,' calmly and persistently It is when you are now seeing yourself as up.
compelled to eat from a tin
plate,
regarding
that tin plate as only the certain step to one of
1
Fullness of Peace, Power,
84
silver.
people is
just
It is
and Plenty
not envying and growling at other
who have so much
bank account
That growling from the stock taken capital silver plate.
of mental force."
A friend forces,
who knows the power of the interior and whose life is guided in every detail
by them, has given a suggestion in this form: When you are in the arms of the bear, even though he is hugging you, look him in the face and laugh, but all the time keep your eye on the bull. If you allow all of your attention to be to the work of the bear, the bull may get given In other words, entirely out of your sight. to the are that chances adversity you yield will
master you, but
if
you recognize
if it
in yourself
the power mastery over conditions then adversity will yield to you, and will be changed of
If when it comes you calmly into prosperity. and quietly recognize it, and use the time that might otherwise be spent in regrets, and fears, and forebodings, in setting into operation the
powerful forces within you,
it
will
soon take
its leave.
Faith, absolute dogmatic faith, is the only law of true success. When we recognize the fact that a
man
carries his success or his failure
with him, and that outside conditions,
it
we
does not depend upon come into the pos-
will
Fullness of Peace, Power, atid Plenty
1
85
session of powers that will quickly change outside conditions into agencies that make for success.
When we come
realization
and bring our
into
lives
this
higher
into
complete harmony with the higher laws, we will then be able so to focus and direct the awakened interior forces, that they will
go out and return
We
laden with that for which they are sent. will then be great enough to attract success,
and
it
be apparently just can then establish
not always
will
ways ahead. ourselves a centre
little
We so
a in
strong that instead of
we home and draw to us the conditions If we firmly establish and hold to
running hither and thither for this or that, can stay at
we
desire.
this centre, things will
seem continually
to
come
our way.
The
majority of people of the modern world
are looking for things that are practical and that can be utilized in every-day life. The
more
we examine great truths we
carefully
lying the
more we
will
find that
into the laws under-
are considering, the they are not only emi-
in a sense, and in the and truest sense, they are the only deepest
nently practical, but
practical things there are.
There are people who continually pride them" " but upon being exceedingly practical
selves
;
1
86
Fullness of Peace, Power,
times
many
those
who
of
and Plenty
themselves think
nothing about this are the most practical people world knows. And, on the other hand,
the
those
own
who
take great pride in speaking of their practicality are many times the least prac-
tical.
Or
again,
some ways they may be
in
practical, but so far as life in its totality
is
con-
cerned, they are absurdly impractical. What profit, for example, can there be for the
man who,
materially speaking, though he has
gained the whole world, has never yet become acquainted with his own soul ? There are multi-
men
tudes of
all
about us
who
are entirely miss-
ing the real life, men who have not learned even the a, b, c of true living. Slaves they are, slaves to their abject temporary material accu-
Men who thinking they possess their wealth are on the contrary completely possessed
mulations.
it. Men whose lives are comparatively barren in service to those about them and to the
by
Men who when they can no large. hold the the agency by means of longer body, which they are related to the material world, will go out poor indeed, pitiably poor. Unable
world at
to
take
—
—
even the smallest particle
of
their
accumulations with them, they will enter upon the other form of life naked and destitute.
The
kindly deeds,
the
developed
traits
of
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
187
character, the realized powers of the soul, the real riches of the inner life and unfoldment, all
those things that become our real and eternal possessions, have been given no place in their and so of the real things of life they are
lives,
Nay, many times worse than destimust not suppose that habits once formed are any more easily broken off in the destitute.
We
tute.
other form of
life than they are in this. If one voluntarily grows a certain mania here, we must not suppose that the mere dropping of
the body makes all conditions perfect. All is As we sow, so shall law, all is cause and effect. we also reap, not only in this life but in all lives.
He who
is
enslaved with the sole desire for
material possessions here will continue to be enslaved even after he can no longer retain his Then, moreover, he will have not even body.
the
means
of
gratifying
his
desires.
Domi-
nated by this habit, he will be unable to set his time at least, upon other things,
affections, for a
and the
desire,
without the means of gratifying
be doubly torturing to him. Perchance this torture may be increased by his seeing the it
will
accumulations he thought were his scattered and wasted by spendthrifts. his property, as
we
have no word as to
now being
say, to others, but its use.
He
wills
he can
1
88
How
v_.
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
foolish, then, for us to think that
material possessions are ours. example, for one to fence off a of God's earth is
ours that
come
his.
of acres
Nothing
The
things that not for the purpose
retain.
hands come
any
absurd, for
number
and say they are
we cannot
into our
How
for the being possessed, as we say, much less our into come purpose of being hoarded. They of
hands to be used, to be wisely used. stewards merely, and as stewards we held accountable for the /s
entrusted to us.
are
be
way we use whatever
That great law
sation that runs through
We
shall
of
compen-
life is
wonderfully exact in its workings, although we may not it always fully comprehend it, or even recognize all
when it operates in connection with ourselves. The one who has come into the realization of the higher life no longer has a desire for the accumulation of enormous wealth, any more than he has a desire for any other excess. In the deof the gree that he comes into the recognition fact that he is wealthy within, external wealth
becomes less important in his estimation. When he comes into the realization of the fact that there is a source within from which he can put forth a in his hands power to call to him and actualize his needs, for all sufficient at any time a supply material vast with he no longer burdens himself
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
1
89
accumulations that require his constant care and attention, and thus take his time and his thought
from the first
real things of
finds the kingdom,
when he has found in full
In other words, he
life.
and he
this, all
realizes that
other things follow
measure.
