operation all the ideas he came to establish in the consciousness of man and in the earth. Every individual cherishes ideals in his heart. These ideals can be consummated, for it is impossible to conceive of anything that we cannot achieve. Purity of thoughts pertaining to any ideal must be established before one is ready to set into activity the ideas necessary to fulfill the ideal. Every step of growth is first idealized in Mind, and when a pure foundation of thought is established a union is made with the indwelling Christ Spirit, "who doeth the works." If the foundation of a building is well laid, one can rely upon the stability of the structure to weather the wear and tear of the elements; but if the foundation is weak or falsely constructed the entire building is unsafe and non-dependable. Purity is the only reliable base upon which to erect the eternal body structure. If one is conscientious in balancing his thoughts and acts to the Christ Principle within, he will not need to continually struggle to overcome any phase of consciousness of the flesh man, for every event in life, if handled from the standpoint of Truth, will refine, chasten and purify the consciousness until man shall become the glorified image and likeness of the Pure Principle that begat him. Dust by its own nature can rise only so far above the road, and birds which fly higher never have it upon their wings. So the heart that knows how to fly high enough escapes those little cares and vexations which brood upon the earth, but cannot rise above it into that purer air.-H. W. Beecher. It is not sufficient that we should be kind and liberal to the poor; for the poverty we seek to relieve is due in part to unjust conditions which our daily conduct, if it is not guided by the "spirit of pure wisdom," may be helping to intensify.-Sunshine Bulletin. THINKING H. T. WIEGEL "Come let us reason together." AN HAS been endowed with the power to think, to discern, to choose, to reason. Man has a discriminative faculty. We often cite the wisdom of Solomon and Shakespeare in such statements as these: "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he." "There is nothing good nor bad, but thinking makes it so." There is a sense in which these profound thinkers were right, and yet from the standpoint of absolute Truth they are both in error, for Truth cannot be changed. It is fixed, permanent, changeless; and from this standard we clearly see that man is what he is regardless of what he thinks. But the character of his thinking does determine the character of the conditions that environ him. Man uses his reasoning faculties according to the indication of appearances, and the way he has been taught in some particular school; or he uses those faculties according to the fixed, changeless, eternal Truth standard. As he thinks he reasons himself and his conditions into manifestation. He literally reasons himself, so to speak, either into heaven or hell conditions; and usually, when it is hell, he wonders what he ever did to make it so. But his thinking, in the last analysis, made it so; but thinking never changed the Truth of what he is. Our whole problem is to overcome that inherent tendency to think, act and live as if we are that which we are not and can never be, and to begin, or go on, expressing that which we eternally and unchangeably are. If we get right busy centering and concentrating our thoughts on the Truth of what we are, we can posi But tively and effectively change our tendencies to thinking and acting as if we are that which we are not. we must keep up a drum-fire of spiritual thought into the subconscious phase of our being until our tendencies spontaneously and continuously think according to the Truth standard. In cultivating this state of mind I find it necessary to treat the whole environment, because the Truth of one is the Truth of all, and is changeless. Bearing on this subject such thoughts as these came into my mind with a spiritual rush, clearness and power: Children of God-you are what you are. You are born of God. What God is is what you are potentially, and actually in reality. No man on earth is your Father. You are the likeness of God and not the likeness of any flesh ancestors, whosoever. God in the midst of you is mighty! Mighty in life! Mighty in health! Mighty in love! Mighty in wisdom! Mighty in power! God in the midst of his people is mighty! All people are God's people and all creation is the same, always has been and always will be. Thinking the Truth brings the Truth to bear effectively just the same as thinking lies brings the expression of the lie into manifestation. Thinking makes manifestation appear either good or evil. What shall we do, think God's thoughts after him, with him, by him, or shall we go on thinking after vain theories, opinions and imaginations which are not true of God or creation, or, of Truth and manifestation? Get the mental-spiritual vision, "nearer is He than breathing, closer than hands or feet," and the appear ance of evil shall vanish away as the sunlight causes the darkness to disappear. Truth is! Truth is the only reality there is! Truth is changeless! Truth is changeless! I am what I am! You are what you are! "I am the light of the world." Truth is that which is! Truth is wisdom! Truth is health! Truth is power! Truth is supply! Truth is joy! Good and Good only is Truth. What I think, what I do, how I act, how I feel, does not change what I Am! I cannot be what I am not, although I can act as if I am not what I am. I am God's likeness! Ye are God's likeness! God alone is Truth and God-likeness is Truth manifest. Truth is the same in earth as in heaven. It is fixed, permanent, changeless forever, wherever, everywhere! It cannot be changed! It cannot be scolded, whipped, lamented, nor tortured into manifestation. It must be sought, believed in, loved with the whole heart and become the fixed standard of thought. When we pray to the Father we pray to the Father in secret (acknowledge the one and only Truth as the one and only reality) the Father rewards us openly. "Seek the Truth as Jesus taught it and ye shall be forever free." "Ye are gods, . . . and the Scripture cannot be broken." The Truth can never be changed! Nothing can be added unto man and nothing can be taken from him. His completeness and perfection is eternal and changeless. "Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?" To absorb thought is to absorb lasting power. But if, when in the act of such absorption, anything annoys or hurries us, this power of absorbing thought is instantly destroyed. Our spirit ceases then to be the open hand receiving ideas. It becomes the clenched fist. It is then combative. It goes straight to whatever annoys or hurries it, and rages and frets around it. When we say "goes" we mean our thought as an element literally goes out to the place we are hurrying to, or the person who troubles. It is our strength of both body and mind that is constantly leaving us. We cease then to study. Repose and serenity of mind mean a condition of perpetual study; and, with such, a continual indrawing of strength. We can discipline ourselves to such a repose, until it can accompany and pervade all our efforts, so that we shall rest as well as work.-Prentice Mulford. "Youth is not a time of life. It is a state of the mind, a temper of the will, a vigor of the emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years.” The end of life is to be like unto God, and the soul following God will be like unto him; he being the beginning, middle, and end of all things.-Socrates. |