,,the ,,conquest ,,of ,,fear  ,,basil   
,,king  ,,with ,a ,,new ,,introduction  
,,by ,,henry ,c4 ,,link                 
,,contents        ,,introduction     ,i4
 ,,fear ,,and ,,the ,,life-,,principle  
,,ii4 ,,the ,,life-,,principle ,,and    
,,god   ,,iii4 ,,god ,,and ,,his        
,,self-,,expression    ,,iv4 ,,god',s   
,,self-,,expression ,,and ,,the ,,mind  
,,of ,,to-,,day     ,v4 ,,the ,,mind    
,,of ,,to-,,day ,,and ,,the ,,world ,,as
 ,,it ,,is    ,,vi4 ,,the ,,world ,,as  
,,it ,,is ,,and ,,the ,,false ,,god ,,of
 ,,fear   ,,vii4 ,,the ,,false ,,god    
,,of ,,fear ,,and ,,the ,,fear ,,of     
,,death  ,,viii4 ,,the ,,fear ,,of      
,,death ,,and ,,abundance ,,of ,,life   
,,introduction  by ,henry ,c4 ,link1    
,ph4,d4  ,author of ,,the ,,rediscovery 
,,of ,,man1 ,,the ,,return ,,to         
,,religion1 etc4   ,there are many books
 which give some help to many people4   
,there are books which give a set of    
rules1 or even one master rule1 by which
 to meet the problems of life4 ,this is 

not such a book4 ,it suggests no simple 
recipe for the conquest of fear4        
,instead1 it presents1 what all too few 
of us to-day possess1 a philosophy of   
life4  ,moreover1 in contrast to the    
dominant thinking of our age1 which is  
materialistic1 ,king's philosophy is    
spiritual and religious4 ,indeed1 the   
ideas in this book are so profoundly    
different from the commonly accepted    
ideas of our times that they will come  
as a shock to many readers4 ,one purpose
 of this introduction is to prepare the 
reader for such a shock4  ,i have said  
that the dominant thinking of our age is
 materialistic1 and by that ,i mean also
 physical4 ,let me illustrate this broad
 statement with reference to the subject
 of fears alone4 ,the conquest of fear  
has gone on year after year chiefly     
through physical means4 ,physical pain  
has always been one of the great sources
 of fear4 ,now ether and other          
anaesthetics have eliminated the chief  
pains of major operations4 ,older people

 can still remember their fear of the   
dentist1 when killing a nerve or pulling
 a tooth caused excruciating pain4 ,now 
local anaesthetics even in minor        
troubles have made dentistry almost     
painless4 ,we have not conquered these  
fears of pain--rather their cause has   
been removed4  ,twilight sleep1 the     
artificial sleep to alleviate the pains 
of childbirth1 is the perfect expression
 of the scientific and materialistic    
elimination of fear4 ,by a chemical     
blackout of the mind1 a dimming of the  
conscious self1 the person is enabled to
 escape the necessity of facing and     
conquering fear through his own         
resources4  ,i am not condemning the    
physical alleviation of pain or the     
progress of physical science4 ,i am only
 describing a trend1 and that is the    
growing emphasis on the elimination of  
fears by science rather than on their   
conquest by the individual4  ,illness   
has always been a great source of fear1 
and still is4 ,the dread of cancer is   

one of the terrifying fears of our time 
and fortunes are spent in cancer        
research and education4 ,,the ,,conquest
 ,,of ,,fear was written as a result of 
the author's threatened total blindness4
 ,he faced a fact for which there seemed
 no physical remedy--hence his great    
need for a spiritual conquest of this   
great fear4  ,and yet1 year by year1    
physical science has been eliminating or
 reducing the dangers of sickness4      
,vaccines for the prevention of the     
dread disease1 small-pox1 are now a     
matter of course4 ,vaccines and         
specifics against the deadly tetanus1   
against typhoid fever1 diphtheria1      
syphilis1 and other fearful diseases    
have become commonplace4 ,the fear of   
pneumonia has been almost eliminated    
through the discoveries of the          
miraculous sulpha drugs4 ,science has   
done wonders toward the elimination of  
such fears4 ,a man need hardly conquer  
the fear of any particular              
sickness--there is left for his conquest

 chiefly the fear of dying4  ,in        
addition to physical disease1 our       
civilization has now developed mental   
ailments of all kinds4 ,these include a 
large category of fears called          
phobias--claustrophobia1 agoraphobia1   
photophobia1 altaphobia1 phonophobia1   
etc4  ,three fields or professions1     
other than religion and philosophy1 have
 sought to deal with these fears1 the   
psychiatric1 the psychoanalytic1 and the
 psychological4 ,the medical psychiatric
 profession has naturally emphasized    
physical remedies beginning with        
sedatives and bromides to induce        
artificial relaxation and ending up with
 lobectomy or the complete cutting off  
of the frontal lobes of the brain1 the  
centers of man's highest thought        
processes4 ,between these two extremes  
are the shock treatments in which an    
injection of insulin or metrazol into   
the blood stream causes the person to   
fall into a sort of epileptic fit during
 which he loses consciousness4 ,through 

a series of such shock treatments some  
of the higher nerve centers or nerve    
pathways are destroyed4 ,by this process
 a person's fears may also be eliminated
 and he may be permanently or           
temporarily cured4 ,in short1 the person
 does not conquer the fears in his mind2
 the psychiatrist or neurologist1 by    
physically destroying a part of the     
person's brain1 destroys also the fears4
  ,how strongly this physical approach  
has taken hold of people was made plain 
to me through an article of mine on how 
to conquer fears4 ,the emphasis in this 
article was on how people could overcome
 their fears and worries through their  
own efforts4 ,to illustrate the opposite
 extreme1 ,i mentioned the brain        
operations and shock treatments by which
 psychiatry now often deals with fears4 
,among the many people who wrote to me  
as a result of this article1 the        
majority inquired where they could      
obtain such an operation6 ,to such      
extremes have many people gone in their 

desire to eliminate fear by physical    
means rather than conquer it through    
their own spiritual powers4  ,the       
psychoanalyst deals with a person's     
phobias through what seems like an      
intellectual or rational process4       
,according to psychoanalysis1 phobias or
 fears are due to some buried or        
subconscious complex4 ,by daily or      
frequent talks with a psychoanalyst for 
a period of six months or a year1 a     
person's subconscious disturbance may be
 brought to light1 and if so1 the fear  
is supposed automatically to disappear4 
,even if true1 this process is a highly 
materialistic one1 at least in the sense
 that only people who can spend         
thousands of dollars can afford such    
treatments4  ,the psychologist1 as well 
as some psychiatrists who have studied  
normal psychology1 regard many fears as 
normal experiences which the individual 
can cope with largely through his own   
resources and with very little help in  
the way of visits or treatment4 ,the    

trouble arises in the case of those     
people who have no personal resources to
 draw on4 ,their lives are so lacking in
 spiritual power1 or so full of         
intellectual scepticism and distrust1   
that they cannot help themselves4 ,they 
have no religious convictions or        
certainties by which to obtain leverage 
in their struggles4 ,they have no firm  
philosophy of life on which they or     
those who would help them can lay hold4 
,they are putty in the hands of the     
fears and forces that beset them from   
without4  ,the psychologist and the     
psychiatrist both find it difficult to  
do much to help such a person4 ,and yet1
 this is the kind of person our         
civilization and education tends        
increasingly to produce4 ,by the        
physical elimination of the causes of   
fear we have gradually undermined man's 
inner resources for the conquest of     
fear4  ,this materialistic trend has    
received a new impetus from the fields  
of political science1 economics1 and    

sociology4 ,a dozen years ago economic  
disaster threatened to stampede the     
nation4 ,millions who had lost their    
jobs began to fear penury and want4     
,millions who still had jobs feared that
 they would lose them4 ,other millions  
began to fear the loss of their money   
and possessions4 ,rich and poor1        
becoming afraid that the country was    
going to pieces1 rushed to the banks to 
withdraw their savings and brought on   
the nation-wide bank closings4 ,those   
were days when everyone knew paralyzing 
fears4  ,history will record the fact   
that these fears were met1 not by       
conquest1 not by drawing on the moral   
resources and inner fortitude of the    
,american citizen1 but by a collection  
of wholesale materialistic schemes4     
,these schemes included such devices as 
inflating the dollar1 raising prices1   
expanding the government debt1 paying   
farmers not to produce crops1 government
 housing projects1 and many others4 ,the
 fears of unemployment and poverty in   

old age were to be eliminated wholesale 
through a planned economy1 a new social 
order4 ,by an elaborate system of       
book-keeping called ,social ,security1 a
 whole nation was to win freedom from   
want and freedom from fear4  ,but while 
we were building our smug little house  
of ,social ,security1 the whole world   
was crashing around us4 ,instead of     
achieving local security we find        
ourselves now in the midst of world-wide
 insecurity4 ,far from having eliminated
 the economic causes of fear1 we now    
find these causes multiplied many times4
 ,to the fear of losing our money is now
 added the fear of losing our sons4 ,to 
the fear of losing our jobs is added the
 fear of losing our lives4 ,to the fear 
of depression and inflation is added the
 fear of losing the very freedoms for   
which the war is being fought4  ,at last
 we see1 or are on the point of seeing1 
that materialism breeds worse fears than
 it cures2 that economics and sociology 
create more social problems than they   

solve2 that science makes it possible to
 destroy wealth and lives much faster   
than it can build them4 ,it took years  
of science to achieve the airplane and  
to eliminate people's fear of flying4   
,now1 suddenly1 the airplane has become 
the greatest source of destruction and  
of fear on the globe4 ,cities which were
 decades in the building are blasted out
 of being in a night4 ,millions of      
people must regulate their lives in fear
 of these dread visitors4  ,this is the 
background against which the conquest of
 fear presents its philosophy of courage
 and of hope4 ,it is a philosophy       
diametrically opposed to the dominant   
beliefs and practices of our            
materialistic age4 ,one hesitates to use
 the words spiritual and moral because  
they have become catch words4           
,nevertheless1 ,king's philosophy is a  
spiritual and a moral one1 and the      
reader will gain from it a clearer      
concept of what these words really mean4
  ,when ,i remember my reactions to the 

first portion of this book1 ,i can      
readily picture the impatience and even 
scorn of many intellectuals and         
pseudo-intellectuals4 ,because of its   
emphasis on the religious nature of the 
universe and on the spiritual power of  
the individual1 it may seem to them     
nave4 ,because of its consistent        
condemnation of ,mammon1 of materialism 
and the economic-sociological           
interpretation of life1 it may seem to  
them old-fashioned4 ,actually1 the book 
is highly sophisticated and is more     
novel to-day than the day it was written
 because since that time we have strayed
 twenty years further from the truth4   
,one day ,i was having luncheon with a  
man who1 during the course of the       
conversation1 remarked3 ,i want to tell 
you how much ,i enjoyed your latest     
book1-- ,as almost any writer would1 ,i 
pricked up my ears expectantly4  ,yes1  
he went on1 ,i got a great deal out of  
your recent book1 but the book which    
helped me more than any ,i have ever    

read is a book called ,,the ,,conquest  
,,of ,,fear1 by ,basil ,king4 ,do you   
happen to know it8  ,know it6 ,i        
exclaimed4 ,i not only know it1 ,i am   
just on the point of writing an         
introduction to a new edition of the    
book4 ,would you mind telling me how it 
helped you8  ,he thereupon related how1 
at a certain period of his life1 he had 
left an excellent position to take a new
 one which seemed more promising4 ,it   
soon developed that the difficulties of 
this position were such as to make his  
success seem almost hopeless4 ,he became
 obsessed with the idea that the people 
with whom he had to deal were out to get
 him4 ,his fears of the job and of his  
associates grew to the point where a    
nervous breakdown seemed inevitable4    
,one day his daughter told him that she 
needed a book in her school work which  
he remembered having packed in a box    
that had been stored in the attic and   
not yet opened4 ,when he opened the box1
 the first book which he picked up was  

,,the ,,conquest ,,of ,,fear4 ,it was   
evidently one of those books which had  
somehow come into the possession of his 
family1 but which he had never read4    
,this time1 however1 he sat down in the 
attic and began to read it4 ,during the 
course of the next year or so he read it
 carefully not once but four or five    
times4 ,it marked the turning point in  
my life1 he told me4 ,it enabled me to  
conquer the fears which were threatening
 to ruin me at the time1 and it gave me 
a philosophy which has stood me in good 
stead ever since4  ,a philosophy which  
marked the turning point in his life and
 which has stood him in good stead ever 
since6 ,,the ,,conquest ,,of ,,fear     
offers such a philosophy not only to    
individuals suffering from fears        
peculiar to them1 but to a world of     
individuals suffering1 or about to      
suffer1 from the collapse of world-wide 
materialism4 ,in this day of chaos and  
uncertainty1 here is the modern version 
of the parable of the man who built his 

house upon a rock instead of on the     
sand3 and the rain descended1 and the   
floods came1 and the winds blew1 and    
beat upon that house2 and it fell not   
for it was founded upon a rock4  ,h4 ,c4
 ,l4     ,,chapter ,i  ,,fear ,,and     
,,the ,,life-,,principle    ,i   ,when  
,i say that during most of my conscious 
life ,i have been a prey to fears ,i    
take it for granted that ,i am          
expressing the case of the majority of  
people4 ,i cannot remember the time when
 a dread of one kind or another was not 
in the air4 ,in childhood it was the    
fear of going to bed1 of that mysterious
 time when regular life was still going 
on downstairs1 while ,i was buried alive
 under sheets and blankets4 ,later it   
was the fear of school1 the first       
contact of the tender little soul with  
life's crudeness4 ,later still there was
 the experience which all of us know of 
waking in the morning with a feeling of 
dismay at what we have to do on getting 
up2 the obvious duties in which perhaps 

we have grown stale2 the things we have 
neglected2 those in which we have made  
mistakes2 those as to which we have     
wilfully done wrong2 those which weary  
or bore or annoy or discourage us4      
,sometimes there are more serious things
 still3 bereavements1 or frightfully    
adverse conditions1 or hardships we     
never expected brought on us by someone 
else4  ,it is unnecessary to catalogue  
these situations1 since we all at times 
in our lives have to face them daily4   
,fear dogs one of us in one way and     
another in another1 but everyone in some
 way4  ,look at the people you run up   
against in the course of a few hours4   
,everyone is living or working in fear4 
,the mother is afraid for her children4 
,the father is afraid for his business4 
,the clerk is afraid for his job4 ,the  
worker is afraid of his boss or his     
competitor4 ,there is hardly a man who  
is not afraid that some other man will  
do him a bad turn4 ,there is hardly a   
woman who is not afraid that things she 

craves may be denied her1 or that what  
she loves may be snatched away4 ,there  
is not a home or an office or a factory 
or a school or a church in which some   
hang-dog apprehension is not eating at  
the hearts of the men1 women1 and       
children who go in and out4 ,i am ready 
to guess that all the miseries wrought  
by sin and sickness put together would  
not equal those we bring on ourselves by
 the means which perhaps we do least to 
counteract4 ,we are not sick all the    
time2 we are not sinning all the time2  
but all the time all of us--or          
practically all of us--are afraid of    
someone or something4 ,if1 therefore1   
one has the feeblest contribution to    
make to the defeat of such a foe it     
becomes difficult to withhold it4       
,,ii   ,but even with a view to         
conquering fear ,i should not presume to
 offer to others ideas worked out purely
 for myself had ,i not been so invited4 
,i do not affirm that ,i have conquered 
fear1 but only that in self-defence ,i  

have been obliged to do something in    
that direction4 ,i take it for granted  
that what goes in that direction will go
 all the way if pursued with            
perseverance and good will4 ,having thus
 made some simple experiments--chiefly  
mental--with what to me are effective   
results1 ,i can hardly refuse to tell   
what they have been when others are so  
good as to ask me4  ,and in making this 
attempt ,i must write from my own       
experience4 ,no other method would be   
worth while4 ,the mere exposition of a  
thesis would have little or no value4   
,it is a case in which nothing can be   
helpful to others which has not been    
demonstrated for oneself1 even though   
the demonstration be but partial4  ,in  
writing from my own experience ,i must  
ask the reader's pardon if ,i seem      
egoistic or autobiographical4 ,without  
taking oneself too smugly or too        
seriously one finds it the only way of  
reproducing the thing that has happened 
in one's own life and which one actually

 knows4  ,and when ,i speak above of    
ideas worked out purely for myself ,i do
 not1 of course1 mean that these ideas  
are original with me4 ,all ,i have done 
has been to put ideas through the mill  
of my own mind1 co-ordinating them to   
suit my own needs4 ,the ideas themselves
 come from many sources4 ,some of these 
sources are1 so deep in the past that ,i
 could no longer trace them2 some are so
 recent that ,i know the day and hour   
when they revealed themselves1 like     
brooks in the way4 ,it would be possible
 to say to the reader1 ,i owe this to   
such and such a teaching1 and that to   
such and such a man1 only that          
references of the kind would be tedious4
 ,i fall back on what ,emerson says3    
,thought is the property of him who can 
entertain it2 and of him who can        
adequately place it4 ,a certain         
awkwardness marks the use of borrowed   
thoughts2 but1 as soon as we have       
learned what to do with them1 they      
become our own4 ,thus all originality is

 relative4 ,the thoughts that ,i shall  
express are my own to the extent that ,i
 have lived them--or tried to live      
them--though the wind that bloweth where
 it listeth may have brought them to my 
mind4  ,nor do ,i think for a moment    
that what ,i have found helpful to me   
must of necessity be helpful to         
everyone4 ,it may be helpful to someone4
 ,that is the limit of my hope4 ,it is  
simple fact that no one can greatly help
 anyone else4 ,the utmost we can do is  
to throw out an idea here and there     
which another may seize1 and by which he
 may help himself4 ,borrowed help has   
the awkwardness which ,emerson          
attributes to borrowed thoughts4 ,it is 
only when a concept has lain for a time 
in a man's being1 germinated there1 and 
sprung into active life1 that it is of  
much use to him2 but by that time it has
 become his own4 ,the kingdom of heaven 
must begin within oneself or we shall   
probably not find it anywhere4  ,these  
pages will contain1 then1 no recipe for 

the conquest of fear2 they will offer1  
with much misgiving and diffidence1 no  
more than the record of what one        
individual has done toward conquering   
it4 ,this record is presented merely for
 what it is worth4 ,it may be worth     
nothing4 ,on the other hand1 someone may
 find it worth something1 and in that   
case all that the writer hopes for will 
be attained4    ,,iii   ,as a matter of 
fact1 in my own case the reaction       
against fear was from the beginning more
 or less instinctive4 ,with the first   
exercise of the reasoning faculty ,i    
tried to argue against the emotion4 ,i  
remember that as a little boy ,i was    
afraid of a certain dog that barked at  
me when ,i went to a certain house to   
which ,i was sent perhaps two or three  
times a week4 ,the house had a driveway1
 and from the minute of passing the     
entrance my knees trembled under me4    
,but even then1 ,i recall1 it seemed to 
me that this terror was an incongruous  
thing in life1 that it had no rightful  

place there1 and that1 if the world was 
what my elders told me it was1 there    
must be in it a law of peace and harmony
 which as yet ,i hadn't arrived at4 ,i  
cannot say that when the dog barked this
 reasoning did more than nerve me to    
drag my quaking limbs up to the         
doorstep1 whence my enemy1 a ,skye      
terrier1 invariably took flight4        
,during a somewhat stormy childhood and 
boyhood1 in which there was a good deal 
of emotional stress1 ,i never got beyond
 this point4 ,specific troubles were not
 few1 and by the time ,i reached early  
manhood a habit of looking for them had 
been established4 ,what's it going to be
 now8 became a formula of anticipation  
before every new event4 ,new events     
presented themselves most frequently as 
menaces4 ,hopes rarely loomed up without
 accompanying probabilities of          
disappointment4 ,one adopted the plan of
 expecting disappointment as a means of 
cheating the jinx4 ,i am not painting my
 early life as any darker than most     

lives4 ,it was1 ,i fancy1 as bright as  
the average life of youth4    ,,iv      
,but1 contrary to what is generally     
held1 ,i venture to think that youth is 
not a specially happy period4 ,because  
young people rarely voice their troubles
 we are likely to think them serene and 
unafraid4 ,that has not been my         
experience either with them or of them4 
,while it is true that cares of a       
certain type increase with age the      
knowledge of how to deal with them      
increases1 or ought to increase1 in the 
same progression4 ,with no practical    
experience to support them the young are
 up against the unknown and             
problematical--occupation1 marriage1    
sexual urge1 life in general--around    
which clings that terror of the dark    
which frightened them in childhood4     
,home training1 school training1 college
 training1 religious training1 social   
influences of every kind1 throw the     
emphasis on dangers rather than on      
securities1 so that the young life      

emerges into a haunted world4 ,some are 
reckless of these dangers1 some grow    
hardened to them1 some enjoy the tussle 
with them1 some turn their minds away   
from them1 while others1 chiefly the    
imaginative or the intellectual1 shrink 
from them with the discomfort which1 as 
years go on1 becomes worry1 anxiety1    
foreboding1 or any other of the many    
forms of care4    ,v   ,my own life     
followed what ,i assume to be the usual 
course1 though in saying this ,i am     
anxious not to give an exaggerated      
impression4 ,it was the usual course1   
not an unusual one4 ,there's always     
something came to be a common mental    
phrase1 and the something was1 as a     
rule1 not cheering4 ,neither1 as a rule1
 was it terrible4 ,it was just          
something--a sense of the carking       
hanging over life1 and now and then     
turning to a real mischance or a        
heartache4  ,it strikes me as strange1  
on looking back1 that so little attempt 
was made to combat fear by religion4 ,in

 fact1 as far as ,i know1 little attempt
 was made to combat fear in any way4    
,one's attention was not called to it   
otherwise than as a wholly inevitable   
state4 ,you were born subject to fear as
 you were born subject to death1 and    
that was an end of it4  ,brought up in  
an atmosphere in which religion was our 
main preoccupation1 ,i cannot recall    
ever hearing it appealed to as a        
counteragent to this most persistent    
enemy of man4 ,in dealing with your     
daily dreads you simply counted ,god    
out4 ,either ,he had nothing to do with 
them or ,he brought them upon you4 ,in  
any case ,his intervention on your      
behalf was not supposed to be in this   
world1 and to look for rewards from ,him
 here and now was considered a form of  
impiety4 ,you were to be willing to     
serve ,god for naught2 after which      
unexpected favours might be accorded    
you1 but you were to hope for nothing as
 a right4 ,i do not say that this is    
what ,i was taught2 it was what ,i      

understood2 but to the best of my memory
 it was the general understanding round 
about me4 ,in my fight against fear1 in 
as far as ,i made one1 ,god was for many
 years of no help to me1 or of no help  
of which ,i was aware4 ,i shall return  
to the point later in telling how ,i    
came to discover ,god for myself1 but   
not quite the same ,god1 or not quite   
the same concept of ,god1 which my      
youthful mind had supposed to be the    
only one4    ,,vi   ,at the same time it
 was to a small detail in my religious  
training--or to be more exact in the    
explanation of the ,bible given me as a 
boy--that ,i harked back when it became 
plain to me that either ,i must conquer 
fear or fear must conquer me4 ,having   
fallen into my mind like a seed1 it lay 
for well on to thirty years with no sign
 of germination1 till that need1 of     
which ,i shall have more to say         
presently1 called it into life4  ,let me
 state in a few words how the need made 
itself pressing4  ,it was1 as life goes1

 a tolerably dark hour4 ,i was on the   
borderland between young manhood and    
early middle age4 ,for some years ,i had
 been losing my sight1 on top of which  
came one of those troubles with the     
thyroid gland which medical science     
still finds obscure4 ,for reasons which 
,i need not go into ,i was spending an  
autumn at ,versailles in ,france1       
unoccupied and alone4  ,if you know     
,versailles you know that it combines   
all that civilisation has to offer of   
beauty1 magnificence1 and mournfulness4 
,a day's visit from ,paris will give you
 an inkling of this1 but only an        
inkling4 ,to get it all you must live   
there1 to be interpenetrated by its     
glory of decay4 ,it is always the autumn
 of the spirit at ,versailles1 even in  
summer1 even in spring2 but in the      
autumn of the year the autumnal emotion 
of the soul is poignant beyond          
expression4 ,sad gardens stretch into   
sad parks2 sad parks into storied and   
haunting forests4 ,long avenues lead to 

forgotten chteaux mellowing into ruin4  
,ghostly white statues astonish you far 
in the depths of woods where the wild   
things are now the most frequent        
visitors4 ,a ,temple of ,love--pillared1
 ,corinthian1 lovely--lost in a glade to
 which lovers have probably not come in 
a hundred years--will remind you that   
there were once happy people where now  
the friendliest sound is that of the    
wood-chopper's axe or the horn of some  
far-away hunt4 ,all the old tales of    
passion1 ambition1 feud1 hatred1        
violence1 lust1 and intrigue are        
softened here to an aching sense of     
pity4 ,at night you will hear the castle
 clock1 which is said never once to have
 failed to strike the hour since ,louis 
the ,fourteenth put it in its place1    
tolling away your life as it has tolled 
away epochs4  ,amid these surroundings a
 man ill1 lonely1 threatened with       
blindness1 can easily feel what ,i may  
call the spiritual challenge of the     
ages4 ,he must either be strong and     

rule2 or he must be weak and go down4   
,he must get the dominion over          
circumstance1 or circumstance must get  
the dominion over him4 ,to be merely    
knocked about by fate and submit to it1 
even in the case of seemingly inevitable
 physical infirmity1 began to strike me 
as unworthy of a man4  ,it is one thing1
 however1 to feel the impulse to get up 
and do something1 and another to see    
what you can get up and do4 ,for a time 
the spectre of fear had me in its power4
 ,the physical facts couldn't be denied1
 and beyond the physical facts ,i could 
discern nothing4 ,it was conceivable    
that one might react against a mental   
condition2 but to react against a       
mysterious malady coupled with possibly 
approaching blindness was hardly to be  
thought of4 ,when one added one's       
incapacity to work and earn a living1   
with all that that implies1 it seemed as
 if it would take the faith that moves  
mountains to throw off the weight       
oppressing me4 ,it is true that to move 

mountains you only need faith as a grain
 of mustard seed1 but as far as one can 
judge not many of us have that much4    
,it was then that my mind went back all 
of a sudden to the kernel planted so    
many years before1 in my island home1 in
 the ,gulf of ,st4 ,lawrence4 ,if ,i    
become prolix over this it is only that 
,i want to show how often it happens to 
parents1 teachers1 and others who deal  
with children1 to throw out a thought   
which after lying dormant for years will
 become a factor in the life4 ,had it   
not been for the few words spoken then  
,i should not1 as far as ,i can see1 now
 have such mastery over self as ,i have 
since attained--not very much--but ,i   
should not be writing these lines4      
,,vii   ,my boyhood was placed in the   
times when ,darwin's ,origin of ,species
 and ,descent of ,man had thrown the    
scientific and religious worlds into    
convulsion4 ,the struggle between the   
old ideas and the new calls for no more 
than a reference here2 but the teacher  

to whom ,i owe most was one who1 while  
valuing the old1 saw only an enrichment 
in the new1 explaining the ,bible in    
that spirit4 ,so it happened that he    
spoke one day of the extraordinary      
ingenuity of the life-principle1 which  
somehow came to the earth1 in adapting  
itself to perpetually new conditions4   
,nothing defeated it4 ,for millions of  
years it was threatened by climatic     
changes1 by the lack of food1 by the    
ferocity of fellow-creatures4 ,heat1    
cold1 flood1 drought1 earthquake1 and   
volcanic eruption were forever against  
it4 ,struggling from stage to stage     
upward from the slime a new danger was  
always to it a new incentive to finding 
a new resource4  ,pursued through the   
water it sought the land4 ,pursued on   
the land it sought the air4 ,pursued in 
the air it developed fleetness of wing1 
and in fleetness of wing a capacity for 
soaring1 circling1 balancing1 dipping1  
and swinging on itself of which the     
grace must not blind us to the          

marvellous power of invention4  ,in     
other words1 the impulses leading to the
 origin of species proclaim a           
resourcefulness on the part of what we  
call life which we have every reason to 
think inexhaustible4 ,whatever the      
,fount of ,being from which the         
life-principle first came into the      
waters of our earth there is no question
 but that with it came a                
conquest-principle as well4 ,had it been
 possible to exterminate the            
life-principle it would never have gone 
further than the age which saw the      
extinction of the great reptiles4 ,the  
great reptiles went1 but the            
life-principle stayed on1 with the      
ability to assume1 within our limited   
observation1 all the forms between the  
bacillus and the elephant1 while as to  
what lies beyond our observation the    
possibilities are infinite4  ,long      
before it works up to man we see this   
amazing force stemming an uncountable   
number of attacks1 and meeting ruinous  

conditions with daring contrivances4    
,for one kind of danger it develops a   
shell1 for another a sting1 for another 
a poison1 for another a protective      
colouration4 ,to breathe in the sea it  
puts forth gills1 and makes lungs for   
itself when stranded on the land4 ,in   
glacial cold it finds the means of      
growing fur2 when heat and cold assail  
it by turns it packs itself with        
feathers2 when climates become temperate
 it produces hair4 ,for the creature    
which keeps to the water it webs the    
foot2 for that which takes to the trees 
it makes the toes prehensile2 for the   
one which learns to stand erect and run 
along the ground it flattens the sole1  
making it steady and supporting4 ,to    
resist1 to survive1 to win through1 is  
the end to which the life-principle sets
 itself with such singleness of aim as  
to unfold a wealth of potentiality      
astounding to us in looking backward4   
,,viii   ,this was the idea which came  
back to me that autumn at ,versailles1  

and from which in the course of time ,i 
drew my conclusions4  ,briefly1 those   
conclusions were to the effect that as  
individuals we need difficulties to     
overcome1 and that fear is a stimulus to
 overcoming them4 ,otherwise expressed1 
fear loses much of its fearfulness when 
we see it as the summons to putting     
forth new energies4 ,unless we were     
conscious of the energies such a call   
would not reach us4 ,the creatures      
preceding man could have felt no        
misgiving1 since they lacked the        
imagination essential to a dread4 ,such 
fear as they were equal to must have    
seized them in paroxysms of terror when 
calamities threatened to overwhelm them4
 ,if they made good their escape no     
trace of the fear remained behind1 the  
brain having little or no power of      
retention4 ,we may take it for granted  
that the pterodactyl and the trachodon  
had none of the foreboding based on     
experience which destroys the peace of  
man4  ,fear1 as we understand it1 was in

 itself a signal of advance4 ,it could  
only have begun with the exercise of    
reason4 ,arrived at the rudiments of    
memory the creature must have been able 
to perceive1 however dimly1 that the    
thing which had happened might happen   
again4 ,adding the first stirrings of   
imagination he must have constructed    
possible events in which the danger     
would come from the same causes as      
before4 ,with the faculties to remember1
 to reason1 and to imagine all at work  
we reach the first stages of man4  ,man 
was born into fear in that he was born  
into a world of which most of the       
energies were set against him4 ,he was a
 lone thing fighting his own battle4    
,the instinct for association which made
 the mammals different from other       
animals didn't help him much1 since     
association did not bring mutual help as
 a matter of course1 and never has done 
so4 ,a man could count on no one but    
himself4 ,not only were prodigious      
natural forces always menacing him with 

destruction2 not only was the beast his 
enemy and he the enemy of the beast2 but
 his hand was against his fellow-man and
 his fellow-man's hand against him4     
,this mutual hostility followed men in  
their first groupings into communities1 
and only to a degree have we lived it   
down in the twentieth century4  ,perhaps
 this conviction that a man's strength  
lay in standing single-handed against   
circumstance was the first small        
discovery ,i made in my own fight with  
fear4 ,looking back on the developments 
which had brought man into the world ,i 
saw a marvellous power of getting round 
difficulties when you couldn't cut      
through them4 ,just as a river which    
cannot flow over a rock can glide about 
its feet and turn it into a picturesque 
promontory1 so ,i recognised in myself  
an inborn human faculty for sidestepping
 that which blocked my way1 when ,i     
couldn't break it down4  ,i left        
,versailles with just that much to the  
good--a perception that the ages had    

bequeathed me a store of abilities which
 ,i was allowing to lie latent4 ,moving 
into ,paris1 to more cheerful           
surroundings1 ,i took up again the      
writing of the book ,i had abandoned    
more than a year previously4 ,after long
 seclusion ,i began to see a few people1
 finding them responsive and welcoming4 
,my object in stating these unimportant 
details is merely to show that in       
proportion as ,i ceased to show fear the
 life-principle hastened to my aid4     
,little by little ,i came to the belief 
that the world about me was a system of 
co-operative friendliness1 and that it  
was my part to use it in that way4      
,,ix   ,to use it in that way was not   
easy4 ,i was so accustomed to the       
thought of ,nature as a complex of      
self-seeking cruelties1 the strong      
preying on the weak1 and the weak       
defenceless1 that the mere idea of its  
containing a ruling co-operative        
principle seemed at times far-fetched4  
,to the common opinion of the day1 my   

