Part 11 (2/2)

”Some there are who call this ever-present Intelligence or Good the living Principle. As the Infinite, it wears all phases and adapts itself to every conception of the Finite, so in the sense of omnipresence and unchangeableness it might from this point of view be called Principle.

This is the cold, mathematical conception of G.o.d as Law, which without Love would be incomplete. We must, therefore, know the duality of G.o.d if we are to understand either Law or Love. Some things can only be known by intuition, without the aid of the senses, and because of an inherent idea in our consciousness. For instance, every nation wors.h.i.+ps Deity in some way. Since we cannot know G.o.d through the senses, by which we gain knowledge of visible things, how can we know there _is_ a G.o.d?

”As Paul says: 'Likewise the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of G.o.d;' and what better answer could we have?

”Spirit, according to Webster, is: 'Life or living substance considered independent of corporeal existence--vital essence, force, or energy as distinct from matter.' G.o.d is the vital essence, G.o.d is spirit, and G.o.d is substance--'the real or existing essence,' 'the divine essence or being.'

”G.o.d, therefore, is the Divine Power that creates and sustains all things--the All-Power, the All-Intelligence, the All-Mind, the All-Love, the All-Substance, the All-Harmony, the All-Life, the All-Good, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent. This is the one Creator, 'one G.o.d who is Father of all, over all, and in all.'

”Though we cannot see this G.o.d or Good Principle, we can apprehend it through the signs or manifestations that we see. As we look about, we everywhere see the signs of life--not Life itself, but the signs of it--that tell of the presence of G.o.d or Good. Now Life is Good in and for itself.

”We often see the divinest love manifested through every deed of love, every heroic act of higher living, every grand sacrifice of self-comfort, pleasure, even life itself. Jesus says: 'Greater love can no man have than to lay down his life for his friend.' Such love is a manifestation of the one, only Love, which is G.o.d--Good omnipresent.

”Every glimpse of Truth which the whole world seeks to know and wherever found, is a realization of the omnipresent Truth, which is G.o.d.

”Intelligence, in its highest or lowest form, is but a manifestation of G.o.d as Intelligence; for whence comes our intelligence if not from the great and only Intelligence, which is ever flowing to us and through us, which is ever being generated in us, whenever and wherever we are willing to let it manifest itself.

”Emerson says: 'There is one mind common to all individual men. Every man is an inlet to the same and to all of the same. He that is once admitted to the right of reason is made a free man of the whole estate.

* * * * Who hath access to this universal mind is a party to all that is or can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent.'

”So we reason about health and strength and justice, or any of the divine qualities, which we may claim as a part of our inheritance, because they are inherent in the All, in which 'we live, are moved, and have our being.'

”Having something of an understanding as to the nature of this divine Creator, we can, to some extent, apprehend that the essence of all things manifesting it, and manifested by it, must be good like itself, must be of the same quality as itself; as light emanating from light, must be of the same essence and quality as that from which it emanates.

G.o.d, like light, is always the same, and cannot send forth or create anything opposite Himself.

”The nature of G.o.d embraces every good quality of masculine and feminine character, as also the impersonal life Principle. It is therefore proper to use the masculine, feminine or neuter p.r.o.noun when referring to Deity. As different phases of the one Love, we see manifested, the strong, all-protecting, intelligent father-love, the tender, restful, patient mother-love, the innocent, confiding, trustful child-love, each complete in the whole, which can be recognized by all or one of these attributes.

”The great Mind of which the ancient philosophers tell us and which Emerson so plainly realized, is the the Origin and Force of all Creation, the Mind for which we have found so many synonyms and so many offices, the Great Invisible of which all visible things are but signs or symbols.

”There is but one great Mind, one great Thinker. All thoughts of this Mind, which is Infinite Goodness, must be infinitely good, and man is the crown and apex of the wonderful creation--is made in the image and likeness of G.o.d.

”If we concede the Creator, G.o.d, to be omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent, the only Power there is, perfect, unchangeable and eternal, we must necessarily concede that all which He creates is good, and must remain so because everything connected with, emanating from, or similar to Him is, and must be like Him in quality and essence.

”The true man is spiritual, perfect like his Father, and can only be subject to perfect conditions. If we continually and persistently recognize the true creation which is invisible, we make manifest the perfect conditions in the sign of the true, which is the visible. In doing this, we are, in the most essential sense, acknowledging G.o.d, wors.h.i.+ping the one Deity.

”Because we have so long recognized the other powers we have become idolators, and must now turn back to the only true G.o.d. 'If thou return to the almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.... For thou shalt have thy delight in the almighty and shalt lift up thy face unto G.o.d.'

”We have become filled with false beliefs, because we have judged according to appearances, and hence drawn false conclusions. How can we know spiritual truth without spiritual knowledge? How can we have spiritual knowledge without spiritual perception; how can we have spiritual perception without recognizing Spirit, Substance, G.o.d, as the supreme Essence back of all visible forms?

”This is the fundamental principle of healing--this recognition of spiritual being and spiritual law. Grasping only the surface meaning of this grand truth, we recognize and admire the mental power which produces cures, hence it is frequently called mind-cure, because, through the agency of mind, the cure is wrought, as we say, water-cure or sun-cure for the same reason; but as we proceed in the study, we will go beyond an intellectual to a spiritual perception of what is meant by _met-a-physical_, which pertains not only to a science of mental phenomena, but the science of real being, and has to do with the spiritual or real self of man.

”Now John, if you don't understand, just wait and study, for really we must study these statements, without prejudice, too, for that is the only way, and of course we cannot expect to understand at once. The great essential is to keep uppermost the _desire_ for truth, but I need not tell you that, for what an earnest truth-seeker you are, n.o.body knows better than myself.

”This is the best I can do toward giving the first lesson, but you must think well upon it and get a good foundation laid for what is to come next. This science is to be developed rather than learned.

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