It is as
kingdom
hard for a rich
man
to enter into the
of heaven, said the Master,
— everything,
— he who
as it is for a having nothing had In camel to pass through the eye of a needle. other words, if a man give all his time to the
accumulation, the hoarding of outward material possessions far beyond what he can possibly ever use, what time has he for the finding else with
kingdom, which when found, it. Which is better, to have
millions of dollars,
and to have the burden of
of that wonderful
brings
all
taking care of it volves the other,
all,
—
— or
for the
to
come
one always
in-
into the knowl-
edge of such laws and forces that every need will be supplied in good time, to know that no good thing shall be withheld, to know that we have it in our power to make the supply always equal to the demand .-•
The one who
enters into the realm of this
higher knowledge, never cares to bring upon himself the species of insanity that has such a firm hold upon so
many
in
the world today.
1
Fullness of Peace, Power,
90
He
avoids
it
as he
and Plenty
would avoid any loathsome
When we come
disease of the body.
realization of the higher powers,
we
into the
will
then be
able to give more attention to the real life, instead of giving so much to the piling up of
hamper rather than help medium ground that brings the
vast possessions that It
It.
is
the
true solution here, the of
same
as
it is
in all
phases
life.
Wealth beyond a certain amount cannot be and when it cannot be used it then becomes a hindrance rather than an aid, a curse
used,
rather than a blessing.
All about us are perstunted and dwarfed who
now make them rich and
sons with lives could
beautiful, filled with
a perennial joy, if they would begin wisely to use that which they have spent the greater portion of their lives in accumulating.
The man who accumulates during his entire life, and who leaves even all when he goes out for " benevolent purposes,"
the a
It
life.
is
far short of
but a poor
excuse
of
commendable
not
in especially to give a pair of old, worn-out shoes that
life.
me I
ideal
comes
shall
It
is
never use again to another
need of shoes.
But
doing anything
we ought
of as being
it is
who
is
in
commendable, if indeed to do can be spoken
commendable,
it is
commendable
for
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
1
91
me to give a good pair of strong shoes to the man who in the midst of a severe winter is practically shoeless, the man who is exerting every an honest living and thereby take
effort to earn
And if in giving the care of his family's needs. shoes I also give myself, he then has a double and
a double blessing. There is no wiser use that those
gift,
I
wisely to put by day will
them
who have
can make of them than
accumulations
great
into
life,
ivhile they live.
into character, day
In this
way
their lives
be continually enriched and increased. The will come when it will be regarded as a
time
disgrace for a
man
to die
and leave vast accu-
mulations behind him. living in a palace today poorer than many a one man has not even a roof to cover him.
who who
own and
him
Many
a person
is
in the real life is
A
a palace, but the palace for
live in
be a poorhouse
may Moth and
still.
may
—
rust are nature's wise provisions for disintegrating and scatterGod's methods
ing,
in this
—
way getting ready
forms, that which
serving no use.
for use in
new
hoarded and consequently There is also a great law conis
whose effects are to dwarf and deaden the powers of true enjoyment, as well as all the higher faculties of the one who hoards.
tinually operating
1
92
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
Multitudes of people are continually keeping
away from them higher and
better things because they are forever clinging on to the old. If they would use and pass on the old, room
would
made
be
for
new
Hoarding always brings another.
things
loss
in
to
come.
one form or
Using, wisely using, brings an ever
renewing gain. the tree should as ignorantly and as greedhold on to this year's leaves when they have
If ily
served their purpose, where would be the
and beautiful new
life
full
that will be put forth in
Gradual decay and finally death the spring would be the result. If the tree is already dead, .-*
it may perhaps be well enough for it to to the old, for no new leaves will come. on cling But as long as the life in the tree is active, it
then
is
necessary that
it
rid itself of
the old ones, that
room may be made for the new. Opulence is the law of the abundant supply for every need
universe, if
The
nothing
an is
natural and
put in the way of its coming. the normal life for us is this,
— To have such a
and power by
living so continu-
ally in the realization of our Infinite Life and Power that
oneness with the
fullness of life
we
find ourselves
constant possession of an abundant supall things needed. of ply in the
Fiilbicss of
Peace Power, and Plenty y
193
Then not by hoarding but by wisely using and ridding ourselves of things as they come, an ever renewing supply
be ours, a supply far better adapted to present needs than the old could possibly be.
come the
will
In this
way we not only
into possession of the richest treasures of
Infinite
Good
ourselves,
but
we
also be-
come open channels through which they can flow to others.
1
94
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
HOW MEN HAVE BECOME SEERS, SAGES, I
have
PROPHETS,
AND SAVIOURS.
tried thus far to deal fairly with
you
presenting these vital truths, and have spoken of everything on the basis of our own reason
in
and
insight.
It
has been
my
aim to base noth-
ing on the teachings of others, though they may be the teachings of those inspired. Let us now look for a moment at these same great truths in the light of the thoughts and the
teachings as put forth by some of the world's great thinkers and inspired teachers.
The sum and substance
of the
thought presented in these pages is, you will remember, that the great central fact in human life is the
coming
into a conscious, vital realization of our
oneness with the Infinite Life, and the opening of ourselves fully to this divine inflow.
the Father are one, said
we
see
how he
Father's
life.
I
and
In this
the Master.
recognized his oneness with the
Again he
said,
The words
that I
speak unto you I speak not of myself but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the In this we see how clearly he recogworks. :
Fullness of Peace,
Power and Plenty ,
19^
nized the fact that he of himself could do noth-
he worked
ing, only as
Father.