own included1 the conception of a       
universe that would come to a man's aid 
the minute a man came to his own was too
 much like a fairy tale4 ,it may indeed 
be a fairy tale4 ,all ,i know is that in
 my own case it is the way in which it  
seems to have worked4 ,i think ,i have  
caught a glimpse of a constructive use  
for that which ,i had previously thought
 of as only destructive and terrible4   
,this is what ,i mean4 ,the             
life-principle having1 through unknown  
millions of years1 developed the        
conquest-principle by meeting           
difficulties and overcoming them1 the   
difficulties had a value4 ,to man1      
especially1 the menace of ,nature1 the  
ferocity of the beast1 and the enmity of
 his fellow-man furnished the incentive 
to his upward climb4 ,had all been easy 
he would have stayed where he was4 ,he  
would never have called mental powers to
 his physical aid1 nor appealed to      
spiritual faculties when the mental fell
 short of his requirements4 ,spurred on 

by a necessity which grew more urgent in
 proportion as the life-principle       
widened its scope1 the                  
conquest-principle became an impulse    
which would brook no denying4 ,man grew 
by it2 but the fact remains that he     
would not have grown had there been     
nothing for him to struggle with4  ,to  
me it seems basic to the getting rid of 
fear to know that our trials1 of        
whatever nature1 are not motiveless4 ,in
 our present stage of development we    
could hardly do without them4 ,so often 
looking like mere ugly excrescences on  
life they are in reality the branches by
 which we catch on and climb4 ,they are 
not obstacles to happiness for the      
reason that the only satisfying         
happiness we are equal to as yet is that
 of wrestling with the difficult and    
overcoming it4 ,every call of duty has  
its place in this ideal2 every irksome  
job1 every wearisome responsibility4    
,the fact that we are not always aware  
of it in no way annuls the other fact   

that it is so4 ,boredom1 monotony1      
drudgery1 bereavement1 loneliness1 all  
the clamour of unsatisfied ambitions and
 aching sensibilities1 have their share 
in this divine yearning of the spirit to
 grasp what as yet is beyond its reach4 
,all of that hacking of the man to fit  
the job rather than the shaping of the  
job to fit the man1 which is1 ,i        
imagine1 the source of most of the      
discontent on earth1 has its place here1
 as well as the hundreds of things we   
shouldn't do if we were not compelled   
to4 ,whatever summons us to conflict    
summons us to life1 and life1 as we     
learn from a glance at the past1 never  
shirks the challenge4  ,it never shirks 
the challenge1 and1 what is more1 it    
never fails to find the expedient by    
which the new demand is to be satisfied4
 ,to the conquest of fear that plank    
must be foundational4 ,as far as we can 
learn there never was an emergency yet  
which the life-principle was not        
equipped to meet4 ,when all existing    

methods had been used up it invented new
 ones2 when seemingly at the end of its 
new resources it was only beginning to  
go on again4    ,x   ,the deduction ,i  
make is this1 that a law which was      
operative on such a scale before man had
 come into the world at all must be     
still more effective now that we can    
help to carry it out4 ,the              
life-principle is not less ingenious    
than it ever was1 while the             
conquest-principle must have widely     
expanded4 ,it is an axiom in all        
progress that the more we conquer the   
more easily we conquer4 ,we form a habit
 of conquering as insistent as any other
 habit4 ,victory becomes1 to some       
degree1 a state of mind4 ,knowing       
ourselves superior to the anxieties1    
troubles1 and worries which obsess us1  
we are superior4 ,it is a question of   
attitude in confronting them4 ,it is    
more mental than it is material4 ,to be 
in harmony with the life-principle and  
the conquest-principle is to be in      

harmony with power2 and to be in harmony
 with power is to be strong as a matter 
of course4  ,the individual is thus at  
liberty to say3 ,the force which never  
failed before is not likely to fail in  
my case4 ,the fertility of resource     
which circumvented every kind of        
obstacle to make me what ,i am--a       
vertebrate1 breathing1 walking1 thinking
 entity1 capable of some creative       
expression of my own--will probably not 
fall short now that ,i have immediate   
use for it4 ,of what ,i get from the    
past1 prehistoric and historic1 perhaps 
the most subtle distillation is the fact
 that so far is the life-principle from 
balking at need1 need is essential to   
its activity4 ,where there is no need it
 seems to be quiescent2 where there is  
something to be met1 contended with1 and
 overcome1 it is furiously 'on the job4'
 ,that life-principle is my principle4  
,it is the seed from which ,i spring4   
,it is my blood1 my breath1 my brain4 ,i
 cannot cut myself off from it2 it      

cannot cut itself off from me4 ,having  
formed the mastodon to meet one set of  
needs and the butterfly to meet another1
 it will form1 something to meet mine1  
even if something altogether new4 ,the  
new--or what seems new to me--is        
apparently the medium in which it is    
most at home4 ,it repeats itself        
never--not in two rosebuds1 not in two  
snowflakes4 ,who am ,i that ,i should be
 overlooked by it1 or miss being made   
the expression of its infinite energies8
    ,,xi   ,what this reasoning did for 
me from the start was to give me a new  
attitude toward the multifold activity  
we call life4 ,i saw it as containing a 
principle that would work with me if ,i 
could work with it4 ,my working with it 
was the main point1 since it was working
 with me always4 ,exactly what that     
principle was ,i could not at the time  
have said2 ,i merely recognised it as   
being there4  ,the method of working    
with it was simple in idea1 however     
difficult in practice4 ,it was a        

question of my own orientation4 ,i had  
to get mentally into harmony with the   
people and conditions ,i found about me4
 ,i was not to distrust them2 still less
 was ,i to run away from them4 ,i was to
 make a parable of my childish          
experience with the ,skye terrier1      
assuming that life was organised to do  
me good4 ,i remembered how many times   
the ,bible begins some bit of pleading  
or injunction with the words1 ,fear not4
 ,other similar appeals came back to me4
 ,say to them that are of a fearful     
heart1 ,be strong ,i fear not4#a ,quit  
yourselves like men2 be strong4#b ,o man
 greatly beloved1 fear not6 ,peace be   
unto thee6 ,be strong1 yea1 be          
,strong4#c ,when1 at some occasional    
test1 dismay or self-pity took hold of  
me ,i formed a habit of saying to       
myself1 in our expressive ,american     
idiom3 ,this is your special stunt4     
,it's up to you to do this thing just as
 if you had all the facilities4 ,go at  
it boldly1 and you'll find unexpected   

forces closing round you and ,coming to 
your aid4  #a ,the ,book of ,isaiah4  #b
 ,first ,book of ,samuel4  #c ,book of  
,daniel4  ,which is just what ,i did    
find4 ,to an amazing degree people were 
friendly1 while conditions became       
easier4 ,fear diminished because ,i had 
fewer things to be afraid of4 ,having   
fewer things to be afraid of my mind was
 clearer for work4 ,work becoming not   
only more of a resource but more        
remunerative as well1 all life grew     
brighter4 ,fear was not overcome2 ,i had
 only made a more or less hesitating    
stand against it2 but even from doing   
that ,i got positive results4           
,,chapter ,,ii  ,,the ,,life-,,principle
 ,,and ,,god    ,i   ,it is obvious that
 one could not dwell much on the power  
of the life-principle without coming    
sooner or later to the thought of ,god4 
,as already hinted1 ,i did not come to  
it at once because my conception of ,god
 made ,him of so little use to me4  ,and
 yet1 in popular phraseology1 ,i had    

served ,god all my life4 ,that is1      
brought up in an atmosphere in which the
 ,church was a divinely instituted      
system for utilising ,god1 ,i served the
 system1 without getting much beyond the
 surface plane of what were technically 
known as services4 ,when trial came such
 services offered me an anodyne1 but not
 a cure4    ,,ii   ,the first           
suggestion1 that my concept of ,god     
might not be sufficient to my needs came
 out of a conversation in ,new ,york4   
,it was with a lady whom ,i met but that
 once1 within a year or two after my    
experience at ,versailles4 ,i have      
forgotten how we chanced on the subject1
 but ,i remember that she asked me these
 questions3  ,when you think of ,god how
 do you think of ,him8 ,how do you      
picture ,him8 ,what does ,he seem like8 
,trying to reply ,i recognised a certain
 naivete1 a certain childishness1 in my 
words even as ,i uttered them4 ,in my   
thoughts ,i saw ,god as three supernal  
men1 seated on three supernal thrones1  

enshrined in some vague celestial       
portion of space which ,i denominated   
,heaven4 ,between ,him and me there was 
an incalculable distance which ,he could
 bridge but ,i could not4 ,always ,he   
had me at the disadvantage that ,he saw 
what ,i did1 heard what ,i said1 read   
what ,i thought1 punishing me for       
everything amiss1 while ,i could reach  
,him only by the uncertain telephony of 
what ,i understood as prayer4 ,even then
 my telephone worked imperfectly4       
,either the help ,i implored wasn't good
 for me1 or my voice couldn't soar to   
,his throne4  ,the lady smiled1 but said
 nothing4 ,the smile was significant4   
,it made me feel that a ,god who was no 
more than what ,i had described could   
hardly be the ,universal ,father1 and   
set me to thinking on my own account4   
,,iii   ,i wish it were possible to     
speak of ,god without the implication of
 dealing with religion4 ,by this ,i mean
 that ,i am anxious to keep religion out
 of this whole subject of the conquest  

of fear4 ,the minute you touch on       
religion1 as commonly understood1 you   
reach the sectarian4 ,the minute you    
reach the sectarian you start enmities4 
,the minute you start enmities you get  
mental discords4 ,and the minute you get
 mental discords no stand against fear  
is possible4  ,but ,i mean a little more
 than this4 ,man1 as at present         
developed1 has shown that he hardly     
knows what to do with religion1 or where
 to put it in his life4 ,this is        
especially true of the ,caucasian1 the  
least spiritually intelligent of all the
 great types of our race4 ,fundamentally
 the white man is hostile to religion4  
,he attacks it as a bull a red cloak1   
goring it1 stamping on it1 tearing it to
 shreds4 ,with the ,caucasian as he is  
this fury is instinctive4 ,recognising  
religion as the foe of the materialistic
 ideal he has made his own he does his  
best to render it ineffective4  ,of this
 we need no better illustration than the
 state of what we conventionally know as

 ,christendom4 ,christendom as we see it
 is a purely ,caucasian phase of man's  
struggle upward1 with ,caucasian merits 
and ,caucasian defects4 ,nowhere is its 
defectiveness more visible than in what 
the ,caucasian has made of the teaching 
of ,jesus ,christ4 ,it was probably a   
misfortune for the world that almost    
from the beginning that teaching passed 
into ,caucasian guardianship4 ,i see in 
the ,new ,testament no indication on the
 part of ,our ,lord and the ,apostles of
 wishing to separate themselves from    
,semitic co-operation4 ,the former      
taught daily in the ,temple2 the latter1
 as they went about the world1 made the 
synagogue the base of all their         
missions4 ,the responsibility for the   
breach is not under discussion here4 ,it
 is enough to note that it took place1  
and that ,caucasian materialism was thus
 deprived of a counteragent in ,hebrew  
spiritual wisdom4 ,had this corrective  
maintained its place it is possible that
 religion might now be a pervasive      

element in the ,caucasian's life instead
 of being pigeon-holed4    ,,iv   ,the  
,caucasian pigeon-holes ,god4 ,otherwise
 expressed1 he keeps ,god in a specially
 labelled compartment of life1 to be    
brought out for occasional use1 and put 
back when the need is over4 ,it is      
difficult to mention ,god to a          
,caucasian reader without inducing an   
artificial frame of mind4 ,as there are 
people who put on for strangers and     
guests an affected1 unnatural politeness
 different from their usual breezy      
spontaneity1 so the ,caucasian assumes  
at the thought of ,god a mental habit   
which can only be described as          
sanctimonious4 ,god is not natural to   
the ,caucasian2 the ,caucasian is not   
natural with ,god4 ,the mere concept    
takes him into regions in which he feels
 uneasy4 ,he may call his uneasiness    
reserve or reverence1 or by some other  
dignified name2 but at bottom it is     
neither more nor less than uneasiness4  
,to minimise this distress he relegates 

,god to special days1 to special hours1 
to services and ceremonials4 ,he can    
thus wear and bear his uncomfortable    
cloak of gravity for special times1     
after which he can be himself again4 ,to
 appeal to ,god otherwise than according
 to the tacitly accepted protocol is to 
the average ,caucasian either annoying  
or in bad form4  ,i should like1 then1  
to dissociate the thought of ,god from  
the artificial1 sanctimonious1          
preternaturally solemn connotations     
which the ,name is certain to bring up4 
,i want to speak of ,him with the same  
kind of ease as of the life-principle4  
,i repeat1 that ,i never found ,him of  
much use in allaying fear till ,i       
released ,him from the ,caucasian       
pigeon-hole to see ,him1 as it were1 in 
the open4 ,once in the open ,i got rid1 
to some degree1 of the ,caucasian       
limitations of thinking along the lines 
of sect1 just as in the infinitude of   
the air you can forget for a minute     
houses with rooms and walls4 ,the       

discovery--that is1 discovery for       
myself--that ,god is ,universal1 which  
is not so obvious as it sounds1 was1 ,i 
think1 the first great step ,i made in  
finding that within that ,universal fear
 should be impossible4    ,v   ,about   
the same time ,i chanced on a passage   
written by ,joseph ,joubert1 an         
eighteenth-century ,french ,catholic1   
not so well known to the modern reader  
as he ought to be1 which impressed me   
deeply4  ,l'me ne peut se mouvoir1      
s'veiller1 ouvrir les yeux1 sans santir 
,dieu4 ,on sent ,dieu avec l'me comme on
 sent l'air avec le corps4 ,oseraije le 
dire8 ,on connat ,dieu facilement pourvu
 qu'on ne se contraigne pas  le         
definir--,the soul cannot move1 wake1 or
 open the eyes without perceiving ,god4 
,we perceive ,god through the soul as we
 feel air on the body4 ,dare ,i say it8 
,we can know ,god easily so long as we  
do not feel it necessary to define ,him4
  ,i began to see that1 like most       
,caucasian ,christians1 ,i had been     

laying too much stress on the           
definition4 ,the ,trinity had1 so to    
speak1 come between me and the ,godhead4
 ,i had1 unconsciously1 attached more   
importance to ,god's being ,three than  
to ,his being ,god4 ,seeing ,him as     
,three ,i instinctively saw ,him as     
,three ,persons4 ,seeing ,him as ,three 
,persons ,i did not reflect that the    
word ,person as applied to ,god must be 
used in a sense wholly different from   
that in which we employ it with regard  
to men4 ,to get into what ,i call the   
open ,i had to bring myself to          
understand that we cannot enclose the   
,infinite in a shape1 or three shapes1  
resembling in any way the being with    
digestive organs1 arms1 and legs1 which 
worked its way up from slime4  ,that is1
 in order to dwell in the secret place  
of the ,most ,high1#d where one is      
immune from fear1 ,i was obliged to give
 up the habit of embodying ,god in any  
form4 ,i had to confess that what is    
meant by the ,three ,persons in ,one    

,god ,i did not know4 ,furthermore1 ,i  
saw no necessity for thinking that ,i   
knew1 since such knowledge must         
transcend all scope of the human mind4  
,the formula1 if you must have a        
formula1 is one thing2 but the turning  
it into a statute of limitations and    
applying it to the ,illimitable is      
another4  #d ,the ,book of ,psalms4  ,to
 make my position clearer1 and to avoid 
the subject of religion1 let me add     
that1 inferring from the ,bible that    
there is a ,father1 a ,son1 and a ,holy 
,ghost1 ,i did not feel it imperative on
 my part to go beyond this use of terms4
 ,merely to abstain from definition was 
like a load taken off my mind4 ,how the 
,son was begotten of the ,father1 or the
 ,holy ,ghost proceeded from them both1 
or what eternal mysteries were          
symbolised in this purely human         
phraseology1 were1 it seemed to me1     
matters with which ,i need not concern  
myself1 seeing that they passed all my  
comprehension4 ,not the ,trinity should 

come first to powers so limited as      
mine--but ,god4  ,it dawned on me1 too1 
that ,god need not necessarily be to me 
what ,he is to others1 nor to others    
what ,he is to me4 ,of the ,infinite the
 finite mind can only catch a finite    
glimpse4 ,i see what ,i can see2 another
 sees what he can see4 ,the visions may 
be different1 and yet each vision may be
 true4 ,just as two painters painting   
the same landscape will give dissimilar 
views of it1 so two minds contemplating 
,god will take of ,him only what each is
 fitted to receive4 ,water poured into  
differently coloured glasses will take  
on the colour of the cup which it fills1
 even though it be the self-same water  
in them all4 ,if ,i find ,god for myself
 ,i shall probably not behold in ,him   
exactly what anyone else in the whole   
world or in all time has ever beheld in 
,him before4  ,i saw1 too1 that from a  
certain point of view the stand of the  
agnostic is a right one4 ,we cannot know
 ,god in the sense of knowing ,his being

 or ,his ,personality1 any more than we 
can know the essence of the             
life-principle4 ,just as we know the    
life-principle only from what it does1  
so we know ,god only from such          
manifestations of ,himself as reach our 
observation4 ,everything else is        
inference4 ,because we see something of 
,his goodness we infer that ,he is good2
 because we experience something of ,his
 love we infer that ,he is loving2      
because we behold something of ,his     
power we infer that ,he is almighty4 ,it
 is first of all a matter of drawing our
 conclusions1 and then of making those  
conclusions the food of the inner       
spiritual man whose life is independent 
of the mortal heart and brain4 ,but a   
sense in which ,god is unknowable to us 
has to be admitted4  ,i make this       
statement now in order not to be        
misunderstood when later ,i may say that
 ,god must be this or that4 ,though ,i  
shall do so for the sake of brevity it  
will always be in the sense that1 if    

,god is what we have inferred from ,his 
manifestations1 ,he must be this or     
that4 ,in other words1 having to some   
degree worked my own way out of fear ,i 
must tell how ,i came to feel that ,i   
know the ,unknowable1 doing it with the 
inexact phraseology which is all ,i find
 to hand4    ,,vi   ,reaching the       
conclusions noted above ,i was relieved 
of the pressure of traditions and       
instructions4 ,traditions and           
instructions helped me in that they     
built the ship in which ,i was to put to
 sea4 ,the discoveries had to be my own4
 ,the ,god of whom ,i had heard at my   
mother's knee1 as the phrase goes1 had  
always been shadowy to me2 the ,god who 
was served by services had always seemed
 remote4 ,a ,god who should be my ,god1 
as the psalmists say so often1 must1 ,i 
felt1 be found by me myself1 through    
living1 searching1 suffering1 and       
struggling onward a step or two at a    
time4 ,that's pretty near free-thinking1
 isn't it8 a clergyman1 to whom ,i tried

 to explain myself1 once said to me4    
,no1 ,i replied2 but it is pretty near  
thinking free4  ,to think freely about  
,god became a first necessity2 to think 
simply a second one4 ,the ,universal    
,father had been almost lost to me      
behind veil after veil of complexities4 
,the approaches to ,him seemed to have  
been made so roundabout1 requiring so   
many intermediaries4 ,long before ,i had
 dared to think of what ,i may call     
emancipation1 the scheme of salvation1  
as it was termed1 had struck me as an   
excessively complicated system of       
machinery1 considering the millions upon
 millions who had need of it4 ,in theory
 you were told1 according to ,st4 ,paul1
 to come boldly before the throne of the
 heavenly grace1 but in practice you    
were expected to do it timidly4  ,you   
were expected to do it timidly because  
the pigeon-holed ,caucasian ,god was    
represented--unconsciously perhaps--as  
difficult1 ungenial1 easily offended4   
,he measured your blindness and weakness

 by the standard of ,his own knowledge  
and almightiness4 ,a puritan ,god1      
extremely preoccupied with morals as    
some people saw them1 ,he was lenient1  
apparently1 to the narrow-minded1 the   
bitter of tongue1 and the intolerant in 
heart4 ,he was not generous4 ,he was    
merciful only when you paid for ,his    
mercy in advance4 ,to a not             
inconsiderable degree ,he was the hard  
,caucasian business man1 of whom ,he was
 the reflection1 only glorified and     
crowned4  ,it will be evident1 of       
course1 that ,i am not speaking of the  
,father of the ,new ,testament1 nor of  
the official teaching of any church or  
theology4 ,to the rank and file of      
,caucasians the ,father of the ,new     
,testament is very little known1 while  
the official teaching of churches and   
theologies is so hard to explain that   
not much of it gets over to the masses  
of those willing to subscribe to it4 ,i 
refer only to the impression on the mind
 of the man in the street2 and to the   

man in the street ,god1 as he           
understands ,him1 is neither a very     
friendly nor a very comprehensible      
element in life4 ,instead of mitigating 
fear ,he adds to it1 not in the         
,biblical sense of fearing ,god1 but in 
that of sheer animal distrust4    ,,vii 
,while turning these things over in my  
mind ,i got some help from two of the   
words most currently in ,christian use4 
,i had long known that the ,english     
equivalents of the ,latin equivalents of
 the terms the ,new ,testament writers  
used gave but a distorted idea of the   
original sense2 but ,i had let that     
knowledge lie fallow4  ,the first of    
these words was ,repentance4 ,in these  
syllables there is almost no hint of the
 idea which fell from the evangelistic  
pen1 while the word has been soaked in  
emotional and sentimental associations  
it was never intended to be mixed with4 
,the ,metanoia2 which painted a sober1  
reflective turning of the mind1 had been
 so overcharged with the dramatic that  

sober1 reflective people could hardly   
use the expression any more4 ,repentance
 had come to have so strong a gloss of  
the hysterical as to be almost          
discredited by men of common sense4 ,it 
was a relief1 therefore1 to remember    
that it implied no more than a turning  
to ,god by a process of thought2 and    
that a process of thought would find    
,him4  ,the other word was ,salvation4  
,here again our term of ,latin          
derivation gives no more than the       
faintest impression of the beauty beyond
 beauty in that which the sacred writer 
used4 ,soteria--a ,safe ,return6 ,that  
is all4 ,nothing complicated2 nothing   
high-strung2 nothing casuistical4 ,only 
a--,safe ,return6 ,yet all human        
experience can be read into the little  
phrase1 with all human liberty to       
wander--and come back4 ,true1 one son   
may never leave the ,father's home1 so  
that all that it contains is his2 but   
there is no restraint on the other son  
from getting his knowledge as he will1  

even to the extent of becoming a        
prodigal4 ,the essential is in the ,safe
 ,return1 the ,soteria1 when the harlots
 and the husks have been tried and found
 wanting4  ,i do not exaggerate when ,i 
say that the simplicity of these        
conceptions was so refreshing as almost 
to give me a new life4 ,one could say to
 ,god1 with the psalmist1 ,thou art my  
hiding place2 thou shalt preserve me    
from trouble2 thou shalt compass me     
about with songs of deliverance--and    
mean it4 ,one could conceive of it as   
possible to turn toward ,him--and reach1
 the objective4 ,the way was open2 the  
access was free2 the progress as rapid  
as thought could make it4 ,one could    
think of oneself as knowing ,god1 and be
 aware of no forcing of the note4  ,we  
can know ,god easily so long as we do   
not feel it necessary to define ,him4   
,once having grasped this truth ,i began
 to see how natural knowing ,god became4
 ,the difficulty of the forced1 of the  
artificial1 of the mere assent to what  

other people say1 of which the          
,caucasian to his credit is always      
impatient1 seemed by degrees to melt    
away from me4 ,no longer defining ,god  
,i no longer tried to know ,him in      
senses obviously impossible4 ,i ceased  
trying to imagine ,him4 ,seeing ,him as 
infinite1 eternal1 changeless1 formless 
because transcending form1 and          
indescribable because transcending words
 and thoughts1 ,i could give myself up  
to finding ,him in the ways in which ,he
 would naturally be revealed to me4     
,,viii   ,these1 of course1 were in ,his
 qualities and ,his works4  ,let me     
speak of the latter first4  ,i think    
light was the medium through which ,i at
 once felt myself to be seeing ,god4 ,by
 this ,i mean nothing pantheistic--not  
that the light was ,god--but ,god's     
first and most evident great sign4 ,then
 there was the restful darkness4 ,there 
were the moon and the stars1 the hosts  
of heaven1 as the ,hebrews aptly called 
them1 becoming more and more amazing as 

an expression of ,god the more we learn 
how to read them4 ,then there were the  
elements1 the purifying wind1 the       
fruitful rain1 the exhilaration of      
snow-storms1 the action and reaction    
from heat and cold4 ,then there was     
beauty3 first1 the beauty of the earth1 
of mountains1 of seas1 and all waters1  
of meadows1 grainfields1 orchards1      
gardens1 and all growing things2 then1  
the beauty of sound1 from the soughing  
of the wind in the pines to the song of 
the hermit-thrush4 ,there was the beauty
 wrought by man1 music1 painting1       
literature1 and all art4 ,there were the
 myriad forms of life4 ,there were      
kindness and friendship and family      
affection and fun--but the time would   
fail me6 ,god being the summing up of   
all good things1 since all good things  
proceed from ,him1 must be seen by me in
 all good things it ,i am to see ,him at
 all4  ,i had heard from childhood of a 
world in which ,god was seen1 and of    
another world1 this world1 in which ,he 

was not seen4 ,i came to the conclusion 
that there was no such fantastic1       
unnatural division in what we call      
creation--that there was only one       
world--the world in which ,god is seen4 
,the soul cannot move1 wake1 or open the
 eyes without perceiving ,god4 ,it is a 
question of physical vision1 with       
spiritual comprehension4    ,,ix        
,seeing ,god breaking through all that  
,i had previously thought of as         
barriers1 it was easy to begin to think 
of ,him as ,universal4 ,i say begin to  
think1 because ,god's ,infinitude had   
been only a word to me hitherto1 not a  
quality realised and felt4 ,i do not    
presume to say that to any adequate     
degree ,i feel and realise it now2 but  
the habit of looking on every good thing
 as a sign of ,his activity cannot but  
bring ,him close to me4  ,that is my    
chief point with regard to the          
,infinite--that it must be here4 ,as ,i 
used to think of infinity ,i saw it     
stretching to boundless reaches away    

from me2 but only from the point of view
 of present ,good being present ,god did
 the value of the ,infinite come to lie 
in its nearness rather than in its power
 of filling unimaginable space4 ,on my  
part it was inverse mental action1      
seeking ,god where ,i was capable of    
finding ,him1 and not in regions ,i     
could never range4  ,but having grasped 
the fact that the ,universal1 wherever  
else it was1 must be with me the purely 
abstract became a living influence4 ,i  
felt this the more when to the concept  
of ,infinitude ,i added that of         
,intelligence4 ,i use the much-worked   
word intelligence because there is no   
other2 but when one thinks for a second 
of what must be the understanding of an 
,infinite ,mind1 intelligence as a      
descriptive term becomes absurdly       
inadequate4  ,this was the next fact    
which1 if ,i may so express myself1 ,i  
made my own--that not only the          
,universal is ever with me1 but that it 
is ever with me with ever-active        

concern4 ,there was a time when it was  
hard for me to believe that a ,mind     
busied with the immensities of the      
universe could come down to such trivial
 affairs as mine4 ,important as ,i might
 be to myself ,i could hardly be        
otherwise than lost amid the billions of
 forms of life which had come into      
existence through the ages4 ,to the     
,three in ,one1 on the ,great ,white    
,throne1 in the far-away ,heaven1 ,i    
must be a negligible thing1 except when 
,i forced myself on the divine          
attention4 ,even then it was hardly     
conceivable that1 with whole solar      
systems to regulate1 ,i could claim more
 than a passing glance from the         
all-seeing eye4  ,but to an ,infinite   
,mind bathing me round and round ,i must
 be as much the object of regard as any 
solar system4 ,to such a ,mind nothing  
is small1 no one thing farther from its 
scope than another4 ,god could have no  
difficulty in attending to me1 seeing   
that from the nature of ,his mental     

activity1 to put it in that way1 ,he    
could not lose sight of me nor let me   
go4 ,when an object is immersed in water
 it gives no extra trouble to the water 
to close round it4 ,it can't help doing 
it4 ,the object may be as small as a    
grain of dust or as big as a warship2 to
 the water it is all the same4 ,immersed
 in the ,infinite ,mind1 closed round by
 it1 it was giving ,god no extra trouble
 to think of me1 of my work1 my desires1
 the objects with which ,i was living1  
since by the nature of ,his ,being ,he  
could do nothing else4  ,having         
established it with myself that         
,universal ,presence was also ,universal
 ,thought ,i had made another step      
toward the elimination of fear4 ,i took 
still another when ,i added the truth of
 ,universal ,love4  ,i need hardly say  
that this progression was not of        
necessity in a strictly consecutive     
order1 nor did it come by a process of  
reasoning out from point to point4 ,i   
was simply the man in the street dealing

 with great ideas of which he had heard 
ever since he had been able to hear     
anything1 but trying at last to see what
 they meant to him4 ,my position might  
have been described in the words used by
 ,william ,james in one of his ,letters 
to indicate his own4 ,the ,divine1 for  
my active life1 is limited to abstract  
concepts1 which1 as ideals1 interest and
 determine me1 but do so but faintly1 in
 comparison with what a feeling of ,god 
might effect1 if ,i had one4 ,it is     
largely a question of intensity1 but    
differences of intensity may make the   
whole centre of one's energy shift4 ,i  
did have a feeling of ,god however      
vague2 but ,i had more of the feeling of
 a ,church4 ,i could dimly discern the  
,way1 without going on to the ,truth and
 the ,life which give the ,way its      
value4 ,it will be evident then that if 
my discoveries along these lines were   
discoveries in the obvious1 it was in   
that obvious to which we mortals so     
often remain blind4  ,during many years 

the expression1 the love of ,god1 was to
 me like a winter sunshine1 bright      
without yielding warmth4 ,i liked the   
words2 ,i knew they expressed a truth2  
but between me and the truth there was  
the same kind of distance which ,i felt 
to lie between myself and ,god4 ,it is  
largely a question of intensity1 to     
repeat what has just been quoted from   
,william ,james1 but differences of     
intensity may make the whole centre of  
one's energy shift4 ,my conception of   
the love of ,god lacked just that       
quality--intensity4  ,it came1 to some  
degree1 with the realisation that the   
,universal ,thought must be with me4 ,a 
non-loving ,universal ,thought was too  
monstrous a concept to entertain4 ,the  
,god who broke through my many          
misunderstandings with so much good and 
beauty could have only one predominating
 motive4 ,the coming of my spiritual    
being to this planet might be a mystery 
wrapped in darkness1 and yet ,i could   
not but believe that the ,universal     

,father was behind that coming and that 
,i was ,his son4 ,i could rest my case  
there4 ,the love of ,god1 after having  
long been like a doctrinal tenet for    
which one had to strive1 became         
reasonable1 natural1 something to be    
understood4 ,finding that love in so    
many places in which ,i had seen mere   
physical phenomena1 and in so many      
lovely things ,i had never placed to its
 credit1 ,i began to feel that life     
could be infused and transformed by it1 
in proportion as my own perception grew4
 ,so1 little by little1 the centre of   
energy shifted1 as one came to          
understand what the ,sons of ,korah     
meant when they sang1 ,god is our refuge
 and strength1 a very present help in   
trouble4 ,therefore will we not fear    
though the earth be removed1 and though 
the mountains be carried into1 the midst
 of the sea4#e ,with ,universal ,thought
 concentrated in love upon oneself fear 
must be forced backward4  #e ,the ,book 
of ,psalms4  ,and especially when you   

add to that the concept of ,almighty    
,power4 ,this fourth and last of the    
great attributes is the one with which  
,i1 as an individual1 have found it most
 difficult to clothe the ,infinite4 ,i  
mean that it is the one for which it is 
hardest for me to develop what ,william 
,james calls a feeling1 an inner        
realisation4 ,i lay no stress upon this4
 ,it is a question of growth4 ,the      
,presence1 the ,thought1 the ,love have 
become to me what ,i may be permitted to
 call tremulously vivid4 ,in proportion 
as they are vivid ,i get the feeling of 
,almightiness exercised on my behalf2 in
 proportion as they are tremulous the   
,almightiness may remain in my          
consciousness1 but it seems exercised on
 my behalf but slightly4  ,in other     
words1 the ,infinitude of ,thought and  
,love are1 to some extent1 apprehended  
by my inner self1 while the ,infinitude 
of ,power is as yet to me rather an     
intellectual abstraction4 ,what my inner
 self may be ,i am not prepared to say1 

but ,i know that it is there1 as        
everyone else knows that it is in him4  
,strengthened with might by the ,spirit 
in the inner man1#f is what ,st4 ,paul  
says1 and ,i suppose most of us         
recognise the fact that our inner self  
is stronger or weaker in proportion as  
it is more nourished or less nourished  
by our sense of the ,being of ,god4 ,it 
is largely a question of intensity4 ,if 
,i interpret ,william ,james aright he  
means by a feeling an intellectual      
concept after it has passed beyond the  
preliminary keeping of the brain1 and   
become the possession of that inner man 
which is the vital self4 ,to this vital 
self the sense of ,almighty ,power      
really used for me is still1 to a great 
degree1 outside my range4  #f ,epistle  
to the ,ephesians4  ,i make the         
confession not because it is of         
interest1 but because it illustrates a  
main deduction which ,i should now like 
to draw4 ,it is to the effect that ,god 
is with us to be utilised4 ,his ,power1 

,his ,love1 ,his ,thought1 ,his         
,presence1 must be at our disposal1 like
 other great forces1 such as sunshine   
and wind and rain4 ,we can use them or  
not1 as we please4 ,that we could use   
them to their full potentiality is1 of  
course1 not to be thought of2 but we can
 use them in proportion to our ability4 
,if ,i1 the individual1 still lack many 
things2 if ,i am still a prey to        
lingering fears2 it is probably because 
,i have not yet rooted out a stubborn   
disbelief in ,his ,power4 ,if ,i succeed
 in this ,i shall doubtless be able to  
seize more of ,his bounty4 ,it is not a 
question of ,his giving1 but of my      
capacity to take4  ,the contrary1 ,i    
venture to think1 is the point of view  
of most of us4 ,we consider ,god        
somewhat as we do a wealthy man whom we 
know to be a miser1 forming the shrewd  
surmise that we shall not get much out  
of him4 ,the ,god who fails to protect  
us from fear fails1 ,i believe1 because 
we see ,him first of all as a niggard   

,god4 ,he is a niggard not merely with  
regard to money but all the good things 
for which ,he has given us a desire1    
with no intention of allowing that      
desire to be gratified4 ,once more1 ,he 
is the hard ,caucasian business man1    
whom ,his subordinates serve because    
they don't see what else to do1 but whom
 they rarely love4  ,we shall not1 in my
 judgment1 overcome fear till we see    
,him as ,he surely must be1 generous    
beyond all our conceptions of           
generosity4 ,years1 experience1 many    
trials1 and some knowledge of the world1
 have convinced me that we have no      
lawful or harmless cravings for which1  
as far as ,god is concerned1 there is   
not abundant satisfaction4 ,i am        
convinced that absolute confidence in   
,god's overflowing liberality of every  
sort is essential to the conquest of    
fear4 ,if we don't profit by that       
liberality the fault is not ,his but our
 own4 ,i am tempted to think that the   
belief of so many generations of nominal

 ,christians in a ,god whose power was  
chiefly shown in repressions1 denials1  
and capricious disappointments is       
responsible1 in so small measure1 for   
our present world-distress4  ,in my own 
case it was a matter of re-education4   
,to find ,god for myself ,i had to be   
willing to let some of my old cherished 
ideas go4 ,they may have been true of   
,god as ,he reveals ,himself to others2 
they are not true of ,him as ,he makes  
,himself known to me4 ,the ,way that    
leads me to the ,truth and the ,life is 
undoubtedly the ,way ,i must follow4    
,doing that ,i have found so much1      
mentally1 emotionally1 materially1 which
 ,i never had before1 that ,i cannot but
 look for more as my absorbing power    
increases4 ,the process is akin to that 
of the unshrivelling of the inner man1  
as a bud will unfold when the sunshine  
becomes strong enough4 ,the             
transformation must be in thought4      
,there must be first the ,metanoia1 the 
change of mind1 the new set of concepts2

 and then the ,soteria1 the ,safe       
,return1 to the high1 sane ideal of a   
co-operative ,universe1 with a loving1  
lavish ,universal ,heart behind it4  ,to
 the chief ,musician for the ,sons of   
,korah3  ',god is our refuge and        
strength1 a very present help in        
trouble4 ,therefore will we not fear    
though the earth be removed1 and though 
the mountains be carried into the midst 
of the sea4444 ,come1 behold the works  
of the ,lord4444 ,he maketh wars to     
cease unto the end of the earth2 he     
breaketh the bow1 he cutteth the spear  
in sunder1 he burneth the chariot in the
 fire4444 ,be still then1 and know that 
,i am ,god1'#g  #g ,book of ,psalms4    
,,chapter ,,iii  ,,god ,,and ,,his      
,,self-,,expression    ,i   ,it will be 
clear from what ,i have said already    
that ,i see no fundamental conquest of  
fear that is not based in ,god4 ,there  
may be knacks by which fear can be      
nipped and expedients by which it may be
 outwitted1 but its extermination can be

 brought about1 it seems to me1 only in 
one way4 ,according to our capacity and 
our individual needs we must know ,god2 
and knowing ,god is not as difficult as 
the ,caucasian mind is apt to think4 ,it
 stands to reason that if knowing ,god1 
in the senses in which it is possible to
 know ,him1 is so essential to mankind  
it could not be difficult4 ,the making  
it difficult is part of the dust the    
,caucasian throws in his own eyes4  ,we 
know ,god through ,his                  
,self-,expression1 and ,his             
,self-,expression is round about us in  
every form4 ,except through ,his        
,self-,expression there is no way of our
 knowing ,him4 ,no speculation or theory
 will teach us to know ,him4 ,it must be
 ,his own revelation of ,himself1 or    
nothing4    ,,ii   ,such little         
knowledge of ,him as has come to me came
 much more freely when ,i began to look 
for that revelation not alone in solemn 
mysteries1 or through the mediumship of 
prophets1 apostles1 and ancient         

scriptures1 but in the sights and sounds
 and happenings of every day4 ,here ,i  
must ask not to be misunderstood4 ,the  
solemn mysteries have their place1 but  
it is one of climax4 ,the mediumship of 
prophets1 apostles1 and ancient         
scriptures is of unreckonable value1    
after ,i have done something for myself4
 ,by this ,i do not mean that all cannot
 work together simultaneously1 but      
rather that it is useless for the soul  
to strike only at the more advanced1    
having ignored the elementary4  ,as ,i  
write ,i look out on a street full of   
the touches of spring4 ,the rain-washed 
grass is of bright new green4 ,the elms 
are in tenderest leaf1 the hawthorn     
bursting into flower4 ,here and there a 
yellow clump of forsythia is like a spot
 of sunshine4 ,tulips are opening their 
variegated cups1 and daffodils line the 
walls4 ,dogs are capering about1 a      
collie1 a setter1 a ,boston terrier4    
,birds are carrying straws or bits of   
string to weave into their nests--or    

singing--or flying--or perching on      
boughs4 ,children are playing--boys on  
bicycles eagerly racing nowhere--little 
girls with arms round each others'      
waists1 prattling after their kind4     
,overhead is a sky of that peculiar blue
 for which the ,chinese have a word     
which means the blue of the sky after   
rain1 a hue which only these masters in 
colour have1 to my knowledge1 specially 
observed4  ,how can ,i help seeing so   
much beauty and sweetness as the        
manifestation of ,god8 ,how could ,he   
show ,himself to me more smilingly8 ,how
 can ,i talk of not seeing ,god when ,i 
see this8 ,true1 it may be no more than 
the tip of the fringe of the hem of the 
robe in which ,his ,being is arrayed2   
but at least it must be that4 ,true1    
also1 that beautiful as these things    
appear to physical eyes they must be    
still more beautiful to spiritual       
eyes--the eyes of those who have passed 
on1 for instance--to say nothing of the 
delight which ,god must have in them    

,himself4 ,but even with my imperfect   
mortal vision they are rapturously good1
 a veritable glimpse of the ,divine4    
,this is what ,i mean by the            
elementary--the common1 primary thing1  
the thing ,i look at every day and      
hardly ever accredit to its source4 ,i  
am not speaking pantheistically here1   
any more than when ,i spoke of light4   
,these things are not ,god1 or part of  
,god4 ,they are expressions of ,god4 ,if
 ,i speak of seeing ,god in them ,i mean
 that in them1 as well as in many other 
simple things1 we see ,him as nearly as 
is possible to such comprehension as    
ours4 ,no human eye1 writes ,st4 ,john1 
has ever seen ,god3 the only ,son1 who  
is in the ,father's bosom--,he has made 
,him known4#h ,he made ,him known in    
,his own ,person2 but ,he appealed also 
to the everyday sights and sounds1 the  
lily of the field1 the blowing wind1 the
 sparrow falling1 the children at their 
mothers' knees1 for the evidence to     
declare ,him4 ,as expressions of ,him   

they may be misinterpreted by the error 
in my physical senses1 or distorted by  
my limitations of spiritual perception2 
but even then they bring ,him near to me
 in the kind of radiance which ,i can   
catch4  #h ,most of the quotations from 
the ,new ,testament are taken from a    
recent translation1 ,the ,new ,testament
 in ,modern ,speech1 by ,r4,f4 ,weymouth
 and ,e4 ,hampden-,cook4    ,,iii   ,in 
order to banish fear ,i think it        
necessary to train the thought to seeing
 ,god as expressing ,himself in all the 
good and pleasant and enjoyable things  
that come to us4 ,this means forming a  
habit4 ,it means saying to oneself      
daily1 hourly1 ,this is ,god1 ,that is  
,god1 of incidents1 persons1 and things 
we have rarely thought of in that       
relation4 ,to do this is not as easy as 
it would be if our race-mind worked that
 way2 but unfortunately it does not4 ,in
 general we take our good things for    
granted1 complaining that they are not  
better4 ,the things we lack are more    

vivid to us1 as a rule1 than those we   
have acquired4 ,having hung1 as it were1
 a cloud about ourselves we disregard   
the uncountable ways in which ,god      
persists in shining through1 in spite of
 our efforts to shut ,him out4  ,to try 
to enumerate the uncountable would be   
folly4 ,you cannot reckon the good which
 comes to every one of us through such  
channels as family1 home1 friendship1   
income1 business1 amusements1 studies1  
holidays1 journeys1 sports1 books1      
pictures1 music1 and the other hardly   
noticed pleasures of any single day4 ,we
 are used to them4 ,to ascribe them     
specially to ,god would seem to us      
far-fetched4 ,that is1 theoretically we 
may ascribe them to ,god1 but           
practically we dissociate ,him from     
them4 ,few of us1 ,i think1 ever pause  
to remember that through them ,he is    
making ,himself known to us before doing
 it in any other way4  ,and yet1 it     
seems to me1 this is the beginning of   
our recognition of the ,divine4 ,i have 

little hesitation in saying that this is
 what parents should teach children     
before they teach them to lisp prayers4 
,the prayers have hardly any meaning to 
the baby-mind1 and not much more than a 
sentimental influence on the later life1
 if they have as much as that4 ,but any 
child1 from the very budding of the     
intelligence1 could grasp the idea of a 
great1 loving ,super-,father1 who was   
making ,himself visible through gifts   
and care4 ,if he prayed to ,him later he
 would know to whom he was praying4 ,as 
it is1 the later prayers are neglected1 
or definitely given up1 oftener than    
not1 because this is precisely what the 
child does not know4 ,he does not know  
it because he was never taught it2 and  
he was never taught it because his      
parents have probably not been aware of 
it themselves4    ,,iv   ,i myself was  
never taught it4 ,notwithstanding all   
for which ,i am truly grateful1 ,i      
regret most deeply that so many years of
 my life went by before ,i was led to   

the fact4 ,i am willing to believe that 
the lack of understanding was my own    
fault1 but a lack of understanding there
 was4 ,i got the impression that ,god1  
so far from making ,himself known to me1
 was hiding away from me1 and that ,i   
must have faith to believe in ,one of   
whom ,i had no more than hearsay        
evidence4 ,if ,i could do this violence 
to such measure of reason as ,i         
possessed ,i could count on a reward in 
some other world than this1 though on   
little or nothing here4  ,faith ,i saw  
as of the nature of a tour de force4    
,you took it as you took a leap4 ,it was
 spiritually acrobatic4 ,you didn't     
understand but you believed4 ,the less  
you understood the more credit your     
belief became to you4 ,the more hidden  
and difficult and mysterious and        
unintelligible ,god made ,himself the   
greater your merit in having faith in   
spite of everything4 ,i am far from     
saying that this is the common          
understanding of ,christians1 or from   

holding others responsible for my       
misconceptions4 ,i speak of these       
misconceptions only because they were   
mine1 and it was ,i who had to work away
 from them4  ,for this reason1 too1 ,i  
speak of my reaching the idea of a ,god 
who had been visibly smiling at me all  
my life while ,i had never seen ,him1 as
 a discovery4 ,to me it was a discovery2
 and it came at a moment when ,i sorely 
needed something of the kind4    ,v     
,it was perhaps three or four years     
after the turning-point at ,versailles4 
,the intervening time had been one of   
what ,i may call spiritual ups and      
downs4 ,it had not all been straight    
progress by any means4 ,i had got hold  
of what for me was a great idea1 round  
which other great ideas grouped         
themselves2 but ,i grasped them         
waveringly or intermittently4           
,nevertheless1 during seasons in        
,boston1 ,nice1 ,cannes1 ,munich1       
,london1 and ,berlin1 life on the whole 
went hopefully4 ,the malady ,i have     

already mentioned tended to grow better 
rather than worse2 the advancing        
blindness became definitely arrested4 ,i
 worked easily1 happily1 successfully4  
,returning to the ,new ,england city    
which had become my adopted home1 ,i    
bought a house and settled down to      
,american life once more4  ,i mention   
these facts only because they help me to
 make myself clearer4 ,for all at once  
my affairs1 like the chariots of        
,pharaoh in crossing the ,red ,sea1     
began to drive heavily4 ,trust in an    
all-conquering life-principle which had 
meant much to me for a time no longer   
seemed effective4 ,difficulties massed  
themselves4 ,business misunderstandings 
sprang up4 ,friendships on which ,i had 
counted suddenly grew cold4 ,worse than 
all1 the working impulse gave out4      
,there were two whole years in which ,i 
slaved at producing little more than    
what had to be thrown away4 ,my active  
life had apparently come to another     
deadening full stop4  ,i reached the    

decision that there was but one thing to
 do--give up the pretence at working1   
sell the house to which ,i had grown    
attached1 and resume once more the life 
of aimless1 but at that time            
inexpensive1 ,european wandering4 ,there
 came a day when ,i actually offered my 
house for sale4  ,and yet that day      
proved to be another turning-point4 ,on 
the very morning when ,i had put my     
house in the market the chain of small  
events which we commonly call accidents 
brought me into touch with a man ,i had 
never seen before4 ,during a first      
meeting1 as well as in several that     
followed1 he made certain matters clear 
to me which changed my course not only  
then but ever since4 ,these explanations
 came under three distinct headings1 to 
each of which ,i should like to give a  
little space4    ,,vi   ,of these the   
one ,i put first is probably familiar to
 most of my readers1 but to me1 ,i      
confess1 it was new4  ,god among ,his   
other functions must be a tireless      

activity working towards an end4        
,everything ,he calls into being works  
toward that end1 ,i myself with the     
rest4 ,i am not a purposeless bit of    
jetsam flung out on the ocean of time to
 be tossed about helplessly4 ,god       
couldn't so will an existence4 ,it would
 not be in keeping with ,his economy to 
have any entity wasted4 ,as ,our ,lord  
puts it1 the sparrow cannot fall without
 ,him2 without ,him the lilies are not  
decked2 the knowledge possessed by ,his 
infinite intelligence is so minute that 
the very hairs of the head are numbered4
 ,my life1 my work1 myself--all are as  
much a necessary part of ,his design as 
the thread the weaver weaves into the   
pattern in a carpet4  ,in other words1  
,i am not a free agent4 ,i am ,his      
agent4 ,not only am ,i responsible to   
him1 but ,he is responsible for me4 ,his
 responsibility for me will be seen as  
soon as ,i give up being responsible for
 myself4  ,it was upon this last point  
that ,i seized with most avidity4 ,i was

 tired of trying to steer a course for  
myself1 with no compass to go by4 ,i was
 tired of incessantly travelling along  
roads which seemed to lead to nothing   
but blind-ends4 ,to change the figure to
 one ,i used not infrequently at that   
time1 my life seemed pitchforked1 first 
in one way and then in another1 no way  
bringing me anywhere4 ,it had no even   
tenor4 ,it was a series of seismic pulls
 and jerks4  ,but in the light of what  
my new friend told me ,i saw ,i had been
 too busily engaged in directing my life
 for myself4 ,i was like a child who    
hopes to make a smoothly working machine
 go still more smoothly by prodding it4 
,i couldn't leave it alone4 ,it had not 
occurred to me that the course of that  
life was ,god's own business1 and that  
if ,i could follow the psalmist's advice
 and commit my way unto him he would    
bring it to pass4 ,it had seemed to me  
that nothing would be brought to pass   
unless ,i worried and fretted over it   
myself1 whereas the same wise old       

psalmist says1 in words which our       
generation would do well to lay to      
heart1 fret not thyself else shall thou 
be moved to do evil4  ,trust in the     
,lord and do good1 he goes on2 so shalt 
thou dwell in the land1 and verily thou 
shalt be fed4 ,delight thyself also in  
the ,lord1 and he shall give thee the   
desires of thine heart4  ,this was      
nothing new2 it was only new to me4 ,to 
feel that ,i could give up being        
responsible for results and devote      
myself to my work was in itself a       
relief4 ,if ,i tried to trust in the    
,lord and do good--by which ,i suppose  
is meant doing my duty to the best of my
 small ability--,he would look after the
 rest4 ,my position was somewhat that of
 a trusted subordinate given a free     
hand1 but having over him a supreme     
authority taking charge of all          
consequences4 ,i was not working on what
 our modern idiom neatly summarises as  
my own4 ,i was ,his agent4  ,thus it    
might be said to be to ,his interest to 

see that as ,his agent ,i was sheltered1
 clothed1 fed1 and in every way kept in 
such condition as to be up to the       
highest standard of ,his work4 ,this    
provision would naturally include those 
dependent on me1 and without whose      
well-being ,i could not have peace of   
mind4 ,i need worry about them no more  
than about myself4 ,they1 too1 were ,his
 agents4 ,in certain conditions ,he     
might provide for them through me1 or in
 certain conditions ,he might provide   
for me through them2 but in all         
conditions ,he would provide for all of 
us4    ,,vii   ,the second point was    
this3 those with whom ,i had had        
misunderstandings were equally ,his     
agents4 ,they might not be more aware of
 the fact than ,i2 but this in no way   
disqualified them as ,his trusted       
subordinates given a free hand4 ,their  
work with me and mine with them1        
whatever its nature1 wrought one of the 
infinite number of blends going to make 
up the vast complexity of ,his design4  

,it was1 therefore1 out of the range of 
possibility that under ,him there could 
be opposition or contradiction between  
one of ,his agents and another4 ,it     
would be inconsistent with ,his being   
that one man's advantage should be      
brought about at another man's cost4    
,where that was apparently the case it  
was due to both sides taking the        
authority into their own hands1 and     
neither sufficiently recognising ,him4  
,if ,his trusted subordinates in being  
given a free hand played ,him false1    
they naturally played each other false1 
and played false to themselves first of 
all4 ,where one was afraid of another   
and strove to outwit him there was      
treachery against the supreme command4  
,again there was nothing new in this2   
but to me it was a new point of view    
with regard to those with whom and for  
whom ,i worked4 ,for the first time ,i  
saw their true relation to me1 as mine  
to them1 and something of the principle 
of brotherhood4 ,up to this time        

brotherhood had been a charming1        
sentimental word to me1 and not much    
more4 ,children of one ,father1 yes2 but
 discordant children1 with no restraint 
that ,i could see on their natural      
cut-throat enmities4  ,but here was a   
truth which made all other men my       
necessary helpmates1 and me the         
necessary helpmate of all other men4 ,i 
couldn't do without them2 they couldn't 
do without me4 ,hostility between us was
 as out of place as between men pulling 
together on the rope which is to save   
all their lives4 ,if peril could bring  
about unity ,god could bring it about   
even more effectively4 ,god was the     
great positive1 the solvent in which    
irritation and unfriendliness must      
necessarily melt away4    ,,viii   ,the 
third point1 involving my obvious first 
step1 was to put suspicion out of my own
 mind4 ,i was to see myself as ,god's   
,self-,expression working with others   
who were also ,his ,self-,expression to 
the same extent as ,i4 ,it was in the   

fact of our uniting together to produce 
,his ,self-,expression that ,i was to   
look for my security4 ,no one could     
effectively work against me while ,i was
 consciously trying to work with ,god4  
,moreover1 it was probable that no one  
was working against me1 or had any      
intention of working against me1 but    
that my own point of view being wrong ,i
 had put the harmonious action of my    
life out of order4 ,suspicion always    
being likely to see what it suspects the
 chances were many that ,i was creating 
the very thing ,i suffered from4  ,this 
does not mean that in our effort to     
reproduce harmonious action we should   
shut our eyes to what is evidently      
wrong1 or blandly ignore what is plainly
 being done to our disadvantage4 ,of    
course not6 ,one uses all the           
common-sense methods of getting justice 
for oneself and protecting one's own    
interests4 ,but it does mean that when  
,i can no longer protect my own         
interests1 when my affairs depend upon  

others far more than on myself--a       
condition in which we all occasionally  
find ourselves--,i am not to fret       
myself1 not to churn my spirit into     
nameless fears4 ,i am not a free agent4 
,those with whom ,i am associated are   
not free agents4 ,god is the one supreme
 command4 ,he expresses ,himself through
 me2 ,he expresses ,himself through     
them2 we all4 ,i as well as they1 they  
as well as ,i1 are partakers of ,his    
,sonship2 and the ,son--,his            
,expression--is always in the ,father's 
bosom1 #i in ,his love and care4  #i    
,st4 ,john    ,,ix   ,having grasped    
this idea the new orientation was not   
difficult4 ,there was in it too much    
solace to allow of its being difficult4 
,if ,i state the results it is once more
 not because ,i consider them important 
to anyone but myself1 but only because  
they became the starting-point of a new 
advance in the conquest of fear4        
,within forty-eight hours1 with no      
action on my part except the ,metanoia1 

the change in my point of view1 all     
misunderstandings had been cleared away4
 ,the other side had taken the entire   
initiative1 ,i making no advance        
whatever toward them4 ,a telegram       
expressing their hearty good will was   
followed by an interview1 after which ,i
 was at work again4 ,i have not only    
worked easily ever since but with such  
fecundity that one plan is always formed
 before ,i have its predecessor off my  
hands4 ,this says nothing of the quality
 of my work1 which1 humble as it may be1
 is simply the best ,i know how to do4  
,i refer only to its abundance4 ,i have 
found that in working together with     
,god1 ,i am less involved in conflicts  
of wills than ,i was before1 and that   
the words of ,amos are literally        
fulfilled to me1 that the plowman shall 
overtake the reaper1 and the treader of 
grapes him that soweth seed4 ,i say it  
without knocking on wood1 and with no   
fear lest my good luck will be          
withdrawn1 that from that time to this  

,i have had plenty of work which ,i have
 accomplished happily1 and have never   
lacked a market for my modest wares4    
,x   ,from all of which ,i have drawn   
one main inference--the imperative      
urgency of ,trust4  ,i had hitherto     
thought of trust as a gritting of the   
teeth and a stiffening of the nerves to 
believe and endure1 no matter what      
compulsion one put upon oneself4        
,gradually1 in the light of the         
experience sketched above1 ,i came to   
see it as simply the knowledge that the 
supreme command rules everything to     
everyone's advantage4 ,the more we can  
rest mentally1 keep ourselves at peace1 
be still and know that it is ,god1#aj   
the single and sole ,director1 the more 
our interests will be safe4 ,this1 ,i   
take it1 is the kind of trust for which 
the great pioneers of truth plead so    
persistently in both the ,old and ,new  
,testaments4  #aj ,the ,book of ,psalms4
  ,trust1 then1 is not a force we wrest 
from ourselves against reason1 against  

the grain4 ,to be trust at all it must  
be loving and spontaneous4 ,it cannot be
 loving and spontaneous unless there is 
a natural impulse behind it4 ,and there 
can be no natural impulse behind it     
unless we have something in our own     
experience which corroborates the mere  
hearsay testimony that there is a ,power
 worth trusting to4 ,job's ,though ,he  
slay me yet will ,i trust in ,him1 could
 only have been wrung from a heart which
 had proved the ,divine ,good ,will a   
thousand times and knew what it was     
doing4 ,some experience of our own we   
must have4 ,it is an absolute necessity4
 ,desperate hope in another man's ,god  
may do something for us1 but it cannot  
do much4 ,a small thing which ,i have   
proved for myself is a better foundation
 for trust than a ,bible learnt         
parrot-like by rote and not put to the  
practical test4 ,once ,i have found out 
for myself that to rest in the ,lord and
 wait patiently for ,him is the surest  
way to security and peace ,i have the   

more willing confidence in doing it4    
,,chapter ,,iv  ,,god',s                
,,self-,,expression ,,and ,,the ,,mind  
,,of ,,to-,,day    ,i   ,to the mind of 
to-day trust would be easier were it not
 for the terror lest ,god's plans       
involve us in fearful things from which 
we shrink4 ,we have heard so much of the
 trials ,he sends2 of the gifts of      
,tantalus ,he keeps forever in our sight
 but just beyond our reach2 of the      
blessings ,he actually bestows upon us  
only to snatch them away when we have   
come to love them most--we have heard so
 much of this that we are often afraid  
of ,his will as the greatest among the  
evils of which we stand in dread4  ,in  
many cases this is the root of our fear4
 ,we cannot trust without misgiving to  
the love of ,god4 ,what is there then   
that we can trust to8 ,we can't trust to
 ourselves2 still less can we trust to  
our fellow-men4 ,those whom we love and 
in whom we have confidence being as weak
 as ourselves1 if not weaker than we1   

establish our spirits not at all4 ,if1  
therefore1 we mentally poison the well  
of ,universal ,good-intent at its very  
source what have we to depend on8  ,i   
have already referred to the ,god of    
repressions and denials1 and now must   
speak a little more freely of this      
travesty on the ,father1 as expressed to
 us in ,jesus ,christ4 ,of all the      
obstacles to the rooting out of fear the
 lingering belief in such a distortion  
of ,divine ,love is to my mind the most 
deeply based4  ,i often think it a proof
 of the vital truth in the message of   
,jesus ,christ that it persists in      
holding the heart in spite of the ugly  
thing which1 from so many points of     
view1 the ,caucasian has managed to make
 of it4 ,nowhere is the cruelty of      
,caucasian misinterpretation more       
evident than in the meanings given to   
the glorious phrase1 the ,will of ,god4 
,i do not exaggerate when ,i say that in
 most ,caucasian minds the ,will of ,god
 is a bitter1 ruthless force1 to which  

we can only drug ourselves into         
submission4 ,it is always ready to      
thwart us1 to stab us in the back1 or to
 strike us where our affections are     
tenderest4 ,we hold our blessings only  
on the tenure of its caprice4 ,our      
pleasures are but the stolen moments we 
can snatch from its inattention4  ,as an
 example ,i quote some stanzas from a   
hymn frequently sung where              
,english-speaking people worship1 and   
more or less expressive of the whole    
,caucasian attitude toward ,god's ,will4
  ,my ,god1 my ,father1 while ,i stray  
,far from my home on life's rough way1  
,oh1 teach me from my heart to say1     
,thy ,will be done4  ,though dark my    
path and sad my lot1 ,let me be still1  
and murmur not1 ,or breathe the prayer  
divinely taught1     ,thy ,will be done4
  ,what though in lonely grief ,i sigh  
,for friends beloved no longer nigh1    
,submissive still would ,i reply1       
,thy ,will be done4  ,if thou shouldst  
call me to resign ,what most ,i prize1  

it ne'er was mine2 ,i only yield thee   
what is thine2     ,thy ,will be done4  
,these lines1 typical of a whole class  
of sentimental hymnology1 are important 
only in as far as they are widely known 
and express a more or less standardised 
point of view4 ,the implication they    
contain is that all deprivation is      
brought upon us by the ,will of ,god1   
and that our wisest course is to beat   
ourselves down before that which we     
cannot modify4 ,beneath the car of this 
,juggernaut we must flout our judgments 
and crush our affections4 ,as ,he knows 
so well where to hit us we must stifle  
our moans when ,he does so4 ,as ,he     
knows so well what will ring our hearts 
we must be content to let ,him give so  
that ,he can the more poignantly take   
away4 ,the highest exercise of our own  
free will is to be still and murmur     
not--to admit that we need the          
chastisement--to crouch beneath the     
blows which we tell ourselves are       
delivered in love1 even though it is    

hard to see where the love comes in4    
,,ii   ,i know nothing more tragic than 
those efforts on the part of            
heart-broken people1 coming within the  
experience of all of us1 to make        
themselves feel that this terrible ,will
 of ,god must be right1 no matter how   
much it seems wrong4  ,a young man with 
a wife and family to support is struck  
down by a lingering illness which makes 
him a burden4 ,all his ,job's comforters
 tell him that ,god has brought the     
affliction upon him1 and that to bow to 
the ,inscrutable ,will must be his first
 act of piety4  ,a young mother is      
rejoicing in her baby when its little   
life is suddenly snuffed out4 ,she must 
school herself to say1 quite            
irrespective of the spirit of           
renunciation which inspires the words1  
,the ,lord gave and the ,lord hath taken
 away2 blessed be the ,name of the      
,lord4  ,a woman is left a widow to earn
 a living for herself1 and bring up her 
children fatherless4 ,she must assume   

that the ,lord had some good purpose in 
leaving her thus bereft and must drill  
herself into waiting on a ,will so      
impossible to comprehend4  ,storms sink 
ships1 drowning passengers and crew2    
lightning sets fire to houses and       
strikes human beings dead2 earthquakes  
swallow up whole districts destroying   
industry and human life2 tidal waves    
sweep inland carrying away towns2 and   
our legal phraseology can think of no   
better explanation of such calamity than
 to ascribe it to the act of ,god4  ,it 
is needless to multiply these instances4
 ,our own knowledge supplies them by the
 score4 ,our personal lives are full of 
them4 ,god's ,will1 ,god's ,love1 ,god's
 ,mercy1 become strangely ironic forces1
 grim beyond any open enmity4 ,they     
remind us of the love1 the pity1 the    
mercy1 in which the orthodox sent the   
heretic to the hangman or the stake1    
destroying the body to save the soul4   
,it is a far cry from this appalling    
vision of the ,father to the psalmist's 