Again,
In other words,
open myself with
to
My
in
conjunction with the I work.
Father works and
Father sends the power, I and work in conjunction
my it,
it.
Again he said, Seek ye first the kingdom God and His righteousness, and all these And he left things shall be added unto you. of
us not in the dark as to exactly what he meant by this, for again he said. Say not Lo here nor lo
there,
heaven
is
know ye
not
within you
that
the
kingdom
of
to his teach-
According kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven were one and the same. If, then, his .^
ing, the
teaching
is
that the
kingdom
of
heaven
is
within
do we not clearly see
that, putting it in other words, his injunction is nothing more nor less than, Come ye into a conscious realization us,
of
your oneness with the Father's life. As you oneness you find the kingdom, and
realize this
when you find this, all things else shall follow. The story of the prodigal son is another beauthis same great teaching of After the prodigal had spent everything, after he had wandered in all the realms of the physical senses in the pursuit of tiful
illustration of
the
Master.
happiness and pleasure, and found that this did
1
Fullness of Peace, Power, and Plenty
96
not satisfy but only brought him to the level of the animal creation, he then came to his senses
and
said, I will arise
other words, after
and go to
all
Father.
In
these wanderings, his
own
my
soul at length spoke to him and said. You are not a mere animal. You are your Father's child. Arise and go to your Father, who holds in His hands. Again, the Master no man your Father upon the earth for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Here he recognized the fact that the real life is all
things
said. Call
:
from the
direct
Our
God.
life of
and
fathers
our mothers are the agents that give us the bodies, the houses in which we live, but the real life
comes from the
God, who
is
Infinite
One day word was brought that his
mother and
ever shall do the will of heaven, the same and mother.
Many for
are not
my
Whoso-
said he.
}
Father which
my
brother, and
my
is
to
relationship.
remember
that
necessarily those ties of blood.
with us bv
It
in
sister,
people are greatly enslaved by what
ties of
us
is
Master were without, Who is my mother to the
his brethren
wishing to speak with him. and who are my brethren
term
Source of Life,
our Father.
we
is
well,
however,
our
true
relatives
who Our
are
connected
truest
relatives
Fullness of Peaces Power, are those in
who
soul, in
and Plenty
1
97
are nearest akin to us in mind,
spirit.
Our
nearest relatives
may
be those living on the opposite side of the globe, people v^hom we may never have seen
—
as yet, but to whom we will yet be drawn, either in this form of life or in another, through that
ever working and never failing law of attraction. When the Master gave the injunction, Call
no man your father upon the earth for one is your Father, which is in heaven, he here gave :
us the basis for that grand conception of the And if God is equally the
fatherhood of God.
Father of
all,
then we have here the basis for
the brotherhood of man. sense, a conception
still
But there
higher than
this,
in
is,
a
namely,
man and God, and hence the oneness of the whole human race. When we realize this fact, then we clearly see how in the degree that we come into the realization the oneness of
and
of our oneness with the Infinite Life,
every step that lifting all
enable
we make Godward, we
mankind up
them,
in
turn,
to this realization, to
make
so,
aid in
a step
and
God-
ward.
The Master
again pointed out our true rela-
tions with the Infinite Life
when he
ye become as little children ye into the kingdom of heaven.
said,
Except
shall not enter
When
he
said,
Fullness of Peace, Power,
198
and Plenty
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, he gave utterance to a truth of far greater import than
we have
Here
grasp.
as yet commenced fully to he taught that even the physical
can not be maintained by material food alone, but that one's connection with this Infinite life
Source determines to a very great extent the condition of even the bodily structure and activities. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see
who
God.
In other words, blessed are they
in all the universe recognize only
by such God shall be seen. Said the great Hindu sage, Manu, in his
own
soul perceives the
God, for
He who
Supreme Soul
in
beings, and acquires equanimity toward them It was Athanasius all, attains the highest bliss. all
who
said.
Even we may become Gods walking The same great truth we flesh.
about in the
are considering
is
the one that runs through the
and the teachings of Gautama, he who became the Buddha. People are in bondage, said
life
he,
of
because they have not yet removed the idea To do away with all sense of separateness,
/.
and to recognize the oneness of the Infinite, is the spirit
his teachings.
self
with the
that breathes through
all
through the lives of
all
Running
the mediaeval mystics was this same great truth,
— union with God.
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
Then, coming nearer to our own time, we
1
99
find
the highly illumined seer, Emanuel Swedenborg, with pointing out the great laws in connection
what he termed, the divine influx, and how we may open ourselves more fully to its operations. The great central fact in the religion and worship of the Friends
soul of
man
is,
the inner light,
— God
in the
speaking directly in just the degree
that the soul
is
opened to Him.
The
inspired
one, the seer who when with us lived at Concord, recognized the same great truth when he said.
We it
are
And to the great sea of life. opening himself so fully to its inflow
all inlets
was by became one
that he
inspired.
All through the world's history we find that the men and the women who have entered into
the realm of true vv^isdom and power, and hence into the realm of true peace and joy, have lived
Higher Power. David was strong and powerful and his soul burst forth in praise and adoration in just the degree that he listened to the voice of God and lived in accordWhenever he ance with his higher promptings. in
harmony with
failed to in
do
this
this
we
hear his soul
anguish and lamentation.
of every nation or people.
crying
The same
When
is
out true
the Israelites
acknowledged God and followed according to His leadings they were prosperous, contented.
200
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
and powerful, and nothing could prevail against them. When they depended upon their own strength alone and failed to recognize God as the source of their strength,
we
find
them overcome,
in bondage, or despair.
A
great immutable law underlies the truth, Blessed are they that hear the word of God and do it. Then follows all. are wise in the
We
degree
that
we
live
according to the higher
light.
All the prophets, seers, sages, and saviours in the world's history became what they became,
and consequently had the powers they had, through an entirely natural process. They all recognized and came into the conscious realization of their oneness
God
is
no respecter
with of
the
Infinite
persons.
He
Life.
doesn't
create prophets, seers, sages, and saviours as He creates men. But here and there such.
one recognizes his true identity, recognizes the oneness of his life with the Source whence it came.
He lives in the realization of
this oneness,
turn becomes a prophet, seer, sage, or Neither is God a respecter of races or saviour.
and
in
He has no chosen people; but here of nations. and there a race or nation becomes a respecter of God and hence lives the life of a chosen people.
Fullness of Peace, Pozver,
and
There has been no age or place from any other age or
of miracles in
distinction
we term for them.
What
place.
miracles have abounded in
at all times
201
Pleiity
all
places and
where conditions have been made
They
are being performed today just
much
as they ever have been when the laws governing them are respected. Mighty men, we
as
are told they were, mighty men who walked with God and in the words " who walked with God " lies the secret of the words " ;
mighty
men."
Cause, effect.
The Lord never prospers any man, but man prospers because he acknowledges
the the
Lord, and lives in accordance with the higher laws. Solomon was given the opportunity of choosing whatever he desired; his better judg-
ment
prevailed
and he chose
when he chose wisdom he found all
else beside.
Pharaoh's heart.
We I
wisdom. that
are told that don't believe
it
But
included
God hardened it. God never
Pharaoh hardened his hardens any one's heart. own heart and God was blamed for it. But
when Pharaoh hardened
his heart
and disobeyed
God, the plagues came. Again, Had he, on the contrary, listened, other words, had he opened himself to and
the voice of
cause, effect.
—
in
obeyed the voice of God, the plagues would not have come.
202
Fidbiess of Peace, Power,
We can our
and Plenty
be our own best friends or we can be
own worst
In the degree that
enemies.
we
become friends to the highest and best within us, we become friends to all; and in the degree that we become enemies to the highest and best In the within us, do we become enemies to all. degree that
powers and
we open let
ourselves
to
the higher
them manifest through
us,
then
by the very inspirations we carry with us do we become in a sense the saviours of our fellow-men, and
in this
way we
all
are, or
saviours one of another.
may become,
In this way you
the
may
become, indeed, one of the world's redeemers.
Fullness of Peace Power, y
and Plenty 203
THE BASIC PRINCIPLE OF ALL LIGIONS — THE UNIVERSAL
RE-
RELIGION. The
great truth
we
are considering
damental principle running through
We
find
agree. to
it
It
which
is
the fun-
all religions.
In regard to it all every one. moreover, a great truth in regard people can agree, whether they
in is,
all
belong to the same or to different religions. People always quarrel about the trifles, about their personal views of
minor insignificant points.
They always come together
in the presence of the fundamental threads of which truths, great run through all. The quarrels are in connection
with the lower
the agreements are in con-
self,
nection with the higher
A fight
have
its
may among themselves,
place
come upon the and these
little
land,
self.
factions that quarrel
but
flood,
let
and
a great calamity
famine, pestilence,
personal differences are entirely all work ihouider to shoulder
forgotten and in the one great
cause.
The
changing, the evolving self eives rise to quarrels the permanent, the 5601 seir unites all in the highest efforts ;
of io/e
and
service.
Fullness of Peace, Power,
204
Patriotism
me If
my country, but country more than
my own and
love
I
my
a beautiful thing
is
to love
my own
limitations,
why I
is
it
;
well for
should
love
hate others,
all
I
I
love
others
?
then show
and
even for
test not
and Plenty
my patriotism will stand the my own. If I love my own
country and in the same way love all other countries, then I show the largeness of my nature,
and a patriotism
of this kind
is
noble and
always to be relied upon. The view of God in regard to which
we
are
agreed, that He is the Infinite Spirit of Life and Power that is back of all, that is working in and
through
With
that
all,
regard to
which
the
life
men,
all
of
all, is
There are atheists and
nection with
many views
a matter in
religions can agree.
view there can be no
this
atheists.
is
all
infidels
or
infidels in con-
that are held concern-
ing God, and thank God there
Even devout
are.
and earnest people among us attribute things to God that no respectable men or women would This permit to be attributed to themselves. view
is
satisfying to those who cannot see how his children, jealous, vin-
God can be angry with
A
display of these qualities always lessens our respect for men and women, and still we attribute them to God. dictive.
The
earnest,
sincere
heretic
is
one
of
the
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty 205
Heretics greatest friends true religion can have. are among God's greatest servants. They are among the true servants of mankind. Christ
was one
of the greatest heretics the world has
ever known.
He
allowed himself to be bound
by no established or orthodox teachings or beliefs. Christ is preeminently a type of the universal. John the Baptist is a type of the John dressed in a particular way, ate personal. a particular kind of food, belonged to a particular
lived
order,
and
taught
in
a
particular
and he himself recognized the fact that he must decrease while Christ must increase. locality,
Christ, on the other hand,
no
limitations.
by nothing.
gave himself absolutely
He allowed himself to be bound He was absolutely universal and as
a consequence taught not for his day, but for all time.
own
particular
This mighty truth which we have agreed upon as the great central fact of human life is the golden thread that runs through all religions.