,delight thou in the ,lord and he shall 
give thee the desires of thine heart4   
,how could anyone delight in the        
,caucasian ,god1 as the majority of     
,caucasians conceive of ,him8 ,as a     
matter of fact1 how many ,caucasians    
themselves1 however devout1 however     
orthodox1 attempt to delight1 or pretend
 to delight1 in the ,god to whom on     
occasions they bow down8 ,delight is a  
strong word1 and a lovely one2 but used 
of the ,caucasian and his ,deity it is  
not without its elements of humour4     
,,iii   ,naturally enough6 ,it is       
impossible for any human being to       
delight in a ,god whose first impulse in
 doing us good is so often to ravage our
 prosperity and affections4 ,so long as 
we believe in ,him fear will rule our   
lives4 ,it is because the ,caucasian    
believes in ,him that he lives in fear  
and dies in fear4 ,to attempt to        
eliminate fear and retain this concept  
of ,god is vain4  ,understanding this   
the average ,caucasian has made little  

or no effort to eliminate fear4 ,he     
would rather live and die in fear than  
change this concept of ,god4 ,it is dear
 to him4 ,he finds it useful4 ,to its   
shoulders he can shift the ills of which
 he is unwilling himself to accept the  
responsibility4 ,where ,god is a puzzle 
life is a puzzle2 and where life is a   
puzzle the ,caucasian gets his chance   
for making the materialistic ideal the  
only one that seems practical4 ,in a    
world which was to any noticeable degree
 freed from the spectre of fear most of 
our existing systems of government1     
religion1 business1 law1 and national   
and international politics1 would have  
to be remodelled4 ,there would be little
 or no use for them4 ,built on fear and 
run by fear1 fear is as essential to    
their existence as coal to our          
industries4 ,a society that had escaped 
from fear would escape from their       
control4  ,in this present spring of    
#aiba we are having an exhibition of    
fear on a scale so colossal that the    

heart of man is dazed by it4 ,there is  
not a government which is not afraid of 
some other government4 ,there is not a  
government which is not afraid of its   
own people4 ,there is not a people which
 is not afraid of its own government4   
,there is not a country in which one    
group is not afraid of some other group4
 ,all is rivalry1 enmity1 suspicion1    
confusion1 and distrust1 while men's    
hearts are fainting for fear1 and for   
anxious expectation of what is coming on
 the world4 ,all statesmen1 all         
ministers1 all ambassadors1 all         
politicians1 all bankers1 all business  
men1 all professional men1 all          
journalists1 all farmers1 all laborers1 
all workers in the arts1 all men and    
women of all kinds--with the exception  
of one here and there who has reached   
the understanding of the love which     
casteth out fear--live and work in fear1
 and in mistrust of their colleagues4   
,from the supreme councils of the       
,allies down to the crooks and          

conspirators in dives and joints        
everyone is afraid of being             
double-crossed4 ,there is so much       
double-crossing everywhere that we have 
been obliged to invent this name for the
 operation4 ,england is afraid of being 
double-crossed by ,germany1 ,france by  
,england1 ,italy by ,france1 the ,united
 ,states by ,europe1 and ,japan by the  
,united ,states1 while within these     
general limitations minor               
double-crossing interests seethe like   
bacteria in a drop of poisoned blood4   
,the nations are infected with fear     
because they elect to believe in a ,god 
of fear1 and the ,caucasians more than  
others because they have chosen to see a
 ,god of fear in ,him who was put before
 them as a ,god of ,love4    ,,iv   ,i  
see no way out of all this except as one
 of us after another reaches the        
,metanoia1 the new point of view as     
regards ,god4 ,other ways have been     
sought1 and have been found no more than
 blind alleys4 ,much reference is made  

nowadays to the disillusionment of those
 who hoped that the war would lead to   
social and spiritual renovation2 but any
 such hope was doomed in advance1 so    
long as the ,caucasian concept of ,god  
was unchanged4 ,when you cannot trust   
,god you cannot trust anything2 and when
 you cannot trust anything you get the  
condition of the world as it is to-day4 
,and that you cannot trust a ,god whose 
love will paralyse the hand by which you
 have to earn a living1 or snatch your  
baby from your breast--to say nothing of
 a thousand ingenious forms of torture  
inflicted just because ,he sees that it 
is best for you1 after having led you to
 see otherwise--that you cannot trust a 
,god like that must be more or less     
self-evident4 ,if you are part of ,his  
,self-,expression ,he cannot practise   
futilities through your experience and  
personality4 ,he must be kind with a    
common-sense kindness1 loving with a    
common-sense love4 ,whatever explanation
 of our sufferings and failures there   

may be we must not shuffle them off on  
,god4 ,let us hold ,god to be true1 ,st4
 ,paul writes1 though every man should  
prove false4#aa ,let us hold that ,god  
would not hurt us1 however much we may  
wilfully hurt each other or ourselves4  
#aa ,epistle to the ,romans4    ,v   ,i 
should not lay so much emphasis on this 
if so much emphasis were not laid on it 
in the other direction4 ,god has so     
persistently1 and for so many           
generations1 been held up to us as a    
,god who tries and torments and punishes
 that we can hardly see ,him as anything
 else4 ,torture comes1 in the minds of  
many of us1 to be not only ,his main    
function but ,his only function4 ,i am  
all right1 is the unspoken thought in   
many a heart1 so long as ,i am not      
overtaken by the ,will of ,god4 ,when   
that calamity falls on me my poor little
 human happiness will be wrecked like a 
skiff in a cyclone4 ,this is not an     
exaggeration4 ,it is the secret mental  
attitude of perhaps ninety percent of   

those ,caucasians who believe in a ,god 
of any kind4 ,their root-conviction is  
that if ,god would only let them alone  
they would get along well enough2 but as
 a terrible avenging spirit1 like the   
,fury or the ,nemesis of the ancients1  
he is always tracking them down4 ,the   
aversion from ,god so noticeable in the 
mind of to-day is1 ,i venture to think1 
chiefly inspired by the instinct to get 
away from1 or to hide from1 the pursuit 
of this ,avenger4    ,,vi   ,and in a   
measure this impulse to flight can be   
understood4 ,i can understand that      
common-sense men should be cold toward  
the ,caucasian ,god1 and that they      
should even renounce and denounce him4  
,i will go so far as to say that ,i can 
more easily understand the atheist than 
,i can many of my own friends who       
pathetically try to love and adore their
 capricious un-,christlike ,deity4 ,to  
my certain knowledge many of them are   
doing it against their own natural and  
better instincts1 because they dare not 

forsake the tradition in which they have
 been dyed4 ,i try to love ,god and ,i  
can't1 has been said to me many a time  
by conscientious people who felt that   
the fault must lie in themselves4 ,there
 was no fault in themselves4 ,if their  
,god could have been loved they would   
have loved him4    ,,vii   ,i come here 
to a point of no small importance to the
 conquest of fear1 the courage to       
release oneself from the tether of      
tradition4 ,few people have it1 in the  
sense of rejecting old theories because 
of having worked out to new spiritual   
knowledge4 ,when it comes to the eternal
 verities many of us are cowardly2      
nearly all of us are timid4 ,the immense
 majority of us prefer a ,god at second 
or third hand4 ,we will accept what     
somebody else has learned1 rather than  
incur the trouble or the responsibility 
of learning anything for ourselves4 ,we 
take our knowledge of ,god as we take   
our doses of medicine1 from a           
prescription which one man has written  

down1 and another has put up1 and still 
another administers4 ,by the time this  
traditional1 handed-on knowledge of ,god
 has reached ourselves it is diluted by 
all kinds of outside opinions and       
personalities4 ,it is not strange that  
when we have swallowed the dose it does 
little to effect a cure4 ,i do not deny 
that a second or third hand knowledge of
 ,god may do something4 ,i only deny    
that it can do much4 ,to support my     
denial ,i need only point to what the   
world has become in a second and third  
hand ,christendom4 ,the illustration is 
enough4  ,it should be plain1 ,i think1 
that no one will ever be released from  
fear by clinging to the teachings which 
have inspired fear4 ,we are fearless in 
proportion as we grow independent enough
 to know for ourselves4 ,i cannot but   
stress this point to some extent1 for   
the reason that ,i myself suffered so   
long from inability to let the          
traditional go4 ,it seemed to me to have
 a sanctity just because it was         

traditional4 ,the fact that other people
 had accepted certain ideas had weight  
in making me feel that ,i should accept 
them too4 ,to go off on a line of my own
 seemed dangerous4 ,i might make        
mistakes4 ,i might go far wrong4 ,safety
 was spelled by hanging with the crowd4 
,it was the chance remark of an old     
acquaintance which dislodged me from    
this position4 ,in the lobby of a hotel 
we had met by chance1 after not having  
seen each other for a good many years4  
,the conversation1 having touched on one
 theme and another1 drifted to subjects 
akin to that which ,i am now discussing4
 ,i ventured to disclose some of my own 
seeking ,god1 if perhaps ,i could grope 
for ,him and find ,him4#ab  #ab ,acts of
 the ,apostles4  ,my friend straightened
 himself and squared his shoulders4 ,i  
stand exactly where ,i did thirty years 
ago4  ,there was a pride in the         
statement with regard to which my first 
feeling was a pang of envy4 ,a rapid    
calculation told me that thirty years   

ago he had been about twenty2 and the   
superiority of a man who at twenty had  
attained to so much spiritual insight   
that he had not needed to learn anything
 more in the interim was evident4 ,i was
 two or three days turning this incident
 over in my mind before the exclamation 
came to me1 ,how terrible6 ,to have     
lived through the thirty years of the   
richest experience the ordinary man ever
 knows and still have remained on       
precisely the same spot as to spiritual 
things struck me then as a woeful       
confession4  ,i beg to say here that ,i 
am not talking of external and official 
religious connections4 ,i am trying to  
avoid the subject of external and       
official religion altogether4 ,i am     
speaking not of religion but of ,god4   
,to my mind the two have no more than   
the relation of the words of a song and 
the music of its setting4 ,you may use  
them together or you may consider them  
apart4 ,i am considering them apart1 and
 confining myself wholly to the words of

 the song4 ,what is known as            
church-affiliation1 the music of the    
setting1 ,i am not concerned with4 ,my  
only topic is the way in which the      
meaning of the words gets over to the   
average inner man1 and the effect upon  
him mentally4  ,i revert1 therefore1 to 
the statement that to make the kind of  
spiritual progress which will overcome  
fear it will be often necessary to let  
go the thing we have outlived4 ,often   
the thing we have outlived will be      
something dear to us1 because there was 
once a time when it served our turn4    
,but our turn to-day may need something 
different from the turn of yesterday1   
and the refusal to follow new light     
simply because it is new leads in the   
end to mental paralysis4 ,i was once    
asked to sign a petition to the mayor of
 a city praying that1 on the ground of  
its novelty1 electric lighting might be 
excluded from the street in which ,i    
lived4 ,exactly this same reluctance    
often keeps us from making changes of   

another sort1 even when we feel that the
 light which hitherto was enough for us 
has been outgrown and outclassed4  ,the 
danger of the lone quest leading a man  
astray can be easily exaggerated4 ,it is
 not as if ,god were difficult to find4 
,the soul cannot move1 wake1 or open the
 eyes1 without perceiving ,god4 ,for    
this commandment which ,i command thee  
this day1 it is not hidden from thee1   
neither is it far off4 ,it is not in    
heaven that thou shouldest say1 ,who    
shall go up for us to heaven and bring  
it down unto us that we may hear it and 
do it8 ,neither is it beyond the sea    
that thou shouldest say1 ,who shall go  
over the sea for us and bring it unto us
 that we may hear it and do it8 ,but the
 word is very nigh unto thee1 in thy    
mouth and in thy heart4#ac ,no motion   
toward the ,universal can miss the      
,universal4 ,i cannot escape from the   
,ever-,present2 the ,ever-,present      
cannot escape from me4 ,intellectually  
,i may make mistakes in deduction1 but  

spiritually ,i cannot but find ,god4    
,the little ,i learn of ,god for myself 
is to me worth more than all the second 
and third hand knowledge ,i can gather  
from the saints4  #ac ,the ,book of     
,deuteronomy4    ,,viii   ,it is the    
more necessary to dwell on this for the 
reason that whatever ,metanoia1 or new  
orientation1 is to be brought about must
 be on the part of individuals4 ,there  
is no hope for large numbers acting     
together1 or for any kind of            
group-impulse4 ,group-impulse among     
,caucasians is nearly always frightened1
 conservative1 reactionary1 or derisive 
of the forward step4 ,there is hardly an
 exception to this in the whole history 
of ,caucasian ideas4  ,otherwise it     
would be a pleasant dream to imagine    
what might now be happening on the great
 international stage4 ,let us suppose   
that the leaders of the so-called       
,christian countries were all convinced 
of the three main lines of ,god's       
direction ,i have already tried to      

sketch4 ,let us think of such men as    
,lloyd ,george1 ,clemenceau1 ,sforza1   
,president ,harding1 and the heads of   
government in ,belgium1 ,russia1        
,germany1 and all other countries       
affected by the present war of moves and
 counter-moves--let us think of them as 
agreed on the principles3  #a4 ,that    
each knows himself and his country as an
 agent in the hand of ,god1 directed    
surely toward a good end2  #b4 ,that    
each knows each of his colleagues and   
his country as equally an agent in the  
hand of ,god1 directed surely toward a  
similar good end2  #c4 ,that each knows 
that between ,god's agents there can be 
neither conflicting interests nor clash 
of wills1 and that suspicion and        
counter-suspicion must be out of place1 
since under ,god's direction no         
double-crossing is possible4  ,the      
picture is almost comic in its          
incongruity with what actually is4 ,the 
mere thought of these protagonists of   
the century working in harmony to one   

great purpose1 without distrust of each 
other's motives1 and with no necessity  
for anyone's dodging political foul     
play1 summons the smile of irony4       
,mutual trust was never so much a       
suggestion to laugh down4 ,the mere hint
 that it might be possible would make   
one a target for the wit of the         
experienced4  ,in what we call the      
practical world of to-day there is no   
appeal from the ,god of ,fear but to the
 ,god of ,fear4 ,the great mass of      
,caucasians will not have it otherwise4 
,and it requires no prophetic vision to 
foresee the results of the efforts to   
bring about international harmony while 
all are obeying the decrees of the      
,goddess of ,discord4 ,nearly three     
years after the signing of the armistice
 the world is in a more hopeless        
situation than it was when at war4 ,up  
to the present each new move only makes 
matters worse4 ,there are those who     
believe that our phase of civilisation  
is staggering into the abyss and that   

nothing1 as far as can now be descried1 
will save it from the deluge4    ,,ix   
,possibly6 ,fear tends always to produce
 the thing it is afraid of4 ,i mention  
this dark outlook only for the reason   
that even if the cataclysm were to come 
the individual can escape from it4      
,cataclysms are not new in the history  
of our race4 ,the rise and fall of      
civilisations may be called mankind's   
lessons in how not to do it4 ,of these  
lessons there are no such records as    
those which we find in the ,old         
,testament2 and in these records it is  
unfailingly pointed out that whatever   
the calamity which overtakes the world  
at large the individual has1 if he      
chooses1 a way of safety4 ,the innocent 
are not overwhelmed with the guilty1    
except when the innocent deliberately   
shut their eyes to the opening toward   
the ,soteria--the ,safe ,return4 ,but   
that1 unhappily1 the innocent do so shut
 their eyes is one of the commonest     
facts in life4  ,back in that twilight  

of history of which the later tale could
 be told only by some symbol1 some      
legendary hieroglyph1 there was already 
an ,ark by which the faithful few could 
be saved from the ,flood4 ,the symbol   
became permanent4 ,the ,ark of the      
,covenant--the sign of a great spiritual
 understanding--remained as a token to  
man that in ,god he had a sure refuge4  
,it was laid up in his ,holy of ,holies1
 a mystic1 consecrated pledge1 till the 
ruthless ,caucasian came and rifled it4 
,but no rifling could deprive mankind of
 its significance4 ,that endures4 ,to   
bring it home to the desolate and       
oppressed was a large part of the       
mission of psalmists and prophets4 ,the 
,ark of the ,covenant--of the ,great    
,understanding--meant as much to those  
who sought ,god in the ancient world as 
the ,cross does to ,christendom4 ,it    
meant that whatever the collapse1       
national or general1 through siege or   
sack or famine1 those who would escape  
could escape by the simple process of   

mentally taking refuge in ,god4 ,the    
,ark of ,god would bear them safely when
 all material help failed4  ,among the  
themes which run through the ,old       
,testament this is of paramount         
importance4 ,it is impossible to do more
 than refer to the many times the       
spiritually minded were implored to seek
 this protection4 ,it was needful to    
implore them since they found the       
assurance so difficult to believe4 ,no  
matter how often it was proved to them  
they still doubted it4 ,saved by this   
method once they would reject it when it
 came to danger the second time4 ,saved 
the second time they rejected it the    
third4 ,thou shalt keep him in perfect  
peace whose mind is stayed on thee1     
because he trusteth in thee1 is the     
declaration of ,jeremiah1 who perhaps   
more than any other was a prophet of    
disaster4 ,similar statements are       
scattered through the ,old ,testament by
 the score1 by the hundred4 ,it was a   
point on which leaders1 seers1 and      

teachers insisted with a passionate     
insistence4 ,they knew4 ,they had tested
 the truth for themselves4 ,disaster was
 a common feature in their history4     
,during the three thousand years and    
more which their experiences cover these
 ,israelites had seen more than one     
invasion sweep across their land1 more  
than one civilisation come and go4 ,all 
that ,belgium knew in the ,great ,war   
they knew time and time again4 ,between 
,egypt and ,assyria1 the ,france and    
,germany of that special epoch1 theirs  
was a kind of buffer state over which   
every new anguish rolled4 ,let it roll1 
was the cry of their prophets4 ,the     
,lord will fight for you4 ,stand still  
and see what he will do4 ,his arm is not
 shortened neither his strength         
diminished4 ,it is of the ,lord to save 
whether by many or by few4 ,trust in the
 ,lord and be doing good1 so shalt thou 
dwell in the land1 and verily thou shalt
 be fed4 ,oh1 how great is thy goodness 
which thou hast wrought for them that   

trust in thee before the sons of men4 ,i
 said in my haste1 ,i am cut off6       
,nevertheless thou heardest the voice of
 my supplication when ,i cried unto     
thee4 ,be of good courage and he shall  
strengthen your heart1 all ye that hope 
in the ,lord4#ad  #ad ,various ,old     
,testament ,sources4    ,x   ,in many   
ways this is the burden of the more     
ancient ,scriptures--the protection     
which surrounds those who know that     
protection is ,god4 ,it was a gospel    
that had to be preached with tears and  
beseechings from one generation to      
another4 ,no generation accepted it4    
,the belief in material power was always
 too dense4 ,it is still too dense4 ,in 
the ,ark of the ,great ,understanding   
the ,caucasian has practically never    
seen more than a symbol that has gone   
out of date4 ,lost materially in the    
,tiber mud it was1 for him1 lost        
forever4 ,but not so4 ,its significance 
remains as vital to mankind as when1    
veiled and venerated1 it stood between  

the cherubim4  ,the time may be close at
 hand when we shall need this assurance 
as we need nothing else4 ,however       
optimistic we try to keep ourselves1 no 
thinking man or woman can be free1 at   
this crisis in world-history1 from deep 
foreboding4 ,for the memory to go back  
ten years is1 even for us in the ,new   
,world1 like returning to a ,golden     
,age2 while for the ,old ,world mere    
recollection must be poignant4  ,the    
possibility that all countries in both  
hemispheres may find themselves in some 
such agony as that of the ,russia of    
to-day is not too extravagant to be     
entertained4 ,this is not saying that   
they are likely so to find themselves2  
it means only that in the world as it is
 the safest is not very safe4 ,my point 
is that whether catastrophe overwhelms  
us or not1 he who chooses not to fear   
can be free from fear4 ,there is a      
refuge for him1 a defence1 a safeguard  
which no material attack can break down4
 ,he that dwelleth in the secret place  

of the ,most ,high shall abide under the
 shadow of the ,almighty4 ,i will say of
 the ,lord1 ,he is my refuge--my        
fortress--my ,god4 ,in ,him will ,i     
trust4#ae ,there is this ,ark for me1   
this ,ark of the ,great ,understanding1 
and ,i can retire into it4 ,i can also  
have this further assurance3 ,because   
thou hast made the ,lord which is my    
refuge--even the ,most ,high--thy       
habitation1 there shall no evil befall  
thee1 neither shall any plague come nigh
 thy dwelling4 ,for he shall give his   
angels charge over thee to keep thee in 
all thy ways4#af  #ae ,the ,book of     
,psalms4  #af ,the ,book of ,psalms4    
,,xi   ,this is the eternal agreement1  
but an agreement of which we find it    
difficult to accept the terms4 ,to the  
material alone we are in the habit of   
ascribing power4 ,though we repeat a    
thousand times in the course of a year1 
,for thine is the kingdom1 the power1   
and the glory1 we do not believe it4 ,to
 few of us is it more than a sonorous   

phrase4  ,i remember the impression of  
this which one received at the great    
thanksgiving for peace in ,st4 ,paul's  
,cathedral in ,london some twenty years 
ago4 ,the ,boer ,war had ended in an    
,english victory1 and while the         
thanksgiving was not precisely for this1
 it did express the relief of an anxious
 nation that peace was again restored4  
,it was what is generally known as a    
most impressive service4 ,all that a    
great spectacle can offer to ,god it    
offered4 ,king1 queen1 princes1         
princesses1 ambassadors1 ministers1     
clergy1 admirals1 generals1 and a vast  
assembly of citizens filled the choir   
and nave with colour and life1 while the
 music was of that passionless beauty of
 which the ,english cathedral choirs    
guard the secret4  ,but the detail ,i   
remember best was the way in which the  
repetition of the ,lord's ,prayer rolled
 from the lips of the assembly like the 
sound of the surging of the sea4 ,it was
 the emotional effect of a strongly     

emotional moment4 ,one felt tense4 ,it  
was hard to restrain tears4 ,as far as  
crowd-sympathy has any spiritual value  
it was there4 ,the ,caucasian ,god was  
taken out of ,his pigeon-hole and       
publicly recognised4  ,then ,he was put 
back4  ,i take this service merely as an
 instance of what happens in all the    
so-called ,christian capitals in moments
 of national stress4 ,outwardly it      
happens less in the ,united ,states than
 it does elsewhere1 for the reason that 
this country has no one representative  
spiritual expression2 but it does happen
 here in diffused and general effect4   
,as a ,christian nation we ascribe in   
common with other ,christian nations the
 kingdom1 the power1 and the glory to   
,god--on occasions4 ,we do it with the  
pious gesture and the sonorous phrase4  
,then we forget it4 ,the habit of       
material trust is too strong for us4    
,kings1 queens1 presidents1 princes1    
prime ministers1 congresses1            
parliaments1 and all other              

representatives of material strength1   
may repeat for formal use the           
conventional clause2 but there is always
 what we flippantly know as a joker in  
the lip-recitation4 ,kingdom1 power1 and
 glory1 we can hear ourselves saying in 
a heart-aside1 lie in money1 guns1      
commerce1 and police4 ,god is not       
sufficiently a force in the affairs of  
this world for us to give ,him more than
 the consideration of an act of         
courtesy4  ,practically that is all we  
ever get from group-impulse--an act of  
courtesy4 ,i repeat and repeat again    
that whatever is done toward the        
conquest of fear must be done by the    
individual4 ,i must do what ,i can to   
conquer fear in myself1 regardless of   
the attitude or opinions of men in      
general4  ,to men in general the appeal 
to spiritual force to bring to naught   
material force is little short of       
fanatical4 ,it has never been otherwise 
as yet2 it will probably not be         
otherwise for long generations to come4 

,meanwhile it is much for the individual
 to know that he can act on his own     
initiative1 and that when it comes to   
making ,god his refuge he can go into   
that refuge alone4 ,he needs no nation1 
or government1 or society1 or companions
 before him or behind him4 ,he needs    
neither leader nor guide nor friend4 ,in
 the fortress of ,god he is free to     
enter merely as himself1 and there know 
that he is safe amid a world in agony4  
,,xii   ,this is not theory2 it is not  
doctrine2 it is not opinion4 ,it is what
 the great pioneers of truth have first 
deduced from what they understood to be 
the essential beneficence of ,god1 and  
then proved by actual demonstration4    
,anyone else can demonstrate it who     
chooses to make the experiment4 ,my own 
weakness is such that ,i have made the  
experiment but partially2 but partial   
experiment convinces me beyond all      
further questioning that the witness of 
the great pioneers is true4    ,,xiii   
,nor is this conviction to be classed as

 idealism1 or ecclesiasticism1 or       
mysticism1 or anything else to which we 
can put a tag4 ,it is not sectarian2 it 
is not peculiarly ,christian4 ,it is the
 general possession of mankind4 ,true1  
it is easier for the ,christian than for
 any other to enter on this heritage1   
since his spiritual descent is more     
directly from the pioneers of truth who 
first discovered ,god to be ,his        
children's safety2 but the ,universal is
 the ,universal1 the property of all4   
,discovery gives no one an exclusive    
hold on it4 ,anyone with a consciousness
 of ,almighty1 ,ever-,present           
,intelligence must have some degree of  
access to it1 though his access may not 
be to the fullest or the easiest4 ,it is
 not possible that the ,universal       
,father should be the special property  
of the ,christian or of anyone else4    
,the ,christian view of the ,father is  
undoubtedly the truest2 but every view  
is true in proportion to its grasp of   
truth4 ,no one will deny that the       

,buddhist1 the ,mahometan1 the          
,confucianist1 have their grasp of      
truth4 ,even the primitive idolater has 
some faint gleam of it1 distorted though
 it may have become4 ,very well1 then2  
the faintest gleam of such knowledge    
will not go without its recompense4     
,,xiv   ,exclusiveness is too much our  
,caucasian habit of mind4 ,it is linked 
with our instinct for ownership4        
,because through ,jesus ,christ we have 
a clearer view of a greater segment of  
the ,universal1 if ,i may so express    
myself1 than the ,buddhist can have     
through ,buddha or the ,mahometan       
through ,mahomet1 our tendency is to    
think that we know the whole of the     
,universal1 and have it to give away4   
,any other view of the ,universal is to 
us so false as to merit not merely      
condemnation but extirpation4           
,extirpation has been the watchword with
 which ,caucasian ,christianity has gone
 about the world4 ,we have taken toward 
other views of truth no such sympathetic

 stand as ,st4 ,paul to that which he   
found in ,greece1 and which is worth    
recalling3  ,men of ,athens1 ,i perceive
 that you are in every respect          
remarkably religious4 ,for as ,i passed 
along and observed the things you       
worship1 ,i found also an altar with    
this inscription1 ,,to ,,the ,,unknown  
,,god4 ,the ,being1 therefore1 whom you1
 without knowing it1 revere1 ,him ,i now
 proclaim to you4 ,god who made the     
universe and everything in it--,he being
 ,lord of heaven and earth--does not    
dwell in sanctuaries built by men4 ,nor 
is ,he administered to by human hands as
 though ,he needed anything--but ,he    
,himself gives to all men life and      
breath and all things4 ,he caused to    
spring from one forefather people of    
every race1 for them to live on the     
whole surface of the earth1 and marked  
for them an appointed span of life1 and 
the boundaries of their homes2 that they
 might seek ,god1 if perhaps they might 
grope for ,him and find ,him4 ,yes1     

though ,he is not far from any one of   
us4 ,for it is in closest union with    
,him that we live and move and have our 
being2 as in fact some of the poets in  
repute among yourselves have said1 ',for
 we are also ,his offspring4'#ag  #ag   
,acts of the ,apostles4  ,to the        
conquest of fear this splendid          
universalism is another essential4 ,god 
being not far from any one of us cannot 
be far from me4 ,he who gives to all men
 life and breath and all things will not
 possibly deny me the things ,i require 
most urgently4 ,our whole civilisation  
may go to pieces2 the job by which ,i   
earn a living may cease to be a job2 the
 money ,i have invested may become of no
 more value than ,russian bonds2 the    
children whom ,i hoped ,i had provided  
for may have to face life empty-handed2 
all my accustomed landmarks may be      
removed1 and my social moorings swept   
away2 nevertheless1 the ,universal      
cannot fail me4 ,although the figtree   
shall not blossom nor fruit be in the   

vines2 though the labour of the olive   
shall fail1 and the fields yield no     
meat2 though the flocks be cut off from 
the fold and there be no herd in the    
stalls2 yet ,i will rejoice in ,god1 ,i 
will joy in the ,god of my salvation4   
,it is safe to say that this confidence 
on the part of ,habakkuk was not due to 
mere grim forcing of the will4 ,it was  
the fruit of experience1 of knowledge1  
of demonstration4 ,in spite of the      
dangers national and personal he saw    
threatening1 his certainty of ,god must 
have been spontaneous4  ,anyone1 in any 
country1 in any epoch1 and of any creed 
or no creed1 who has shared this        
experience shares also this assurance4  
,to the ,christian it comes easiest2 but
 that it does not come easy even to the 
,christian is a matter of common        
observation4 ,it can only come easily   
when some demonstration has been made   
for oneself1 after which there is no    
more disputing it4    ,,xv   ,nor is it 
a question of morals or morality4  ,i   

must venture here on delicate ground and
 say what ,i should hesitate to say were
 the contrary not so strongly           
underscored4 ,i mean that ,god1 from    
what we understand to be ,his nature1   
could not accord us ,his protection by  
weighing the good and the evil in our   
conduct1 and giving or withholding help 
according to our worthiness4 ,the       
,universal is too great to be measured  
and doled in that way4 ,nothing but our 
own pinchbeck ideas could ascribe to    
,him this pettiness4 ,as it is the kind 
of sliding scale we ourselves adopt1 we 
limit the ,divine ,generosity by our own
 limitations4  ,not so was the          
understanding of ,jesus ,christ4 ,that  
we should be kind to the so-called evil 
as we are to the so-called good was a   
point on which ,he dwelt in the ,sermon 
on the ,mount4 ,to discriminate between 
them when it comes to the possibility of
 conferring benefits is in ,his opinion 
small4 ,you have heard that it was said1
 ',thou shalt love thy neighbor1 and    

hate thine enemy4' ,but ,i command you  
all1 ,love your enemies1 and pray for   
your persecutors2 that so you may become
 true sons of your ,father in heaven4   
,for ,he causes ,his sun to rise on the 
wicked as well as on the good1 and sends
 rain upon those who do right and those 
who do wrong4#ah  #ah ,st4 ,matthew4    
,in other words1 we are not to feel     
ourselves turned out of our habitation  
in ,god by a sense of our moral lapses4 
,moral lapses are to be regretted1 of   
course2 but they do not vitiate our     
status as the ,sons of ,god4 ,it is     
possible that no one believes they do2  
but much of the loose statement current 
among those who lay emphasis on morals  
would give that impression4 ,there is a 
whole vernacular in vogue in which souls
 are lost or saved according to the     
degree to which they conform or do not  
conform to other people's views as to   
what they ought to do4 ,much of our     
pietism is to the effect that ,god is at
 the bestowal not merely of a sect1 but 

of some section of a sect1 and cannot be
 found through any other source4        
,,xvi   ,this brings me to the          
distinction between morals and          
righteousness1 which is one for the mind
 of to-day to keep as clearly as        
possible before it4 ,i have said that   
the refuge in ,god is not a question of 
morals2 but it is one of righteousness4 
,between righteousness and morals the   
difference is important4  ,morals stand 
for a code of observances2 righteousness
 for a direction of the life4  ,morals  
represent just what the word implies1   
the customs of an age1 a country1 or a  
phase in civilisation4 ,they have no    
absolute standard4 ,the morals of one   
century are not those of another4 ,the  
morals of one race are not those of     
another even in the same century4 ,in   
many respects the morals of the         
,oriental differ radically from those of
 the ,occidental1 age-long usage being  
behind each4 ,it is as hard to convince 
either that his are the inferior as it  

would be to make him think so of his    
mother-tongue4 ,i once asked a          
cultivated ,chinaman1 a graduate of one 
of the great ,american universities and 
a ,christian of the third generation1 in
 what main respect he thought ,china    
superior to the ,united ,states4 ,in    
morals1 he replied1 promptly2 but even  
as a ,christian educated in ,america his
 theory of morals was different from    
ours4  ,among ourselves in the ,united  
,states the essence of morals is by no  
means a subject of unanimous agreement4 
,you might say that a standard of morals
 is entirely a matter of opinion4 ,there
 are millions of people who think it    
immoral to play cards1 to go to the     
theatre1 to dance1 or to drink wine4    
,there are millions of other people who 
hold all these acts to be consistent    
with the highest moral conduct4         
,moreover1 wherever the emphasis is     
thrown on morals as distinct from       
righteousness there is a tendency to put
 the weight on two or three points in   

which nations or individuals excel1 and 
to ignore the rest4 ,for example1 not to
 go outside ourselves1 the ,american    
people may be fairly said to exemplify  
two of the great virtues3 ,on the whole 
they are1 first1 sober2 secondly1       
continent4 ,as a result we accentuate   
morals in these respects1 but not in any
 others4  ,for instance1 the current    
expression1 an immoral man1 is almost   
certain to apply only under the two     
headings cited above1 and probably only 
under one4 ,all other morals and        
immoralities go by the board4 ,we should
 not class a dishonest man as an immoral
 man1 nor an untruthful man1 nor a      
profane1 or spiteful1 or ungenial1 or   
bad-tempered1 man4 ,our notion of morals
 hardly ever rises above the average    
custom of the community in which we     
happen to live4 ,except in the rarest   
instances we never pause to reflect as  
to whether the customs of that community
 are or are not well founded4 ,the      
consequence is that our cities1         

villages1 countrysides1 and social      
groupings are filled with men and women 
moral enough as far as the custom of the
 country goes1 but quite noticeably     
unrighteous4  ,it is also a fact that   
where you find one or two virtues       
singled out for observance and the rest 
obscured there you find1 too1 throngs of
 outwardly moral people with corroded   
hearts4 ,villages1 churches1 and all the
 quieter communities are notorious for  
this1 the peculiarity having formed for 
a hundred and fifty years the           
stock-in-trade of novelists4 ,sobriety  
and continence being more or less in    
evidence the assumption is that all the 
requirements have been fulfilled4 ,the  
community is moral notwithstanding the  
back-bitings1 heart-burnings1 slanders1 
cheatings1 envies1 hatreds1 and         
bitternesses that may permeate it       
through and through4 ,as ,i write1 the  
cramped1 venomous1 unlovely life of the 
,american small town is the favourite   
theme of our authors and readers of     

fiction4 ,since a number of the works   
now on the market have met with national
 approval one must assume that the      
pictures they paint are accurate4 ,the  
conditions are appalling1 but1 according
 to the custom of the country1 they are 
moral4 ,the shadow of insobriety and    
incontinence doesn't touch the          
characters who move across these pages1 
and yet the level of the life is        
pictured as debased1 and habits as      
hideous4    ,,xvii   ,with morals in    
this accepted ,american sense           
righteousness has little to do4 ,the two
 are different in origin4 ,morals imply 
the compulsion of men1 and are never    
more binding than the customs of men    
render them4 ,they are thus imposed from
 without1 while righteousness springs   
from within4 ,the essence of            
righteousness lies in the turning of the
 individual toward ,god4  ,i think it   
safe to say that righteousness is       
expressed more accurately in attitude   
than in conduct4 ,it is expressed in    

conduct1 of course2 but conduct may fail
 while the attitude can remain constant4
 ,it is worthy of remark that some of   
the great examples of righteousness     
cited in the ,bible were conspicuously  
sinners4 ,that is to say1 they were men 
of strong human impulses against which  
they were not always sufficiently on    
guard1 but who turned towards ,god in   
spite of everything4 ,in the long line  
spanning the centuries between ,noah and
 ,abraham and ,peter and ,paul--from the
 almost prehistoric out into the light  
of day--not one is put before us except 
in his weakness as well as in his       
strength4 ,some of them commit gross    
sins2 but apparently even gross sins do 
not debar them from their privileges in 
,god's love4 ,this principle was        
expressed in the words of ,samuel3 ,fear
 not3 ye have done all this wickedness2 
yet turn not aside from following the   
,lord4444 ,for the ,lord will not       
forsake his people for his great name's 
sake4 ,that the ,universal who has all  

the blessings of creation to bestow     
should deprive me of anything just      
because in my folly or weakness ,i have 
committed sins is not consistent with   
his great name's sake4 ,it would not be 
causing ,his sun to rise on the wicked  
as well as on the good nor sending rain 
on those who do right and those who do  
wrong4 ,i am too small for ,his         
immensity to crush with its punishments1
 but not too small to be the object of  
,his entire love4    ,,xviii   ,i hope  
it is plain that ,i say this not to make
 little of doing wrong but to put the   
love and fulness of ,god in the         
dominating place4 ,i must make it clear 
to myself that ,he does not shut me out 
of ,his heart because ,i am guilty of   
sins4 ,i may shut myself out of ,his    
heart1 unless ,i direct my mind rightly2
 but ,he is always there1 unchanged1    
unchangeable1 the ever-loving1          
ever-welcoming ,father4 ,whatever ,i    
have done ,i can return to ,him with the
 knowledge that ,he will take me back4  