When we make lives
we
it
the paramount fact in our
will find that
prejudices, will so fall
cance, that
and
all
minor differences, narrow
these laughable absurdities
away by virtue of their very insignifia Jew can worship equally as well in a
Catholic cathedral, a Catholic in a Jewish synagogue, a Buddhist in a Christian church, a
2o6
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Power,
Christian in a Buddhist temple. Or all can worship equally well about their own hearth-stones,
on the
or out
or while pursuing the
hillside,
avocations of every-day life. For true worship, God and the human soul are necessary. only It
does not depend upon times, or seasons, or Anywhere and at any time God and
occasions.
man
in the
This
is
universal
This are
is
bush may meet.
the great fundamental principle of the religion
upon which
the great fact that things in
many
is
all
can agree.
permanent.
There
which
cannot
regard to
all
These are the things that are personal, non-essential, and so as time passes they grad-
agree.
ually fall away.
One who
doesn't grasp
this
"But was not Christ inspired " Yes, but he was not the only one inspired. Another who is a Buddhist asks, "Was not Buddha inspired .'"' Yes, but he was not the only one inspired. A Christian asks, " But is not our Christian Bible
great truth, a Christian, for example, asks .''
"
inspired
.''
scriptures.
Yes, but there are other inspired Brahmin or a Buddhist asks,
A
"Are not the Vedas
inspired.''"
Yes, but there
are other inspired sacred books. Your error is not in believing that your particular scriptures
—
are inspired, but your error is and you your absurdly laughable limitations by it
show
— your
Fullness of Peace, Pozver, inability to see that other
and Plenty 207
scriptures are
also
inspired.
The sacred books, the come from the same
inspired writings, source,
— God,
all
God
speaking through the souls of those who open themselves that He may thus speak. Some
may be more
It depends inspired than others. on the relative that this one or degree entirely that one opens himself to the Divine voice.
Says one
of the inspired writers in the
scriptures.
Wisdom
is
Hebrew
the breath of the power of
God, and in all ages entering into holy souls she maketh them friends of God and prophets.
Let us not be among the number so dwarfed, so limited, so bigoted as to think that the Infinite God has revealed Himself to one little
handful of His children, in one little quarter of the globe, and at one particular period of time. This isn't the pattern by which God works.
Of
a truth
I
perceive that
God
of persons, but in every nation
is
no respecter
he that revereth
God and worketh
righteousness is accepted of Him, says the Christian Bible. When we fully realize this truth we will then see that
it
makes but
little
difference
what
par-
form of religion one holds to, but it does make a tremendous difference how true he is to ticular
the vital principles of this one.
In the degree
2o8
Fulbiess of Peace, Power,
we
that
and Plenty
love self less and love truth more, in
that degree will we care less about converting people to our particular way of thinking, but all
we
the more will the
care to aid
them
in
coming
into
truth through the channels best adapted to them. The doctrine of our the master, says Chinese, consisted solely in full realization of
We
will find as we search integrity of heart. that this is the doctrine of every one who is
worthy the name of master. The great fundamental principles of all religions
at all
are the same.
They
minor
differ only in their
details according to the various degrees of unfold-
ment
of
asked,
What one
I
people.
am sometimes
religion do you belong.?"
— theWhy,
religion
religion,
There
same
different
"To what }
bless you, there
is
only
religion of the living God.
are, of course,
the various creeds of the
religion arising
from the various interpre-
tations of different people, but they are
minor importance.
The more unfolded
all
of
the soul
the less important do these minor differences become. There are also, of course, the various so-called religions.
There
is
in reality,
however,
but one religion.
The moment we
lose sight of this great fact
we
depart from the real, vital spirit of true religion and allow ourselves to be limited and bound by
Fullness of Peace, Power,
we do
In the degree that
form.
and Plenty 209
we
this
build
fences around ourselves which keep others away from us, and which also prevent our coming
the
into
realization of
universal truth
name
nothing worthy the
is
there
;
of truth that
is
not
universal.
There is only one religion. "Whatever road take joins the highway that leads to Thee," says the inspired writer in the Persian scriptures. I
"
Broad
tiful
is
God has
the carpet
the colors he has given
spread, and beau" The it."
pure
man
respects every form of faith," says the " Buddhist. doctrine makes no difference
My
between high and low, rich and poor like the sky, it has room for all, and like the water, it washes ;
all
"The
alike."
in different
broad minded see the truth
religions
;
the narrow
minded see
The
only the differences," says the Chinese.
Hindu has this
man
said,
"The narrow minded
a stranger, or
to those in
whom
is
ask,
he of our tribe
' .''
'Is
But
love dwells, the whole world
but one family." "Altar flowers are of many " Heaven is but all species, worship is one."
is
many doors, and each may enter in own way." " Are we not all children of one " " God has made Father says the Christian.
a palace with his
.''
of one blood of the earth."
all
nations, to dwell It
was a
on the face
latter-day
seer
who
21o
said,
of
Fulhiess of Peace, Power,
"That which was
man
the
that which
and Plenty
profitable to the soul
Father revealed to the ancients is
profitable
today revealeth
He
to
the soul
of
;
man
this day."
was Tennyson who said, " I dreamed that stone by stone I reared a sacred fane, a temple, It
neither pagoda, mosque, nor church, but
loftier,
every breath always open-doored from heaven, and Truth and Peace and Love and Justice came and dwelt therein." to
simpler,
Religion in its true sense is the most joyous thing the human soul can know, and when the real religion
is
realized,
we
will find that
it
will
be an agent of peace, of joy, and of happiness, and never an agent of gloomy, long-faced sadness.