,far from sure of myself1 ,i can always 
be sure of ,him4  ,there are those who  
would warn me against saying this       
through fear lest it should be          
interpreted as1 ,don't be afraid to sin 
so long as you keep mentally close to   
,god4 ,i prefer to run that risk4 ,the  
dread figure of an angry ,god has been  
so worked to terrorise men that large   
numbers of us have been terrorised4 ,but
 experience shows us every day that     
being terrorised never produces the     
results at which it aims4 ,it does not  
win us2 it drives us away4  ,much of the
 alienation from ,god in the mind of    
to-day is due to rebellion on the part  
of our sense of justice4 ,we are        
sinners1 of course2 but not such sinners
 as to merit the revenge which an       
outraged deity is described as planning 
against us4 ,that the ,all-loving and   
,all-mighty should smite us in our      
dearest aims or our sweetest affections 
just because we have not conformed to   
the lop-sided morality of men is        

revolting to our instincts4 ,we are     
repulsed by the ,god of ,fear when we   
are drawn1 comforted1 strengthened1 and 
changed by ,him who is never anything   
toward us but the ,father4  ,i have no  
hesitation1 therefore1 in throwing the  
emphasis in what ,i have to say on the  
fact that ,he is a place to hide me     
in--the ,ark of the ,great              
,understanding--always open to my       
approach--into which1 whatever ,i have  
done1 ,i can go boldly4     ,,chapter ,v
  ,,the ,,mind ,,of ,,to-,,day ,,and    
,,the ,,world ,,as ,,it ,,is    ,i      
,much of what ,i have written will seem 
inconsistent with the fact that in the  
world as it is there are undeniable and 
inevitable hardships4 ,true6 ,i do not  
escape them more than any other man1 the
 relative relief from fear saving me    
from only some of them4  ,i have not    
meant to say that even with one's refuge
 in ,god there is nothing left to       
struggle with4 ,my point is that        
whatever there may be to struggle with  

there is nothing to be afraid of4       
,freedom from struggle would profit us  
not at all4 ,on the contrary1 it would  
render us nerveless1 flabby1 flaccid1   
and inert4  ,but fear1 as a rule1 being 
connected with our struggles1 it is     
important1 ,i think1 to be as clear as  
we can concerning the purport of those  
struggles1 and their source4 ,we have   
already seen that fear is diminished in 
proportion as we understand that our    
trials are not motiveless1 and perhaps  
this is the point at which to consider  
briefly what the motives are4    ,,ii   
,struggle we may define as the act of   
wrestling with trial1 so as to come out 
of it victoriously4 ,it is a constant   
element in every human life4            
,furthermore1 ,i am inclined to think   
that1 taking trial as an average1 the   
amount which enters into one life       
differs little from that which enters   
into another4  ,there was a time when ,i
 did not think so4 ,some lives struck me
 as singled out for trouble2 others were

 left comparatively immune from it4 ,one
 would have said that destinies had been
 mapped with a strange disregard for    
justice4 ,those who didn't deserve it   
suffered2 those whom suffering might    
have purified went scot free4 ,some were
 rich1 others were poor2 some had high  
positions1 others humble ones2 some had 
the respect of the world from the day   
they were born1 others crept along from 
birth to death in restriction and       
obscurity4 ,the contrasts were so cruel 
that they scorched the eyes of the soul4
  ,this is true1 of course2 and ,i am   
not saying that in the testing to which 
everyone is subjected all have an equal 
share of the opportunities for          
triumphing4 ,i am speaking for the      
moment only of the degree to which the  
testing comes4 ,as to that1 ,i am       
inclined to feel that there is little to
 choose between one life and another1   
since each of us seems to be tried for  
all that he can bear4  ,one is impressed
 with that in one's reading of          

biography4 ,only the lives of what we   
may call the favoured few get into      
print1 and of those few it is chiefly   
the external events that are given us4  
,glimpses of the inner experience may be
 obtained from time to time1 but they   
are rarely more than glimpses4 ,of what 
the man or the woman has endured in the 
secret fastnesses of the inner life     
practically nothing can be told4 ,and   
yet even with the little that finds its 
way into words how much there is of     
desperate fighting4 ,to this there is   
never an exception4 ,the great          
statesman1 the great poet1 the great    
priest1 the great scientist1 the great  
explorer1 the great painter1 the great  
novelist--not one but suffers as anyone 
suffers1 and of not one would the       
reader1 as a rule1 put himself in the   
place4  ,i bring up this fact because we
 so often feel that the other man has an
 easier task than ourselves4 ,the very  
thing ,i lack is that with which he is  
blessed4 ,i see him smiling and debonair

 at the minute when ,i am in a ferment4 
,while ,i hardly know how to make both  
ends meet he is building a big house or 
buying a new motor-car4 ,while ,i am    
burying hope or love he is in the full  
enjoyment of all that makes for         
happiness and prosperity4  ,we are      
always prone to contrast our darker     
minutes with our friends' brighter ones4
 ,we forget1 or perhaps we never know1  
that they do the same with us4 ,at times
 we are as much the object of their envy
 as they ever are of ours4  ,i say this 
not on the principle that misery loves  
company1 but in order to do away with   
the heathen suspicion lingering in many 
minds that ,god singles me out for      
trial1 heaping benefits on others who   
deserve them no more than ,i do4  ,god  
singles no one out for trial4 ,when     
trials come they spring1 as nearly as ,i
 can observe1 from one or all of the    
three following sources4 ,there are3    
,a4 ,the trials which come from a world 
of matter2  ,b4 ,the trials which come  

from a world of men2  ,c4 ,the trials we
 bring on ourselves4    ,,iii   ,a4 ,the
 minute we speak of matter we speak of a
 medium which the mind of to-day is just
 beginning to understand4 ,the mind of  
other days did not understand it at all4
 ,few phases of modern advance seem to  
me more significant of a closer approach
 to the understanding of spiritual      
things than that which has been made    
along these lines4  ,to all the         
generations before our own matter was a 
sheer and positive density4 ,its        
hardness1 solidity1 and actuality could 
not be gainsaid4 ,earth was earth2 iron 
was iron2 wood was wood4 ,blood was     
blood2 flesh was flesh2 bone was bone4  
,a man was a material being attached to 
a material planet1 as a sponge is       
attached to the bottom of the sea4 ,all 
that he touched and ate and wore and    
used was of the same material ,absolute4
 ,as to the spiritual there could be a  
question2 as to the material there could
 be none4 ,the speculation of occasional

 philosophers1 that matter might not    
after all be more than a mental         
phenomenon1 was invariably hooted down4 
,i know that matter is matter by        
standing on it1 are in substance the    
words attributed to even so             
spiritually-minded a man as the great   
,dr4 ,johnson4 ,on this point1 as       
perhaps on some others1 he may be taken 
as a spokesman for the ,caucasian       
portion of our race4  ,and now comes    
modern physical science reducing matter 
to a tenuousness only one remove from   
the purely spiritual1 if it is as much  
as that4 ,gone is the mass of the       
mountains1 the stoniness of rocks1 the  
hard solidity of iron4 ,the human body1 
as someone puts it1 is no more than a   
few pails of water and a handful of ash4
 ,ash and water are alike dissipated    
into gases1 and gases into elements more
 subtle still4 ,keeping strictly to the 
material modern science has reached the 
confines of materiality4 ,where it will 
lead us next no man knows4  ,but the    

inference is not unfair that the world  
of matter is to a considerable degree1  
and perhaps altogether1 a world of man's
 own creation4 ,that is to say1 while   
,god is doing one thing with it1 the    
human mind understands another4 ,for the
 human point of view to develop and     
develop and develop till it becomes     
identical with ,god's is perhaps the    
whole purpose of existence4    ,,iv     
,to me personally it was no small help  
in overcoming fear when ,i saw the      
purpose of existence as expressed in the
 single word1 ,growth4 ,that1 at least1 
is a legitimate inference to draw from  
the history of life on this planet4     
,assuming that the universe contains an 
intelligible design of any sort1 and    
that life on this planet is part of it1 
a vast development going on eternally   
toward complete understanding of        
,infinite ,right and ,happiness would   
give us some explanation of the mystery 
of our being here4 ,beginning1 for      
reasons at which we can only guess1 far 

away from that understanding1 we are    
forever approaching it1 with forever the
 joy of something new to master or to   
learn4 ,new perceptions1 new            
comprehensions1 new insights gained1 new
 victories1 even little victories1 won1 
constitute1 ,i think1 our treasures laid
 up in that heaven where neither moth   
nor wear-and-tear destroys1 and where   
thieves do not break in and steal4      
,where this treasure is1 there1         
naturally enough1 our hearts will be    
also4 ,looking back over the ages since 
the life-principle first glided into our
 planet waters--how it did so is as yet 
part of our unsolved mystery--what we   
chiefly see is a great surging of the   
living thing upward and upward toward   
that ,highest ,universal to which we    
give the name of ,god4    ,v   ,that is 
a point which we do not sufficiently    
seize--that ,god is not revealed to us  
by one avenue of truth alone1 but by all
 the avenues of truth working together4 
,with our tendency to keep the          

,universal in a special compartment of  
life we see ,him as making ,himself     
known through a line of teachers        
culminating in a ,church or a complex of
 churches2 and we rarely think of ,him  
as making ,himself known in any other   
way4 ,to change the figure1 ,he trickles
 to us like a brook instead of bathing  
us round and round like light or air4   
,but all good things must express the   
,universal2 and all discovery of truth1 
whether by religion1 science1           
philosophy1 or imaginative art1 must be 
discovery in ,god4 ,the ,ten            
,commandments and the ,sermon on the    
,mount are discoveries in ,god1 but so  
are the advances in knowledge made by   
,plato1 ,aristotle1 ,roger ,bacon1 and  
,thomas ,edison4 ,he shows ,himself     
through ,abraham1 ,moses1 ,isaiah1 and  
,st4 ,paul1 but also through ,homer1    
,shakespeare1 ,michael ,angelo1         
,beethoven1 ,darwin1 ,george ,eliot1    
,william ,james1 and ,henry ,irving4 ,i 
take the names at random as illustrating

 different branches of endeavour1 and if
 ,i use only great ones it is not that  
the lesser are excluded4 ,no one        
department of human effort is specially 
,his1 or is ,his special expression4    
,the ,church cannot be so more than the 
stage1 or music more than philosophy4   
,his ,holy ,spirit can be no more       
outpoured on the bishop or the elder for
 his work than on the inventor or the   
scientist for his work4 ,i say so not to
 minimise the outpouring on the bishop  
or the elder1 but to magnify that on    
everyone working for progress4 ,this1 ,i
 take it1 is what ,st4 ,john means when 
he says1 ,god does not give the ,spirit 
with limitations4 ,he who always gives  
all to all ,his children cannot give    
more4  ,when our ,lord restores sight to
 a blind man1 or ,peter and ,john cause 
a lame man to walk1 we see              
manifestations of ,god2 but we see equal
 manifestations of ,god when one man    
gives us the telephone1 another the     
motor-car1 and another wireless         

telegraphy4 ,whatever declares ,his     
power declares ,him2 and whatever       
declares ,him is a means by which we    
press upward to the perception of ,his  
loving almightiness4 ,the advance may be
 irregular but it is advance2 and all   
advance is advance toward ,him4    ,,vi 
,that is to say1 we are rising above a  
conception of life in which matter is   
our master2 and yet we are rising above 
it slowly4 ,this is my chief point here1
 because by understanding it we see why 
we still suffer from material           
afflictions4 ,we have overcome some of  
them1 but only some of them4 ,it is a   
question of racial development4 ,as we  
glance backward we see how much of the  
way we have covered2 as we look round on
 our present conditions we see how much 
there is still to be achieved4  ,to     
diminish fear we should have it1 ,i     
think1 clearly before us that the human 
race has done as yet only part of its   
work1 and put us in possession of only  
part of the resources which will one day

 belong to us4 ,if we could compare     
ourselves with our ancestors in the     
days1 let us say1 of ,christopher       
,columbus or ,william the ,conqueror we 
should seem in relation to them like    
children of a higher phase of creation4 
,if we could compare ourselves with our 
descendants of five hundred or a        
thousand years hence we should probably 
be amazed at our present futility and   
grossness4 ,our ancestors in the ,middle
 ,ages could do certain great things1 as
 we1 too1 can do certain great things2  
but in general access to the ,universal 
,storehouse which is ,god we have made  
progress in ways unknown to them1 as our
 children will make such progress after 
us4  ,but we have made only the progress
 we have made4 ,we have its advantages1 
but there are advantages to which we    
have not yet attained4 ,we might liken  
ourselves to people who have reached the
 fourth or fifth step of a stairway in  
which there are twenty or thirty4 ,we   
have climbed to a certain height1 but we

 are far from having reached the plane  
to which we are ascending4    ,,vii     
,it is worth noting this for the reason 
that we are so likely to think of       
ourselves as the climax to which the    
ages have worked up1 and after which    
there is no beyond4 ,we are the final   
word1 or as the ,french express it1 the 
last cry1 le dernier cri4 ,all that can 
be felt we have felt1 all that can be   
known we have experienced4 ,for the most
 part this stand is taken by the        
intellectuals in all modern countries4  
,in us of to-day1 of this very hour1 the
 wave of ,eternity has broken1 throwing 
nothing at our feet but froth4 ,the     
literature of the past ten years is     
soaked in the pessimism of those who    
regret that this should be all that the 
travail of ,time could produce for us4  
,in view of this moan from so many of   
the writers who have the public ear1    
especially in ,europe1 it is the more   
important to keep before us the fact    
that we are children of a race but      

partially developed at best4 ,compared  
with what will one day be within human  
scope our actual reach is only a little 
beyond impotence4 ,i say this not merely
 at a venture1 but on the strength of   
what has happened in the past4 ,we are  
not a people which has accomplished     
much1 but one on the way to             
accomplishment4 ,the achievements of    
which we can boast are relatively like  
those of a child of five who boasts that
 he can count4 ,our whole               
world-condition shows us to be racially 
incompetent1 and able to produce no more
 than incompetent leaders4 ,that is our 
present high-water mark1 and with our   
high-water mark we must learn to be     
satisfied4  ,escaping from matter we are
 still within the grasp of matter1 and  
shall probably so continue for          
generations to come4 ,our struggles must
 therefore be largely with matter1 till 
little by little we achieve its         
domination4 ,in proportion as the       
individual does so now he reaps the     

reward of his victory2 and in proportion
 as he reaps that reward fear is        
overcome4 ,our primary fear being fear  
of matter1 much is gained by grasping   
the fact which modern science for the   
past ten or fifteen years has been      
carefully putting before us--vainly as  
far as most of us are concerned--that   
what we call matter is a force subject  
to the control of mind1 while the       
directing of mind rests wholly with     
ourselves4 ,since we have controlled    
matter to make it in so many ways a     
hostile force1 it ought to be within our
 power to turn it in our favour4        
,,viii   ,which is1 ,i suppose1 the     
trend we are following1 even if we      
follow it unconsciously4 ,for the       
turning of the matter in our favour we  
have fortunately some notable examples4 
,our race has produced one perfectly    
normal man to whom all of us sub-normals
 can look as the type of what we are one
 day to become4  ,i think it a pity that
 so much of our thought of ,him makes   

,him an exception to human              
possibilities4 ,in speaking of ,him as  
the ,son of ,god we fancy ,him as being 
in another category from ourselves4 ,we 
forget that we1 too1 are sons of        
,god--heirs of ,god and co-heirs with   
,christ4#ai ,it is true that ,he        
realised that ,sonship to a degree which
 we do not2 but it is also true that we 
ourselves realise it to some degree4 ,in
 the detail of the mastery of matter to 
which we shall attain it is fair1 ,i    
think1 to take ,him as our standard4    
#ai ,epistle to the ,romans4  ,taking   
,him as our standard we shall work out1 
,i venture to think1 to the following   
points of progress4  a4 ,the control of 
matter in furnishing ourselves with food
 and drink1 by means more direct than at
 present employed1 as ,he turned water  
into wine and fed the multitudes with   
the loaves and fishes4  b4 ,the control 
of matter by putting away from          
ourselves1 by methods more sure and less
 roundabout than those of to-day1       

sickness1 blindness1 infirmity1 and     
deformity4  c4 ,the control of matter by
 regulating our atmospheric conditions  
as ,he stilled the tempest4  d4 ,the    
control of matter by restoring to this  
phase of existence those who have passed
 out of it before their time1 or who can
 ill be spared from it1 as ,he raised   
three young people from the dead and    
,peter and ,paul followed ,his example4 
e4 ,the control of matter in putting it 
off and on at will1 as ,he in ,his death
 and resurrection4  f4 ,the control of  
matter in passing altogether out of it1 
as ,he in what we call ,his ,ascension  
into ,heaven4    ,,ix   ,it will be     
observed that ,i take as historic       
records the statements of the ,bible4   
,this ,i do in face of the efforts of   
many of the clergy in a number of the   
churches to make me see in the ,old     
,testament chiefly a collection of      
myths1 and in the ,new a series of      
compilations by irresponsible hands1 of 
doubtful date and authority1 leaving1 in

 the case of our ,lord1 only a          
substratum which can be relied on as    
biographical4  ,as an instance of what  
,i mean ,i quote the following3 ,a few  
weeks ago ,i happened to mention to the 
distinguished head of one of the most   
important theological schools of one of 
the largest denominations in the        
country1 our ,lord's turning the water  
into wine4 ,i've no idea that ,he ever  
did anything of the kind1 were the words
 with which he dismissed the subject1   
which ,i did not take up again4 ,i am   
not arguing here against his point of   
view4 ,i merely state that ,i do not    
share it1 and for these two main        
reasons3  ,first1 because the so-called 
,higher ,criticism on which it is based 
is a purely evanescent phase of man's   
learning1 likely to be rejected         
to-morrow by those who accept it to-day1
 as has been the case with other such   
phases2  ,secondly1 because ,i feel sure
 that1 with the mastery of matter to    
which we have already attained1 the     

future development of our race will     
justify these seeming miracles1 and make
 them as natural and commonplace as     
telegraphy and telephony4  ,i speak only
 for myself when ,i say that the more ,i
 can feel round me the atmosphere of    
omnipotence the less ,i am aware of     
fear4 ,it is a matter of course that the
 one should exclude the other4 ,the     
sense of being myself1 in a measure1 the
 inheritor of omnipotence1 as an heir of
 ,god and a co-heir with ,christ1       
becomes1 therefore1 one to cultivate4   
,this ,i can do only in proportion as ,i
 see that my ,standard and ,example     
cultivated it before me4 ,in my capacity
 as a son of ,god ,i take as applying to
 myself the words reported by ,st4      
,john3 ,in most solemn truth ,i tell you
 that the ,son can do nothing of        
,himself--,he can only do what ,he sees 
the ,father doing2 for whatever ,he     
does1 that the ,son does in like manner4
  ,while sayings like these1 of which   
there are many in the ,new ,testament1  

apply doubtless1 in the first place1 to 
,him who best exemplifies the ,sonship  
of ,god1 they must apply1 in the second 
place1 ,i suppose1 to all who exemplify 
that ,sonship to any degree whatever4   
,man is the ,son of ,god2 and it is     
worth noting that ,he who is specially  
termed the ,son of ,god is also         
specially termed the ,son of ,man4 ,dear
 friends1 ,st4 ,john writes1 elsewhere1 
we are now ,god's children1 but what we 
are to be in the future has not been    
fully revealed to us4 ,i take it1       
therefore1 as no presumption on my part 
to emphasise in my daily thought my     
place as a co-heir with ,christ1 feeling
 that not only is ,god's almightiness   
exercised on my behalf1 but that as much
 of it as ,i know how to use is placed  
in my hands4    ,x   ,this last1 of     
course1 is very little4 ,even that      
little ,i use doubtfully1 timidly1      
tremblingly4 ,that is the utmost reach  
to which present race-development and   
personal development have brought me4   

,with regard to the opportunities all   
round me ,i am as if ,i stood beside an 
airship in which ,i could fly if ,i knew
 how to work its engines1 which ,i do   
not4 ,other conveniences besides        
airships would be of no good at all to  
me if someone more skilful than ,i      
didn't come to my aid4 ,there is        
probably no person living of whom the   
same is not true4 ,large portions of    
omnipotence are placed within hands     
which are too busy grasping other things
 to seize all that they could hold4  ,i 
remember the encouragement it was to me 
when ,i understood that to hold anything
 at all was so much to the good as a    
starting-point4 ,i had been in the habit
 of dwelling on the much ,i had missed  
rather than on the little ,i had        
apprehended4 ,but the little ,i had     
apprehended was1 after all1 my real     
possession1 and one ,i could increase4  
,it is like the few dollars a man has in
 a savings bank4 ,that at least is his1 
notwithstanding the millions he might   

have possessed if he had only known how 
to acquire them4 ,there are many        
instances of a few dollars in the       
savings bank becoming the seedling of   
millions before the span of a man's life
 is passed4  ,to be glad of what we can 
do while knowing it is only a portion of
 what will one day be done is to me a   
helpful point of view4 ,there may be    
truth in all this1 is the observation of
 a young lady who has scanned what ,i   
have written1 and yet ,i don't believe  
that we shall ever conquer fear4 ,that1 
it seems to me1 is to tie chains and    
iron weights about one's feet when      
starting on a race4 ,if we are to keep  
in the race at all1 to say nothing of   
winning it1 the spirit must be free4    
,one must add the courage which springs 
from a partial knowledge of the truth to
 the patience one gets from the         
understanding that as yet our knowledge 
of the truth is but partial4    ,,xi    
,i often think that if the churches     
could come to this last admission it    

would be a help to themselves and to all
 of us4 ,as already hinted ,i am anxious
 to keep away from the subject of       
churches through a natural dread of     
bitterness2 but this much ,i feel at    
liberty to say1 saying it as ,i do in   
deep respect for the bodies which have  
kept alive the glimmer of ,divine ,light
 in a world which would have blown it   
out4 ,in a partially developed race the 
churches can have no more than a        
partially developed grasp of truth4 ,a  
partially developed grasp of truth is   
much--it is pricelessly much--but it is 
not a knowledge of the whole truth4 ,not
 being a knowledge of the whole truth it
 should be humble1 tolerant1 and eager  
to expand4  ,the weakness of the        
ecclesiastical system strikes me as     
lying in the assumption1 or practical   
assumption1 on the part of each sect    
that it is the sole repository of truth1
 and of all the truth4 ,there is no sect
 which does not claim more than all     
mankind can claim4 ,moreover1 there is  

no sect which does not make its claims  
exclusively1 asserting not only that    
these claims are right1 but that all    
other claims are wrong4 ,to the best of 
my knowledge1 the sect has not yet risen
 which would make more than shadowy     
concessions to any other sect4  ,true1  
it must not be forgotten that no sect   
bases its teaching on what it has worked
 out for itself1 but on the revelation  
made to it in ,jesus ,christ4 ,every    
sect would admit that its own view of   
truth might have been partial were it   
not for the fact that in ,jesus ,christ 
it has everything4 ,where the theories  
of men might be inadequate ,his immense 
knowledge comes in as supplementary4    
,this might be so had ,he ,himself      
undertaken to give more than a partial  
view of truth4 ,but ,he says expressly  
that ,he does not4 ,he gives what ,his  
hearers might be assumed to be able to  
assimilate2 but that is all4 ,i have    
much more to say to you1 but you are    
unable at present to bear the burden of 

it4#bj ,it being an axiom in teaching to
 give the pupil only what he can        
receive1 this is the utmost that our    
,lord attempts4  #bj ,st4 ,john4  ,he   
goes on1 however1 to add these words1   
which are significant3 ,but when ,he has
 come--the ,spirit of ,truth--,he will  
guide you into all the truth4#ba ,no    
doubt that process is even now going on1
 and will continue to go on in          
proportion as our race develops4 ,we are
 being guided into all the truth1       
through all kinds of channels1          
spiritual1 literary1 scientific1        
philosophical4 ,the nave supposition    
that this promise was kept on the ,day  
of ,pentecost1 when a sudden access of  
knowledge committed all truth to the    
apostles and through them to the ,church
 forevermore1 is contradicted by the    
facts4 ,the apostles had no such        
knowledge and made no claims to its     
possession4 ,the ,church has never had  
it1 either4 ,all truth covers much more 
ground than do questions of             

ecclesiastical forms of government or of
 the nature of the sacraments4 ,all     
truth must go as far as the ,universal  
goes1 leaving nothing outside its range4
 ,all truth must surely be such         
self-evident truth as to admit of no    
further dissensions4  #ba ,st4 ,john4   
,taking truth as a circle1 the symbol of
 perfection1 we may assume that our     
,lord disclosed a view of a very large  
arc in its circumference4 ,but of the   
arc which ,he disclosed no one group of 
,his followers has as yet perceived the 
whole4 ,at the same time it is probable 
that each group has perceived some arc  
of that arc1 and an arc perceived by no 
other group4 ,all truth being too large 
for any one group to grasp1 the ,baptist
 sees his segment1 the ,catholic his1   
the ,methodist his1 the ,anglican his1  
the ,congregationalist his1 until the   
vision of ,christ is made up4 ,i name   
only the groups with which we are       
commonly most familiar1 though we might 
go through the hundreds of ,christian   

sects and agree that each has its angle 
from which it sees what is visible from 
no other4 ,though there is likely to be 
error in all such perceptions a         
considerable portion of truth must be   
there1 or the sect in question would not
 survive4 ,it is safe to say that no    
sect comes into existence1 thrives1 and 
endures1 unless it is to supply that    
which has been missed elsewhere4        
,,xii   ,what place is there then for   
intersectarian or ecclesiastical        
arrogance8  ,the question is far from   
foreign to my subject4 ,fear is what    
arrogance feeds upon2 fear is what      
arrogance produces2 and arrogance is the
 special immorality of churches4 ,to my 
mind the churches are almost precluded  
from combating fear1 for the reason that
 arrogance is to so marked a degree     
their outstanding vice4  ,the ,catholic 
is arrogant toward the ,protestant2 the 
,protestant is arrogant toward the      
,catholic2 the ,anglican is arrogant to 
him whom he calls a ,dissenter in       

,england1 and merely unchurches in      
,america2 the ,unitarian is arrogant to 
those whom he thinks less intellectual  
than himself2 those who believe in the  
,trinity are arrogant toward the        
,unitarian4 ,all other ,christian bodies
 have their own shades of arrogance1    
entirely permitted by their codes1 like 
scorn of the weak to the knights of     
,arthur's court4 ,an active1 recognised1
 and mutual arrogance all round is the  
reason why it is so rare to see any two 
or three or half a dozen ,christian     
sects work for any cause in harmony4    
,arrogance begets fear as surely and    
prolifically as certain of the rodents  
beget offspring4  ,much has been written
 during the past fifty years on the     
beautiful theme of the reunion of       
,christendom4 ,rarely does any great    
synod or convention or council meet     
without some scheme or some aspiration  
toward this end4 ,every now and then a  
programme is put forth1 now by this     
body1 now by that1 with yearning and    

good intentions4 ,and in every such     
programme the same grim humour is to be 
read behind the brotherly invitation4   
,we can all unite--if others will think 
as we do4 ,is it any wonder that nothing
 ever comes of these efforts8 ,and yet1 
,i am persuaded1 a day will dawn when   
something will4    ,,xiii   ,when he has
 come--the ,spirit of ,truth--he will   
guide you into all the truth4 ,that will
 be in the course of our                
race-development4 ,as step is added to  
step1 as milestone is passed after      
milestone1 as we see more clearly what  
counts and what doesn't count1 as we    
outgrow childishness1 as we come more   
nearly to what ,st4 ,paul calls mature  
manhood1 the stature of full-grown men  
in ,christ1#bb we shall do many things  
that now seem impossible4 ,among them ,i
 think we shall view intersectarian     
arrogance as a mark of enfeebled        
intelligence4 ,there will come an era of
 ecclesiastical climbing down4 ,we shall
 see more distinctly our own segment of 

the arc which our ,lord has revealed1   
and because of that we shall know that  
another man sees what we have missed4   
,the ,methodist will then acknowledge   
that he has much to learn from the      
,catholic2 the ,catholic will know the  
same of the ,baptist2 the ,anglican of  
the ,presbyterian2 the ,unitarian of the
 ,anglican2 and a co-operative universe 
be reflected in a co-operative ,church4 
,each will lose something of his present
 cocksureness and exclusiveness4 ,god   
will be seen as too big for any sect1   
while all the sects together will sink  
out of sight in ,god4  #bb ,epistle to  
the ,ephesians4  ,in the meantime we are
 only working toward that end1 but      
toward it we are working4 ,every man who
 believes in a church is doing something
 to bring that end about when he gives a
 kindly thought to any other church4 ,i 
say this the more sincerely owing to the
 fact that ,i myself am naturally       
bigoted1 and such kindly thought does   
not come to me easily4 ,there are sects 