It will
then be attractive to
pulsive to none.
great truths, let
all
and
re-
Let our churches grasp these their time and atten-
them give
tion to bringing people into a
knowledge
of their
true selves, into a knowledge of their relations, of their oneness, with the Infinite God, and
such joy
will
be the
result,
and such crowds
will
flock to them, that their very walls will seem almost to burst, and such songs of joy will con-
tinually pour forth as will love with the religion that life,
vital.
and hence the
Adequacy
for
make makes
religion life,
that
all
people in
for every-day is
adequacy
true and for every-
Fulhicss of PeacL\ Power,
and Plenty
2
1 1
here and now, must be the test of all If it does not bear this test, then true religion.
day
life
We
need an everyis not religion. All time spent in a this-world religion. day, connection with any other is worse than wasted. it
simply
The
eternal
well lived
if
life
we
fail in
we
are
we take good
period of time as If
that
it
doing
presents this,
we
now
living will
care of each itself
fail in
>\V"
day
be
little
after day.
everything.
212
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
ENTERING NOW INTO THE REALIZATION OF THE HIGHEST RICHES. I
hear the question,
concrete
way
into this realization
can we actualize it
The
of
coming
facts underlying true,
but
it
how
in ourselves the realization that
such wonderful results
The method ourselves make to be used
?
can be said in a
method
most beautiful and
are, indeed,
carries with
What
regard to the
in
not difficult
is it
difficult.
—
if
The
?
we do
not of
principal
word
the word, Open. Simply to open mind and heart to this divine inflow which your is waiting for the opening of the gate, that only is
it may enter. It is like opening the gate of the trough which conducts the water from the reservoir above into the field below. The water, bv
virtue of
its
very nature, will rush in and irriif the As to gate is but opened.
gate the field the realization of our oneness with this Infinite Life and Power, after seeing, as I think clearly seen by this time, the relations to us
and we to
simply,
it,
— Realize
we have it
bears
the chief thing to be said
your oneness with
it.
is
The
Ftdlness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty
open mind and heart whereby one the receptive
into
Then
necessary.
may be an
It
a few
attitude
aid at first
where you
the
is
will
1
3
brought
first
the earnest, sincere
moments each day
silence,
is
2
thing desire.
to take yourself for
into the quiet, into the
not be agitated by the
disturbances that enter in through the avenues of the physical senses. There in the quiet alone with God, put yourself into the receptive
Calmly, quietly, and expectantly debreak in upon and take
attitude. sire that
this realization
As it breaks in upon possession of your soul. and takes possession of the soul, it will manifest itself
your mind, and from this you
to
will feel
manifestations in every part of your body. Then in the degree that you open yourself to it its
you will feel a quiet, peaceful, illuminating power that will harmonize body, soul, and mind, and that will then harmonize these with all the
You
world.
yo2i
Live
descend, in
it,
are
God
the voice of
now on is
carry
the mountain top, and
speaking to you. this
realization
Then, as
with
yon.
waking, working, thinking, walking,
In this way, although you may not be continually on the mountain top, you will nevertheless be continually living in the realizasleeping.
tion of all the beauty,
you have
felt there.
and
inspiration,
and power
Fullness of Peace, Power,
214
and Plenty
Moreover, the time will come when in the busy office or on the noisy street you can enter into the silence
by simply drawing the mantle your own thoughts about you and realizing
of
that there and every\vhere the Spirit of Infinite
Wisdom, Peace, Power, and Plenty
Life, Love, is
guiding, keeping, protecting, leading you. is the spirit of continual This it prayer. to pray without ceasing. This it is to know
This is
and to walk with God. TJiis Christ withiji. This is the new that which
First
birth.
which
is spiritual.
Adam
is
put This it
on.
off is
It is
life
is
it
birth, the second natural, then that
is
eternal "
will
unto
life
is
put
eternal,
belief or faith
to
know God.
maybe; "The
be a song of the past.
new song
will create a
man
thus that the old
to be saved
Sweet By and By
We
find the
to
and the new man Christ
whatever one's form of for
it is
—
"
The
Beautiful
Eternal Now."
This
come
the realization that you and
is
into
this very day,
very minute, if
if
we
desire
now we merely
direction,
we come
it
is
set
this
and
if
I
can
very hour,
this
we
will
it.
And
our faces in the right
then but a matter of time until
into the full splendors of this complete To set one's face in the direction
realization.
of the
mountain and then simply to journey
on,
and Plenty
Fullness of Peace, Pozver,
2
1
5
whether rapidly or more slowly, will bring him to it. But unless one set his face in the right direction and it.
It
make
the start, he will not reach
was Goethe who
"Are you
said
:
Seize this very minute: can do, or dream you can, begin it Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage and then the mind grows heated Begin and then the work will be completed." in earnest?
What you
;
;
Said the young man, Gautama Siddh^rtha, I have awakened to the truth and I am resolved to accomplish
come
my
purpose,
— Verily
I
shall be-
brought him into the life of the Enlightened One, and so into the realization of Nirvana right here in this
a Buddha.
It
That
this
life.
was
same
within the possibilities of his teaching.
It
was
this that
realization
all
and
life is
now was has made him the
here and
this that
Light Bearer to millions of people. Said the young man, Jesus, Know ye not that I must be about my Father's business } Making this the one great purpose of his life he I into the full and complete realization,
—
came
and the Father are one.