,i dislike so much that my eyes jump    
from the very paragraphs in the         
newspapers which mention them4 ,and yet 
when ,i curb myself1 when ,i force      
myself to read them1 when ,i force      
myself to read them sympathetically and 
with a good wish in my heart1 my mental 
atmosphere grows wider and ,i am in a   
stronger1 surer1 steadier1 and more     
fearless world4  ,much criticism has    
been levelled at the ,church within the 
past few years2 but it should be        
remembered that the ,church no more than
 government1 no more than business1 no  
more than education1 can be ahead of the
 only partially developed race of which 
she is one of the expressions4 ,she is  
not yet out of the world of matter1     
though she is emerging4 ,in proportion  
as her concepts1 hopes1 and aims remain 
material she will be as incompetent as  
any other body with the same handicaps  
and limitations4 ,in proportion as she  
learns to overthrow arrogant reckonings 
and every stronghold that towers high in

 defiance of the knowledge of ,god1#bc  
she will become the leader of the world1
 and our great deliverer from fear4  #bc
 ,second ,epistle to the ,corinthians4  
,,xiv   ,b4 ,of the trials brought upon 
us by a world of men perhaps our chief  
resentment springs from their           
unreasonableness4 ,they are not         
necessary2 they might be avoided2 at    
their worst they could be tempered4 ,for
 this reason1 too1 they take us by      
surprise4 ,those who bring them on us   
seem captious1 thoughtless1 cruel4 ,when
 they could so easily offer us a helping
 hand they obstruct us for the mere     
sport of doing so4 ,people toward whom  
we have never had an unkindly thought   
will often go out of their way to do us 
a bad turn4  ,i shall not enlarge on    
this1 since most of us are in a position
 to enlarge on it for ourselves4 ,there 
is scarcely an individual for whom the  
way1 hard enough at any time1 has not   
been made harder by the barbed wire     
entanglements which other people throw  

across his path4 ,almost anything we    
plan we plan in the teeth of someone's  
opposition2 almost anything with which  
we try to associate ourselves is fraught
 with discords and irritations that     
often inspire disgust4 ,the worlds in   
which co-operation is essential1 from   
that of governmental politics to that of
 offices and homes1 are centres of      
animosities and suspicions1 and         
therefore breeding-grounds of fear4  ,i 
suppose most grown-up people can recall 
the wounded amazement with which they   
first found themselves attacked by      
someone to whom they were not conscious 
of ever having given cause4 ,some are   
sensitive to this sort of thing2 some   
grow callous to it2 some are            
indifferent2 and some are said to enjoy 
it4 ,in the main ,i think we are        
sensitive and remain sensitive4 ,i have 
been told by a relative of one of the   
three or four greatest living writers of
 ,english that the unfavourable comment 
of a child would affect him so that he  

would be depressed for hours4 ,statesmen
 and politicians1 ,i understand1 suffer 
far more deeply in the inner self than  
the outer self ever gives a sign of4    
,the fact that our own weakness or folly
 or recklessness or wrong-doing lays us 
open to a blow is not much consolation  
when it falls4    ,,xv   ,for myself all
 this became more tolerable when ,i had 
fully grasped the fact that we are still
 to a considerable degree a race of     
savages4 ,from savages one cannot expect
 too much1 not even from oneself4 ,we   
have advanced beyond the stage at which 
one naturally attacked a stranger simply
 because he was a stranger1 but we have 
not advanced very far4 ,the instinct to 
do one another harm is still strong in  
us4 ,we do one another harm when it     
would be just as easy1 perhaps easier1  
to do one another good4 ,just as the    
,ashanti hiding in the bush will hurl   
his assegai at a passer-by for no other 
reason than that he is passing1 so our  
love of doing harm will spit itself out 

on people just because we know their    
names4  ,personally ,i find myself often
 doing it4 ,i could on the spur of the  
moment write as many as twenty names of 
people of whom ,i am accustomed to speak
 ill without really knowing much about  
them4 ,i make it an excuse that they are
 in the public eye1 that ,i don't like  
their politics1 or their social         
opinions1 or their literary output1 or  
the things they do on the stage4        
,anything will serve so long as it gives
 me the opportunity to hurl my assegai  
as ,i see them pass4 ,one does it       
instinctively1 viciously1 because like  
other semi-savages one is undeveloped   
mentally1 and it is to be expected4  ,by
 expecting it from others half our      
resentment is forestalled4 ,knowing that
 from a race such as ours we shall not  
get anything else we learn to take it   
philosophically4 ,if ,i hurl my assegai 
at another1 another hurls his assegai at
 me1 and in a measure we are quits4     
,even if1 trying to rise above my inborn

 savagery1 ,i withhold my assegai1 it is
 no sign that another will withhold his1
 and ,i may be wounded even in the      
effort to do my best4 ,very well2 that1 
too1 is to be expected and must be taken
 manfully4  ,the learning to take it    
manfully is what as individuals we get  
out of it4 ,for the most part we are    
soft at heart1 soft1 ,i mean1 not in the
 sense of being tender1 but in that of  
being flabby4  ,on myself this was borne
 in less than a year ago4 ,i had for    
some months been working hard at a      
picture-play which when put before the  
public was largely misunderstood4 ,while
 some of the papers praised it others   
criticised it severely1 but whether they
 praised or blamed ,i was seen as       
teaching a lesson1 a presumption from   
which ,i shrink4 ,it is not that there  
is any harm in teaching a lesson if a   
man is qualified1 but ,i no longer      
consider myself qualified4 ,sharing     
ideas is one thing1 and the highest     
pleasure of the reason2 but the         

assumption that because you suggest an  
idea you seek to convert is quite       
another thing4 ,if ,i failed to make it 
plain that in this present book ,i was  
merely offering ideas for inspection1   
and in the hope of getting others in    
return1 ,i should put it in the fire4   
,my picture-play once handed over to the
 public ,i experienced an intense       
reaction of depression4 ,to figure      
through the country1 wherever there are 
screens1 as teaching a lesson seemed    
more than ,i could bear4 ,it was more   
than ,i could bear1 till it flashed on  
me that ,i couldn't bear it merely      
because ,i was inwardly flabby4 ,i was  
not taking the experience manfully4 ,i  
was not standing up to it1 nor getting  
from it that toughening of the inner    
fibre which it had to yield4 ,as usual  
in my case1 owing to an acquaintance    
with the ,bible imparted to me in       
childhood1 a suggestion from the ,bible 
was that which righted me again toward  
cheerfulness4 ,it came1 as such things  

always do1 without any seeking1 or other
 operation beyond that of the           
subconscious self4  ,thou therefore     
endure hardness1 as a good soldier of   
,jesus ,christ4#bd  #bd ,st ,paul's     
,second ,epistle to ,timothy4  ,it was  
exactly what ,i needed to do--to endure 
hardness--to take it--to bear it--to be 
more of a man for it4 ,moreover1 the    
idea was a new suggestion4 ,i had not   
understood before that to the conquest  
of fear the hardening of the inner man  
is an auxiliary4 ,my object had been to 
ward off fear so that it shouldn't touch
 me2 but to let it strike and rebound   
because it could make no impact was an  
enlarging of the principle4 ,viewing the
 experience as a strengthening process  
enabled me not only to go through it but
 to do so with serenity4  ,this1 ,i     
imagine1 is the main thing we are to get
 out of the struggle brought on us      
through living in a world of men such as
 men are to-day4 ,it is a pity they are 
not better1 but being no better than    

they are we can get that much from the  
fact--the inner hardening4 ,when1 justly
 or unjustly1 others attack or hurt or  
worry or anger or annoy me1 the         
knowledge that through the very trial ,i
 am toughening within1 where so often ,i
 am without moral muscle1 can be a      
perceptible support4    ,,xvi   ,c4 ,of 
the two main trials we bring on         
ourselves ,i suppose it would be only   
right to put sickness first4  ,under    
sickness ,i include everything that     
makes for age1 decay1 and the conditions
 commonly classed as breaking up4 ,it is
 becoming more and more recognised1 ,i  
think1 that physical collapse has       
generally behind it a mental cause1 or a
 long series of mental causes too subtle
 for tabulation4  ,i shall not dwell on 
this1 for the reason that during the    
past fifty years so much has been       
written on the subject4 ,a number of    
movements for human betterment have kept
 the whole idea in the forefront of the 
public mind4 ,it is an idea only        

partially accepted as yet1 arousing as  
much opposition among the conservative  
as hope on the part of the progressive4 
,since1 however1 science and religion   
are both1 in their different ways1      
working on it together1 some principle  
which can no longer be questioned is    
likely to be worked out within the next 
few generations4  ,all ,i shall attempt 
to do now is to re-state what seems to  
me the fact--stated by others with      
knowledge and authority--that ,god1     
rightly understood1 is the cure of      
disease and not the cause of it4 ,there 
is something repugnant in the thought of
 ,universal ,intelligence propagating   
harmful bacteria1 and selecting the     
crises at which we shall succumb to     
their effects4 ,the belief that ,god    
sends sickness upon us amounts to       
neither less nor more than that4 ,the   
bacilli which we try to destroy ,he uses
 ,his almighty power to cultivate1 so   
that even our efforts to protect        
ourselves become defiances of ,his      

,will4  ,surely the following incident1 
which gives our ,lord's attitude toward 
disease1 affords a reasonable basis for 
our own4  ,once ,he was teaching on the 
,sabbath in one of the synagogues where 
a woman was present who for eighteen    
years had been a confirmed invalid2 she 
was bent double1 and was unable to lift 
herself to her full height4 ,but ,jesus 
saw her1 and calling to her1 ,he said to
 her1 ',woman1 you are free from your   
weakness4' ,and ,he put ,his hands on   
her1 and she immediately stood upright  
and began to give glory to ,god4 ,then  
the ,warden of the ,synagogue1 indignant
 that ,jesus had cured her on the       
,sabbath day1 said to the crowd1 ',there
 are six days in the week on which      
people ought to work4 ,on those days    
therefore come and get yourselves cured1
 and not on the ,sabbath day4' ,but the 
,lord's reply to him was1 ',hypocrites1 
does not each of you on the ,sabbath day
 untie his bullock or his ass from the  
stall and lead him to water8 ,and this  

woman1 daughter of ,abraham as she is1  
whom ,satan had bound for no less than  
eighteen years1 was she not to be loosed
 from this chain because it is the      
,sabbath day8' ,when ,he had said this  
all ,his opponents were ashamed1 while  
the whole multitude was delighted at the
 many glorious things continually done  
by ,him4#be  #be ,st4 ,luke4  ,it was   
not ,god1 in ,his opinion1 who had      
afflicted this woman2 it was ,satan1 the
 personification of all evil4 ,but in   
order that such references should not be
 misunderstood ,he had said of ,satan1  
only a short time before1 ,i beheld     
,satan as lightning fall from heaven4#bf
  #bf ,st4 ,luke4  ,heaven1 ,i take it1 
is creation as its ,creator sees it4    
,god saw everything that he had made1   
and behold it was very good4#bg ,and    
from this creation1 with the rapidity of
 the quickest thing we know anything    
about1 a flash of lightning1 our ,lord  
saw the personification of evil blotted 
out4 ,what thought had formed thought   

could destroy4 ,the spectre which       
misunderstanding of ,god had raised in a
 life in which everything was very good 
became nothing at the instant when ,god 
was understood4  #bg ,the ,book of      
,genesis4  ,the occasion of ,his        
speaking the words ,i have quoted is    
worth noting as bearing on the subject4 
,a little earlier ,he had sent out      
seventy of ,his disciples to be the     
heralds of the ,kingdom4 ,cure the sick 
in that town1 and tell them the ,kingdom
 of ,god is now at your door4#bh ,by    
this time the seventy had returned1     
exclaiming joyfully1 ,master1 even the  
demons submit to us when we utter your  
name4#bi ,it was apparently the use of  
this word demons which called forth from
 ,him that explanation1 ,i beheld ,satan
 as lightning fall from heaven4 ,in     
other words1 ,satan is the creation of  
wrong thought2 the demons are the       
creations of wrong thought4 ,where the  
,universal ,good is all there can be no 
place for evil or evil spirits4 ,banish 

the concept and you banish the thing4   
,the action is as quick as thought1 and 
thought is as quick as lightning4 ,i    
have given you power1 ,he goes on to    
add1 to tread serpents and scorpions    
underfoot1 and to trample on all the    
power of the ,enemy2 and in no case     
shall anything do you harm4#cj  #bh ,st4
 ,luke4  #bi ,st4 ,luke4  #cj ,st4      
,luke4  ,this was no special gift       
bestowed on them and only on them4 ,god 
has never1 as far as we can see1 dealt  
in special and temporary gifts4 ,he     
helps us to see those we possess        
already4 ,what our ,lord seems anxious  
to make clear is the power over evil    
with which the human being is always    
endowed4 ,it is probably to be one of   
our great future discoveries that in no 
case shall anything do us harm4 ,as yet 
we scarcely believe it4 ,only an        
individual here and there sees that     
freedom and domination must belong to   
us4 ,but1 if ,i read the signs of the   
times aright1 the rest of us are slowly 

coming to the same conclusion4 ,we are  
less scornful of spiritual power than we
 were even a few years ago4 ,the        
cocksure scientific which in its time   
was not a whit less arrogant than the   
cocksure ecclesiastical is giving place 
to a consciousness that man is the      
master of many things of which he was   
once supposed to be the slave4 ,in      
proportion as the wiser among us are    
able to corroborate that which we       
simpler ones feel by a sixth or seventh 
sense1 a long step will be taken toward 
the immunity from suffering which our   
,lord knew to be ideally our            
inheritance4    ,,xvii   ,sickness1 age1
 decay1 with all the horrors with which 
we invest our exit from this phase of   
existence1 ,i take to be a misreading of
 ,god's intentions4 ,we shall learn to  
read better by and by1 and have already 
begun to do so4 ,to this beginning ,i   
attribute the improvement which in one  
way or another has taken place in our   
general health--an improvement in which 

science and religion have worked        
together1 often without perceiving the  
association--and in the prolonging of   
youth which in countries like the       
,british ,empire and the ,united ,states
 is1 within thirty or forty years1 to be
 noted easily4  ,misreading of ,god's   
intentions ,i might compare to that     
misreading of his parent's intentions   
which goes on in the mind of every child
 of six or seven4 ,he sees the          
happenings in the household1 but sees   
them in a light of his own4 ,years      
afterwards1 when their real significance
 comes to him1 he smiles at his childish
 distortions of the obvious4  ,in       
comparison with what ,st4 ,paul calls   
mature manhood1 the stature of          
full-grown men in ,christ1 our present  
rating might be that of a child of this 
age4 ,it is no higher4 ,misreading is   
all that we are equal to1 but it is     
something to be able to misread4 ,it is 
a step on the way to reading correctly4 
,though our impulse to learn works      

feebly it works restlessly2 and a day   
will surely come when we shall be able  
to interpret ,god aright4    ,,xviii    
,next to sickness ,i should place       
poverty as the second of the two great  
trials we bring upon ourselves4  ,under 
poverty ,i class all sense of           
restriction1 limitation1 and material   
helplessness4 ,as the subject will be   
taken up more in detail elsewhere ,i    
wish for the minute to say no more than 
this3 that1 in an existence of which    
,growth seems to be the purpose1 ,god   
could not intend that any of us should  
be without full power of expansion4     
,what we are worth to him we must be    
worth as individuals2 and what we are   
worth as individuals must depend on the 
peculiar combination of qualities which 
goes to make up each one of us4 ,i1 poor
 creature that ,i sometimes seem to     
others and always to myself1 am so      
composed that ,god never before had     
anything exactly like me in the whole   
round of ,his creation4 ,my value lies  

in a special blend of potentialities4   
,of the billions and trillions of human 
beings who have passed across this      
planet not one could ever have done what
 ,i can do1 or have filled my place     
toward ,god and ,his designs4  ,among   
the billions and trillions ,i may seem  
trivial--to men4 ,i may even seem       
trivial to myself4 ,to such numbers as  
these ,i can add so little when ,i come1
 and take away so little from them when 
,i go1 that ,i am not worth counting4   
,quite so--to all human reckoning4 ,but 
my value is not my value to men2 it is  
not even my value to myself2 it is my   
value to ,god4 ,he alone knows my use1  
and the peculiar beauty ,i bring to the 
ages in making my contribution4 ,it is  
no presumptuous thing to say that ,he   
could no more spare me than any other   
father of a normal and loving family    
could spare one of the children of his  
flesh and blood4  ,now1 my value to ,god
 is my first reckoning4 ,we commonly    
make it the last1 if we ever make it at 

all2 but it is the first and the ruling 
one4  ,what ,i am to my family1 my      
country1 myself1 is all secondary4 ,they
 determine only the secondary results4  
,the first results come from my first   
relationship1 and my first relationship 
is to ,god4 ,as the child of my parents1
 as a citizen of my country1 as a       
denizen of this planet1 my place is a   
temporary one4 ,as the son of ,god ,i am
 from everlasting to everlasting1 a     
splendid being with the universe as my  
home4  ,now this1 it seems to me1 is my 
point of departure for the estimate of  
my possible resources4 ,i cannot expect 
less of the good things of the universe 
than ,god would naturally bestow on ,his
 son4 ,to expect less is to get less1   
since it is to dwarf my own power of    
receiving4 ,if ,i close the opening     
through which abundance flows it cannot 
be strange if ,i shut abundance out4    
,and that is precisely what we find     
throughout the human race1 millions upon
 millions of lives tightly shut against 

,his generosity4 ,the most generous     
treatment for which the majority of us  
look is man's4 ,the only standard by    
which the majority of us appraise our   
work is man's4 ,you have a job2 you get 
your twenty or thirty or fifty or a     
hundred dollars a week for it2 and by   
those dollars you judge your earning    
capacity and allow it to be judged4 ,you
 hardly ever pause to remember that     
there is an estimate of earning capacity
 which measures industry and good will  
and integrity and devotion1 and puts    
them above all tricks of trade and      
rewards them--rewards them1 ,i mean1 not
 merely in mystical blessings in eons   
far off1 possibly the highest blessings 
we shall ever know1 but rewards them in 
a way that will satisfy you now4  ,he   
satisfieth the empty soul1 writes the   
psalmist1 in one of the sublimest lyrics
 ever penned1 and filleth the hungry    
soul with goodness4  ,yes1 of course1   
says the ,caucasian4 ,when you have     
crushed out all your present cravings   

and forgotten them1 ,he will give you   
joys of which now you have no           
conception4  ,but are not my present    
cravings those which count for me8 and  
do they not make up precisely that      
character which renders me unique8      
,true1 my longings now may have to the  
longings ,i shall one day entertain only
 the relation of your little boy's      
craving for an alphabetic picture-book  
to the course in philosophy he will take
 when he is twenty-five2 but so long as 
the picture-book is the thing he can    
appreciate you give it to him4 ,is not  
this common sense8 ,and can we expect   
the ,father of us all to act in other   
than common-sense ways8  ,it is because 
we do so expect--because we do so almost
 universally--that we have blocked the  
channels of ,his blessings4 ,the world  
is crowded with men and women working   
their fingers to the bone1 and even so  
just squeaking along betwixt life and   
death and dragging their children after 
them4 ,they are the great problem of    

mankind2 they rend the heart with pity4 
,they rend the heart with pity all the  
more for the reason that there is no    
sense in their poverty4 ,there is no    
need of it4 ,god never willed it1 and   
what ,god never willed can go out of    
life with the speed of ,satan out of    
,heaven4 ,we have only to fulfil certain
 conditions1 certain conditions quite   
easy to fulfil1 to find the stores of   
the ,universal laid as a matter of      
course at the feet of the sons of ,god4 
,prove me now herewith1 saith the ,lord 
of ,hosts1 are the striking words of the
 prophet ,malachi1 if ,i will not open  
you the windows of heaven and pour you  
out a blessing that there shall not be  
room enough to receive it4444 ,and all  
nations shall call you blessed1 for ye  
shall be a delightsome land1    ,,xix   
,but it is the old story3 we do not     
believe it4 ,it is too good to be true1 
so we put it away from us4 ,in a world  
where the material is so pressing we use
 only material measures1 and bow only to

 material force4  ,so be it6 ,that is   
apparently as far as our                
race-development takes us4 ,it takes us 
into suffering1 but not out of it4      
,individuals have come into it and      
worked their way out again2 but most of 
us can go no faster than the crowd4 ,in 
that case we must suffer4 ,in a terrible
 crisis in his history1 and after many  
sins1 ,david was able to write these    
words3 ,i sought the ,lord 444 and ,he  
delivered me out of all my fears4 ,it is
 the royal avenue1 and it is open to    
anyone4 ,and yet if we do not take it1  
it still does not follow that all is    
lost4  ,of the world as it is the       
outstanding fact is the necessity for   
struggle4 ,struggle may conceivably     
enter into every other world4 ,there is 
something in us which requires it1 which
 craves for it4 ,a static heaven in     
which all is won and there is nothing   
forevermore but to enjoy has never made 
much appeal to us4 ,if eternal life     
means eternal growth we shall always    

have something with which to strive1    
since growth means overcoming4  ,while  
sorry1 then1 that we have not released  
ourselves to a greater degree than we   
have1 we may take heart of grace from   
what we have achieved4 ,we must simply  
struggle on4 ,struggle will continue to 
make and shape us4 ,whether our problems
 spring from a world of matter1 from a  
world of men1 or from ourselves1 their  
solving brings us a fuller grasp of     
truth4 ,the progress may be slow but it 
is progress4 ,hardship by hardship1 task
 by task1 failure by failure1 conquest  
by conquest1 we pull ourselves up a     
little higher in the scale4 ,some day we
 shall see in the ,universal all that we
 have been looking for1 and be delivered
 out of all our fears4     ,,chapter    
,,vi  ,,the ,,world ,,as ,,it ,,is ,,and
 ,,the ,,false ,,god ,,of ,,fear    ,i  
,of all fears the most dogging and      
haunting are those connected with money4
 ,everyone knows them1 even the rich4   
,for many years ,i was their victim1 and

 will now try to tell how ,i got rid of 
them so effectively that ,i may call it 
entirely4  ,having a good many          
responsibilities ,i lived in terror of  
not being able to keep pace with their  
demands4 ,the dread was like a malign   
invisible presence1 never leaving me4   
,with much in the way of travel1        
friendship1 and variety of experience1  
which ,i could have enjoyed1 the evil   
thing was forever at my side4 ,this is  
all very well1 it would whisper in      
moments of pleasure1 but it will be over
 in an hour or two1 and then you'll be  
alone with me as before4  ,i can recall 
minutes when the delight in landscape1  
or art1 or social intercourse1 became   
alien to me1 something to be thrust     
away4 ,once in driving through rich1    
lush1 storied ,warwickshire on the way  
to ,stratford-on-,avon--once in a great 
,parisian restaurant where the          
refinement1 brilliancy1 and luxury of   
the world seemed crushed into           
epitome--once at a stupendous           

performance of ,gtterdmmerung at        
,munich--once while standing on the     
shores of a lovely ,new ,hampshire lake 
looking up at a mountain round which1 as
 ,emerson says1 the ,spirit of ,mystery 
hovers and broods--but these are only   
remembered high points of a constant    
dread of not being able to meet my needs
 and undertakings4 ,there used to be an 
hour in the very early morning--the     
coward hour before the dawn1 it is      
called by a poet-friend of my own--when 
,i was in the habit of waking1 only to  
hear the sleepless thing saying1 as my  
senses struggled back into play1 ,my    
,god1 can you be sleeping peacefully1   
with possible ruin just ahead of you8   
,after that further sleep would become  
impossible for an hour or two1 such     
wakings occurring1 in periods of stress1
 as often as two and three times a week4
    ,,ii   ,it was the spiritually      
minded man whom ,i have already quoted  
as giving me the three great points as  
to ,god's direction who first helped me 

to see that1 on the part of anyone      
working hard and trying on the whole to 
do right1 the fear of being left without
 means amounts in effect to denial of   
,god4 ,thinking this over for myself    
during the course of some years1 this   
fear has come to seem to me of the      
nature of blasphemy4 ,it is like the    
,curse ,god and die1 of the wife of     
,job4 ,i shall not hesitate to speak    
strongly on the subject1 because so few 
are speaking on it strongly--while the  
urgency is pressing4    ,,iii   ,i have 
already said that it does not seem      
reasonable that the ,father should put  
us into ,his universe to expand1 and    
then deny us the power of expanding4    
,the power of expanding is not wrapped  
up in money1 but in the world as it is  
the independence of the one of the other
 is not very great4 ,one of the hardest 
things ,i ever had to do1 a mother said 
to me1 not long ago1 was to tell my     
little girl that her father and ,i could
 not afford to send her to college4     

,that is what ,i mean4 ,to most of us   
expanding and affording amount to the   
same thing4  ,true1 there are natures   
which transcend the limitations of      
affording1 and by innate strength do    
what others resign themselves to not    
doing4 ,for instance1 there are men and 
women who put themselves through        
college1 doing similar things which     
bring out the best in their characters4 
,these are the exceptions2 and they are 
the exceptions precisely for the reason 
that1 whether they know it or not1 they 
are nearer than their fellows to the    
divine working principle4 ,it is not    
necessary for us to be conscious of that
 principle in order to get much of its  
result1 though consciousness enables us 
to get more of it4 ,the strong are      
strong because of harmony with ,god1 at 
least to some extent4 ,they may misuse  
their strength1 as we can misuse        
anything2 but the mere fact of          
possessing it shows a certain degree of 
touch with the ,universal4 ,but ,i am   

speaking chiefly of the weak1 of those  
who think first of all in terms of      
restriction rather than in those of     
privilege to come and go and be and do4 
,i repeat that though this privilege is 
not dependent on money1 money expresses 
it to the average mind4  ,and what is   
money after all8 ,it is only a counter  
for what we call goods4 ,goods is the   
word with which1 according to our       
,anglo-,saxon genius for the right      
phrase1 we sum up the good things with  
which the ,father blesses ,his children4
 ,the root connection between good1     
goods1 and ,god is worth everyone's     
attention1 ,a hundred dollars is simply 
a standard of measurement for so much of
 ,god's good things4 ,a thousand dollars
 represents so much more2 a million     
dollars so much more again4 ,but it is  
important to note that this is not      
,god's standard of measurement2 it is   
man's1 and adopted only for man's       
convenience4  ,as for ,god's standard of
 measurement it is inconceivable that   

the ,universal ,father should give to   
one of ,his children far more of ,his   
goods than he can use1 while denying to 
another that which he is in absolute    
need of4 ,the ,universal ,father could  
surely not do otherwise than bless all  
alike4 ,with ,his command of resources  
,he must bless all alike1 not by        
depriving anyone1 but by enriching      
everyone4 ,if everyone does not enjoy   
plenty it must be because of the        
bringing in of some principle of        
distribution which could never have been
 ,his4    ,,iv   ,the right and the     
wrong principles of distribution are    
indirectly placed before us by our ,lord
 in one of the most beautiful passages  
which ever fell from human lips4        
,familiar as it is1 ,i venture to quote 
it at length1 for the reason that the   
modern translation makes some of the    
points clearer than they are in the     
,king ,james version which most of us   
know best4  ,no man can be the          
bondservant of two masters2 for either  

he will dislike one and like the other1 
or he will attach himself to one and    
think slightingly of the other4 ,you    
cannot be the bondservants both of ,god 
and of gold4 ,for this reason ,i charge 
you not to be over-anxious about your   
lives1 inquiring what you are to eat or 
what you are to drink1 nor yet about    
your bodies1 inquiring what clothes you 
are to put on4 ,is not the life more    
precious than its food1 and the body    
than its clothing8 ,look at the birds   
which fly in the air2 they do not sow or
 reap or store up in barns1 but your    
,heavenly ,father feeds them2 are you   
not of much greater value than they8    
,which of you by being over-anxious can 
add a single foot to his height8 ,and   
why be anxious about clothing8 ,learn a 
lesson of the wild lilies4 ,watch their 
growth4 ,they neither toil nor spin1 and
 yet ,i tell you that not even ,solomon 
in all his magnificence could array     
himself like one of these4 ,and yet if  
,god so clothes the wild herbage which  

to-day flourishes and to-morrow is cast 
into the oven1 is it not much more      
certain that he will clothe you1 you men
 of little faith8 ,do not even begin to 
be anxious1 therefore1 saying1 ',what   
shall we eat8' or ',what shall we       
drink8' or ',what shall we wear8' ,for  
all these are questions that ,gentiles  
are always asking2 but your ,heavenly   
,father knows that you need these       
things--all of them4 ,but make ,his     
,kingdom and righteousness your chief   
aim1 and then these things shall be     
given you in addition4 ,do not be       
over-anxious1 therefore1 about          
to-morrow1 for to-morrow will bring its 
own cares4 ,enough for each day are its 
own troubles4  ,in this passage there   
are two points1 each of which may merit 
a few words as a means of eliminating   
fear4    ,v   ,the first point is the   
reference to what we are to make our    
chief aim--the ,kingdom of ,god and     
righteousness4  ,i feel sure we         
generally miss the force of these words 

through our ,caucasian                  
sanctimoniousness4 ,we can think of     
,god's ,kingdom and righteousness only  
in the light of the pietistic4 ,the     
minute they are mentioned we strike what
 ,i have already called our artificial  
pose1 our funereal frame of mind4 ,i am 
not flippant when ,i say that in the    
mind of the ,caucasian the first step   
toward seeking the ,kingdom of ,god and 
righteousness is in pulling a long face4
 ,we can hardly think of righteousness  
except as dressed in our ,sunday        
clothes1 and looking and feeling        
wobegone4 ,to most of us the seeking of 
righteousness suggests at once an       
increase in attending church services1  
or going to prayer-meetings1 or making  
missionary efforts--excellent practices 
in themselves--according to the form of 
pietism we are most familiar with4      
,those of us who have no form of pietism
 feel cut off from making the attempt at
 all4  ,oh1 to be simple6--to be        
natural6--to be spontaneous6--to be free

 from the concept of a ,god shut up     
within the four walls of a building and 
whose chief interests are the sermon and
 the number of parishioners6 ,the       
,kingdom of ,god is the ,universal      
,kingdom1 including everyone and        
everything--all interests1 all commerce1
 all government1 all invention1 all art1
 all amusement1 all the staid pursuits  
of the old and all the ardour of the    
young1 all sport1 all laughter1 all that
 makes for gladness4 ,it is the ,kingdom
 of the bird and the flower and the     
horse and the motor-car and the         
motion-picture house and the office and 
the theatre and the ballroom and the    
school and the college and everything   
else that man has evolved for himself4  
,he has evolved these things wrongly    
because nine times out of ten he has    
seen them as outside ,god's ,kingdom1   
instead as being ,god's own undertakings
 because they are ours4 ,all that we    
have to do to seek ,his ,kingdom is to  
do what we are doing every day1 with    

energy and fun1 but to do it knowing we 
are ,his agents and co-workers4 ,as a   
matter of fact1 most of us are1 to some 
extent1 doing that already1 getting     
food1 shelter1 clothing1 and all other  
necessary things as our reward4 ,what we
 do not get is relief from fear1 because
 we do not understand that fear above   
all things is what ,he would take away  
from us4    ,,vi   ,the second point is 
a curious one1 and all the more emphatic
 for being curious4 ,our ,lord invents a
 false god4 ,he names the false god of  
fear1 who was never named before4       
,mammon is the word which the modern    
translator gives as gold4 ,as ,mammon it
 is translated in the ,authorised       
,version1 whence we get the familiar    
phrase1 ,ye cannot serve ,god and       
,mammon4  ,but ,mammon was never the    
name of an idol or other form of false  
deity4 ,the word1 which is ,syriac1     
means money4 ,our ,lord1 apparently1    
made it the name of a false god in order
 to set before us1 and make vivid to us1

 a false principle4  ,that false        
principle is in the belief that the     
material essentials for living and      
expanding are dependent on man's        
economic laws4  ,this is a point of vast
 importance to the individual who       
desires to strike out beyond the crowd1 
not only getting what he needs1 but     
ridding himself of fear4  ,the law of   
supply and demand is the most practical 
which the human race in its present     
stage has been able to evolve4 ,that it 
is not an ideal law is obvious4 ,there  
are ways in which it works1 and ways in 
which it does not4 ,when the ,christians
 began to act for themselves they       
established a community of goods1 such  
as had obtained among the little band   
who gathered round our ,lord4 ,almost at
 once it was given up1 presumably as    
being too advanced for the existing     
world of men4 ,i suppose we might say   
the same of the various systems of      
,socialism and ,communism urged on us at
 the present day4 ,however good they may

 be1 we are not ready to put them into  
practice4 ,that1 ,i judge--without      
positively knowing--is the reason why   
certain great ,christian bodies oppose  
both4 ,these bodies1 ,i assume1 are not 
hostile to equal distribution in itself1
 but only to equal distribution before  
men are developed to a stage at which it
 would be wise4  ,but my point is       
independent of all men's theories1 and  
rests simply on the fact that1 whatever 
the law of man1 ,god is not bound by it4
  ,if we can believe the ,old and ,new  
,testaments--which1 of course1 some of  
us do not--,he has shown on many1 many  
occasions that ,he is far from being    
bound by it4 ,time after time ,he comes 
to the individual's relief according to 
,his own law4 ,we reject these          
occurrences as mythical on the ground   
that the laws of supply and demand--and 
some other laws as law is understood by 
us--do not support them2 and yet it is  
in the power of the individual to test  
the truth for himself4  ,that is one of 

the burdens of both ,testaments4 ,the   
individual is implored to see the only  
real system for the distribution of     
goods as ,god's4 ,it is not expressed in
 that way1 but that is what it comes to4
 ,god owns and disposes of everything4  
,he has not put us into ,his ,universe  
and left us to fend for ourselves4 ,he  
follows us4 ,he cares for us4 ,not one  
is forgotten or overlooked by ,him4 ,it 
is personal watching and brooding and   
defence4 ,he is our ,father1 not merely 
for the purpose of hearing us sing      
hymns1 and forgiving our sins when we   
stop committing them1 but for all our   
aims and objects4 ,nothing that concerns
 us is so small but that ,his ,infinite 
,intelligence follows it2 no need of    
ours is so large but that ,his          
,all-,ownership can meet it4 ,do not two
 sparrows sell for a half-penny8 is our 
,lord's illustration on this point1 yet 
not one of them will fall to the ground 
without your ,father's leave4 ,but as   
for you1 ,he reasons1 in order that we  

may understand the infinitesimal nature 
of ,god's care1 the very hairs on your  
heads are all numbered4 ,away then with 
fear6#ca  #ca ,st ,matthew4    ,,vii    
,away then with fear1 because our first 
and over-ruling and all-determining     
relationship is to ,him4  ,in           
eliminating money-fears from my own life
 that was the fact which helped me most4
 ,i had not only to seize it            
intellectually1 but to get what ,william
 ,james calls the feeling of it1 the    
apprehension of it in my                
subconsciousness4 ,it was like acquiring
 a new instinct4 ,the ,metanoia1 the    
re-directing of my thought1 was a       
thorough and basic change4  ,it meant   
getting up in the morning with a new    
conception as to why ,i was working and 
for whom4 ,i had taken it for granted   
hitherto that ,i was working for such   
and such a firm1 for as much money as   
they would pay me4 ,as much money as    
they would pay me was the limit of my   
expectation4 ,beyond the law of supply  

and demand ,i had no vision2 and        
whenever the demand fell short fear was 
the result4  ,the change in my base was 
in seeing that working for such and such
 a firm1 for as much money as they would
 pay me1 was merely incidental4 ,it was 
secondary4 ,it was not what determined  
my position4 ,it was not what determined
 my reward4 ,it was a small way of      
looking at a situation which was big4   
,it was a small way of looking at a     
situation which was big1 merely to      
confine my objective to such selling and
 buying as goes on in the planet called 
the ,earth4 ,i was working for the      
,master of the ,universe1 who had all   
the resources of the universe with which
 to pay me for what ,i was worth to     
,him4    ,,viii   ,it is this last fact1
 as ,i have hinted already1 which fixes 
my true value4 ,to the firm for which ,i
 am working ,i am worth so many dollars 
and cents1 and if for any reason ,i am  
unable to do their work they will get   
someone else who can4 ,i am not         

essential to them in any way1 however   
essential they may be to me4 ,it is my  
part to keep my job1 since if ,i don't  
,i may find it hard to get another4 ,if 
,i do get another it will be on the same
 principle1 of being paid what ,i can be
 made to work for1 and not a penny more4
  ,but in working for the ,master of the
 ,universe ,i am working for ,one to    
whom ,i am essential4 ,my job could not 
be swung by anyone else1 since everyone 
else is essential to the swinging of his
 own4 ,i am not taken on to do what     
anyone else could do as well2 ,i am     
positively needed for this thing and for
 no other thing4  ,the nature of this   
thing for which ,i am needed may be seen
 in the obvious duties of my            
situation--as regards my family1 my     
employers1 and my surroundings1 which   
sum up my responsibilities toward men in
 general4 ,no explanation of myself can 
be independent of men in general1 since 
my work is for them in its final aim4   
,if ,i forget them ,i forget ,god1 ,god 

expressing ,himself to me through men in
 general1 as through my family and my   
employers in particular4  ,incidentally1
 then1 ,i work for men1 but essentially 
and consciously ,i work for ,god1 and   
look to ,god for my recompense4  ,now   
,god is the most generous of all        
paymasters4 ,it is natural enough that  
,he should be so4 ,he who delights in   
the grace of a bird or the colour of a  
flower must delight in a man in         
proportion to a man's higher place in   
the creative scale4 ,as our ,lord points
 out1 that is no more than common sense4
 ,and1 delighting in us as ,he does1    
,god could not possibly stint us in what
 we earn from ,him4 ,merely to suppose  
so is to dishonour ,him4 ,a large part  
of ,his joy must be in our joy4  ,the   
simplest way in which ,i can express it 
is that in consciously trying to work   
with ,god1 not man1 as our employer1    
things happen to us which1 to the best  
of our foresight1 would not have        
happened otherwise4 ,often they seem    

accidental1 and possibly we ascribe them
 to accident till the coincidences      
become too numerous to explain by       
coincidence and nothing more4 ,it       
constantly happens to myself1 for       
instance1 to find the whole solution of 
some tangled financial problem hanging  
on the chance turning of my steps to    
someone's office1 and the chance turning
 of the conversation to some specific   
observation4 ,chance is the explanation 
which comes to me first1 till ,i reflect
 on the finespun chain which brought me 
to that particular spot and those       
particular words4 ,leading is what ,i   
see then2 and seeing it once ,i am more 
confident of being led the next time4   
,the next time1 therefore1 ,i am the    
less afraid1 having the definite        
experience to support me4  ,there are   
millions of men and women to whom life  
brings no more than the monotony of a   
treadmill round1 year in and year out1  
with a cramping of mind1 spirit1 and    
ambition1 who might have been free had  

they measured themselves by ,god's      
standards and not by men's4 ,it is      
simply the taking of a point of view1   
and adjusting the life to it4 ,in doing 
one's work primarily for ,god1 the fear 
of undue restriction is put1 sooner or  
later1 out of the question4 ,he pays me 
and ,he pays me well4 ,he pays me and   
,he will not fail to pay me4 ,he pays me
 not merely for the rule of thumb task  
which is all that men recognise1 but for
 everything else ,i bring to my job in  
the way of industry1 good intention1 and
 cheerfulness4 ,if the ,lord loveth a   
cheerful giver1 as ,st ,paul says1 we   
may depend upon it that ,he loveth a    
cheerful worker2 and where we can cleave
 the way to ,his love there we find ,his
 endless generosity4  ,in my own case   
this generosity has most frequently been
 shown in opening doors for me where ,i 
saw nothing but blank walls4 ,he has    
made favourable things happen4 ,it may  
be said that they would have happened   
anyhow2 but when they have happened on  

my looking to ,him1 and have not        
happened when ,i did not look to ,him1  
it is only fair to draw the conclusion  
that ,he was behind the event4    ,,ix  
,it may also be urged that if there was 
really a ,god who delighted in us ,he   
would make favourable things happen to  
us whether we looked to ,him or not4 ,so
 ,he does4 ,every life1 even among those
 who never think of ,him1 is full of    
such occurrences4 ,every individual gets
 some measure of supply for his         
necessities1 and in many instances a    
liberal one4 ,god's sun rises on the    
wicked as well as on the good1 and ,his 
rain falls on those who do right and    
those who do wrong4  ,at the same time  
there is a force generated by working   
consciously with ,him which we have to  
go without when we disregard ,him4 ,it  
is not1 ,i suppose1 that ,he refuses to 
co-operate with us1 but that it is out  
of our power to co-operate with ,him4   
,if ,his is the only right way to our   
success and prosperity1 and we are1 to  

any extent1 taking the wrong1 it stands 
to reason that to that extent we must   
fail4  ,it is doubtless for this reason 
that our ,lord emphasises seeking ,his  
righteousness as well as ,his ,kingdom4 
,his ,kingdom might be roughly defined  
as ,his power2 righteousness as the     
right way of doing anything4 ,but you   
never obtain power by going the wrong   
way to work2 whereas by working in the  
right way you get your result4 ,the     
conclusion is obvious4    ,x   ,it is   
often objected to the point of view ,i  
have been trying to express that so much
 weight is thrown on material blessing4 
,god gives spiritual rewards1 it is     
contended1 not material ones4 ,to expect
 the material from ,him is to make ,him 
gross1 and to become gross ourselves4   
,and yet those who put forth this       
objection are doing their utmost to     
secure material comforts1 and to make   
material provision for the future4 ,are 
they doing it independently of ,god8    
,are they working in a medium into which

 ,god cannot enter8 ,is it argued for a 
single minute that goods are not ,god's 
good things1 and that money is not their
 token8 ,true1 the love of money is the 
root of all evil4 ,of course--when you  
separate money from ,god1 as ,caucasians
 mostly do2 not when you take money as  
one of the material symbols for ,god's  
love toward his sons4  ,as a matter of  
fact1 we dig a gulf between the material
 and the spiritual which does not exist4
 ,we have seen that modern physical     
science is showing us how near to spirit
 matter comes1 while it is highly       
probable that further research will     
diminish even the slight existing       
difference between them4 ,matter may    
really be considered as our sensuous    
misreading of the spiritual4 ,that is to
 say1 ,god sees one thing2 our senses   
see another4 ,in the wild lily cited by 
our ,lord our senses see a thing        
exquisite in form and colour2 and yet1  
relatively speaking1 it is no more than 
a distortion of what ,god beholds and   

delights in4 ,it is a commonplace fact  
that1 even within the limitations of the
 senses1 our sense-faculties perceive   
few things1 if anything1 quite          
accurately4 ,matter may therefore be    
considered as our wrong view of what    
,god sees rightly4 ,both for ,him and   
for us the object is there2 but it is   
there with higher qualities than we can 
appreciate or understand4  ,the         
situation is not unknown among          
ourselves4 ,a picture by a great master 
hangs on a wall4 ,two men look at       
it--the one with an expert knowledge of 
painting1 the other with none4 ,the     
untrained eye will translate into daubs 
of colour and meaningless forms what the
 skilled understanding will perceive as 
a masterly setting forth of beauty4 ,so 
the good things--the goods--with which  
,god blesses us1 as well as the money   
which is their symbol1 may be taken as  
having to ,god a meaning which they do  
not possess for us1 but not as being    
outside the sphere of ,his interest and 

control4    ,,xi   ,it is the tendency  
to puts goods and money outside the     
sphere of ,his interest and control     
which has impelled us--and perhaps the  
,caucasian especially--to have one ,god 
for the spiritual and another for the   
material4 ,we try to serve ,god and     
,mammon to an extent far beyond anything
 we are generally aware of4 ,it is not  
merely the individual who is doing it2  
it is part of our collective1 social1   
and national life4 ,our civilisation is 
more or less based on the principle4    
,it is a mistake to suppose that a      
formal belief in ,one ,almighty1        
,all-knowing1 ,all-loving ,god has1 to  
the immense majority of us1 ever been   
more than an ideal4 ,it is a mistake to 
suppose that because the false god is no
 longer erected before us in silver or  
stone he is no longer served4 ,the world
 has never outgrown idolatry1 the       
so-called ,christian world no more than 
any other4 ,dear children1 are the words
 with which ,st4 ,john closes one of his

 epistles1 guard yourselves from idols4 
,he at least did not think that the idol
 had been forsaken because the use of   
his name was given up4  ,we may define  
as a god any force to which we ascribe a
 supreme and controlling power in our   
lives4 ,it is of little consequence     
whether or not we give it name and      
personality1 so long as that force rules
 us4 ,so long1 too1 as it wields a power
 which the ,one ,god does not1 so long  
as we make the false god greater than   
the true1 and more influential4  ,this  
is no mere figure of speech2 it is fact4
 ,we have never guarded ourselves from  
idols4 ,we have never done more toward  
recognising the ,father than the putting
 ,him in the pantheon with our other    
gods4 ,even though we have inscribed the
 whole pantheon with ,his name1 the     
other gods have been in it4    ,,xii    
,i have said that our whole collective  
life is based on the principle of one   
,god for the soul and another for the   
body2 and so it is4 ,in what we call our

 temporal life ,god gets only a formal  
recognition1 while ,mammon is the       
referee4 ,beyond the controlling power  
of money we have no vision1 and we see  
no laws4 ,the sphere of material        
productivity being one in which1        
according to our foregone conclusion1   
,god does not operate1 we have to make  
the controlling power of money our only 
practical standard4 ,it has its         
laws--chiefly the laws of supply and    
demand--within whose working we human   
beings are caught like flies in         
spider-webs4 ,though we struggle1 and   
know we are struggling1 we take it for  
granted that there is nothing to do but 
struggle1 and struggle vainly4 ,we take 
it for granted that we are born into a  
vast industrial spider-web1 whence there
 is no possibility of getting out1 and  
in which we can only churn our spirits  
rebelliously4 ,in proportion as ,god is 
a ,god of love1 ,mammon is a god of     
torture2 but such is our supineness of  
spiritual energy that we go on serving  

,mammon4    ,,xiii   ,but ,i am writing 
only for the individual4 ,i am trying to
 suggest to him that however much his   
race1 his nation1 his society1 may serve
 ,mammon1 he is free to renounce the    
idol and escape the idol's laws4        
,escaping the idol's laws he comes      
within the realm of ,god's laws2 and    
coming within the realm of ,god's laws  
he reaches the region of plenty4  ,he   
may be the poorest and most ill-paid    
labourer2 but ,god will recognise his   
industry not in proportion to its       
technical skill1 but according to the   
spiritual excellence which goes into it4
 ,technical skill depends largely on the
 right man finding the right job2 but as
 our world is organised at present the  
right man1 more often than not1 is put  
into the wrong job and has to do his    
best with it4 ,god sees and estimates   
that best2 and as surely as ,he makes   
,his sun to rise and ,his rain to fall  
will give it its just compensation4     
,,xiv   ,our industrial questions are   

primarily spiritual4 ,that is why they  
can never be settled on a purely        
economic basis1 and why every attempt to
 settle them on a purely economic basis 
leads to conditions more confused than  
those from which we have emerged4 ,the  
so-called purely economic basis is the  
basis where only ,mammon's laws are     
considered1 and ,god's are held to be   
impractical4  ,quite so6 ,but even then 
the individual is free4 ,working with   
,god he is always master of the         
situation as it affects him4  ,the      
problem of ,capital and ,labour1 for    
example1 has1 in one form or another1   
been before the world for thousands of  
years4 ,the more acute it becomes the   
further we are from a solution1 and were
 never so far from a solution as we are 
to-day4 ,poverty1 again1 is the canker  
at the heart of both ,church and ,state1
 and has been so in every stage of our  
civilisation4 ,in #aiba it is no more   
under control than it was in the days of
 ,charlemagne or ,attila or ,xerxes4    

,charitable efforts to relieve it have  
proved as effective as tickling with a  
feather to cure disease4 ,or again1 high
 prices and low wages1 high wages       
creating high prices1 resented          
conditions leading to strikes1 strikes  
bringing confusion to both wages and    
prices alike--these things perplex the  
most clear-sighted among us1 compelling 
us to wonder as to what new troubles we 
are heaping up4 ,or again1 taxes        
crippling incomes and gnawing at the    
heart of industry vex us each year with 
a sense of the futility of all man's    
efforts for the common good1 and the    
uselessness of our energies4 ,these     
difficulties1 with many kindred ones1   
are the working of the laws of ,mammon4 
,the case is simple4 ,we shall never be 
free from the difficulties till we are  
free from the laws4 ,the bondservants of
 ,mammon will go on from misery to      
misery1 till the will which opposes ,god
 is broken down4 ,there is no other way4
 ,the colossal disintegration of the    

world now taking place before our eyes  
may be the beginning of this end4       
,,xv   ,but ,i return to the point ,i   
have emphasised already1 the only point 
to this book4 ,the individual can act on
 his own account4 ,he does not have to  
wait till the race as a whole gives up  
the service of ,mammon1 or even the     
nation to which he belongs4 ,he can set 
himself free1 and enjoy the benefits of 
freedom4  ,there must be many to whom1  
as to myself1 the kingdom of heaven will
 really be at hand when they are        
delivered from the snares and           
entanglements of man's economic systems4
 ,caught in those systems1 imprisoned in
 them1 more hopelessly enmeshed the more
 they struggle to save themselves1 the  
suggestion that a change in point of    
view will take us out of them will seem 
to some of us too amazing to be true4   
,nothing will prove it true but a man's 
own experience4 ,mine will convince     
nobody2 no other man's can convince me4 
,demonstration must be personal before  

we can make anything our own4 ,but the  
fact remains1 as sure as the surest     
thing we know anything about1 that the  
law of ,mammon does not work1 while the 
law of ,god does work1 and will work for
 anyone who calls it to his aid4  ,no   
one who has ever seen the early morning 
trains into any great city vomiting     
forth their hundreds of thousands of men
 and women1 trudging more or less       
dispiritedly to uncongenial jobs1 can   
have felt anything but pity for so many 
lives squeezed into the smallest        
possible limitations4 ,admitting        
cheerfulness1 admitting a measure of    
content1 and a larger measure of        
acceptance of what can't be helped1     
there still remains over these hordes   
the shadow of a cloud from which they   
know they never will escape4 ,clerks1   
factory hands1 tradesmen1 working men   
and women of every stamp and occupation1
 they bow to the fact that they will    
always work hard at tasks which are     
rarely their own choice1 that they will 

always work for little money1 that they 
will always be denied their desires for 
expansion2 that as it was with their    
fathers and mothers before them1 so it  
will be with them1 and so it will be    
with their children after them4  ,with  
the supineness of our race most of them 
force themselves to be satisfied with   
what comes4 ,but here and there is a    
rebel4 ,here and there is a man or a    
woman who feels that joyless work1 and  
small pay1 and little or nothing to look
 forward to1 are cruel elements in life1
 not fair1 not just1 on the part of ,god
 or man4 ,but what can they do8 ,they   
are in man's economic machine4 ,the     
machine turns round and they turn with  
it4 ,they can do nothing else but turn  
with it4 ,they see no prospect except of
 turning with it till they die4  ,it is 
out of such men and women that our      
modern world breeds revolutionists1 that
 exalted and yet dangerous band who seek
 redress from the laws of ,mammon by    
appealing to the laws of ,mammon1 so    

making confusion worse confounded4      
,,xvi   ,a revolution indeed is needed2 
but a revolution in point of view4      
,political revolution1 for the sake of  
righting governmental abuses1 has been  
known to produce beneficent results4    
,material revolution1 the attack of the 
poor on the rich to take away their     
possessions1 has never achieved         
anything4 ,many a time it has been      
tried1 and many a time it has failed4   
,being part of the system of ,mammon it 
could do nothing else than fail4 ,the   
evils which ,mammon has wrought ,mammon 
will never remedy4 ,there may be        
instances in history of economic cures  
for economic ills2 but ,i think they are
 few4 ,in general such cures are of the 
nature of our settlements of strikes4   
,they settle to-day what is again       
unsettled to-morrow1 leaving the work to
 be done all over again1 and so on into 
a far future4  ,the revolution in point 
of view has these great advantages3     
,first1 it contains within it the seeds 

of success1 since it is revolution      
toward ,god1 the owner of the ,earth and
 the fulness thereof2 ,next1 it takes   
place within the individual himself1    
doing no one else any harm2  ,lastly1 it
 does not run counter to man's economic 
laws2 it only uses and transcends them4 
,it directs and corrects them4 ,working 
along their lines it stimulates their   
fruit4 ,letting the inner man out of the
 economic trap it sets him in a world in
 which first1 and last1 and before      
everything else1 he is ,god's servant in
 ,god's pay4 ,god's pay being sure1 and 
paid in the way we need it1 we no longer
 have money-fear to be afraid of4       
,money-fear being set aside we can the  
more easily give ourselves to the       
knowledge that the ,kingdom of ,god does
 not consist of eating and drinking1 but
 of right conduct1 peace1 and joy1      
through the ,holy ,spirit2 and whoever  
in this way devotedly serves ,christ1   
,god takes pleasure in him1 and men     
commend him highly4#cb  #cb ,epistle to 

the ,romans4    ,,xvii   ,and lest what 
,i have said should seem fanciful or    
chimerical let me add that ,i am not    
saying these things merely on my own    
responsibility4 ,to my certain knowledge
 there are hundreds of thousands--some  
millions--of people throughout the world
 who at this very minute are living     
according to this principle1 and proving
 that it works in practical effect4     
,neither am ,i speaking theoretically1  
as ,i have tried to make plain4 ,to a   
degree that convinces myself ,i have    
made the demonstration4 ,where my life  
was like a dark and crooked lane in     
which ,i might easily be lost1 it has   
now become as an easy and open highway2 
where money-fear was the very air ,i    
breathed1 it is now no more than a      
nebulous shred on a far horizon4        
,money-fear comes occasionally2 but only
 as the memory of pain to a wound which 
you know to be healed4 ,it comes2 but1  
like ,satan out of ,heaven1 ,i can cast 
it from me with a thought4     ,,chapter

 ,,vii  ,,the ,,false ,,god ,,of ,,fear 
,,and ,,the ,,fear ,,of ,,death    ,i   
,the fear of death was greatly          
diminished for me on grasping the       
principle of everlasting ,growth4  ,this
 principle we gather from whatever we   
know of life4 ,our observation of life  
is1 of course1 limited to this planet2  
but as far as it goes it shows us a     
persistent and perpetual system of      
development4 ,we have only to let our   
imaginations go back to the first feeble
 stirrings of life in the ooze of the   
primeval seas1 contrasting that with    
what it became in ,plato1 ,sophocles1   
,st4 ,peter1 ,st4 ,paul1 ,raphael1      
,shakespeare1 and ,darwin1 to see how   
high the climb upward has reached4      
,jesus of ,nazareth ,i put on a plane to
 which we have not yet attained1 though 
in sight as the great objective4    ,,ii
   ,that the same law operates in the   
individual life is a matter of          
everyone's experience4 ,such knowledge  
as each man has of himself is that of a 

growing entity4 ,each year1 each day1   
expands him a little further1 with      
increased fulness of character4 ,at     
thirty he is more than he was at twenty2
 at fifty more than he was at thirty2 at
 eighty more than he was at fifty4      
,nothing but a perverted mortal point of
 view stands in the way of further      
expansion still4  ,the perverted mortal 
point of view is one of the impulses we 
have to struggle with4 ,the mortal      
tendency1 which means the deadly        
tendency1 always seeks to kill whatever 
has the principle of life4 ,this        
tendency is in every one of us2 but in  
some of us more than in others4  ,you   
can see it at work in the morbid mind1  
in the mind that is easily depressed1   
and in the mind that easily closes4     
,perhaps it is in this last that it     
becomes our most pernicious enemy4 ,the 
closing mind is found in all our ranks2 
the closed mind is the deadwood of all  
our professions4 ,it is not only        
deadwood2 it is death-in-life1 the foe  

of the developing life-principle1 the   
enemy of the ,holy ,ghost4  ,that the   
dead mind should be found among people  
who have had few intellectual advantages
 is not surprising4 ,on them it is      
forced from without1 by sheer pressure  
of circumstance4 ,where it is most      
painful is precisely where it does most 
harm1 among the classes we call         
professional4 ,there1 too1 it seems     
commonest4 ,lawyers1 doctors1 clergymen1
 teachers1 writers1 politicians1        
business men with dead minds choke all  
the highways of life4 ,to the extent    
that they have influence they are       
obstacles to progress2 but sooner or    
later the time comes when they no longer
 have influence4 ,life shelves them on  
the plea that they are old2 but that is 
not the reason4 ,they are shelved       
because they have killed their minds1   
becoming living dead men4  ,as a matter 
of fact1 one of the most valuable of our
 social and national assets is the old  
man who has kept his mind open4 ,found  

all too rarely1 he is never shelved1 for
 the reason that life cannot do without 
him4 ,having the habit of expansion he  
continues to expand1 keeping abreast of 
youth and even a little in advance of   
it4 ,the exception rather than the rule1
 there is no reason why he should not be
 the racial type4    ,,iii   ,he is not 
the racial type because so many of us   
begin to die almost as soon as we have  
begun to live4 ,our very fear of the    
death-principle admits it into our      
consciousness4 ,admitted into our       
consciousness it starts its work of     
killing us4 ,it wrinkles the face1 it   
turns the hair grey1 it enfeebles the   
limbs1 it stupefies the brain4 ,one of  
its most deadly weapons is fatigue1 or  
the simulation of fatigue4 ,the tired   
business man1 who rules ,american life1 
is oftener than not a dead business man4
 ,if he looked ahead he would see what  
we idiomatically know as his finish4 ,he
 is not only dying but he infuses death 
into manners1 literature1 and art1 since

 he so largely sets the standard which  
becomes the rule4  ,war on the          
death-principle should be1 it seems to  
me1 one of the aims to which the        
individual gives his strength2 and once 
more he can do it on his own account4   
,in the first place1 he can watch       
himself1 that he does not mentally begin
 to grow old4 ,to begin mentally to grow
 old is to begin mentally to die4 ,he   
must think of himself as an expanding   
being1 not as a contracting one4 ,he    
must keep in sympathetic touch with the 
new1 damning the know-it-all frame of   
mind4 ,he must keep in sympathetic touch
 with youth1 knowing that youth is the  
next generation in advance4 ,the secrets
 of one generation are not those of     
another2 but if he who possesses the    
earlier masters also the later he is    
that much the richer and wiser4 ,the    
gulf which separates parents and        
children is one which the parents must  
cross4 ,they can work onward1 while the 
children cannot work backward4 ,up to a 

certain point the older teach the       
younger2 beyond a certain point the     
younger teach the older4 ,he who would  
go on living and not begin to die must  
be willing to be taught1 reaping the    
harvest of both youth and age4  ,in the 
second place1 he who would live must not
 kill anyone else4 ,the deadly tendency 
in ourselves is forever at work on those
 about us1 chiefly on those we love4 ,we
 watch1 tabulate1 and recount their     
symptoms of decay4 ,making notes of them
 for ourselves we discourse of them to  
others4 ,he begins to look old1 is a    
commonplace4 ,the response will probably
 emphasise the fact4 ,by response to    
response we spin round a friend the     
age-web which lengthens into the        
death-web4 ,in our expressive ,american 
vernacular we speak of wishing          
conditions on others1 an instinctive    
folk-recognition of the force of        
mentality4 ,we do it in a sinister sense
 more often than by way of helpfulness4 
,we wish by thinking1 by talking1 by    

creating an atmosphere1 by forcing      
things into the general consciousness4  
,old age and decay1 bad enough in       
themselves1 we intensify by our habits  
of mind4 ,death1 which in any case      
awaits our friends1 we woo to them by   
anticipations of demise4 ,it is not     
ill-intentioned4 ,it comes out of a     
subconsciousness in which death and not 
life is the base4    ,,iv   ,for most of
 us the fear of death is a subconscious 
rather than an active fear4 ,it becomes 
active for those who through illness1 or
 in some other way1 see a sentence of   
death hanging over them2 but during the 
greater part of the life-span we are    
able to beat it off4  ,as to the        
life-span itself there is reason to     
suppose that it is meant to be more     
regular than man allows it to become4   
,there may easily be an appointed time  
to which we do not suffer ourselves1 or 
each other1 to attain4 ,those strange1  
inequalities by which one human being is
 left to pass over the century mark1    

another is cut off just when he is most 
needed1 while a third does no more than 
touch this plane for an hour or two1 may
 be the results of our misreadings of   
,god's ,will1 and not the decrees of    
that ,will itself4  ,we are here on     
ground which may be termed that of      
speculation2 and yet speculation is not 
quite the right word4 ,i dare to think  
that we have reached a stage of our     
development at which we are entitled to 
make with regard to death certain       
inferences which were hardly possible   
before our time4 ,we may make them      
timidly1 with all hesitation and        
reserve1 aware that we cannot propound  
them as facts2 and yet we may make them4
 ,the human mind is no longer where it  
was a hundred years ago1 still less     
where it was five hundred years ago4    
,though we make little progress we make 
some4 ,we are not always marking time on
 the same spot of ignorance and         
helplessness4 ,what is mystery for one  
age is not of necessity mystery for     

another4 ,even when mysteries remain1   
they do not of necessity remain without 
some hint of a dawn which may broaden   
into day4 ,many of our most precious    
illuminations have come in just this    
way2 a faint light--which slowly1       
feebly1 through centuries perhaps1 waxes
 till it becomes a radiance4    ,v   ,i 
talked some time ago to an orthodox     
,christian lady whose brother had       
recently died1 and who was speaking of  
death4  ,the one mystery1 she called it1
 on which no single ray of light has    
been vouchsafed in all the ages man has 
been on earth4  ,i did not agree with   
her1 but knowing her to be an orthodox  
,christian lady ,i did not venture to   
express my opinion4  ,but hers is the   
position which many1 perhaps most1 of us
 take4 ,no one has ever come back1 we   
say1 to tell us what his experience has 
been1 and we drop the subject there4    
,not only do we drop the subject there1 
but we resent it if everyone else does  
not drop the subject there4 ,god has    

hidden it from us1 we declare1 and what 
,he has hidden from us it is presumption
 for us to pry into4 ,it is useless to  
urge the fact that this way of reasoning
 would have kept us still in the ,stone 
,age2 we are not to be reached by       
argument4  ,let me say at once that ,i  
am not taking up the question of the    
psychic1 or entering into it at all4 ,i 
shall keep myself to the two points of  
view which have helped me1 as an        
individual1 to overcome1 to some degree1
 the fear of death1 considering them in 
reverse order from that in which ,i have
 mentioned them4 ,those two points of   
view are3  ,a4 ,that1 according to      
,god's ,will1 we come into this phase of
 being for an appointed time which we do
 not always reach2  ,b4 ,that we pass   
out of this phase of being as we came   
into it1 for ,growth4    ,,vi   ,a4 ,the
 question of an appointed time seems    
important chiefly to the right          
understanding of ,god's love4 ,between  
us and the understanding of that love   

bereavement is often a great obstacle4  
,oftener still it is a great puzzle4 ,i 
do not have to catalogue the conditions 
in which the taking away of men1 women1 
and children1 sorely needed here if for 
no other purpose than to love1 has moved
 us to deep perplexity1 or to something 
like a doubt of ,god4 ,we have probably 
all known cases where such tragedy has  
driven sufferers to renounce ,god       
altogether1 and to curse ,him4 ,some of 
us who have been smitten may have come  
near to doing this ourselves1 or may    
have done it4    ,,vii   ,i have already
 spoken of the ,caucasian's habit of    
shuffling off on ,god those ills for    
which he will not face the              
responsibility himself1 and ,i am       
inclined to think that this is one of   
them4 ,in my own experience the         
explanation of ,god's ,will made to the 
mother of a little family left          
fatherless1 or to the parents of a dead 
baby1 or to a young man with a young    
wife in her coffin1 has always been     

revolting4 ,i have made it2 ,i have     
tried1 on the faith of others1 to think 
it must be so4 ,i have long since ceased
 to think it1 and feel happier for not  
crediting the ,universal ,father with   
any such futile tricks4  ,i should not  
go so far as to say that we human beings
 have misapplied the laws of life in    
such a way as to kill those who are dear
 to us2 rather1 ,i think1 we have never 
learned those laws except in their      
merest rudiments4 ,we are not yet       
prepared to do more than bungle the good
 things offered us on earth1 and more or
 less misuse them4 ,we misuse them      
ourselves2 we teach others to misuse    
them2 we create systems of which the    
pressure is so terrible that under it   
the weak can do nothing but die4 ,we    
give them no chance4 ,we squeeze the    
life out of them4 ,and then we say      
piously1 ,the blessed ,will of ,god6    
,as an illustration of what ,i mean let 
me cite the two following cases among   
people ,i have known3  ,a young lady    

belonging to a family of means was found
 to be suffering from incipient         
tuberculosis4 ,the doctors ordered her  
to ,saranac4 ,to ,saranac she went1 with
 two nurses4 ,within eighteen months she
 was home again1 quite restored to      
health4 ,this was as it should have     
been4  ,at the same time ,i knew a      
car-conductor1 married some six or seven
 years1 and the father of three         
children4 ,he1 too1 was found to be     
suffering from incipient tuberculosis4  
,he1 too1 was ordered to ,saranac4 ,but 
having a wife and three children to     
support1 ,saranac was out of the        
question4 ,he went on conducting his car
 till his cough became distressing1     
whereupon he was fired4 ,a minimum      
allowance from his church kept the      
family from starvation1 while the       
nearest approach to ,saranac that could 
be contrived was an arrangement by which
 he slept with his head out the window4 
,in course of time he died1 and his     
widow was exhorted to submit to the     

,will of ,god4    ,,viii   ,i cite the  
latter case as typical of millions and  
millions of deaths of the kind at which 
we stand aghast at ,god's extraordinary 
rulings4 ,why is it1 we ask1 that ,he   
snatches away those who are needed1     
leaving those who might be spared8 ,as  
to the latter part of the question ,i   
have nothing to say2 but when it comes  
to snatching away ,i feel it important  
to absolve ,god of the blame for it4    
,in the instance ,i have quoted the     
blame for it is clear4 ,falling on no   
one individual1 it does fall on an      
organisation of life which gives all the
 chances to some1 denying them to       
others4 ,so long as we feel unable to   
improve on this organisation we shall   
have these inequalities4 ,but let us    
face honestly the consequences they     
bring4 ,let us not confuse all the      
issues of life and death as we do1 by   
saddling the good and beautiful ,will of
 ,god with the ills we make for         
ourselves4    ,,ix   ,all untimely      

bereavement is1 of course1 not of the   
nature of the above illustration4 ,and  
yet ,i venture to believe that in all   
untimely bereavement some similar       
explanation could be found4 ,for        
example1 in the intervals of writing    
these lines ,i have been reading a      
recent biography of ,madame de          
,maintenon4 ,in it is a chapter         
describing the series of catastrophes   
which fell on ,louis the ,fourteenth1   
and the ,french kingdom1 within little  
more than a twelvemonth4 ,his son and   
heir1 his grandson1 the second heir1 his
 great-grandson1 the third heir1 the    
second heir's wife1 and still another   
grandson were all carried off by        
smallpox4 ,in the apartments of ,madame 
de ,maintenon1 his wife1 the aged       
monarch was counselled to submit to the 
awful ,will of ,god which saw fit thus  
to smite him4 ,what no one perceived was
 that by crowding round the bed of each 
sufferer in turn the survivors courted  
contagion4  ,but1 there again1 it is not

 much more than a century since this    
fact became known to anyone4 ,easily    
within living memory is the discovery   
that disease is due to bacteria4 ,our   
whole system of sanitation is of recent 
development1 and obtains only among the 
,english and the ,americans even now4   
,in many parts of ,europe and ,america1 
to say nothing of ,asia and ,africa1    
people still live as in the ,middle     
,ages1 and infant mortality is          
appalling4 ,those of us who pay most    
attention to sanitary laws live         
unhealthily1 diminishing our powers to  
resist attack4 ,i mention these facts1  
not as making a list of them1 but to    
indicate the many causes through which  
we bring bereavement on ourselves1 when 
the ,will of ,god would naturally make  
for survival and happiness4  ,it must   
never be forgotten that in this phase of
 our existence we never carry out that  
,will except to a remote degree4 ,we    
only struggle towards doing it4 ,when   
great sorrows come it is because in the 

struggle we have not been successful4   
,either we ourselves have failed2 or the
 failure of others affects us           
indirectly4 ,while ,god's ,will may be  
for our happiness1 we can attain to     
neither the happiness nor the ,will--as 
yet4  ,nevertheless1 we would not have  
it otherwise4 ,in our more thoughtless  
or more agonised minutes we are likely  
to cry out for a life in which the      
conditions ensuring our happiness could 
not so easily miscarry2 but that would  
mean a static life1 and a static life1  
above all things1 we will not endure4   
,as already seen1 we ask for            
difficulties to conquer1 successes to   
achieve4 ,to contend is our instinct1   
not to be passive and enjoy4            
,difficulties to conquer can only exist 
side by side with the possibility of not
 conquering them4 ,the victory which is 
merely a walk-over is scarcely a        
victory4 ,achievement counts only when  
something has been overcome4 ,even then 
the overcoming of one thing merely spurs

 us on to overcome another4 ,to rest on 
our laurels is doom4 ,for a race which  
has the infinite as its goal the word   
must be on and on4 ,the static heaven of
 bearing palms and playing harps and    
bliss1 which the nave interpretation of 
our fathers drew from the imagery of the
 ,apocalypse1 has long since made us    
rebellious4 ,something to strive for we 
demand1 even at the risk of bereavement4
    ,x   ,it is at once the disadvantage
 and the glory of our own generation    
that it is only on the fourth or fifth  
step of the stairway by which we are    
climbing4 ,but at least it is heir to   
the conquests which go to its stage of  
advance4 ,untimely bereavement is less  
common to-day than it was a few         
centuries ago2 it is more common to-day 
than it will be a few centuries hence4  
,such storms of affliction as in #agab  
swept over the house of ,louis ,quatorze
 occur less frequently now4 ,but they   
still occur4 ,we have not got beyond    
them4 ,they are only bound to occur less

 and less frequently1 till they become  
no more than matters of scarcely        
credible record4  ,in the meanwhile it  
may be a comfort to others1 as it is to 
me1 to be able to absolve ,god from the 
charge of capricious and intolerable    
thwarting of our love4 ,to me1 at least1
 the blow is easier to bear when ,i know
 that ,his beloved hand didn't strike   
it4 ,i cannot understand being tortured 
out of sheer love1 while patience with  
what leaves me with my whole life maimed
 is only the patience of the vanquished4
  ,on the other hand1 ,i can bear with  
my mistakes1 ,i can bear with the       
mistakes of others1 ,i can bear with the
 failures which are the fruit of our    
lack of race-development1 so long as ,i 
know that ,god is on my side4 ,the      
affliction which would be too poignant  
as coming directly from ,him is half    
soothed already when ,i know that ,he is
 soothing it4 ,i may have lost what ,he 
gave2 but far from snatching it from me 
,he would have had me keep it4 ,of all  