He
thus came into
Heaven That all could come into right here in this life. this same realization and life here and now was
the
full realization of
the
Kingdom
of
2 16
Fullness of Peace, Power,
his teaching.
It
was
and Plenty
this that has
made him
the Light Bearer to millions of people.
And
so far as practical things are concerned, the wide universe through and we
we may hunt
shall find that there is
no injunction more
practi-
the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you. And in the light of what has cal than,
gone
Seek ye
first
before, I think there
is
no one who
to truth and honest with himself
is
who will
open
fail
to
grasp the underlying reason and see the great laws upon which it is based. Personally I know lives that have so fully entered into the kingdom through the realization of their oneness with the Infinite Life and
through the opening of themselves so fully to its divine guidance, that they are most wonderful concrete
examples of the reality of this great and all-important truth. They are people whose lives are in this
way guided not only in a genbut way, literally in every detail. They live in the realization of their oneness simply
eral
with this Infinite Power, continually in harmony with it, and so continually in the realization of the kingdom of heaven. things
is
theirs.
They
An
abundance
of all
are never at a loss for
The supply seems always equal to anything. the demand. They never seem at a loss in re-
Fullness of Peace, Poiver, and Plenty
gard to what to do or are care-less lives.
how
They
to do
it.
Their
are lives free
2
1
7
lives
from
care because they are continually conscious of the fact that the higher powers are doing the guiding, and they are relieved of the responsiTo enter into detail in connection with bility.
some
of these lives,
or three that
come
and particularly with two
to
my mind
at this
moment,
no doubt to some would But not miraculous. if seem almost incredible one for let us remember that what is possible This is indeed life to realize is possible for all. the natural and the normal life, that which will be
would reveal
facts that
one who comes into and who lives in this higher realization and so This is simin harmony with the higher laws. the every-day
life
of every
of that divine seply getting into the current the universe; and quence running throughout
then ceases to be a plodding and moves along day after day much as the
when once
it,
life
much much as
tides flow,
courses,
in
as the planets move in their the seasons come and go.
All the frictions,
all
the uncertainties,
all
the
the sufferings, the fears, the forebodings, the because we are perplexities of life come to us ills,
out
of
things.
we
so
harmony with the divine order of They will continue to come as long as live. Rowing against the tide is hard
2
1
8
Fulltiess of Peace,
To go
and uncertain.
Power, and Plenty with the tide and fhas
to take advantage of the
working of a great and easy. To come into the conscious, vital realization of our oneness with the Infinite Life and Power is to come into natural force
is
safe
the current of this divine sequence. Coming thus into harmony with the Infinite, brings us in turn into harmony with all about us, into
harmony with the
mony
with
all
brings us into
life
the universe.
And
above
all, it
harmony with ourselves, so that
body, soul, and mind nized,
of the heavens, into har-
and when
this
become is
so,
perfectly harmolife
becomes
full
and complete.
The
sense
enslaves us.
life
The
then no longer masters and physical is subordinated to
and ruled by the mental; this in turn is subordinated to and continually illumined by the Life is then no longer the poor, onespiritual. sided thing it is in so many cases but the threefold, the all-round life with all its beauties and ;
ever increasing joys and powers is entered upon. Thus it is that we are brought to realize that the middle path is the great solution of life neither asceticism on the one hand nor license
;
and perverted use on the other. Everything is for use, but all must be wisely used in order to be
fully enjoyed.
Fullness of Peace, Power, a?id Plenty
As we
2
1
9
these higher realizations the senses are not ignored but are ever more fully As the body becomes less gross and perfected. in
live
heavy, finer in its texture and form, all the senses become finer, so that powers we do not
now
realize as
belonging
Thus we
velop.
come,
to us gradually dea perfectly nat-
in
and normal way, into the super-conscious realms whereby we make it possible for the higher laws and truths to be revealed to us. ural
As we
enter into these realms
among
those
are then not
give their time in speculating this one or that one had the in-
as to whether sight
we
who
and the powers attributed to him, but
know for ourselves. Neither who attempt to lead the the hearsay of some one else, but people upon whereof we speak, and only thus can we know we speak with authority. There are many things that we cannot know until by living the life we bring ourselves into that state where it we
are
is
are
able
to
we among
those
them
possible for
to be revealed to us.
" If
will, he shall know of the was Plotinus who said. The mind that wishes to behold God must itself become
any man
will
doctrine."
do His
It
As we
make
possible for these higher laws and truths to be revealed to us, we
God.
thus
it
turn become enlightened ones, channels through which they may be revealed to others.
will in
220 Fullness of Peace, Power, and Plenty
When
one
fully alive to the possibilities
is
come with
that
this higher awakening, as he here and there, as he mingles with his goes
fellow-men, he imparts to all an inspiration that kindles in them a feeling of power kindred to his own. are all continually giving out
We
influences similar to those that are playing in
own
our
We
lives.
do this
the same
in
way
that each flower emits
its
own
The
its
fragrance upon the it are refreshed and
air
rose breathes out
and
inspired rose.
odor;
who come near
all
this
by
peculiar odor.
emanation from the soul of the
A poisonous weed sends out its obnoxious it is
neither refreshing nor inspiring in
and
one remain near
its
effects, long he may be so unpleasantly affected as to be made even ill
by
if
it
it.
The higher
the
life
the more inspiring and
helpful are the emanations
that
it
is
contin-
The lower the life the more ually sending out. harmful is the influence it continually sends out to is
who come
with it. Each one an atmosphere of one continually radiating
all
in contact
kind or the other.