my comforts that assurance is the first4
  ,in addition1 ,i have the             
satisfaction--a meagre satisfaction you 
may call it1 but a satisfaction all the 
same--of knowing that by the ploughing  
and harrowing of my heart a step is     
taken toward that future in which hearts
 shall be less harrowed and ploughed4   
,it must never happen again4 ,that is   
what we keep saying with regard to the  
,great ,war4 ,well1 it may happen again4
 ,we have as yet no trustworthy pledge  
to the contrary4 ,but of this we may be 
sure1 that it will not happen again very
 often4 ,it is less likely to happen    
again for the very reason that it has   
happened4 ,if the ,great ,war does not  
prove to be the last war it is the more 
probable that the next war will4 ,i mean
 that we do learn our lessons1 though we
 learn them only as feeble-minded       
children learn theirs4 ,agony by agony1 
something is gained1 and my personal    
agony counts with the rest4 ,the fact   
may give me no more than the faintest   

consolation1 and possibly none at all2  
and still in the long1 slow stages of   
our upward climb my agony counts1       
whether its counting consoles me or not4
    ,,xi   ,the inference that we come  
into the life of this planet for an     
appointed time we draw from what we see 
of ,god's system of order4 ,all other   
things do so1 as far as we observe4 ,the
 plant springs1 to grow and bloom1 to   
bear fruit and seed1 and so renew       
itself4 ,fish1 bird1 and animal have    
their appointed round varying only in   
detail from that of the plant4 ,man's   
appointed round would seem to vary only 
in detail from that of the animal1      
except that he himself interferes with  
it4  ,to the best of my knowledge the   
plant1 from the blade of grass to the   
oak or the orchid1 always fulfils its   
life-span1 unless some act or accident  
cripples or destroys it4 ,i mean that we
 never see ,god bringing the shoot above
 the soil just to nip it before it      
unfolds4 ,we never see ,him bring the   

bud to the eve of blossoming just to    
wither it4 ,having given it its mission 
,he supplies it with rain1 sun1 and     
sustenance to bring that mission to its 
end4 ,true1 the plant has enemies1 like 
everything else1 enemies which it may   
not escape4 ,but generally speaking1 it 
does escape them1 and lives to finish   
its task4  ,so1 too1 with the more      
active living thing4 ,it1 too1 has its  
enemies4 ,it1 too1 may not escape them4 
,but assuming that it does1 ,god allows 
it1 to the best of our observation1 to  
work out its full development4 ,the only
 bereavement he brings to the lion1 the 
thrush1 or the elephant1 or any other   
creature capable of grief is1           
apparently1 from those hostile sources  
of which the hostility is more or less  
gratuitous4 ,a man shoots a lion1 or the
 lion kills an antelope2 but they do so 
through misreading of ,god's ,will1 not 
through fulfilling it4  ,for the lower  
ranks of creation misread that ,will in 
their way as much as the higher in      

theirs4 ,all ferocity must be           
misinterpretation of the divine law of  
harmony and mutual help4 ,internecine   
destruction probably has a meaning we   
can only guess at4 ,guessing at it we   
are at liberty to surmise that what ,god
 sees as loving contention for          
excellence1 each gaining by the other's 
gain1 we understand as bitter strife1   
and consumption of the flesh and blood4 
,the rivalry we can best appreciate is  
that of brutality2 the chief benefit the
 stronger creature seeks from the weaker
 is in killing and eating him4 ,why this
 should be part of our struggle ,i do   
not know2 but part of our struggle it   
seems to be--from the humblest organism 
up to man--the mistaking of ,god's ,will
 before learning to understand it4  ,and
 lest ,i should seem to assume too much1
 in saying this1 let me add that our    
progress out of this state of preying on
 each other has long been foreseen by   
the pioneers of truth4 ,the vision is at
 least as ancient as ,isaiah1 when he   

descried from afar the accomplished rule
 of the ,son of ,david3  ,with          
righteousness shall he judge the poor1  
and reprove with equity for the meek of 
the earth4444 ,and righteousness shall  
be the girdle of his loins1 and         
faithfulness the girdle of his reins4   
,the wolf also shall dwell with the     
lamb1 and the leopard shall lie down    
with the kid2 and the calf and the young
 lion and the fatling together2 and a   
little child shall lead them4 ,and the  
cow and the bear shall feed2 their young
 ones shall lie down together4444 ,and  
the sucking child shall play on the hole
 of the asp1 and the weaned child shall 
put his hand on the adder's den4 ,they  
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my    
holy mountain2 for the earth shall be   
full of the knowledge of the ,lord1 as  
the waters cover the seas4    ,,xii     
,if ,i am correct in thinking that our  
passage across the life of this planet  
is meant to last for an appointed time1 
,i presume that that time would be      

measured by experience rather than by   
years4 ,there exists what we vaguely    
call the round of life4 ,we are born2 we
 grow2 we know family interests2 we     
learn2 we work2 we love2 we marry2 we   
beget children2 we train them to take   
our places2 we pass beyond4 ,there are  
variations on this routine1 some of us  
having more1 some of us having less2 but
 in general it may be taken as typical4 
,it is our mission1 as the plants and   
the lower living things have theirs4    
,it seems reasonable1 then1 to think    
that each baby born is meant by the     
,father's ,will to reap this experience 
before it proceeds to further           
experience4 ,it must be a stage in its  
growth or it would not come into it4    
,when it is balked of it something is   
amiss4 ,the child who dies in infancy   
has lost something4 ,the lad or the girl
 whom our organised life drives from    
this plane before reaching fruition has 
lost something4 ,the parent whom our    
conditions force onward before he has   

brought his task to a stage at which he 
can peacefully lay it down has lost     
something4 ,i am not saying that ,god   
does not control resources by which that
 loss can be abundantly made up1 but    
only that the loss would seem to be     
there4 ,it is loss for the one who      
departs as well as for those who remain 
behind4    ,,xiii   ,that is what ,i    
gather from the instances in the ,old   
and ,new ,testament in which those who  
had gone on before their time were      
called back again4 ,there are six of    
these instances in all3 one in the ,old 
,testament1 and five in the ,new4 ,of   
four of them we are expressly told that 
those restored were young2 of the other 
two nothing is said as to age1 but one  
at least was probably young1 while the  
other was greatly needed4  ,the child   
called back by ,elisha was still a      
little boy4 ,the daughter of ,jairus was
 still a little girl4 ,the son of the   
widow of ,nain was a young man1 as was  
also ,eutychus raised by ,st4 ,paul4    

,though we are not told the age of      
,lazarus we judge that he was at most no
 more than in man's maturity4 ,dorcas of
 ,lydda may have been of any age1 but1  
judging by the circumstances1 she had   
not completed her task4    ,,xiv   ,my  
point is this1 that if these things     
happened1 they seem to bear out my      
suggestion that our own inducement of   
premature death cuts us off from        
fulfilling our appointed time and       
getting our appointed experience4 ,only 
on some such ground can we believe that 
any would be permitted to return4       
,should this be so we would be in a     
position to assume that all who go over 
ahead of time would be allowed to come  
back1 if we had sufficient spiritual    
power to recall them4 ,but that power is
 of the rarest4 ,our ,lord1 apparently1 
was in control of it only at times1 and 
on at least one occasion1 that of the   
raising of ,lazarus1 its exercise was   
not what we should call easy4 ,but that 
,he believed it to be at human command  

to some extent is clear from the fact   
that its use became one of ,his four    
basic principles4 ,raise the dead1 was  
the second of the commands with which   
,he sent out his first seventy          
disciples4    ,,xv   ,i dwell on the    
subject only because of its bearing on  
the love of ,god4 ,if it becomes plain  
to us that by the understanding of      
,god's ,will we gain a richer           
experience1 with less fear of being cut 
off before our work is done1 that ,will 
makes a stronger appeal for being       
understood4 ,that we have not understood
 it earlier1 that we have not           
particularly cared to understand it1 is 
due1 ,i think1 to our assumption of its 
capriciousness4 ,it has been so         
underscored as inscrutable--the word    
generally applied to it--that the man in
 the street has felt mystified by it    
from the start4 ,being mystified he has 
settled down to think as little about it
 as he could4  ,but a great force       
striving with man to put common sense   

into his methods is worth comprehending4
 ,it does not compel us to common-sense 
methods for the reason that we value    
only that which we work out for         
ourselves4 ,we work nothing out but     
through suffering4 ,we learn nothing1 we
 take no forward step1 except as we are 
whipped to it by anguish4 ,that is why  
there is so much mourning in the world4 
,god does not cause it2 we bring it on  
ourselves2 but each time we bring it on 
ourselves we creep one tiny step nearer 
that race-conclusion which is now coming
 to us about war1 and will one day come 
to us about death1 that ,it must never  
happen again4    ,,xvi   ,in other      
words1 death will be abolished by       
race-unanimity not to submit to it4 ,we 
shall have travelled far in this        
direction when the average mind begins  
to perceive that ,god did not send death
 into ,his creation1 but that we        
ourselves developed it4 ,having         
developed it ourselves we must get rid  
of it ourselves1 and already some of    

that work has been done4 ,for seeing    
that death came through man1 are the    
words of ,st4 ,paul1 through man comes  
also the resurrection of the dead4 ,when
 he speaks of ,jesus ,christ who hath   
abolished death1 his words are stronger 
still4 ,he has put an end to death and  
has brought ,life and ,immortality to   
light by the ,good ,news1 of which ,i   
have been appointed a preacher1 apostle1
 and teacher4  ,this ,life and          
,immortality are not to be relegated to 
other ages and worlds2 they are for us  
to work out now4  ,the degree to which  
we work them out depends on our own     
efforts4 ,death will be our doom for    
many generations to come1 because so few
 of us have the energy to strive against
 it4 ,release can come only when the    
race at large is willing to cast the    
evil thing off4 ,one would suppose that 
we would be willing now2 but we are far 
from being willing4 ,we shall go on     
forcing our dear ones to die before     
their time1 falling sick ourselves1     

enduring agonies1 and rotting in graves1
 till we have suffered to the point at  
which we cry out that we have had       
enough4 ,there will be a day when in    
presence of the useless thing we shall  
say1 with something amounting to one    
accord1 ,it must stop4 ,that day will be
 the beginning of the end of the        
age-long curse to which we still submit 
ourselves4 ,in the language of ,st4     
,paul1 ,the last enemy to be destroyed  
is death1 leaving us with the belief    
that1 when we have progressed to the    
overthrow of other forces opposed to us1
 we shall go on to the overthrow of this
 one--and that it will be overthrown4   
,,xvii   ,from one kind of fear this    
reasoning has almost entirely delivered 
me--that of being taken away in the     
midst of my responsibilities1 and before
 my work is done4 ,i am not so audacious
 as to say that it may not happen2 but  
only that1 reasoning as ,i do1 ,i am no 
longer a prey to apprehensions on the   
point4 ,they used to come to me1 not    

like the money-fear1 an abiding         
visitant1 but in spells of intense      
dread4  ,i suppose that most men with   
families1 and much unfinished business1 
know this dread1 and have suffered from 
it4 ,you think of the home you have     
built up1 and of what it would be       
without you4 ,you think of your wife1   
grappling with a kind of difficulty to  
which she is unaccustomed4 ,you think of
 your children who turn to you as their 
central point1 and who would be left    
without your guidance4 ,you think of    
other duties you have undertaken1 and   
wonder who will carry them through4 ,you
 seem to be so essential to everyone and
 everything2 and yet1 you have been     
told1 it may be the ,will of ,god to    
remove you from them1 and either let    
your plans collapse1 or put their       
execution on the shoulders of someone   
else4  ,i am not so presumptuous as to  
say that for me this may not happen4 ,i 
only say that ,i do not think it will4  
,i do not think so because1 according to

 my judgment1 ,he having helped me to go
 as far as ,i have gone1 will help me to
 finish my task before giving me another
 one4  ,my task1 ,i think1 ,he must     
estimate as ,i do4 ,that is1 my duties  
to others being not wholly of my        
choosing1 but having come to me         
according to what ,i may call ,his      
weighing and measuring1 ,i take them to 
be the duties ,he would have me perform4
 ,if so1 ,he would naturally have me    
perform them till ,i come to the place  
where ,i can reasonably lay them down4  
,therefore1 ,i dismiss the fear of      
untimely separation from my appointed   
work4 ,such a separation may come2 but  
if it does1 it will probably come by    
some such means as ,i have briefly tried
 to sketch2 my own mistakes2 the        
mistakes of others2 the effect of       
race-pressure4 ,in any case1 my personal
 resistance1 it seems to me1 is made the
 stouter by feeling that my tasks are   
,his tasks1 and so that so long as ,i am
 needful to their accomplishment1 ,i    

remain4 ,if ,i go1 it will be because   
,he has the succession of events so     
planned as to reduce collapse1 failure1 
or suffering to a minimum4    ,,xviii   
,b4 ,the thought that the minute after  
death will only be another little step  
in ,growth1 to be followed by another   
and then another1 as we are used to     
growing here1 greatly diminishes one's  
shrinking at the change4  ,it is        
entirely a modern thought4 ,the past1   
even of a few centuries ago1 never      
entertained it4 ,it is doubtful if it   
was mentally prepared to entertain it1  
or evolve the idea4  ,this is not to    
depreciate our fathers' mental powers4  
,different generations have different   
gifts4 ,one age works along one line1   
another along another4 ,the past had a  
certain revelation of truth2 but the    
revelation of truth did not end with the
 past4 ,our ancestors received as much  
as they could take4 ,what1 it seems1    
they were unable to take was anything   
which made death less horrible4 ,we may 

say1 in fact1 that they didn't want it4 
,they liked having death made horrible4 
,many people like it still4 ,the        
mitigation of that horror they condemn1 
resent1 and often ascribe to the devil4 
,and yet there is a tendency to see     
light through this gloom1 and to seek   
views of death more in the line of      
common sense than those which have come 
down to us4 ,it is not a strong         
tendency1 but it exists4 ,it exists in  
the face of opposition on the part of   
those religious conservatives who think 
conservatism and orthodoxy the same     
thing2 and it runs the gauntlet of the  
sneers and jeers of the materially      
minded who make common cause with the   
old guard of the churches2 but it       
exists4 ,it exists1 and goes forward1   
becoming a factor in the thought-life of
 our time4  ,it is not yet two hundred  
years since the plea was put forth on   
behalf of mankind that1 in the          
administration of divine justice1 no one
 suffers less than he deserves1 but also

 that no one suffers more4  ,the        
hostility to this seemingly harmless    
teaching was of the most intense4 ,there
 is hostility to it still1 but mild as  
compared with that felt by our          
great-great-grandfathers4 ,that no one  
should suffer less than he deserves went
 without saying2 but that no one should 
suffer more was declared a black heresy4
 ,as there are those who declare it a   
black heresy to-day1 it may be worth    
while1 in the interests of the conquest 
of fear1 to say a word as to the        
relation of ,god and punishment4        
,,xix   ,to my mind it is chiefly       
verbal4  ,it is permissible to say that 
there is no such thing as punishment2   
there are only wrong results4 ,it       
depends upon your way of putting it4    
,the wrong method produces wrong results
 in proportion as it is wrong4 ,wrong   
results mean wrong conditions2 and wrong
 conditions mean suffering4 ,you may    
call this the law of ,god1 but it is the
 law of anything4 ,it is not positive   

law1 it is negative4 ,as a matter of    
fact1 ,god does not need to put forth a 
law on the point since everything works 
that way4  ,what we call sin is simply a
 wrong method4 ,it may be a wrong method
 meant to produce wrong2 or it may be a 
wrong method in the hope of producing   
right4 ,in any case it brings its       
consequence in pain4  ,that consequence 
may be corrected in this phase of our   
being1 or it may be carried over into   
the next4 ,carried over into the next   
the individual1 according to our        
ancestral teaching1 comes under the     
sentence in which our fathers delighted 
as damnation4 ,not only did damnation   
involve the most fiendish torture the   
,almighty could invent1 but the torture 
was inflicted1 without an instant of    
relief1 throughout the eons of eternity4
  ,i recall a sermon to which ,i        
listened as a boy of nine4 ,it was on a 
summer's evening1 when the windows of   
the church were open4 ,a moth fluttered 
about a light4 ,the church stood at the 

foot of a mountain4 ,the preacher was   
trying to explain to us the eternal     
duration of ,god's punishment4 ,think of
 that moth1 he said1 carrying away one  
grain of sand from that mountain1 and   
going off for a million years1 after    
which it would return and take away     
another grain4 ,and think of it keeping 
this up1 one grain every million years1 
till the whole mountain was removed4    
,well1 that would be only a moment as   
compared with the time you would be in  
hell4  ,on the generations comforted and
 fortified by this sort of teaching ,i  
have no comment to make2 but we of      
another generation should surely not be 
reproved for moving away from it4 ,we   
move away from it in the direction of   
common sense1 since common sense must be
 an attribute of the ,universal ,father 
as it is of the wiser among mankind4    
,,xx   ,i revert1 then1 to my statement 
that ,god's relation to punishment is   
chiefly verbal4 ,his wrath against sin  
is a way of putting it4 ,if you can best

 express the suffering which springs    
from wrong methods as ,god's wrath you  
are at liberty so to express yourself2  
but we should not lose sight of the fact
 that the wrong methods produce the     
suffering1 and not an outburst of fury  
on the part of ,one who is put before us
 as ,love4  ,the fact that the ,hebrew  
writers often used a vivid form of      
warning and invective is not a reason   
why we should keep on doing it4 ,the    
,hebrew writer was a primitive speaking 
to primitives4 ,meaning what we mean1 he
 required a stronger1 fiercer vocabulary
 than we ever need4 ,in saying this ,i  
am not dodging the issue2 ,i am stating 
a fact which rules in all historical    
interpretation4 ,to make the phraseology
 of two thousand years before ,christ   
the literal expression of the thought of
 two thousand years after ,him is to be 
archaic beyond reason4 ,having grasped a
 principle1 we phrase it in the language
 of our time4  ,the language of our time
 makes1 on the whole1 for restraint1    

sobriety1 and exactitude of statement4  
,few of our habits modify themselves    
more constantly and more rapidly than   
our forms of speech4 ,not only does each
 generation find something special to   
itself1 but each year and each season4  
,to me it seems that much of our        
misunderstanding of ,god springs from   
the effort to fix on ,him forevermore   
the peculiarities we infer from the     
idiom of five thousand years ago4 ,only 
to a degree does that idiom convey to us
 what is conveyed to those who heard it 
as a living tongue2 and of that degree  
much is lost when it percolates through 
translation4 ,to cling to words when all
 we need is to know principles1 clothing
 them in our own way1 seems to me not   
only absurd in fact but lamentable in   
result4 ,i venture to think that more   
people have been alienated from ,god by 
a pious but misapplied verbal use than  
were ever estranged from ,him by sin4   
,,xxi   ,our ancient ,hebrew            
predecessors understood ,god in their   

own way4 ,we understand ,him in the same
 way1 but with the clarification wrought
 by the intervening years of progress4  
,in other words1 they bequeath us a     
treasure which we are free to enrich    
with our own discoveries4  ,among our   
own discoveries is a clearer            
comprehension of pain as resulting from 
wrong methods1 and of ,god's detachment 
from pain4 ,more and more1 punishment   
becomes a concept we reject4 ,even in   
our penal institutions1 which have been 
for so many centuries a barbarous token 
of our incompetence1 we begin to        
substitute for punishment something more
 nearly akin to cure4 ,if we find mere  
vengeance unworthy of ourselves we must 
find it unworthy of the ,universal      
,father4 ,if we concede to the criminal 
the right to a further chance we concede
 it to ourselves4 ,if we recognise the  
fact that the sinner on earth may redeem
 himself1 working from error towards    
righteousness1 the same principle should
 rule in the whole range of existence4  

,there is nothing about the earth-life  
to make it the only phase of effort and 
probation4 ,effort and probation are    
probably conditions of eternity4 ,they  
will be in our next experience as they  
have been in this1 leading us on from   
strength to strength4    ,,xxii   ,one  
main difference between the mind of the 
past and the modern mind is that the    
mind of the past tended to be static1   
while the mind of to-day is more and    
more attuned to a dynamic universe4     
,civilisation before the nineteenth     
century was accustomed to long periods  
with relatively little change4 ,most    
people spent their entire lives in the  
same town or the same countryside4 ,in  
the class in which they were born they  
lived and died1 with little thought of  
getting out of it4 ,this being so they  
looked for the same static conditions   
after death as they saw before it4 ,a   
changeless heaven appalled them with no 
sense of monotony1 nor did a changeless 
hell do anything to shake their nerves4 

,their nerves were not easily shaken4   
,they were a phlegmatic race1 placid1   
unimaginative1 reposeful4  ,because we  
of to-day are more restless it does not 
follow that our views should be truer4  
,we only know they are truer because we 
are so much nearer the truth than they  
had the opportunity to come4 ,we prove  
that we are nearer the truth by our     
greater command of the ,father's        
resources4 ,if our whole horizon of     
truth were not broadened1 we could not  
possess this command4    ,,xxiii        
,changing our static conception of life 
to that of a dynamic will to unfold1 we 
see the climax we commonly call death as
 only a new step in unfoldment4         
,whatever ,i have been1 the step must be
 one in advance4 ,it would not be in    
accord with creative energy that ,i     
should go backward4 ,the advance may    
entail suffering1 since it is probable  
that it will give me a heightened       
perception of the wrong in my methods2  
but there are conditions in which       

suffering signifies advance4  ,and yet  
if ,i suffer it can only be with what ,i
 may call a curative suffering4 ,it will
 be suffering that comes from the       
recognition of mistake2 not the hopeless
 anguish of the damned4 ,having learned 
how not to do it1 ,i perceive how to do 
it--and go on4  ,but the perception of  
how to do it is precisely what most of  
us have been acquiring4 ,i venture to   
think that few of us will come face to  
face with death without being more or   
less prepared for it4 ,life is so       
organised that1 at its worst1 all but   
the rare exceptions make progress daily1
 through obedience to the laws of       
righteousness4  ,in saying this we must 
count as righteousness not merely the   
carrying out of a rule of thumb laid    
down by man's so-called morality1 or the
 technical regulations prescribed by the
 churches for the use of their          
adherents2 we must include every        
response to every high call4 ,we must   
remember that all a man does in the way 

of effort to be a good son1 a good      
brother1 a good husband1 a good father1 
a good workman1 a good citizen1 is of   
the nature of slowly creeping forward4  
,above every other form of training of  
the self this endeavour determines a    
man's spiritual standing1 and his state 
of worthiness4 ,he may know some failure
 in each of these details2 and yet the  
fact that in the main he is set--as ,i  
am convinced the great majority are     
set--toward fulfilling his              
responsibilities helps him to be ready  
when the time comes to put the material 
away4  ,the great common sense of the   
nations brought us to this perception   
during the years when the young men of  
the world were going down like wheat    
before the reaping machine4 ,for the    
most part1 doubtless1 they were young   
men in whom the ladies who attend our   
churches would have seen much to        
reprimand4 ,the moral customs of their  
countries were possibly held by them    
lightly4 ,the two points which          

constitute pretty nearly all of         
,american morality they may have        
disregarded4 ,and yet we felt that their
 answer to the summons1 which to them at
 least was a summons to sacrifice1      
showed them as men who had largely      
worked out their redemption4 ,whatever  
our traditions1 we were sure that those 
who were ready to do anything so great  
could go to the ,father without fear4   
,but war calls for no more than a       
summing up and distillation of the      
qualities we cultivate in peace4 ,these 
men were ready because homes1 offices1  
banks1 shops1 factories1 and farms had  
trained them to be ready4 ,so they are  
training all of us4 ,traditions help2   
the churches help2 but when it comes to 
the directing of the life toward        
righteousness--the effort to do         
everything rightly--no one thing has the
 monopoly4    ,,xxiv   ,going to the    
,father without fear6 ,all the joy of   
life seems to me to hang on that little 
phrase4 ,i used it just now of the young

 men who passed over from the           
battlefield2 but ,i used it there with  
limitations4 ,going to the ,father      
without fear is a privilege for every   
minute of the day4 ,more and more       
knowledge of the ,father is the progress
 for which we crave1 since more         
knowledge of the ,father means a fuller 
view of all that makes up the spiritual 
universe4 ,into that knowledge we are   
advancing every hour we live2 into that 
knowledge we shall still be advancing at
 the hour when we die4 ,the ,father will
 still be showing us something new2 the 
something new will still be showing us  
the ,father4  ,it will be something new1
 as we can receive it4 ,he who can      
receive little will be given little2 he 
who can receive much will be given much4
 ,in growth all is adjusted to capacity2
 it is not meant to shock1 force1 or    
frighten4 ,the next step in growth being
 always an easy step1 ,i can feel sure  
of moving onwards easily--from strength 
to strength1 in the words of one of the 

,songs for the ,sons of ,korah1 until   
unto the ,god of gods appeareth everyone
 of them in ,zion4#cc  #cc ,the ,book of
 ,psalms4     ,,chapter ,,viii  ,,the   
,,fear ,,of ,,death ,,and ,,abundance   
,,of ,,life    ,i   ,after all1 the     
conquest of fear is largely a question  
of vitality4 ,those who have most life  
are most fearless4 ,the main question is
 as to the source from which an increase
 of life is to be obtained4  ,an        
important psychological truth was       
involved when our ,lord made the        
declaration1 ,i am come that they might 
have life1 and that they might have it  
more abundantly4 ,this1 ,i think1 was   
the first plain statement ever made that
 life was a quantitative energy2 that it
 is less or more dynamic according to   
the measure in which the individual     
seizes it4 ,but once more the ,caucasian
 has stultified the meaning of ,jesus of
 ,nazareth by evaporating it to the     
tenuous wisp which he understands as    
spiritual4 ,between the pale ghost of   

such spiritual life as he has evoked    
from the ,saviour's words and manly and 
womanly vigour in full-blooded exercise 
he has seen no connection4    ,,ii      
,few of us do see a connection between  
strength of spirit and strength of limb2
 but it is there4 ,i am not saying that 
a strong spirit cannot coexist with a   
feeble frame2 but the feeble frame is a 
mistake4 ,it is the result of           
apprehension and misapprehension1 and   
bred of race-fear4 ,the strong spirit   
would have put forth a strong frame if  
we had given it a chance4 ,abundant life
 must be life1 healthy1 active1 and     
radiant4 ,it should show the            
life-principle no longer driven from sea
 to land1 and from land to air1 or      
battling with a million foes1 but       
vigorous and triumphant4  ,this vigour  
and triumph we ought to work into our   
point of view1 so kneading it into our  
subconsciousness4 ,strong in proportion 
as our subconsciousness is strong1      
fearless in proportion as our           

subconsciousness is fearless1 the going 
from strength to strength becomes a     
matter of course to us4 ,urging us on in
 sheer joy of power1 abundance of life  
becomes still more abundant through the 
indwelling of the life-principle4 ,that 
mystic resistless force1 which has      
fashioned already so many forms1 is     
forever at work fashioning a higher type
 of man4  ,each one of us is that higher
 type of man potentially4 ,though we can
 forge but little ahead of our time and 
generation1 it is much to know that the 
,holy ,ghost of ,life is our animating  
breath1 pushing us on to the overcoming 
of all obstacles4 ,for me as an         
individual it is a support to feel that 
the principle which was never yet       
defeated is my principle1 and that      
whatever the task of to-day or to-morrow
 ,i have the ability to perform it well4
 ,the hesitation that may seize me1 or  
the questioning which for an instant may
 shake my faith1 is but a reminder that 
the life-principle is not only with me1 

but more abundantly with me in          
proportion to my need4 ,my need is its  
call4 ,the spasm of fear which crosses  
my heart summons it to my aid4 ,it not  
only never deserts me1 but it never     
delays1 and is never at a loss for some 
new ingenuity to meet new requirements4 
,from strength to strength is its law1  
carrying me on with the impetus of its  
own mounting toward ,god4    ,,iii      
,and the impetus of its own mounting    
toward ,god is not confined to what we  
view as the great things of life4       
,between great and small it makes no    
distinction4 ,it is as eager on behalf  
of the man behind a counter as on that  
of him who is governing a country4 ,the 
woman who has on her shoulders the      
social duties of an embassy1 or the     
financial cares of a great business1 has
 it no more at her command than she who 
is nursing her baby or reckoning her    
pennies to make both ends meet4 ,it     
rushes to the help of all4 ,wherever    
there is duty or responsibility it is   

begging at the doors of our hearts to be
 let in1 to share the work and ease the 
burden4  ,as ,i get up each morning1 it 
is there4 ,as ,i plan my day while ,i   
dress myself1 it is there4 ,as ,i think 
with misgiving of some letter ,i tremble
 at receiving1 or with distaste at some 
job ,i must tackle before night1 it is  
there4  ,it is there1 not only with its 
help1 but with its absolute knowledge of
 the right way for me to act4 ,the care 
that worries me may be so big as to     
involve millions of other people's      
money1 or it may be as small as the     
typing of a letter2 but the right way of
 fulfilling either task is pleading to  
be allowed to enter my intelligence4 ,my
 task is its task4 ,my success will be  
its success4 ,my failure will react on  
it1 since failure sets back by that     
degree the whole procession of the ages4
 ,whether ,i am painting a great        
masterpiece or sewing on a button my    
success is essential to the ,holy ,ghost
 of ,life4    ,,iv   ,so ,i1 the        

individual1 try to confront each day    
with the knowledge that ,i am infused   
with a guiding1 animating principle     
which will not let me drop behind1 or   
lose my modest reward1 so long as ,i    
trust to the force which carries me     
along4 ,by trusting to it ,i mean       
resting on it quietly1 without worrying1
 without being afraid that it will fail 
me4 ,fret not thyself1 else shalt thou  
be moved to do evil4#cd ,by doing evil1 
,i presume is meant making a mistake1   
taking the wrong course4 ,if1 however   
great the cause1 ,i fret myself ,i      
disturb the right conditions4 ,by       
disturbing the right conditions ,i choke
 off the flow of the life-principle     
through my energies4  #cd ,the ,book of 
,psalms4    ,v   ,at a moment when the  
little buffer state between ,egypt and  
,assyria was afraid of being overrun by 
the one or the other it was frantically 
casting about to decide with which it   
would throw in its lot4 ,with neither1 a
 great prophet thundered in the ears of 

the people4 ,in calmly resting your     
safety lieth2 in quiet trust shall be   
your strength4#ce  #ce ,the ,book of    
,isaiah4  ,my small experience in the   
conquest of fear can be condensed into  
these four words3 ,calmly resting6 quiet
 trust6 ,that amid the turmoil of the   
time and the feverishness of our days it
 is always easy ,i do not pretend4      
,still less do ,i pretend that ,i       
accomplish it4 ,i have said1 a few lines
 above1 that ,i tried4 ,trying is as far
 as ,i have gone2 but even trying is    
productive of wonderful results4    ,,vi
   ,least of all do ,i claim to have    
covered the whole ground1 or to have    
discussed to its fulness any one of the 
points which ,i have raised4 ,whole     
regions of thought which bear on my     
subject--such as psychology1 philosophy1
 and religion as ,i understand the      
word--,i have carefully endeavoured to  
avoid4 ,my object has been to keep as   
closely as possible to the line of      
personal experience1 which has a value  

only because it is personal4 ,telling no
 more than what one man has endeavoured 
to work out1 what ,i have written seeks 
no converts4 ,though1 for the sake of   
brevity1 it may at times seem to take a 
hortatory tone1 it is a record and no   
more4 ,in it the reader will doubtless  
find much to correct1 and possibly to   
reject2 and this must be as it happens4 
,what ,i hope he will neither correct   
nor reject is the sincerity of the      
longing to find ,god's relations to the 
phenomena of life1 and the extent to    
which the phenomena of life reflect     
,god4    ,,vii   ,in the end we come    
back to that1 the eternal struggle      
whereby that which is unlike ,god       
becomes more and more like ,him4 ,in    
watching the process1 and taking part in
 it1 there is1 when all is said and     
done1 a sense of glorious striving and  
success4 ,with each generation some veil
 which hid the ,creator from the        
creature is torn forever aside4 ,god1   
who is always here1 is seen a little    

more clearly by each generation as      
being2 here4 ,god1 who ever since ,his  
sun first rose and ,his rain first fell 
has been making ,himself known to us1 is
 by each generation a little better     
understood4 ,god1 whom we have tried to 
lock up in churches or banish to        
,sundays and special holy days1 is      
breaking through all our prohibitions1  
growing more and more a force in our    
homes and our schools1 in our shops and 
our factories1 in our offices and our   
banks1 in our embassies1 congresses1    
parliaments1 and seats of government4   
,into ,his light we advance slowly1     
unwillingly1 driven by our pain2 but we 
advance4  ,the further we advance the   
more we perceive of power4 ,the more we 
perceive of power the more we are freed 
from fear4 ,the more we are freed from  
fear the more exultantly we feel our    
abundance of life4 ,the more exultantly 
we feel our abundance of life the more  
we reject death in any of its forms4    
,and the more we reject death in any of 

its forms the more we reflect that ,holy
 ,ghost of ,life which urges us on from 
conquest to conquest1 from strength to  
strength1 to the fulfilling of          
ourselves4