We
are told
by the mariners who
sail
on the
many times they are able to tell their approach to certain islands long before they can see them by the sweet fragrance of the sandalwood that is wafted far out upon the Indian Seas, that
Fullness of Peace, Power,
and Plenty 221
Do you not see how it would serve to have such a soul playing through such a body
deep.
that as
you go here and there
a subtle, silent
force goes out from you that all feel and are influenced by; so that you carry with you an inspiration
and continually shed a benediction so that your friends and all His coming brings peace and say,
wherever you go;
—
people will joy into our homes, welcome his coming; so that as you pass along the street, tired, and weary, and
men and women
even sin-sick
divine touch that will
a
new
in
life
them;
will feel a certain
awaken new that will
desires
and
make the very
horse as you pass him turn his head with a Such are strange, half-human, longing look? the subtle powers of the human soul when it makes itself translucent to the Divine. To
know that such a life is within our living here and now is enough to make one burst forth with And when the life itself is entered songs of joy. upon, the sentiment of at least one song will be:
"Oh I
I stand in the Great Forever, All things to me are divine ; eat of the heavenly manna, I
"In
!
drink of the heavenly wine. the
gleam of the shining rainbow
The Father's Love I behold. As I gaze on its radiant blending Of crimson and blue and eold.
222
Power, and Plenty
Fiilbtess of Peace,
"In
all
In
the bright birds that are singing, the fair flowers that bloom,
all
Whose welcome aromas
are bringing Their blessings of sweet perfume ;
"
In the glorious tint of the morning, In the gorgeous sheen of the night,
Oh my !
soul
My senses As one comes the
full,
is lost in rapture, are lost in sight."
into
and
lives
conscious realization
continually in of
his
oneness
with the Infinite Life and Power, then all else follows. This it is that brings the realization of such splendors, life
that
is
alone can know. realization
This
to
is
it
come
into the
of heaven's richest treasures while
walking the earth.
down
and beauties, and joys as a
thus related with the Infinite Power
This
it is
heaven
to bring
to earth, or rather to bring earth
up to This it is to exchange weakness and heaven. impotence for strength; sorrows and sighings for joy; fears and forebodings for faith longings This it is to come into fullness for realizations. ;
of peace, power,
tune with the
and plenty.
Infinite.
This
it
is
to be in
WALDO
By RALPH "The
What Its
All
purpose
is
Life
TRINE.
Books."
the World's A-Seeking. It is most dif.tinclly practical.
fas.
:md deserves the remarkable sucThe Revievi of Reviezvs. The volume abounds in passajjes of prcat beauty and strength; but the strikintf leature of the book is, after all, the solid, sensible, healthy exposition of the one theme it is written to enforce. New York cinatiiitfly written,
cess
it
has achieved.
—
—
Indef'fndent, This is a book
among a thousand for its inspiring is eminently worthy "fa vast audience. miss much if you miss reading its truthladen pages. Cumberland Presbyterian.
jnessage, and
You
will
—
In
Tune With
the
Infinite.
one of the simplest, clearest works ever written, dealing with the power of the interior forces in San moulding the every-day conditions of life. Francisco Bulletin. It is
—
... It immediately suggests the works of Drummond, but shows a decided advance upon the ground which he made familiar to mankind; it not only re-
veals the author's recognition of si)iritual law. but in certain instances shows his rare .and remarkable understanding of the nature and action of such law; the preface alone shows his high intuition, and the book proves his ability to .achieve iiis purpose in a marvellous degree. Boston Daily Evening- Tran-
—
script.
Mr. Trine can write well upon such topics as this. is alive, vigorous, cheer\', confident. The work has distinctiveness in its style and method. The London. World, Literary
He
—
The above books are beautifully and durably bound in gray-green raised clotH, stamped in deep old-green and gold, -with gilt top. Price, $/.2j per volume.
THOMAS
Y.
CROWELL L
NEW YORK.
CO.,
By
RALPH WALDO TRINE. The " Life"
Booklets.
The
Greatest Thing Ever Known. The moment we fully and vitally realize who and what vje are we then begin to buifd our own world even as God builds His. — From Title-page.
... It unfolds the secret of our underlyingstrength, and shows what it is that gives us power to fulfil the real and living purooses of our being. The New Christianity.
—
Every Living Creature. tender and humane passion in the human heart is too precious a quality to allow it to be hardened or effaced by practices'such as we so often From Title-page. indulge in. An eloquent appeal and an able argument for justice and mercy to our dumb fellow-creatures. good book for those whose characters are being formed, and for all who love justice and right. Religio Ph ilosophic%l you rnal.
The
—
A
—
Character-Building Thought Pov^er.
A thought,
good or evil, an act, in time a habit, so runs life's law; what you live in vour thoughtsooner or later, you will find objectified world, that, From Title-page. in your life.
—
In "Character-Building Thought Power" Mr. Trine demonstrates the power of mental habits,
and shows how by daily
effort
we may
train our-
selves into right ways of thinking and acting. His teachings are sound, practical, and of priceless worth. Albany Press.
—
Bound
in
an exceedingly attractive and handy Price, _jj cents per volume.
form.
THOMAS
Y.
CROWELL k CO.
NEW YORK.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles
This book
is
DUE
on the
last
^
date stamped below.
University of California
SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed.
JUN
2 2 zoqo
coi
DUE
2
WKS FROM
DATE
REC'DYRL JUL26'0Ci
-^^9"
1274 3 1158 00469
Ur.omH.BNB^|^O.AL«^
V/V
000 505138
8